Scott Lovig sends word of a notable catch in my old stomping grounds at Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. This 41kg thresher shark was caught off Mornington (not far from where I was once sharked by a thresher, a little further sth) by Paul Spath. Here's what Scott about Paul's achievement at his website: Paul Spath, the new owner of a Hobie Adventure christened his kayak in style with the capture of an elusive Thresher Shark here in Mornington. The 41kg shark took a trolled hard body lure internded for snapper rigged on 10lb braid and 20lb leader. Paul fought the shark for one and a half hours before he managed to tail grab it and was assisted by charter operator Mathew Hunt to gaff the fish. A Victorian kayak fishing first!
And that's not all. Scott was there to catch some of the action on video!
I had a great session chasing mackerel that were hammering large schools of bait fish. Chasing the schools on the adventure island in light winds was really good fun, this is exciting kayak fishing.
For some time now I have been receiving requests to produce a DVD video and in giving the idea some thought I started leaning towards doing an online show instead. The more I thought about it the more I liked it and the more people I ran it past the more good feedback I received. So after putting my head down and coming up with some ideas for content and format, I came up with 'Yakabout's War on Fish'.
Yakabout's War on Fish is a monthly online kayak fishing show that will go live on the 1st Sunday of each month (episode 1 set for 03/01/2010). Each episode will run for just under 30 minutes, featuring all of the best kayak fishing action captured by Yakabout cams throughout the month, as well as tutorials & how-to guides, trip & destination reports, gear reviews, special guests and contributor segments.
This clip is a teaser that I've cobbled together to help reveal and set the mood for the show. In a way it could also be considered a bit of a trailer for episode 1, as it contains a fair amount of footage that will be featured (in greater length) in the 1st episode. Running for only 3 minutes and weighing in at only 140MB, this is one of my smaller clips. It's completely uncompressed as well, so it's best viewed in full screen HD. Enjoy!
This is one of two big announcements I've been keeping up my sleeve for a while and is partly why I instigated the yakabout forums. I have another, equally significant announcement to make as well, although I think I'll wait for the shoutbox to come back online before I do, as I think it's going to generate a lot of questions.
I'm rather fond of this clip that Carl put together on our Fraser Island expedition for several reasons. One of them being that it features footage of some of Paul's fishy fights that I wasn't around to witness at the time. I also got a kick out of seeing Carl have so much fun... he really was getting into it in a big way, 24/7. But mainly just because it brings back the memories of that week, which was one of the best kayak fishing experiences any of us have had. Watching this clip it's easy to see why we started planning for Fraser Island 2010 even before our 2009 event was finished.
It took quite some effort to edit this clip (featuring our recent Fraser Island kayak fishing expedition) down to under the youtube limit of 10 minutes and my very first attempt had to be completely scrapped because of it. With so much footage to peruse I can assure that there is more to come, and not just from my cameras - I'm looking forward to seeing some of the action the other guys shot as well. What I've cobbled together here is a highlight reel of some of the best fishing action caught from my cams and I think it's some of my finest work yet, both in terms of filming and editing. On the down side, due to it being a relatively large clip, so to is the file size (in order to keep it in HD). So if you're bandwidth challenged, go make a cuppa while it buffers. If you're bandwidth starved, start it up and go and mow the lawn.
Disclaimer: watching this footage will make you want to buy an Adventure Island and if you already have one, it will make you want to take it to Fraser Island. If this footage does not have that effect on you, please make your way to the nearest medical facility to check to see if you still have a pulse.
Stunning is the only word I could rightly use to describe the conditions for today so my spirits were high as I left the boat ramp. I had a feeling it would be a good day... and it was... monumental even. My search for fish took me on a 25km journey today, trolling under pedal-power for most of that time, throwing a few casts at a few marked drop offs and drifting for a couple of clicks. Starting out on a south-east course I hugged the coastline until I reached the Clarence river mouth outside of Iluka. One quick run across the mouth resulted in naught so I turned around to troll my way back to Woody Head. Despite locating loads of fishing marks along the way I decided to head north out wide and then cut back to the west when level with Shark Bay.
This whale was almost circling me!
About half way back I started seeing whales, appearing on cue in all directions around me. They weren't overly active but they were feeding, launching their wide open mouths into masses of krill. Judging by the amount of activity that I started seeing on the sounder, I'm willing to bet a few fish were scooped up to.
SURPRISE!
At one point a large (approx 13 metres) humpback surfaced about 25 metres ahead of me, so I stopped pedalling and quickly pulled in the rods. Then I reached for my camera and sat there poised for the money shot. For the next 10 minutes the whale circled around me, seemingly oblivious to my proximity. Each time I thought it threatened to come close I'd pedal a couple of strokes to get away from it's potential path. For the most part it hung close to the surface and most of the time I was aware of it's location. But each time it submerged it would randomly appear again. Each time this happened it was a little unnerving.
How close?
It was when narrating to the camera I observed that it had submerged and that I'd lost it's location, asking 'where's it gone?' As if to answer me on cue the whale surfaced then and there... right next to me. It was no more than a couple of feet away and rolling on it's side to get a good look as it passed. I don't even know how I managed to keep snapping photos, because all I wanted to do was hold on for dear life with one hand and cover my head with the other. For a moment there I felt for sure I was going to get slapped across the back of the head with a humpback tail.
That black shadow is my rod holder!
A turbulent whirlpool formed beside the kayak and for a second there it felt like I'd be sucked in. Any other kayak would have been tipped for certain I think, but the Island (fitted with only one ama) was steady as a rock. So even though I was of course freaking out, somehow a part of me knew I'd be OK. That was the part of me that kept snapping photos.
It rolled over next to the kayak
As far as the still shots went, stars aligned perfectly, with the settings just right for the scene that played out. I did have to tweak the zoom slightly and somehow managed to maintain composure enough (and quick thinking) to adjust the lens before snapping. I was filming at the time to, although it was a crying shame I didn't have the Lumix mounted on the starboard side (a habit I've been developing), because had I not left it's RAM camera mount at home, I would have had the camera pointed directly where the whale surfaced.
Then submerged again
What an experience! Breathtaking is one word I'd use to describe it. Heart-stopping is another. I have had quite a few close contacts with humpbacks, in Hervey Bay, Jervis Bay and now Woody Head. This one was by far the most spectacular, and easily the most intimidating. For sure, had it only been just another foot closer, it would have been anyone's guess as to what would have happened. had the starboard ama been installed, it would have copped a mighty knock, that much is certain!
A very cool clip was recently uploaded to youtube from a kayak rentals business that demonstrates what happens when you approach killer whales in kayaks (yes, that's an Hobie i12 inflatable kayak). In short... much the same thing that often happens in dolphin encounters, which is to say they swim about, show off a little, check out the kayaks and move on. A far cry from what the namesake of the species implies, as well as the common misconceptions about killer whales and their temperament.
I can really identify with the guy shooting this clip (somewhere on the other side of the pacific ocean) because although I haven't been that close to killer whales, I have been that close to humpbacks and right southern whales - both of which are much bigger than orcas. I know exactly what it is like to get that close to such a magnificent creature and the way it made me feel. Like this guy, I get giddy with excitement and even though I'm always aware that whales and dolphins are not aggressive, their sheer size is intimidating and yes, I start shaking to. It takes cahones to let them get close, trust me. But when it happens there is nothing you can do but sit back and enjoy it - the experience is always worth it.
It's little wonder killer whales have such a bad rap when you see yioutube clips like this. If you haven't seen it before, go forth and watch it for entertainment. Don't be alarmed though because it's all just SFX, fully explained here.
While waiting for the Transparent Sea voyagers to appear at Broome's Head I managed to catch a great snapper while shale-watching. This clip catches the action, including my meeting with Rasta and the boys, and our group sailing into shore.
This clip covers 2 weekends of sailing off shore and trolling lures behind the Adventure Island. Both fairly rough days, one of them with strong off shore winds that nearly defeated me. Not many fish, but some great sailing footage:
For some time now I've been receiving requests to cobble together a clip that demonstrates how I've gone about accessorising my kayak and why. So I've been meaning to get around to this for a while and when the fishing dropped off on the weekend I took that opportunity to answer the call. I'm using the kayak off shore in outrigger mode in this clip and the load out does differ marginally when and if I use it as a vanilla kayak, as well as a trimaran. Of course I do not need to be so well equipped for estuary/river/lake fishing, but my approach to fishing out wide is more maximalist.
The gear that I'm using here, as well as how I'm using it is the result of 18 months of trial and error, incorporating a plethora of experiments in gear usage in various conditions. What I've arrived at here is pretty much my ideal kayak - a no-expense spared dream fishing yak. A lot of these experiments have been made possible because of the position I have and industry I work in, taking full advantage of relative fringe benefits.
It was hard work editing this clip down under 10 minutes and I did have to make a few sacrifices, so part 2 is coming soon. That will include a closer look at my PFD, safety kit, tackle box, the rods & reels I use, as well as how I approach fishing from the Island in trimaran mode. In that segment I'll be focusing on answering the common questions people often have about fishing from a trimaran.
For the most part, fishing reports around the Clarence Coast have been a little bleak in the past few weeks, but with such good conditions I persisted through 2 long sessions at Woody Head, catching numerous fish along rhe way, including the target species snapper as well as bonito, cod, parrotfish, pike, tailor and wobbygong shark. I probably should have made individual clips for both days, but lazily tried to roll them into one, making for a fairly long clip (almost 10 minutes) . There's a payoff at the end, however, which is some tricky editing that is typical of the sort of footage and editing I'll be creating more of in the future.
Unfortunately the frame rate playback is a little jittery in this one, a by-product of having to convert an AVCHD file that had it's frame rate setting mismatched. It comes out OK in the uncompressed clip, but shows up somewhat on the compressed youtube rendition.Sigh...
A nice relaxing morning's fishing on the Clarence river at Rocky Mouth, Maclean. Bream, bream & more bream. Full trip report here. Video gratification below :-)
Now that winter is over I thought it prudent to wrap up some of the more memorable highlights from this winters fishing season into a montage style highlight clip (not terribly unlike my last highlight clip ). This is a relatively long clip (7 minutes) so fire it up, go make a cuppa and then sit back and enjoy. If you're only going to watch one of my clips this winter, make it this one.
3 months of AI kayak fishing highlights; snippets of some of the best & worst moments I had while kayak fishing the Clarence coast throughout the Aussie winter of 09. Hooks up with snapper, tuna, sharks and even a humpback whale (don't ask).
Videos 
Scott Lovig sends word of a notable catch in my old stomping grounds at Port Phillip Bay, Victoria. This 41kg thresher shark was caught off Mornington (not far from where I was once sharked by a thresher, a little further sth) by Paul Spath. Here's what Scott about Paul's achievement at his 
