Kayak angler urges club anglers to give it a try

An ambitious kayak angler is taking the sport to new levels – by launching his craft on UK canals, rivers and even commercial carp lakes!

Andrew Hoyle regularly catches carp, pike, roach and bream while afloat and he is now encouraging others to do the same, by offering demonstrations to encourage clubs and fisheries to allow them. The Manchester man is one of England’s top kayak anglers, a fast growing arm of the sport which has so far been largely confined to saltwater in the UK.  He told Angling Times that he recently fished a small carp lake for the first time with his one-man vessel, much to the surprise of anglers sat on seatboxes nearby.

“For me it’s the intimacy of fishing at such close quarters to the water and the fish. I think you miss this when you’re sat high up on a bank,” explained Andrew. “The closest thing I can compare it to is wading out into a river and bringing fish to hand waist deep. You also see a lot of things you wouldn’t from the bank, such as fish flashing over your bait. You can get away with really light tackle because you don’t need casting power so it’s very enjoyable fishing.”

The only thing hindering Andrew and other freshwater kayak anglers at the moment is a lack of access, because he says that a lot of clubs will not allow kayaks on their waters. He is adamant, though, that kayak fishing causes the minimum of disturbance.

“We glide across the water so it’s all very quiet and subtle and my own kayak has peddles to operate a small propeller underneath. It’s not suitable on really narrow canals or on lakes which are very busy in summer, but where appropriate it’s become a very addictive platform for fishing. The adrenalin really gets going when you hook a big fish and fight it directly beneath you,” he added.

All the fish he catches are photographed and submitted for points in the worldwide Kayak Wars competition, an annual series of leagues in various continents. He is currently ranked sixth in Europe and second in the UK.

**For more information on kayak fishing or to request a demonstration from Andrew, email: manchesterangler@gmail.com. **