Device eases life for kayak fishermen

[Spiel]

Device eases life for kayak fishermen

 

 

07/27/08

By Eric Sharp / DETROIT FREE PRESS

 

 

DETROIT — It’s one of those things you look at, slap your forehead and think, “Why didn’t someone invent this 100 years ago?” And if you’re an avid kayak fisherman, you’ll probably give it serious thought even though it carries a fairly high price tag.

 

It’s the Stinger, a device that kayak dealer, angler and fishing guide Craig Kivi invented as the solution to the vexing problem of anchoring a small craft in shallow water where tide, current or the wind won’t let the boat sit still.

 

Anyone who has tried to handle a paddle or anchor line with one hand while casting with the other knows how frustrating that can be. Kivi’s Stinger makes it nearly effortless.

 

It consists of a telescoping, heavy, stainless steel rod mounted vertically in a bracket at the stern of the boat. A three-eighths-inch line from the bottom of the rod runs up to the stern through a small sailboat block (pulley) and along the gunwale to a jam cleat mounted on the cockpit coaming near the paddler’s hand.

 

Releasing the line from the cleat lets the Stinger drop into the bottom or spaces in the rocks in water as deep as 4 feet. Pulling the line in with one hand raises the rod so effortlessly a 3-year-old could do it.

 

This first version costs $290 — he’s working on a bigger model for bigger flat boats — and Kivi said he figures he’ll be able to bring the price down as sales increase and he can buy the components in bulk.

 

“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” said Kivi, who owns Log Cabin Hardware and Golden Drake Outdoors in Pinckney and guides mostly on the shallow Huron River. “It seemed so obvious that when I started a patent search, I couldn’t believe that someone hadn’t thought of it before.

 

“A lot of times you want to stop the boat so you can fish from it, to get out and wade, but a regular anchor is a real nuisance. You have to mess with a lot of line, and half the time either it won’t hold where you want to be or it gets stuck on the bottom so you can’t get it out.”

 

The Stinger I tried with a 12-foot Heritage Redfish sit-on-top kayak worked as well as Kivi claimed on bottoms of sand, gravel, rocks and even in sunken timber.

 

“You want to back-paddle and slow the boat down before you drop the Stinger,” he said. “Some people ask how that blunt tip can penetrate gravel, but it’s all about pounds per square inch.”

 

I love fishing shallow rivers and flats in both freshwater and salt. If I want to fish an area carefully, I usually stop the boat by anchoring or running it up on a sandbar and then get out and wade.

 

I did that at first with the Stingerequipped boat until I realized that I could simply drop the Stinger, fish a spot and then raise the Stinger and slide downstream 20 or 30 feet and stop again with no muss or fuss. Most of the time there was no need to get out of the boat except to stretch my legs.

 

The Stinger is available through Log Cabin Hardware, (734) 426-2256. It will be available soon at goldendrake.com.