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Friday, 04 July 2008

Weekend kayak fishing plans

Although the Jervis Bay area has been battered by some strong westerlies throughout the week, it appears as if we have a green light for the weekends weather. Music to my ears. Once again Sunday appears to the warmer day, so that's when I'll be heading out kayak fishing. I've formulated an alternative strategy for this particular tip.

Lately I've been doing a hell of a lot of trolling or casting lures - all kinds of lures - and for the most part, doing pretty well. Truth be known, I'm somewhat surprised that I haven't caught more than I have over the past couple of colder months. Not that I didn't expect them to slow down on the bite - which they have - but more so I just didn't expect them to hang around. If my sounder is right (and I'm sure it is) there are good numbers of fish in the bay and basin right now. But considering how many times I must have passed by trolling at least one or two lures past their noses, let alone casting towards, it's actually surprising how few I have caught. I have been using quite a wide variety of lures to, so I don't think I'm having any 'match the hatch' issues. They just don't seem to be hungry.

So this weekend I'm going to do my best to make them hungry. My plan is to head towards a particular area at Bowen Island at the heads of Jervis Bay and anchor up within closest legal distance from the island. Attached to the anchor line (about a 6" above the anchor) will be a nylon mesh bag containing a pre-made and fully frozen berley bomb. Then I will cast out a bait in such a way that it dangles invitingly within the resulting berley trail. I'm using bonito for bait (only half of last weeks catch became sushami) and minced fish frame scraps will make up the 'stock' of the berley.

I squeezed about a handful of minced fish mush from it's frame through the mincer, and to this added a large cup of chicken pellets, a half cup of flour and about 5 pieces of bread torn up into small pieces. I make it all slightly damp with some water, add about 2 tablespoons of tuna oil and then mix it all together into a thick gluggy mix. I then line a container (I'm using a 1kg yoghurt container) with a thin plastic bag, poor the mush in, compact it down and place in freezer.

The harder frozen it is the slower little morsels of berley goodness are dispersed and the longer the trail will last, so it generally works better frozen solid. In past experiments, concoctions like this have worked very well for me on snapper. That's exactly what I am targeting specifically for this trip, and I won't settle for anything less than something with a bump on it's head. It'll be a mid-afternoon start and in my desperation for the big one, might hang around an hour or two after dark. So I'm going to be lit up like a xmas tree, and rugged up to the max.

The future of modern commuting transport

So that's my plan for Sunday. On Saturday I'm planning to go and pedal something different for a change. It's been at least a year since I've done it to any real degree, but I have always loved riding bikes (including motorbikes) so am looking forward to it. However, I wasn't inspired to buy a bike for the sake of pedal-powering fun (I get enough of that anyway). I picked it up because of my continual horror of rising petrol prices. It's a trend that appears to have no end and at this rate we'll be paying $2 a litre. Imagine what it'll look like in 2 or 3 years. I live about 12km from work, which I figure is a reasonable riding distance. It's damned cold right now, not to mention really windy lately, so until it warms up I'll be picking my days to use it for work communting. Luckily it's not $2 a litre just yet.

I was going to get more of a road-bike sort of thing, but couldn't get past my long-time adoration for mountain bikes. So I compromised and put 'slick' tyres on this Scott Aspect 45 mountain bike, which gives me considerable speed for such a beefy-framed bike. Over time I'll be replacing some components for reduced weight and greater speed, but the frame itself will be good for years. Anything else that I replace (wheels, hubs, fork, seat pole) will ultimately become a spare. Eventually, this bike will be the envy of many.

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Comments (3)

04-07-2008 20:33

Bike?

Dude, don't do it! You think kayak fishing is exe, just wait until you start playing with bike parts. Nearly second mortgage material (I'm building up my 3rd bike at the moment)

When you get to it, let me know, I might have some spares to offload, or can point you in the direction of some good prices.

Written by leftieant

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05-07-2008 11:32

Bike?

On the contrary mate, I reckon kayak fishing is relatively inexpensive. Or at least, it certainly can be. But yep, I do know how bike riding can get as an obsession. This is actually the cheapest bike I've owned since being a kid. It was a great buy at $750. The frame is great, hydraulic discs, I like the handle bats and seat. Slowly but surely everything else will go though.

Not sure what I'm going to upgrade the other components with. I'll use it a bit before deciding in what order I'll start upgrading.

Written by josh

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05-07-2008 13:52

Bike?

wheres the tow hitch for the yak???

good luck with getting the one un....

Written by Astro

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