I do not catch fish for the market, fill up a cooler, or even catch the legal limit. All I want is something to put on the table. I travel on business and I am on the road a great deal of the time, but when I am home I try simply to reap a meal from the bay and I utilize a kayak to do so. For some reason, food that you harvest or gather from the wild or the waters tastes better, and there is some inherent satisfaction from doing so from a watercraft that requires human power instead of an engine.

Since I am in the kayak business I not only try to only utilize a kayak for fishing but for any other marine activity that requires watercraft. We have discussed the advantages of using kayaks for the various types of fishing* but there are many other ways to enjoy your kayak to harvest other types of seafood.

One of the things that I love about fishing out of a kayak is keeping it simple, taking only a minimal amount of gear with me.  On many occasions when I’ve been paddling or poling my kayak on a fishing trip, I will see an abundance of crabs.  The next thing you know, I’ll have grabbed my landing net and started scooping crabs. I have on other occasions seen huge schools of mullet and wished that I had brought my mullet net along (we eat mullet in Alabama). On other occasions, I have seen big white shrimp jumping in the shallows and wished that I’d had along my shrimp cast net.

In picking a target to pursue, I often predetermine specific species based on the season, weather conditions, moon, tides, winds, water clarity, history or anything else that will help make the choice.

For example, this morning there was a north wind blowing. I have been waiting on a north wind to push some white shrimp out of the upper bay, for it is past time for them to start moving down the shore line.  All conditions were right. I took my shrimp cast net and paddled to an area that I knew would hold shrimp.  Sure enough, I caught a nice mess of white shrimp.

While throwing my cast net for shrimp I also caught a good sized flounder for breakfast.  Flounder are also moving down the bay at this time of year as they head to the Gulf to spawn.  Not only can I catch them by day with conventional fishing tackle but also by gigging them at night with an underwater light rigged on my kayak.

It is also the time of year when blue crabs are congregating around the river mouths in the upper bay, so the other day I poled my kayak around the grass flats in the upper bay and caught a mess of blue crabs.  While it’s getting cooler and time for hunting ducks and snipe with my kayak, it is also time to take advantage of some of the low winter tides to paddle out to the exposed oyster beds and pickup a mess of oysters. Before you know it spring will be here again and it will be time to rig up my kayak to go frog gigging and soft shell crabbing.  Frog legs and soft shell crabs are two of my favorites.

And, the kayak is such a versatile watercraft that I use it to harvest a wide variety of edible species other than fish that live in or around the water: a kayak has opened many new ways of harvesting the sea for me that are both economically and environmentally friendly. It is a peaceful and rewarding way of gathering a meal with the added benefit of being on the water and close to nature.

It is really beneficial to know the seasons and the life cycles of the species that you are pursuing.  If you are new to an area and interested in learning more, try to enlist some help from locals or a marine biologist. Most state fish and wildlife, fish and game or natural resource agencies offer helpful literature.  Enjoy learning about your new environment!