Bought My First Kayak Today. Lake Laws?

[ScottK]

Nice!

[Old plug]

I would think a Kayak on a lake after dark better be lite up like a christmas tree. I just would not try it. Even with running lights they would be pretty close to the water and give a false perception of how far the boat is away.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I like that floor hatch. Is there any kind of container in it?

[Rick Baker]

FYI. Not exactly trying to get chopped up by a boat at night. But thanks for looking out.

That center hatch has no container. It is open. I have seen some with nets in them.

I really like this yak a lot. I'm looking forward to catching whites and eventually some crappie with it.

[moguy1973]

What is blemmed on it?

[Rick Baker]

I looked for about ten minutes and couldn't find a blemish. They said they're small.

I'm very happy with it. Took it out to lake Springfield today and it's extremely stable. If I had a leash I could probably stand on it. Really easy to haul even in my super crew with 5.5 bed. Glad I didn't go with the ride 135 for that reason. Thanks for the help guys. It sure is an awesome yak.

[Woodland Artisan]

I and a few others kayak Stockton quite a bit. Rarely on the weekends, though. Hope to see you there sometime.

I kayak at night on main lakes but, like you said, stay close to the shore and when I have to cross big water I do it quickly and watch very carefully. At dawn, dusk and at night, I run with a 3' orange flag (mainly for days on high traffic lakes ... which is rare for me to attempt these days) with reflective tape and a marine light (2 AA batteries) atop that. I almost always have a headlamp on or ready to turn on if I see a boat coming anywhere near me, as well. My euro paddle blades have some reflective tape on them and I can wave those in the air to get well seen when I want to. Last resort is a handy, small airhorn that'll split an eardrum. I caused a guy to spill his beer all over his glittery nitro one time when he got too close going too fast near me with that airhorn. You'da thought he had hit a submerged mine.

The closest I've ever been to being run over was last year on James river by a jet boat at 11 am.

[Rick Baker]

That figures on the James. It gets pretty hairy in April at times. Here's pics from today. I'm really really happy with the ride 115.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Last resort is a handy, small airhorn that'll split an eardrum.

Great idea. I like the flag too. Boaters on the big lakes should be aware of what any flag means. I think one could use the ski flag and argue that in a kayak you're almost in the water, close enough anyway.

[Moswimb8slinger]

I'll be at lake Springfield tomorrow with my kayak, since OMTC rescheduled their fishing tournament to next Saturday i thought I'd still come up there for some fishing practice and see what the fish are biting on.