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Balmoral 17/3/07


southerly

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Launched the yak at Balmoral early, squiding slow, got one, then a guy hailed me down and asked for lift out to his boat, after dropping him off I moved to try a different area for nil squid. Landed a 31cm chopper on a metal slice and kept it to supliment the 1 squid.

Headed out to some likely morings just before 7am, dropped a squid strip down on the 7kg gear and flick a metal out to the bouy to jig. The strip goes off, pick up rod, use one hand to fight the king and the other hand to try and wind in flick stick, lure hangs up on bouy, try to bust ofk 6lb braid with one hand, give up and free spool it. Up comes the yaks first king, grab tail and pull it into the kayak. At 61cm it is just in.

A few more passes of the bouy then try some others for nothing, come back and the strip goes off again, second king is 56cm and goes back, stip goes off again on a bigger fish, by now I am really enjoying myself, get a nice bow wave going as the king drags me around Balmoral. Grab him by the tail and pop him in the boat (btw kingy tails are not as secure to hold when alive as they look!).

Back on the beach by 8am and head home, what fun. Funniest thing was seeing all the boats squidding in Balmoral racing off one by one to other places, I had the morings to myself. If only they knew the kings were under their boats.

PS: Left the camera at home today will post a piccy of yak rigged on the water next time.

Cheers,

Southerly

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I headed down with my own kayak to balmoral this morning around 10. I started by trawling a squidgie flick bait through the moorings for a nice chopper, biggest ive caught. I was stoked. The on my way back the lure got smacked by something huge, peeling off line, im sure it musta been a kingy, broke the line after only a few seconds. Awesome morning though

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nice couple of kingys there mate awsome fun fishing from a yak ah :biggrin2:

it would be a buz getting towed around from a kingy

cheers mik

Hey Reeson, come out early one morning perhaps we could have a yak convention.

Southerly

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Hi Dazza,

It is a Dagger, Drift II plastic kayak. It is a sit in kayak as opposed to a sit on as I like the enclosed elkele;';'pit for the gear (sit ons are usually very wet). It is a 2 man boat at 36kg so not light (just managable singlehanded). It has an open elkele;';'pit (one big hole for both people rather than 2 holes which makes it almost a hybrid between a yak and a cannoe). Similar boats are made by Q-craft and Perception. I got mine from Power Kayaks (?) at Narrabeen lakes but look up any Dagger dealer on the net. The Drift II has a flatter bottom than the Q-craft (Swift II) or Perception (Arcadia II) boats which makes it more stable (I can stand up in it) but also makes its bottom shape deform more rapidly over time (and therefore degrade performance) it is also more susciptible to wind. A double is a 'big' boat for single handed use and not as efficient and fast to handle as a single, I just like the space and stability (I can put toothy or spikey things forward of the front thwart to keep them away from legs etc).

A lot of fishermen use the sit-on's and some use Hobbies (check out the Hobbie if you mainly want to troll).The sit-on's have the advantage of being un-swampable where-as my boat could swamp especially in a very short chop (wakes from the big power 'yatchs' can come over the back if I take em wrong, or over the front if two adults are in the yak - not a problem if 10-20 litres come in just bail).

Like all boats when the kids deliberately try to sink it, it is remarkably hard to do but in the wrong situation it could go over in 2 seconds (ps: this applies to 6mtr off-shore craft too, except they take 30 senconds to sink).

Most kayak places on the shoreline (eg: the Spit Bridge, Balmoral, Narrabeen etc) allow you to test drive yak's, do that to find the one that suits you. Expect to pay $1,000 to $1,500 plus a bit to fit it out for fishing (some have 'fishing packages' available that may suit your needs).

PS: Always tie any gear you do not want to loose (eg rods and other expensive equipment, and don't forget the paddle) into the boat so they can be recoverd if pulled over or swamped.

PPS: The yak is remarkebly stable and rate the biggest risk in the harbor is getting run over.

Southerly

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Yeah Southerly, love to, Ive got weekends and Friday mornings, apart from that pretty busy. sounds sensational.

My kayak is a fairly cheap little sit in, one man, called a BASS. does the job though, real stable, though you wouldnt stand up in it, it gets a bit rough on the back after a hour or two but its a pretty good all round little boat.

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Yeah Southerly, love to, Ive got weekends and Friday mornings, apart from that pretty busy. sounds sensational.

My kayak is a fairly cheap little sit in, one man, called a BASS. does the job though, real stable, though you wouldnt stand up in it, it gets a bit rough on the back after a hour or two but its a pretty good all round little boat.

Hi Reeso,

My next shot is Saturday morning provided the weather is kind, it would be fun to fish together. I have a new reel I would like to christen.

I pad my bottom and back with 3cm thick rubber sheeting from Clarkes, it works for about 3 hours before I am over it. My PDF also provides some protection. I know the BASS boats they are cute and so lite and easy to handle, makes my Dagger look like a log.

Southerly

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