Had to keep dealing with these large gar.    One scared me a little.

I bow fish out of my kayak.. looks like fun!!

Nice.  Looks like fun.

I've gotten back into kayak fishing this year.  Lots of fun, very peaceful to be out on the water in almost complete silence.  Easier to sneak up on the fish too.

Alligator Gar are the primary reason the "tackle box gun" in my kayak is a suppressed .22.

We're going tomorrow.  Gonna get out on the Upper James River for the first time in several years.  Should be a good day.

I was kayak fishing yesterday in a secluded bay and ondering why nothing was biting. Got to the back of the bay in the shallows and realized there were hundreds and hundreds of alligator gar there spawning. I guess those prehistoric bastards either ate or scared off everything else.

I was fishing in my kayak the other day, way up in the shallows were a bunch of enormous carp, spawning???  Anyway, they would spook when I got within about 5 feet, so I starting seeing how close I could get. When they would rocket out of there it was like seeing bull redfish in the shallows on TV. One of them slammed into the kayak, gave me a pretty fair jolt.

If you can stand in your kayak, sight fishing for carp with a fly rod is incredibly fun. I'd spend a lot of time in that spot

No standing for me, but... Is it possible to cast a fly rod without standing?

And it's been many, many years since I messed with a fly rod, and I didn't do much with it then. What would be a good setup for these monster carp?  That might also work for small bass and bream?

Definitely very doable to cast without standing but I find it hard to fish for carp from a seated position. They are incredibly spooky - you need pinpoint casts that are close to their face - but not too close to spook them.   Consider kayaking to the spot then wading or even better, casting from shore.

I generally use a 9ft 6wt rod with a 9ft straight piece of 10lb mono or 14lb flouro for leader depending on how brushy the spot I'm fishing is. However the carp near me aren't huge - maybe 12-15lbs max, and I still occasionally feel undergunned with the 6 wt, so if yours are bigger, go heavier.

Any tiny wiggly fly will do the trick - I use some generic crab fly I found on eBay that I bought a ton of but wooly buggers and hairs ear nymphs are also favorites. Size 10 to 14 usually, natural colors. Cast 3 feet ahead of them and drag into their face slowly, and if they are feeding, hold on.