WHILE WRITING this column, all the trauma of 10 years ago flooded my memory.

My friend Joe Kennick and I had just completed a successful goose hunt and were having breakfast when the news broke on the TV at the diner where we were eating.

You could hear a pin drop, and then the moans and groans and some sobbing. And the unbelievable news that we were under attack soon hit all who were there. God bless those we lost, and God bless America for always protecting our freedom and democratic way of life.

SALTWATER fishing from kayaks and canoes is becoming more and more commonplace. Especially when fishing the bays and estuaries for stripers and bluefish, selection of your craft and fishing gear is very, very important. We’ll give you a few examples why.

You’re fishing a bluefish blitz with your new kayak, with bluefish fighting for the honor of grabbing your topwater plug. Excitement is extreme. You get a strike from a huge fish and he immediately heads for you and dives under your bow.

But your rod is not long enough to lead the fish around the boat and because you’ve tightened your drag quite a bit to handle these feisty fish, you hold on and watch in horror as the strength of this bluefish tips you and your kayak over in frigid water.

Think this is an extreme example? Every year we hear horror stories like this that have led to tragic results.

This problem could have been overcome with a kayak of the size that would allow the fisherman to lead the fish around the bow, or with a rod of enough length and backbone to do the same.

Much the same problem could also result from the fundamental choice of type of kayak you’ve chosen. Most
kayak fishermen now choose the sit-on models over the sitin ones. Should you encounter a rogue wave, or roll the kayak as in the bluefish example above, the sit-on models won’t take on water that eventually could cause a capsizing. And it’s much easier to get back onto a sit-on model than a sitin one that has to be emptied of its water.

When the water warms up, stripers will start to feed on the flats. During the daytime, stealth is very important in getting within range of these smart fish. Because of their stealth, kayaks have enabled some catches that would have been impossible with regular boats or canoes.

At places like the Merrimack River’s famous Joppa Flats, both day and nighttime kayak anglers will troll the shallow water with tube-and-worm combinations or live eels and catch some incredible fish. Most of these specialist anglers now have gone to electric motors to propel their craft, making their stealth even more effective.

Fishermen plying the shallow water, especially fly anglers, will use their kayaks to get into casting range of cruising stripers. Even using Polarized sunglasses, on a sunny day with a little chop on the water the stripers can be almost impossible to see. These fishermen cast to shadows on sandy bottom that reveal their target’s presence.

Choosing your kayak and fishing gear shouldn’t be done on a whim. Careful selection can be a life-or-death decision but also can make a big difference in your comfort and angling results.

SCOUTING FOR TURKEY: Fall wild turkey hunters should be using their spare time to do some serious scouting to make sure that they are working fertile ground when the season opens. Right now, many of the poults are about the size of a pheasant, but there are also mixed broods with three or four hens present that will exhibit size differences that are remarkable. Some of the early hatchlings are now almost hard to differentiate from their mothers, while others that may be the product of a hen’s second effort are not much bigger than a pigeon.

Here are two of the most effective methods of working a territory in advance of wild turkey season:

•Try to find a brood of turkeys and by whatever means legal, scare them enough to make them scatter. Then find a good hiding spot in that area and call the birds back by using a hen call with some urgency in your calling. Your goal is to entice those scattered birds to come to what they feel is a secure place, back with mom.

•Another good move is to get out in a good opening or field and set up some decoys along the edge, where you’ll be hiding. By calling loud and frequently you could anger another hen or even maybe a Tom to come to your decoys, or you could be calling young birds into your decoys where they feel numbers are great for security.

Some hunters like to try to break up a flock of turkeys just around dark, hoping that some of them will fly up and stay in a tree until the next morning. That next morning, by getting near that same area, maybe setting up a few decoys or even just by calling, you should get some action.

When you are taking a bird out of a brood of young ones, the impact isn’t as great as would be taking a mature hen. They have survived the gamut of both hunters and their wild predators, so it would be a good choice to pass on a mature hen. Try to target a young bird.

And again, God Bless America!

Dick Pinney’s Guide Lines column appears weekly in the New Hampshire Sunday News. Readers may e-mail him at DoDuckInn@aol.com.