Rudder as aid in casting

[Haris122]

How much do rudders help in casting? My kayak doesn’t have one and my kayak frequently ends up turning in an inconvenient direction as I’m retrieving a cast. Noticed my friend’s kayak didn’t do much of that and he has a rudder so for those that have one does it make a big difference?

[jdmidwest]

Stick a short paddle off the back end and see it it helps.

Kayaks have many different hulls.  Some sort of keel helps on flat lake waters but will kill you on moving waters.  Depending on how your hull is shaped determines how it tracks on the waters.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

i dont kayak fish but if i trim my motor way up in my bass boat the thing spins around like crazy so i would imagine it would help a ton in a yak.  Also help with stability 

[Al Agnew]

A rudder helps you keep drifting straight when you're fishing while drifting.  But in streams it makes maneuvering more difficult.  Depends a lot on what kind of water you are fishing and what the hull shape of your boat is. There are always trade-offs.  Ideally you would want a rudder that you can deploy or easily lift up out of the water, because you don't want it hanging down into the water if paddling through a shallow riffle.

You probably won't want to do this to your kayak, but there was a time when I thought a drag anchor would be great for use with my solo canoe.  I rigged up an eyebolt on the stern plate and a cleat on the side of my seat, got a 15 or so inch length of heavy chain, covered it in rubber, tied it onto a good rope, ran the rope through the eyebolt. I could lift it ALMOST out of the water to run riffles...but there was still a few inches dangling in the water at the back of the boat.  That few inches of chain in the water made a surprisingly significant difference in how straight the canoe stayed when I was just drifting with the current.  I soon tired of the extra weight and inconvenience of using the anchor and ditched it, and a drag anchor can be dangerous in heavy current so I don't really recommend it much for small craft.  

[Haris122]

Yeah if I can find it I’m thinking of getting one like my friend has. He’s got a rope to his that allows him to lift it up and back down somehow when he needs either option.