TUCKED UP A RIVER MOUTH on Long Island Sound is a workshop where Joe Harasyko is turning wrenches to modify some seriously tricked-out rides. The creations he is dialing in with lights, electronics and gear aren't of the four-wheeled variety you'd see rolling out the garage doors in a scene from Vice Grip Garage though. Harasyko is the rigging manager for Black Hall Outfitters, a paddling shop in Old Lyme, Connecticut that does a booming business in customized fishing kayaks. One of two full-time riggers at the shop, Harasyko is in charge of transforming stock kayaks into some of the most elaborate bass sleds you've ever set eyes on.
Black Hall owner Gene Chmiel says the shop has been customizing kayaks for around five years, and as participation in outdoor sports soared the desire for tricked-out fishing kayaks has followed suit. Now it's a mainstay of his business, with no end in sight. During that time kayak fishing has continued to grow, both in overall participation and as a share of the recreational fishing market. The Outdoor Industry Foundation reports that 47 million people went fishing in the United States in 2017, of whom five percent fished from kayaks or other non-motorized craft. Five years later in 2022, those figures had grown to 52 million anglers and six percent using kayaks. That's more than three million kayak anglers in the United States alone.
While some kayak anglers are drawn to the quiet simplicity of a paddle and an old spinning rod, many more get into kayak fishing to catch fish with every bit of high-tech firepower a 14-foot hunk of floating plastic will carry.
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