Yakabout - Being prepared #1: Lures

Home

Articles

Being prepared #1: Lures

PDF

| Print |

E-mail

Sunday, 24 June 2007

Lures at the ready when kayak fishing

Ever popular Ecogear sx40

Although there are plenty of fishermen that will only ever use bait, it's always a good idea to have a few lures on hand, even if you are only really intending to fish with bait. In my varied experiences fishing around Victoria, having at least a handful of lures on standby has produced the goods when all else has failed many times. You never know when a school of hungry Aussie Salmon will turn up for example. There are other times when it seems the only things biting are Squid. Whenever this sort of thing happens, having bait on a hook is usually about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.

Being prepared with a standby lure rod has in some instances made me look better (as a fisherman) than I really am. A couple of years ago I attended a fishing charter trip at Phillip Island and decided to take my own rod lure casting rod, just in case. I used the charter-supplied rod for bait fishing, but had a shad soft plastic lure on the ready for my spare. It was a near-packed boat, shared by my group (consisting of fishermen of varying experience) and another group that were really pretty new to the whole fishing thing.

The first few hours that day had been spent chasing Snapper and Flatties but at one point the water surface erupted with the frenzied kind of action that I just knew had to be Aussie Salmon savaging a large bait ball. While everyone else watched in awe and waiting for their baited rods to bend violently, I reached for my spare rod and carefully flicked out the lure. Within seconds I was on and a minute later had landed a 2kg Sambo. Then I caught another. And another. Five minutes later it was all over and I was the only one who caught a fish from it. No one else even got a bite.

Sambos love soft plastics

It happened very quickly and by the time anyone else had realised that bait wouldn't work now, it was too late for them to change rigs. This sort of thing happens frequently out on the water. The same thing will happen while fishing from piers and I've seen it happen many times while fishing from a kayak. And when it does happen, it really does pay to have a pre-rigged rod on stand by, ready to engage at a moments notice.

A lot of experienced fishermen know this, which is why you often see boats decked out with enough rods to fit a small retail store. It's also the main reason you're likely to see seasoned kayak fishermen packing more than one or two rods into their yak. I usually include 3 rods on kayak fishing trips - one rigged for bait, another rigged for Squid and another rigged for soft plastic or bibbed hard body lures.

Whilst it is a great idea to have at least one spare lure-ready rod on hand, that's not to say you have to pack bucket loads of lures and tackle to accommodate. If I plan to implement a bait-fishing strategy sometimes I'll only take a couple of soft plastic lures and a squid jig or two - especially if I know what I'm likely to encounter. There are also days where I carry out my entire fishing kit as well, but generally only if I'm feeling experimental or unsure of what I may find out there. It doesn't really matter how much gear you have, but whether or not you are suitably prepared for the most likely of outcomes often will.