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F.A.Q | F.A.Q | | Print | |
| Saturday, 21 April 2007 | |
Frequently Asked Questions  WTF? Q: How far did you manage to get on your coastal kayak fishing tour? A: I started out at Iluka, northern NSW and made it all the way to Townsville, QLD. Sadly, I managed to miss quite a few worthy spots along the way, due mainly to either bad weather. Q: Weren't you planning to travel the entire coast of Australia? What went wrong? A: Two things: one being that I ran out of money and maxed my credit card much sooner than expected, and the other being that I received a job offer (with HobieCat Australasia) too good to refuse. The timing of those two reasons just happened to coincide with each other, making it a total no-brainer. Q: How did you manage to run out of money well before completing the trip? A: I underestimated some things and overestimated others. Some overestimations I made included how easily I would be able to find places to camp for free, as well as my ability to suitably experience certain areas (to be able to write about them with conviction) and move on. I also overestimated how easily it would be to run a website while travelling. Another overestimation was the suitability of my tackle for Northern waters. All of my prep work was done in Victoria, but the fish I started getting onto up north required a much different tact for the most part and this required buying a lot of extra tackle. I underestimated other expenses as well, including those related to accommodation, connectivity and how easy it would be to write trip and destination reports from a car or tent - especially with a less than reliable wireless Internet connection. I also completely underestimated just how big the Aussie coastline is, and how much of it is easily fishable from a kayak. This made my going a lot slower than I expected it to be. There were just too many places that I did or wanted to stop at and explore. Q: What advice would you give to anyone planning to do something similar? A: Take only what you need, but take time to ensure that you are taking the right stuff. I had to spend a fair bit of money replacing tackle and equipment that just wasn't suitable for certain conditions. Take a camper trailer or caravan for one - after six months of sleeping in a tent you'll start to hate it. Most of all, take a friend. If you head off shore as often (and as far) as I did, there will be times that you'd rather not be alone. Especially up north. Finally, if you plan to document your travels on a website, set up the website so that it doesn't require frequent updating to keep readers interested. Find alternate means of connectivity than I chose. Telstra NextG wireless is incredibly expensive, and not at all reliable in many parts of the country. Use Internet cafes or free wireless hotspots instead is my suggestion. Q: What was the best kayak fishing spot you found? A: This is really tough to answer, because I go kayak fishing for numerous reasons. I think my answer would depend on who is asking. For example, if someone asked me where I thought the best kayak fishing for big fish is, I'd answer Yeppoon. If someone asked me about the best spot for bread and butter species, I'd answer Iluka. If someone asked me where I think the place with the most kayak fishing options is, I'd say the entire Wide Bay area, from Tin Can Bay to Hervey Bay and Burrum Heads. Q: What was the most challenging place you found to go kayak fishing? A: Townsville... there are sharks everywhere up there. Q: What were the most memorable fish you caught? A: By far the Longtail Tuna were the most memorable fish I managed to catch (Yeppoon). They were the biggest and toughest fish I have ever reeled in. I was also pretty happy with the Grunter I caught in Hervey Bay, which was a large specimen for the species. And the Coral trout I caught at Hervey Bay was easily the tastiest fish I netted. Q: Which species did you encounter the most? A: Trevally, which I found all the way from Iluka to Townsville. Q: What was the most important lesson that you learned along the way? A: I learned a hell of a lot throughout the course of this trip and the experience lifted my kayak fishing game significantly. I think the most important thing I learned was in making sure knots are well tied and to always check the integrity of leaders. Q: So where are you now? A: Jervis Bay, NSW, which is now home. Q: What's next for the Yakabout website? A: The site will continue on, although the direction has changed somewhat. I'm still writing fishing reports (lots of places to fish here, and I'll be travelling a fair bit as part of my new job) and uploading photos taken from my kayak, as well as writing the odd article. It will also serve as a journal for the preparations and execution of my next major project. Q: What is your next major project? A: I'm going to cross Bass straight in a kayak. All going to plan, this will happen early 2009. Q: Which kayak are you planning to use for this endeavour? A: It'll be either the Hobie Adventure or the Hobie Island Adventure. I'm undecided between the two at this stage.  And yes, sharks do bother me |
