I'll never forget the night my 12-foot kayak nearly became a submarine. It was 2 AM on the James River, and I'd just hooked into what felt like a Volkswagen with whiskers. My drag screamed as 40 pounds of blue catfish decided to test whether my anchor trolley was properly installed (spoiler: it wasn't). Twenty […]

Last month, my mailbox collapsed. Not from age or weather – from the sheer weight of kayaking magazines I'd subscribed to during my "research phase" for a new fishing kayak. My mail carrier wasn't amused, but after 20 years of paddling and reading everything I could get my hands on about the sport, I've learned […]

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 […]

The thermometer read 28°F when I launched my kayak into Lake Travis last January. Steam rose from the water like ghostly fingers, and ice crystals formed on my paddle blade between strokes. Most folks thought I was crazy, but that magical morning paddle - watching the sunrise paint the frozen shoreline gold while a great […]

The first time I went kayaking at night, I broke about six different laws without even knowing it. No lights, no whistle, just me and my old Perception kayak sliding through the darkness on Lake Travis. I got lucky – no tickets, no collisions, just a stern warning from a park ranger who spotted me […]

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 weekend at Devil's River, I watched a guy drag his $2,000 composite kayak over rocks for 200 yards. The sound of fiberglass grinding against limestone still haunts me. When he finally reached the put-in, his hull looked like it went through a cheese grater. Here's the thing about portaging a kayak – it's not […]

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 […]

Last Saturday morning on Lake Travis, I watched a guy in a $3,000 carbon fiber kayak struggle to load his boat onto his SUV while I stuffed my inflatable into a backpack. He looked at me like I was crazy - until I beat him to the water by 20 minutes. After testing over 30 […]

I'll never forget the first time I stuffed an inflatable kayak into my backpack and hiked 8 miles to a hidden alpine lake in the Rockies. My buddies thought I was crazy hauling the extra weight, but their jaws dropped when I pulled out what looked like a rolled-up sleeping bag and transformed it into […]