paul.kenny Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 My lovely wife bought me the I-Pilot kit for my Minn Kota for Christmas. After spending an afternoon fitting it to the Minn Kota I decided to take it for a test run on Sunday morning. The Seabreeze forecast was for calm conditions early in the morning so my plan was to head into the bay to try some surface action for bonito and kingies. Unfortunately as I arrived at the boat ramp at 4:30am there was a strong gusting wind and a change of plan was necessary. I decided that a hard body and surface lure session was in order. This would also provide an excellent opportunity to give the I-Pilot a real test…..fortunately I had prepared the bream gear. I headed into the Georges River and noticed bait being chased on the surface on the incoming tide. Using the ‘spot lock’ function on the I-Pilot to hold position I cast a popper into the shallows and was immediately rewarded by a number of subtle hits on the lure but no hook-up. After a couple of more casts and missed hits I changed to a pencil. This change resulted in a number of feisty 25cm tailor and a 28cm bream being boated….my first surface caught bream of 2011. I then used the I-Pilot to work the entire bank and holding location when I found more bait. The advanced auto pilot function worked like a dream, allowing me to work the entire bank without drifting too close to the strike zone despite the running tide, gusting wind and the boat wash. The surface action continued for an hour with many missed strikes and a half dozen bream between 20 – 25cm; including this bream that has obviously had a run in with something toothy. As the tide was turning I moved onto the flats to target the drains and drop offs using hard bodies. This provided another opportunity to really test the functionality of the I-Pilot. This strategy paid off with both bream and flatties consistently hitting my hard bodies. The bream were very aggressive striking the hard bodies, with the fish taking exciting long runs into the deeper water. It was a great day out and a successful test of the I-Pilot. I am really excited about using the I-Pilot to improve my catch during future surface sessions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catchin Jack Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Must have been the Minn Kota that helped catch those fish haha That poor bream with a chunk out of him, seen a few like this lately. Oh and the knife in the photo, guess we'll see one of these in this months cotm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnv Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 some nice fish u caught there buddy well done john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IVZ350 Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 that ipilot looks crazy mate, but the ones that i looked up say there for freshwater is that the case??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul.kenny Posted January 3, 2011 Author Share Posted January 3, 2011 that ipilot looks crazy mate, but the ones that i looked up say there for freshwater is that the case??? Hi IVZ350 - You can purchase I-Pilots suitable for salt water. I purchased the I-Pilot kit for my Minn Kota Riptide SP, which is a bowmount Minn Kota suitable for saltwater. It is a fantastic bit of kit and would encourage anyone purchasing a Minn Kota to strongly consider buying the version with the I-Pilot already fitted. cheers Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Cam Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 My lovely wife bought me the I-Pilot kit for my Minn Kota for Christmas. That's a great gift from your better half I got a couple of t-shirts You will be braining them even more now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenno64 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Looks like that leccy will be the first thing packed for all your trips now on!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Breambucket Posted January 8, 2011 Share Posted January 8, 2011 Great report mate! and i nice piece of gear with the i pilot Im starting to get the hard body bug myself Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trapper Tom Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Hey bass catcher Your second photo is a classic "I was used as a live bait when really small" injury. Cheers Trapper Tom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodgey Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I remember being told in the past that the injury depicted was the result of being caught in a net as a juvenile. Not entirely sure if it correct or not but certainly fits the bill I reckon. Cheers Hodgey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 I remember being told in the past that the injury depicted was the result of being caught in a net as a juvenile. Not entirely sure if it correct or not but certainly fits the bill I reckon. Cheers Hodgey Im sure I read an article somewhere about this and a leading marine bioligist thinks it may be a genetic deformity as there has been bream caught with it in estuarys that havent been netted for decades Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Frost Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 That I pilot is a great idea I wish I could get one but I have a cable drive , anyway some nice fish there and it's always good fun to get fish when your testing out new gear , well done . The bream in the secoond photo , I have caught quite a few like this and so have people I fish with , we used to think it was nets but then came to realise that the areas we were catching them in had not been netted by pros for many years and some were very small fish , so now I think that it might be a gentic problem , who knows , they do look weird though . Cheers Bubba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmak Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Basscatcher - congrats on the topwaters in the Georges. WB has been quite of late - methinks the season for topwaters there is a little later due to the colder weather we've been having (or that I'm a lousy fisho) That i-pilot is amazing and is on the top of my list if I get a new boat - imagine spot lock when it's blowing a gale and you're not busy trying to avoid crashing into the snag you're casting to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hatte Posted January 10, 2011 Share Posted January 10, 2011 Genetic disorder for sure, many blackfish have an indent right behind the back of it head or start of dorsal fin. Like bubba mentioned fish from 5cm to 45cm have the mark so you can rule out nets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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