YakDaddy "Slider" Hot

I've always wished I were more flexible. I'm not talking about mental or moral flexibility and my personal relationships are all pretty good. I'm talking about good ol' fashioned stretch ability. I'd like to be able to touch my toes, or maybe sit cross-legged on the floor and play spades with my kids. Nope, flexible I aint. Some of you may recall my post on the TKAA Order of the Turtle board. If you don't that's ok, read on.

My yak is a Wilderness System 160i and I really like it. The only problem I’ve had with it is reaching forward to my rod holder, or backward to my crate. It’s a long way to stretch, and like I said... I don’t stretch. I’ve tried a couple of different remedies over the years to help me reach my rod easier, but none have worked (stop snickerin… you know what I mean).

I purchased a rod holder extender a couple of years ago and it helped, but it didn’t solve the other problem. Reaching back to get something out of my crate remained difficult. Basically, I can reach inside my crate and fumble around, but I can’t turn far enough around to get at everything without some pain and loud cracking up and down my back. No big deal really, I just hang both legs over the side of the yak and get what I need. Still, I’ve always thought it would be nice to have easier access to my gear.

Last Fall I tried to reach something in my crate and the result was a nice new Order of the Turtle sticker for my yak. For those of you who don’t know what that is, visit the TKAA website and you’ll see the link somewhere down the page. So, I’ve been looking for a way to deal with my nonstretchiness for a while.

Last winter I spoke with Patrick at Yakdaddy.net about his Original Slider. He sent me one out to try and I’ve been fishing with it ever since. I think it’s the remedy I’ve been searching for. It allows me to reach my gear easily because it’s all stored in front of me. My crate is now used mainly for my anchor, lunch (sometimes one in the same), water, and other sundry items I like to carry around when I fish.

The Slider holds all of my accessories, including two Ram rod mounts, a camera mount, and my fish finder. It also holds my tackle box, allowing me to change lures or rigs with ease. Mounting the Original Slider to my yak was easy. It only required drilling two holes. If you’re outfitting a new yak, this is a huge advantage.

Most importantly for me, it slides. I can easily adjust its position forward or back by simply releasing a cam lever and sliding it. It doesn’t interfere with my ability to get in or out of my yak and its rugged and light weight. I’ve been fishing with it now for several months and it’s become permanent part of my kayak. If you like to troll all you do is position your rods and adjust the Slider to your liking and start paddling. I like using bait, so what I usually do is back my yak into I nice, reedy shoreline, rig up two rods, position my Slider so it’s up close in my lap and wait for the fish to come to me. When the strike happens, all I have to do is reach up and take the rod.

I haven’t found a down side to the Slider; I suppose you could argue that the wind may push me around a bit more, but I haven’t noticed it. Some adjustments have to be made when I paddle so I don’t hit the rod holders, but that’s really not a big deal to me. All I do is release the cam lever and push it forward a few inches. Problem solved. If you’re like me (as flexible as a 2x4), you should check out the Original Slider for yourself.

Back in June I was looking for ways to optimize the storage in my kayak. Fishing from a Malibu X-Factor I have no issues with the ability to carry or store pretty much anything I want on it, the problem was accessing it on while on the water. I've had the standard issue crate since I started kayak fishing, but not being the most flexible guy I have had issues accessing it easily, and have even ended up in the water while trying.

The original solutions was the tackle that I plan on using regularly I store in boxes in the hatch between my legs on the X-Factor. This worked however, during the J-Bay Tourney in May I had a wave or two come over the side of my yak when I had my hatch open, so I ended up with 4”-6” of water inside. While bailing out the kayak after paddling to a nearby island I decided I needed to find a better and safer solution.

After the tournament I started to look at different options and tried a few different homemade contraptions that didn’t work for me. That’s when I contacted Patrick Price at YakDaddy.net. I had seen the Slider in action on Mark “Landing Crew” Wheeler’s yak down at the YakAngler Boondoggle and liked the concept and saw that it was well made. However, I did have some questions on how it would stand up trolling up for some of the big stripers we chase up here in New England. So after talking to Patrick he convinced me that it would hold up with no problems and that he would send me one to try out and if I liked it he would like to have me join his ProStaff.

I received my Slider set-up and within an hour I had it installed on my yak by only drilling 2 new holes. The first time out in fresh water I loved having access to all my tackle, I could also troll 2 rods and see them, and my sonar/GPS was out of the way, but I could still get to it to adjust the settings or mark waypoints. After a few uses the one issue I had was that I was getting a lot of flex in my kayak from the front mount of the Slider. One call to Patrick and a few days later I had a backing plate installed which fixed the problem completely. Now some might think they did that special just for me but have I since met a few other customers that got the same personal service from YakDaddy, to make sure their Slider fit just right on their yak.

I have spent over a dozen days on the water and they have been some of the most productive days I’ve had on the yak. Now when I think I want to change a lure or try something different I never think “crap that lure is in the bottom of my crate” because it’s always within easy reach right in front of me. I can change tackle faster, easier, and quieter than I could before. It also has encouraged me to experiment more and try techniques that were out of my comfort zone.

Any questions I had about it being able to stand up to big salt water fish have been totally debunked. I have hooked up a couple of dozen stripers while trolling tubes and eels as well a few lobster pots that turned my yak 90 degrees instantly. The Slider so far is showing no wear and tear and there have been no other issues with flexing the hull of my yak.

So after a few months of testing I am proud to say that I am part of the YakDaddy ProStaff, but even if I wasn’t, you would see me with a Slider on the front of my yak. It’s a great innovative product that makes fishing easier and more comfortable, especially for us anglers that aren’t quite as flexible as we used to be.

Patrick and Leslie Price gave me their Yakdaddy Deluxe Slider during CKO's first tournament and asked that I write a review. I was so excited to be given such a wonderful item of such great innovation. When I first saw them set up the slider displays and talked through the mounting and functionality of the devise, I was kinda skeptical at first thinking it would be too top heavy and interfere with kayaking strokes. So this is my first review of their product.

When I see ‘Some assembly required…” I get ready for a two day ordeal involved with some cussing and throwing tools. Not the case here. I placed the Slider on my Perception 13 and it looked like it was made to fit my kayak. I moved it around some to see if it would fit better in a different spot, but it was a good fit right where I first placed it. Like most people…who needs instructions? My yak has a dry hole by the bottom of my seat so easy access to bolt in the bottom rail. I also have a dry hole on the top so in arm’s reach the top rail was secure. Only one extra washer was used. I was surprised that just two bolts secured the commercial grade PVC base. Very little play on it. The top part of the slider is made out of polyethylene marine material so I was surprised that it was that light being such a large attachment. It slide very smooth and I saw that the travel peg and travel release worked with ease.

Since I usually load and unload kayaks from the top of my jeep roof by myself, I had concerns with the added weight and weight shifting. I was going to load it with the entire feature on but did immediately feel the added weight movement. I easily slid the top off. My only concern was if the plastic boat did fall off, I didn’t want to damage the base unit. A problem that I will have to find a solution for.

My friends and I got the super-duper, kayak fishing machine to the water easily. I was careful getting in thinking the upper weight distribution would play a factor. Not at all. I loaded my rods in the two RAM-117 Rod Holders. I have never used these before and loved how they turned and maneuvered so easily. I started with the rods straight out and the slider moved all the way forward. First strokes. Not a problem. From being a previous racer, I did some sit up and straight forward, aggressive paddle strokes and never hit the mounts. I then flared out the rod holders to the position that I could troll. I moved the slider back and forth with ease. I imagined you would hear a grinding or intrusive sound but the machine was silent. Again, aggressive forward strokes. I would come to 1 to 2 inches from the rod holders but it didn’t interfere with my strokes.

Before Melinda and I started out from the dock, a couple stopped to talk to us. My very first comment with the Slider…. The gentlemen said, “You look very professional.” Yeah!! Even if I do have pink rods and a pink cooler.

One of our main goals that day was just to paddle and enjoy the late November air. We paddled about three miles and not once did the Slider cause any difference to my boat. Time to put it to work. There was no interference with casting with the other rod angled to the front side. Time to switch baits. Sliding the Flambeau 7320 double sided tackle box was easy to get to a spinner bait. The light weight box sat across my legs made an easy table. In the past, if I dropped a bait, especially a treble hooked monster, it would get caught on my clothes or drop in the bottom of the boat somewhere. I could keep all my baits right on my lap-top desk.

Another thing I noticed that made this fishing trip a deluxe accommodation outfit, is that I usually have my reel dangling somewhere in the boat or in the water when putting line thru the eyelets. Note in the picture, that the reel with the rod balances between the back slider rails. A thought for an add-on is a rubber holder to secure the rod better for this process.
With the bait on the rod, and the rod in the sleeve of the holder, I placed the tackle box in the top unit. It secured on very easy with no hard pulling on the bungee cord the J-hook looks very secure. Slide it forward and off I go.

Oh, you’re wanting to know how it works when you do catch a fish??? Well, you’ll just have to wait for the rest of the story…

I rate this a 9 ½. When it helps me catch that 30 lb striper, then it gets a full 10. That’s just my two cents. Thank you Patrick and Leslie Price.

PS... I don’t have a fish locator or depth finder yet…. But if anyone wants to send me one to write a review, I could do that. LOL!

This is a very innovative piece of equipment. I had the Mini Slider on my Coosa. It is very useful for mounting a fish finder or rod holder or anything else you could imagine. The operation of the Slider is flawless and very easy. It is also very lightweight and does not impede the operation of the kayak. If you are looking for extra storage on your yak you should definitely look into the Slider.