On a Saturday, my day off, I headed out on the water — and ended up watching the local kayakers more than the bite: nice cars, fishfinders, electric motors, a few pedal drives. The question of why people choose a kayak over a boat stayed open, but the fish showed up fast.

A kayak with an electric motor - still a mystery

Kayaking is so developed and popular here that people show up in nice cars — and clearly don’t choose a kayak for mobility: some have a full rig with fishfinders, others run an electric motor, a few have pedals. Of everyone I saw on the water, only one person was pedalling — everyone else glided along quietly on electric motors. I used to think a kayak was about paddles and pedals; turns out it’s not quite that.

The sea is calm today, but yesterday, when I drove by to check, there was a noticeable swell — they raised the yellow flag. Today we pushed off right away, no delay.

I also noticed locals carrying four rods at once on board — I liked the idea: one rig with a jig for scouting, another with a multi-hook rig (a “garland”) for when the fish turn active.

Two rods and a homemade waterproof seal

I brought two rods today so I wouldn’t be tied to one lure and could experiment faster: a short one, around 1.2-1.4 m, for the jig, and a longer one for the multi-hook rig. I wanted to see how well a short rod would handle — it felt fine, just not for the multi-hook rig.

On the practical side: yesterday I went looking for rubber seals for waterproofing — first at auto parts stores, hoping for something like door or trunk seals, no luck; then at hardware stores, where I found window sealing strips instead. Glued on a few layers and clamped it down. Not sure how long a fix like that will hold up, but the plan was simple: if it’s dry inside after today’s trip, it stays sealed for good.

Found the school: a 40-gram jig does the trick

The first solid catch was a horse mackerel, on the jig. And if there’s one horse mackerel, there are probably more — that became the tactic for the day. Then came a run of bites: the school was lively, fish were hitting one after another, some came off right at the kayak, but the action kept going. Alongside the horse mackerel, a small mackerel took the hook, plus some other small fish nobody could immediately identify.

On jig weight, the takeaway is simple: go with around 40 grams rather than 20 — a lighter jig falls too slowly and the bites feel less confident. A heavier jig drops almost straight down, drifts less, and the fish respond more actively.

It turned into a full day: hands covered in fish slime, the rod threatening to pop out of the plastic holder, and enough of a catch for the frying pan. A great Saturday on the water. Next up: waiting for clear water — this season I’m planning to get properly into spearfishing and get licensed, since that’s still completely uncharted territory for me.