Yesterday’s “Every Day in May” challenge was “Fish, Fish, Fish.” Today it’s “More Fish” (hence the title of today’s blog post). Since I didn’t show any of my own fish pics yesterday, I guess it’s time to show a few today! In follow up to yesterday’s blog post, Chris sent me a message, we’ll hook up at some point and do some kayak fly fishing together. There aren’t that many of us up here in the PacNW pairing up kayaks and fly rods, and I’m not really all that good at it…

Anyways, here are some photos with more fish!

Cold February smallmouth

stringer from a trip to Pacific City

Depoe Bay Irish Lord

Pacific City Cabezon

Whole bunch of Sockeye all up in your grill

So, I did get some fishing in this week, but it was slow at best. I saw one fish caught, and one other hooked-and-lost. I didn’t even get a tug. Nuthin. Nada. All I could think about were the guys fishing reds down in the south. It must be easy to catch redfish. That’s why there are dozens of TV shows on every day of people catching reds, but only one or two a week of people catch salmon. They’re tough. And the season is almost over with another blank catch card. Lame.

But, I want to introduce you to someone that did get into the fish. Chris Bellows just started his Kayak Fly Fishing blog over at http://flyyakker.blogspot.com. Now, if I remember correctly, I’ve never met Chris, but I know I need to. He’s doing exactly what I wish I was doing–saltwater fly fishing in the PacNW putting the stick down on some lings and rockfish.

Western Strait Kayak Fly Fishing from Chris Bellows on Vimeo.

Spent two days kayak flyfishing the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Olympic Peninsula. The bottomfishing was great with rockfish and lingcod landed on the fly.

Man, am I jealous. Chris, if you’re reading this, we gotta hook up!

A couple times this week you might recall me mentioning my new NRS Mariner dry suit. This week I learned how awesome it is–especially the relief zipper.

Why isn’t this something seen more in waders? There are very few waders I know of that you don’t have to half-way remove just to take care of that thermos full of coffee you put down on the way to the river. All I can assume for lack of these zippers is cost, as I hear these waterproof zippers are not cheap.

But, as I mentioned, I have fallen in love with the fly on my drysuit. Yesterday really put that to the test. That thermos full of coffee. A big bottle of Gatorade. Yeah, I needed that.

The Milkcrate is a cool internet magazine based here in Oregon. Here’s a lil interview they did with me…
http://themilkcratemag.com/2012/05/13/isaac-miller/

The other week, I was asked who was shaping the future of kayak fishing–who is the leader of my sport.

I replied that everyone was. There was no single person that was going to propel kayak fishing forward. Honestly, I think it’s rediculous to think that any one person could single-handedly propel any sport–past or present–into the limelight. It requires everyone involved, and that is exactly what is going on.

With this present day of the internet, everyone is perpetuating the sport of kayak fishing. Kayak anglers around the world are hitting the water with HD video cameras (yes, plural), internet connected smartphones, and more. Yesterday I blogged from my iPhone while on the water. I’ve made live internet streaming video from the water. High-Def video of kayak fishing is swamping the internet. Kayak Fishing Radio has taken over the virtual airwaves with both live shows and podcasts. Generally speaking, everyone fishing on the water with a kayak, is connected to the internet or filming HD video. No. Really.

Ok, not everyone, but it’s getting close. Outfitting kayaks with HD video cameras is seemingly just as important these days as a rod holder. I’m not all that cool with that. Yeah, I was the first to hook up a live video feed from the kayak, but I had other things that went into it first.

First… I had rod holders. I had an anchor trolley–and knew how to use it. I had caught fish on my kayak! I had suitable attire for immersion! I had a VHF radio. I had a safety flag. I had a float plan. After all of that, I then had a camera. And even then it came from my cellphone (after killing two others in the river–lessons learned…)

While it is important that everyone in the community become leaders to promote the sport of kayak fishing, I’d rather not people forget the thing that is most important. Coming home alive. I’m tired of seeing people dressed inappropriately should they find themselves in the water just inches away from where they sit just so they look good on the camera. I’ve grown ill of seeing photos and videos of kayak fishermen not wearing a PFD. I won’t bother watching another video of someone in a kayak that isn’t thinking of self preservation anymore. Just the other week, a very well known local kayak angler (dare say leader of the local kayak fishing community) filmed himself getting hit by a boat. While he was wearing a PFD, he was not even close to being dressed for hitting the water. Fortunately for him, he didn’t. Today I was in that very same body of water, just feet from where that incident occurred. Guess what, it was cold. Deadly cold. Even wearing a dry suit, I couldn’t stand the temperature of the water for more than a minute before my legs felt like they were burning. What kept him from hitting the water and making for a potentially life threatening situation? Oh, probably just and inch or two…

Ok… sorry… enough of the soapboxing…

If you want to become a leader, start acting like one. Walk the talk.