Stand Up Paddle Board Fishing the Local Ponds for Northern Pike
By: Jason Paez • finsandtwins (instagram)
Mosquitos, Mosquitos, and more Mosquitos!!! Was it worth it for us to chase some hammer handle pike at the local neighborhood pond? In this case it most definitely was and since some time has passed, I can safely say I do not have West Nile.
Fishing from a Stand-Up Paddle Board (SUP) can feel like an odd endeavor at first especially if you are just using a basic inflatable setup. I think that fishing from a SUP has some advantages and with a little bit of effort and time you get into a rhythm with the board and the fishing. I found the biggest advantage to using SUPs is that they can get you into places that a lot of other types of watercraft cannot. There are endless options for the type of boards you can use including fishing specific designs, and the inflatable models are also very easy to transport. You could even take them on trips and check them onto an airline.
During run-off my buddy Jeff and I had heard reports from his brother that the bite for northern pike in one of the local ponds in town had started to turn on and we went to check the spot out. The first time we went there we were on foot and didn’t know what to expect. We found the banks were hard to fish from with a fly rod and even though we caught a few Black Crappies we couldn’t setup for shots at the Pike. So, we conjured up a plan to return with some paddle boards.
A few days later we were back and as we launched our SUPs into the water, we immediately knew it was going to be a fun evening because we started spotting fish almost immediately. Fishing from the SUP took a little bit of practice. First, you would paddle to a spot and kept a sharp eye out for fish along the way. Once you found a bank you wanted to hit or spotted a fish you had to manage the wind and this part is the tricky part. The slightest breeze, body movements, etc. would push the board close to the bank or away from where you wanted to be. So, for best practice we found it was effective to paddle to where you wanted to cast from, set the paddle down, quickly pick up your rod and cast, strip the fly in and go back to the paddle to re-setup for the next round before casting again. After getting into a rhythm we started getting lots of hits and had a blast catching angry little Northern Pike…until the mosquitos came! After about a hundred bites we bailed but the action was so good we came back for more the following week however, that time we wore lots of layers and covered ourselves in bug spray!
5 Tips for fishing from a SUP:
- Have a waterproof bag and remember less is more. The less stuff you have to worry about while paddling, casting and balancing the better! Having a net is useful for controlling the fish.
- Use the SUP to get into the hard to reach fishy spots that no one else can access but keep it stealthy by paddling slow and making calculated movements so the fish don’t pick up on your presence. I even sat down on the SUP sometimes to be less visible.
- Carry a Go-Pro for photography and it is probably smart to connect it to a floatable mount. Having a phone etc. on you could go badly if the SUP tips.
- Unless you have a fishing specific SUP with a rod holder like my buddy Jeff, make sure to only carry your best all-around rod for the fishing that you will be doing. Having multiple rods is a mess. I also found laying the rod down in the middle of the board while I paddled was good for a quick pick up and I would swap the paddle into the same spot.
- Wear a vest in case all hell breaks loose plus, it gives you some extra storage. Wear bug spray and sun protection!
