Howdy.
I spent 3 days at my favourite fishing hole. First 2 the conditions were only average with a sweet day the final one. I marked at least one billfish each day on the sounder but had intended finding Cobia which eluded me.
The first fish hit the flat line 3 times and pulled the Slimy off the bridle. As I wound the hook in, the fish took the downrigger line ( well I presume it was the same fish but more of that later). A fair amount of greyhounding ensured and I swam the fish for some 10 minutes before it revived. All done by 8 am and little action after but another 5 hrs of anticipation.
Next day again about 7.30am the downrigger went off then as I was picking up the rod, the top line went as well. I chose to hold the deeper line as I thought that I might have my Cobia. After a wee while the top line went slack and I played out a very energetic fish that wriggled and squirmed in the air.
At boatside I realised that the fish had taken both baits so I was well covered had the trace failed.
Both times I was in 22 mt of water and the downrigger at 20 mt so they are quick and well sighted for sure.

Final day only a reef-shark but the water sure felt like Marlin.

So a pretty good result but I was tired and had to buy farmed salmon for our dinner to keep the wife happy.

I have to admit that most of my Marlin shots look a bit similar but it is damn hard to add variety when the camera needs to be turned on, down-rigger cleared, rod held, steering attended to, live bait tank regularly refreshed and nuts scratched or whatever.

Read the thread on AKFF

Here we go then …..

Well the months of waiting for the weekend trip to the Abrolhos islands finally ended on Friday, with Riggerman, his mate Corey, JustHamilton and Hoolly Doolly rolling up at the Cuda residence in the afternoon and getting our gear loaded on board the island Leader by around 05.30pm ready for the trip across the southern group.

We finally left the fisherman’s wharf at around 08.15pm in the dark and settled in for what was to be a very bumpy ride in the strong winds and lumpy sea, arriving at our destination inside Half Moon reef at around 12.30am.
Saturday morning dawned with a stiff wind greeting us and some of the early birds dropped a line out the back of the boat before brekkie was on the barbie. Riggerman caught a nice Pink Snapper that would have nudged 70cm and Corey caught a nice Baldie. The rest of us also caught some reasonable fish, with some rat sambos hitting the deck and Riggerman getting dusted by a good fish (suspected bigger Sambo).



After breakfast was done, the skipper motored around the side of half moon reef and we all put our yaks in the water, with JustHamilton thinking the water was so nice that he would fall out of his yak and cool off a bit.
We went looking for some reef to toss soft plastics at and the other guys had some success on some medium sized Pinkies and baldies. I had to fish near Riggerman and JustHamilton, as my fishfinder was out of action unfortunately and after a while I decided to give up for the morning as the conditions weren’t all that good.
HoollyDoolly had a rather unfortunate capsize in his yak and was bobbing around in the water for quite a while, as his Hobie vest kept getting caught on his yak and he couldn’t get back on board. Luckily Riggerman assisted him and dragged him and his yak back to the mothership, or the mothership went to them, as poor old Hoolly was pretty tired by that stage and he had an unwelcome visitor checking him out as he floated next to his yak – a suspected GW around 2 metres.
We decided to give the yak fishing a miss in the afternoon and settled for some fishing off the back of the boat as the evening came in. I managed to catch a good sized Spanglie of 65cm and the other guys got some baldies etc too.

Sunday morning saw us heading around the southern end of the island to Wreck Point and on the way Corey decided to troll a hard body at the 10 or so knots the boat was cruising at. Tuna schools were busting up everywhere and it was no surprise when Corey had a strike that turned out to be a nice Yellowfin Tuna.


Another fella on the boat also boated a Shark Mackeral so it was looking very fishy down that end of the island. The good news too was the the wind was easi ng and the swell also, so my dream of yak fishing Wreck Point was close to being realised (almost became a nightmare as I will explain later).
The boat dropped anchor and I said to myself right, I’m going to make the most of this and dropped my yak in the water, with the plan being to troll a gardie along the drop off that goes from a few metres to over 40 metres. Tuna schools were busting up everywhere and I was anticipating a strike at any time.
Riggerman also joined me in the water and we decided to head north and fish the drop offs close to the island. Riggerman scored a couple of nice Pinkies while I persisted with the trolling a bit longer, but gave up when no strikes were forthcoming.
I changed to a stickbait and twitched it over the shallow reef and had an unexpected catch in the form of a good sized Squid that latched onto the treble, however my left shoulder was playing up and I switched to soft plastics which proved to be a good move, as we found a good drop off where I caught two trout that were just undersize unfortunately – beautiful markings on these things eh.


I was twitching my Mccarthy SP in around 15m of water when a freight train took off in a big hurry. I frantically pumped whatever it was off the bottom as this thing was hell bent on staying amongst the coral on the bottom. After several strong runs I managed to get it to the surface and when I saw what it was I yelled out ït’s a @$#&^Dhui!!!!! Man was I stoked – I had finally ticked off one of my bucket list species that has eluded me for some time despite living near the Dhui filled waters of Geraldton. A quick check on Riggerman’s Fisheries minimum length sticker on his paddle showed that the Dhui was respectable 57-58 cm, but when I measured it at home it came in at nearly 60cm. You can see in the photo how it totally hoofed the McCarthy down its big gob.


Well I was on cloud nine I can tell you, but little did I know that there was more excitement in store for me a short time later, as i was fishing a little distance away from Riggerman. I happened to notice a large swirl out of the corner of my eye behind me and I turned around to see a dorsal fin slicing through the water. Then it cruised past my yak side on and I was staring at 3 metres of lit up Tiger Shark just metres from me in the clear water – Fwaaarrrrrrkkkkkkkkkkkk! I near on shat myself as this killing machine showed me it’s full length and went behind me, which made me quite nervous when I couldn’t see what it was doing. When I changed direction it stuck right behind me and when I finally got around to turning on my shark shield which seemed to take an eternity after first seeing the shark, it seemed to take an eternity to twist the knob so the SS was on.
I called out to Riggerman, who didn’t have a shark shield and headed in his direction for safety in numbers (I had my paddle in one hand ready to clobber the shark if it got too close, but the SS did the trick and the shark disappeared thankfully. It looked quite aggressive to me when it first approached and I’m sure it was willing to have a go at my yak, although I could be over dramatising and maybe it was just curious and was checking me out.
This is something that is easy to get blasé about when you have been fishing for years in sharky waters and not seen one, but sooner or later the time will come and in hindsight I probably should have had the SS turned on in an area known for lots of sharks. I also wish that I had thought to get some photos before it disappeared, or ate me, but at the time self preservation kicks in and you don’t think of such things.
We gave up fishing not long after that and as we were heading back to the boat it pulled the anchor and started steaming straight at us, which made me think the skipper hadn’t seen us, but all was well and we quickly got back on board and ready for the trip back to Gero.
So ended another memorable trip, although some memories would like to be forgotten I’m sure.
We want to organise a trip with just yak fishos sometime (and maybe some tinny fishos to make up the numbers, as it really is a great place to fish and the cost on the Island leader for the weekend is very reasonable, so keep an eye out in the fishing trips section and if you don’t have a shark shield make sure you get one

Read the thread AKFF

Headed to the launch spot only to find that the surf was big. Not just big though. Messy and powerful. Probably the toughest launch I have had to content with –Despite moments where I could have easily come off , I made it through the worst and got behind the surf zone- Although coming off in the surf TouringTom re-entered his yak quick enough to make it out next to me.

Waited behind the surf zone – Once Couta101 got out we were off to Spot X.

About 30 minutes into the paddle, I heard a very small zzz. Barely picked up my rod to check if my bait was still there, when Tom advised me to paddle on and leave it. Got about four strokes before the reel went off again. Turned to grab the Rod and……… Oh boy White Splashing and a large Bill – I had hooked a Marlin.

At was at this point that I was inundated with both excitement and fear. Tom had hooked one – but not landed – on Friday and had the weekend to think about what could and should have been, so I was lucky to have someone giving me some sound advise.

I let the Marlin do its thing – tiring itself out. I did not want the angriest fish I have ever seen anywhere near me. It was dancing around the water and at one point got so close to Tom that he had to hit it away with his paddle.

Nerves were getting the better of me – as I had allowed the Marlin enough room to tire itself – This did make it unpredictable and I felt nervous that I had no idea of where it might pop out next.

It was also at this point that I realized that I had allowed the Marlin a bit too much room. The Star Drag on My old Penn Jigmaster was locked at its loosest setting and I had no way of getting it loose so that I could tighten the drag and begin working this fish in. Once again Tom rescued me by helping me get the Star Drag unlocked with a pair of pliers ( I have since decided that I am now due for a TLD).

After I adjusted the Drag to get the fish in – there were no more runs. Although still fighting – the Marlin was tired and I managed to get it next to the yak. Although My gaff had made it out at one point to protect myself should it decide to have a go at me, I had no intentions of gaffing the Marlin. It was at the point when Couta101 said that the Marlin was landed and we (Tom and Myself) were trying to get it around for a Photo. Still nervous though. Had no idea if the Marlin had one last burst of energy. It didn’t.

Had a quick grab at the tail while Tom was grabbing the bill – Then Ping. Broke the line – and watched him swim past the back of my yak – whilst giving me a look that suggested he was coming to kill me in my sleep tonight.

Didn’t manage the photo I wanted but the experience was more than enough for me. I believe Couta Might have some footage – Tom managed to grab a few stills from his GoPro Footage.

Jumping behind Tom – bear in mind I am about 15 meters away from him at this stage

Tom Giving the Marlin a Paddle slap – self preservation of course

Had a fairly long slog back to the beach – worth it though.

All in all a great day – great way to begin the new year ☺

Read the thread on AKFF

I got up at 4am, the wind was blowing pretty hard from the northeast. Not a good sign.
I got to the launch in Port Hacking and set up, pushing out into the darkness and wind. I knew it was going to be ugly out the front but I wasnt going to die wondering.

The next worrying sign was waves over the Deeban Spit in Gunnamatta Bay. It takes a fair bit of swell to even register in the bay, so I prepared myself for a nasty wet morning out there. If it got too rotten, at least the wind and swell would assist me back into the Port.

Sure enough, it was sloppy and really quite hairy. I was feeling quite ill at ease.
I sounded out some bait, and stopped to try to collect some, and then a heavy dark line right under me appeared on the screen, which would be fine, except it came up and gave me a big bump from underneath.

Shark. In the dark. Fark.
Needless to say, I decided to move on rather abruptly. There would be bait elsewhere!

At this point I was ready to turn and go home. But I kept faith, and kept my head. The sun took forever to come up, and when it did, the wind dropped to nothing. Just like that. My talisman was working already.

It was like a switch was flicked, and the the boils started. Here, there, moving fast. Casting a small metal produced a hookup and a zinging reel. The pulsating tail beats said “tuna”. Mack tuna to be precise.

From this point, it was mayhem. Frigates, bonito. One after another. I caught a nice Bonito on my homemade rod and a homemade lure, which is a very satisfying feeling, but I needed a king fix. So I moved on and found the yakkas.

Frigate Mackerel, vibrators of the sea!

Well, you’ve all seen a bonito before.

I had a feeling that the kings might be in close, so I came into 20 feet of water, and bang.
The fish took off towards the breaking waves, and the cave underneath them. I had 2 choices, let him run and most likely smoke me in the cave, or jam the spool and get towed into the impact zone. Impact zone it is then!

I brought him up with extreme prejudice and got his head in the net. Then I paddled backwards as fast as I could to get out of the danger zone. That’s the good thing about a paddle yak vs hobie.

72cm and well fed.

Over the next half hour I managed another 2 kings, although smaller and leaner, so they were let go for another day.

I had to make it home in time to get to a kids party, so I was off the water by 8.

Back at the ramp, while cleaning up my fish, I noticed another hook still in the king’s jaw, a 7/0 with what looked like about 100lb leader snelled onto it. This fish had obviously dusted someone else in the last week or so. Someone else’s misfortune was my luck on the day.

Bunsen’s jewellery removal service

The fishing looks like it has just turned a corner in Sydney.

Kung Hei Fat Choy to everyone!

Read the thread on AKFF

Yarram provided the usual stop, it’s getting harder and harder to avoid the bakery there. This time I tried a potato and bacon muffin, which turned out to be the low point of my bakery experience. Possibly should have grabbed a pie, hard to go wrong with those. Highlight was being served after TFM and TOG walked out, and listening to a couple of locals whispering “did you see that? He looked like The Predator from behind…” If only they knew.

A bit of trivia here. I usually sit in the back of the car on these trips. I’m the designated bad passenger on most journeys and it’s generally easier for everyone if I sit back, watch a movie, read a book, write poetry or quietly vandalise the backseat of the Pajero rather than sit up front and grab the steering wheel at random intervals, although I personally find that makes for adventure. The reason I mention this is that Port Welshpool is still thirty mind numbingly tedious minutes away from Yarram, and the potato and bacon muffin is rating as the sort of fail that will be repeating on me for hours. So, not enough to time to nap, too close to launch to concentrate on the book and piss all reception to watch youtube clips with, I start the whining, firstly with the traditional, ‘are we there yet?’, before moving into personal commentary on the Bloke formerly known as TOG and now named The Predator and my perception of the quality of his driving and anything about TFM that’s attracting my attention at that time. Then it’s random loud noises and swearing til finally we arrive to see Kenza’s cheerful face and what can only be described as a kayaking supermodel mounted firmly on the top of his car.

I don’t think the Zegul 520HV is on too many AKFF members shopping lists, but dead set, if Elle McPherson in her prime was a kayak, this would be her. Long, skinny, yet curvy in all the right places. I started getting pangs of jealousy when I saw Kenza touching her, but The Predator saw what going on and dragged my yak and I to the water for a bit of cooling off. And to load up for bit of a trip.

My load up now was the smallest of all time. From the memorable day of the swag trip on the hobie, it’s now down to maybe ten kilos and water. That’s a hammock, sleeping bag, liner, full change of warm dry clothes, two torches, food and campstove. Fishing gear makes up the rest, and compared to the bad old days when I was really focused on the fish. I’d brought three rods, but the strong easterly wind ruled out bringing the long sticks for some night action, and I then decided to leave the heavy behind, and just go with the new stick, a JC castoff Nitro Magnum Butt travel rod. And by now, everyone’s nearly ready. TFM’s stuffed all manner of crazy ebay bargains into his hull, The Predator has packed what look like boxes and Kenza is about to take off with my boat with a Hobie paddle. I was completely lost for words. Obscenities as well.

Anyway, the trip of several kilometres has to start somewhere, and we paddled off past the pier, but not before I had to call in The Predator to deal with a lure wrapped around my rudder. Crossed the channel and met up briefly on the tip of Little Snake to confirm that the strong easterly, while possibly helpful, stood a strong risk of make the home journey a buit dicey. Agreed to revisit this decision on Snake Island and paddled over. This section wasn’t as nice. We were now heading into the wind which was blowing a fairly constant 50kmh most of the day. The outgoing tide was a bit helpful, but not so much in this section. We grouped again on the tip of Snake, snacked and gave up any hope of the Prom. The Predator took it well.

The next call was whether we’d camp at the southern site or the ranch. However, after relaunching and making our way a few kilometres down the beach to the ranch entrance, we met with a group of people, including a couple that had just spent nine day touring around the eastern side of the Prom. Nine days, in a double Natureline Mermaid Kayak that they couldn’t speak highly enough of, much like the one TheClick is keen to pass on to new owner, go on, have a look in For Sale. According to them, they had spent a few days trying to get to Refuge Cove, but the weather kept beating them back, til finally they had found the ranch and crashed there, all alone until the Mountain Cattlemen (Marine Division)had come over on the Friday to join them. They’d seen some pretty torrid weather that they were describing as ‘character building’ and they were now off to cover about fifteen kilometres across Corner Inlet, but with the advantage of tide and wind to go with the homemade sail. I spoke the cattlemen who had come to say bye to the kayakers and they were quite happy for us to come and visit. Kenza had gotten a fair way behind and when he arrived we dragged the yaks up high and dry and went for a walk.

Unusual to see movement at the ranch, after entering the gate we turned toward the bunkhouse and there was quite a lot of people here. As soon as she saw me, a woman got up from her seat and told me that my wife was waiting for me in the kitchen. As it turned out she wasn’t, she was still in the kitchen at home of course.

After chatting the locals for a while we made our way back along the track to our boats and to cover the last leg to the campsite. When we had left, the tide was still out, but was coming in quickly and had brought the water line closer to our yaks. Just a few extra inches of water meant that we were able to scoot over the shallows and over a little sand bar, passing a boat being dragged into shore by some bloke. At this point of the trip there is about one kilometre to go, but with about 25knts wind in our faces and the tide coming in as well. Conditions were lumpy, but not hard, with just the wind trying to take the happy out of our day. Which it may have contributed to when, for no particular reason, I fell out of my yak, the very first time that has ever happened. I can’t blame anything other than perhaps I should have leant right instead of left, or something like that. Given that we practice re-entry in rough water, I wasn’t bothered by finding myself next to, rather than in, my yak, but I’d not considered what turning over a yak loaded with gear would be like. It turned it was easy enough, but I did need a couple of goes to get back in the saddle, the first attempt is always the one where I over shoot and discover myself trying a re-entry from the other side. Straight off I knew I’d lost my GPS, and I could only suspect what else might be gone. But given the choppy conditions and that nothing was floating off, I decided anything gone had sunk, I was never getting it back, and I needed to move on. Which I did.

It’s been a few months since we stayed at the southern campsite and the beach had been extensively renovated by elements. So much so, that TFM landed at one spot we thought might be the site, but wasn’t. Eventually we found it, most the logs that marked the site were buried under sand and the sand cliff had worn almost completely away. TOG, TFM and I pulled in, and after checking where Kenza was, TFM and I hooked up our hangs and moved a few things around until Kenza landed.

I finally cracked open the landing beer and took a long deep swallow. This week, Holllandia was the choice, having meet the key criteria of being both in a can and cheap, although getting a decent beer in a can is getting harder and harder. I was joined in landing celebrations by Kenza and TFM sharing matching ciders and TOG with a goon bag of ‘soft red wine’. Not too sure what to make of that.

With the afternoon free to run amok , I finished setting up my hang while Kenza had a nap on his partially set up tent, TOG dug a hole to sleep in and TFM went looking for phone reception to order in some emergency camping bits from Mingle’s Toys for Boys emporium.

The wind had settled just a tad by now and the surf off the beach looked ok for a bit of amusement, so I stripped the Stealth down to nothing and went out with my shredded dignity and did a few laps. The wind and sidewash were pushing me west with a huge degree of enthusiasm, so I’d launch and smash straight out, then have to travel a hundred metres or so against the wind and current, then pick a wave. There were some good ones too, usually all you ever get here, if anything at all is just a bit of shore dump. But the offshore swell was giving up the love and I had some metre plus rides with good frequency to choose from. After three out of three trips with happy endings, I felt I could wear the rashie again…. Although while stripping the Stealth into surf machine mode, I discovered that I’d also lost a box of lures, maybe $300 worth of nice shiny things I’d gathered over the years and all my lure accessories, like fresh single swingers, w-hooks, trebles and split rings. Not happy about at all.

Dinner tonight for me was a sad return to the world of curry reheat meals, I just lack the nerve to go the fully dehydrated meals, and they cost nearly three times as much. TOG was gnawing on sandwiches, but the show we were waiting for was Kenza. After Russell’s effort of cold tinned beans and spag, we were keen to see what the new boy had. Turned out to be an upmarket version of two minute noodles, hardly exciting at all. An early night for everyone after the day’s efforts.
Come the morning the comfort of the hammock had me as a late riser again, even without the fly on I was able to stay warm and comfy all night. The Predator was up and about and TFM was already stripping down his hang. Breakky centred around my choice of porridge. Porridge is great, you can add nearly anything to it and it survives crushing and doesn’t need any refrigeration. It does seem to give TFM the horrors though. Kenza advised TFM that Asian porridge was worse, something about black ancient eggs and rice, we actually asked him to not discuss it while we eating. Kenza really raised the bar with his liquid breakfasts, something the like of which I’ve never seen before.

Pack and launch went happily enough, TOG went out like a champ in the light surf, TFM smashed it down and it being Kenza’s first lumpy launch, I dragged him out for a head start. We grouped up behind the foam zone and headed back. A much nicer trip than yesterday, there was a light easterly wind that was sympathetic to our journey, and it balanced out the outgoing tide nicely. It didn’t take long or a lot of effort to cover the eight or nine kilometres to Little Snake Island.

At one stage TFM handed over his Werner to Kenza, which was a bit like pressing the nitrous button, TFM was lucky to get his paddle back and Kenza in the Zegul Supermodel nearly got done for speeding.
I also had the unique experience of actually catching a fish on this stretch, a flattie gave into temptation and savaged a Tassie Devil that I was dragging along more for nostalgic value than genuine fishing intent. Not a biggie, not even a middling, but still a real live fish, my first for the year and the first on the Nitro recently rescued from a life of bream bashing by Hedgie the pooeater enthusiast. Even more amazing was that after rounding Little Snake Island I hooked on a tailor, but it skipped off yakside.

As we entered the Port Welshpool channel I decided to get into it and follow it in, in the remote chance that kingfish had come to Victoria, while the rest of the group stayed out of the current in the shallows along Little Snake. Worst decision ever. The experience of catching fish had clearly clouded my judgement, and I found myself paddling in a brutal current that brought its friend the freshening easterly along to slap me around. It was taking a lot of time and a fair of bit of effort just to make headway, so I decided to throw it in and cross the channel, managing to pick the moment when two large boats and jetski decided to zip past, adding the missing element of bow waves to the mix.

But eventually I landed, shortly after Kenza. We packed up, amidst a disturbing impromptu floor show from TFM that defies any descrition and he refused video re-enactment. Adjourned to the Bakery in nearby Yarram to clean them out of baked goods and being the Bakery, that’s the end of the trip.

Trip thread here: viewtopic.php?f=43&t=57611

Figured I’d create a thread for trip reports from the weekend. I suspect they’ll trickle in over the course of the next couple of days; if everyone else is anything like me, they’ll soon be snoring on their keyboards if they attempt to type up a big trip report tonight.

Here’s a few photos to kick things off though:

Post away guys.

Red.

Read the thread on AKFF

But there is a type of record that is permanent – those that were the first. Roger Bannister was the first to run the four minute mile. Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon. Edmund Hillary was the first to successfully climb Everest and return. Lance Armstrong was the first to win seven Tour de France titles.

These names are immortalised, stamped into our collective psyche for time in memoriam. It’s something that Shane Warne can only dream of.

I want to add my name to that list. Forget the HOF, I want something that cannot be erased by string of phpBB code. I aspire to be the first AKFF member to catch half a metre of Bream from a kayak – the mythical unicorn. The journey will be beset with dangers. The practice sessions will be gruelling. But the extreme physical and mental toll will be worth it in the end. Ado will be one of those names, and no-one, not even WADA, will be able to rub me from that list.

But recently, I’ve spotted a challenger in the midst. It’s not Olddood with his HOF 49er (viewtopic.php?f=17&t=58956). Olddood is generally too busy with stylish Snapper and super Snook to bother with the humble Bream. His was a one-off, a serendipitous event unlikely to be repeated. It is not Olddood that I’m worried about. It’s not Olddood that could prove to be my nemesis, my name and fame stealer, my bringer of mortality. It’s Craig450.

Fiddy recently reported he’d lost what may have been a 50 plus unit (viewtopic.php?f=17&t=59063). Fiddy is not Olddood. The Fiddy is a targetter of the black menace. The Fiddy has skillz. The Fiddy has Bream honey pots that equal or exceed that of The Pondage. There are numerous victims that wander this Earth without tongues, eyes nor GoPros because they caught the merest glimpse of these mystical waters. The Fiddy is indeed a rival. I don’t want to be John Landy, Edwin Aldrin or Tenzing Norgay. I don’t want to be 451. I want to be Ado. I want to beat Fiddy to fiddy.

Times can be tough for aspiring legends. It’s summer and the wind doth howl, the skies doth fill with thunderous rains, and the children doth bay for swimming and bike riding and ice-creameries and (well you get the picture). This leaves little room for heroics. Immortality must wait until the dishes are done.

But Tuesday foretold of a break in the weather that aligned with a school day and small laundry load. Such a day is a rarity that cries out for a shot at the summit. Kids shipped off, dogs walked, chores done and I was off to the Pondage for a 10am launch.

Seabreaze forecasts for the past week had been for 5-10 knot S to SE winds all day for this one day. This seems to be perfect Pondage conditions. I’m beginning to speculate that this wind direction blows surface food to the northern shore where aquatic predators lie in wait. I rechecked the forecast before jumping into the laden Elgrand. I arrived and set up to a strengthening nor-easter, optimally bad conditions. NE winds? NE WINDS! Armstrong wasn’t faced with NE wind as he took his immortal step. Bannister didn’t run headlong into a nor-easter as he headed for the tape. Hillary didn’t … well he probably did actually, but he’s a freak. In any case, NE winds were adversity in the extreme. In three outings in NE winds my sum total has been one fish landed. So it was with a heavy heart and waning motivation that I ploughed off into the NE wind. I chose to paddle, not pedal, a testament to the inner fortitude I’d need to succeed.

Half way across my 2km approach I saw a figure. It was a kayak, an occupant, a hat! Was that Fiddy steeling my training facilities and hoping to snatch immortality from under my not insignificant nose? It proved not to be. It was a visitor from Sydney, the land of the humble yellow fin, hardly a contender. He was pleased with his meagre 36cm model, and a later one 38cm to the fork. Bwahahaha! Still, there needs to be those less worthy to juxtapose our greatness. After a quick chat I sidled past, heading for the honey hole and my date with destiny.

The G5IJSCLISPN had been pre-armed on my trusty Jervis Walker. The wind blew foul drifts, spins and a bowed line, but this did not deter me. My third cast saw extreme interest. The slack line took off under the yak, but I somehow missed the hookup. I used the Mirage drive and continuous rudder adjustments in an attempt to hold the mark. This proved successful. The next cast resulted in a nearly imperceptible tap. I thought I was imagining things, raised the rod tip to an unmoved bend and concluded weed. Half way in the weed started moving. Heavy, slow, the hallmarks of a big Flathead. My lack of an initial strike proved telling. One shake of the head was all it took to rid it of its mouth of the oversized mimic of an …. um …. radioactive alien abdominal worm? Holding location as best I could, I cast once more. This time there was no denying the hit. I struck like someone who has just failed to set the hook …. and parted the leader knot. Damn. That’s payment for honed skills lost though off season indulgence.

By the time I’d retied the leader, the jig head and impaled a new Gulp, I was hundreds of metres from the bight. I tried in vane to locate it again, but either I was unsuccessful in my one dimensional triangulation or they fish had moved on.

I spent the next three hours in training purgatory.

The water level was down half a metre. This, combined with summer temperatures, resulted in an explosion of weed. Few of my favourite spots were fishable with plastics. Those that were resulted in the need to cut each retrieve short to remove a couple of annoying strands that ruined the presentation …. of a radioactive alien abdominal worm. The strong winds of the last month or so had succeeded in stirring up the lowered shoreline, reducing visibility to perhaps half a metre at best. I couldn’t see the sandy patched I most craved. The wind propelled me at a fast trolling pace, useless for plastic fishing. Any cast into the wind was too short to be effective. Any cast with the wind made it impossible to keep contact with the plastic.

I escaped to the northern shoreline. Even this did little to protect me. The wind bent around the meagre headland, losing some velocity but leaving a healthy 10 knot easterly to contend with. I used my sounder to locate less weedy areas, only to find that these were equally devoid of fish. I continued to drift westward, hugging the shoreline, casting every 5m. The only break in the monotony was parting another leader knot on a rocky underwater outcrop. I had thoughts of turning back, giving in to the harsh elements that only a sunny summer day in southern NSW can conjure. But I channelled Hillary and Bannister. They weren’t quitters. Neil Armstrong couldn’t quit even if he wanted to. I put in the hard yards, the extremes of effort required to drift with the wind and cast a line, the pain of continued failure. If I was to lose my fiddy to Fiddy, then it would not be through lack of trying.

I ended up in the western bays, plagued once again by the full strength of the NE winds. There were now white caps spraying laughter across my bow and spitting over my gunwales. But heroic determination gripped me. I got the first touch in two hours. It was obviously a tiny bream, but at least it was a sign. It was a sign that fortitude could prevail against the elements and that a complete lack of knowledge and skill was no impediment to mediocrity. If mediocre was my label for today, then I would wear it with pride. To achieve greatness, one must spend at least some time passing through mediocrity.

Another hour of mediocrity passed, including the km bash into the teeth of the 15 knot maelstrom. A was veritably dampened with spray. If I’d been wearing glasses, I would have undoubtedly have had to stop to clean them. That’s how adverse it was. It moistened my apple, salted my cheese and bickies, made me stop eating to correct my steering. That’s pretty adverse. But heroics are built on adversity. In adversity we trust.

I had to try something new. I headed for the sanctuary buoy.

What is it about sanctuary zones that inspire the imagination? You stare at them in blind wonder, imagining that just the other side of that fictitious line is a body of water teaming with life, all swimming past with piscatorial smiles on their scaly faces, giving you the finger. Your imagination makes the logical extension. There must surely be a linear ramp function that dilutes the mythical saturation of fish to the extreme paucity that exists outside the sanctuary. There must surely be a few strays that wander a few metres outside the safe zone. I tested this hypothesis again, with immediate results.

Gone were the proper good techniques. No casting into the drift and flicking some life into the plastic. Instead I cast as best as I could upwind, left the bail arm open as I drifted away, waiting until I’d provided any spooked fish sufficient recovery time, and started a lazy drift and twitch. It’s a technique I haven’t resorted to for years, the lazy man’s angling. Lazy or not, it came up trumps with a good hit, and a short sharp run. There was no denying what that was. I completed the drift, pedalled back into the wind, cast at a new section adjacent to the sanctuary zone, and repeated the technique. Tap tap. I held my breath. Tap tap tap. I turned blue. Tap tap tap bend. I lowered the rod tip as I drifted away, still feeling the merest of resistance. At full arm extension I struck. There was no give.

At first I took it for a big Flathead. It was heavy, but lacked the arcing runs of the big Bream that I was used to. But its back suddenly appeared 10m away, from the metre of murk below it. I caught my breath. It was indeed a Bream and it was huge. It struggled little and within a minute or two it was within tantalising reach of the net. In my eagerness, I had stopped one wind of the reel early. It remained wallowing on the surface just out of reach. Was it bigger than my 47cm PB? It sure looked it, but then again so had the 47cm PB. There was only one way to find out and that was to stop ogling it and net it. It of course had other ideas and dived off for a final run at its own glory. I calmed my nerves, put the net down, gently coerced it yak side and steered in finally into the net.

The camera stopped working (again) so I fumbled the iPhone for a net shot before measure. That way I could have some evidence if I botched the lap measure.

Measurement on an uneven surface (made even more uneven though over-excitement) may not be accurate. However it was accurate enough to confirm that it wasn’t a fiddy. It was 46cm, perhaps 47 if I could have pulled off the Gatesy stretch. But short of spinal dislocation, it wasn’t going to be the mythical unicorn. It was still a horse, but it had no horn. I on the other hand …

It brought home to me how impossibly huge a half metre of Bream would be … correction, WILL be.

The next drift resulted in another hookup as I left the plastic out while pedalling into position. This was also sizeable and undertook the typical arc around the stern such that I had to pass the rod tip over the flag and second rod. However, when this hit the surface I knew it was a keeper worthy of a measure back at shore. I don’t release Flathead.

So I got my fiddy. It wasn’t the one I was after, but who was I to complain? I dusted off the cobwebs, fought the good fight, honed my meagre bag of skills, and even learned a thing or two. It will take more than desire to catch a fiddy. But desire breeds hope, and hope springs eternal.

Read the thread on AKFF

Day One:
While setting up I received a couple of lures that I got pimped by Custom Lure Art – Craig450. They looked amazing and Craig450 did a great job. I just had to try them during the comp and tied on a Greedyguts 66 in the pimped secret colour. I had a bit of a game plan coming into the comp as I had fish the Bemm River for the Grand final and had found a lot of fish on a flat. Not too sure what the area was called but it felt like the furthest point from the launch spot next to the river that runs to the sea. The flat is made up on sand flats and broken weed bed and drop offs. As soon as we were allowed to go I made my way to the spot and started a slow drift with the sea anchor. I made long casts first throughout the day and when drifted off the flat I would peddle into the wind and start the drift again. I started out with the Greedyguts 66 in the pimped colour and first cast I landed my first legal bream that went 34cm. The flat was about 1.3m, the Greedyguts started to get caught on weed so I switched to the Damiki Shrimp Soft plastic in Ox Blood Red and Skin Blue and within the first cast got hammered by a 37cm Bream. A few more cast later while ripping through the weed I felt weight big headshakes and knew I was onto a good fish. The fish went on a few awesome runs with the love noise of the drag zzzzzzzzz and it weird feeling how much stretch you get fishing 3lb Sunline sniper straight through. The fish didn’t want to swim out from underneath my kayak but after a good fight it was finally in the kayak and soon after into the live-well it well 38cm to the fork. It was a good feeling having a bag of fish before 8am and took a lot of pressure off my chest. By then I had drifted on to a sand bank and started casting the Greedyguts again and managed a couple of 30-33cm bream. I then got smoked and lost the Greedyguts which I hope wasn’t to a big bream. I keep telling myself it was a flathead. I then tied on the Crackjack 48 deep in the same pimped colour. I cast a long winded cast the lure landed in the water and within 2 cranks the reel was screaming and line was pealing from the reel and I pulled in the sea anchor with one hand and had to chase the fish down. After an awesome tussle the fish gave up and swam into the net I was stoke to upgrade the 34cm to the tip with a 39cm to the fork bream. On the way back to the start line I found a drop off from around 2.2m to 1.3 and caught another 5 legal bream on the Damiki shrimp ranging from 30-35cm. It was good to see almost all competitors catching fish and majority with full bags. I excitedly weighed in my biggest bag to date breaking the 3keg mark and was stoked. Well done to Michele Carmody on a cracking bag of bream as well.

Day two:
To say I had a good night sleep would be a lie. I was tossing and turning and took me a long time to finally settle down. Day two started and I was the last to leave number 70. I arrived at my spot to find a couple of people already there. It was really a mental game watching everyone leave first and not being able to get to your favourite spot first. It was tough going but managed bag of 3 bream to 30cm by 8:30am and it again took a lot of pressure off and I could just relax. All the bream were caught on the flats on the Crackjack 48 deep in the pimped colour I had changed the leader to 6lb as I didn’t want to lose it and continually checked and changed the leader because of that. I then persisted on the flat for a couple of hours and upgraded all the bream to all 32cm bream. The wind died down and the fish stopped biting on the flats. I was starting to get a little stress with only having a smallish bag and I knew I needed to upgrade. I went searching for greener pastures I peddled over to around 2.2m of water and started bladed and managed a small bream. I then decided to move towards the start line were I found bream towards the end of day one and after a couple of hours blading with a Ecogear zx I was stoked to pull in a 34cm bream a few more cast and up graded again to a 37cm to the fork bream. I knew I just needed one more upgrade to stay in the lead. After a couple of small bream and about 40 casts later I got that upgrade I needed a 37cm to the tip bream with only 20 minutes to go. Got off the water and it was time to play the waiting game being asked to be the last to weigh in was nerve racking and watching all the nice bags being weighed in wasn’t making it any easier. Getting to the stage last and having to get at least 2kg to beat Steve Fields and knock him off the top was nerve-racking my legs and arms felt like jelly. I had my toes crossed that it would reach the magic 2kg mark. When the bag hit the scales and 2.27kg went up I was stoked I couldn’t get the smile off my face. Being able to hold onto top spot coming into day two and beating some of the top bream anglers is an awesome feeling that will definitely keep me buzzing for a long time to come. Well done to all the top finisher.
Thanks to Elliot from ABT, Lure and Fly and Hobie for running a great well run event. Thanks to my sponsor Searing tackle suppliers of Damiki, Pontoon 21 and Fish Arrow. A big thanks goes to Craig450 that runs Custom Lure Art and pimping my Lures for me I owe you a couple of beers.

The lures that did the damage (crackjack was in a secret pimped colour not the one in the image)

I remember being dragged along to a family picnic near a small dam. My uncle had brought a fishing rod along, and after I’d scoffed my lunch and tired of adult conversation, I asked him if I could have a cast. Sure, he said, but looks to be nothing more than tadpoles in this puddle of a place.

So I walked the bank casting a little trout spinner. Half my casts didn’t even make it into the water, and those that did didn’t make it by much. I wasn’t really paying attention, just glad to be exploring along the shoreline. I’d been fishing for a while, when on a retrieve my line stopped dead in the water, with something pulling in the other direction. My heart jumped into my mouth. I remember thinking there was something unknown, beneath the surface in the dark depths, attached to my line!

I reeled in a little bass. I couldn’t believe it and ran over to show everyone. That was the moment I was hooked on fishing. The moment a lifelong passion began. I think we all have a moment like that, back in our childhood. For me it was that tiny little bass.

I went bass fishing again yesterday, to a lake called St Clair, a little less than 3 hours from Sydney. I was on the water before dawn this morning, working surface lures. The first strike happened a few foot from the kayak, which sent the lure sailing over my head. No hook up unfortunately, but just seeing the power of the strike was enough, shattering the pre-dawn stillness.

I hooked up on the next strike, but it took me straight into the weed. It was a decent fish. It was getting lighter now and my window of opportunity on surface lures was closing.

A few casts later and my lure must have landed on top of a bass. It inhaled it and after a brave fight, out of the dark depths, emerged a fat bass just over the 40cm mark.

I may have more rods now, more lures and a mortgage to throw in, but in that moment I was a7 year old kid again, connected to something mysterious under the water, hoping for a whopper, lost in the moment.

I ended up cathing a few big ones, all great fun on light gear. Enjoy the pics.

Cheers
Jason

ATTACHMENTS

Read the thread on AKFF

Day one:
Launched from just near here. Calm. Sunny. Awesome.

Anyone know what this is? It rises from a few meters of water alongside the remains of an old pier.

The first of many. Not as tiny as he looks, the lure is 10cm long. Was hoping for something bigger – a big brown or an escaped (fish farms in Maquarie Harbour) atlantic salmon.

As I got further out it got a little choppier. This is Australias 2nd biggest bay. IIRC 6 times bigger than Sydney Harbour, and about 1/2 the size of Port Phillip bay Much prettier though…

Close to Strahan itself is the remains of this old pier. Judging from the size of the construction materials and the proximity to the railway I’d imagine it once had trains unloading from it.

Around the corner from the last one, another derelict. Plenty of structure, no fish…

Caught 7-8 of these this day. This one was the prettiest so I took a photo.

At the local mill, one of only a few licensed to salvage, mill and sell Huon Pine, they have this log on display.

The winch needs some CRC…

They fire up their old saw every day for the tourists. It was pretty cool. Also sell everything from fine furniture, crafts, raw slabs, sawn planks and even offcuts. Being a tightar@e I spent $5 on some offcuts that may one day become cheese-boards.

After the mill we went for a short walk to a nearby waterfall. It started from a place called “Peoples Park” and was nearly all flat along an excellent track. We saw people pushing kids in a pram!
I’ll let the pictures do the talking:

By now we were ready for dinner.

After a few more ales, a shower and a stroll along the foreshore our first day ended.

Day two.
We started with a drive to the heads to check out the camping area (looks great!) and see the sights.
Along the way we stopped at a little picnic area and did a couple of short walks. The first was a flattish loop around the foreshore and through the ferns, the second was a zig-zag goat-track up to a lookout.

On the first, flat walk:

From the lookout:

There were a lot of grasshoppers in this area.

Next we went to Henty Dunes. Big steep buggers! I took a very steep shortcut – each step I took I slid 1/2 way back to where the step started. After a few minutes slog I reached the top. Jen was going the longer way around, before she also took a steepish shortcut to join me. She found bum-first the way to go.

Making progress!

After lunch (Bacon, eggs & asparagus sammiches) I went for a fish again. Love being able to load the ‘yak up at the campsite and then walk it little more than 100 (flat!) meters to launch!

Shortly after launch some local pro fishermen (Ab divers?) thought my kayak was a new kind of navigation aid.
http://s808.beta.photobucket.com/user/S … 9.mp4.html
Strangely a few seconds after I got my camera out they decided I was not a marker bouy and altered course. They even slowed down. We exchanged friendly waves as they passed – more than 50m away and at reduced speed. Lovely blokes. 

More salmon.

In the tanin stained water the psychadelic coloured YEP minnow was slaying them. So much that it wore out. OK, that might have been my clumsiness removing the rear trebble from (yet another) fish – and from the lure as well…

The Lady Jane Franklin II. We are booke dor a cruise on her on Monday. 

The DSI was really struggling in the tanin stained water. I switched to purple with a white background, and ended up using the 455mHz frequency as the 800 was loosing signal quite often in this deep water.

The weber did another roast. Chicken this time.

Washed down with a good beer (or 3).

Once again, a stroll along the beach and a read of our books, a shower and bed, with dreams of monster trout up the Henty river…

Day 3.
The Henty river is just a short drive from Strahan.
In Spring it has whitebait, and sea run trout.
It’s not spring, but I hear there are some monster resident browns.
Most people fish downstream from the bridge. Upstream is “too snaggy for a boat, and too rough to fish from the banks”. Or maybe there just aren’t any fish…
I saw one small galaxia (?). I did fish most of the way that I went (prob 5-6 k’s up from the bridge.) I didn’t catch a thing (apart from snags!) but that didn’t matter.

The scenery was stunning. My poor little point and shoot camera, and my lack of skill really don’t do it justice. This was some of the most breath-takingly beautiful scenery I have ever seen. Apart from the buzz of insects and the slight sound of my pedaling it was eerily silent. Sometimes I felt like I might be the only person on earth, or the first one ever to come here. (I’m sure I wasn’t). It was an odd feeling of solitude and silence. I’f I’d have hooked a fish I’d probably have shat!

I’d love to go here again – maybe with someone with a good camera and some skill using it. Meanwhile, here are my efforts:

Prepare to launch!

…

Thankfully, the forecast for calm conditions was accurate and a reasonable swell completed the picture. It was go at 4:00 am, for a 5:00 am launch. Six Noosa Yakkers were to launch today and the first of us, Jaro and I, were on the beach by just after 5:00am, 30 minutes before sunrise.

Even though we were in the flood phase of the tide, with about another hour to go before full, there were still waves closing out our narrow exit. But the lulls were readable and these were the best conditions offered for a month so how could we turn back now? Jaro paddled straight out cleanly without a pause, just at the end of a lull. Fifteen seconds or so behind jaro, the Middle Groyne express pushed me out along the channel and, as I expected, a big set arrived causing me to back paddle at the end of the wall, as I’ve often had to do. Five waves went through before the lull invited me to go, which allowed me to dry bum it today. It felt good to get out in the bay again in windless conditions, even if the usually clear water was murky. This was another difficulty we faced and much of this month, the seasonal rainfall in the Noosa River catchment was forcing the river to give up its store of tea coloured, tannin stained fresh water reserves which were now pouring into our bay and turning that area into a no-go zone for pelagic predators. So today our goal was to find the clean water boundary, hopefully within range of our craft, and hopefully find fish.

Jew Shoal offered the best prospect, I thought. With Soren and lazybugger now safely launched also, the four of us turned for Jew Shoal as soon as we were individually ready. Paddling out was dead easy as the sea was unruffled and only slightly lumpy from the swell rolling into the bay. My trolled hardbody lure went all the way to the shoal in murky water without attracting any attention. Nor was there any surface action visible, and only one tern on the way out. But one good tern deserves another and there were plenty of terns visible once out at Jew Shoal, where the water was still murky at The Pinnacles, four km from the launch beach. The terns, however were flocking further out to the north and north east and I pushed on toward them, eventually finding the clean water boundary about 800m further out.

By now we were aware that stormin and kahuna had launched and were heading for Jew Shoal also as they were briefed by radio as to our situation.

In this clearer water I decided to drift fish a while in 23m depth, hoping that some fishy predators would arrive to feed on the smaller critters the terns were obviously having for breakfast. The silence was remarkable and such that before long I heard the unmistakeable shoaling and splashing noises which emanate from surface-feeding fish The activity was unseen but somewhere in my vicinity. When I commented on this and the clean water to the rest of the gang by radio, they started to head toward where I indicated. Soren soon found the activity first, and got a few casts away into a shoal of what I took for bonito, or maybe tiny mac tuna, rippling and causing a mini commotion as they joined the breakfast bar feasting.

No serious fish were evident, however, although lazybugger reported a huge strike on a trolled SP. This strike had damaging consequences as the carbon rod, in the rod holder, was snapped off, leaving the butt section behind. Scott’s rod leash did its job however, and being attached higher up the butt, near the reel, saved the rod and reel from a watery grave. The fish busted the lure off but at least lazybugger got his gear back.

Lazybugger displays the butt end of the broken rod.

Shortly after this, with no activity for me on the SPs I was using while drift fishing, I decided to open up my horizons a little by trolling the area where the terns were still wheeling and dipping. Barely had I begun this when a huge splash occurred about 30m in front of me and then a longtail tuna over a metre in length cleared the water two rod lengths away on my port side. This info was passed by radio to my companions. Now we knew what we were up against.

Jaro at this time was bottom fishing with bait around Jew Shoal and had been pretty quiet on the radio so I knew the action was slow in that department. Then up he came on the radio saying that he’d caught and released a 60cm mac tuna (cast a slug into a bustup which happened to pop up next to him).

By around 7:55 I had paddled along, following tern activity, all the way down to A-Bay. Here I found kahuna, doing the same as I was, following the edge of the giant plume of fresh water which was spilling out of Laguna Bay and being carried out to the south around Hell’s Gates. Terns were picking up a feed here with only rare glimpses by us of fishy predators, including my second sighting for the day of a leaping longtail tuna, this one blasting out vertically close by. I’d just decided to head back toward Jew Shoal when jaro, who was still there, came up on the radio saying he was hooked up to something huge. No other detail was offered and as I was heading in that direction anyway I let him know that I was 1.5 km away and that I was heading toward him. Knowing that jaro was fishing with bait, I presumed his monster fish was a shark, especially with the murky water around.

Every now and then jaro came up on the radio to give us a progress report. My interest level increased when he told us he’d seen the fish briefly and reckoned it was a tuna. On the way to his location I marked a couple of spots to the east of Jew Shoal where heavy concentrations of baitfish were evident. The water here was clearer than before so perhaps these bait schools were concentrating along the edge of the murky water.

One of the baitfish concentrations.

I reached jaro about 8:35am, some 700m east of The Pinnacles, in relatively clean water. He’d been battling this fish for about 40 minutes by now and now I first learned that it had taken a large prawn bait, drift fished and intended for snapper or sweetlip. The throbbing on the end of his rod tip indicated that he had a tuna on alright so I hung around to see the end of the encounter.

Jaro half way through the battle.

Having been through many such captures, jaro was in no hurry to finish off this fish. He just maintained pressure and gained line whenever he could. The fish hung under the yak most of the time and eventually the pressure did the job and he came peacefully to the side of the yak where jaro inserted the gaff into the operculum and lifted its head out of the water.

Gaff just inserted

Once he’d secured the fish and brought it on board we set up the standard Noosa Yakkers big fish pic and here it is.

Jaro with longtail tuna.

This was a good time for jaro and me to call a halt to our fishing for the day so we headed for the beach. All of our companions decided to also head in, but not all together.

The water level being lower than at launch time meant that the same swell as earlier was now causing the sand monster to become active. Waves were breaking 20-30 metres out from the groyne and prudence dictated that care be taken in timing. Lazybugger, soren and I all returned to the beach without drama. This left jaro out there getting ready for his run and, knowing that jaro usually has impeccable timing in this process I was not paying attention and did not have the camera running. I looked up briefly only to see him sideways in the break zone about to be engulfed by a breaking wave. Next instant he was upside down. He had failed to notice that the break zone started further out now than earlier. Soren and lazybugger were worried about the fish, which had been too long to be stored completely inside his fish box. I assured them that jaro would have the tuna secured to the kayak with at least two leashes and this proved to be the case when he eventually made it to the beach, very damp and a bit embarrassed, but with his fish. There’s a lesson there for newbies. Always make sure that your valuable catch is very secure before running the surf zone.

A few beach pics

Kahuna reckoned he was hamming it up for the camera

The longtail on the mat; 108cm; 13.8kg

Lazybugger and his broken rod

A couple of Swedish visitors had an unexpected opportunity to experience Noosa locals.

Thanks for reading AKFFers. Tight lines

Kev

Read the thread on AKFF

Read the thread on AKFF

I took home kingfish and samson for dinner, so who’s complaining. 

Read the thread on AKFF

This month also saw me trying Nico’s Gopro head cam. As soon as i edit the footage i will post it up. In the footage you can see Ant “the wave whisperer” hit the beach and immediately proceed to successfully tackle the waves, while i patiently wait and finally get out without having to deal with any big waves. I must say that although it looks easy, but the swell was small. Due to the long shallow bank and the low tide, i did have to wait a good 20mins for a break and any other time it would have involved some serious sand monsters that are prevalent atm. The jew was caught on 20lb leader and an extremely loose drag. It was a just reward for a tough mornings fishing in ordinary conditions. Anyway here’s some pics of the fish i have caught.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlGhtnj7 … VQ&index=1

Thanks for the pro editing Clive aka safa love your work

ATTACHMENTS

After offering to help Thegaff here, Berger asked if I could make any help I offered public for everyones benefit

So here it is

If you have fly tying queries put them here
I’ll help as best I can, and everyone else is also free to offer advice

The one caveat I would request – speak only of what you know from your own experience
no “I heard” or “Someone told me once” type anecdotes

Some background:
I’ve been tying flies since 1990
I’ve tied trout, saltwater, warmwater and full dressed salmon flies
I was previously the fly tying editor for Powerfibers magazine, and my flies were featured in “Tube flies 2: Evolution”
and 2 of my flies are on the shortlist for next years Umpqua catalogue

I’m not claiming to be an expert in everything tying related (far from it), but chances are I’ve either tied or looked into tying just about everything that flutters, flies, swims, dives or otherwise snuffs it near water and is eaten by fish (and even some things that aren’t – yes the salmon flies)
so if I don’t know, I might know someone who does

So to kick off here’s my favourite 2 bits of fly tying advice:

1) Know your material – play with the feathers, fur etc. Know what it can do and what it can’t, when it breaks, where it breaks, how it feels, how you can manipulate it. Look closely at it, see how it lies and think about it – and think outside the box
2) Learn to whip finish – its the no 1 skill that sets apart a skilled tyer from a rank amateur

http://www.ikijime.com/

Read the thread on AKFF

It sounds like it shouldn’t be an issue so long as you’re getting out there but it really grind me down. It’s like you are giving a certain number of fishing days at birth and every one you waste is one that youi’re never going to get again.

Our Sunday committment has been cancelled which makes a fishing session possible so I’ve been driving around doing some recon. I won’t bore you with the details and I’ll still be out there tomorrow having a good time regardless but I’m curious as to whether anyone else finds this a dilemma.

The aren’t too many things to hate about kayak fishing, I can deal with the sun, heat, sweat, lack of fish, smart arse comments from boaties, flat tyres, lost lures, broken rods, gear forgotten at home etc, but what are the the things you hate about kayak fishing?

Read the thread on AKFF

Here are the picks of the valve system for the seat well. The bungs are gone completely replaced with the valave from the cheap syphon hose. This works like a venturi system sucking any water out when your traveling.
You need 2 cheap syphon pumps.
Cut out the exit valve and the surrounding plastic.
Insert into the bung hole and seal with silicone.
The valve flap must be facing backwards.
Smooth the silicone out and there you go. Simple and effective.

ATTACHMENTS

This is the pump you need which you can bu anywhere for 5 bucks

aipump.jpg (59.24 KiB) Viewed 209 times

You need to cut out the top valve and trim up nicely

aipumpcu.jpg (41.37 KiB) Viewed 209 times

The finished and extracted valve

a1plugclos.jpg (37.69 KiB) Viewed 209 times

Read the thread on AKFF

Read the thread on AKFF

For me its Berkley Gulp, then second would be berkley gulp and third berkley gulp 

They are just brilliantly scented, can be used as static bait! Fish just attracted to them.

Colours and shapes…the peppered prawn, pumpkin seed and firetiger in certain conditions. Firetiger is black and bright orange.

Shapes, the prawn range, short stick bait, jerk shads for snapper and curl tails for a bit of wiggle.

I mainly target flathead, but with the new kayak will be rack fishing flatties and bream with sp!

Jig heads?? I like fine wire gamakatsu…fine hook, better penetration. weights so far 1/8, 1/6 and 1/4…though will be going lighter for bream i believe, to keep it natural.

whats your experiences??

Fisherjayse

Read the thread on AKFF

I decided to replace them with carbon fibre which should help with durability. You can buy washers from smooth drag in the states but they haven’t made it to the 21st century yet and require you to email them your credit card number. I didn’t feel like doing that, so instead I bought a sheet of drag material so I could make my own. Using the metal washers as templates I cut some out with scissors:

Not perfect but they’ll do. I used a drill to make the centre holes and installed the stack. You have the option of running them dry or greased. If dry, you get a little more max pressure but greased they’re smoother. Mine are dry for the moment. At first they were a bit shuddery but are settling down with use. I may still grease them, I want to see how they perform on a decent fish first.

Read the thread on AKFF

So as usual a review doesn’t mean much unless you know something about the background of the reviewer. So 5 years yakking experience starting with the wonderful Perception Swing plastic SOT (still have it) then straight into the deep end on a fast sea kayak (SIK) which kind of matches the Toura/550. Oh, I did spend four days of love/hate with the 575 before I realised that the limitations were mine, not the 575. I spend a bit of time working on safety and performance with coaches when I start something new. My ability? I dont know, happy off shore in up to about 3.5 m swell and 20-kn+ winds but wont fish over about 1.5m swell and start quiting when the white caps start showing. Fishing experience? Love it, not much good at it. [Edit] And I dont do surf. You’ll need some one else to tell you about that.

Also, a review really needs some considerable time in the seat in different conditions. I just spent 40min playing on the Stealth Sydney demo day. That’s it, not much to go on. All it is, is a play for comparisons.

OK.

First impressions before we get it on the water
Width: Now that I am used to my SIK (which is 54cm wide) my first impression is how wide it is. This wont be experienced by many I think. But it “looks” stable. And for me is comforting that the design isn’t getting too obsessed with width to achieve stability. Reality check though, it’s probably the narrowest yak in the Stealth range, definitely narrowed up from the 465 which is an obvious comparison.

Hull shape: Like much of the Stealth range it has plenty of flat surface on the hull. You would think this will lead to easy planning in runners and surf if that is your thing. I didnt have a chance to test this, but looks good. The rocker (“banana’ shape when you look at the side profile) is not obvious to me on the trailer. But rocker is one of the things that Stealth talk about in the design development. And rocker is one of those issues that I just don’t think Stealth are yet to perfect. Bazzoo worked up the 465 into the Splash by shifting weight (the seat position) forward in an attempt to counter it. I completely agree. But like I said, on the trailer, the rocker does not stand out to me. So far so good.

Rudder: Consistent with the Profisha range we have a long thin blade shape situated back from the end of the boat. Expectations are 1, it’s not protected like say the skeg rudder on the Evolution range; 2, but it is a much higher performance shape, consistent with the Profisha range; 3, location should maximise connection to the water in waves, runners, surf (cant guarantee it wont come out of the water in the right – ie rough – conditions, but connection is maximised). I like it.

Pedals: I am completely discombobulated by feet steering. My SIK is a skeg design (it might 5.5m long but there is no rudder). But the adjustment system is the usual simple Stealth affair, feet straps look comfy.

Hatches: Like the fish hatch. If you are thinking of trying to stick a marlin or a 30kg tuna in it, you’ll opt for the 575. As with the 575 the hatch tie down system seems simple and is pretty close to water tight. No doubt the super-pimpers will play with it. It doesn’t need it. The fish hatch per usual Stealth over-engineering (imho) is a completely third mould and glass arrangement that is built inside the hull and deck mouldings. Bloody bullet proof (and part of the reason for the cost, there is a lot of glass, a lot of design, and a lot of labour building it). It has a separate bung plug for draining (hence the two bungs plugs on the nose of the yak.

The rear hatch is a “day hatch” sort of affair. I’d be using it for miscellaneous tackle. I’d personally love this to be large enough for a water bladder to feed a hose through my PFD, but you’ll either need to pimp this mod or do the usual camel bak.

Other bits: Stealth standard paddle stowage. Venturies x 2 to drain the hull.4 rod holder deck flush behind the paddler. Usual solid considered Stealth layout.

Lets get it wet

First thing to note, DT used the forward carry handle leaving the tail on the soft sand and walked the yak to the water (Actually Kas helped him carry it from the trailer to the beach first!) In this mode NOTE, that unprotected rudder is completely protected. We nosed the yak to to the sand and walked to the the tail – on returning to the beach, the rudder is not in anyway hitting anything on a typical beach as long as you get off and walk it the beach from there. I’d be keeping an eye around the surf and the beach on the rudder. But the point is, if you do, it’s nicely designed to give you a chance to look after it. Good. The performance blade is something that attracts me to this model over the wonderful 465.

Weight, has a weight advantage over the 465 for sure. By spec the same as my SIK, but honest feels much lighter. I cart the SIK around on my shoulder.

Width? I dont know if this makes sense, but I doubt I would use a wing blade on this yak. it is wide, but a predictable width that is reassuring.

Adjust pedals – what can I say. The system works. 4 fingers DT suggests under the knee to the seat. I suspect I’d use less, but this “standard setup” works well.

In the seat. It’s comfortable. Instantly obvious is the buoyancy – like all Stealths. I’m above the water. So in this respect, it’s more like an SLSA spec ski than a typical Ocean Racing Ski. For what ever that means. You do sit a couple of inches above the water compared to what I am used to. I’d be re-considering paddle selection around this if I bought one.

Under way (yay!): This yak immediately “spoke” to me. It’s an easy yak to fall in love with. And no, I do not say this about all Stealths, but I do feel this way with the Evolution 430 and 465 and the 550. Oh, and the Toura. What can I say, I find 40% of Steaalths immediately love-able.  It feels light and comfortable under paddle. The pedals react nicely to input, and I can set the rudder to neutral and ignore it, using my blades to properly, or at least “technically”. This is something that I think is important as I really want to work my paddle and to know how to control the yak, whatever is happening to the rudder.

Push the yak up to my fast cruise pace. I’m not feeling hull resistance due to a shorter water line than my 550 SIK. Sprint it up a bit, no not there either. I’m not saying that you wont hit hull speed on the shorter 475 compared to the 550 or the 575. The laws of physics will out. But I am saying, without another yak to sit against, I am not good enough to detect it. So for fitness runs, I’m not going to feel, “hell wouldnt it be good to be on something faster”. The glide is lovely. Responsiveness is wonderful. Honest, this is an easy yak to fall in love with.

Handling: Not much wind and no waves on the test. But on a repeated test designed to understand how the yak reacts to wind… it turns to the wind. Pretty sure of it. This is handling that makes sense to me. But to be honest, it is so neutral that in 8 to 10 kn I had to work hard and get off the pedals to reach my conclusion. I am going to be really interested in responses from owners to validate whether I got it right!

OK, let’s try making it dance (I’m talking playing with technical strokes to try to push the yak around and see how it reacts). Questions I used to get a lot on the 575 around how does it turns etc. Well 475 is still a long yak. People get nervous around how to turn it. I think it is to do with the skills of the paddler not the length of the yak. But with this yak you simply dont need to apply this logic. It turns. Easy.
Forward rudder:ie using the paddle blade in front of you to turn the yak. I really dont have to stretch far to work this stroke. Work the stroke harder with very little forward speed, it spins nicely. Very nicely. Now try it with the pedals and rudder. Honest, seems to rotate on a centrepoint immediately under my bum. Nice!
Side rudder:Like the forward rudder but move the blade back until forward motion is not sideways motion. Wow, Ever seem a yak going sideways?
Rear rudder:It’s not my favourite stroke, but a stroke of last resort to stop broaching in waves. More to the point, using this by moving into a rear sweep really turns the yak. So it is easy enough to turn.
Backing up:Nothing much to say, put the rudder in neutral positions and it paddles backwards.
Low brace:I pushed this hard which is a habit on a new yak. With some forward momentum, I can get the yak well edged on it’s side. But there’s no need as it responds by turning and is comfortable. From static and pushing hard leaning over the side of the yak -deliberately testing the broaching point – I did get myself slipping past the point of no return and went for one swim. Noting that I was deliberately abusing the yaks stability. I kept working this with better knowledge and didn’t go over again, so I was able to learn the tip point and to hold the yak just below it. That’s something I am looking for in a yak. I dont get in the Swing for instance, which is totally stable until bang you are swimming. Some yakkers will prefer this. I like a progressive secondary stability. Still, predictably, the secondary stability, while in my view absolutely excellent, does not match the Evolution 465.

My swim allowed me to test re-entry. It’s wider than my usual experience, and much more buoyant, so something of a different challenge for me. Again I broke rules of training and deliberately did not counter my weight to the opposite side to the side I was mounting. Just pulled myself through. This tipped the yak precariously until I fell on my tummy on top. I can remount much more elegantly than this! All in all it’s solid.

So finish off with a short fast cruising pace and just cruising the local scene.nDefinitely worth catching up with DT and Kas for this play day. Oh, that rocker thing? Notice that I didnt mention it once I was on the water? Guess why? So my score card with Stealth yak design is now approx 0 (dru): 14 (Stealth).

Summary? It’s an easy yak to fall in love with.

ATTACHMENTS

Read the thread on AKFF

Why the Fisha?

No kayak is perfect, every yak has good and bad points, and we each have our own personal requirements to compromise: for fishability, stability, speed, weight, length, width, surf, rocker, simplicity, ease of use, cost, prettyness, durability, fashion, colour, sex appeal …..and this one fitted my compromises.

My requirements were mainly to counter the disadvantages of the hobie revo for inshore fishing – all related to limited launch possibilities. The revo is a hippo – ungainly and heavy on land, but graceful once you get it in the water. Except for waves – it surfs like a bath tub. So launch choices have been limited to those with easy trolley access from the car to flat water (around here: Longy ramp, Little Manly ramp, Shelley Beach, Camp Cove, Malabar ramp), with long set up times.

5 years fishing from the same battered old yak from the same launch spots, needed a new challenge. Plus the frustration of trips up the coast with nowhere to launch a hippo.

Requirements:
- capable of getting to and through surf;
- light enough to carry comfortably;
- fishing platform;
- affordable;
- completely different to the revo (i.e. shiny and sexy).

I know there are hundreds of brand options, so quickly narrowed it down to the stealths – due to surf heritage, their huge contented fan base on the forum, and seeing them in action (very pretty).

Long or very long? Chose long, for ease of handling and storage (so Evo 495, Fisha 550 and Pro-Fisha 575 knocked out early).

Weight: BFS and Evo 465 are great yaks, but not much lighter than the revo. Leaning towards Splash, Profisha and Fisha.

Surf: Superlight range win this spec hands down, with flat bow and surf rocker. But the BFS is a bit on the heavy side for my purposes, and I’m told I’m too tall for the pedals on the X. Downside is cruising the flat water once past the surf. I see this range as dedicated to big African (and Gold Coast) surf – to float over waves on launch, and surf the waves back in. Evo, Splash and Profisha and Fisha are inferior, but seem to be surf capable – can crash out through the break, and speed to get back in between sets, and slide sideways in the whitwash.

Fishability: Really like the massive fish-box/chute in the Evo and Profisha. But it comes at a weight cost. The Splash is the lightest – but lacks internal storage options, and couldn’t see how to fit a transducer. For fishing, figure I need a sounder, so had to rub out the Splash.

Narrowed it down to the Profisha and Fisha.

The Fisha is a discontinued line, and it has some well known design flaws. Stealth seems to have fixed them all in the Profisha – so looks the Pf is the perfect yak for my purposes . But it costs an extra grand +, and I couldn’t justify the expense.

= Fisha 470, with eyes wide open.

The Warts

Straight out of the bubble wrap, the Fisha was not fishable (for me), and (arguably) not seaworthy.

The two flush rodholders have a short tube, and my plastics rods have short butts. The reels sit on the hull just above the waterline, and with the spay they cop, may as well sit them directly in the water. One stray elbow, and in they’d go in anyway. To make it fishable, the choice was to change all my rods to longer butts, or replace the holders. I’ve done the latter (easy fix).

The central hatch drains into the foot-wells. I don’t get it – why do you need a drain inside your hatch? Ludicrous! Must be missing something. First test trip out through the surf (no gear), first wave over the bow, footwells fill with water (as they do) and drain – straight into the hatch/chute. Same with the next wave. By the time I made it through the surf zone, my internal hatch had 50 + litres of water in it. Hmm – now the drains come in handy – after the footwells have drained, the hatch can start slowly draining into them (until a whitecap fills the footwells again, to reverse the process). The fix is easy – I block the drainage holes with duck tape and silicon.

The central hatch lid is a piece of hinged fibreglass, with a plastic twist thing to keep it closed. No seal, so water gushes in there too (or out of there, when the hatch is full of water). The fix is easy – I stuck a rubber door seal around the underside of the lid, plus some silicone. The hatch is now pretty watertight – and fully functional.

The yak is now seaworthy.

Fixed a few other minor things: Too much play in the rudder – so clogged it up with magic plastic; rubber padding at the front was peeling off, and rubber under the peddles was lifting – now all glued back down; screws were all loose – now tight.

Rodholders:

I’m used to flexibility with this, so installed the trusty old holders that I’ve been using for years on the revo – Scotty flush mounts, with rocket launch rodholders. These raise reels up out of the water (regardless of the size of my butt), and can be set at any angle or direction when on the water. I used the bigger scotty circular flush mounts, for stronger mounting on the fibreglass.

I read Indiedog’s detailed pimping tips for installation (thanks Indie!). Found the original stealth holders already had solid timber backing, so the installation was a quick and easy job.

Put a third mount in the middle behind the seat, for extra rod storage (if required).

Sounder:

This was a challenge. The entry to the Fisha hatch/chute is much smaller than the Evo/Superlight/Profisha. Had to buy a dremel to cut the hole to install the small hatch, to access the internal hull for siliconing in the transducer. No probs.
I tied the extra transducer cable to the foam buoyancy in the outer hull, out of the way, never to be seen again.
Sounder plug/cord exits the hull through the side wall of chute, behind the rudder pedal via a waterproof cable gland from J-car (plus magic plastic, to ensure a watertight seal over twin cords).

http://search.jaycar.com.au/search?w=waterproof%20cable%20gland%20IP68&view=list

I removed the screw/knob from the Lawrence plug, to minimise the size of the hole. Shaved extra diameter off the pug with the dremel, to reduce further.

When not in use, the plug/cord remains inside the kayak safely clipped to the chute roof away from gear and water. The extra gland cap (waterproofed with magic plastic) keeps the hatch waterproof. When needed, I thread the cord through the gland (this can be done before launch or on the water after surf transit), and the main gland cap tightened to keep water out.

My little 4.2Ah Li-ion battery sits in a tupperware container bungeed to the roof of the chute, completely out of the way.

When in use, I mount the sounder head unit in front of the pedal via a RAM suction unit.

When using the yak without the sounder (exercise trips, mucking around in the surf), there is no sign of the installation, plug stays dry – you would not know it was set up for one.

http://www.rammount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065077045066045050048050085045076079049049/Default.aspx

http://www.rammount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065080045066045049054054045050085/Default.aspx

The hatch/chute:

This is perfect for tackle – much more efficient than a round hatch. My rectangle tupperware boxes fit perfectly, and there’s plenty of space. I keep a supersized sponge wedged in there as well, to soak up any water, and prevent stuff moving around.

The chute itself can fit rods up to 5.5 foot. Good to protect shorter rods (or longer two pieces) for the surf transit.
Can fit only one 5.5 foot rod with a 2500 reel fully rigged, so not as convenient as the other stealths.
Larger reels fit through the hatch opening – with handle removed. Waiting arrival of the hatch upgrade kit from SA – which should solve this problem (if it becomes a problem).

Don’t think I’ll put fish in there – no room with tackle. My fish bag fits perfectly in the rear cargo area, under the bungees.

Considering using my deck mounted dry-box for storage of larger reels on surf transit.

Considering installing round hatch in the back (but probably not needed – as already plenty of storage).

Other little things:

Upgraded all those flimsy bungees, added some plastic tubing for front the paddle holder (the Fisha’s paddle holder is different to the other stealths).

Covered all the sharp bolts poking inside the hatch with magic plastic to protect the stuff inside from knocking against them.

Does it work?

Very happy – the Fisha exactly what I was looking for.

Paddling: Goes great, but I defer to others who have reviewed the hull, and know what they are talking about (thanks Dru). I have much to learn.

Fishability: Prefer fishing hands-free from the revo – especially when its breezy. But the Fisha gives me options that the hippo can’t. Lighter, quicker and more convenient to set up.

Read the thread on AKFF

And this is how it is now

Added some rod holders

And a very basic anchor trolley system

And paddle mounts

Still have a few more items I’d like to see on it and I’m sure in time they will come but for now that’s my yak and ill love to here some tips or ideas for further improvements
Cheers

read the thread on AKFF

Anyway, I am hoping to spend more time fishing in the near future, rather than dreaming up new improvements. Although everytime I go out I think up new ideas, but most of these ideas also come from reading every kayak magazine I can get a hold of. 

I’ve attached some photos showing what I’ve done. The WATERSNAKE idea came from the latest BLADE magazine. And although I absolutely love the paddling part of the whole kayak-fishing experience, I also like the idea of being able to move around with hands free from paddling to troll & re-position for casting etc. And also to perhaps increase the distance that I’m willing to travel. Trolling is something new that I’m keen to do more of, particularly in estuaries.

Still a bit nervous about offshore ( less than 1km at this stage ) fishing on my own, eventhough I’m fully equipped with VHF, mobile, PFD etc. ( an EPIRB is on the horizon, as I also own a 4.3m centre-console stinkie ).

It is not likely I would be using the WATERSNAKE offshore a great deal, until I’m fully confident and convinced that it is not an impairment or that it has any real advantages.

ANYONE GOT ANY COMMENTS or EXPERIENCE with using an electric motor. Please comment.

Several issues I have tried to address in my fit-out:

a. is it truly relevant to my fishing habits ( which have changed a lot over the years )
b. weight and weight distribution
c. easily removable ( love the Railblaza stuff…. ) and versatile.
d. no impairment to the integrity, ie water-entry or structural to kayak.

After my second trip out on the A.I., I thought I’d post a few of the likes/dislikes I’ve noted:

I thought I’d get the negatives out of the way first…

Dislikes
• The weight of it, fully-rigged – It’s a real pain to move around, car-top, drag on the trolley, haul up the beach.
It has the potential to be a real back-breaker!
• The number of parts needed to assemble it all and the time it takes from arriving at the beach, to getting on
the water.
• Sitting in a very deep puddle of water the entire time, even when the waves are tiny.
• (2011+ models only) The side grab-handles are perfectly designed to funnel great gouts of seawater directly
into the seat-well.
• Getting whacked in the side of the head by the sail whenever it moves from left to right.
• Being bounced around like a frog on a trampoline when the seas are choppy and messy – I think it’s due
to the fact the AI has three ‘hulls’ in the water and short-chop and messy seas seem to hit the outriggers
and main hull at different times, bashing, thrashing and splashing.

Likes
• The stability – quite simply unmatched. It makes barges like the Hobie Pro-DAngler feel like a K1 racing ski.
• The thrill when a decent gust of wind hits the sail and things go up a couple of gears!
• Storage space (with tramps on) – enough area to take a couple of passengers in decent comfort.
• The ability to cover distance with bugger-all effort – what used to take a fair while in my old Revo (with sail)
now takes a fraction of the time (if the wind is kind).
• The quality of construction and features – everything seems solid, extremely well-made and designed (apart from
those sodding side-handles!)

I’d be interested if anyone else has any they can add the the lists? 

Cheers,

Mike.

read the thread on akff

what is the best method for plugging small (3/16″) holes in a PE hull?

I accidentally innstalled my anchor trolley pad eyes vertically instead of horizontally which was about as useful as a hip pocket in a singlet.  I’ve since laced them horizontally but am now left with x2 holes on the RHS of the hull (up high tank goodness!!)

I thought about plugging them with silicone or Marine Goop…..or using a rivet with the same to fill the hole. I dont have any bits of the PE around for the boat to ‘weld’ them up so that option is out.

Is there any other option I should consider or is one of the methods I suggested more preferable??

TIA

Tips from the Gurus????

Read the thread on AKFF

Yesterday a couple of mates and i hit westernport bay in Vic and found out very quickly that our anchors were insufficient. I had a 750gram reef anchor and he had a 1kg sand anchor.

We launched from Stony Point Jetty and headed straight out but with those winds and strong currents we ended up working hard to get back in. Long story short we ended up heading around the point and had the ladies pick us up from somewhere near balnarring.

Learnt heaps and had a ball, found some absolutely beautiful spots and got to swim with wild dolphins, the go pro hero 3 black edition got its first hard workout and it was a crackin day BUT…i still wanted to fish more so ive got to work this out.

My question is ‘what size anchor do you carry’ and what would you recommend for westernport bay, thanks

read the thread on AKFF

I do keep a feed but am a C and R type and do not take more than can be used in the short term so I am not going to trample over anyone’s special place. If there is any info I will be most appreciative and am happy to look at sites recommended either on the open forum or via PM.

Do hope there is something left after the fires of the past week or two…

John

read the thread on AKFF

A couple of us started talking about this subject on a hugely lengthy thread about nothing on the forum that seriously should not have serious comments on it.

Something I have always considered and I’m sure almost everyone does, is actual lure colour. Not just the lure, the colour of the lure.

Some say that colour has no meaning in fishing lures, none whatsoever, after all fish are supposed to be colour blind (I believe), yet some swear by their tried and true colours. Some say that colour means nothing after a certain depth also. Why would colours matter at night?

I have been known for owning a few Tassie Devil and other winged lures. There are a few hundred in my collection, sadly this is true and those that have fished with me for trout will attest to this accuracy. Yet, despite this, I have an undying trust in certain colours in certain situations, maybe a total of 15 max.

Of late I’ve tried to fish for Bream, and Ive noticed that clear lures with some stripes occasionally work a treat yet at another time the fish will only take a chartreuse type colour or whatever. Why?

The famous “Qantas” coloured lure (any type of hardbody) must have accounted for 13 million fish so why dont we just use that?

Why do Green and Gold with black stripes hardbodies maybe with a flash of red under the chin work for some on Cod but others should use it for a Christmas tree ornament.

Lets discuss this. I am really interested in everybody’s serious responses personally as it is something I have wondered for years.

Look forward to the discussion.

Gee

Read the thread on AKFF

So who here touches up their points?
If so, how and how often?
If not, why not?

Does any think this affects their catches?
Maybe differences dependent on species? Hard mouth species like bream, snapper have different requirements to softer mouthed species like whiting, trout etc, or even rubbery lipped species like wrasse, bonefish and carp

Interesting article to give some food for thought and discussion: http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/fly-fish … ooks-more/

Read the thread on AKFF

Grant invited us to come over and explore the latest fishing drop-offs.
He had caught successfully released 2 marlin on Sunday 20/1. Monday he landed a 9kg Mai-mai and dropped a marlin during an “as-farting session”. Fishing was hot, and I had to leave work and headed up on Tuesday night.

Tuesday night we exchanged all sorts of fishing ideas, but forgot to leave the note on the fridge. This will cost me dearly.

Wednesday was a disaster. I take too long to setup and launch at the boat ramp. The reefs didn’t provide any lives, although the fish finder said differently. At 11am, after 5 hours of bait fishing, Grant had 2 yakka’s and I had “0”. Caught a couple of bonitos and nose hooked one and strip baited another. Something just galloped the whole bonito. SWR was proving to be hard work again.

That night we decided to head over to the 9m reef. A slight detour, but a hopefully definite catch of bait. I reviewed Grants bait rig and the latest bridle techniques. I luckily didn’t forget to leave the note on the fridge when I left. A couple more secret fishing spots where exchanged.

Thursday I caught heaps of bonitos along the way, but again arrived late. Grant had already filled his bait tank, and opted to assist to catch me a couple. I caught 3 and he donated 23. It helps to pay your bills on time!
This felt grate, having all the bait before 7am!

Grant headed of into the distance, while I was setting up. He disappeared and I presume he when over to his new 46m reef. I went over to familiar grounds. Around the 20m reef I caught 2 big bonitos 4-5kg and 2 mac tuna 4-5kg. I lost a couple of bait fish to bonito, as indicated on the teeth imprints on the bait. I headed over to a 31m reef that indicated a couple of fish on Wednesday. It is just past 10am, when the surface rod broke the sound barrier. This sound is good for your soul, mind and not so good for your hart. Quick, pack up the spinning outfit, getup the down rigger, retrieved the bottom rig, get the camera rolling. To many jobs.

After the familiar couple of jumps, tail walking, zig –zaging, it finally came closer for a couple of close-ups.

See the “pearsing”. Anyone out there need one?

Awesome

“love the life you live. live the life you love.” – Bob Marley

Grabbed the bill, cut the line, and it gave me a couple of shakes. Hi mister, what are you thinking, I am green, and want to …At that moment, time stood still.

After 10min, I saw a boatie also hook up to a billy.

Grant caught another 6 Mai-mai’s, kept 3 for the camp feed.

That night, we recouped our thoughts of the day, Grant suggested we head over to another reef and catch some spotties , left the note on the fridge……

The next day was utmost mayhem, caught 4 spotties, lost 2 due to gaffer fatigue, and lost another 3 or 4 due to mist hook-ups. Grant landed 2 or 3 spotties as well. Spotties where all between 7-9kg.
We cut the trip sort due to weather forecasts, and headed home around 6:30pm on Friday.

Hopefully there be more to come….

read the thread on AKFF

This is the perfect little kingfish candy that happily swam behind my kayak through some great kingfish country.

I couldn’t believe this squid made it so far through middle harbour in summer, it’s just not right. Luckily middle harbour has some awesome breaming and the day was still great.

The next few sessions were live bait sessions in my local (Port Hacking) which resulted in 2 donuts although some great kings were caught elsewhere in the hacking.
Feeling pretty frustrated by Port Hacking Kings now i accepted an offer to go live baiting of the local cliffs in a friends boat. We prepped hard getting the big toys ready, 50lb braid and leader set-ups and a super early start saw us with a tankful of wicked live baits. Tiny little snack sized yakkas and slimey mackeral filled the well as the sun started to rise and they also filled our minds with the thoughts of the epic kingfish session that layed ahead. As we pulled the anchor and started the motor the boat was clicked into gear and sure enough disaster. A steel rod inside the gear box had snapped clean in half and the motor could not engage into any gear at all. Hours later we were towed home after releasing our stash of livebaits.

By now I’m really ready for a kingfish after the recent failures so I tee up a plan with Rebel1 to head down south and spin some kings from the kayaks. Expectations were high as we drove down the coast to our sneaky yet very fishy reef. On arrival things looked ok, no boats around to spook a surface bite and no wind. The skys were grey and the water was a little bumpy from the previous days wind but all looked good. Its about a 1km paddle from the launch to the fishing ground and as we approached with only 100m or so left a dirty big noah cruises into view. It’s headed where we are headed and it wins the game of chicken and i flick the rudder and get out of there keeping a look over my shoulder the whole way back to shore. My reaction from seeing sharks really seems to vary, on occasions I’ll stay out if i don’t feel threatened but this day was erie and we got out of there.

So this bring us to today and to be honest I don’t really expect to catch a kingfish at all, I even packed a bream rod for when it all fails yet again.
It starts of hard as little livebaits are hard to come by eventually I have 4 live baby pilchards but none of them stay alive during the rigging process, oh well I’ll chuck one on anyway and let it drift behind me while i cast plastics.

I bought my self a pack of osp mylar minnows recently. I had a packet a few years ago and these things are the bomb when pelagics are being fickle. They are expensive as hell but they are pretty durable and when the chips are down they are well worth pulling out of the tackle bag ( sorry squidder you’re going to spend money now) any way I’m casting away and managed what was probably a just legal red bream when during a retrieve the livebait (dead now) gets drilled. The drag is pretty light because it was in the rod holder and i didn’t want a hoody to hit a tight drag while I was standing and casting.
After a cool little fight i finally see a kingfish. Its not big, heck its not even legal but it was a nice way to start the year.

While this is going on andrew has come over after trying to catch some squid. I give him a bait and a hook to suit and he goes about fishing in the same way.
I’ve only just finished taking some photos and releasing mine when its Andrews turn. He says its not a big fish but then it seems to wake up, it powers off and something goes wrong and his line snaps just below his leader knot, strangely the bait is all the way up there above the break in the line. Well over 1m above where it started. We still don’t know why his line broke, there is no structure where we were and one theory is that a tailor had a go at the bait while it slid up the line during the fight.

By now the action slows up and we struggle to find a live bait so we switch to a flats session on lures. I get told by Andrew that its game on and first table fish wins. To be honest it takes us ages to find something. The water is crystal clear and still and i can’t even spot a baitfish on this flat. Eventually a tough talking andrew is put into his place as I catch a reasonable flathead. This flathead goes nuts once in the kayak and nearly makes it to my dinner table for his trouble but i have a change of heart and let it go.

Now I’m told the flathead didn’t realy count and it had to be a bream. Well a minute or 2 later i catch a bream, then another.

I’m feeling pretty cheeky now and give Andrew some banter, but now the floodgates open for Andrew. A huge whiting torpedos his lure but doesn’t stay connected then he bags 3 bream really quick as well as a flathead and a leaterjacket while i’m left casting without any results.

We head back to shore and see a few guys who had better success on the kings after we left that area, well done guys.

I guess its not too bad a start to the year.
Happy new year all.
Stewie.

read the thread on AKFF

Many times in the past, I’ve had pretty poor days fishing for snapper  . On most of those days there has been little or no wind to create a drift… the method I usually use for the pinkies.

Yesterday, the forecast being 5 to 10 knot winds, I wrongly assumed that there would be patches of glass-out, and consequently no wind with which to drift. 

I’d told Trev (K1) of my intentions, and as he was about an hour late, I stooged about trolling, then did a bit of a drift with the Sou Sou Wester from in close. I had one massive hit on the Elechick, but the connection only lasted about one hectic minute, then zip! Nothing! 

Around then, Trev radioed, telling me he’d just caught a lovely estuary cod  , and probably giggled at my misfortune  … no tact, that boy!

Of course I went back for another dabble over the same area, but all in vain… so… packed up and fished a little further out.

No sooner had I got my second line out, when the over-head outfit tore off, and I mistakenly called it for a very nice snapper… wrong! Make that a grunter! All 45cm of it! Now my lady and I are quite fond of Javelin fish flesh, so into the small zip-top eski (brought along for the whiting) it goes, onto the ice and a couple of scoops of salt water followed. 

Feeling quite happy about that, I decided to continue with the long drift instead of doubling back over the same spot.

About 700 metres later, I observed a bloke in a tinnie playing something that was giving him a hard time… was just wondering what it could be when the elechick went for a run! It felt like probably a 40cm snapper, but my new opponent suddenly realised it was in trouble, and found another gear! That was short-lived, however, and the line went slack! Checked the leader, and not so neatly cut off. A little ragged, but the 30lb Fleuro had been bitten through. 

The not so neat cut had me pondering about the breed of fish, but back to the job… new elechick! 

That one didn’t last too long, but for all the wrong reasons! Within minutes, I’d snagged and although I paddled back and pulled from up-wind, I couldn’t budge it. Finally, after a lot of effort, the line parted at the ‘leader to main-line’ knot, and guess what? Another elechick coming up, plus 3 metres of fleuro-carbon leader! 

Don’t you just love total re-rigs??

I drifted on for a wee while, then trolled back to where the grunter had hit, and immediately the over-head out-fit took a dive, and I was into a pretty hot something or other! I had no idea what it was, but it took me every which-way, under the kayak, North South East or West, it had no preferences… just took them all whenever…

I finally got colour, and for a brief moment thought it was a small shark, but another run past showed it to be a schoolie mackerel! However, although seen and recognised, I still had a fighting fish on my hands… but I had plenty of time, and pretty soon it ran out of puff, and into the net it went. I usually don’t net mackerel, but it didn’t bite it’s way out, so this time it was OK.

Too busy worrying about teeth, I forgot about the camera, but measured it… 75cm! Beauty, and pretty heavy as it was in pretty good nick! Much too big for my little eski, so out with the towel provided for just this purpose, doused it in the briny, then wrapped the mac in it and slipped it down beside my right leg. 

Trev rang me just then to say he’d just caught a trevally… I told him that was great, then informed him of my catches, and he didn’t seem near as thrilled as yours truly… he never is when I catch fish! Dunno why! 

I did another re-run of that drift, and immediately had both lines go off together! My first impression was that I’d come across a school of schoolie macks. That’s a funny situation… which one to fight first???   I decided on the thread-line outfit, but the over-head lot looked like diving into the water, so I hooked into it, linking the other against my body and in the crook of my left elbow.

Although I was giving it heaps, the fish took me into some rugged country, and then nothing!  I quickly wound it in, secured it under the bungy cord, and hooked into the remaining one. It too took me through some rugged country, but this one came out! A little while later, and 59cm of lovely snapper hit the deck! Ripper!! 

However, I’ve already two fish for home, so back it goes… nice fish, ’tho. So much for calling them schoolie macs, eh? 

Of course, I had to tell Trev… didn’t seem very impressed… at all. 

Bit of a down-side, here… on checking the line due to feeling the rough terrain whilst fighting the snapper, I found that a complete re-rig was necessary once more! On both lines! BUGGER!!

No sooner had I sorted out one, cast out again, and half-way through tying the leader/main-line knot, the over-head outfit took off again! This one gave me plenty of curry, but after a while, showed itself to be a jewie! Love them jewies! Again, this fish was going back, although going 78cm… mind you, if I had a choice between jewie and schoolie mac, the jewie would be wrapped in the wet towel instead. 

Where are you when needed, Trev… I just couldn’t hold my camera high enough to get a decent piccie of the jewie… so the shortened head and tail shot will have to suffice!

Just then, I pick up another snapper that goes 40cm on the truth/lies scale, and of course it slid back into the briny as well.

By now, I’ve had a top day! Trev rolls up beside me for a quiet yarn, and has the hide to hook up not twenty feet away from me! He goes off fighting his fish, and calling it for at least three different species ie snapper, jewie and the dreaded turtle!

About ten minutes later, he informs me that the hooks pulled and on inspection, the Sebile 76mm Koolie hooks, although beefed up, had straightened. Turtles and jewies weren’t even mentioned then… it was a very… very… he repeated… very big snapper!!!  

In the mean-time… something grabs my Z-man elechick coloured flat-tail, and tries to take it home to hang up on the trophy wall… but I have other ideas, and after another torrid battle, a 55cm grunter slides over the side onto my spray-skirt/work-bench. 

Trev thought I had another snapper, and when he came over for a look, I showed him that it was indeed a grunter… He’d never seen one, let alone tasted one, so I kindly (but delicately) asked him would he like to take it home… Struth! I was nearly knocked over in the rush!  

He would take the piccies and weigh it for me.

I informed him that I was leaving them biting and heading home… Trev still had a lot of paddling left in him, so actually stayed on till 5 pm!

So………… a day that I honestly thought would entail me fishing the bottom for large winter whiting, turned out to be one helluva mixed fish day!

And the whiting gear was never touched!

The quality of the snaps below leaves a bit to be desired, especially the jewie… but my arms are only those of a short bloke, so what you sees is what you gets!  

Cheers, Jimbo

ATTACHMENTS

45cm Grunter

003.JPG (155.3 KiB) Viewed 638 times

59cm Snapper (released)

007.JPG (116.38 KiB) Viewed 638 times

78cm Jewie (released)

009.JPG (127.61 KiB) Viewed 638 times

40cm snapper (released)

011.JPG (145.86 KiB) Viewed 638 times

75 Schoolie Mack, 45cm Grunter and the dreaded wet towell

013.JPG (162.74 KiB) Viewed 638 times

read the thread on AKFF

So over the Christmas break I kept promising to go fishing with various yakkers, and one reason or another (usual Christmas legitimacy, hungover, sleep deprived, lazy) never got around to it. I did manage to maintain a strict training regime which left me with less weight than I put on from the Chrissie roast, which is good. But no fishing. Finally a gentle nudge from paulb

“Dru – don’t you have an appointment with a legal king ???”

Yes well. So the last Sunday before returning to work, and apparantly a king at Longie has my initials on it.  Quick arrangements with Paul, dont wait, I’ll catch up on the water… never did Paul, but I was there to launch at 5:15 honest.  I set up at the end of Anzac culdesac to avoid the parking permit thing. Only one who seems to do this. To meet normal benign Longie conditions. There’s a tiny shore dump waves at say 0.5m. The dump can be quite viscious and quite a few yakkers have found this out on on return to the beach. Never saw anyone so useless to drop it at launch though. I guess there has to be a first. Gave myself a thumbs up for being smart and tied everything down. The dump was in front of me, not over at the boat ramp, so decided to be smart again and tow (TOW?) the SIK by hand down at the water edge to the ramp and see if anyone else is around. I just love being clever.

First wave rolls the SIK, moves it so I stand between yak and beach. Second wave promptly dumps the lot, now weighing probably 400kg onto the sand using my chest as a cushion.

LESSON 1: surf is still surf whether you are paddling and standing next to the yak
LESSON 2: never never get between the yak and the beach. There is another skydiving T that simply says “STUPID HURTS!” Quite.

OK, so stuff that. I’ve said before that I’m comfortable simply launching and climbing in quick, even though others have pondered how you would manage this in surf in a SIK. But I know what I am doing dont I (?) For an immediate repeat, but add in the bloody kelp wrapping my throat in the process.

Congratulating myself that the rods are in deed fine, everything attached has been wrenched but is put back in place easily enough, looks good. The only loss being my Oakleys. Oh, and sore ribs, sore lower arm, sore chest where I have been wapped. Final launch attempt, I’ve learned more caution and am successful.

LESSON 3: check THOROUGHLY! But this lesson wasnt to sink in for a while.

I’m launched anyway. Pump out as much water as is easy, but not too bothered with what has stayed with me. Off to test my luck looking for livies. Not something I have really tried before. I dont want a third rig on the SIK so try out a hand line. Nice trial, almost sucessful. At least the day does not (theoretically) prove to be a donut.

I have no idea on legal size or whether it’s appropriate to entice a king so my monster fish is released. Set up to troll along the wall using dead squid (overhead) and my favourite minnow HB (largish eggbeater). First a massive hit on the overhead, instant hit and gone. I’m presuming I actually hooked bottom. Shortly after the eggbeater is off. Lot of fun, but nothing huge, small salmon or mid size bonnie I’m guessing, pinged off almost at kayak-side. Bugger. But not a bad start to the day.

Caught up with Phil, big chat over Stealth 550 and 575. He says the 550 is faster, it’s something I guessed at a long time ago but didnt say it because I didnt have a direct comparo. It’s not really the point though, the 575 is a much better fishing platform, that’s what it is about. Phil suggests that my setup isnt targeting big kings… he’s right. I’m not putting a down rigger on the SIK! But I’m happy to try it if something wants to hook up. Discussion over Fenn XTs and swimming with King hits, kings dive deep which puts weight on the Yak. Surface pelagics like Spainsh cant get that much weight on. He’s right of course, but I’m ready to try my paddle and balance skills!

LESSON 4: Let’s just call it hubris.  A deep large animal really can change a paddlers perspective.

I prove this shortly by hooking the bottom hard. You know those situations where the yak is locked down and as the swell comes through the yak stays in relative position to the bottom, which to the paddler feels like the yak has just dived a metre below the surface. And I’m broad to the swell (maximum overturning load on the yak). Cant get the yak into the waves. This isnt fun, then I realise that the “bottom” I have hooked is running. Running deep. (Phil is prescient?) Dragging the back of the yak down and rolling the yak in the broad sea. Paddling in this situation isnt about bracing, it’s about a feathered rolling technique trying to counter the torque of the fish. Until the line cuts on the reef. I’m actually glad. Well not glad, but definitely relieved. For those wanting fishing notes, the hook up was on the dead squid. Somehow in that mayhem I have also cut free, and lost, that favourite minnow I mentioned. With the drowned reels the morning is getting expensive.

OK relax, but earlier submarine trick means my day hatch compartment is flooded, and I seem to be sitting in more water than before. Pump, pump. Some 50m away I spot a couple of fins. Bugger me, sailfish? Bill? Paddle over for a closer look and see if I can get a pic, no chance. And not a fish. First time I have physically sighted a shark in 3 years in Sydney. Bit over 2m. Not GWS, not bull, not tiger, not I think bronze. Mako/blue? No idea. Oh, and I still seem to be swimming inside the SIK. Pump, Pump. Not making any difference. Wonder if the rear hatch came loose in the surf and the rear compartment is flooded. I’ll jump out swim around and see what I can do. Fins still in the distance, maybe time to head in?

Incredible how nature lines you up. I am presented (along with a paddle submarine) with sun behind my back, looking deep into the the back of the swell, at fish. Everywhere. Astonishing sight. Try to photo but just doesnt work.

Cut to the beach and I get to look more closely at the SIK. You’ve been waiting for it, here it is.

Finish the day unrigging and loading the car. Need to get back into the car, where are my keys? Inside. Great. OK call the NRMA, where’s my phone, inside the car.

Just one of those days. By now, 5 days later, bruises are gradually working out from deep in the body, and making a pretty picture on the surface. Fortunately found a kayak repair guy who isnt scared of my problem. I’m without a yak for a couple of weeks though, loosing the fitness I had built over Christmas. Might be fishing on the Swing for a short while.

And obviously… I still have an appointment to make with a legal king.

read the thread on AKFF

Drew and I travelled over on Sunday 13 Jan.

Once again we were based in beautiful Eastern Cove

After settling in and a quick visit to Skorgard who was staying nearby, we were keen to hit the water. Small tommies and trevally about and then, some better bites and runs and we scored a couple of nice snapper at 40 and 50cms –we came in before dusk for dinner with Louise and plans for a longer session tomorrow evening and the promise of a Tuna hunt on the north west coast of the Island. Calls from Kikid and Kanganoe confirmed Tuesday as the best day to try for the Tuna.
A quick morning fish on Monday delivered my first hit on the reliable nuc chook – and first oogly

Drew then got a good run and bagged a 60cm snapper – bloody show off that he is.
We planned to be back again that evening – and we were. The locals looking at us with the usual comments – “you’re brave – there are sharks about – the local Great White has been seen – we call her Goldy.” Yeah, Yeah, Yeah – heard it all before.
What followed was for us a most memorable evening fishing. Plenty of fish activity – tommies and trevally and a couple of nice KGW – snook chasing garfish on the surface – and then as sun set, it started. Drew got the first big run – and it did not stop until it hit the reef – ping. Then it was my turn – another long run and time to detach from the anchor and chase it but to no avail – I too was reefed. Drews turn – same result – and then mine – and so it went. I began to think of Murd and the snag from hell on River X. Then with some upped drag I had a smaller fish I was able to gain some line and, after a short fight, I was just about to grab the net when out of nowhere a very large fish breached at the bow of my little hobie Sport and dived for my fish zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz – what the $#@#&.  Hey Drew I yelled – I’ve been sharked !
Drew was concentrating, hooked up to another unstoppable. “Turn on your shark shield on then” he said – oh – ok …..and it worked immediately – any misgivings about sharks were dispelled by the little green light and I re-rigged and cast out again – to once again hook up and to get a fish just below the boat before Goldy reappeared beneath me with the same drag burning run result and a forced bust off before I was spooled. A braid cut on my finger was a suitable souvenir.
That was it really – 7 unstoppables between us plus sharked twice. But it was magnificent to see such a large fish in her element. I felt privileged despite the frustration of no fish landed from 9 hooked.

Tuesday was the Tuna hunt off Western River Cove – some 100kms from where we were staying. A long but wonderful day as already reported by Kanganoe viewtopic.php?f=17&t=59244 – Drew and I fished with Shep (islandboy), a local artist who had caught one of the first Southern Bluefin Tuna off a kayak early last year. We headed west while Snow (KiKid) and Russell (Kanganoe) headed east. No tuna for us but some exciting moments in amongst a number of bust ups. Fantastic that Russell got one and great to spend some time with Shep. The pictures tell some of the story.

I came home with a big Slimy Mack plus a nice flathead that took a bait just as we were re-entering Western River Cove.

Wednesday morning we were out again on Eastern Cove – now with Tom who had arrived while we hunting Tuna. Very quiet but at last a good bite on the whiting rod and this surfaced.

Hmmmm – I thought – time for a troll with my trusty Qantas frenzy. So while the others focussed on whiting I trolled along the edge of the shallow reef and on my second pass was rewarded with a bent rod and that sweet sound. I must admit I was slightly nervous that Goldy would reappear and pinch my fish and worked hard to get it to the net quickly – and once it was there I let out a series of whoops that surprised even me. A capture like that, after a series of failures, sure is sweet. 

Turned up with family and friends last week – bringing along a forecast of 5 days of gentle breezes, sunny skies and flat ocean.

The warm currents arrived early this year – with rumours of spotties and spaniards being caught off Grassy Head, only 6km south.

I’ve caught snapper, but never caught a mackerel, so set myself a goal – and snapper plastics stayed in the rod tube. Also set myself up for ridicule with the announcement day 1 that I would feed the 10 adults succulent bbq’d mackerel by the end of the week.

Sunday: Pre-dawn launch from the Scotts boat ramp into flat warm seas. Loaded up the live-bait tank with a few yakkas, and slow trolled bridled livies over the reef for a hours, for nothing.
Then drove down at Grassy to check future launch possibilities. Diabolical for my 30kg+ hobie – 50m trek up over a sand dune, to a 20m sand cliff down to a washed out east facing beach. The headland would give some protection from a southerly swell, but waves were coming from the east. Need a stealth.
We ate pizzas.

Monday: Same as Sunday – no takers for my yakkas. Had another look at Grassy in the arvo – still diabolical for the revo.
We ate sausages.

Tuesday: Grassy? Yep – convinced sister’s boyfriend to come for a pre-dawn drive, and weights session. Stowed everything and launched the surf-pig without dramas, collected yakkas, and slow trolled around the boats. Soon learnt the yakkas don’t work – need slimies. Friendly lads on a boat donated a couple of twitching slimies, and I dropped one down on a single hook with short wire trace – for instant hook-up. Learned more lessons: mackerel are powerful, and fast. This fish pulled “stop-kingy” drag like free-spool. Couldn’t get the rod out of the forward rodholder during the run, and my hand touched the braid during the battle.

After a hundred metres or so the fish stopped running, then nothing. Wire was mangled, but still attached to the hook. Suspect Pedro paid a visit. Needed a stinger.
Peddled the 6km home to Scotts to avoid a surf re-entry, against a building nor’easter.
Ate roast dinner.

Wednesday: Stayed at Scotts, but persisted dropping jigs through every baitball in the hunt for slimeys. Released all yakkas (and a wobbegong). Persistence paid off – with couple of strings of slimeys in the tank. Saw dolphins, turtles, flying fish, 26 degree water. But no sign of macks. The crowd was baying for snapper.
Beer and humble pie for dinner.

Thursday. Pre-dawn, Grassy. Dragged the hobie over the dune, launched into the surf, found the slimies, bridled with wire and a stinger…..WHACK, ZZZZZZ

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Mackerel for dinner!!!!

Friday: Slept in, credibility restored.

And here’s the rub.. that’s the way I like to plan my trips out as well, but recently that suffered a minor setback given a New Year’s resolution to focus on first hooking and then landing a decent king. A meterey would be nice, but setting sights for 2013 at a hopefully achievable 80cm. This focus has meant that of my four rod places behind the seat, two are for live-baiting Kingy setups, one for live bait catching (both squid and yakkas/slimeys), and one for a net. As a consequence, my beloved Plan B (chasing bream/trevs etc. on light tackle) has taken a back-step in the grander scheme of things. I realise there are other options but that doesn’t suit the telling of this story and getting into them would only be digressing.

The weather forecast for Sunday was close to perfect… light swell, light winds, and good conditions up until a slow change in wind direction around midday. Ring-a-ding-ding sounded the alarm at 4am and with a pre-packed car, a leisurely preparation and departure helped offset some very tired eyes and the ever-present desire to crawl back into bed under the cover of darkness. With a forecast of ideal conditions though, it was just going to be too good to miss out, and i had the first comp entry of the year to hunt out and land.

As i launched, I was taken back by the number of boats out and about, even before 5am. Those moored up for the night in the various bays were far more numerous than i have witnessed previously, and Quarantine already resembled a Christmas Eve parking lot… except with boats and fishing rods. Regardless, the water was glassy and spirits were high. 5 little candy-sized yakkas joined the party in the home-made bait tube and i tried my luck for some squidees.

A little bit of back-story here… I’ve never been particularly successful catching squid, that is until the beginning of this year where i vowed to get this sorted given the belief that it would go along way in helping me with that other little resolution of finding a decent King. A trip out prior to the return to work where i focused on nothing but squidding saw me landing 7 of the chaps off weed beds up in Pittwater, so confidence had been boosted and if nothing else, i had a decent supply of bait once again. So off i went, plugging away at the rocky outcrops and weed/kelp beds from Little Manly right around to Quarantine for nada, zilch, zip. Hmmm… perhaps i hadn’t cracked the code after all. And to make matters worse, i realised at that point i’d left my downrigger in the car so back i peddled to the ramp to collect it and wasted a little more time.

Finally the planets aligned and the day started in earnest… i dressed two of the yakkkas up with some nice black plastic cable-tie jewellery between their eye sockets, and sent one down on the downrigger while leaving the other one unweighted up on the surface, and began a slow peddle out around Quarantine point and towards the cliffs of North Head. Making any distance at the slower speed was tedious, particularly as i navigated my way through the boats from Quarantine Point around to the tip of North Head, but made it eventually I did without so much as a bump on the rods. Plenty of bait showing on the sounder though and that helped keep the spirits high, along with the glorious weather conditions.

I completed a first run along the Eastern cliff faces with both yakkas still alive and swimming and was on the return run when the unweighted rod developed a nice gradual bend. It didn’t look like a fish take, and i suspected the yakka had somehow found a rocky hole or bunch of weed and snagged himself. On taking the rod out of the holder though, the snag had a slow pulse to it and i suspected it to be my arch-nemesis, the squid. Sure enough, I slowly brought her back to the yak and though she let go a couple of times, the fresh meal proved to tempting and back she came for another nibble. As i got her towards the surface, my heart began to race.. i could see her below and she was by far the biggest one i’d ever tussled with. She even had a mate swimming a little below, keen to share in the spoils should they be allowed.

With nervous fingers, i set the rod in a holder, grabbed the bait rod, and nervously tied on the largest jig i had in my arsenal before flicking it out and letting it sink down to where the yakka was being mangled. With the dexterity of an uncoordinated baby giraffe, i then lightly flicked the jig with one arm as i pulled the rod and yakka away with the other. The gods must have been smiling as things went to plan and the squid migrated her attention from the succulent baitfish to the lairy piece of pink cloth-wrapped plastic being flaunted about in front of her. The lighter rod buckled under the weight, the light drag sang in pulses as she tried to return to the depths of the sea floor, and many nervous minutes were spent avoiding the copious quantities of black ink as i maneuvered the squid into a position where a net could be slipped behind her and brought into the boat. Finally, more sticky ink later, the old girl was netted, a spike was put through her brain to placate her, and revelled in my success amongst a large puddle of black water that surrounded (and covered) my yak.

The other yakka had somehow found it’s freedom throughout all of this and so each rod was baited once again and the slow troll recommenced, back through the area the squid had come from. Within moment, the downrigged rod had it’s turn and showed signs of another hungry squid. Again i repeated the process and brought him to the surface and again he had a mate beneath him. This time i tried a different approach, first luring his friend onto the squid jig and quickly landing him before coming back to the one still happily munching on the fish and again completing a successful bait and switch.

Meanwhile, it was past midday and i was starving, so donned two lures and began the long paddle back to the ramp and the journey home for a sandwich and prepare one of the hoods for dinner. All up, a successful day and a new PB squid for me. Not exactly a Plan B.. but the alternate plan A was deemed an unexpected success, and i had some ‘bait’ to kick the new year’s comp off in style.

27/12/12
After spending ½ the previous day and this morning packing (to say I was looking forward to this trip is an understatement) we finally got on the road at 1:30 the day after boxing day.
Had a leisurely drive to Bicheno with all the other holiday traffic. Every second vehicle seemed to have a ‘yak or two loaded!
At Bicheno we met Bill (2hats) and his wife Jo. Bill had been kind enough to lend us his Hobie Outback so that Jen could enjoy some kayaking – fishing and sightseeing, with me. We had a beer and the ladies had a cuppa while Bill showed us a map of his fishing spots and best places to launch. With the 2nd ‘yak loaded on the camper trailer Jen and I continued the last short leg of our journey to Coles Bay. We arrived around 5:00pm and checked in to site 176. After only a couple of wrong turns we found our site and set up camp. It had been a long day, so we shouted ourselves a couple of fishermans baskets from the takeaway, washed down with a cool beverage before going for a short walk down to the foreshore. Another coldy (or 2), read a few chapters of our books, and off to bed.

28/12/12
We woke to a breezey morning with a fair chop on the bay. Undeterred we got the 2 ‘yaks onto the roofracks, drove the few hundred meters to the beach / boat-ramp, and launched. Being a bay there was little swell, but there was plenty of wind chop with some whitecaps. The wind was onshore and we were both wearing PFD’s (mine an inflatable, Jen had a type 1, left over from my boating days). Conditions were not great, but we were pretty safe. (This was Jen’s first time in a kayak in anything but calm, sheltered water, and her first time fishing from one, so I was keeping a close eye on her).

After a somewhat wonky start she soon got the hang of things, and on catching her first fish she had a smile from ear to ear! We fished for flathead with our Strike Tiger SP’s for about an hour and a half before the waves and motion got the better of Jen and she started to feel sea-sick. We beached the ‘yaks at our launch spot and loaded hers (Bill’s) onto the car. I went back out, Jen went to the bakery. A slow morning’s fishing. Only 4 “keepers” (Flathead) between us, a few little ones, a few just size but thrown back anyway. I hear the chicken and camembert pie was very good.

After an early dinner we went down to the foreshore to try our luck from the rocks. The wind had dropped off and swung around, so it was blowing from behind us. I’ve caught bream here before, so we were fishing light gear and small lures. Half an hour without a touch or a follow, I tried a faster retrieve on my little shallow diving lure. BANG! I’d hooked something. It ran a short distance straight out, then turned left and swam along the edge of the foreshore along the rocky dropoff. I didn’t know what I’d hooked, but was sure it was a fish and not one of the resident ‘rays, as I could feel the tail beats. Whatever it was it took about ½ of my line (6lb braid) before it woke up and took off at double the speed. For the first few seconds I thought I might turn it, but for the rest of the “fight” it was unstoppable. Down to the last 20-30m of line I was getting desperate. I didn’t want to loose a full spool of braid, so I added 1 x thumb to the drag setting. Soon after the line broke – at the leader knot thankfully, so I didn’t loose $40 worth of line.
Jen had complained that her rod wasn’t casting properly, so I threw her SP out a fair distance, wound it fairly quickly back in, and after a few winds, BANG again! This fish also managed a few runs and some jumps, but had nothing on the previous one. After 4 – 5 minutes I’d landed a nice chunky Australian Salmon of (approx) 46cm. He went well on light gear. That was the last fish for the evening.

29/12/12
Yesterday was windy. Today was worse. We had a big breakfast then went for a drive to check out some more sheltered spots. Just up the road is Swanwick, home of many bream. It was still windy there, but being a river the water was much calmer, so we loaded up, returned and launched. Hopes were high after I spotted a reasonable sized bream near the ramp just after launching. We fished that area for a little while before deciding to move away from the boat traffic. Both of us caught small salmon on the flats. I had a decent hit on a SP I was deadsticking while setting the anchor. Apart from that we went fishless for the session.

We landed on a little secluded beach for a lunch stop. After relaunching we chatted to a couple in a revo11 and and a PA12. They were new ‘yak’s and ‘yakkers getting used to their new toys before taking fishing gear with them. They were having a ball. They were locals, and suggested we try a bit further upstream for bream, near the jetties where there are some deep holes. We did try there, but there was too much weed floating past and I don’t think we managed a single cast where our lures weren’t fouled. Even the locals didn’t seem to be catching any fish.

although the scenery was lovely.

The tide was still falling, and the wind was blowing against the tidal flow, making for some interesting conditions. Not wanting to get stuck on the wrong side of the bar, and hoping for better fishing we headed to the main channel. Jen, being very conscious she was in a borrowed ‘yak was extra careful not to run it too deep, and ended up wading it across the bar, although I’d not touched the bottom in my Revo. 
On entering the main channel there was less weed, but a very strong tidal flow, as well as some navigation hazards (rocks) all of which freaked Jen out a bit. I had to grab her bow toggle and help tow her clear of the rocks and back to the ramp. After a delicious roast dinner cooked on the weber we tried our luck from the rocks again, but with a strong headwind we both got big wind-knots after a few casts so we called it a night, and declared it drink-o-clock.

30/12/12
This wind isn’t mucking around! We can see the whitecaps from our campsite. Jen isn’t unhappy, she wanted to go to Bicheno market today anyway, and she tells me there will be dagwood dogs there! I’m partial to a greasy battered sav on a stick with sauce, so off we go. She lied! Not a dagwood in sight, although there was a vendor with tasty Chinese delicacies, so I make do with a prawn and pork dumpling. Another stall had some great ‘80’s vinyl, but we had a carload to take back already so I showed restraint. We visited Jo’s stall with her hand – dyed knitted wares and Jen bought a bumblebee, because we really needed one.
After the market we went on a shopping spree which included some 1/4oz jigheads, some more Strike Tiger soft plastics I hadn’t been able to get before we left, and some various foods and other boring stuff.
Returning to camp I whipped up lunch, then we went for a drive to have a look @ the bay on the other side of the point. There was still some wind, but it was from the SE, so we thought we’d go for a sightseeing paddle (might as well take a rod anyway) in the lee of the Hazards.
We returned to camp loaded up, back to the ramp and launched. It only took about 10-15 mins to paddle (pedal) across the bay to the Hazards side – but by then the wind had swung and picked up. 
These hills are pretty spectacular, even more so close up. My little camera does not do them justice at all. We fished for a while catching only undersized fish, while the wind got stronger. Heading back to the “lee shore” – which was now the opposite side, near where we’d launched, our 10-15 minute trip became a tough 30-40 min saga, where I once again had to do tow duties as Jen doesn’t have much pedalling fitness yet. We got back to where the local flathead fleet (I shit you not – my mate’s dad’s boat, used almost exclusively for catching flathead) is moored.
When we’d launched we’d been able to drive onto the ramp and lift the ‘yaks off pretty much onto the waters edge. We’d had to dodge around a Mercedes to do so, as the driver was obviously too important to park off the ramp with the other plebs. On our return a Toyota driver had decided he was just as important so had parked opposite the merc, making sure only a mini or rickshaw could access the ramp. The driver of the Toyota returned while we were loading the ‘yaks, but had his litter of young with him so I refrained from telling him what I thought. To be fair, he may not have been there long, the Mercedes however had been at least 2 hours. 
That night we enjoyed a lovely ploughmans lunch of cold roast beef, crusty bread, pickled onions and cheese, all washed down with a good beer, or a scotch. 

31/12/12
We woke fairly early to still, calm, overcast conditions. Perfect! A quick breakfast and we launched. Several hours later, a bit of wind but not too bad, and only 3 legal flathead between the 2 of us.
Jen suffered an equipment failure (plastic caribiner that attaches seat backrest to hull broke) so that was the end of her fishing for the day. We went and got some scallop pies ($7.60 each) from the bakery – and wished we hadn’t. Very ordinary…
That afternoon I went back out, with more rods than I’ve ever taken out before. I had one with a squid jig, because I’d seen squid following my SP’s earlier, and had some suspiciously beak-like bites out of them on other days. I had a rod with SP’s rigged for flathead – because we just didn’t quite have enough for a meal. I had the “big stuff” because I have had reports of kingfish, and I had a light spin-stick hoping for some more salmon for entertainment. 
Squid weren’t too hard to come by. First one was a good size, so he was converted to flaps, rings and berley while I drifted. Next one was a decent size too, but had enough squid for the table so he swam free. Next one was good bait size, so he got a couple of piercings and went back for a swim attached to my heavy gear.
A small pike (?) ate my salmon lure. I’m guessing pike. Thought baby ‘couta at first, but fins were different, and he was smelly and not as silvery as a couta . Did have big (for his size) sharp teeth. He went back as well.
I caught a couple of wrasse on the SP’s – the first one was a thumper around 40cm. They went back. Couple more squid caught and released just for the hell of it, then the wind came up again. I went back to the area we’d been catching flatties, closer to the ramp in case it got rougher. Did several drifts. No bites. Gave my live-bait squid to some kids fishing from an inflatable who wee camped near us and called it a day.
Showered and changed, cold beer (it’s New Years Eve!) We dined on (really!) fresh calamari with sweet chile sauce entrée then a main of pan fried flathead with garden salad and crusty bread. 
These were washed down with some cold beverages, then a sunset walk on the beach, and more cold bevvies.

1/1/13
We rose early to a windy, whitecapped day, and packed up.
At Bicheno I really wanted to talk to Bill about his broken seat, so we decided to kill a few hours and wait until he got home from work.
The jetty at “The Gulch” was covered in ink, so we thought we’d jig up a squid or 2 for fun – not a touch. The wind turned (again) to a howling southerly. Cold with a promise of rain. We took refuge in the bakery and rethought waiting for Bill to get home mid afternoon. We returned the kayak and left my new seat there in case he wants to fish tomorrow. Will do a warranty claim at the Hobie dealers tomorrow, as the kayak, and seat, are under 12 months old.
We stopped @ the Elephant Pass pancake barn, where we enjoyed a delicious pancake but were served cold coffee. I was given a hot coffee after I mentioned that the one I’d been served was stone cold. I’m not sure if the waitress there is always so grumpy but she wasn’t happy that I complained.
Jen and I had a great time. No TV. No internet. We spent 6 days and 5 nights together. Just the two of us. Can’t wait for our trip to Strahan in February, Jen already wants us to have a couple of nights at Bridport in the meanwhile.
Best of all – Jen wants a kayak now. Not just any kayak, she wants my Revo, so has given me a license to upgrade! Now I have to decide – PA 12 or 14? 

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Some cloudy weather and a spur of the moment decision to tackle that bit of yack maintenance that had been put off for a time – improving electrics by placing cables in a watertight container, regreasing contacts with electrical grease, cable tie cables and tidy up to suit resulted in a much delayed departure.
Typical Sunday. Checkout the bits and pieces at das super inexpensive auto shop. Visit tackle shop and acquire a change of bait to suit flatty hunting. (Bloody good idea as it turns out), pick up videos…..

Sunday was eaten up as it typically can be by the little necessities in life and it was 5:45 pm when I hit the water in search of those long bodied , finned, big girls – told myself that this time was cool, even though the last two evening sessions had been unproductive.

Rod to suit with a Berkley Power Bait on a 1/16 number 2 jighead, 8lb fluro leader to 4lb braid. I had chosen a mullet pattern at the tackle shop and had never fished with this soft plastic before. A north-easter was blowing so I headed into the chop and worked a favourite and productive flat in a protected area for nil result. Moved on to a flat that would allow the wind to push me across it if one of the channel edges proved unproductive (as it did). Switched to bream gear and get some hits and a small bream. Bugger me thinks …get back to that flatty rig. The mission…remember the mission.

So, plastic mullet look a like into the water a few times as I wind-assistedly drift closer to a metre deep water, lift lift lift….lift lift tap…..pause, pause, lift, weight…strike …line movement and resistance. Been in this situation a few times in the last week and start to think that she will spit it, so wait a few moments longer and then strike again and WAM….hit the man-over –board buttons and hang on as she runs for deeper water.

Reel starts to sing and I let her run as I manoeuvre the yak to a position that allows me to attempt to control her. She’s big and full of power. My rod takes the pressure nicely off the 1000 Ci4 and I continue to let her run in a controlled way as I ever so carefully tighten the drag in small increments to slow her down. As I continue to manoeuvre the yak to get her on my right hand side I begin to feel that this may not be such a good idea as she still keeps taking line and going deeper…gotta be big.

And she was. Slowly got control and rather than damage her with thrashing about in a net only big enough for two-thirds of her I coaxed her to the shore for happy snaps and measurement.

Measured her up and as you can see she is a good 80cm. I’d call her for 82 or so but I did not want to disturb her anymore than I had so snap snap and back in the water to remove the bait. Happily she is caught in the jaw on the RHS. She is quiet so I let her rest and step back to watch over her. Snap snap snap, telephone a friend to engage in bragging rights in the heat of the moment!

Eventually, she swims to deeper water after she has recovered. Sun is setting and I head home a happy angler to light BBQ and partake of a celebratory red or two and to watch that video, BAIT, I picked up at the soon to close for the last time video store. Topped off a good session nicely!

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Sibbo and I headed down to the south coast of NSW for a go at popper fishing for whiting. I was already down there so headed out and got on the water just before 6am. Sibbo was driving down from the berra so joined me a bit later.

I flogged some good water early but to no avail apart from the worlds smallest tailor on a popper.
When Sibbo joined me we headed up to our favourite flats and along the way tried out some spots. The action wasn’t spectacular but we got a few fish. Then Sibbo tied on the old faithful px45 389 and started cleaning up with some good whiting and a bream from memory. I tied on the same one and caught NOTHING for a while and was particularly frustrated. 
But then I got onto some good fish and caught a nice whiting (35cm)

and a nice bream (+30cm)

So I started to feel better.
We went around the corner and hit some slightly deeper water but the wind dropped off and it was glass. Nice bit of rain and very few other people out there which was nice. So the popper fishing stopped and we started with the blades. Now it gets cool.

Firstly, Sibbo hasn’t caught a fish on blades so when I showed him my gold zx30 he was a little sceptical. I tried to tell him it was the golden chalice that Squidder had passed onto me and I had success in that very spot. He didn’t believe me.

So I passed on some tips on blade fishing and managed to catch a few good fish, bream and whiting (my first whiting on a blade!)

Sibbo hadn’t caught anything and started to get all whingy and saying stuff like ‘this doesn’t work, i want to go home, going to tie on a popper’. A bit of a pep talk and some choice words and he was back. Then he started catching some cracker fish and was hooked!
The funniest thing was twice he got a wind knot or a tangle and had the blade on the bottom in about 1m of water. While he was untangling his line (for about 20 seconds or more) and cursing and swearing some fish were inspecting his lure. When he got out his tangle, he started to wind up and TWICE there were massive whiting on the end (+35cm). So that is interesting.

We had another crack with the poppers but alas it wasn’t to be.

All in all it was a nice day. We took home a nice feed of whiting and flathead (mostly on blades) and felt happy. We also got into some good bream – both black and yellowfin (most of the photos didn’t come out) which fought hard.
Sibbo also caught a couple of garfish on either the popper or the blade. Can’t tell.

Sibbo can load up some photos too from his camera.

So blades work for whiting and a bunch of other fish. Interesting that when the surface action stopped the blades were killing it. A tip for when it goes quiet. The other thing was that we were leaving the blades on the bottom for quite a while and that worked a treat. S factor smeared all over it too is handy!

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I have been on a quest to catch my first fish on fly for quite some time – it finally happened with a redfin last week down at my local, after a couple of near misses.

Don’t get me wrong, I was stoked to break the duck. But I still didn’t feel like I’d caught my first ‘proper’ fish on fly. I feel like I have now though! Started the day on plastics, and had a couple of hits and dropped a fish in the first half hour. I could hear drags squealing in the distance as Craig and Andrew plied their trade. I then didn’t get a touch for the next 20 minutes, and my thoughts kept drifting back to the fly rod that I’d thrown in as an afterthought this morning. I have hardly any saltwater fly patterns, and my casting is still very novice most of the time, but I picked something that looked a bit shrimpy, retied the tippet that I’d tied 5 granny knots in during my last outing  and tried to channel Patwah who I’d seen throwing sweet loops from the kayak at Eucumbene a few weeks back. The first thing that I noticed – casting fly from a seated position is damn tough! I was lashing the water on the forward and back casts much to my frustration. By some miracle I managed to lay out a reasonable forward cast that landed the fly more than 2 metres from my target snag. The resident bream obviously took pity on me and ventured much further out than he should have to accept my offering, and then showed further kindness by making some terrific lunges, but not throwing the hook and also not stitching me up in the timber, despite my fumbling slack line moments while trying to use my fingers as drag. Craig heard me giggling and squealing (his words – in my head I was bellowing manfully) and came over to watch me net the beast and take a few photos. It was a dark bronze specimen of almost 35cm to the fork, and I was delighted 

I persisted for many, many more hours, and I’m really proud to say that I stuck with the wand and didn’t touch the spin gear for the rest of the session. I caught myself in the head a couple of times, and had to replace the badly knotted tippet twice. I lost two flies to trees and had one of those types of knots in my fly line that defies logic, and took 15 minutes to unpick. But somehow out of all those sloppy casts and bungles I managed enough reasonable presentations to land one more bronze warrior, and hook and drop another 4 or 5.

By 1pm I was starting to struggle and called it quits. The forefinger and middle finger on my right hand were both bleeding from stripping sharkskin fly line all morning, and my casting arm was screaming for a break. The other boys really, really smashed it, way into double figures both of them, but I reckon I grinned more foolishly on the drive home  Still trying to figure out if this is the beginning of the end (of fishing with spin gear), or just another beginning.

Thanks for reading.

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We have made one trip up to the high plains, done some gardening and made an orchid house but coming up to this weekend we were starting to feel a bit cooped up and the only way to fight the build up of pressure is top get a fix of plastic and water. Thursday night the plan was hatched and Friday was an early night so that an early morning escape was possible on Saturday morning. The beauty of the big trailer meant that there was almost no prep to be done and after filling a couple of flasks with water we were off to our own “secret” spot. Lots of other people also know about it but it is about the only place I don’t name as it has a stock of big bream that could be wiped out too easily if there was a sudden rush of extra boats etc… It is just hard enough to get to to keep it fairly quiet – even with the Christmas holiday influx.

We had to paddle for quite a distance as there was only just enough water to float the kayaks – way to shallow for the Hobie advantage of pedaling while you fish, but soon enough we arrived at the place where we usually begin fishing. First thing was to cut off some damaged braid and replace the leaders that were scuffed and while I was doing that the Child Bride grabbed my rod and stuck a prawn on proceeded to feed an octopus that was busily rummaging around in its own little seaweed garden. It was funny to watch the water-pistol efforts of the beastie as it sprayed the air and released the prawn to fight another day… Not sure what would have happened if it had been “caught”.

A couple of flatties came and went, as did a bit of light refreshment in the form of coffee and hot wings before I set up the rods with a variety of artificials. I was carrying three rack raiders and put a large soft plastic paddle tail on the overhead combo, a small Strike Pro hard body on the 7’6″ bream rod and a gulp swimming minnow on the smaller 6’8″ bream rod.

Before heading off for a paddle around the deep water lake area I cast the hard body lure out and worked it back towards me over a nice little drop off and first cast came up tight on a beautiful table size flathead that started to run with the lure until it was close enough to see that there was a problem. I also saw a problem as the lure was nowhere to be seen and I was glad that I had taken the time to replace the old leaders and rather than risk loosing the lure and the fish I walked it back onto the beach and had to leave the lure in-situ as it had been swallowed right down past its gullet. I was able to surgically remove the lure later on but sadly the flattie didn’t survive the operation but on the bright side he has accepted a dinner invitation…

The strike pro was replaced with a little pink hard body lure that I bought after getting a gift card for Kmart. I couldn’t find anything we needed so I picked up a bunch of lures that I would not normally have bought. Apparently the fish don’t mind cheap pink lures…

The bride headed for a point on the other side of the lake and I worked my way around the edge of the flats eventually heading for the same spot. As I moved slowly around I was working the drop with the gulp swimming mullet and was getting some small hits and caught and released a few more flatties and also had bright pink hard body trolling behind that suddenly became the target for the flathead who started to ignore my best attempts to impart life to the gulp. As another flattie took the little pink bream buster I tossed the gulp out to my right and left the rod in the holder while I played in the fish. Caught, released and just about to cast it back out to the left side when the smaller finesse rod buckled hard as line was being stripped away in a long run that had enough pressure on the rod that I had to wait for a chance to remove the rod from its holder. When the drag finally held the tight line began a wide arc around the yak with a lot of thumps and shakes and finally a large swirl on the surface as a massive bream rolled and then headed back down towards the bottom. I love this type of angling where the light tackle has to be used carefully to be able to boat a large fish rather than just being able to overpower it and crank it in on heavy gear. This was no given victory for the fisherman although this turned out to be one of those days where I just did everything right. It was too big to lift in on the leader and once it was netted I removed the hook and left it in the net but submerged in the water while I got out the camera for a class photo. Unfortunately I had left the brag mat I got for Christmas at home so I can not claim any points for size but from hand measurements which I later checked on a tape it was the first of three 40+cm bream I landed during a short session.

After that I put the big paddle tail out for a troll and soon after I hooked up a “small” bream at 32cm after it had had some time to shrink a bit. One day I will get to use the overhead in a place that will put that rod and reel to the test – I look forward to that.

I was just pulling up to where the child bride was chilling and reading rather than fishing when the little pink lure was smashed by the second big mamma bream and once again it was a real battle that had to be won. I tried lifting it on the leader which broke but somehow I caught the fish and put it into the net till I could get some photos before it too was released.

It was now 11am and I had had a great morning but the wind was rising so we both reckoned it was a good time to head home – albeit working a lure as we went. I trolled the hard body out on my left and was working the gulp around the shore line and again managed to catch and release a few more smallish flathead before the trolled rod appeared to have snagged. It was not the smash and run of the first two big bream but just a slow and steady bend as the lure ceased to move with the kayak. I wrestled the rod out of its holder and as I started to head back to retrieve the snagged lure it thumped and then took off in another wide ranging arc. This time I had to control the fish and keep the yak moving away from the rocks as the wind was doing its best to beach me. One of those times when the pedals are worth their weight in gold…

Third big bream, third set of photos and than as we crossed the drop off heading back to the car I flicked the gulp out over the shallows and came up with another 4 flathead just to put the icing on the cake for one of those mornings that just come along once in a while and put a smile on your face.

One (small) bream and two flathead made the journey home and there are some lovely fresh fillets for dinner tomorrow but today also served as a reminder that with good planning even the busy times can be enjoyed in this wonderful playground we call home.

Cheers

John

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First up hit the reed beds with the 6weight for this bloke
http://vimeo.com/56844319

then worked the entire bay before heading out for a bit of a run arond the dam just the wind freshened.
The bass were not put off by the breeze though and I had to put the rod away because in the end I had to keep stopping to
unhook fish.
Some of the better ones were in the low to mid 30′s though.

http://vimeo.com/56876657

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I was a bit worries because the tide was 0.7m at 10:17am. I started fishing at about 7:20am. The sea level looks like the last moment of flushing the toilet. The water was rushing out momentously until you could see the bottom of pan. The different is at home you see the shxx at the bottom of dunny at estuary you see the beautiful seabed instead. The trade off may be no fish for you at the bottom of the tide. Luckily, last Sunday was cloudy & low wind. It was almost perfect & comfort for Bream fishing.
Basically, it was quite a busy day. There were lot of fish I could see from my sounder. I dropped off my line to test them. They were snapper. The smaller fish always responded quicker. I just ignored them and focus to catch my Bream. I caught my first legal Bream at about 7:30AM. Most of other hooked fish were small, so I moved on. I peddled all the way to start my round trip from Gymea bay back to Grays Point.

After 10:00AM, I had better luck with fish. They were bigger. I had opportunity but I was beaten by the fish 3 times. I usually tighten my drag a bit more because my target fish were leaving closed to structures. It is hard to determine the exact drag pressure. I get used to test it by pulling the line to feel it.

First lost, the fish grabbed my bait and ran all the way backward. My kayak was very close to pontoon. There was not much distance for the fish to run. I tackled her first but I was unable to put her out. The drag was screaming, so not much line gain. And then the fish powered backward and pulled my line toward boat sliding rails. There were lots of oyster surrounding there. It only took her single run to break my 8lb FC rock leader.

The second lost was captured on video. I casted my jig to the left hand side of pontoon. I had a solid hook on her. I was fighting with her for about 20s. She made a desperate run from left pontoon to the right pontoon. Between both pontoons was the bloody boat sliding rails again. I suffered from same faith. I winded back the line. I could see few deep scars on my line. Actually, the line were quite good can withstanding few long abrasive damage.

It seemed that the drag pressure wasn’t high enough. The thinking undermined the faith of my third hook up. This one was even bigger. That extra bit of pressure, I was able to fight with her for longer time. I was able to pull her a bit fair away this time. This time I believe I got more chance to land her. Suddenly, the line snapped. I found that either the leader joint broken or the braid line was broken. I was a bit disappointed. My Swann camera also went out of power. I got absolutely nothing.

When I seat down on my sofa, I looked back to see what went wrong. It seemed I forgot to use my mirage drive in first 2 encounters. It is unavoidable fishing a meter away from structures when chasing Bream, so my foot, my hand & my brain need to be ready. I am sure the third lost can be avoided because the fish was away from structures. I got a very solid hooked fish on a very tied drag. I was a bit rushed to pull her to my kayak, perhaps too quick. I should slow down my heart beat and let the drag do the job to burn off her energy. Anyway, I got 5 Breams weight more than 2kg. I should be happy rather that greedy!

ATTACHMENTS

Snapper were everywhere but they were still under legal size

DSCF2298 (410×231).jpg (119.35 KiB) Viewed 323 times

Brown Groper (released)

DSCF2304 (410×231).jpg (133.67 KiB) Viewed 323 times

Bream

DSCF2310 (410×231).jpg (127.81 KiB) Viewed 323 times

Another Bream

DSCF2314 (410×231).jpg (127.92 KiB) Viewed 323 times

Biggest Bream at 36cm

DSCF2319 (410×231).jpg (108.25 KiB) Viewed 323 times

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Im planning to take my brother out in two weeks as his down from qld for a weekend fishing and really want it to be one to remember with some livies and so on,
can anyone shine some light on how to hook squid, do i got out with the set up only to catch squid and keep and active jig or mabye handline one out the side on a float as im fishing away. and if i sit there long enought will it attract squid or is it only on if you seen them around? or some hot spots to try around the area.

Any advice is much appreciated
Thanks
Mitch

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Thanks guys, Adam.

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I’m not sure if there’s already been a topic on this, but my searching didn’t manage to uncover much – so here goes:

What’s you go to lure for trolling?

Please include the depths it dives to, where you fish it (estuary, offshore, etc), what fish your targeting… just as many details as you can!

For me, its a shad style minnow I bought from aldi a few years ago that dives to around 1.5m. I use it in the estuary, and it doesn’t really seem to matter what depth I run it, it tends to catch something… though of course it’s more productive in the 1m-1.5m range. It’s caught flathead, bream, tailor, blackfish and probably more. I often find I can’t keep the chopper tailor off it, and if that’s happening then I paddle slower and it tends to pick up the other species.

Anyway, let us know what your go to lures are?

Pat

http://www.surfski.info/getting-started … –why.html

Please read it, but to match etiquette here let me outline.

1. Do not leash yourself to the yak in the surf zone.
2. Leash the paddle, but let it go if you are off in the surf zone (can snap).
3. Leash the paddle and everywhere else hang on to it!
4. Ankle leash to the yak is fine but definitely not in the surf zone.

Other thoughts: in Aus thigh leash seems to be the go. Possible problems in the surf zone are probably worse for us, if our yaks get full of water. You’ll need to make your own assessment of another leash with line and rod leashes etc.

Read the thread on AKFF

Read the answers on AKFF

Introduction:
September, 2010
‘You know I’ll be back’, said Frankie (aka Missingdna) as he packed ready to leave Borroloola, a little disappointment evident at his unplanned early exit from the bush. I wasn’t so keen at the time, still feeling traumatised from the recent damaging effects of a savage crocodile attack on the kayak and annoyed with yet another crazy season of erratic weather patterns that had impacted the past two trips to the Territory with rain squalls, strong winds and higher than average temperatures. The fishing had been tolerable this year but nowhere near as productive as prior the seasons changing. Nevertheless, one could realistically wait until the weather gods got their ‘shit’ together for a possible return. The next 12 months were obviously too soon to chance the heavens again but if the following year sorted out its ‘southern oscillation’ problems and that ‘La Nina’ thing then maybe 2012 might be the time to revisit the bush. Until that happened, it was goodbye to Frankie and hello to the Limmen River where a few more crocs had to be sorted out before any type of plans were made for another (11th) holiday adventure through Australia’s ‘Gulf of Carpentaria’.

Waiting, October 2010 – April 2012
Two years seemed such a long ‘gap year’ between trips but with stripping the Swift’s gearbox, replacing clutches, work and general domestic and relationship crap the months passed by relatively quickly. I kept a close watch on the northern weather patterns during this period, noticing things beginning to normalise again as the climate stabilised before deciding only in April 2012 that it was time to go walkabout again. I spoke to Frankie soon after with my decision wondering whether he was still keen – he said he was and we began planning, looking at September as the ideal month to be away.

Despite having conquered the Gulf ten times since 1999, I still had a lot of preparation ahead before number ‘eleven’ became a reality. Co-ordinating tides with upriver campsites took many frustrating hours as did charting a route into something I’d wanted to visit for the past six years now and believed could be one of Australia’s greatest geological, but least documented natural wonders. Nevertheless, 2012 was organised primarily as a kayak fishing expo through the Gulf chasing barramundi and in the back of my mind I surmised that if the seasons had finally returned to spec, then the results could be exceptional as stud fish moved back upstream to occupy old haunts left vacant by excessive monsoonal activity. Little did I know at the time how right I would be, this latest trek through the Australian outback becoming one of my most successful to date on the rod. Trips like these can have their tribulations however, and I couldn’t ignore one unpleasant episode with nature that at the time had me thinking I wouldn’t be coming home this year. And full credit must go to companion Frankie who followed me calmly through the bush, offering support where needed and not once complaining. He’s not a bad mate, never short of surprises and keen to take up a challenge.

Preparation and planning, April 2012 – September 2012:
With five months countdown until departure, I saw this latest trip away as an excuse to introduce a few mods to the Swift to make the journey that little bit more comfortable and fun. (Author’s note: The ‘Swift’ referred to in this document is the car I have taken through the Gulf over the past ten trips, a 1986 Suzuki Mk1 Gti, 1.3 litre. Before you ask why I don’t take a 4×4 away with me, the simple answer is because I haven’t got one.) I never thought I’d lug a fridge to the bush but ‘Anaconda’ had a ridiculous Easter sale on a Waeco CDF11 so I bought it, fitted it into the car and did some fancy wiring to make it work including introducing a solar panel to replace some of the expected voltage loss. A second elaborate project undertaken became replacing the passenger seat with one made from timber incorporating shelving, storage, space and weight advantages. Decent lighting wasn’t forgotten with led’s mounted onto the tailgate panel and a 12V dimmer switch from ‘Chebay’ wired into a rear socket to regulate the output of a very bright ‘5x Cree’ led floodlight. Chebay came good again supplying a fancy little device combining battery monitor, in/outside temperature, clock and alarm, snooze control, date, and a very useful ‘ice-alarm’ for those colder times away. The Swift naturally received a complete mechanical service to ensure its reliability over the month and by the time departure came around, I was convinced she was in good enough shape to devour anything the Australian bush threw at her. I’ll just add that Frankie was impressed with how I set the fridge up and assembled the chair, suggesting I show the people – here’s an image of each for the curious:

1

Many long hours went into the design here but basically the fridge sits inside a heavily modified (and strapped down) foam vegetable esky shielded by slip-on sun-foil. The cover lid is likewise fashioned from foam (with the foil glued down) and lifts off easily to access the compartment door. Portability was also a factor in the build and the entire fridge can lift from its anchored foam case in seconds if required. A problem I did encounter was ventilation and keeping the cooling fan free from obstruction – this was solved by a piece of detachable curved (white) pipe to reroute the intake. A new base board was built to sit both the fridge and my blue crate on and allow something for the fixture straps to attach to. In nearly 8,000 kilometres of driving and ‘sudden’ stopping here and there, I experienced not a single millimetre of movement from the Waeco and never suffered a power issue.

2

The ‘seat’ was created in miniature 18 months ago with paddle-pop sticks and blu-tac, and remained an unfinished project before attempting to go full-scale a month before departure. Surprisingly, it was a last minute decision to actually use it and I’m glad I did as it became quite practical holding the paddle, rods, daypacks, a ten litre water bladder, CD wallet, small ‘miscellaneous’ bags, knife sharpener, handheld cb radio plus other random items. Both two trays were removable with the top slipped snug onto the bottom if not needed. I used the original floor bolts to mount the seat down and as with the fridge, found it never shifted over the entire trip. Legally though, I don’t know if the RTA would have approved it!

Gulf of Carpentaria, Part 1:
On the road.
Departure for Gulf 2012 happened early on the morning of the 1st of September where an easy thousand kay drive would see me at Cunnamulla for the initial sleep of many in the front seat of the car. The little Swift had a colossal task ahead of it and confident of a trouble-free journey, moods soon changed when a worrying knock developed around the front left wheel only four hours from home. Checks at Wellington, NSW indicated the hub bearing being the culprit and I wondered whether it would last the month, especially after being subjected to millions of corrugations soon to batter it senseless. A quick fix became tightening the hub nut to take up the excessive play.

Later that same day around dusk I noticed a more serious problem when the battery sensor detected the alternator undercharging, particularly when operating the spotlights. Thinking it could completely fail nearly saw me steer back to Sydney for repairs and if it wasn’t for the fact that I had to meet Frankie in Normanton on the Monday, I would have changed direction. Reaching a chilly Cunnamulla as the volts dipped dangerously low, I prepared for a freezing night ahead. The following morning the car struggled to start in biting 2C temperatures but eventually found some spark to manage an idle just above stalling. I had a sick feeling though, wondering about the alternator and whether I should attempt a fix it in ‘town’ (on Father’s Day) or just set off. Putting my trust in Suzuki reliability, I took the chance that it would last the distance and left, rolling into Julia Creek another thousand kilometres later before making Normanton noon the following day. My faith in the car had paid off.

A new river – The Leichardt
In 2010, you may remember how Frankie and I nearly destroyed our bodies at the Bynoe River west of Normanton. Naturally, we weren’t overly keen to do it again. With each of us lacking paddle fitness this year from recent surgeries, I suggested we bypass the Bynoe for the Leichardt River and enjoy a change of scenery. Part of the planning in Sydney involved mapping out a fair chunk of the Leichardt and finding a track into somewhere to camp which wasn’t too far from the water. At the time I didn’t know whether the tracks I’d marked were accessible or not, and hoped a locked gate didn’t greet us along the way.

3

After skidding and dropping into a very nasty hole on a blind corner near Leichardt Falls (which if travelling any faster would have seen the car sporting four ‘rear’ wheels), I picked up one of the tracks I’d marked that went through this gate which luckily, was only secured by a chain loop. This is serious ‘beef pattie’ country and the Swift felt it harshly through the suspension further along where countless hooves over wetter times had left the ground ruthlessly pockmarked.

Read the rest of the thread on AKFF

I ambitiously set my alarm for 5am, and with grand plans for a massive day paddling on Lake Tuross I tossed and turned as I tried get to sleep. Like a child on Christmas eve, I made the mistake of dreaming big… big like shark sized flatties, and flattie sized bream… maybe even a human sized jew! However, my plans took a bit of a hit when at 5am the alarm went off and I just rolled over. Maybe a 8am wake up is more on the cards.
After setting off from my girlfriends mum’s house in Broulee, and made a beeline for Lake Tuross. I was to set off from my mates house right on the edge of the lake about a 1.5km paddle from the little take away there. By the time I’d driven on the private dirt roads, unloaded the kayak and rigged it up, it was pretty close to 10am – so much for an early start! It was tough to complain though, as it was a warm overcast day… not too hot, not too cold. Just perfect in fact. I could complain however when I dropped the kayak as I was unloading and managed to rip one of the bolts holding the rudder down clean through the plastic of the hull. Well, today is shaping up to be a great day so far I thought – a late start and a broken rudderless day ahead. As I manoeuvred the yak to the edge of the water to finally set off though, the back handle did exactly the same thing. The screws holding it in ripped straight through the hull. “….!” echoed though the entirety of Lake Tuross, and probably even the Eurobodalla region. I almost packed up there and then, but thought well this day couldn’t get any worse… so I may as well have a bit of a paddle.

I set off heading towards a small island not far from my friends house where we used to pump nippers and catch an assortment of fish including some decently sized bream, flatties and whiting on occasion. I chucked out my newly acquired sebile koolie minnow, and my trusty (and rusty) old diving minnow bought a few years ago from aldi. It’s easily been my most successful lure, and is a frequent go to. Especially when trolling. I got to the island with no interest in my offerings, and so I reeled them in and put on a blade to work the small drop off and weed beds in the area. I was casting for about 20 minutes without so much as a follow when I went for a really long cast. I guess my leader must have been a little frayed or something, but I watched in awe at my ridiculously long cast as my blade hit the water a good 40-45m away only to discover that my 4lb fluoro had broken and my blade was now on the bottom of the lake and completely unrecoverable. Ahh, of course this day can get worse, lucky it was just a cheapo kokoda blade.

I decided to paddle away from the island a little and then paddle back trolling the edge of the deeper channel between the oyster racks and the sandy shallows. I swapped the koolie minnow for a very small shallow diving minnow as I thought one side might be too shallow for the other two divers. I paddled at a pretty lesurley pace along my chosen path stopping every few strokes to keep my speed slow and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. Fish were jumping, and schools of baitfish were constantly erupting on the surface after being attacked by an unseen predator. I admired my new scotty rodholders out the front, and loved being able to check the action of my lures was continuing with just a quick glance. So much easier than using the rear flush mounts. Suddenly the rod with the trusty (rusty) aldi lure hada big hit and the drag screamed off! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ… I was on! And it was big! In only about 1 metre and a half of water I assumed probably a flatty, but of course it threw the hooks about 10 seconds into the fight and before I could see it. After examining the rusty hooks, and cursing my laziness and luck, I decided to repeat the same trolling run. Reeled in the lure, paddle back to my starting point, straightened up and chucked the lures behind me. In almost the exact same spot, the drag went again. I didn’t notice a hit, so I thought I’d snagged, but as soon as I touched the rod I knew I was on again. Could it be the same fish? Probably… as it just threw the hooks again! “….!” echoed throughout the lake again. I looked up to spy another kayaker about 250m away casting at the oyster racks. Shit, how embarrassing… I’ve just disturbed this guys peace… maybe he didn’t hear it, or the 5 echoes. One more time, I thought, and paddled back to the start of the run. I didn’t expect a lot, figuring that this fish would surely not hit a rusty hard body from aldi three times in as many minutes, though if it was a big female, perhaps I could get one of the males hanging about. Here goes nothing… aaaaand…. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ off goes the drag for the third time. I set the hooks quickly and left the drag pretty loose making sure as to keep the line as tight as possible at all times. This fish was hooked. It put up a good fight, and when I got it to the surface my heart started to beat really fast – it’s a horse! Certainly by my standards anyway. My previous biggest flatty was 55cm, and this was muuuuch bigger. Quick, stop gawking and grab the net. Shit, you forgot the net… you idiot. After a couple of touchy moments, I got the grips into it’s mouth but really didn’t know what to do from there. It was too big to lift onto my lap as I have a tendency to attract flathead spikes and swollen hands. Eventually I settled on attaching the grip rope to the anchor trolley and slowly paddling the 20m to shore. After a quick photo and measurement on the bank, the 72cm flatty was released. I absolutely smashed my pb! I was a little disappointed though, as I was keen to get a feed for the BBQ in the evening. If I didn’t catch fish, it was imported marinara mix for me, and I wasn’t very keen on that. Still though, I thought I’d better let this one go… and was it ever worth it. I always hear people say it’s the best part, and to be honest, I thought what a load of shit… I’ve released plenty of small fish and never though “wow”… but this was different. Very different. What an amazing feeling to see them swim off slowly.

In all my awe the other kayaker had peddled over unnoticed by me. “That’s a nice fish, mate” he said from his sandy coloured hobie. “It’s great to see them swim off, isn’t it”. “Yeah” I said nervously as it sat at my feet sulking… “This one’s not going very far” Shit… have I killed it? I thought for a second. I took a step towards to and it started to slowly meander away before it disappeared into the depths. Wow I thought. I chatted briefly with the guy who had said he’d yet to catch anything large and had also given up on the whiting he was chasing. He continued casting nearby, and I decided to give the trolling run one more crack… perhaps there was something of eating size hanging about there? I decided I troll this channel and then swap the little minnow back for the koolie as I turned the sharp corner into the deeper channel and head out towards the mouth of the river. There was no interest in my offerings from the previously successful run, and as I rounded the corner I swapped the lures. Off I set towards the river mouth, still grinning about my new pb… WHACK, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ… this time something had taken the koolie! My first fish on the new lure! The fight was noticeably shorter, and the fish was definitely smaller – a 59cm model came aboard this time. Still bigger than my previous best, but I decided this one was probably a keeper. Paddled over to the shore, gutted and cleaned the fish and was just taking back to put in the bag when the other kayaker peddled passed. A few jealous comments later and we wished each other luck for the rest of the day and he peddled off (sing out if you’re an AKFF member?). I felt I could really relax now, maybe even try a few different techniques, as not only did I have a feed, but I’d already smashed my flatty pb.

I paddled out towards the mouth and found myself in a larger basin in which I’d fished the shallows and drop offs before. The tide was much higher than the previous time, and I found it really hard to find any of the drop offs. The entire section appeared to be shallow… with the deepest section I found was around half a metre. I could see the channel markers, but they were quite some ways away, as I decided to let myself drift over the shallows while I tried throwing surface lures at whiting I’d sighted. I tried standing for the first time, and on the kingfisher, it wasn’t easy. I rocked around and nearly went in… which isn’t a massive issue when the water is shin-deep. After drifting some way and having little to no interest in my surface offerings, I decided maybe to call it a day. I’d accomplished much, and was feeling a bit tired and hungry, so that’ll do. I paddled back through the same channel I’d caught my feed, and the current had slowed significantly, it must be around the turn of the tide I thought. There were fish jumping and breaking the surface everywhere, and this excited me enough to give it a bit of a crack. I thought why not thrown in a small soft plastic and see if I can tempt a few. Now I’ve been filling up my plastic wallet for a while now, and never even really caught a fish with one. I thought that this was the perfect time to try new things, so why not give something a bit of a work out. I chucked on a squidgy bug in natural colours and a fairly light jig head and started casting upstream and on both sides of the yak. One side was quite deep, up to 2m in parts, while the other was a shallow sandy bank riddled with nipper holes. The surface explosions were happening on both sides and very frequently, so I more or less just cast towards those. I had one follow from a 20cm flatty from the deeper section, felt a hook up as I wound in the slack. It was definitely little. But something was up. The flatty came aboard fouled through the belly, and was quickly released. I continued to slowly paddle upstream and cast in a similar manner, just about to give up and paddle straight back to the car when I saw and unusual sized bow wave in the water right up tight to the bank. The water was so shallow that there were even a few mangrove pneumatophores sticking up around the bow wave. What’s that I wonder? Probably nothing… but I’ll cast at it anyway. The cast landed just next to the bow wave, and after one short twitch of the rod tip, there was another bow wave and a slight tick in my 6lb braid. Before I even had a chance to set the hook, my line started to dart towards me very quickly. Something’s got this! Something good! I wound in the slack and set the hook! The drag screamed off and my rod buckled over significantly. The yak quickly turned 180 as the fish swam straight passed me, and I knew I was onto something big. In that amount of water Ifigured it was either the biggest bream ever, or another big flatty. After a decent fight, the latter was that case… and this flatty was even bigger than the first I thought. Could it be true? A triple pb breaking day?! I took a quick photo of it in the water next to the yak, and put the camera away. Unfortunately it had swallowed the squidgy bug very deep, and I just couldn’t get to it with my pliers… which were just a cheap leatherman. After a quick measurement and ignoring the advice of a few blokes (who also didn’t have any longer pliers) that paddled past in big canadian canoes suggesting “That I should eat the …………….”, I decided to cut the line, leave the lure in there and release this 76cm fish.

Can anyone give me any advice here? Was the fish doomed, or might it digest/eject the lure? I thought about keeping it under the circumstances as I figured there was no point letting it die for no reason… but alas the guilt got the better of me. I’d not have enjoyed the meal, nor did I need the meat, already having a feed under the hull. So I figured I might at least give it a chance to live, and she swam off surprisingly quickly.
After this I paddled straight for the car, do not pass go do not collect $200, and packed up my stuff. What a days fishing! But unfortunately with the damage to my kayak, I could only describe the day as bitter sweet. That said, can’t wait to get back out on the water after I do some maintenance!

Hope some of you managed to get through all that!

Cheers!

Ps. If the other kayaker is an AKFF member, nice to briefly meet you!

One of those fantastic Noosa Yakkers days, today. A day that money couldn’t buy!

It started early, seriously early. Even though I was down at the Middle Groyne carpark by 4:00am, I wasn’t first there. Richmond and baptism were prepping in the dark.

From the top of the beach Richmond and I could just discern that the exit would be easy but the lights of stinkies heading out from the bar reminded us that care would be needed once we left the beach.

By the time we got back to the cars to grab our yaks stormin had arrived. Stormin, ever faithful, ever reliable, sand monster victim, with no fish as yet in the Record list, a totally enthusiastic Noosa Yakker, was about to have his big day. And he deserved it. Thoroughly.

Launch time, no problems. Still a bit dark, however. So I hung around out the back waiting for a bit more light before moving off. Out of the corner of one eye I noticed another yak coming out and took no notice until a radio call came from our coordinator, jaro. He was the yakker I just saw, and was a welcome and surprise addition to our line up today after an absence of several weeks in India. As I’d carried out his Noosa Yakkers duties during his absence I was doubly glad to see him back.

As the ambient light slowly improved I moved off, a few minutes behind others, with jaro not far behind. Of the hoped for flocks of terns there was no sign. This contrasted greatly with the situation described by dugout and tarzan yesterday, when there were terns “everywhere”.

Most of us headed NE because that’s where the spotties were yesterday, when dugout and tarzan found them in marginal sea conditions, at last. Progress was ploddingly slow as a NE chop placed continual two foot watery barriers in our path. There were no birds visible out there, where the sky was bright with the rising sun. So I headed more north toward Jew Shoal, a frequent attractor of predators. On this journey I was trolling a small black and silver Rapala, rigged with a short single strand wire trace.

Not far north of the three shark drum lines anchored off the headland and still 1.3 km from the Pinnacles at Jew Shoal this lure was seized and the scream, that delightful scream, of my Charter Special ratchet announced it. Yahoo! I knew this had to be a spotty mac despite the lack of visual signs of predator activity on the water. The 10kg mono line and short stiff rod made short work of this spotty. A quick gaff and he was tail first into the fishbox and then, very quickly back into the ocean as a quick flexing of that powerful body bounced him skywards again. Never mind, he was well hooked and the next time I delivered him into the fishbox he stayed there.

My first spotty mac of the summer

With great pleasure I announced this success on the VHF, not so much to brag but to tell my colleagues that the fish were here today.

Damage to the Rapala caused me to rerig so I chose the HLP in Qantas colours and resumed trolling, sticking with the plan to head for Jew Shoal.

By now, with better ambient light, everyone was starting to notice that terns were, in fact, clustering in small groups scattered over a wide area, including Jew Shoal. So that’s where I headed for.

Then someone announced by radio that stormin was hooked up. I took a quick look around and saw him, with bent rod, only about two hundred metres south of me. Knowing that capture of a spotty mac would be an occasion for stormin I turned around to get a pic of him for his (future) grandchildren.

When I arrived he had the fish, a pretty good spotty, on the gaff, which was embedded nicely in the head, best place for it. A huge smile lit up his face. I could see that he was savouring the moment and I was happy to be there to record the event.

Stormin and his first spotty mac and his biggest ever fish at that moment (not for very long, however).

Bird activity at Jew Shoal was scattered and only once did I see clear evidence of mack attacks, when a bait ball formed briefly accompanied by several large splashes as the littlies were scattered by the biggies.

The sequence of events is now unclear, but announcements of other successes, or frustrations, now arrived via the VHF radio. Jaro got a spotty, and so did lazybugger. The action was scattered over a wide area from down near Hells Gates to up here at Jew Shoal. We had eyes on the water all over the place, freely passing useful information around.

Then jaro, who happened to be near stormin at the time, came up on the radio with the news that stormin was hooked up and was being towed north from the Jew Shoal centre. As towing a kayak is not commonly an ability of spotty macs, this piqued my interest. When, a couple of minutes later, jaro opined that this was truly a big fish that stormin was hooked up to I decided to head over to this action to try to get some useful and memorable pics. As usual, I trolled over to the general area of stormin’s activity with the intention of stowing the fishing gear while using the camera.

There was stormin, about 150 metres away from me with a very bent rod and a wake forming behind his revo, which he was not pedalling. I was catching him slowly when my Charter Special screamed again with a very fast run. OK, change the plan, common in fishing, especially kayak fishing.

This fish was another spotty and a tougher fighter than my earlier fish, mainly because it was bigger.

Spotty mac #2.

This fish stowed, I returned to the original plan. Jaro had been relaying info by radio about stormin’s battle and hanging around near stormin dispensing advice about how to fight this fish. Soon I was in position to take a few pics, and this about 30 minutes after stormin had hooked up.

Plainly the fish was tiring, but so was stormin. He was fighting the fish on a fairly long rod and a threadline reel, a combo which doesn’t lend itself to putting hurt on a big fish, especially when the fish was holding at about 15-20m depth and refusing to give in. Typical of tuna, the rod tip showed the steady pulses as the fish’s tail pushed it through the water.

None of us had yet seen the fish but jaro and I were calling it for a longtail, a fish which is among the toughest of fighters and relatively common up here.

Eventually stormin started to make progress, grunting all the while and resting his right arm when possible as the fight had been a long one, the longest he’d ever endured. I was close by when stormin first saw the fish and identified it, correctly as it turned out. I was sceptical of the ID but he had it in view and I didn’t. Then, quite suddenly he had the last few metres on the spool and the fish broke through the surface to reveal a large strap-like pectoral fin. Bugger me, his call was right, it is a yellowfin, I thought. The colours were magnificent, with flashing golden flanks and a glowing blue stripe from head to tail. I held my tongue and my breath as stormin readied the gaff for this, the most important gaff shot of his life.

Capture of a fish of this size from a kayak is no simple feat. You’re alone and it’s all down to you. Stormin rose to the occasion professionally. The gaff was carefully aimed and found its mark first time and the fish barely moved as its capturer lifted its head and part of its massive torso from the water. We were busy now. I passed him my tail rope, one of which I reckon stormin will always carry in future, and he looped it around that massive tail, securing the other end to something on the Revo’s deck. Then he slid the fish onto his lap.

Kayak fish of a lifetime (as I reminded stormin later)

Sometime later, after the fish had stopped vibrating, stormin shoved it into the cockpit and I took this pic from over stormin’s right shoulder.

Edited 12Dec12. Video and other pics in this separate post

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=58591

We were four kilometres from the beach and bobbing around in the swell and chop so clearly the fish couldn’t stay in the position in the above pic. Jaro and I rafted up with stormin’s Revo; jaro’s Viking Profish on the port side, my Stealth Supalite X on the starboard side and between the three of us we removed the lure, opened the forward hatch of the Revo, slid the fish in (tight fit), removed the tail rope and secured the hatch cover. Done. Now the Revo had a decidedly bow down attitude. Plan B was to stow the fish in my Supalite fishbox if the Revo hatch proved too small.

Stormin was keen to have another crack at the spotties and jaro and I were still relatively fresh so we now headed the 1.5 km or so over to where most of the other NYs had congregated. But action was noticeably slowing except that lazybugger scored a late spotty (his second ever and his second for today) near me so gets his pic in this TR.

Lazybugger and his spotty #2.

A general movement back to Middle Groyne started about now, as the air was starting to become uncomfortably warm and the cooling breeze was waning. We had just on 3.5 km to go and moved back at our own speed.

Beach pics

My larger spotty, 87cm, held by beach volunteer.

My two spotties on my Supalite deck.

Crowd control necessary (Noosa crowd)

Fetching lady with stormin’s yellowfin

Stormin, triumphant, but knackered

The yellowfin, 109cm. New Noosa Yakkers Record!

Thanks for reading AKFFers. Tight lines.

“Oh are you sure? That’s so nice of you darling Gee”, said Frau Von Gee.

“That’s okay, I don’t really want to go to the Van and enjoy myself fishing for three days alone. I would miss you all too much. I may stay home and do the housework ……..”, said Gee.

BWAH BWAH BWAH BWAH BWAH BWAH went the alarm and I woke from this ridiculous nightmare I was experiencing. I was in a hot sweat with the thought of what had just happened in my sub-conscious, the absolute absurdity of it.

Woo Hoo! Off to the coast, to be based at the Chalet Von Gee (our onsite Van) alone for three days but had to meet Ado at his pondage by 1100. Had to do some local Schloss Von Gee duties before heading off, sh*t sh*t sh*t hurry up Gee.

Annnnd so, on the way to the coast I started figuring out how much stuff I’d left behind after madly packing that morning. At first it wasn’t too hurtful, personal cleaning items (meh – going fishing), camera (sh*t), Go Pro (aawwww wish I’d have taken it), Food (meh) but nothing really that couldn’t be replaced.

Day 1 - Ado’s Pondage Finally broke the duck.

We’d been texting through the week, watching SeaBreeze.com.au and realised it was going to be windy on the coast during my sojourn. It was going to be really windy. Ado did the right thing by me and convinced me to abandon my original plan of taking the Quest and take the Ocean Liner (the PA) instead. This was to be a great decision in the end as the Quest with my phat posterior in it only has a 4″ or so free board.

Got to the Pondage a little later than planned but Ado was still on the shore setting up nonetheless. Greetings and brief chat about the now almost belting wind covering the pondage but still decided to get on the water. I had the PA on the trailer and the beauty of that is, the way I pack it, I was all set to go in about 6 minutes.

We headed off to Ado’s Honey Spot which fortunately offers considerable cover from the vicious NN Easter that was increasing in power. Upon arrival I received some most excellent educational advice from the master of the pondage. First case … BANG … mad hit but alas no hookup but at least I was awake now!

That was to be that for a while though, despite having the killer crazy legs shad (I call it alphabet soup because I cant remember Ado’s acronym for it) there we only cursory bumps for a while.

We both decided to move around a bit, I waited till Ado was out of sight and changed my lure  . Didn’t want to offend but alphabet soup wasn’t working for me today. Changed to an Izumi Gastronomic Shad tail and while moving got smashed on my light gear. I thought “YaaaaaY” I have one of the not so mythical monsters of the Pondage at last.

…. but it wasn’t. Rather it was one of its third generation nephews / neices:

Still happy that my fishlessness on the pondage was now a thing of the past and my confidence started soaring. There were fish in here that I can catch after all!

Travelled along this little drop off I’d found then grabbed another little Breambo. Decided to try an Arty Photo – that may seem like the fish was bigger for a change.

And so the pattern went for another small fish but the XXXOS models that Ado is accustomed to catching eluded me. Still had a great time on the pondage with great, knowledgeable and friendly company (with Hat). Despite the wind, I’d had a great time and most grateful for Ado’s company.

Day 2 The Chalet Local - Ting Ting Ting Ringadingding

Not far to go for my session this day – about 150 metres to be exact.

Reports from the Hubsters and other locals that visit this area were that there were Whiting available on the Surface. Now, traditionally, I suck royally at surface popper fishing as I’m sure Craig450 and others in my presence while said sucking occurs will attest.

….. but not today.

This was one of “those” sessions that estuary fishermen dream of. I simply could do no real wrong, still managed a couple of messes, but it was fishing nirvana for me.

At first I tried a PX45, quite a few casts with boils happening after them but no hookups. “Oh no, here comes my suckiness” thought Gee. I was trying a particular type of retrieve very effectively used by such champions as the original top water freak being one “Squidder” and other very capable fishermen. My suckiness continued using this technique.

…. So I changed it. Changed the lure too, put on a River2Sea Rover lure which I had purchased ages ago but had never used. Boy oh boy, what a great purchase.

Now, not exactly scientific – put enough action on the lure to get the fish following’s interest. Stopped the retrieve, “fluttered” it … WHAM. Hit like freight train, and on the 5 pound mono with 3 pound leader peeling off my lighted drag set CI4 on my uber sensitive Duffrods Flats rod, it was just a delight. Whiting going nuts on the surface is just a real joy.

Actually, it ended up being a delight 26 times. Including a PB Sand Whiting for me at 41cms – the thing was a massive fish for my standards. All up, I kept 12 Whiting for the Frau who luuurrrrves whiting and the fam and released all the other 14 in quite healthy condition.

Somewhere along the line my 3 pound leader was snapped by something ridiculously huge that I wasn’t ready for. Unfortunately I lost my very productive little Rover. I’ll be replacing it for sure. Replace it with the LuckyCraft NW Pencil and the fish really didn’t seem to mind at all!

“By catch” were two little Bream and one keeper Flattie of 41 cms.

The wind got up, the fish went quiet, I didn’t care one little bit. I’d seen a young couple on a Hobie Outback and Sport and had a chat. They’d been towing big plastics for no joy and I offered up a couple of little surface poppers that I’d never used or was unlikely to. They disappeared into the distance (what the?) and I’m still unsure if they caught fish.

I won’t mention the tool Stink Boater who, wherever I went, kept following me to within 10 meters of the Yak then proceed to cast into my fishing zone. He got nothing, I was delighted.

“What you using, you’re smashing it.”

“A Kayak” said Gee.

Oddly he didn’t answer. Must have been my happy face I was giving him.

All along this time I was madly texting the Frau, Ado and Squidder to tell them of my success, it doesn’t happen all that often. Thanks for your patience guys – I was excited. 

All in all, a 5 hour session that I dream of. Very happy camper at the end of day 2.

Day 3 The Racks - Cruising the Clyde

It was always my intention to hit the Clyde River Racks after reading other blokes, who will remain nameless cause they didnt ask me to come with them,  , had reported success there.

Caught up in the morning with a decidedly seedy (post his work Christmas Party) looking Craig450 who had done a paint job on some more lures for me. They looked awesome and I couldn’t wait to use them, or at least one.

So heading to the racks that I have been to before in both Yak and Stinky, and the current was belting through them. Adaptation was the name of the game, having to peddle to hold position, was quite delighted that I hadn’t bought the Quest or I’d have had real issues fishing the way I was.

Fishing plastic cast at the racks / pontoons with enough weight to get to the bottom while casting upstream of the current got me a few little Flathead. Still, something was better than nothing. Didn’t need to keep anything today so all fish were released this day.

Eventually with the change of tide the current stopped …. le puff … le pant …. thanks goodness.

So easier access to the racks now. I could see the Bream under them and there were some quality animals in there. Busy time of year for the Oyster Farmers and I may add they were everywhere active this day. One of them came up to the area that I was fishing, asked me how I was going, told me of the thousand or so Bream under his boat right at that time.

“Yeah ta mate” said Gee. “No f*kkin sh*t?” thought Gee.

So I waited for Mr State the Obvious (friendly guys really) to leave, and while waiting threw on one of the Ecogear SX40′s that I’d got Craig to professionally paint for me.

The thing wasn’t in the water for more than five spins of the reel when SMASHED by a little yet extremely aggressive Clyde River Bream.

This happened another couple of times, same smallish probably just less than legal size Bream, before the tide change and subsequent (incoming now) current made it precarious to hold position where I was without the rope I’d forgotten to bring.

It was time to go, I had a lot of fish to fillet at home.

What a great three days. I recommend it to anyone.

Thanks for reading,

Gee

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The tide was a biggie heading north to south and the wind was from the south at 11 knots causing some occasionally steep little white caps to break around me. At least we were protected from the big swells hitting both the coasts. With the drogue out, the drift worked out to be slowly northward. No love on the first few passes over the lump but I did spy a turtle with a head the size of a football about 10m away. Don’t you take my plastic I thought, go see Beekeeper.

Meanwhile Couta was northwest of me and after catching nothing but the bottom a couple of times I headed over for a look see. Obviously I’m his good luck charm as he immediately hooked up on a keeper. Today I was also trialling my new GoPro which I bought as an early Christmas present to myself and it was at this point the battery died. I’ll need to get a bigger battery as this only lasted about 2 hours. I hung around for a while and got an undersized snap on a jig which I’d loaded with a couple of gulp worms. Nothing much else followed so I went for a bit of a paddle to explore and then headed back to the “lump” The wind had eased a bit and the current had picked up so the drogue kept me pretty stationary. I threw out the gulp worms again and let them sink while I then bounced an Octa Jig on the other side of the yak. Couta told me via the radio he was onto another fish. I decided to persist with the lump.

Suddenly on my blind side (the side with the worms hanging out) and very close to the yak there was a short loud noise like the moan of the undead followed by the sucking of air and a splash as something disappeared beneath the surface. Needless to say this scared the crap out of me. I only saw what was either the wake of a large turtle or where zombies had just disappeared from, only zombies make a noise like that! After an expletive or two Couta told me I was being silly, everyone knows zombies can’t walk on water.

Somewhat reassured I got back to the fishing and once again started bouncing the Octa jig on the bottom. A minute later I’m pretty relaxed again when the yak lurches violently to the left nearly unseating me. Fwark! the zombies are back! Not happy with their first attempt they try again more violently. Trying to keep my balance I turned around and see something’s smashed my rod. Okay, so zombies can’t walk on water, but maybe they’ve walked out on the bottom and are trying to pull me down?? I’m not giving up that easily. I get the Octa jig rod into the holder and then struggle to get the fully loaded and bouncing rod out of the left side holder. The beast seems to know the hunter has become the hunted and takes off with some solid runs. Man these zombies go hard! Big thumps got me thinking this may not be a zombie, and it’s not behaving like a turtle. Maybe it’s a snapper?? Some pump and wind later and a beautiful snapper comes to the surface. Terror and fear are quickly replaced with joy and excitement, but I haven’t landed it yet. Obviously I’m out of practice with the gaff and the fish does a few circles and even gets wrapped around my drogue line at one point. Don’t lose it! On my fourth of fifth attempt, just to make sure, I almost pin the fish to the yak. I’ll blame the scratch on the side of the yak on zombie claws.

Couta made his way over to check out the action. It’s now apparently official I suck ass. I didn’t care having just survived an attack from the undead and boating my best snap to date. After composing myself I did another pass and saw the rod tip buckle over again. I wound in to see the tails had disappeared from the worms and whatever it was had missed the hook by a couple of millimetres. That was pretty much enough for one day. Once off the water I was on a high and texted more people than I ever have before to let them know of my capture. I didn’t mention the zombies though. A shame the GoPro didn’t capture the action so stills will have to suffice.

Was good to get on the water again after a while and smash my previous snapper pb.

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Luke and I ventured out early Saturday morning pretty rusty from the night before. I had a incident early on when my spinnerbait shot off a tree branch and sconned me fair in the head. It was all tangled up in my hair and I feared the worst but luckily the hook hadn’t gone in past the barb. I daresay I would have continued on with a spinnerbait dangling out of my head either way! It was soo good to be cruising down through fun little bidgee rapids, with some awesome pools in between faster runs. Plenty of new snags to explore.

Once we got away from civilisation, we got into the kind of fishing that I love down the river. Follows, bumps, hook-ups as soon as the lure hit the water, cod taking lures right at the rod tip. Luke didnt shower that morning so he found a nice cod that gave him one instead. We were just paddling around with these big smiles on our faces. My other mate caught up early afternoon only to inform us he had broken his cod virginity after trying for ages. Awesome stuff.

Sunday morning I was too excited to sleep and was up at 5am throwing surface lures around camp. My mate wandered down with a loud pink and yellow surface paddler, and gets absolutely boofed right at his feet. Not a bad way to catch your second cod ever. Still waiting on the pic from my mate so will post it up when he sends it.

Another interesting thing was the yellowbelly that were around. We only get the very odd one down the river normally.

What a bloody top weekend. Murray cod mightn’t be the hardest pulling fish ever but there’s really something about them. Not so much even the fish sometimes, but the places they take you with good mates talking crap and enjoying the Aussie bush. Cant wait to get back down there!

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ATTACHMENTS

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Made a half hearted attempt to find squid on the way out but not knowing north harbour we didn’t want to spend too much time mucking about when we were pretty sure there were slimies to be had. Did manage the biggest scorpion cod I have ever seen on a squid jig tho.

The slimies in the harbour at the moment are a little bigger than I would normally like and the first one was way over bait size at around 35cm but has volunteered to join me for a bbq lunch tomorrow. Told it to dress butterfly style with garlic and chili adornments. Got another 3 around 25cm, pinned one thru the nose and started a slow troll out along North Head.

I was maybe a couple of hundred meters short of the eastern end and thought if I tried to eat something a fish would surely interupt me. Right on cue the rod loaded up but not the huge hit I normally expect from a king. Assuming a snag or maybe a shark I had another bite of my sandwich and took my time removing the rod from the holder. Once I did the fish woke up and the arm stretching began.

During the first minutes of up and down the wind started to pick up and conditions started to get sloppy. Put that on top of a 2.5m swell while fishing heavyish drag on 30lb braid and things were getting interesting.

Tried to lead the fish out to deeper water but was really just at its mercy. After about 10 or so mins I still didn’t have colour and started to think this may a decent fish. When I finally saw leader and looked over the side I knew it was big. There was a lot more to and fro around the yak but I managed to keep calm and play the fish out to exhaustion. Final landing was just a matter of grabbing the trace, slipping my hand into the gills and lifting the fish aboard.

After a few photos I had to stow the fish which was really difficult in the sloppy conditions. Found myself having the head further into the harbour to find water calm enough to slide toward the front of the yak. Once completed I headed back out. Spongy had just just got bricked when his live bait rod went off while trying to clear a wayward line from around his yak. In the following confusion the fish made it to the reef.

I offered up my last livie and while handing it over managed to snag myself. Started rerigging to put a squid head out but conditions were getting a bit uncomfortable so we headed in with a few interesting moments on the way. With the extra weight on the front and a following sea the nose of the adventure was getting pushed down and digging in. Nearly thrown a few times but managed to stay in the saddle.

Stopped at the wreck to try for more slimies to tow around inside the harbour but was getting too difficult with the wind so decision was made to go clean to fish since a third of it was sticking out of the catch bag. Brag mat is only 110cm so final length is a guess of around 113cm and while the fish was quite lean, there are enough fillets to feed us for 3 days and hand off 2 meals to non fishing friends.

Managed to lose an almost brand new net at some point during the mayhem but was only an Anaconda cheapu so no great loss. Maybe I will remember to take my leashes next time.

All up a pretty good day for me upping my kingy PB by over about 13cm and yak caught king PB by over 30cm.

ATTACHMENTS

70cm Toga on fly

47cm Bass

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And so it was that I found myself at Fisherman’s Beach very early this morning. This protected and NE facing beach is a favourite launch point for Sydneysiders wanting to fish Long Reef, which lies to its east and north east, within a couple of kilometres.

I’d carried out a recce of the beach a week or so ago, knowing that a fishing trip from here was a strong possibility. I’d found a wash point complete with tap to which I could attach my washdown hose but also noted that the parking fees are frightening to anyone from my neck of the woods. Never mind, I was informed of a parking work-around by the local yakkers who’d invited me. In the end, following their advice, I parked legally, didn’t have to pay at all and suffered minimal disruption to my planned launch arrangements.

Fisherman’s Beach. Pay parking bays are provided immediately SW of the boat ramp.

SBD had set a RV time of 05:15 approx and well before this time I’d unloaded my yak and left it on the beach just west of the ramp. Meanwhile SBD and avayak were catching livies elsewhere, intending, as per their usual practice, to transport the live baits in large aerated drums which they transferred from their cars to their Hobie yaks. I witnessed this complex transfer process later, when they’d arrived to set up to go proper fishing. There’s a lot of meticulous preparation required to get live yakkas to the waiting kingies of Long Reef. Not only this, but wrassemagnet was out in the bay working on catching squid to use as live baits. I could see him in the gradually improving light and hoped he was being successful (he was).

After meeting SBD and avayak I left them to their final preparations and opted to launch immediately to have a warm up paddle in the confines of the little bay which the beach faces.

Launch time. The boat ramp is just to the right. Note that the date/time stamp for this pic only is Queensland time.

As SBD said, they’re very lucky to have such a launch spot directly into the ocean. Imagine if we had one at Sunshine Beach like this! Soon I was paddling out to meet wrassemagnet, who was scaring the crap out of the squid from his recently acquired pointy, lengthy and bright green Stealth (pic later).

Wrassemagnet is also a squid magnet and proved it by showing me a couple of his catch, being kept alive by imprisonment in various containers adapted to the purpose. He also, in passing, mentioned that there would likely be snapper scrounging around in this little bay, whose depth was only 5-8m. This news had me paddling around in a futile attempt to score one or two on a trolled hard body.

At length the prelaunch preparations of avayak and SBD were complete, and they could be seen heading out to us. Under their tutelage I followed them out into the fishing grounds, only some 1500m or so out.

They fish water from 10-20m depth using any of several techniques and the target is always kingies. I was rigged with my Noosa gear, either hard bodied lures or soft plastics. I’d even left the wire traces on, intent on establishing whether Long Reef fish ignore them, as Noosa fish appear to do.

Immediately we could see “baitfish” (could have been jellyfish) on the fishfinders. Larger, more individual traces were also visible so my companions confidently and correctly forecast that kingies were present. Woohoo!

After watching proceedings carefully for a while I concluded that possibly my SPs would be accepted by the denizens below so started working them much as I do in Noosa. This resulted in the first keeper fish of the day (I think) which snaffled my wire-traced 4 inch SP.

I hasten to add that the only reason it was a keeper was that the NSW legal min length is 30cm. This little guy was about 32cm. Released.

Then SBD, avayak and wrassemagnet found the kingies and called me over by radio. Bent rods and furious jigging and other fishing activities could be seen. Clearly there was some action underway but the few fish which I saw come to the surface were quickly released as undersized. I’d been persisting with my SP as I had no other appropriate offering in my inventory. Shortly, I too was battling either a monster and fast swimming snapper or a kingie. Guess which. My fish had gone for the bottom for the third time when the line went slack. Broken wire trace. This particular home made trace was overdue for retirement having been in successful action on numerous occasions over the last couple of months. Well at least my new carbontech drag washers had performed well.

The action continued, spasmodically but relentlessly. The stinkies started to follow SBD and Co around, much as I was.

The general scene, looking south.

All of my companions were fighting and releasing fish but it was clear that there was no massing of the kingies. Rather, individual fish were being hooked over a fairly small area. So I worked this area over until at last I took another kingie hit, again on SP. This fish put up a solid fight on the 6kg gear I was using but it was gradually defeated, as witnessed by SBD, who’d seen all of this stuff thousands of times before. Without measuring it I could see that it wasn’t obviously a keeper and SBD confirmed this so back he went, after spending a very short time in my fishbox.

I was now satisfied that there was nothing wrong with my technique and so perhaps had passed Grade One in kingie catching. So I relaxed and decided to get a few pics. Wrassemagnet’s Irish Stealth presented a fittimg subject so here he is, perhaps dealing with yet another rat king, or maybe re-rigging after being worked over.

Jim’s new boat, ready for St Pat’s Day.

On approaching SBD again, soon afterward, I was present when he hooked up to another rat, well within camera range.

The second one slightly over exposed, but the content is OK, as SBD would say.

Dave now offered me a lump of fresh Long Reef cuttlefish in order to demonstrate that such bait is better than SPs. I accepted with alacrity, proferring my extended paddle as a tray. “Don’t drop it”, growled Dave and I didn’t. I cut the cuttly lump into two pieces initially and rerigged my heavy outfit to cope with the expected big kingies. On the way back up the drift line I let this cuttly-loaded outfit trail out the back and I swear that it went off about 15 secs after I started to move it through the water. I’d put a jig head on this line, and impaled the flag of cuttly on that. I don’t even think that this fish (almost certainly another rat king) was hooked but held onto the cuttlefish fragment until I got it close to the boat then with a final tug, ripped it off the hook. No sign of the cuttlefish bait remained. This left me with one piece which I trimmed into two delicious looking “tentacles”. The first of these produced two very small snapper, in quick time, and the last produced this, which would have been better being caught by wrassemagnet.

This is the first “butcher’s prick” I’ve seen in years. Unknown in Noosa, thankfully.

By now the wind was increasing in strength and my leave pass was in danger of expiring, with no reserve of brownie points to bolster my survival chances. Simultaneously, my companions of the day indicated that they’d also be happy to head in, so we did, riding the stiffening north easterly to a happy landing at our start point.

On the beach avayak generously offered me his only keeper, explaining that he and SBD had enough kingie cutlets from the recent past. I grabbed the offer, especially as I knew I could put the fish to very good use in the next couple of days. Thanks, Gary.

We finished up at the Upper Crust for a pie and coffee, joined by Occy, in mufti.

Of these four guys, the only one I’d met before was Occy. Nevertheless, it was clear that AKFF allowed us to sit around the coffee table like old pals, chatting about yak fishing and whatever else came along, and a couple of them did. Thanks to all for your patience and help today.

Thanks for reading AKFFers. Tight lines.

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Off to the pub to grab a 6 pack and drank. danced and sung my night away. Why not? No one else was there!

Up at 4:30 on Saturday and on the water straight away. Headed downstream. Took a while but I finally managed to open my cod account at a shallow set of rapids that had some good snags on the other side. Took about 10 cast in the one spot but I finally enticed him to take the spinnerbait. Man these cod are funny. It wasn’t a bad cod either, not legal at 55cm but very fat and healthy.

Just after the rapids I decided to try and break my duck on hardbodies. Threw Sel’s Tangle at many snags until a cod followed it almost to the yak and then took off with it. After a spirited fight (for a cod) I had him yakside but couldn’t get the lip grippers in his gob. The wind blew me into the bank where he swam around some long grass. Again I tried to get the lip grips on him but again I failed and then with one shake of his head he dissapeared to the depths still sporting the Tangle. Bugger!!!

I rerigged with another Tangle and proceeded to throw that for an hour with no hits. I came to the junction where there was plenty of water flow so I dragged up it a bit and managed to land another nice little cod on the spinnerbait. I decided the flow was too strong to perserveer going up so I turned around and headed for camp as I was going to pack up and head to another spot for an explore.

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I have just finished a video from my Texas trip earlier this year where I met some of the Aussie kayak fishermen – great bunch of lads

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Strong Language Warning Though!

thanks

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Pertaining to the maximum number of rods being used per person, which is 2 (in the water), but we have regularly seen boats with 2 persons and 6 rods in the water, or 1 person with 4 rods. I tried a gentle suggestion to a couple of these boaters, and was met with disregard to abuse. So in future I’ll stay safe, and leave it to Fisheries. If you see fishing/crabbing that is possibly illegal, do something about it. RING THE HOTLINE!

http://www.fishnet.com.au/information/f … mmary.html

It is interesting that Fisheries are getting smarter. They are introducing ‘stealth’ patrol boats, that do not look ‘official’. That should nab a few smartarses that knowingly break the rules.

trev

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Wondering what is your take on etiquette when fishing around boats and other yaks?
How close is too close when it comes to fishing and what is acceptable?

I’ve been fishing Palmy for over 15 years and on occasion have counted in excess of 280 boats!!! out on the reef and that is before the Kayak craze started.
So I am aware that there is a curtain amount of tolerance required.

Interested in your thoughts.
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I’m new to the forum and Australia. So hopefully no issues posting here.

Here’s the issue. Coming from Canada my fishing was all fresh water and because I’m new to Australia I’ve recently purchased a new car.
So what’s the deal with the salt? Currently I walk my yak to the beach/water but I’m interested in going further afield.
Every time I haul my yak out of the water it has some sand and a fair bit of water dripping off it for quite some time.
Do you guys really put these yaks on your vehicles and are there any issues with salt damage on your vehicles long term?

So what do you guys do?
Do I shell out extra for a trailer or just rack it, or is there something I’m missing?

Thanks for the advice and have a great new years.
Eddy, 
Gold Coast

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thanks trewy2428

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So I had a kayak falling off the roof incident on the weekend, and my yak landed from car height onto a down turned rudder. This forced one of the bolts holding the rudder into the hull out through the hull, tearing a decent hole.

During the same outing, the screws holding one handle into the hull did a very similar thing.

See Pics:

rudder hole

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My typical load for a days fishing:
-Rods & reels x 2
-Landing net
-Fish bag
-Sounder and battery.
-Lures.
-Leader material.
-Tackle back (lure retriever) – seldom used, but worth it’s weight in gold!
-Line cutter
-Pliers
-PFD
-Snacks and drinks.
-Knife.
-Hand paddle / cutting board.
-Paddle
-Seat
-Mirage drive
-Trolley
-Sponge
-Sunscreen

Also, depending on conditions / plans etc:
-Anchor, rope and chain and/or sea anchor.
-Raincoat
-Spare / extra clothing.

My typical day on the water is 4-6 hours, hence the food and drinks (water). If fishing fresh water I just take an enamel mug and drink what I’m fishing on. I fish 2 rods whether drifting or trolling. When casting I still like to take 2 rods for different weight lures / different mainline / leader weights.

Do I look overloaded to the rest of you? Should I stow more below decks and keep the top less cluttered? Should I not worry, and feel happy that I’m well equipped?

Pic of my “overloaded” ‘yak on a recent breaming trip:

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Was just wondering how to rig the actual anchor + line to the anchor trolley itself, Ive rigged up an anchor trolley
fore and aft using the pulleys and a stainless ring so thats all good, its just actual experience using it and
where to tie it off, do I run my anchor line through the ring and tie off to a cleat, Im using a Tarpon 120
with a 1kg grapp anchor, dont want to make an arse of it  as first time Ive used an anchor set up.
Ive got the grapp set up so I can pull it out if it gets stuck with 20 lb fish line and 1m chain to end of it and
30m of 5mm VB line, sorry if this is a newbie question thats been answered a 100 times before 

Ta Mucho

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The first kayak righting technique was the one that worked best for me and my Hurricane Phoenix on the recent kayak skills training day Dru organised.

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After reading this thread on a newbies issues with the Emotion Exhilarator here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=58572 I thought I’d drop in and say G’day.

I’ve been a long time on dry land and have been itching to get back on the water. Not only that but I’ve recently been on a bit of a weight loss journey and need to stay active. I’ve lost 25kg in 4 months!

I’ve previously owned some big mothers (needed for my size at the time too!); a Malibu X-Factor and a Prowler 4.5. I found they were great kayaks (although the Malibu was the size of a semi trailer!) but I did want something a bit smaller and easier to get on the roof racks, yet not excessively short and slow as my main interest is a 10k return paddle to the upper reaches of the Woronora River. I know the Mini-x and similar are popular but I thought a tad wide and short for the distance. There were also a few Emotion Temptations around (and yes, I was Tempted!), but still only 3.1m or so and didn’t want to risk.

I was having a general browse on the Anaconda web site and saw these for $399 reduced from $1099 (supposedly). Gave them a call, it was Christmas Eve so didn’t expect it, but they had 2 left, in green or green. At the speed of light I got to Anaconda and bought 2 green (funnily enough) Emotion Exhilarators, one for my wife and myself.

I was anxious to take it for a quick run so I did so and was pretty happy. A little more tippy I thought compared to the barges I used to own, but its been years since I’ve been in a kayak so maybe I forget how it was like. Also, my only intended use is pretty quiet flat water so didn’t think it would be a problem.

The kayak itself seems quite good. Has only one small round hatch just in front of you, a crate/tank well behind you (too small for a full milk crate), and at the front stretch cord over it to hold down whatever you might like to carry. My initial thought was I’d like to put another hatch at the front (which will also make it easier to access inside to fit rod holders etc), however frustratingly the front section under the stretch cord is very slightly concave. Just enough that water sits there, and that it might be difficult to get a hatch to sit properly, not only that, but also SEAL properly given on a run the concave section has water sitting in it the whole time. Might be able to seal the fitting ok with silicon but I’d want to ensure the actual hatch opening was quiet well sealed as water would likely be over the top of it quite a bit. Will have to look into it a bit more to see if it will work.

Only other small thing its lacking for me is the paddle holder on the side which is so handy, but with a few fittings and some stretch cord from Whitworths I’ll easily fix that.

A few days later it was the real test. My wife (who isn’t much of a kayaker nor much of a water person) and I head down to The Needles, a 10km return paddle. So, was it a bit much of a stretch for our first time back on the water for a decent paddle? No, absolutely not. She complained she was a bit sore in the arms of course, but I was surprised at how well I pulled up at the finish. Although we both had a few ‘iffy’ moments with stability if we were a bit lacking at attention when turning around to talk to each other or maybe dug our paddles in a bit hard! But considering the time between ‘drinks’, we both like the kayaks and enjoyed our outing immensely. We saw a few water dragons and had a small green tree snake swim past us which was a bit of a shock at first until we realised it wasn’t a brown snake and that it was more scared of us than we where of it. Just!

We are really happy and keen to get out more often. They may not be ideal for open water, but for the rivers I reckon are great and at this price a bargain way of doing it.

Next will be setting it up with a rod holder or 2 (it has perfect spots for 2 scotty type holders), an anchor trolley and a suitably sized plastic box/crate for the back. Not sure I’ll bother with sounder or anything too extreme as I want to keep it easy and simple so I go out often without stuffing around with sounders, batteries etc.

Its about 20kg and just the right size and weight to handle it on and off the roof racks ok.

Here is my RTM Disco now pimped out with some much needed storage. I always end up with tupperware containers, drink bottles, nets and other mess in the footwells. I put a post up months ago re adding a bait board solution up front, with rod holders etc.
It’s a great kayak but a bit tight on space & great suggestions & inspiration came from Keza, Avayak, Camel, Bildad etc.

So list of modifications have been.

Bait Board
Bait Board is HDPE bought at 20mm but planed down to 15mm.
This holds most of what I need within easy reach, fitting everything & drilling into the kayak so everything came out even was tricky and done more by judgement than measuring.

Railblaza side ports and adjustable extenders.
Railblaza Rod Holders.
Boga Grip
Knife, pliers holder at easy reach. (with bungee lock)
Scotty cup holder (bought out of the US) – brilliant.
Basement level tackle tray, using modified rectangular aluminium as tracks. (fits perfectly)

On top is room for a sounder / GPS (electronics to be added later) and for now a small tupperware container can hold used lures so the saltwater doesn’t contaminate the motherload.

Other
Paddle holder
Anchor Trolley
4” Rear Hatch (to allow for anchor trolley build)

Rod Holders – rear
PVC pipe and elbows, now room for net and rod storage out of the way. All measured, cut and glued – except 1 join, which has a stainless bolt to allow for removing the unit.

Upfront – 1 rear facing rod holder. The bow is narrow and I can’t rest a rod butt on if ever needed, which happens at times when I have to turn the rod around and re rig, check guides etc. (So no more reel dunkings). If I ever do a surf launch, might come in handy also.

Lastly Keza donated me an insulated fish bag which fits perfectly in my tank well area behind me, thanks mate!! 

It’s pretty much all removable including the anchor trolley. It’s added a few kg in weight & the bait board might end up looking like swiss cheese with holes drilled everywhere but who cares. Cost wise, yeah I guess the receipts add up but well worth it. I couldn’t have found an off the shelf product that was this versatile.

As mentioned before, might get my 3 year old still in the box sounder rigged up.
Just need to get out there now…

Thanks again to the inspiration from the guys on this site!

Cheers Dave

ATTACHMENTS

Read the thread on AKFF

Having done a stitch and glue then a cedar strip I wanted to try skin frame construction and decided to build Jeff Horton’s Curlew design. It is 15 feet long, and while not designed for fishing I intend to try fishing from it so will build in capability for mounting rod holders. For more info on the design check it out on the Kudzu Craft site at:
http://www.kudzucraft.com/designs/curlew/index.php

The construction method is to make frames from plywood and lash the stringers (long bits that the skin goes around) to these using artificial sinew. I bought the sinew, polyester skin fabric and some adjustable footrests from Jeff about a year ago – just to give you an idea of how long this build is likely to take!

Stringer timber has been cut and mostly scarfed into the lengths needed. There is still one scarf to do.

Since the hull build will take up a lot of space I decided to build the coaming first as it can be stored easily enough while the rest comes together. It was laminated around a melamine faced MDF form. The timber is mainly from recycled timber blinds – probably basswood – but the lip is western red cedar. It will be coated in epoxy as both the timber types are very soft. First coat is on so the coaming is practically done.

Hhhmmmm…. think I need some more clamps.

Guide for drilling the sewing holes. These are needed to sew the coaming to the skin.

First layer of epoxy is on so the coaming is just about done.

Further posts may be infrequent as I am bloody slow compared to most people.

Read the thread on AKFF

A slightly grey start to the day

But it cleared up nicely by the time we made land-fall

It’s nice to have a view like this on your doorstep

What a great parking-spot

Time for some fried dead pig

Kenza returns from an afternoon session in the channel

Spectacular sunset under an angry-looking sky

What better way to keep the sandflies at bay?

Sunrise and glassy conditions

Egg muffins for brekkie (we scoffed all the bacon the previous day)

Heave-ho and off we go

With the wind and tide conspiring against us, this was the only option for the return trip

Read the thread on AKFF

Got back and caught up on some Z’s body clocks still a bit out but its all good. Texas USA geez where so I start, since I started kayak fishing many years ago now it has taken me to so many different places that I would have never gone before and man what a blast.
First a huge thanks to all the Texan’s we meet while we were over there an extremely hospitable group of people, if anyone thinks the Australians are the friendliest people in the world I reckon the Texans go close to taking that mantle off us.

Also a huge thanks to my sponsors Austackle who helped out with a lot of great gear to take with me, but we will get on to techniques and stuff in a minute.
Firstly but who can go to the USA without visiting one of the gigantic mega fishing hunting stores they have, there wasn’t a bass pro anywhere near us but the Bupa Cabelas was about a 40 min drive. This place was awesome I would say a Bunning’s sized big boys toys shop but in truth it was four to five times the sizes of anything we have in Australia and this was just one store. A must see for anyone going over.

Now we flew in a day or so early to get over the jet lag so at this point were for the most part the only competitors there, along with Adrian Baguely from Thailand.
I simply couldn’t get a picture that took in the whole store some of the guys had panorama cameras and will have some awesome shots but to start off they have huge displays of stuffed animals in recreated natural environments where you would find them. So the centre of the store is a mountain covered with goats and foxes and of course a trout stream filled with live trout and a huge Moose standing in the water. and of course an aquarium filled with many different types of catfish and huge bass.

then to the toys, now think of everything you ever wanted to look at in a outdoor store and then combine that with the matrix gun rack scene, didn’t matter what fishing rods, compound bows, shotguns, rifles, air rifles, hunting cloths, ATV, camping gear just masses and masses of it.

and of course the food after filling our trolleys with senko worms, frogs, sliding weights, worms hooks, umbrella rigs, casting reels, flukes in tonnes of different shapes sizes and colours. We headed next door to a place recommended by Jackie Smith called cracker barrel and this was to be our second experience of Texan food. It served home cooked style meals but the servings for $12 my plate was overflowing with Meat and then you had a choice of sides on top of that, so far even the mundane was blowing us away.

Another massive dinner that night and a few drinks at the plethora of local restaurants and Scott Baker had organised us a local fishing guide and his mates to take us out on another local lake, lake Travis part of the Colorado river for our first taste of Large mouth Bass fishing. The local legal length is 14″ or in metric 35.56 cm now one of the best things about these bass is the fact they love surface fishing and not just in the morning which was difficult to come to terms with but they loved hitting surface all day long  AWESOME lol

We rounded what afterwoods we believed to be the guides favourite spot on this lake as his demeanor suggested he was going to show us a thing or two here and hook up first cast on a surface chatter bait / propeller style lure and much to his surprise didn’t LOL now don’t get me wrong here he was and absolute top bloke who shared everything he new about bass fishing with us that day, including giving us some of his favourite SP’s for the different lakes over the next couple of days and again that Texan hospitality shone through.
So we continued to work the bank round the corner and I was throwing an Austackle Skippy walk the dog surface lure in black chevron at some floating pontoons and got smashed with an almighty explosion of water. If this was a bream it was going to be a metre long with the amount of water that went flying but these fish love the surface and put everything into a strike  and I mean everything, one super huge hit was all you got but they rarely missed. It was not the usual surface blooping we do here and wait for the several strikes, it was just BOOOM game on.
Now with all this hype you would thing I had a huge fish but I pulled a just legal (about 37cm) fish into the boat LOL but I was stoked to get my first bass and even more stoked I got him on the surface.

So onto Part 2 and the actual comp days

Cheers Hedgy

Read the thread on AKFF

The Practice Day for the Hobie Kayak Fishing World Championships took place on Lake Bastrop in Texas. My experience of fishing for Largemouth Bass is extremely limited to say the least!. I threw a few lures for a couple of hours whilst in Florida in the summer and managed to pull out a couple of fish. Though the fact of the matter is that I’m pretty clueless!.

I’d purchased some suitable spinning gear in the form of a pair of Daiwa Whisker spinning rods and a pair of Daiwa Exceler X spinning reels. I loaded them up with 30lb braid and a 20lb fluorocarbon leader.

Lures?, well after much research I narrowed down my choice to the following:

Soft baits (Horny Toads, Ribbit Frogs, Flukes & Senko worms)
Top water lures (Zara Spook & Lucky Craft Sammy)
Crank baits (lipped and lipless varieties)
Assorted spinner baits, jigs and buzz baits
A selection of the above was purchased at Bass Pro along with a few other bits & pieces.

Virtually all of the above lures were totally unknown to me, sure I’d seen the odd photo on the internet over the years, though when it came to how and when to use them I was again totally clueless!. I spent many hours researching various techniques on the internet and felt I was sufficiently prepared as not to make a complete fool of myself.

I also picked up a Daiwa Magforce bait caster and reel combo which I loaded up with 50lb braid for heavier applications. Many thanks to Daiwa UK for sponsoring the GB team for the World Championships, it was hugely appreciated!

So the first venue was Lake Bastrop in Texas. The game plan was to fish ‘top water’ for the first couple of hours, switching over to crank baits, other sub-surface lures and soft baits as the day progressed.

Once we’d finished rigging up the Hobie Pro Angler 12 kayaks we made our way down to the waters edge ready to launch. With 42 competitors it was a little congested on the slipway, though we were soon all afloat and awaiting the official start time of 0700.

Below are the two other members of Team GB, Dave Morris and Ian Harris.

The Hobie official counted down the last few seconds and at 7am forty two Hobie Pro Angler 12 set forth into the morning mists, it was an awesome sight!. Below is a few of the kayaks that headed off to one side of the Lake, with me giving chase.

The fishing varied tremendously, whether it be casting into reed beds, tree stumps, weed beds, lily pads, grass beds, heavily wooded shorelines or just open water. Casting was at times tricky and accuracy is generally the key, something I’m not renowned for when it comes to hitting a small taget of 12-18″ diameter!.

I’ll be honest, I hardly took any photos during the practice day, I was just way too busy trying to get to grips with the fishing. To say I found it very hard work would probably be fair!. I had new gear to get a feel for, new techniques to try, a new venue to get to grips with, etc, etc.

To cut a long story short I failed to catch a thing during the six hour practice day, though I did have a few hits at the lures which was slightly encouraging. I’d got a good feel for the tackle and was getting to grips with some of the techniques, I’ll cover these in more detail in a later article. On a positive note, I could only improve!. The next day would see the Championships officially begin, the first of three days which would take place on Lake Bastrop. There’s no prize money involved, it’s purely about the fishing and trying to gain the prestigious title of World Champion!… no pressure then.

Hobie World Championships Day 1

Well what an exceptionally difficult day on the water, for me at least. I still wasn’t feeling to comfortable with the venue and the various techniques though I did manage a small fish of 13.5”, unfortunately it was 0.5” short of the ‘slot’… it didn’t qualify. That fish was taken on a Horny Toad fished top water can’t remember the last time I’ve had a knot fail due to a weakness, yup, I was a little disappointed!

No photos were taken, I fished non-stop from start to finish though despite my best efforts I was one of several who failed to submit a catch report. The other two members of Team GB both managed to submit results with Ian Harris managing two fish and Dave Morris catching one qualifier. The limit is three fish, it’s a case of submitting your best three lengths (above 14″) and totalling them up. Photographic evidence is also to be submitted.

Lake Fayette – Hobie World Championships Day 2

Well after the first day of submitting an empty score sheet, there was clearly some room for improvement!. The biggest issue was learning and understanding the techniques required to catch these elusive Largemouth Bass. The previous evening had seen me asking questions and gleaning whatever pieces of useful information from various competitors, specifically those folk who were either experienced or had enjoyed some success.

One of the American chaps I ended up chatting to explained to me the art of Flipping. Now as much as accuracy was clearly required it, on paper at least, sounded doable. I decided to have a go with this method the following morning. It was a late night and an early start, getting up around 4am after not much than 3 hours sleep, not ideal!. After a quick breakfast we were back on the road heading towards Lake Fayette. Once on scene we set about rigging up, eagerly anticipating the day ahead.

I’d no previous tournament experiences, etc, in countries like the USA and Australia the kayak tournament scene is well established, in the UK this is not the case. Checking in on a morning, being tagged out, getting you photograph authentication card updated to reflect the current day, etc was all kind of alien to me. I’d lost my check in tag the day before which didn’t impress the officials too much, yup I needed to get my head around the procedures and routines, it wasn’t just about the fishing!.

I was soon rigged up, rods rigged for top water, flipping and crank baits. The fish finder batteries had been replaced with a fresh set and my packed lunch collected, I was good to go!. The official launch was at 0730, though prior to that just about everyone stood for the National Anthem.

With the National Anthem completed the countdown for the launch started and a minute or two later we were off!. It is a cracking spectacle, laughs and cheers, dozens of kayaks powering out into the lake, what a great atmosphere.

So the game plan was to start the day with some Flipping. Armed with my bait caster setup and a lightly weighted soft plastic animal imitation I attempted a few ‘flips’. What a disaster, birds nests, one after the other. I ended up snagging my lure and losing the lure and leader. It really had been a dumb idea, trying something completely new and unknown during a competition day. It’s the sort of thing that needs research and practice to gain some proficiency first, what had I been thinking of?!!.

Needless to say I was rather frustrated and angry and stowed the bait caster and peddled away into a new location. I executed a tight turn and immediately managed to get well and truly stuck in some dense submerged weed, the Mirage Drive was clogged up and not working. I yanked the drive out and grabbed the paddle, pushing myself out of the weed bed. In the thirty minutes I’d been afloat all I’d managed to achieve was several birds nests, a lost lure and getting myself stuck in a weed bed… no further comment.

My original game plan, prior to the inclusion of Flipping, had been to concentrate on fishing Senko worms along the bottom, fished Texas style. Basically this requires a light weight to be threaded onto the line directly ahead of the soft bait .

The above photo shows the hook point protruding, though it’s generally not pushed all the way through in order to allow it to be fished ‘weedless’. I’d just caught a fish on the above setup and grabbed a quick photo before preparing it to be cast out again. The weight can be varied as required, whether it be to increase casting distance, keeping it on the bottom on a faster drift, etc.

I set off around the headland and found myself a clean area with some minor structure and began to drift it repeatedly. I was soon into my first fish of the day and they just kept on coming!. Moral was back on a high and more importantly I was catching fish over the required 14” limit, there’d be no ‘NIL’ returns today!

Within a couple of hours I’d caught several fish, more importantly I’d achieved my limit of three fish larger than 14” in size. The pressure was off, I was now able to concentrate on looking for some larger fish to increased my total overall length for the day. I continued to fish the mark for a little longer though the majority of the fish were averaging 13-14” and I was wanting fish of 17-18”, perhaps even bigger!. With that in mind I headed off to drift around some sunken trees in the hope of finding a better stamp of fish.

Fishing around the heavy structure wasn’t producing any fish for me so I chose to head off to another area of open water. I located a drift of around 200m in length which saw the water level change from 18’ to 5’. There floor was littered with some light structure, it looked fishy so I decided to concentrate my efforts here for the next couple of hours. As it turned out I spent the remainder of the day there!

There were plenty of fish to be had and the takes were at times quite aggressive. I was being hit by fish on almost every drift and was hooking into a high percentage of them. That said, the Largemouth Bass is a particularly lively fish once hooked they loves to get airborne. They’re rather good at throwing the hook and I was losing up to half the fish I was hooking up with. Both frustrating and amusing at the same time!

I later found myself hooked up with something that was clearly a good fish. Unlike everything else that day it went deep and stayed deep. It was constantly pulling hard, the rod bent double at times as it resisted my attempt to bring it to the surface. I was quietly praying that I wouldn’t lose this fish and when it came into view my heart was definitely racing, it was a cracker of a fish!. I patiently played the fish, not hurrying it to the kayak, though it eventually tired and I scooped it from the water with my net. Once safely aboard my priority was to measure and photograph the fish, the hook remained in until I had secured the required proof. As it turned out the fish was lightly hook in the lip and could have easily been lost, just not today!. It measured in at 21.25”

I continued to fish until I was forced to head back in order to ensure I was checked in on time. For every minute past the check in time, you lose 1/2” of your overall length should you have failed to check in on time.

At least I’d been more organised and having gained a grasp of the tournament rules, I was even able to return my check-in token!. It’d been a great day on the water, I’d landed over twenty fish, lost a dozen which had included some good sized fish. What a contrast to the previous day. Having changed tactics from trying a bit of everything to finding a technique that was working and sticking to it for the duration worked wonders.

On Day 1 I was joined by several others in last place, my Day 2 placing was 4th place with a total of 53.75”, pushing my overall placing to somewhere mid-table. If I was able to produce another good performance on the last day I’d have a good chance of being placed in the top half. Winning was not a real possibility, I’d blown any hope of that on Day 1. However, the chance of finishing somewhere respectable was still achievable, it was still all to play for.

Lake Fayette – Hobie World Championships (Final Day)

Thursday the 8th November was the third and final day of the Hobie World Championships. The first day had seen me placed joint last with no fish above 14” submitted, the second day had seen my take 4th place, what would the third day hold in store for me and the GB Team?? (David Morris and Ian Harris). I really needed to secure my limit and hopefully that’d include some decent fish above 17”, that’d give me a decent chance of finishing in the top half of the table.

It was another early start, up a silly o’clock, rigging the kayaks at around 0630 with the official launch time at 0730. I’d decided on a simple game plan, I was going to fish a Senko worm rigged Texas style over two particular areas of the lake, specifically the areas that had produced for me during the previous day. I was checked in early and sat afloat for twenty minutes or so whilst the remainder of the anglers completed rigging, check-in, etc.

The morning was cooler than previous days and a light mist was hanging over most of the lake. It was particularly picturesque and I was keen to get out there and get fishing. Confidence was high, it’s amazing what catching fish does for your confidence!

At 0730 the starting horn blew and over forty Hobie Pro Angler 12 kayaks powered off into the mist. I hung back and let the crowd disappear, my chosen grounds were close by and I was more than happy for folk to push out into the lake before I commenced fishing.

There wasn’t much of a breeze and the drift was considerably slower than I’d have liked. Despite a few drifts, the first half hour proved rather fruitless, however, I’d experienced a couple of gentle hits to the lure, so I chose to persevere at this spot for a couple of hours at least.

As it happened I didn’t have to wait too much longer for my first hook-up of the day. It was particularly lively and felt like a rather chunky fish. I wasn’t disappointed when the fish came alongside!. I soon had it safely netted and aboard the kayak. The measuring stick was bought swiftly into action and the camera recorded the size.. 18½”, great start!

It wasn’t even 0800 and my first fish of the day was safely aboard, measured, photographed and returned. The initial pressure of catching a fish was off and my next aim was to secure my three fish limit. As I peddled off to start my drift again I heard a slightly odd noise behind my seat. I spun around to see my landing net a couple of metres behind the kayak, sinking net first with the handle up in the air at forty five degrees. It was a sad sight that lasted a couple more seconds before it disappeared from view. From now on I’d need to take extra care with any fish. I had some lip grips to hand so all was not lost (and they were leashed to the kayak!)It was approximately twenty minutes later when my worm was hit hard and I was soon lifting my second fish of the day onto the kayak.

It measured in at 16¼” which was respectable, one more fish and I’d have my limit!. I only had to wait ten more minutes for that third fish, it was no monster at 15½”, but it was the all important third fish. It was photographed and returned at 0829, it’d taken fifty nine minutes to secure my limit, the pressure was really off and could concentrate on trying to catch some larger fish.

The fish continued to come to the kayak, though they were all measuring in around 14” and as the wind continued to increase the fishing action dried up.

Below is a photo of David Morris of Team GB adjusting his tackle, note the angler fishing up close and personal with a reed bed in the background!

There was soon a light chop on the water with a scattering of white horses making an appearance. The Pro Angler 12 handled the chop far better than I expected. Sure, it’s a big kayak and you sit high up, initially it felt a little uncomfortable, though I soon adjusted to the handling of the PA12 and continued to enjoy the fishing despite the deteriorating weather.

By midday I’d effectively stopped catching fish. I moved around the local area and tried a few more drifts, this resulted in a couple of under-sized fish, though that was about it. The wind continued to pick up and at one stage was blowing a steady 15-20mph. I powered the PA12 through the chop, the result being spray flying above my head and into my face as I crashed through the bigger waves, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself.

As the finish time loomed I decided to call it quits a tad early and headed in. I drift fished as much as possible all the way into the launch zone, pulling and stowing my gear a hundred metres before I hit shore. Once checked in it was a case of submitting my catch return for the day along with supporting photographs prior to de-rigging whilst enjoying an ice cold Coke!.

Team GB faired fairly well overall, all thing considered. The Largemouth Bass were a new species for us (ok, I managed a brief session for a day in August), the techniques and end tackle were all new. The first day had been a steep learning curve for us all, though we put up a very respectable performance of the following two days.

The Team GB results were as follows:

Day 1:

22nd place: Ian Harris (GB) 2 fish for 37”

32nd place: David Morris (GB) 1 fish for 15.5”

Joint 34th place: Rob Appleby (GB) Nil return

Day 2:

4th place: Rob Appleby (GB) 3 fish for 53.75”

23rd place: David Morris (GB) 3 fish for 44.5”

Joint 24th place: Ian Harris (GB) Nil return

Day 3:

15th place: Rob Appleby (GB) 3 fish for 50.25”

19th place: Ian Harris (GB) 3 fish for 49.5”

33rd place: David Morris (GB) 2 fish for 33.5”

Final results:

27th place: Rob Appleby (GB) cumulative length 104”

31st place: David Morris (GB) cumulative length 93.5”

32nd place: Ian Harris (GB) cumulative length 86.5”

Considering the calibre of anglers present, allied with Team GB’s lack of experience with the species, methods and locality, I think it’s fair to say that we put in a very respectable performance!.

I’d like to convey a huge gratitude of thanks to the Hobie Cat Centre, Daiwa UK, Veals Tackle and Overboard for supporting Team GB for this event.

The Pro Angler 12 proved itself to be a very capable kayak and continually surprised me with an impressive turn of speed for a kayak of this size. It’s extremely stable and a fantastic platform to fish off. I think what surprised me most was how it handled itself in choppy water, it exceeded my expectation in most areas.

Read the thread on AKFF

Did I mention it was cold? At one stage Simmo got his line caught in his rudder. I freed it for him, dunking my hand and forearm into the chill water. My hands were already so bloody cold that the water felt warm! After maybe 20 minutes without a touch I considered a lure change, but realised I couldn’t feel my fingers. Chances of tying a decent knot were slim, so I headed back to the ramp with the same unproductive lures I’d been towing.

Loading the ‘yak was a challenge in itself. The usually simple to use cambuckles prooved almost impossible with my numb hands. With some help from Doc and quiet cursing the kayak was finally secured and I drove the few hundred meters back to camp. More coffee! Legs got up (he’d worked night shift and come straight up after work Friday morning) and then Blackbeard arrived and set up. By now it was about time for dinner and beers.

Dinners were cooked, beers were drunk, coffees were made, fires were stoked (apart from the campsite firepits, Legs had his great portable woodheater). During the evening I found out that my boots were no longer waterproof. Bugger, I didn’t have a spare pair. By now my hands were warm, but my feet were wet and cold.

Saturday greeted us with a stiffish southerly breeze and some good gusts. At least it was mostly sunny! Hooray! After some discussion and big breakfasts a plan was hatched. We’d leave a vehicle @ Jonah’s Bay ramp and let the wind blow us towards that end of the lake. We launched. We hadn’t gone all that far when I was onto my first fish for the trip. A nice brownie came aboard and posed for some pics before being dispatched to my fish bag. Excellent. Wife loves trout, and I was under instructions not to come home empty handed.

After paddling/pedalling/drifting across another bay we entered a shallow stretch where we were sheltered from the wind by an island. The water here was too shallow for either of my lures, so I tied on a 10cm jointed minnow in a trout pattern that only dives a couple of feet. I didn’t really expect to get anything on it, but figured that anything that did eat it would be a good size. Soon after felt a need to answer the call of nature and pulled into the shallows near the island.

I hopped out of the ‘yak in knee deep water between shallower rocks, and there was a large trout holding station on “his” rock only 2-3 meters away from me! There wasn’t much water in front of him to cast to, or I’d be in a bush. The cobra wobbler would run too deep. I grabbed the rod with the 10cm minnow and flipped it into the water in front of him. He didn’t flinch! I retrieved just fast enough to make the lure swim and as soon he saw it he arced up and turned to chase it. Giving the lure a twitch was all it took and he smashed it no more than 2 meters from my feet! The next 2-3 seconds were the most exciting trout fishing I’ve ever done, until he threw the hook and swam free. Now I understand what the big deal is with fly fishing and surface lures!

We continued on our way. I was feeling confident now, and I’d hooked fish today on both the lures I was using. We negotiated some more drowned timber and turned around the next point. Now Legs was onto a fish, a pretty decent sized one at that. Another one to the cobra. Legs said he’d decided to change lure and had been winding in pretty fast when the fish hit it. A few minutes later I thought I’d imitate the technique, and had a good fish follow and make a few 1/2 hearted hits, but didn’t hook up.

Approaching Jonah Bay the rod with the cobra went off again, and I caught a fish only about 50m from the shore and 100m or so from the ramp! We pulled up and shared snacks of rice crackers, lollies and fruitcake before deciding to fish this area a bit longer. I’m glad we did. Simmo caught more fish, Doc got a little one, and I landed another 4, including a double hookup.

Back @ the ramp I was wrapped. 5 trout in one day! I’ve had seasons when I didn’t catch that many! I cleaned my fish and watched the ‘yaks while the others went and got their vehicles. We returned to camp where Simmo had made everyone coffees, then we repeated the beer, dinner, and fires / woodheater, but thankfully without the rain.

It was a chilly night. The tent was cold, but the sleeping bag was warm. By about 6:45 my bladder was demanding I get up. It was too chilly to go outside without dressing, so I got up and dressed, and relieved, before making and drinking a couple of coffees and a couple of bacon and egg sandwiches. The rest of the fellas were still sleeping. I was about to sneak off on my own when Blackbeard arose, and shortly after the rest of the group. Having already completed my morning routine, and as the tents were still too wet (frost!) to pack I was keen for a fish. I thought the others would be too, so I headed off telling them I’d hang around near the ramp until they arrived.

Only Doc came out, I wasn’t phased, as I’d already caught 4 fish by then! All within a few 100m of the ramp, pretty much straight in front of our campsite! 2 nice pan sized ones and 2 little ones that went back to grow bigger. After a couple more circuits, and a couple more fish, I was tired of the same view so we headed over to the southern shore. Nothing on the way over, but trolling along the weedbank Doc got his PB brownie! A few minutes later and I had another fish on board as well. We trolled up to and into some more drowned timber before turning and going back along the edge of the weedbeds. Doc pulled ashore (to clean his fish?) and I called out that I was going to fish my way back to the ramp.

Heading back to the ramp I landed a few more fish. I couldn’t believe the number of trout I’d caught in a few hours! I continued up past the ramp to the area I’d been fishing initially, and landed 2 more. 12 for the morning! Phark! 5 were kept, 7 released, including a couple of good sized ones, as 10 fish kept for the table was plenty.

Pics:

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Squidette and I got down after lunch on Friday, quickly set up, and hotfooted it down to Ado’s pondage where he, Premium, Rstanek and BigGee were chasing blue lipped monsters. Ado had landed ‘just a baby’ (his words) bream at a measly 42cm, plus a nice flatty, and the rest of us struggled. I should say it was very windy, and apparently Ado had only released one of his pet bream that morning. Pulled the pin at about 5.30 and headed back to camp for a delicious feed of spag bol (freshly made from scratch no less) prepared by Fishwhisperer. When you go camping with Luke you want for nothing, and this trip was no exception. Dinner was followed by beers and discussions about where to fish the next morning – the consensus was on Mummaga and we had quite a few kayaks on the water bright and early Saturday morning.

The day started of fairly calmly but the wind got up at about 9 and made it a bit tough, I had a pretty ordinary day fish wise (some midget flatties and tailor), but highlight of the session was watching Luke do battle with an enormous red octopus which he initially thought was a snag, then a huge flathead, until it came into view. It was really big (head about basketball sized). Most of the other guys nabbed a few legal flatties. Ado was wearing his trademark hat all day, which combined with his Movember monstrosity to give him a very gaucho look for the weekend.

Paff, Rowan, Geoff and I walked down and fished the entrance to Mummaga late Saturday afternoon and managed a few whiting and flatties on surface lures (or fly for Rowan – his skill and persistence with the wand was an inspiration all weekend).

Sunday morning saw the keenest among us launching at Wagonga Inlet – I’d heard a lot about this waterway but nothing prepared me for the blueness and clarity of the water- a very unique and special waterway, but also quite a tough fishery for most of us! Vast flats stretched out before us, I’ve never seen bigger flats, but the fish were hard to tempt and lots of ground was covered by everyone. I managed 7 bream and a few little flatties, plus a ripper 36cm whiting that was extra plump, all on surface and very shallow presentations. Have some footage of one of my bream that I’ll edit and post up later. Spent an hour squidding for no luck (apparently there are some great squid inside the inlet).

It was a really tremendous weekend, thanks everyone for making the effort to get down for the gathering, there were many great memories for Squidette and I to reflect on during the drive home. Two other highlights for me were getting to ride Ado’s young son’s bike again (even after he told me last time was THE LAST TIME), and coming across a childhood favourite toy at the local IGA, the dreaded woopie cushion, it gave a few laughs to the children present and almost certainly ensured that I won’t be invited to the next deliverance at Dalmeny gathering.

I’ll let the others tell their stories. 

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Launched at Scarborough again today, time 0445… about an hour after low tide ie making tide (this could be good)… moon full or one day after (even better, methinks)… sun about to come up(ooooohh!)… moon about to set and wrassemagnet’s sweet-spot in a few hours… could this be a day to remember??

You betcha, Baby! Definitely I will remember this day!

I trolled East for a while, then headed North, picked up a just-legal snapper on the way, kept going, then turned around and trolled past the point where I got the snapper again, and got hammered by something large that gave me a short lesson on ‘how not to land fish’… bricked me in amongst some rough reefy stuff, leaving me with a slack main-line and the need to completely re-rig, with another Koolie as well… bugger!

I did that run a few times, (coming across John, {nanga 59} had a quick chat), then headed off for a Jewie run that took me to the other side of the Beacon reef and back then attempted a drift. However, the drift was negligible due to tide and very light breeze working against each other and holding me on the same spot, and then John turned up beside me (them Hobie pedal kayaks are so quiet, he startled me when he spoke… didn’t have a clue he was there). Turtles were every-where, and quite a few jelly-fish as well.

We both fished, and pretty soon I was into something big on the overhead outfit… I couldn’t sight it, but in my heart, I knew it was a bloody great turtle… I expressed my disdain in no uncertain terms (they’re OK, but when I hook them, they shit me) and had to lift my other rod out of the way… but it was cleared, so that was OK, but I couldn’t take the time to wind it in… bad blue!

I really worked hard to make some impression on the big sod, but it took me off to the South West, zipping line off the solid drag… then the other line registered a snag… bugger!

Then it cleared… good! But not for long, snagged again! Bloody hell, I’m busy enough with this mongrel turtle!

Then the snagged one began taking line, much more than if only snagged! Hell! I might have a decent fish on!

That thought didn’t last long… another turtle came to the surface, and it had my second line attached! Bugger! Bugger!

What to do??? Both of them taking line, then both stopping, the only saving grace was that they were going in opposite directions… the lines wouldn’t tangle like that. This went on for some time, with me working mainly on the first one, and occasionally giving the other one a thump, but that only stirred it up and off it would go again!

I was busier than the proverbial one armed paper-hanger with the crabs! 

Around then, John stopped pissing himself laughing and offered to take a rod off me, so I could work on just one… Good move, John, so we worked our ways towards each other till we were side by side, and I gratefully handed my thread-line outfit over to him, then went to work on the first one.

Both turtles were way too big to even attempt to de-hook them, so it was a matter of getting them up close enough to cut the line as close to the big beasts as possible. For those who have never hooked turtles, they really don’t like being close to kayaks, and every time you get them close, they take off again… and again… and again… and if you do ever get close enough, they want to bite you with that bloody great beak! I finally sliced the line to the first one, just short of the leader, (wouldn’t let me any closer than that) then moseyed over to John and he handed the second one back… just then, Gary (sweed) came into view, joining into the mirth emanating from John…  

After another to and fro battle, I finally got shut of the second one, then realised that I of course had two complete re-rigs to perform. John then decided that he would leave Turtle Haven, and headed off towards Moreton/Stradbroke to find some finny-fish instead of big round ones with flippers, big heads and nasty beaks.

The second outfit finished up with only a very short leader, as I ran out of leader material… Damn!

Gary and I drifted the area which, after a while, finally succumbed to a nice quiet Easterly breeze, giving a reasonable drift. I had the good fortune to register bag-out on snapper, but not so for my two fishing companions/opponents/enemies… John arrived back, fishless from his faraway foray, and had to leave as commitments allowed him no more time on the water. Just before he left, I hooked something very large, but after it gave me quite a torrid time, somehow we parted company… I still had my Zman lure, which I was quite happy about… that would have made 4 lures I was down if that had been taken.

Gary also attempted to leave, but I persuaded him to tarry for one last drift, and he registered his first bite of the morning, but what he thought was a small snapper, turned out to be something reasonably worthwhile, however… it snipped his line after tearing off when sighting his yak… we came to the conclusion that it probably was a mackerel of sorts.

This convinced him that a couple more drifts could be worthwhile, but nothing eventuated, so we both left, heading for home. I trolled past the spot where I got smashed in the early morning, but nothing doing there.

Have I created some questionable kind of a standard? Double hook-up on turtles?

Tight lines all, but not on turtles! 

Jimbo

ATTACHMENTS

Just about to empty bladder, and off goes the line!

Skirt open… caught short again!

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First livie over the side had my anticipation levels high even though not alot of promise was showing on my sounder. I slowly worked along the drop and eventually little Yakka got nervous and my rod loaded , unfortunately not setting the hook and it was rejected, little Yakka was a bit worse for wear but I figured something still may want to eat him so he went back in for a swim be it half floating swim, turned out a healthy Red Tail Kingfish { Sgt Baker  } wanted it for breakfast, bugger !

Yakka 2 was sent in , being a larger model, I again had high hopes. At this stage I noticed Poppy’d was onto a solid fish in deeper water , he was getting strecthed before he pulled the hook, poor bugger was gutted .

I made my way further east working my second rod with a plastic when I noticed the livie rod loading, this is where it got interesting. By the time I composed myself and reached for the rod, this missle launched in front of me clean out of the water, pirouetting sywards…  SHIT IT’S A MAKO approxamite size was around 4ft mark, I didn’t realize at that stage it was hooked to my line until the braid shot off in the direction of the shark…Oh SHIT!! was the thought pattern. It again launched skywards, it was an impressive sight to see for all that were there watching, Unfortunately it never lept out agian as it would have been an awesome photo .A Few shorts seconds of chaos followed when my rod leash got tangled , got that sorted , then the thoughts of what I’m going to do with a Mako Shark if I get it yak side started  ,I did eventually manage to get the shark within 10ft of the Kayak before it bit through the line and dissapeared. Probably a god send with Mako’s being so unpredictable , still I would have loved a photo for the wall 

The rest of the day saw a group of us having fun with a few Rats, there were also reports of a few keepers that got away yak side.

Hopefully , someone may have been quick enough to get some footage of the Mako and post it , fingers crossed 

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A leisurely start to the day… for some…

Shane battling one of the local thumpers…

… he also attracted a few of these…

A much-needed rest-stop…

Now this is what I call a camp-site…

Sunset over the Prom…

Obligatory campfire shot…

A foggy sunrise…

No fish-scraps for you, unfortunately…

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We proceeded across the strawberry patch, casting at the gaps in the weeds as is usually the custom at Lake Mac. Another usual occurrence is having my first strike within 15 minutes of launching. The “little” bugger gave me some curry, diving into the weeds and trying to bury himself in the bottom. I had to apply some pressure to get him up (which can often result in pulling the hooks), but he cooperated enough to get him into the net.

He was a whopper. Easily the biggest bass I have ever caught. I estimate he was close to 50cm and FAT. Now when I say “estimate”, there’s a reason for that…when attempting to remove the hooks he decided my breath was too bad and bailed over the side of the yak. If Mangrove-Mac hadn’t been there to temper my fury I suspect I would have sterilised a vast portion of the surrounding landscape with my bad language. It was a heartbreaker, but hey, that’s fishing.

After composing myself, we continued our journey. Not far from the last strike, I was fortunate to have another. This fish was undersized, and went back (by choice) to fight another day.

We headed around the bend and up towards mango tree. I had a strike or two during the journey, but no takers. Mangrove-Mac was testing out some different lures, but had so far been without a hit. As we proceeded past mango tree, I had another strike. This fish was a decent size, and it refused to come in without half the weeds of the lake tangled around his body.

He was about 36cm, and went into the hold for consumption.

This was a breaking point for me. Three fish landed was my usual result for a day at Lake Mac, could I do better today?

We moved into Toga Bay. I had just finished telling Mangrove-Mac about the reasonably good results from around that particular area when my line had a strike. It felt at first like I had snagged some weed, but an exploratory tug on the line resulted in the line tugging back. I started to reel it in, and the line went slack. Scratching my head, I continued to reel the line in…and then the fish jumped! The bass of Lake Mac don’t usually leave the water, so this was something new I had not caught here yet. I didn’t get a good look at it when it jumped, but I had my suspicions. The fish ran around a lot more than the bass tend to do, and he didn’t dive to the bottom like the bass do either. Bringing him to the yak I had my suspicions confirmed. I had landed my first saratoga ever!

Mangrove-Mac came over to assist in removing the hook from the net. The toga had spat it in his frenzy, and it took a while to subdue him. Apparently toga like to try and jump out of nets!

The toga was just legal (minimum size is 50cm), but I hear they’re not worth eating anyway. Up close they are a nice looking fish. The photos don’t do the red spots much justice.

After that excitement the rest of the day was a little slow. We headed up to the palm farm area and continued to cast around. I had a couple of takers that spat the hooks before getting to the yak, and we were rained on a couple of times. Unfortunately Mangrove-Mac posted a doughnut for the day, but he did say he was off to the nearest tackle shop for a baby vibe lure (which I had used all day).

After we landed I cleaned my keeper bass and found something in its gullet that I found interesting.

We suspect this is a bass fingerling, but maybe someone else can confirm who has better knowledge than us. It’s not hard to see why the baby vibe is so attractive to the bass.

All in all a fantastic day out. I hope to see more of the saratoga. I can see now why they are a prized sports fish.

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As per usual i fought the need to go to bed at a reasonable time, and made it to the launch site just shy of the sunrise which was hidden by stormy clouds and narrowly missed several showers of rain so i didn’t feel too bad, but once getting onto the glassy water i yawned, kicked myself for not arriving earlier, and paddled on out of the launch site and towards Quarantine to round out the heads. Thankfully I hadn’t seen or read any reports of Great White Sharks before heading out so my mind was at ease despite the clouded conditions (cheers Dru). One thing to note… it might be warming up outside, but the water in Sydney is still damn cold. An uneducated guess would put it somewhere around the 18 degree mark.

Plan was to scoot outside and suss out the conditions.. the BOM was reporting dangerous surf conditions so i had a back-up plan, but I missed the smell of salt and the (relative) solitude the cliffs of North Head offer in contrast to the harbour. Met a lovely bloke on the way between Quarantine and Old Man’s Hat towing a livey behind an Ocean Kayak, chatted briefly, mused over the numerous bait and what i now believe to be Salmon schools about, and announced my plans to head on to Bluefish Point to try and find some snapper after the recent storms. Not sure if you’re reading, but i hope you found your Kingy (or Jew bycatch). Managed to snag a rocky outcrop with a CD7 which was just plain stupid and resulted in a lure loss… that’s two of those to the same 2m bump in 6-8m of water and a mental note i should probably do a bit more snorkeling this summer.

As i rounded North head.. i hooked up. Nice little tussle and a 55-60cm Salmon came on board. Good little fight on 10lb gear but i had three monthly submissions this year already and i’d be lying if my mind wasn’t on some decent points to help get back up in the comp to a podium position. Off he went without a measure or a pic and on i went. 20m on, and i was hooked up again… no.. wait…. double hook up. One on an X-Rap, the other a Waxwing. I fought the X-Rap and left the other fish to do pretty much whatever he wanted… Got him near the yak for another positive ID as he jumped, then he dove some more and gave me a fair bit of curry as he headed for the bottom and circled beneath the yak. By the time i landed him, i was shattered, he went close to 60cm, the other one was dropped, and the Boab hire boat cruising past hooked up also to the cheers of the boys on board. Over he went (the fish, not the hire boat) and on i carried…

Outside, the water was no less sloppy than the journey there… Southerly swell, slight Northerly breeze, rebounding cliffs… it was uncomfortable and my bum was getting increasingly wet, but on I slugged to Bluefish with my head filled with the thoughts of a decent red (or a couple of pan-sized as a consolation prize). Well i made it after a fair hall with no other fish, no other large soundings of bait, and found a very empty, very sloppy destination. 26 seconds of hesitation and i did a complete 180 and started headed back to give plan C a crack. Saw some good washes in an area i’ve had previous success so thought i would head back and give it a crack, and so i did.

Switched from lutes to the remaining squid i had in the freezer, and started flicking strips around in the hope of that snapper or a early-season Kingy feeding in the deep water underneath some likely looking washes. Definitely no kings were taking a bite, but had some good takes and not too long after I hooked into what felt like a good fish. Saw colour and i felt heartened.. nice pan-sized snapper and not a dirty wrasse or other reef fish. Then i got him up closer to the surface and he looked distinctly silver and not the red i was expecting. A couple of nervous moments, a fumble for the net, a couple of calming mumbles, and the big feller was in the net. Knew he was a good fish, but the Yellowfin Bream went 40cm on the ugly stick, posed for a few snaps though i didn’t fart about because i wanted to get the old boy back, and took great delight as he flapped his way back into the washing machine of an ocean to be caught again another day.

A new PB for me by 2.5cm, and a quiet at times though memorable trip out that has me amped for when the fish do decide to actually turn it on this summer. If you’ve read this far, you deserve nothing less than a few pics.

Anyway, the session started well with several small fish off the surface with a fizzer. Things went quiet for a while so I started throwing deep divers, spinner baits and then settled with an ever reliable SX40. After a while, clouds started rolling in and there was a bit of thunder in the distance. Managed another 3 fish and dropped a couple more before the serious thunder, a bit of lightning and some heavy rain started. One of the fish would have been up around 40cm and put up a pretty good account. Next trip up, I’ll take a cut lunch and spend most of a day on this creek if the conditions are right.

For those interested in videos:

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I really wasn’t in the mood. The water was clear, it was shallow, the middle of the day, my mind was in the wrong place and ever since the area has been infested with grumpy (mostly) old dudes on SUPs, the fishing is a lot tougher they tell me. Actually most of the guys are old surfers keeping fit and decent blokes, I am just not a SUP fan and most the guys will tell you they do scare the fish on the flats.

Anyway, even though I planned to go surfing, I did as I was told for once and launched. The storyboard sort of went as follows:

1. Too small.
2. Too small.
3. Too small and wrong flavour (bream).
4. Yes, no, maybe – was probably size but I figure if you need to measure, its marginal and still too small.
5. Yes, damm, foul hooked, no.
6. Too small, I’m packing this in and having salad for dinner!
7. Wait, Yes, here we go…… Hang on, Nope – Too big.

So, in 12 inches of clear water, in bright sunshine and on sand, a big mumma comes out to play with an SX40. She ended up taking 4 or 5 runs and measured out at 71cm. Not the biggest I’ve caught but probably the broadest, most solid and hardest fighting. There were no grumpy old dudes on SUPs about so that must have been the kicker. A quick measure, some photos, a bit of recovery time and off she went.

The only thing more satisfying than catching one this size is watching it swim off!

This got me a bit excited so I figured I’d stay out a bit longer. That was until my first oh sh!t moment in a long time. As well as an infestation of grumpy old dudes on SUPs, this place is riddled with bloody big stingrays.

With the tide dropping, I was looking to navigate a very shallow section to save having to get out and drag the kingy. Whilst basking in a bit of self indulgent fisherman’s glory, instead of paying attention, two things caught my eye, a 4-5 foot span knucklehead and a second one of about the same size, nose to nose in 9 inches of water. I had 2 choices, try and paddle off or run over the top. Either way I expected the same result so I tucked in the arms, braced and as the hull bumped uglies with the first of these beasties I was reminded of a time I nearly went 8 seconds with a steer at a young farmers rodeo back in the days of young foolishness. I was the only clown though this time and whilst there was no brownout moment, I’m too calm (or some would say dim witted) for that, I really don’t want to do that again. Easy to see how panicked rays under threat at close quarters could do some serious damage.

To be honest, I’d had enough but since I had a channel to cross to get home, I threw on a black and gold Berkley FS9 and:

8. YES. 45cm of dinner.

Photos:

Obligatory video for anyone interested of some of the salient points (no knuckleheads or SUPs though).

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Well some of you may know how I feel. Lack of opportunity to get out, and when you do the weather is crap.

So I decided to play with video effects and rehash old footage. But beware it may not be to every ones liking. It’s fast paced and laced with dance music! It is only 2.38 mins so give it a go, you never know you may just like it!

Less than 3 hours sleep and no sea sickness tablets, means no smiles on the video.
First attempt at moving on from time lapse to a movie.

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Cheers Scotty

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