You’ve seen them on TV, in the magazines and online. You thought, how do they do it? How can Jim Sammons, Drew Gregory and Kayak Kevin Whitley spend their lives paddle fishing? The answer isn’t skill, talent or good looks, it’s their lucky fishing hats.

[ See also: 8 Kayak Fishing Myths Debunked ]

Famous Kayak Anglers Dish on Their Lucky Fishing Hats

kevin whitley holds up a large fish while wearing his lucky fishing hat
From his boat to his gear to his food, Whitley doesn’t hit the water unless the fish gods are satisfied. | Photo: Kevin Whitley

Kayak Kevin Whitley

As one of Kayak Kevin Whitley’s longest fishing buddies, I can tell you no one is more superstitious. From his boat to his gear to his food, Whitley doesn’t hit the water unless the fish gods are satisfied. You bet his fishing hat is lucky.

“Seven years ago, I got an AFTCO visor with a redfish on it,” Whitley starts. That season, the hat proved lucky. “Even when I would wear a hat from a different sponsor, I kept the redfish visor hanging from my camera mount.” Eventually, Whitley collected silver-dollar-sized redfish scales and stored them in a small pouch. “I pinned the pouch to the visor and now the fish are part of my lucky fishing hat.”

Whitley doesn’t even wear the hat anymore. “It doesn’t fit with my long hair,” he laughs, but the hat still accompanies him on every trip. “If I forget it at home, I’ll go back and get it.”

Drew Gregory holds a fish up to the camera while wearing his lucky fishing hat
Drew Gregory’s lucky hat has accompanied him over the world on some of his most significant catches. | Photo: Drew Gregory

Drew Gregory

Drew Gregory and his lucky fishing hat hit the tournament trail at the same time. “I designed the green trucker hat as a prototype for the River Bassin’ Trail,” he recalls. The hat has accompanied Gregory all over the world on some of his most significant catches. “I was wearing the hat when I caught my first 10-pound river bass,” he remembers.

Gregory defines a lucky fishing hat as one that keeps coming back. “I’ve lost it and recovered it so many times,” he chuckles, “A branch will knock it off then I’ll miraculously find it downriver.” He’s even jumped into rapids to recover the hat. “A few times I thought it was a goner, but it ended up coming back to me.”

Observant viewers will notice that Gregory’s green trucker has been missing from recent episodes of Hooked on Wild Waters, but you can be the hat is safe. “If I start fishing tournaments again,” Gregory assures us, “I’ll bring the hat out of retirement.”

[ Read more: Performance Fishing Clothes That Look Good On And Off The Water ]

 

Jim Sammons fishes while wearing his lucky fishing hat
Probably the most famous hat in kayak fishing is Jim Sammons’ floppy brimmed canvas chapeau. | Photo: Will Richardson

Jim Sammons

Probably the most famous hat in kayak fishing is Jim Sammons’ floppy brimmed canvas chapeau. “I’ve been wearing the same style hat for 20 years,” he brags. The hat is a special-designed, custom fishing hat by Ocean Design out of Hawaii.

Sammons, host of The Kayak Fishing Show, has been through a few of the hats. “I lost one in the Arctic Circle,” he laments, “and I gave up a marlin to save my hat, once.” The production crew was speechless as they watched Sammons sacrifice a hard-won marlin bite to save his sinking hat.

[ Kayak Angler Buyer’s Guide: View all fishing apparel ]

“Replacing one is hard,” he tries to explain, “you have to season it right.” That means lots of time on the water without any time in the washing machine. “The closest I get to washing it is jumping in a pool,” he laughs.

Is this fishing hat lucky? You bet. | Feature photo: Kayak Kevin Whitley


This article was first published in the Winter 2016 issue of Kayak Angler Magazine. Subscribe to Kayak Angler Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.

 

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Ric Burnley
Kayak Angler editor Ric Burnley has been kayak fishing since the dawn of the sport. In 2007, Burnley wrote The Complete Kayak Fisherman, with chapters on how-to make a PVC rod holder and glue a fish finder transducer to the hull. In 2013, he landed his dream job as editor of Kayak Angler magazine. Burnley is a regular contributor to Salt Water Sportsman, Sport Fishing, Outdoor Life, In the Bite and other print and online publications. Burnley lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, adult daughter, daughter’s boyfriend and daughter’s two cats. Experience In 2004, Ric Burnley stole his first milk crate from behind a 7-Eleven and fashioned it into a gear crate for his Ocean Kayak Prowler 15. Many years and many milk crates later, Burnley has witnessed the rise of kayak fishing from a bastardized fringe element to a legitimate industry with millions of devotees. The journey to becoming an angler started early in Burnley’s life. His father, Eric Burnley, is a renowned outdoor writer and former fishing guide, so the boy grew up in the cockpit of a charter boat and in the pages of national magazines. After college, Burnley lost easy access to his father’s boat, but not his passion for fishing. Once he had exhausted the limits of land-based angling, Burnley decided to try out a new thing called kayak fishing. About the same time, Burnley was looking for extra work to pay for his expensive addiction. His father, editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman Magazine, offered him freelance assignments for the weekly publication. That led to a position as regional editor at Salt Water Sportsman, publication of The Complete Kayak Fisherman and editorship of Kayak Angler. Meanwhile, Burnley and his partner-in-crime, “Kayak Kevin” Whitley were exploring the boundaries of kayak fishing. With the bountiful Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean as their playground, the two anglers were the first to target big red drum, cobia, trophy striped bass, monster black drum, sheepshead and many other species. Once inshore species were exhausted, Burnley loaded his kayak onto motorboats and fished for bluefin tuna, blackfin tuna, king mackerel and amberjack. All the while, Burnley shared his experiences and knowledge with anglers through print, photos, video, radio, seminars and online. Almost 20 years later, Burnley continues to fish obsessively and share the stories. His recent projects for Kayak Angler cover the latest trends in forward-facing sonar and remote-controlled electric motors. Over the past two decades, kayak fishing and Ric Burnley have come a long way from PVC rod holders and stolen milkcrates. Education ● Radford University: BA English; Virginia Teacher’s License. Highlights ● Other Interests: Mountain biking, traveling, hiking, surfing and skateboarding ● Day Job: High School English teacher at an alternative school for at-risk students Fun Fact Ric’s name is a contraction of Eric. Ric is named after his father, Eric Sr. To differentiate between the two Erics, Mrs. Burnley removed her son’s E. To this day, she writes the boy’s name ‘Ric, with an apostrophe replacing the E.

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