SalmonSniper

I'll second ubetcha on recommending Peak Performance. Tammy trained my yellow lab (Junior) this past year and has done an amazing job with him. He was very responsive to her and she did a great job getting him ready for the field for me. She also did a a lot of work with him and water, although he is not quite ready for that (not her fault he just has a ton of drive and needs to calm down a little yet). I am very excited to test him out in the field in the coming weeks. I originally brought Junior to Sean Hager who owns Muddy Bay Retrievers. Tammy and Sean train their dogs together and since Tammy's dogs were training at the same level as Junior, she ended up training him. I would recommend either of them hands down. The do a great job with their dogs and Junior has been happy to be back with Sean and Tammy every time I have taken him to them. I had considered training Junior myself, but he is my first hunting dog and as you said: You don't know what you don't know. Hope this helps. Best.

The white light you are taking about is your anchor light. The running light would be the red and green light at the front of a boat that tells other boaters which side to yield to. The red/green light is not required on unregistered/unpowered vessels, but is still a good idea if trolling at night in an area that is popular for boats to be trolling too. My experience fishing in front of the Olcott piers for salmon, is that there are generally at least 3-5 other boats trolling the same area any given night of the week.

I do spring browns/coho, late summer/fall kings, walleye, and inland lake panfishing out of my Yak. Def have to be careful when fishing cold weather. If fishing in cold weather especially the big lakes, I wear a type 2 pfd and bring a safety kit (2 flares, smoke signal, whistle, mirror, glow stick), first aid kit, waterproof torch lighter, anchor, cell phone in waterproof bag. I keep all on these items except the anchor in a bag with a float strapped to it. Safety is one of the most important things when fishing in cold weather or in big waters. I have been out with only one or two boats around me and also have a tendency to fish at night. If you are fishing at night you definitely need to mount a anchor light and a running light is a good idea too as it helps increase your visibility and tells boaters which side of you to go (you can't react in a yak to get out of the way of a boater). As for the fishing part, a fish finder and gps will play an important role in your success. Once you catch a fish you want to know what depth range the fish as caught in and you will want to be able to pass over that spot again a there are likely more fish there. You also need the gps to know your speed. If I fish two rods i usually reel in the outside rods as it has the most slack and is the rod that will most likely cause the lines to cross. This also allows me to check for weeds and make sure my lure is running properly. I also like to run lure that dive to different depths, this way I am letting out less line on the lure that dives deeper. This staggers my line and puts them at different angles, reducing the likelihood of them crossing, this is especially helpful if you hook a feisty king that screams line as soon as it hits. The staggered lines also help if you don't want to reel in on turns. I use and ugly stick salmon/steelhead casting rod, rigged with braid that is tied to a foot or two of 40 pound test, then about a 20 foot leader. The braid helps you see that the lure is running correctly and also has less stretch to let you really lay into the hookset which can be difficult to do in the yak. I usually use stickbaits as they will float to the surface when you stop paddling. Good luck!! I spent my first 20 years fishing the great lakes doing so from a 21' Penn Yann and a 16" Lund and pass up the big boats to fish out of the yak!!! Its a completely different experience.