On Friday, February 17, kayak anglers from around the country will descend on a little island in the Everglades. Now in its second year, the popular three-day weekend kayak fishing event is a joint venture of KayakFishingRadio.com and YakAngler.com. The get-together offers kayak anglers the opportunity to meet up and fish, and to share tips and techniques with like-minded individuals.

With the advent of loop-to-loop connections from fly to leader, many fly fishers have gotten away from the tried-and-true nail knot. I’ve tried both (and other options), and among them all I find the nail knot to be the strongest connection with the least likelihood to “hinge”. My long-time tool to make tying the nail knot easier was an inexpensive small U-shaped channel that was attached to a nipper. It was great for years in fresh water, but only a year in the salt had the pivoting joint bound up tight in spite of being cleaned and lubed after every trip. I went online to dig up a replacement, and found the Duncan “Tailknott’r”.

Most of the contestants in the Kayak Fishing ClassicS spend a lot of time on the water pre-fishing the areas of our next tournaments. Scouting an area is a key to success in any fishing tournament and it can take up a lot of time. In a kayak, just getting there can do the same. “Bassyaks” has the answer!

By no means would I call this a definitive guide to rigging a kayak for photos and video - more along the lines of some personal preferences I have acquired over time. I'm sure they will evolve as fresh ideas emerge and innovative new products serve the needs of this ever-changing sport. For now, I'd like to share the setup I used to shoot footage over the past two years, along with some new items that I've acquired. I will use scenes from my last video, Addiction: Kayak Fishing, to refer to some of the angles I talk about. Although it was a lot of work putting it together, I found it very rewarding to look back, relive, and share those cherished moments on the water.