Captain M's canoe

Captain M has two water crafts: one SIK kayak and one canoe. When he goes fishing by himself, he uses the kayak. He carries the three person canoe when he fishes with friends. Canoe is more comfortable than kayak; it is more spacious. But canoe cannot reach narrow spots, which kayak can. When necessary, Capt. M puts trolling motor on it. This canoe is very versatile fishing craft. I caught my first ever Striped Bass, Lake Trout, and Northern Pike on this canoe!

My Kayak and the Hudson River

I have my own water craft: one person sit-on-top (SOT) kayak. I chose sit-on-top model because it is more convenient for fishing than sin-in kayak (SIK). That's what I heard, but it is not necessarily true. There is no large drawback for fishing in SIK. Capt. M has a SIK and a canoe, and he has no problem with SIK when he is fishing. Here is a picture of my kayak.

I put dish rack at back to install rod holder. You can see my two rods, a tackle box and a water bottle. There is a good story how I bought this kayak. One day, I was exploring displayed kayaks at a Dick's sporting goods store. Water crafts are expensive. Though I really wanted to have one for fishing, but I could not afford one. They were all eye candies to me. Suddenly a gentleman approached me and told me, "I have the same kayak of this with me, I want to get rid of this. I will give you deep discount, do you want to buy one from me?" I could not believe it! So, I bought the nice kayak and a paddle also. I am quite satisfied with this. Here is information of my kaysk,

Model: Ripper (Wilderness System)

Good things: small, light weight, stable, easy to fish.

Bad things: water coming into kayak (There are water holes which help stabilize the kayak. Problem is that I get wet when I paddle. I bought water cork to seal the holes, and now it is fine), small storage

Here are two pictures that I took on the Hudson river at Troy section, while I was paddling.

Captain J.P. and Congress Bridge.

Troy- Green Island Draw Bridge

Northern Pike- mean looking creature

Northern pike or Pike is well known as an ultimate killing machine in fresh water. As you can see, it has razor-sharp teeth. Never touch its mouth. I released it after taking some pictures. I heard that taste of Pike is ok, and texture of flash is squashy.

Captain M and I went to Lincoln pond in the Adirondacks. It was May but it was still cold up there. We casted crank baits at weed bed. At first cast of my white bait, I caught a big bass. After that, I casted bright green crank bait. I could see that bait fishes are quite active. After an hour of fruitless casting, I caught a about 20 inches pike. We decided to catch some Yellow Perch and do trolling with the live bait. We hooked a small perch and troll it behind canoe. Bingo! We caught a monster pike (picture). It was near 30 inches. Yellow Perch is Pike's main prey.

When: May 21, 2007
Where: Lincoln Pond
Bait: Live Yellow Perch

*To catch a Pike, you really need a wire leader because of its sharp teeth.