After a few years away from fishing due to medical issues and also having to sell the boat to pay for all that [censored], I've purchased a kayak and some gear and am looking to start fishing again. I cut my teeth on Ivie and fished it pretty hard for a good 5 years as a boat fishermen but have realized it'll be pretty tough to get some of my old spots in a yak. Eventually I'll probably put a TM on the yak but that probably won't be til next year. So my question to you guys is how did you adjust? I'm assuming I need to follow the old rule of thumb that 3 times my depth is how far out I should be anchoring. A lot of my old spots I won't have enough anchor line to keep me where I need to be, so I've been thinking about how I should adjust for this. What's the max depth most of you feel comfortable fishing a yak? Any tips to help with the transition would be greatly appreciated!!

For kids I sold my boat and stopped for a few years. When I got back into fishing and came across a kayak and started out fishing ponds and small lakes. Found I could fish like I used to so I fish in whatever depth needed. Holding position can be hard in a paddle kayak. Brush clips if in timber or anchors if I need to hold over something. You are correct about 3 times the depth if you want a good hold. Best way to adjust is go fish, go fish, go fish. You have to learn to pick an area and work it real good rather than run all over the lake to find fish. It can make you a better fisherman. Go out light and simple at first. Add as you adjust and soon you'll be fishing out of a kayak like it is a part of you. Catch a nice bass like in your sig and get towed around in circles for a bit will help you fall in love with it.

I fish all depth water. When i was a kid i paddled lake superior that has spots well over 1200 ft deep. For us we use a bruce claw anchor with 2 x 50ft lengths of 5/16 coard. That covers most all the areas we fish, if you need keep an extra 50 ft on the yak with ya.

I think depth is irrelevant. If it's too deep to anchor, get a drift sock.

Depth makes no difference, wind and boat traffic does. Honestly I rarely fish deeper than 30 feet mainly because I have learned fish are usually shallower, if anything I fished to deep when I had a boat. If I am fishing deep I use a drift sock. Of coarse if I fished deeper lakes I guess I would learn to anchor in deep water, just don't need to on the lakes I fish.

Most of my spots that I fish are in the 25' to 30' range, and it takes a while to reel in all that anchor line at that depth.
If the fish are suspended or holding deeper I'll go to a Carolina rig and drift. A drift sock also works well.
One thing you need to be aware of is the wind direction because you can launch when there is barely any wind, and within a couple hours the wind could kick up and you might have to paddle a few miles into a gale, which would not be good.
If you keep wind direction in mind before you launch, you can go out against a light breeze, and when it picks up it will blow you back toward the launch making for an easy paddle in. Paddling into a 15 to 20 mph wind is no fun!
Most everyone who owns a boat will launch and take off across the lake, but with a kayak you will discover that there are a lot of fish close to where you launch your kayak that those boaters are missing.

I never use anchor. When jigging for crappie I hold my rod in right hand and use paddle in other hand to keep me on one spot (relative to marker) -- it works better than ipilot. In fact, if wind is below 6mph, I can easily use another rod -- just put it on left side of yak.

When wind hits 12mph -- time to get off water... or find very good cover... or switch to bass fishing...