Taking a Newbie Kayak Fishing

Most of my free time during the year is spent traveling for tournaments. However, this year I had the chance to do something different and exciting. I took my wife (fiancé at the time) kayak fishing on my favorite body of water, the Susquehanna River. My wife isn’t new to kayaking or fishing but she’s never had the opportunity before to do both at once. I was excited because I knew she was going to love it and she has heard me talk about this majestic river countless times.

My wife had only ever been in a sit inside kayak. I let her use my Liska so she could feel how much more comfortable a sit on top is. She had plenty experience using spinning gear so I equipped her with two set-ups. The most challenging thing for a newbie kayak fishing, especially on a river, is having to constantly paddle and keep positions while also trying to make your bait presentations at the same. I didn’t want her to worry about paddling and also avoiding snags her first time out so I tied on a whopper plopper for topwater and a spinnerbait. Both are great river smallmouth baits and can be just cast out and reeled in. Keep it really simple and fun for a newbie.

While she didn’t catch any monsters or a lot of fish, she had a blast. We both had an enjoyable day and needless to say she now wants her own Jackson sit on top kayak now. She said she really liked the comfort, stability, and ease of paddling and maneuvering. I look forward to getting her in her very own Jackson and spending some quality time together out on the water while teaching her new bait presentations and different paddle strokes to improve kayak positioning.