Advice Sought: How To Make A Handline Float

[JustJames]

G'day Raiders

 

Recently I bought a very basic kayak.  I would like to try fishing with a handline from my kayak, and I want to make sure that if I drop my handline, I can retrieve it.

 

Has anybody got any advice for ways to make a handline float-y so that if/when I drop it overboard it doesn't disappear into the abyss?

 

James

[Little_Flatty]

Here’s one solution:

 

[noelm]

Most plastic hand spools float naturally, try one and see.

[JustJames]

Legend!

 

I knew I'd seen something like that on here, but my search missed it.

[Yowie]

Line wrapped onto a cork reel will definitely float, however, most younger fishos may not have seen one, or only obtained one from an older relative. Plastic hand casters should float, unless there is a big sinker attached.

[noelm]

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

Line wrapped onto a cork reel will definitely float, however, most younger fishos may not have seen one, or only obtained one from an older relative. Plastic hand casters should float, unless there is a big sinker attached.

I have a couple that were my fathers, one plain cylindrical cork, was his "bait line" used to catch Yellowtail, and another kind of rectangle that's scalloped out on each side to allow the line to be wound on in two directions, that was his "Snapper line" it still has a hook and a tiny bit of sheet lead squeezed onto the line, I dig it out now and then and remember/think of him!

Edited December 8, 2022 by noelm

[Rebel]

@Yowie is the Guru on hand lines.

I still have some but I will leave it to the expert.

cHEERS.

[slothparade]

What's stopping you from drilling a hole on a bottle cork, running some fishing line through that and tieing it onto of the notches in the hand line? It will get in the way a bit but you will get used to it. Just make the line short enough, or just make a look knot which you run through something on the kayak so it secures your handling to the kayak. I do it with my tools when kayaking in surf, works well. Just make the line long enough to give yourself some working room without getting in twh way. Can send pics if needed 

[Yowie]

I think I have 4 cork reels left, 2 still in use full time.

[Yowie]

59 minutes ago, noelm said:

I have a couple that were my fathers, one plain cylindrical cork, was his "bait line" used to catch Yellowtail, and another kind of rectangle that's scalloped out on each side to allow the line to be wound on in two directions, that was his "Snapper line" it still has a hook and a tiny bit of sheet lead squeezed onto the line, I dig it out now and then and remember/think of him!

I still use one for yakkas. It bounces about when something grabs it.

[noelm]

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

I still use one for yakkas. It bounces about when something grabs it.

Yep, I can remember my father in a little rowboat, using his Snapper line, he always had a small bucket of water and the cork was left in it, when he got a "run" the rectangle cork would flip around like a paddle wheel, wetting me in the process. We used to row out of Little Lake, through the surf, and out a few hundred yards along the Headland, use a bit of bread for burley, catch about ten Yakkas, pull up the sandbag anchor (or Kellick as he called it) then row another 100 yards to the secret Snapper spot, cut one Yakka into little "cutlets" for burley, cut a fillet of another one,  bait up his cork Snapper line, whirl it around above his head and cast it away from the boat, then let out about 10m of line to allow the bait to "float" to the bottom. He would only catch one Snapper, then row home, surfing a wave into the lake, and pull the boat up on the bank, put all the gear in a Hessian bag (sugar bag as they were known) and home we went. Fresh Snapper for tea the next few nights, Snapper head soup made out of the frame, head and off cuts for another couple of nights, they were the days!

edit......just thinking about how resourceful people used to be, the sand bag anchor was filled up from the beach before we went, so you didn't have to carry an anchor around, then when you pulled anchor to come back, he tipped the sand out, rinsed it over the side, then that became the bag to carry the gear and the fish home in.

Edited December 8, 2022 by noelm

[noelm]

Just walking down memory lane again, one of his favourite Snapper baits were those round "Conch" shells, the big ones about the size of small fist, we would wander around the rocks collecting them, smash the shells with a hammer and keep them in a bucket for burley , and the living animal inside was the bait, those or whole Red Crabs, which we gathered at night, now that's another story.....the old Carbide lamp exploding......

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, noelm said:

Yep, I can remember my father in a little rowboat, using his Snapper line, he always had a small bucket of water and the cork was left in it, when he got a "run" the rectangle cork would flip around like a paddle wheel, wetting me in the process. We used to row out of Little Lake, through the surf, and out a few hundred yards along the Headland, use a bit of bread for burley, catch about ten Yakkas, pull up the sandbag anchor (or Kellick as he called it) then row another 100 yards to the secret Snapper spot, cut one Yakka into little "cutlets" for burley, cut a fillet of another one,  bait up his cork Snapper line, whirl it around above his head and cast it away from the boat, then let out about 10m of line to allow the bait to "float" to the bottom. He would only catch one Snapper, then row home, surfing a wave into the lake, and pull the boat up on the bank, put all the gear in a Hessian bag (sugar bag as they were known) and home we went. Fresh Snapper for tea the next few nights, Snapper head soup made out of the frame, head and off cuts for another couple of nights, they were the days!

edit......just thinking about how resourceful people used to be, the sand bag anchor was filled up from the beach before we went, so you didn't have to carry an anchor around, then when you pulled anchor to come back, he tipped the sand out, rinsed it over the side, then that became the bag to carry the gear and the fish home in.

My grandfather, who taught me a bit about fishing (and my great grandfather, who used to give me 2 shillings to buy some bait - it did not buy much 🤣, but it was the thought that counted) used to talk about the kellick, sand anchors, sugar bags (the wet bags were good for keeping prawns alive overnight - soak the bag in water, add prawns to one half then fold over the other half, and most prawns were still alive the next morning to catch a few flatties in Lake Illawarra)

[noelm]

48 minutes ago, Yowie said:

My grandfather, who taught me a bit about fishing (and my great grandfather, who used to give me 2 shillings to buy some bait - it did not buy much 🤣, but it was the thought that counted) used to talk about the kellick, sand anchors, sugar bags (the wet bags were good for keeping prawns alive overnight - soak the bag in water, add prawns to one half then fold over the other half, and most prawns were still alive the next morning to catch a few flatties in Lake Illawarra)

Yep thats right, sugar bags were used for everything, even keeping fish cool, a wet bag works kind of like a fridge, bags were used in almost every house for keeping stuff., I still use one for Lobster diving, a wet sugar bag will keep them (and Mud Crabs) alive for days.

[JustJames]

I have gone the Pickles route with some pool noodle.

 

Thanks all for suggestions, comments and best of all, reminiscences.  Keep 'em coming!

[noelm]

Drifting way off topic but......my father used Red Crabs for bait regularly, mostly for Groper and Snapper, they are pretty easy to gather in rock pools at low tide, but at night, they come out in great numbers, and are much easier to catch. Many years ago when I was just a little kid, I would go on crab catching trips to " hold the bag" ( the old sugar bag, mentioned in previous posts) now, way back then, he used a Carbide lamp, almost no one will know what that is, so here goes! Carbide is kind of like a rock, and is made up with a few additives, when water is added, it produces Acetylene, most would know this gas from being used to cut steel and heat stuff, it also burns extremely bright. Now, the Carbide lamp consisted of a kind of base canister that held the Carbide "rocks" above this was a small water container and an adjustable needle valve to control the drip of water, the water needle was undone a bit, wait a minute, then light the Acetylene, and adjust a little valve to attain a brilliant white light, a reflector was behind the bright flame to direct the light forward. All this seems great, except.....every now and then (I don't understand why) but if too much water dripped on the Carbide, it was kind of like a Nuclear meltdown, it just produced more gas that could be burnt and the lamp just exploded! Not a particularly good thing on the rocks, at night!

Anyway, one night, dad and I are crabbing, me lagging behind trying to keep up (as usual) Dad started yelling, and turning the night air Blue with language, and next thing I know, I see the lamp spinning through the air and burst into flames on the rocks, seems like he had a meltdown and couldn't fix it, so he just hurled the lamp away....he spent the next week trying to fix the damn thing, I can still remember the strange smell of the Carbide and Acetylene to this day.

[Green Hornet]

Great memories of the good old days @noelmand @Yowie.

My Dad also used to call an anchor a kellick and use sugar bags for everything.

I still use a sugar bag for keeping my greenweed fresh when there’s plenty around and I don’t have to grow it.

 I can also remember setting myself on fire with an old hurricane lamp while prawning with Dad years ago LOL.

[Yowie]

I used to use a kero lamp for prawning at night, however, when wading it was a bit hard to pump up the pressure when some distance from shore. I had to balance it on one knee to re-pressure it, while holding the prawn net and not falling over.

One night a large prawn jumped out of the water behind my legs and speared the back of one leg. I thought it would fall out but it stayed there and kept wiggling away, so I had to hold the net and light in one hand and grab the prawn and pull it out of my leg. The painfull way to catch a prawn.

[noelm]

Love this stuff.....nothing beats getting ready for a nights Prawning, and just as it gets dark, you break the mantle in your "Tilly" light, both bait shops at Windang used to stay open late during Prawning season, selling mantles and kero and so on, of course later years it turned to LPG lamps, then battery underwater lights, times just change! I remember as a lad making my own underwater light, I got an old car headlight, glued it in some plumbers plastic pipe, "borrowed" the car battery and taped it to a boogie board along with a bucket. First time out, I connected up the light, dipped it under water, there was a blinding flash and the headlight blew up, that put an end to that nights  Prawning! We also used to Prawn out of a boat (but I don't think it was as good as wading) we would get out late afternoon, set a sand anchor out, front and rear to hold the boat sideways to the current, set up our Tilly lamps on short poles, angled into the water and wait for dark, it was never a big hit if your light fell off the pole into the water, there was a sizzle and fizz, and your light just vanished to the bottom!

edit......the only thing worse than breaking your light, was getting all set up in the boat, only to have someone turn up late, motor around the anchored boats, in the dark,  then toss out their anchor, which wouldn't  grab, then drift with the current, taking out a dozen other boats that had been setup for hours.....

Edited December 8, 2022 by noelm

[noelm]

Haha, just thought of another silly kids bait collecting "incident" Octopus were also taken for bait, my father would wander around the rocks looking for them, I carried a wire loop thing to put them on. When one was found, he would get a crab and hold it near the Occy, a tentacle would snake out to grab the crab, dad would grab the tentacle in a second, and yank the Occy out of its home, and fling it up the rocks to be turned inside out, and put on the ring. One day, he was doing his thing with the crab, out comes the tentacle, dad grabbed it and tossed the Occy, straight into my face.....I tried to run, but went tits up on the rocks, all the while screaming like a banshee, dad yelling, grab it, grab it! Here I was, a traumatised kid, with Octopus slime and ink all over me, a very cranky Occy clinging to my face/head, and dad was worried it would get away.....

[Yowie]

On a serious note, I just bought a kilo of Hawkesbury River prawns at the bait shop, they were caught yesterday, so I cooked up a few as normal cooked prawns, and they taste pretty good, most as green prawns wiil be cooked up tonight in some fancy dish, and a few little ones left for bait.

[Yowie]

Talking about occy's, some years back when the kids were little, I took them to a south coast beach for a day out, and took them for a walk over a rock platform.

There were a few holes with water in them, and I saw an occy tentacle waving about, so I found a rock crab (the little bastard kept trying to nip me) I held it under water and the occy swam over in a flash. It opened out all legs like a big fan and settled over my hand. It took the crab from my hand, I did not get bitten, but I could see that the occy took the crab and appeared to be biting it. The occy eventually swam off my hand and away with the crab.

[noelm]

When my mate owned one of the tackle stores in Windang, he used to call me when fresh lake prawns came in, he would save me a couple of KGs and we would cook them, unfortunately Lake Illawarra has not seen Prawns for quite a few years now, it used to be known for Prawning, but not anymore......

[Yowie]

1 hour ago, noelm said:

Love this stuff.....nothing beats getting ready for a nights Prawning, and just as it gets dark, you break the mantle in your "Tilly" light, both bait shops at Windang used to stay open late during Prawning season, selling mantles and kero and so on, of course later years it turned to LPG lamps, then battery underwater lights, times just change! I remember as a lad making my own underwater light, I got an old car headlight, glued it in some plumbers plastic pipe, "borrowed" the car battery and taped it to a boogie board along with a bucket. First time out, I connected up the light, dipped it under water, there was a blinding flash and the headlight blew up, that put an end to that nights  Prawning! We also used to Prawn out of a boat (but I don't think it was as good as wading) we would get out late afternoon, set a sand anchor out, front and rear to hold the boat sideways to the current, set up our Tilly lamps on short poles, angled into the water and wait for dark, it was never a big hit if your light fell off the pole into the water, there was a sizzle and fizz, and your light just vanished to the bottom!

edit......the only thing worse than breaking your light, was getting all set up in the boat, only to have someone turn up late, motor around the anchored boats, in the dark,  then toss out their anchor, which wouldn't  grab, then drift with the current, taking out a dozen other boats that had been setup for hours.....

Similar to what I did in Lake Illawarra as a kid.

And occasionally some ####wit would anchor in front of you.

Some nights I set out a line behind the boat with a live prawn, on a cork line, and continue prawning until the cork started bouncing around the bottom of the boat. Usually there was a good sized whiting on the hook.

[noelm]

2 minutes ago, Yowie said:

Talking about occy's, some years back when the kids were little, I took them to a south coast beach for a day out, and took them for a walk over a rock platform.

There were a few holes with water in them, and I saw an occy tentacle waving about, so I found a rock crab (the little bastard kept trying to nip me) I held it under water and the occy swam over in a flash. It opened out all legs like a big fan and settled over my hand. It took the crab from my hand, I did not get bitten, but I could see that the occy took the crab and appeared to be biting it. The occy eventually swam off my hand and away with the crab.

Rock crabs are tricky, the blueish grey looking ones (we call them Ironbacks) bite like hell, as are as fast as lightning, red crabs are pretty tame in the nipping department, and kind of slow, then there's the brown ones with the black ends on their Nippers, we call them "slow crabs" they don't bite at all.