The first thing I like to do when I hit terra firma in AK is scout, see what the rivers are doing, figure out where the fish are, and make a plan. Usually that means on foot, but this year I arrived with a great new tool in the toolbag - a Watermaster Kodiak from Big Sky Inflatables.
I meant to bring one along on my last trip, and regretted it on a few occasions as it really would have created an option to access some water just not possible on foot. Not wanting to go down that road again this year, I got a hold of the guys at Watermaster and we made it happen.
Now, I'm all about kayak fishing in my Jackson Kayak Day Tripper, but one of the downfalls of kayaks is definitely in transport logistics, particularly when you're on your own in remote areas. Whether it's the need for a roof rack, carrying them long distances, checking them on commercial airlines, or finding room in float planes or heli's, it just gets complicated, impractical, or down right impossible.
Most of those logistical complications are solved with a Watermaster, and it really is an excellent exploratory and fishing tool, and an absolute blast to row. Packed up in the dry backpack, complete with oars, extra dry bag, life jacket, pump and repair kit, mine weighed in at 49.5 lbs -- just under the commercial airliner weight limit, so you can check it as normal luggage. Once on the ground in AK, it's just as easy to throw in a luggage rack, float, or cabin area in float planes or helis, or the backseat of a car. You just can't get away with that with a 12 ft kayak.
During my time alone, I typically drove to the take-out of a roadside run like the Kenai, hiked to the main road with the Watermaster and daypack for the day, stuck out my thumb, and waited for a good Samaritan to shuttle me upstream. Once there, unpack, pump up, climb on and shove off for a fun day of rowing.
With the open front, area, it's easy to just put your feet down and slowly walk your way down through good runs. Hit a good area, and you can just walk your way back upstream with it bouncing around your legs like a float tube. I often found myself turning around and sitting on the rowing foot strap on deeper runs, slowly 'bouncing' my way down slightly deeper runs, where I wanted to slow down but focus on casting, then turning back around into the seat once it got too deep. It also makes for a great area to handle fish while keeping them in the water.
While the Watermaster is great for getting you into the smallest of fishing spaces, one incredibly fun, but very difficult, challenge it creates is landing BIG fish, while trying to row yourself, control the fish, and fight the river. A kind of one man drift boat fishing. A technique I honed was to cast, hold the rod between my knees, and row myself to set a good drift. With a little practice, I figured out how to mend the line with a knee flick to extend the drift. The hard part really begins when a big fish takes your fly. Little guys you can kind of play, row yourself to the bank while fighting them with the boat, beach yourself and land the fish. Not so with the powerful ones, or if you're in an area where beaching the raft isn't possible. Once they take, you have to quickly set the hook, try not to let them break your rod, assess the river, and make a plan --- quick.
It took some practice and I definitely lost the game more than I won, but what a fun challenge. In the end the technique I found best to open the drag up almost all the way, and pinch off a small bit of line between my knees while rowing. Upon a take, you can kind of set the hook, then hold tension with your knees. If the rod buckles over and spins you around, odds are it's a fish with some power, and you can open your knees a bit and let it pull line freely while you make a plan and find somewhere to land. Having plenty of backing helps of course. Once you land, keep the rod low, line in the water, and let the river keep tension on your fish.
If you're lucky, when you collect it all back in, you might still feel a fish on the other end, like that Dolly in the photo. One of the most memorable fish I've fought, caught with my knees :)
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