RISE OF THE PADDLERS
How kayak angling snowballed rather quickly into the phenomenon it is today
I t’s taken more than 10 years for UK kayak angling to evolve into its current state, and it’s quite an evolution. It was probably about two years after the pioneers started to explore the possibilities of using kayaks to assist in reaching the fish, mostly on the south coast and Wales.
I remember reading what they’d got up to with some awe. It was all Internet forum-based back then. Many of the old guard are still paddling around catching fish, but travelling further afield nowadays.
When I bought my first kayak, an Ocean Kayak Prowler 15, I started with pike fishing on the rivers while reading about mackerel, then rays, congers and tope, but I was alone here on the Suffolk coastline, so took it easy. Then things began to pick up.
Back then, it was a small community on a sub-forum of Anglers Net, but then David Morris added a forum to his website at Anglers a float and things snowballed. We had sections for general, tackle and rigging, catch reports – expanding from a paragraph to a full write-up with photographs, and then short videos, now very much the standard and the popular ‘Let’s Meet’ section.
Every weekend people would invite others along, and then the meets began to spring up; Kent in May for thorn backs, Tywyn in June for tope, Lowestoft in October for cod and pike.
Then the competitions began, with the OK Classic in Swanage, and a month or so later the SWKA Oxwich Tournament. Designed around the meet-up ethos, they added the competitive element, but with the catch photograph-release concept in an effort to keep things environmentally sound, while allowing retention of fish at the captors’ discretion (many took the opportunity to stick them on the barbecue at the campsites we’d all stay on for the weekends).
Times were good, and there was a real family feel as everybody knew each other from online interaction. People left home on trips of hundreds of miles to target bigger and more exotic species. Species hunts sprung up too, with people from all corners fishing against each other online, locally, in one-day, quarterly and annual competitions.
Fish identification skills increased rapidly with this, and more and more types came out from places that no-one knew held them.
TECHNIQUES
The evolution also included techniques. With all manner of different skills developed, from anchoring with milk bottles filled with sand tied to hand winders, then homemade winders, on to the use of diving reels fitted with folding grapnel and, subsequently, Bruce anchors.
Pulley systems were devised to make dropping anchor and hauling safer and easier. Rod holders were added of varying designs in various places, along with fish-finders, GPS units and then chart plotter/sonar combinations started to become the norm.
Wetsuits turned into drysuits, basic lifejackets became high-end touring specification PFDs, VHF radio and then DSC was used more and more.
Personal Locator Beacons replaced flares for safety, portability and longevity. Video cameras were mounted on the deck instead of being handheld, and the more we did, the safer things became.
EQUIPMENT
Most of us started from angling rather than kayaking backgrounds, and this saw the utilisation of all manner of tackle before 7-8ft rods became the norm, and people varied their local methods to include everything from drifting feathers to anchoring baits, uptiding, jigging and, lately, LRF from the water.
Catches rocketed and beach gear was sold off to pay for upgraded paddles in carbon. The tackle companies were slow to spot the market developing in front of them, but then the more dynamic ones started to develop targeted equipment.
Kayak companies took note, too, adding features more beneficial to us, and then the clothing companies started seeing us as buying more and more equipment. This developed further into sponsoring ambassadors and requesting feedback, showing their gratitude by sponsoring more and bigger prizes in the competitions that increased.
Sea Angler was an early supporter and gave us more and more coverage, other anglers gave it a go, and some kayakers too, once they realised that we were competent, serious paddlers.
While the second-hand market became larger, developments continued unabated and, suddenly, an influx of serious fishing craft appeared from major manufacturers and, subsequently, cheaper copies being brought in from the Far Eastern factories.
Things became more affordable, and with a wealth of information being posted online, questions answered from a knowledgeable base, and the industry becoming educated, we arrived where we are today. PIONEERS Kayak angling is a big thing here now; from the humble beginnings of the pioneers, there are myriad of forums – three-quarters of my telephone contact list consists of kayak angling mates, and has done for years.
The summer months are a full calendar of tournaments, and the prize tables have grown and grown. Sponsorship of individual anglers to test, review and showcase kit has had a huge effect, with companies and kayak anglers getting involved in supporting more and bigger events.
Charities have benefitted too, like the RNLI and the kayak angling charity Heroes on the Water, from many thousands of pounds raised in all manner of ways.
You can go out now and order everything you need to safely take up all styles of kayak angling. You can save money by buying the right kayak to suit yourself if you ask the guys online and the shop staff, who have become familiar with our requirements. Ocean Kayak, RTM, Wilderness Systems, Jackson, Kaskazi, Stealth, Hobie... the designs available from these quality companies will see you safely on the water.
Raymarine, Lowrance, Garmin, Humminbird all have electronics suitable for installation to find those havens for the fish we seek. Tronixpro and Fladen have invested heavily in supporting kayak angling and supplying tackle best suited to our use and, of course, the other companies all have items to offer.
Drysuits, base layers, footwear and personal flotation devices from the likes of Palm, Typhoon and Weezle all keep us dry and safe. Icom radios, Go Pro cameras and McMurdo PLBs find their way into our kitbags, while Thule hasn’t done badly out of the sale of roofbars.
Further afield, lots of dialogue has been held with the likes of the RNLI and Coastguard on safety matters. Valuable links have been made with local pleasure and charter skippers (that’s another 10 per cent of my telephone list), tackle shops and wholesale bait suppliers.
It’s been a rapid, revolutionary rise from the ground up, and still has that pioneering spirit at the head of it, and we’re mostly still a group of, predominantly, friends – who might smell a bit.