Ya Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd… I.E. The Right Tools for the Job

Let’s set the record straight… …I am NOT a “kayak angler”… …nor am I a “musky angler”…I am an angler that pursues different species as my curiosity piques towards new challenges, new environments, and the new tactics they demand.

I’ve always looked at the art of angling as a type of direct interaction with nature in ways that mere observation could never supply. When you study a species and a water from a recreational angling standpoint, you get to know your adversary on a more personal level, not just a textbook. It’s the difference between watching actors perform a play and being onstage as part of the performance. Except angling…is an improv act. No script, no director, and your only connection to the stage beneath the waves is connected to a thread. The lures are our marionettes, and with them, we can manipulate our antagonists to synthesize moments of the great predator-prey ballet that are witnessed so rarely in purely natural context.

As stated before, I do not let any single species or method of angling define my pursuit; and I recommend any others in this sport become acutely aware of that very transparent moment when we let a tackle preference begin to sacrifice our control in presentation. Boats, specifically smaller nimble tiller-handled models (my favorite), let an angler do things both trolling and casting throughout the water column, that larger more unwieldy boats or smalled boats, like kayaks or canoes, just can’t offer. Sure lots of people try and do well enough, but still control is sacrificed…

So, when you see me headed down the interstate with a Jackson Big Tuna riding on top like a remora, I ain’t headed to a lake or a big flowing 15,000 cfs tailrace. I’m headed to some off-road put-in under a graffiti ridden bridge into water so shallow Mickey Rooney would have trouble touching bottom in. In these places, yes, jet boats can run, and yeah, there are days when I wish I could kick in an outboard and power upstream in seconds..but in these shallow weedy flats, that would be a total contradiction to the subtleties of the presentation required to catch fish like these…

…Playing “Where’s Waldo?” with giant striped dragons like these before successfully presenting and boating them is a high unlike anything Ive ever done, and I cam guarantee it’ll be the same for you. Wanna stalk muskellunge bone-fish style on conventional or fly in the best two-man shallow water angling craft ever designed, the Jackson Kayak Big Tuna? Give us a call here at Stone’s Throw Adventures at 931-261-2483 or email at [email protected].