u/txflyfishingjournal

Put in on the Colorado River just downstream of Austin and had one of those sessions where everything came together. Guadalupe bass, a solid largemouth, and a chunky bluegill, three different species, all within a short paddle of downtown.

Largemouth Bass caught while paddling the Colorado River near Austin

That's honestly the part that gets me. A city of almost a million people, and you can be off the water and back home in less time than it takes to sit through Austin traffic on I-35. Not many cities this size have a river running through the middle of them that still fishes like this.

Guadalupe Bass caught on the Colorado River near Austin

Access like this doesn't happen by accident though. It takes public put-ins, easements, and people actually showing up and using the water so it stays worth fighting for. If you've got a river running through your city, use it. That's usually what keeps it protected.

Chunky Bluegill caught fly fishing on the Colorado River

https://kayakanglermag.com/tactics-skills/how-to-transport-fishing-kayak/

(Fair warning, it's a 2021 piece, but the basics haven't aged.)

A few things that stood out:

They point out that fishing yaks can run past 100 lbs and 40 inches wide, and that factory racks generally aren't meant for much more than about 80 lbs and 38 inches once you factor in wind load and hard braking. Their answers are a trailer, a pickup bed (with an extender if it's a short bed), or an aftermarket base rack.

For the tie-down they like 1 inch cam straps, a double wrap around the bar so the strap can't creep side to side, and one twist in the strap to kill that highway hum. Buckle on the passenger side so roadside adjustments are easy, then shake test the boat. If the whole car rocks on its suspension instead of the boat moving on the bars, you're good.

The part I think people skip is bow and stern lines. They run paracord with trucker's hitches as backup in case the rack itself lets go, and they specifically say don't tie off to the plastic grille or air dam since those aren't real anchor points.

For what it's worth, I'm on a truck with a bed extender now, which makes life easy. Before that I ran a roof rack, and the thing that made loading my fishing kayak solo actually manageable was a Malone Channel Loader. It's a roller that sits on the back of the vehicle on suction cups. You set the boat behind the car, get the bow up on the roller, then lift the stern and walk it forward, so you're only lifting part of the weight. Extremely valuable if you load alone. Malone lists it at a 75 lb capacity, so check that against your boat:

https://maloneautoracks.com/Channel-Loader-TM-Load-Assist-Module-MPG367.html

What's everybody running? Trailer, truck bed, roof rack with a loader or lift assist, something else? Especially curious what's working for heavier boats when you're loading solo.

Guadalupe bass, largemouth, and a chunky bluegill, all 15 minutes from downtown Austin

Came across this Kayak Angler article on transporting fishing kayaks and figured it was worth passing along, especially if you're still running a big sit-on-top on a factory roof rack.