I’ve written about this before, but being visible in your kayak is an important consideration! This year I’ve primarily been fishing out of my sit-on-top Jackson Coosa FD kayak. I know first-hand how busy our beautiful Door County waters are with watercraft of all types, including plenty of kayakers, especially this July 4th weekend.
With the kayaks having such a low profile, they are hard to see sometimes. Many times those pleasure boaters have several people in the boat talking, laughing and probably not always looking for or able to see small watercraft like kayaks. I’m on the water often and see both recreational kayakers and anglers out in those bigger fishing kayaks. From a safety standpoint, I’ve always liked having fishing and recreational kayaks that are brightly colored. I like bright orange, lime green or chartreuse, white, red, etc. Those darker greens, grays and browns tend to blend into the water and are much less visible. An easy way to greatly increase your visibility is using a brightly colored PFD. My Astral Sturgeon PFD is Blaze Orange and as you can see in the article picture offers great visibility!
Nicely, many of the recreational kayak paddles come with yellow, orange or white blades that can be seen for quite a distance. Another accessory I’ve used is the YakAttack VISIpole that comes with a bright orange flag on a flexible shaft that flies a few feet above the kayak and is easy to install. If you are out early or late with low-light, I might suggest their VisiCarbonPro with a light on top.
As always, when on the big waters of Green Bay or Lake Michigan be as safe as possible. For you smallmouth bass anglers, fishing this season has been somewhat slow with the cold spring, but, with the recent warmer weather and rising water temps it has improved up and down the peninsula. I’ve been having very good luck with a presentation called the Ned Rig. I use a light chartreuse colored jig with a Z-Man Finesse TRD in the best color, Green Pumpkin Goby! Also, Keitech USA 2.8 FAT Swing Impact and the Z-Man 3-inch SlimSwimz. Both are small swimbaits and after a long cast should retrieved slow and steady on a light Z-Man or Gopher Tackle 1/16 or 3/32 ounce chartruese jig. The soft plastic lures mentioned can be found at the local Sturgeon Bay Tackle Shop!
If you have any questions about kayak fishing or kayaking in general, please email me at kayakfishingwisconsin@gmail.com. Also, my primary talk at Sports Shows and Fishing Clubs for 2026 is Chasing Smallies: Sharing My Secrets. If you love catching and releasing smallies, you can email me for a PDF of this talk!
