Many of us dream of sportfishing but how many of us really have the means to pursue such an elitist sport? Here in Hawaii, the cost of chartering a boat for a day could easily run around $600-$900 and most will agree that owning a boat, even a relatively small one, is the proverbial "hole in the water."

Over the last few years, a quiet version of sportfishing has evolved into a class almost unto itself, kayak fishing. Although kayak fishing may have been around for years, the innovations and trophies being pursued these days have been turning heads in the fishing world along while attracting ranks of new paddling anglers!

Take the "tupperware" kayaks that have long been the durable go-anywhere beach toys, rig some rod holders, fish bags, and even fish finders and you've created a mean and lean fishing machine. With a price tag of under $2,000 for a dream cruiser and some decent tackle to boot, kayak fishing could be the biggest thing to happen since Bertram Yachts came out with the Deep-V!

Propelled with nothing but a paddle, kayak anglers can often be found working the coastline far out enough to where they're boating pelagics like wahoo, dorado, sailfish, and even marlin! It's a fishing combination that gives the angler an opportunity to fight a fish like no other. The slow trolling speeds required and relatively great stability of most of these fun kayaks make kayak fishing something most can slide into pretty easily. You don't have to be one of those macho-types associated with the tippy surfskis or one-man outrigger canoes that have exploded in popularity in recent years.

Trolling on a kayak is to glide silently through the water in anticipation of "the bite." The lack of any engine noise adds to the drama when the reel starts screaming and line starts to peel out from the spool with the fish's initial strike and run. Then the excitement takes on a whole new dimension as the light weight of the kayak allows the fish to tow it through the water, a sensation one would never experience on even the smallest of conventional fishing craft.

It's been nearly two years since I started kayak fishing and I can't believe it took me so long to give it a try. Having fished from boats and from the shore, I really thought I'd "been there done that" until I got my first big strike trolling a lure on a kayak. What turned out to be an eleven-pound trevally on light tackle got me hooked on fishing like I'd never been before. Soon, we moved up to larger tackle and eventually began working much deeper water for the pelagic trophies.

Certainly, we'll never come back with a collection of fish to cover the dock like many of our "bigger boat" counterparts, but when fishing from a kayak one or two are really all you need as the memory of landing a bluewater tropy from a kayak is more than enough to satisfy the saltiest of us all.