Stand up bar on the Jackson Kilroy.

A few of us on the fishing team have adopted the Kilroy as our Inland Bass Yak. This yak won us over because of its lighter weight, speed, stability, comfort and fishability. The lack of scuppers makes this boat glide through the water far better than its 12' sit-on-top counterpart the Cuda 12, and because of the low center of gravity it is significantly easier to stand in. Even so, we wanted more. We love the new standing bar that comes standard on the Big Rig and we wanted to see if we could adapt something like this to our Kilroys. So Bam took the tape to it only to find out that the dimensions for the stand up bar would work perfectly on the Kilroy. So we started taking apart a Big Rig we had in stock and adapting it to Bam's Kilroy. The extra point of contact that the bar makes when it meets your hips creates even more stability, as well as making it easier to stand up and sit down. The front pieces mount to the flat part of the deck in front of the dashboard cover, and the rear supports were easily adapted to the track using Yak Attack T Bolts. Here is the finished product. 

Looks factory

Bam was happy with the result. 

It fits perfect on the deck and we added a little clip to bungee it down. 

Stowed position.

This is how we adapted the rear clip to the track.

The front mount.

It's important to note that this mod will also work on many other Jackson models including the Coosa and Cuda series. Here is a Cuda 12 we just got done tricking out for a customer.

Bam and I shot this little video walkthrough at the shop to show you how it all works! We will be selling this as an add-on for existing Jackson customers. The Mod will cost about $150 if you want to have it rigged here for free or shipped to you. Hit us up at:
Headwaterskayak@gmail.com
www.headwaterskayak.com
The Headwaters on Facebook
Headwaters Kayak on Instagram
@headwaterskayak Twitter

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE DEMO VIDEO

Spring Kayak Fishing Trips

     February fishing on the Delta has been successful, yet different than usual. The strange, constantly changing weather patterns that we have been experiencing have the delta in a different condition almost daily and the fish are in different places every time we go out. With one day providing excellent striper action, the next has been a day of searching. This has not slowed us down, as we have still gotten on quality fish from our kayaks with a little bit of hard work. The fishing will be picking up in the coming weeks with warmer weather and the spring striper run. The Headwaters Kayak Shop is looking to share this experience with all of you. This spring, kayak fishing trips with Bam Miller will be offered from the Delta to the Sierras, chasing stripers to Brook trout, and everything in between. These trips will include a fishing kayak, a paddle, a PFD, and kayak fishing instruction. Learn the ropes of fishing from a kayak from one of the area's premier kayak fisherman, and guests from the Headwaters Kayak Fishing Team. The first trip will be Wednesday, March 12, 2014 on the Delta for bass and stripers. Space is limited to four paddlers per trip as one on one attention from Bam and fishing team members remains a priority, so sign up now!

Fly fishing from kayaks is a great way to catch fish

Be sure to use quality hooks when striper fishing to avoid this!

 

Crabfest 2014

Crabfest 2014
Victor "vwool"

Crabfest 2014 was a huge success, and this was the biggest Crabfest to date! Despite there not being a great amount of Dungeness crab, there was not a lack of good times.
 
On tournament day I awoke from my teardrop trailer rental at 5:45 am and noticed what looked like a line of cars waiting for the gate to open. I couldn’t believe the amount of cars waiting for Crabfest. At this point I knew it was going to be a great day.  With minimal wind, we were able to get the day started and anglers registered starting at 7:20 am. The line in the morning for registration seemed like it was never going to end, but Narisa and Bill were able to keep the line moving. 

Getting the morning started

Dan and Family

Sun on the Jetty

About an hour and a half into the event the first Dungeness crab came in for measurement. It had been caught after a 30 min soak. Shortly after that more and more crabs were brought in for measurement. In the end there were an equal amount of Dungeness and Rock crab brought in for measurement. At 12:30 pm most of the kayaks were on the beach and the potluck started. There was a great array of food that five star restaurants can’t compete with, NCKA potlucks are in a league of their own. 

Eddylines on the Beach

Shortly after the potluck, the awards were given out for largest Rock crab and 1st, 2nd, 3rd largest Dungeness crab. 

The largest Rock crab measured in at 6.23”, 1.38 lbs and was brought in by Scotty Swehla. 

3rd place Dungeness went to Nate Lee (Spinal tap) with a crab measuring in at 6.6” and 1.48 lbs

2nd place Dungeness went to Tracey Ziomeck (sctrace) with her catch measuring in at 6.66” and weighing 1.82 lbs. 
 
1st  place Dungeness came in measuring in at 6.78” and weighing in at 1.93 lbs. The winner of the biggest Dungeness went to Aaron Peters. 

This year’s Grand Prize was a Eddyline Caribbean 14 donated by Eddyline kayaks. It was great to see all ten people at the end up there waiting for their number to be called. Wendal took home the prize and was super stoked, which was awesome considering it was his first NCKA event.
  
This year’s raffle proceeds went to the Diabetes Youth Families (www.dyf.org), an organization close to my heart. The raffle raised over $1600 and will support families and children living with Type one Diabetes. 
This event would not have been possible without all the work behind the scenes, a big thank you goes out to: Dan Arbuckle, Ashlie Arbuckle, Bill Beckett, Jack & Kay Arbuckle, Joe & Terri Arbuckle, Ron and Suzanne, and my lovely wife Narisa. There are probably a few that I missed but know you are appreciated!

This event has been free since day one and it is all because of the great sponsors: Headwaters Kayak Shop, Eddyline Kayaks, Promar/Ahi, A.Bachar, Yakattack, NRS, Malone, Vacations in a Can, Costa, Liquid Image Company and Kala Brand Music.

And the biggest thank you goes to all the participants who make this the biggest kayak crabbing tournament in the world. 

Sea Kayak Fishing Course at Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium

Well it has been awhile since I have posted. I have been busy learning to use a sea kayak so that I could aid in instructing an Introduction to Sea Kayak Fishing course at the annual Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium. Dan and I were graciously invited by Sean Morley to co-teach with JF Marleau.

I had the best rigged kayak for fishing.

Utilizing the buddy system.

The day of our class was of course the worst weather we had had all weekend. It was raining, and the wind was blowing about 16mph. Determined to make the most of it, JF, Dan, and myself agreed that our best option was to start the day off with some classroom time and see if the weather improved. We had been looking forward to the class for months and there was no way we were going to let a little foul weather get us down. This was after all, the first time a fishing course had been offered at Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium (GGSKS) and we were determined to make it a memorable event. We introduced ourselves to our student and then shared our knowledge of kayak fishing. Unfortunately when we wrapped up our talk the weather had not let up. Despite the weather, we headed for Baker beach, hoping that the southwesterly wind was blowing over the top of San Francisco, creating a wind shadow at the beach.

Dan's best crabby face!

When we arrived, we were pleased to see that indeed the wind was barely blowing at Baker Beach. We had lunch, geared up and hauled our kayaks down to the surf. The plan was to drop crab pots and fish for surfperch out of the 'yaks, since most other sportfisheries are closed this time of the year.

Our one and only surfperche caught by JF Marleau.

We launched the kayaks into the surf and paddled out with determination. First we dropped the crab pots. We had been seeing people catch crabs off the beach using snares all weekend, so we figured this would be our most successful endeavor. On a comical side note, Dan, JF, and I were so engrossed in the rest of GGSKS that we did not manage to pick up proper crab bait. We are resourceful fishermen however, and scrounged up some left over chicken salad and cold cuts from the event kitchen.

Stowing crabs in Dan's kayak.

With the crab pots launched it was time for surfperch fishing. We helped each other remove our fishing gear from inside our kayaks. Unlike a sit on top, the best place to store your gear is inside the hull, so the buddy system is often required. Once we had our rods put together we paddled ourselves into shore where the waves were breaking and began fishing. After about 30 minutes JF hooked up and landed the one and only surfperch of the trip. The crab pots, proved much more successful. We ended the trip having caught around 20 crabs, 3 of which were legal. Overall the class was a success, having educated our student and accomplishing our goals of catching surfperch and crabs. Can't wait until next year!

Awesome end to the day.

Port O Sac + Backstory on the 2013 Fresh Kats Tournement Series Winner.

Headwaters Team Paddler David Fowler, winner of the 2013 Fresh Kats Series.

I would like to start off by saying thank you to all the hard work done by all that made this years 2013 Freshkats series a success. There was some awesome prizes that were handed out from life jackets to fish finders and rods to paddles even a really cool fish cleaning station plus lots more. For me this years Freshkats series was the first time I have ever fished a kayak tournament. I have always fished tournaments off my bass boat and I was one of those guys who always said "man a kayak looks like a fun time but it takes so long to get anywhere its not fast enough and looks like too much work". Well ladies and gentlemen my name is David and I'm a kayak-aholic.

David Sporting his new Shuna Hooked Paddle donated by Werner Paddles as the Grand prize for the FreshKats 2013 season.  

I never realized how much scenery is missed by launching the boat and putin the hammer down and doing 65 mph to my favorite fishing hole. Now don't get me wrong I still get the need speed but the boat has taken the back seat to the Jackson Cuda.

Add caption

We finished up this years Freshkats series at the port of west Sacramento it was a great tournament I don't know the actual numbers on how many of us fished this event but I want to say it was somewhere around 40 anglers possibly more. The port of sac is a great fishery with free access and a easy launch. It gives the average angler a chance to catch multiple species from pan fish to bass and stripers to salmon and I think they were all caught at this years event. I pulled into the barge canal access at about 6:00 am in the morning there was already guys getting ready for the days tourney so with high hopes I put the truck in park take a sip of coffee and look at the temperature on the dash and it says ice 28*deg yep it was a cold cold day.

Jedmo sporting his golden down jumpsuit to stay warm

I meet up with Jim and get signed in and make my way down to the water I put the Jackson Cuda in get seated and start my trek to the turning basin as I'm paddling a thin layer of ice is forming on the deck of my Cuda from water splashing up through the scupper holes. I start marking fish right away so I send down some secret agents (minnows) to do the dirty work. It was a beautiful and clear day with  just a little chop on the water but cold about 10:00 I get a good take down but like every good fish story the fish got away. about 10:30 I met up with bill and victor from the headwaters team and they had drawn a big goose egg too no fish .check in was at 1:00 so at about 12:30 we make our way over to the launch and Victor hooks up with a keeper striper. It was a great day had by all with a nice amount of trash collected by anglers from the banks of the river and as always it would not be a true NCKA event without food family and friends so we all met at the pizza joint down the road shared stories and went on our way. I just want to say thank you again to everyone for great sportsmanship and to all the hard work from everyone who made this year a success cant wait till next year.

By David Fowler, Headwaters Fishing Team!

 

As with all Fresh Kats events, a ton of trash was collected. Rider wins the trash prize again!

 

Naoaki sporting a nice Striper.

Ron was the "King of the Port" with his two fat Stripers

 

Rons catches.

Jackson Kayaks, is about the Release the Kraken. A Jim Salmons Signature Fishing Kayak.

While I was in Tennessee visiting the Jackson factory, I got a sneak peak at the plug for their new off shore fishing kayak called The Kraken. Tony (the designer) was still in the process of shaping it when I was there. Now its done and the first prototypes will be coming soon. I'm looking forward to the opportunity to test the prototype and give some feedback here in the next few months.

The kayak is narrower than the Cuda, over a foot longer, more rocker bow to stern, and a large raked bow for punching through waves. The seat has been lowered to drop the paddlers but just over the water line length. Because of that, they were able to tweak the chines and give the boat a much sportier feel. Last time I talked to Tony, it will not have a the ability to go Hi-Lo, just low sleek and fast. There is a lot of trick stuff going on with the deck layout as well, but I've probably already said more then they want me to say. The blog does not reveal a ton, but you will get the general idea of the hull design.

Read more from Jim Sammons, click the link below.
http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/2013/11/19/a-kraken-the-continuum/
 

The Simply Fishing Tournament

On Saturday November 9, 2013 I participated in the Simply Fishing Tournament. The event was so simple that no fish finders were allowed, no bait and no scents. That seems pretty simple right? Well there were some more rules that made it even more interesting. You could only use one rod and the three lures that you could use would be given to you. If you ended up losing those lures, which did happen to some, you had to stop fishing and were not able to use your own tackle.

Luis and I decided to start the day early by driving to Doran Beach early to drop some crab traps. We left Vallejo around 3 in the morning and arrived in Bodega Bay a little after 4. We parked the truck in the overflow parking since the day use gate was closed and unloaded all the traps and Luis's new to him Cuda 14. We decided to just take one kayak off so that we could shoot up to Timber Cove fast. We wheeled the kayak down the road and Luis was the first one to go out. It was still pitch black so Luis wore a headlamp and I left a light on the beach for him to find his way back. Luis came back in after dropping his two pots and then I went out with my two. It was really nice to be on the water that early in the morning, on my paddle back in boaters started to come out of the harbor to start their day of fishing. We packed up our stuff, with all are gear still on and hopped in the truck for the drive up to Timber Cove.

One of the interesting aspects of the Simply Fishing Tournament was that the location was not given until 3 days before the event. Ruben the event organizer just let people know that it would be on the Sonoma Coast. I had fished Timber Cover twice and Luis once so we started to come up with a plan and realized that we would just fish and see what happens. As we arrived closer to the launch it was awesome to see the kayaks that were already on the water with lake like conditions. When we got to launch we were welcomed with a big smile from Ruben, there were already kayaks on the water and many getting ready to launch. The best part was that there was not much to set up on the kayak since minimal gear was allowed. It took Luis and I about 10 minutes and we were on the water.

Before we launched Ruben handed each of us our tackle box. The box included a Big Hammer swimbait with Andy1975 jig head, a BD squid, and a Promar/Ahi diamond bar. Luis and I both agreed that we would start with the B2 squid. We both launched out of the cove and after getting through the kelp decided to drop out lines. It was strange at first not know where the structure was without the fish finder, but it made it really fun. You really had to pay attention to what the bottom felt like when your lure hit. I started off the morning with a small black, that I decided to let it go and swim another day. Shortly after that Luis and I paddled a little bit more north and dropped our lines again. I dropped the squid again and got a hit, it put up a fight but I knew it was small. When it came to the top, it was a under ling. Luis took a picture and I gave the thumbs down sign and continued to fish. Shortly after I got another ling that was to short. Further up north I saw Scott (GB2) so I decided to paddle over and fish near him. On the radio I could hear everyone talking about how their Big Hammers were being attacked by the lings. So I decided it was time to switch. I dropped the big hammer and within a few seconds already had another fish on, again it was a under ling, so back in the water it went.

Then on the second drop, I got a big tug and the fish was on. I knew this had to be a legal ling since it felt heavy, and started to take some line. I reached for my net and when the fish appeared I realized this net was going to be to small. I was a little anxious because I started to think I was going to lose the fish. I decided to open up my game clip and try and see if I could get the fish on the clip. Finally I just reached over and grabbed the fish and through my leg over it to keep it from going over the kayak. I called Luis over on the radio and when he arrived I asked if I could use his fish whacker. Luis thought I had the winning fish, I knew it was big but thought maybe Third place at best, plus there were so many great anglers out there.

Luis and I continued to fish, I lost my big hammer and went back to the B2 Squid and then decided to go in at about 11:15, the weigh in was scheduled at noon. On the way in, I picked up another keeper ling and was headed in with a limit of lings. When I got back on the beach there were already some good looking fish and I knew that I wasn't taking home the jackpot.

After packing up the gear we headed up to the top of the launch where the awards ceremony, potluck and raffle would take place. I bought some raffle tickets, ate some lunch and really enjoyed the company and just hanging out with a great view of the Sonoma Coast. The raffle was held before the awards and there were some great items that were donated by the sponsors. There was a wheeleez beach cart, G-loomis fishing rod, waterproof camera and much more. I ended up winning some cool EGO fish grip tool.

Then came the awards ceremony and in third place was my good friend Naoaki with a ling weighing in at 13.7 lbs, second went to Jim "baitmaim" with a ling weighing 13 lbs 12 oz. The biggest fish in the tournament went to Scott "GB2" with a ling weighing in at 14 lbs 3 oz. After looking at the results my fish came in 12th place, my fish ended up weighing in at 9.7 lbs, and was 30" long.

This was such an awesome event and I am glad I was able to be a part of it. I look forward to many more like this. Keeping it simple= keeping it fun. At the end of the tournament I had caught a PB ling and was happy with that and an awesome day on the water.

Oh wait...

After the potluck and awards Luis and I hopped in the truck and drove down to Doran Beach to get our crab pots that had been soaking since the morning. We were hoping for limits, but also realized that we had dropped the pots in the dark and may have not dropped them where we would have liked. We got to the beach and found some other NCKA member hanging out. They offered us a beer and some food, one of the many reasons I love NCKA. I went out to get my pots and ended up with 3 jumbos and one at about 6.5". Luis came in with two and decided to leave his traps out there and return later. On the way home we had to stop for a coffee which allowed  us to stay awake and talk about the day all the way home.

I can't complain the day was awesome!

-Victor "vwool"
(photos courtesy of Luis Romero)