paddling out - how far, and how long?

[goldenglory18]

Originally Posted by oredith

After this weekend, and spending more time on the water, the wife is solidly on-board with spending time on the kayak and even fishing. I'm trying to figure out how much time I can realistically keep her out on the water, and how far I can get in that time in order to get in some fishing time...so, how far out do you guys generally go when fishing (doesn't have to be LB specific), how long does it generally take for you to get out that far?

That's a loaded question with a lot of variables.

For me, I typically travel about 4.5 to 5 miles in my bi-weekly trip. That trip is usually somewhere between 6-7 hours with a lot of drifting and coasting throughout the session.

This past Sunday (report to come eventually) I only traveled about 4 of those same miles, and was only out about 5 hours, but I had to paddle a lot more than usual as I totally screwed up my tide timing and went against it both on the way out, and on the way back in. I was much, MUCH more tired this trip than I usually am.

Wind, tide, current, and lastly your own stamina all play a role in how far someone can paddle in a session. It's how you put those things together that decides what the max is someone can handle.