I'll never forget the day I watched a perfectly calm morning paddle turn into chaos. My buddy Mike and I were cruising Lady Bird Lake in Austin when a sudden wind gust caught his recreational kayak broadside. In seconds, he went from sipping coffee to swimming. That's when the reality hit me – even on […]

Last summer on Lake Travis, I watched a guy load his sit-in kayak with two coolers, camping gear, and his 80-pound golden retriever. The kayak sat so low that water started pouring over the cockpit rim before he even pushed off from shore. That expensive fishing kayak became a submarine in about 30 seconds flat. […]

I'll never forget my first time paddling into Sunny Jim's Cave. The morning sun lit up the sandstone walls like they were made of gold, and a curious sea lion popped up right next to my kayak, close enough to spray me with his exhale. That was twelve years ago, and I've been hooked on […]

I'll never forget the disaster that was my first solo fishing trip. There I was at Lake Travis, brand new rod in hand, surrounded by seasoned anglers pulling in bass left and right. Meanwhile, I spent the first hour trying to figure out why my line kept wrapping around itself like a bird's nest. Turns […]

The first time I truly understood how much wind for kayak safety matters was on Lake Travis three years ago. What started as a glass-calm morning turned into a white-knuckled paddle back to shore when 25 mph gusts rolled in without warning. My 12-foot rec kayak turned into a sail, and I spent two exhausting […]

Last Saturday morning, I realized my fishing license had expired the night before – right as I was loading my fishing kayak onto the truck at 5 AM. My usual DMV office wouldn't open for hours, but then I remembered: Walmart sells fishing licenses. Twenty minutes later, I walked out with a fresh license and […]

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest the first time I saw those two eyes and nostrils breaking the surface, maybe 20 feet from my kayak. It was on the Wakulla River in North Florida, and that gator must have been 8 feet long. But here's the thing - after 15 years of paddling […]

Last Saturday morning on Lake Travis, I burned through 450 calories in just one hour of moderate paddling - and that was before the wind picked up. If you're wondering whether kayaking counts as real exercise, I've got news for you: this sport torches calories while you're having the time of your life on the […]

The sun was just breaking over Lake Murray when I landed my first keeper bass of the day. As I held that beautiful 3-pounder, dripping and gleaming in the morning light, I faced the same challenge every kayak angler knows too well: now what? That morning taught me a valuable lesson about storing fish on […]

Last Saturday, I stood in my garage staring at three kayaks leaning precariously against the wall, taking up half the floor space. My fishing rod collection was buried somewhere behind them, and I'd already knocked over my 14-foot touring kayak twice that week. Sound familiar? After pricing out commercial kayak racks (seriously, $300+ for some […]