Article on how to select a fishing kayak

[J.A. Veil]

When Mark and I taught our kayak fishing class at Anne Arundel Community College this spring, the subject of greatest interest to most of the students was how to choose a kayak for fishing. We spend a good deal of time in the class talking about criteria that are important in kayak selection.


One March morning I met Lenny Rudow, Angler in Chief and Editor of FishTalk magazine while fishing for yellow perch. I told Lenny that Mark and I had taught a class at the college on kayak fishing -- he asked me to write an article about our subject matter. The resulting article was published in the June issue of FishTalk magazine (https://fishtalkmag.com/read-fishtalk-online) on pages 52-54. It focuses on selecting a kayak.


For anyone interested in taking the next session of the class, AACC will hold the class on Sat Sept 28.


I submitted several photos to Lenny. He used the one showing me holding a redfish caught near Swansboro, NC last January while fishing with Native Watercraft guide Tim Ncpierman Taramelli.

fishtalk first page of article.jpg

[Mark]

Way to go, John.

Nice job.

[Memory Maker]

Congrats ....... well deserved

[Big Boom Bassin]

How many people take this course with you guys? It is an interesting idea. I would be interested to know the participation.

In regards to selecting kayaks, have you considered trying to get a few of us to bring ours out for a "demo day" as part of the course?

[J.A. Veil]

How many people take this course with you guys? It is an interesting idea. I would be interested to know the participation.

In regards to selecting kayaks, have you considered trying to get a few of us to bring ours out for a "demo day" as part of the course?

We have taught the same class at AACC twice. For the March class, we had 13 students. For the May class, we had 5 students. We are scheduled to teach the class again on Sept 28. We are likely to continue teaching the class each semester as long as there are enough students enrolled to take the class.

We found that we use the full 4 hours of the class to get through the material. That includes letting the students look at our two kayaks for a limited time. Having more kayaks and more people talking about them would consume a great deal of time and keep us from getting through all the class material. I'm sure that the students would enjoy seeing more brands and models of kayaks, but that is just not practical given the constraints of the AACC system.

[Big Boom Bassin]

Noted. I understand. Hopefully they join the community here and have an opportunity to stay involved. I'm relatively new here myself. Does the community have any get-together days where we BBQ, talk shop and swap yaks for fun?

[J.A. Veil]

Noted. I understand. Hopefully they join the community here and have an opportunity to stay involved. I'm relatively new here myself. Does the community have any get-together days where we BBQ, talk shop and swap yaks for fun?

In the earlier years of the Snaggedline community there was an active monthly meet and greet schedule. In recent years, some of the original members are no longer as active here as they were before, or have gotten into smaller groups of fishing buddies. Sadly the meet and greet activity has ended with no formally scheduled events this year.

If any member wants to hold an informal meet and greet, they can announce the date and location and get folks to sign up. This all started as a grass roots organization, and there is no reason that a new group of anglers cannot get it going again.

[Mark]

Regarding the AACC class, if I can add to what John said, I think we have created a very well-rounded curriculum. In addition to discussing fishing kayaks in depth, and allowing students to examine our own rigs, we discuss: the ancillary gear and tackle you'll need, specific fishing techniques, how to read the water, the species you can expect to catch, the best places to launch locally for both tidal and freshwater, safety, and more. Students receive a copy of our slides and other handouts we have prepared.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the interactions with our students to date. They've been enthusiastic, engaged and generous with their official evaluations of our efforts.

I look forward to our next class on 28 September.