SA based Island yak fisho, Drew Lenman, has produced another clip highlighting his adventures fishing down south. In this clip Drew shoots some nice underwater footage, catching a curious seal in frame, as well getting onto some Aussie sambos - one of which gets a little payback towards the end. Here's what Drew had to say about his clip:
A lively salmon jumped out of the water half a dozen times giving my 6lb braid a run for its money, then slid under the mirage drive and had me worried... but the line was still in tact. On board is where he got revenge in a lesson in handling a fish with a sharp? lure attached, whilst being distracted by the camera in the other hand. Further content covers a rather inquisitive seal that led me on a photographic mission, and also an ST double header.
A couple of weeks ago I lost my gaff during a rough surf entry. Unfortunately it didn't float and was gone forever. So I started to have a look around for a replacement. Initially I thought about getting the X-Tool Gaff Josh uses, which comes very close to what I expect from a good Kayak-gaff: relatively short, rustproof, lightweight, and it must float. After I learned that they are no longer available in Australia, and I couldn't find anything close to what I wanted, I decided to make my own. I purchased the gaff-hook in my local tackle shop and the rest I found in my shed: aluminium tube, foam tube/ insulation, epoxy glue and some electrical tape and paint.
First I secured the hook in the alu-tube by using a splinter. To make sure, I fitted an end cap at the hook end and filled that end up with epoxy resin, to glue the hook safely in place as well. It won't come out, that's for sure! Next I sanded the alu-tube, covered it in epoxy and slit a length of foam-tube over it. These closed cell foam tubes are used to insulate the hot water tubes of e.g. solar hot water systems, and provides a soft grip and the necessary flotation. Then I just trimmed off the end, fitted an end-cap which I painted signal red first, and finished it off using electrical tape to give the ends a neater appearance.
There you go, a gaff which does everything I want for under 10 bucks!
Snapper, tuna, dolphins, whales, turtles, tangles, broken rod and broken heart...
You know how sometimes when you wake up early for a kayak fishing trip the first thing you say to yourself is WTF and I doing? That didn't happen this morning - I bounced out of bed like a kid on Xmas day. Something inside me seemed to know it was going to be a great day on the water. And indeed it was. Today was the the best trip I've had out on the water since the recent floods, thanks to great weather, great company and great fishing. I met up with Albert (AKA Alby to the Oz kayak fishing community) and Allan at the shores of 'Spot X' at 7AM. We weren't in any rush, so while we sipped back on coffee and rigged our kayaks we discussed strategies for fishing as well as surf launching & landing. This was my first time fishing at this particular spot X, so I welcomed the advice being offered by Alby and Allan, both of whom were quite familiar with the area, as well as both being pretty experienced kayakers.
Allan was the first to boat a fish, pulling up a perfectly pan-sized squire snapper a few hundred metres out from launch. Our target destination was some 5 - 6km out, though it took longer to get there than planned because we hooked up to a few more along the way. Allan hooked (but lost) another snapper, Alby picked up a couple of his own (the first few of what turned out to be a nice bag for him) and I hooked, you guessed it, another Longtail tuna.
This fish gave me a hell of a fight and kept me guessing on it's species for some 28 minutes before I was able to positively identify it. I hooked it on my Nitro Viper rod, rigged with a Diawa Certate reel and 15lb braid, making for much better sport than the Godzilla rod, which is what I usually hook them on. At first I thought it was a snapper but 10 minutes into the fight I started to wonder. Throughout the fight I surmised it to possibly be a jew, maybe an amberjack, possibly even a kingy. When I finally saw colour amberjack was still a possibility I thought and as it came closer I wondered if it was a shark... it not a cobia. I was getting fleeting glimpses of colour, often seeing dark or light shades. Half an hour of fighting revealed it to be a longtail tuna (over a metre long).
It was when I got it to the side of the kayak that things went bad. Truth be told, however, despite breaking the tip off my rod and losing the fish in the process, matters could have been oh so much worse. I only have myself to blame for the idiocy that ensued and I really should know better. Time and time again I've witnessed (the hard way) the perils of trolling 2 lines. One would think I'd have learned by now, but no. Whilst fighting the fish I was able to reel in the other line, but instead of reeling it all the way in, I allowed the lure to dangle around the rudder at the stern. It'll be OK there I told myself.
But it was not OK. When the tuna surfaced it started circling, as they do. And before I could sink in the gaff it circled right into the dangling line and the lure tangled with the active line. In what was possibly the dumbest thing I've done on a kayak in quite some time (reaffirming my moniker 'Yakass') I grabbed the lure, gripped it tightly and tried to untangle it. Had there not been a 10kg+ tuna pulling on the other line I might have succeeded, but instead somehow managed to snap my rod tip and line in the process. Not only that, but somehow my rudder pin managed to get snapped in the process as well! Fortunately I'm not neglegent enough to head out without spares, so it was a simple matter of getting Alby to paddle alongside and put in a new one for me.
I was left holding on to the lure (thankfully it's trebles hadn't buried themselves into my hand) but had lost the fish - what was very probably my biggest longtail yet. It was certainly the longest longtail fight my arms have endured, which I think had part to do with the fact that I was pulling it up on a lighter line than I typically use for these fish. Of course this was extremely heartbreaking - it always hurts to lose a big fish... especially when you have it so close. But in a way I'm glad it happened, because this time I have learned my lesson - and it did make the resulting video clip just as entertaining as it is educational. I'll never troll 2 passive lines off shore ever again. You live... and eventually you learn.
The fight was a ripper though so at least I had fun reeling it in. My right bicep still aches as I type. And no doubt some lucky shark is thanking me for screwing it up as well, scoring a free feed of tuna. Now with a sharp ache in my bicep, I wasn't at all sure I wanted to hook another tuna and rigged up lures that I thought more suitable for snapper. Suitable they may have been, but no where near as well suited as the lures used by Alby and Allan, both of whom were using deep-diving hardbody lures (RMG and Predatek) to great success. Especially Alby, who landed 5 or 6 keepers, all ideal pan-sized fish. My lures were trolling much higher in the water column, which I think is why I hooked a tuna, and not a snapper.
On the return journey to land but I resolved to stock up on a few of those lures that Alby and Allan were using. Partially inspired by my experience with the tangled lines, as well as a conversation with Alby later on, I also decided to switch back to monofilament mainline for fishing off shore. It would have been much easier to untangle monofilament, and perhaps there might not have been a tangle at all. Going back to mono has merit in other ways as well. No real need for a leader eliminates the leader knot, which is typically the weakest link in the chain - something thats caused grief in the past as well. Sure... it won't cast quite as far, nor will it be as sensitive... but I'm now thinking the pros most definitely outweigh the cons. Especially when it comes to trolling, which is what I do most off shore.
It took me longer than planned, but I finally got around to cutting together a clip with some of the highlights on our kayaik camping trip at the Sandon river. Behold:
It's been getting harder and harder to find inspiration to work online lately, mainly because up until today my Internet connection has given new meaning to the word 'sucks'. Just loading the backend to publish content would take several minutes to get past the login screen at times and uploading videos would take forever. My connection is a shared wireless type, piggy-backing onto the Maclean Outdoors store connection, which is about 70 metres away and I have to admit to be surprised to get any connection at all. A wired connection at this house is impossible according to the telco overlords, despite the fact that the library next door has an ADSL2 connection.
So the other day a fit of rage overcame me and I ripped all of the cords from my notebook, flung them aside, picked up the laptop and just as I felt like throwing it out the window instead I walked around the house with it to see if there was an area that would provide a better connection. There was... in the storage room at the front of the house, which up until today was filled with back-up stock for the shop. One bar suddenly transformed into 4, intermittently creeping up to 5. Eureka!
Unfortunately this meant emptying what was my lounge room and then transferring all the stock into there, then moving all my gear into the front room. Quite a task actually, but I'm glad to have done it. Now my connection feels much like a wired ADSL one and everything is a lot smoother now. So there'll be a lot less procrastinating on producing and publishing content from now on.
Why do I mention that Allah has blessed me with 5 bars? No, I'm not a Muslim. But Bin Laden is, and getting a 5 bar connection using a piggy-backed wireless connection seems like a miracle to me... much like Bin Laden's apparent ability to get mobile phone reception in a cave. Ever since those kind of stories started emerging a few years ago I have been left wondering just who his mobile service provider is. If it really is that good, for sure, I'd be signing up to the Jihad wireless telecommunications network without hesitation!
