[Mike Barrio]

I would love to have seen Lee Watt's kayak demo at the AAPGAI open day at Caer Beris a few weeks ago

See Lee's website at http://www.leewattsflyfishing.co.uk/blog/aapgai-demonstration-caer-beris-2013/

[Steven Sinclair]

Would have loved to have seen that also!

I fly fish from a yak here Mike and I absolutely love it!  It's the only real feasible way of fishing the dams here for snakehead 

I know the real yak guys would detest this but i've now rigged up a mount for an electric outboard.  With the search cast search cast style along the banks it does become a bit of a nightmare keeping on track with the fly rod.  I've been lucky this far in having the Mrs to ghillie whilst I cast out the front but with a little one on the way I won't have that option for a while, so an outboard seems the best solution.

Is there many people fly fishing from Yaks in the uk now?

 

Steven.

[Hamish Young]

Is there many people fly fishing from Yaks in the uk now?

Many more than people think 
I recently had this discussion with several of my colleagues in the Coastguard from the South coast of England and the number of folk they see regularly fishing from Kayaks (particularly in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall) is significant and they're getting asked all sorts of questions about flare packs and safety stuff. One of the main reasons cited for the expansion in the South is they are significantly cheaper than any other craft (short of a float tube), so the numbers of folk fishing from kayaks has risen whilst the numbers of small inshore fishing boats has dropped.

H

 

[Allan Liddle]

Sounds like it's a bit of a worry to the Coastguard especially down that end Hamish?

[Hamish Young]

It's like anything water related Allan, so long as folk are competent in the use of their craft, have had some training and know what to do in the event of an emergency then the job is generally a good 'un - no worries.

The problems arise from folk who do none of the above, don't take in the bigger picture and fail to understand the ramifications for themselves and their rescuers based on the uninformed decisions they make 

Fortunately, to date, there have been very few incidents that we have been aware of 

H

[Steven Sinclair]

Many more than people think 
I recently had this discussion with several of my colleagues in the Coastguard from the South coast of England and the number of folk they see regularly fishing from Kayaks (particularly in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall) is significant and they're getting asked all sorts of questions about flare packs and safety stuff. One of the main reasons cited for the expansion in the South is they are significantly cheaper than any other craft (short of a float tube), so the numbers of folk fishing from kayaks has risen whilst the numbers of small inshore fishing boats has dropped.

H

 

Thats good too know! I've since had a scan online and came across some of the uk forums.  Seems like they are all primarily fishing in the salt which I guess makes sense in regards to freshwater access etc.

I can't help but  think that the Hobie Kayak's (pedal powered) would make an awful lot more sense for fly fishing.  The idea of having both hands free, being able to motor along/maintain drift etc and cast at the same time would be a huge advantage! 

My yak is big and heavy and not really best suited to fishing from solo but it does have enough room for the Mrs, 2 dogs (German Shepard and Bullmastiff) and myself on board. So the number of days i'm allowed out to fish is much higher as a result 

 

Steven.