Finally Christened The Kayak

[Justin]

First some pics...

kayak

lures

my first bass / fish from the kayak

catch at balmoral

Hi readers, just a quick post about a few milestones ive reached over the last few days.

First up, first fish caught from my kayak was a smallish 20 something cm bass from Tallowa Dam in Kangaroo Valley on Friday arvo. It was my 2nd bass session ever and my heart skipped a beat when i had my first strike. The size of the splash was massive! I had no idea what to expect from a "surface strike". Me and the gf were the only ones there on a dead still day, water flat as a tack, 1st cast into the snags and BOOM!! snapped me clean off. I think i had my drag too loose. Tied on another lure (cicada lure in pic 2) and tightened up the drag and ended up pulling in several bass of similar size to the picture above. I dont know if it was the excitment of my first strike or if the first one i hooked up was a very big boy but the stikes made by the smaller fish were nothing in comparison. guess ill never know.

Headed out this morning to balmoral. Launched the kayak at 5.30am with the aim of spending most of my time trolling the 94mm hardbody and white dropbear plastic in the Lure pic above. Within moment of dropping them i trolled up a 49cm salmon followed shortly by a 55cm salmon both on the hardbody. So i pulled in the dropbear and continued on trolling in circles with just the one line out. Got 3 more runs (one of which was 50m or so) before spitting the lure. bummer. oh well. Just as the sun was getting too high for the salmon i hooked up what i thought was a very small salmon yet did not do any aerials for me. ended up being a PB trevally going 40cm on the dot.

These last few days i have:

a) broke my fishing dought

B ) resisted the use of bait and continued my development with lures and plastics

c) caught a salmon using 9lb mono (i have only previously caught them with 20-30lb from beaches and rocks and boy are they fun! the bigger salmon took a good 5-6minutes to pull in and i had to do some nifty backwards elbow paddling to avoid losing him around the barrel!)

Problems i encountered / questions:

a) is the drop bear not the right size for trolling / salmon as they seemed to prefer the hardbody?

B ) I ended up with some HECTICLY twisted line from troling the hardbody and dropbear. Any idea what this is from? i know i pulled in the hardbody with the line wrapped around one of the trebles and this is probably the initial cause. Though, after i fixed it, the same thing happened and im positive i flicked the lure out without getting tangled as i wound it in a bit and felt it vibrate before starting my troll.

Thanks all

hope u enjoy the pics

Edited December 21, 2009 by Pinkus

[arpie]

Well done Pinkus - congrats on your top christening of your yak!! It is well & truly blooded now!! Shame about the first bass busting you off - your line could also have been caught around the top of the rod, too. I would like to fish Tallowa one day, too.

The drop bear is a good lure for anything from flattie thru to jewie!! Sorry I can't help about the line twist - tho I probably wouldn't troll a HB & Big plastic at the same time. When you 'turn' corners, I reckon they would cross over & possibly tangle

Cheerio Roberta

[jenno64]

Congrats on a great outing! As Roberta says, trolling an HB and a SPO could get ugly. Fliscking SPs probably allows them to untangle each retieve! I might give the bait the flick after an uneventful morning.

[craigtempo]

Thats the way

and a nice yak 2 boot

c ya at balmoral

craig

[Day's Fishin]

The kayak looks good, neat and tidy and uncluttered ready for a good fight. I've had a lot of luck with the cicades in the Colo and find them one of the best lures to attract a bass's attention. As for the line twist, are you using a swivel? if so , did you check that it did swivel easily? Is the swivel the right size for the line and lure your using? The line should be approx. the same diameter as the wire used in the making of the swivel! Was there any fine weed etc in the water that may have caught the lure making its movement erratic which in turn stops the swivel working causing line twist again. Was the knot tied off properly as a tag can cause the lure to send twist up the line. There is a multitude of reasons for line twist but mostly there caused by not matching the troll speed, line size and lure.

Regards Jeff

[Justin]

Thanks for the replies all

I went out again this morning with my gf and passed her the rod when I was on. Ended up with a similar haul, all lived to fight another day. She had heaps of fun!

I dont use a swivel, i usually just tie the line straight to the lure, though will try a swivel next time. Weed is possible, although I keep an eye on my rod tip to see if its constantly vibrating. After todays disasterous tanlges i ended up scrapping my spool and starting again. Will try to do all the things you have said above to keep this spool tanlge free!

After i master the salmon i think ill be up for the king fish challenge next!

peace

Edited December 23, 2009 by mrsswordfisherman

[arpie]

Better watch out, Pinkus - this yak fishing becomes addictive!!!

Good to get the gf on side - you'll be able to go out even more, especially if she enjoys it & wants to go out too!!

I never use a swivel & most times, I don't troll as it always seems to snag or get wrapped round something as I usually forget that I have it out & go into an oyster lease or something!! Better to just use the one rod, cast & retrieve. That way, it has your full attention!

Great pics! The salmon would have been fun on light gear!!

Cheers

Roberta

[Richard Warren]

I find that if I get a lot of line twist I let the line back out with nothing attached and within 5 minutes dragging in the water the line usually untwists itself. Good luke with the new toy. It looks very nice.

Regards

Richard

[Justin]

I find that if I get a lot of line twist I let the line back out with nothing attached and within 5 minutes dragging in the water the line usually untwists itself. Good luke with the new toy. It looks very nice.

Regards

Richard

Thanks Rich

I have heard of this trick before and i tried it out on the day. Though, the line was soooo twisted it was doubling and tripling up on itself, sometimes around the rod eyelets if i left the line go slack or between the rod eyelets preventing me from casting. Never had twists like this before. I was using a "troll craft" lure and they are a cheaper variety. Maybe the slight change in speeds due to each paddle stoke is causing the lure to roll over in the water. Ill have a play around with it in shallow water next time.

My gf thinks the fish is doing death rolls below the baot to get back at us haha

[yakfishing]

Nice work mate!

Your lure may need to be tuned, I have a trollcraft lure that craps itsself and swims to the surface and rolls around. Type "tuning hardbodies" in google and you'll probably find something. Other than that I'd say loose the mono and go for braid. If you've been working the squidgy or any other soft plastic with a heavy jighead in the standard agressive double flick action, the constant stretch and contraction of the mono will warp it and turn it pretty ugly. Either way if you're getting into lures just go the braid, you'll never want to use mono again except for backing and leaders. The action you impart on the lure will be so much better, and you will feel every bump when something has a go at it.

Nothing wrong with the size of the lure they can chug that down easy. Some days they will go for a bigger lure, sometimes smaller, sometimes shallower, sometimes deeper, sometimes red, sometimes blue.... you get the picture.

[Justin]

Nice work mate!

Your lure may need to be tuned, I have a trollcraft lure that craps itsself and swims to the surface and rolls around. Type "tuning hardbodies" in google and you'll probably find something. Other than that I'd say loose the mono and go for braid. If you've been working the squidgy or any other soft plastic with a heavy jighead in the standard agressive double flick action, the constant stretch and contraction of the mono will warp it and turn it pretty ugly. Either way if you're getting into lures just go the braid, you'll never want to use mono again except for backing and leaders. The action you impart on the lure will be so much better, and you will feel every bump when something has a go at it.

Nothing wrong with the size of the lure they can chug that down easy. Some days they will go for a bigger lure, sometimes smaller, sometimes shallower, sometimes deeper, sometimes red, sometimes blue.... you get the picture.

i think you might be on the money

one of those salmon stole my front set of trebles and it might not swim right any more. ill test it in my pool this arvo. infact, he stole the keyring thing that connects the treble to the lure too! maybe it straightened out on me.

I think ill invest in a better quality lure next time round.

ive got a smaller 2-4kg bream rod with 6lb braid on it but havent bothered to upgrade my 4-5kg rod as of yet. Pretty much waiting for it to die on me as it has been splashed with salt water so many times. Havent really taken care of it well.