Gear Review - Malone Kayak Cart

With the new Old Town Predator 13 kayak I'm riding this year, transporting my kayak became a little more difficult.   The Predator, being 93 pounds empty, is a lot heavier than my Old Town Dirigo recreational kayak.   I can pick the Dirigo and carry that boat fairly easily, but the Predator is tough!

To address this, I picked up the Malone Kayak Cart from Paul at Eco-Logicial Adventures in Oromocto.   Paul recommended this, and knowing that Paul really knows his stuff, I took him at his word.   This kayak cart has big rubber wheels, adusts to width of the scupper holes to fit virtually any sit on top kayak, and breaks down very quickly for easy transport in the kayak.

 Launching yesterday at the Hampton Dock, I decided to make use of the kayak cart and fully load up the Predator up in the parking lot.    5 rods, a full milk crate with 6 plano boxes of gear, my anchor, several rod holders, net, a cooler with snacks and worms... all adding up to somewhere between 150 and 200 lbs.   With the kayak cart placed in the scuppers directly under the rear of my seat (closer to the middle than the rear of the kayak), I was able to easily trasport my kayak around the parking lot and down to the water with just 1 hand!   No more multiple trips from the vehicle to the water!

Once at the water, it was pretty easy to lift the rear of the kayak off the cart and have it just fall out.   Then I just unsnapped the tires and put them in my front storage bin, and put the frame of the kayak cart on the far rear of the Predator, secured with the bungee cords.

The return trip however proved to be trickier.   Once finished with the fishing trip, I had to get the kayak cart fitted back into the scupper holes.    The only way I could do this on my own was to tip my kayak sideways.   With a second person, one could lift the kayak while the other maneuvers the cart into the scuppers, but that's not possible on your own.    You have to take off whatever loose gear is on your kayak, tip it sideways and put the cart into the holes and then reload the kayak (quickly as it's about to be unloaded at the vehicle) before walking it back.  

Pulling over 150 lbs back up the hill wasn't as easy as coming down the hill obviously, but with 2 hands this time on the kayak, it was easy enough!

Need a kayak cart for your sit on top?  Then check out the Malone Xpress Cart from Paul at Eco-Logical Adventures.   I'm sure you'll be as happy with it as I am with mine!

10,000 views contest results

There was a great response to my first ever contest, with 32 people submitting their names and most providing some great feedback.   I put all the names into a hat and the very first submission into the contest turned out to be the winner - Tom Callary out of Sydney, NS!   

For winning the contest I'll be sending Tom:
 - A personally designed sturgeon rig with which I've had great success (Owner Hook frog hook, 4/0 open face hook, 30 lb mono leader, snap swivel, slider snap, and weight
 - Streamside hat
 - 2 Sharktooths
 - Lymans Lure
 - Knot 2 Kinky titanium leader
 - Invisaswivels

Congrats Tom!     I'll do another such contest at 20,000 views!

Among the great feedback received was the following:

• Keep up the good work Joe. You are a great asset to the NB angling community.
• Love following ur feeds, we target alot of the same species (stripers and sturgeon). Also follow your YouTube channel. Enjoy seeing the falls for stripers.
• Well what to say about your blog.....I really enjoy it as is, look forward to the pic & videos & stories, like the ones with your boys and of course your dad. Keep doing what your doing.
• That looks really cool, I have always wanted to try kayaking and to combine it with fishing is even better.
• That is a very nice sturgeon in the pic, it would be really cool to try to catch one of those by kayak.
• I enjoy reading this Joe in all honesty. You fish a different way and for different species than I go after so I am all about learning new techniques.
• Great Blog Joe. Very informative, great pictures.
• You're doing a great job on it. It would be nice to be able to comment on it, but that would take more admin cycles from you.
• Love the blog man keep it up
• It's a pretty great blog Joe. I enjoy reading it when I can't actually be out there experiencing the joys of fishing! Keep it up!
• Enjoy reading your posts on nb fishing
• Doing a great job!!!
• Great blog Joe, even for non kayakers !!
• Nice blog.   like to see more on fishing from shore & best time of year to fish for each diff. species
• Great site.  Always enjoy reading about fishing.
• Just keep churning out great content
• Really enjoy your blog as it is local and honest.  Neat to hear of places to fish that I am not aware of, unfortunately most are a fare distance from Riverview.
• Always a nice read well I'm away at work keep it up joe
• I think you are doing a great job.  Good write ups for most major days on the water.  I enjoy reading them.
• Love reading your adventures, and seeing the videos. I have only yak fished once, and besides learning that I need either floats for my gear or lanyards, it was a good time. Hoping to get my own yak soon! Keep the lines tight!

As well there were some great requests fed back!

• Some content on Brook and/ or Brown trout
• Any info, stories and pics on fishing in the Fredericton area is always welcome
• Maybe more info on rigging/bait for the different species in NB
• The sturgeon how-to last fall was great. Maybe you can do a similar species series and write about different species and when to find them, where to look for them (ex/ undercut bank not specific locations unless larger bodies of water), gear to use, bait/lures, etc.
• a blog about IPop's yak and tips for people who maybe interested in building a DIY yak (or even a guest blog).
• Maybe blog about ipop taking you out and schooling you on catching smallmouth LOL
• Guest bloggers reviewing their kayaks and/or mods
• Gear reviews, especially stuff you have received and really had a chance to test on the water
• Great blog, I would love to see you fish some obscure spots anywhere north of Miramichi. Id also love to see more rainbow trout, I know they are rare here, but they are beautiful and photograph well!
• MORE SHARKS, SALMON AND STRIPERS, some trout would be nice too

I'll see what I can do on some of these requests.   I'm really hoping to address the lack of trout content in the Spring with a trip to visit Clay at Long Lake Adventures.    I had intended on spending some time out at First and Second Lake this year but could never find the time to get out there.

As for detailed how-tos on species other than sturgeon, I'm still in the learning phase myself on many of the species.   I have a ton to learn on smallmouth fishing, and am only just getting started in striper fishing.   Hopefully over the next year though, I'll be able to discuss more species beyond sturgeon!

I like the idea of blogging a little about IPop.   For those of you who don't know IPop, he's been a fantastic mentor to me over the last 2 years.   We fish together often, and I'm sure I could get some information from him on his homemade kayaks and good content on how he routinely kicks my butt in smallmouth fishing!    At least I'm keeping up with him for the most part in several other species!

I am hoping to hit more waters in and around NB that I haven't had the chance to yet explore including the Mirimichi area!   Perhaps soon I could be up in that next of the woods.