LIKE A FISH TO WATER

In 2018, the Adventure Sports Industry Association measured the growth of kayak fishing to be upwards of 400%. The bulk of those entering the sport are fishermen with little previous kayak experience. The bad news is the sheer volume of kayak anglers holding their paddles upside down; the good news, many are finding a lot to love about this whole new way to fish, inadvertently becoming kayakers. Jackson Kayak’s James McBeath explores the evolution to kayak angler, and explains why once you step into a kayak, you'll never look at fish the same way again.

Words: James McBeath

After 2000 years of searching, modern man still has not found any evidence of kayak angling in the Neanderthal ages. Not a kayak, paddle, or single stone cave drawing, nothing! This leads us to believe that early man had no polarized glasses or that fish simply weren’t important, or not worth the hassle, what with all that red meat just hanging around. Honestly, you’d think fishing would be a no brainer since even the deer had those long fangs and were death-defying to hunt. But nope, kayak angling didn’t get noticed until the dawn of the Yupik of Alaska and other Inuit tribes up north. Separated by vast waters, trapped on islands, these paddle sport pioneers were the first to say, “Hey, let's go spear some whales in the smallest…

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Kayak Session (Digital) - 1 Issue, Paddle World magazine 2020

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