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New years resolution: break yak fishing habits

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Monday, 31 December 2007

Sun sets on another year

Sunset view from the basin

I've been trolling from the very first day I started kayak fishing. On that very 1st outing it seemed like a good idea to tow a soft plastic lure behind me as I paddled out to the reef I intended to fish from. Although said reef was only a couple of hundred meters off shore, I did indeed manage to hook up to a fish as I trolled my way out there. But because the rod was planted firmly into a PVC tube behind my seat, I didn't even know the modestly sized Flathead was hooked until I started reeling it in. Regardless, I learned a lesson: trolling from a kayak is a very simple and productive means of catching fish.

Since then I've continued to troll on almost every outing, although initially it was usually just while paddling towards my planned anchor or drifting destination. As soon as I hit the road on that coastal kayak fishing tour, however, I started trolling more and more. Only a few days into it I'd pretty much unintentionally adopted a trolling only strategy. I'm not sure why I ended up doing this - a part of me thinks that it has a lot to do with the fact that I was very much in 'exploring' mode almost all of the time and just wanted to keep covering as many kms as possible, be it by road or by water. Whilst taking this route definitely let me see more of the sights, it didn't always help with the catch rate. Sure, there were times and situations where trolling was the only thing worth doing, but there were many other times where I really would have been better off drifting and casting lures, or otherwise using baits of some description. No doubt I would have caught more fish had I been more flexible in my approach.

Upon arriving in the Jervis Bay area I've started trying to ween myself off trolling strategies as an exclusive means of catching fish. Whilst I've learned a lot about it in recent months, I've also slowed my development in a few other areas. So I'm going to address that issue tonight by bathing myself in a slurry of bait, berley and fish blood.

It's new years eve and my plans are to spend the evening fishing from the kayak in the Basin. I'll be anchoring up (either with a drift sock or a Hobie anchor), laying down a thick berley trail, catching some livies and sending them out on unweighted lines in 3 - 6 meters of water. The entire time I'll be accompanied by a bunch of glow sticks, a couple of Nitro rods, my good friend Jack Daniels (who I don't believe I've had the pleasure of fishing with before) and a grim determination to stay planted until I catch the biggest damned fish that lives there. Ideally, I'm hoping for a Jew.

I developed other bad kayak fishing habits due largely to the fact I was in travelling mode and these had more to do with preparation and planning than anything else. This cost me a lot of fish over the past few months as well but now that I live only 300 metres from waters edge I have the luxury of planning trips carefully. All of the sudden I have bandwidth enough to study google earth and read up on fishing and weather reports. I now have time to set up the sounder (actually the Lawrence XD50 is a much easier package to set up and use than my old Garmin, and that is also playing a part), and handpick a selection of lures and tackle for target fish as opposed to trying to carry out the kitchen sink each time. This is reshaping my kayak fishing strategies in more ways than you might expect. Most notably, I now have more time and space with which to move. Of course, now that I'm fishing from a newly and fully fitted kayak with a bunch of accessories that are making life even easier, so I'm adjusting myself around the luxuries this is affording as well.

Tailor @ basin view 2

Don't get me wrong - I'm a big fan of trolling from a kayak. I still think it's the most exciting way to catch good fish from a kayak and often times the most productive as well. Not to mention, staying on the move helps to keep you warm in winter, allows you to cover more water and helps you to stay fit. But there's more than one way to skin a cat and sometimes I have to stop and remind myself of that. That's what I'm spending NYE doing.

Whatever you're doing, I hope it's a fitting way to usher in the new year. Have a good one, and may 2008 bring for you everything you deserve.