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Wednesday, 24 September 2008

The beginning

Lately I've been putting a lot of thought in to adopting a more minimal approach to my kayak fishing trips,aiming for a better organised, cleaner and more open deck. Cutting back on the yak fishing kit has become a notion that presents a slight dilemma for me though. Throughout my kayak fishing career I've ranged from an extreme minimalist approach (in the beginning), slowly but surely evolving to a respectably maximal strategy.

The former style of kayak fishing trip involved paddling out with a single rod, a handful of lures, a towel and a small pocket camera. The latter typically involves packing everything from multiple rods, a sizable collection of lures and tackle, 2 cameras, 2 torches (1 being a headlamp), phone, VHF radio, first aid and safety kit, a sounder, GPS, compass, lip grips, pliers, knife, net, gaff hook, towel and anything else I think I may need... most of it leashed or stowed in waterproof containers.

The kayak often gets loaded with that lot, plus a bunch of extras such as an anchor trolley, hull-mounted compass, safety flag, sail kit, sidekick amas (for sailing) and rod holders. Sometimes I also carry out an anchor, or drogue and always some kind of fish storage solution. That's a lot of gear, and I didn't even mention the extra waterproof jacket that I sometimes pack, or the fact that I usually also carry out my wheel trolley with me. Or the snacks and drink.

Fully sick Hobie Adventure with the lot

Part of the dilemma I have is that much of this kit is necessary for the kind of kayak fishing that I usually do, both in terms of catching fish and doing it safely (for me and my gear). I can't sacrifice any of the safety related items of course, so I've been thinking about trimming the fat in terms of fishing gear. I could lose one of the cameras, but I'm not really willing to. On that front I've found a better way to organise their storage which is much more practical than the way I have been doing it (more on that another time).

I definitely don't want to sacrifice my chances of catching fish, however, so the only right way to go about it is just get much better organised and take a more targeted approach. For the emerging season I'll be reducing the amount of tackle I carry out and instead of taking out 3 rods (typical for me) I'm now only going to take 2. Less fishing gear leaves me with a little less in the way of options when I'm out there, so the trick is to simply become more certain of what kind of fish I'm likely to find, and where. Despite having lackadaisically looked and having asked around a bit, most of my research into this area has been done by simply exploring around and using educated guesses.

Over the past week I've been much more proactive in learning some of the more productive hot spots for pelagic and or tasty fish out here in Jervis Bay. This bay really is very large - the largest in NSW - and to stumble upon the best spots in exploration will always be hit and miss. So I've taken the time to dig up a sum of GPS marks as well as seek advice from people who have lived here for a while. Primarily I'm chasing five species this season: snapper, kingfish, marlin and blue and yellowfin tuna. I reckon I have a much better idea of where to find them now and have been brewing up some strategies to get them. Oh man, am I glad winter is behind us at last. Time to get the game on!