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PostPosted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 5:27 pm 
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I'm completely new guy on Kayak fishing coming from boats. Have been out with my Revolution 13 some times and it works great as it is but will want to add some modifications to make it better. For what kind of fishing I do - I'm going to do some trolling with 2-4 rods and vertical jigging. I'll be fishing (At least mostly) on lakes of Finland for walleyes, pikes and salmon-related fishes. I want to keep the setup as minimalist as possible and have figures out following mods:
1. YakAttack geartracs to left and right
2. Rod holders to tracks on left and right. Having these and original rod holders in back are enough.
3. Fish Finder including possibly GPS (4-7"") to be installed onto geartrack or to sailingmast. Which option may work better?

I think I'm not going to add anything more to that setup in future. Do you think above plan makes sense or does someone have better ideas? Do I even need geartracs or should I just install rod holders directly to kayak if this is final setup?

Also, any opinions on what is the best fishfinder choise to buy for revo 13 now in 2019 are welcome. I have been thinking between the cheapest 4" lowrance hook up to 7" but with no experience am bit puzzled on decision. Money is no limitation but as always I have also alternative use for it if not really value adding :D


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 14, 2019 3:41 am 
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On my Revolution I added gear tracks on both sides but I bought mine from a wood working supply company. They are made out of aluminum. Wood workers use them to secure items they are working on. They might be called T tracks. They take a standard mounting bolt and washer though I use toilet flange bolts.

To those tracks I mount rod holders and I also mount my Lowrance Elite 4X depth/fish finder. I found that the sailing mast port is too far forward for my electronics. It makes it difficult to reach. I do mount my video camera to the sailing mast port but I only have to turn it on when I catch a fish. So not very often, haha.

I also made base plates for my rod holders which extends the rod holders out away from the gunnels. I found that with the rod holders mounted right on the tracks my feet would hit the rod butt when I pedal. I made the rod holders out of Corian counter top material but I have seen others use a thicker plastic cutting board.

Those are the only mods I made to my boat except for an anchor system. Be sure to leash all your gear so you won’t lose anything overboard.

~JOE~


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 5:12 am 
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i used Yakattack GT90 on mine. A 16 inch in front of the map pockets and an 8 inch behind the seat. These fit perfectly on the narrow gunnels and did not overhand anywhere like some of the wider tracks. They were very sturdy since they are aluminum.


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PostPosted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 11:51 pm 
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Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:48 pm
Posts: 278
Location: Missoula, Montana
I described how I set up my 13' Revolution for downrigger trolling, and explained why I set it up that way, in a post at https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/i ... #msg138905. This post may give you some ideas about how to design the simpler trolling setup which you are interested in developing.

The advantage of mounting fishing gear on gear tracks, rather than permanently mounted fixed bases, is that it allows you to use mounts from a variety of different manufacturers, it allows you to easily change the way your fishing gear is set up from day to day or during a single day, and it allows you to easily change the way that your kayak is set up as your preferences change over time, you learn better ways of setting up your kayak for fishing from other kayak anglers, and you get involved in fishing for different species. An example of the flexibility provided by gear tracks is shown in my post at https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/i ... #msg187408, which shows how I used gear tracks to set up my Revolution for planer board trolling. You probably wouldn't want to do anything that crazy, but if you wanted to, you could use gear tracks to do it.

For jigging, a wind direction indicator will help you hold yourself stationary over fish which you see on your fish finder. I described how to make a wind direction indicator which mounts in the mast base on a Revolution in a post at https://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/i ... #msg195603.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 6:06 pm 
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Thanks guys! Yep, based on your answers I think it is worth it to add the gear tracks for further flexibility in future. Also, it makes sense that sailing mast is too far or the screen would need to be larger.

For leashing the more heavy gear like rods I'm bit concerned that in case of falling does it make turning the kayak back more difficult? Maybe some stuff should be leashed to separate floats?

Pmmpete: Looks quite similar to lakes I'm going in Finland except no mountains and takes me looong time to catch fished like that! Downrigger I'm going to skip but similar planer boards are actually in the plan. Having the rods in "X-form" in the front is good idea and helps a bit on selecting the rod holders.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:00 pm 
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Joined: Tue Nov 19, 2013 11:48 pm
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Location: Missoula, Montana
There are two reasons to mount your fish finder near your knee on the gunwale of your Revolution, rather than in the mast mount at the front of your kayak's cockpit: (1) If you mount the fish finder near your knee, you'll be able to easily see its screen, but if you mount it in the mast mount, it'll be harder to see the screen, and (2) If you mount the fish finder near your knee, you'll be able to operate its controls easily, but if you mount it in the mast mount, you'll need to slide forward in your seat and reach way forward in front of your feet to operate its controls, and thus may not end up using the fish finder's capabilities as effectively.

For example, I do a lot of jigging for lake trout which are right on the bottom in 170-240 feet (52-73 meters) of water. I use the following fish finder screens when doing the jigging:

(a) A split sonar screen, which shows the entire water column on the right side, and only the bottom sixth or eighth of the water column on the left side. I can barely see lake trout on the bottom on the right side of the screen, but when the return is magnified 6x or 8x on the left side of the screen, when the bottom is fairly flat I can see lake trout clearly.

Image

(b) A GPS screen with Navionics lake maps, zoomed in very close. I use this screen to pedal slowly up-wind and up-current to hover over lake trout which I have located with the sonar screen.

I often switch between these screens every couple of seconds. If my fish finder was mounted at the front of my cockpit, I couldn't do that.

When choosing a place to mount your fish finder, be sure to leave enough room for you to climb back into your kayak on the side where the fish finder is mounted if you get dumped out of your kayak into the water.


Last edited by pmmpete on Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 10:01 pm 
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Location: Missoula, Montana
musse wrote:
For leashing the more heavy gear like rods I'm bit concerned that in case of falling does it make turning the kayak back more difficult? Maybe some stuff should be leashed to separate floats?


If you don't leash your gear to your kayak, or put flotation on your gear so it won't sink, you could lose a lot of expensive equipment, either by accidentally dropping it overboard, or by flipping your kayak.

The advantage of leashing gear to your kayak is that if you drop gear, or you flip your kayak over, the gear will stay attached to your kayak, and you won't lose it. I occasionally discover that a landing net or other piece of gear fell overboard quite a bit earlier, and is getting dragged around behind my kayak. If I hadn't leashed the equipment, even if it had flotation on it, I might not have beeen able to locate it in the lake or ocean. If you flip your kayak, and you have flotation on your gear, at least it won't end up on the bottom of the lake, although you will end up frantically churning around picking up up all the loose floating equipment. The advantage of leashing equipment to your kayak is that you won't have to locate the equipment if your kayak gets tipped over.

The disadvantage of leashing gear to your kayak is that if your kayak gets tipped over, you could get entangled in a hideous snarl of leashes. So use a minimum of leashes, avoid using long cord leases, and when possible use retractors which have enough tension so if your kayak flips over, the gear attached to the retractor will stay next to the retractor, and won't lend up hanging six feet below your kayak in a thicket of leashes. For example, I leash my water bottle and my fish measuring trough with leashes only about six inches long, unclip the gear before I use it, and re-clip it when I'm done using it. My lip gripper, fish bonker, pliers, folding knife, and scissors are on retractors, and I store them in the mesh pockets in the cockpit of my Revolution. My fishing poles are on small retractable dog leashes. I have a safety knife on my PFD, and if I get entangled in a leash, I could cut myself free.


Last edited by pmmpete on Thu Jul 18, 2019 6:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 11:51 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 1:27 am
Posts: 442
side imaging sounders are becoming popular, these do however need the transducer to be mounted external and below the hull


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