Kitted out and ready to go

Last Spring/Summer was a quite successful time in the kayak, however a few things were needed to make it a more comfortable and enjoyable experience. I noticed in snapper season that the "hot bite" started on dusk and as I didn't have a light this was always when I had to head in. Also, in Spring we tend to get a stiff westerly breeze that blows the 'yak along a bit too fast for throwing plastics. To this end I decided I needed a few things, and with my birthday it was the perfect time to get them!

I am now the proud owner of a drogue (sea anchor) to slow down my drifts, and also a tektite light which will be mounted behind me on top of about 1m of 1" PVC, and it battery operated and waterproof to 300m so I can fish after dark and get the big reds!


I was also lucky enough to get a Shimano Stradic Ci4 1000FML attached to a Shimano Jewel 2-4kg rod. A very nice combo which will be put to great use over the coming months, particularly when we hit the Glenelg river in mid November!

Mornington bait hunt

Getting out in the kayak 2 weekends in a row? It's unheard of! However recently we have had "Spring-like" conditions and the trees have been in bloom very early, plus I noticed this during the week:


With the water temps on the rise there have been a few reports of snapper filtering in, however Dad and I decided we need to get some bait so when they really start to fire we'll have a nice selection.

As we had a limited timeframe (3.30pm until dark) we headed to Mornington, and overlooked the spot we usually fish to see at calm as a mill pond and free of any boats. As we launched just after 4, 2 boats converged on the small reef we fish, which I have found often puts the squid off. Despite this, third cast I am on and bring up a squid with a very tentative candle attached to the jig, and it escapes about 2m from the yak.

About 15 minutes in I get another one, and Dad (Who is slow trolling 2 jigs past where I am casting them) hooks one as well. Next cast I manage another one, and 2 more quickly follow. Dad then snagged up his jig and it unfortunately broke off, so I was enlisted to tie his braid to a flurocarbon leader. This proved to be an excellent ploy, for as I was doing this for him Dad managed to snag another 1. I now had 4 and Dad 2, so we decided with 2 more each we'd have 10 and some nice bait for big red.

After a fruitless 15 minutes I managed 2 more in 3 casts, and Dad got 1 soon after. As dusk fell we had only managed 9 and on a "one more cast" on the inner edge of the reef as we headed in I managed one, which in jeiwe fisherman terms would have been described as a "million dollar bill" as it was tiny! We put them in a bucket with salt water to preserve them, and packed up and headed home.

Here is Dad with a selection of squid as we packed them up to freeze:


No whales this week, but we managed 10 squid (7 to me, 3 to Dad if you're keeping score!) and I tested my new anchor - After paying $50 for a sand anchor with 2m of 6mm chain and 50m of rope (Then getting annoyed at how much space it takes up so not bringing it anywhere!) the most effective method was 10m of cord and a brick!

A whale of a time at Black Rock

After a bit of an absence from the water, Dad and I were keen to get back out. We had heard a few reports from Port Phillip Bay so decided to head out from Half Moon Bay at Black Rock. Originally we were going out on Saturday afternoon but changed plans, which was lucky as it was freezing and hailing by about 2pm. Sunday greeted us with much better weather and we headed out about 2, our first cast being at 3pm after a lengthy set-up.
The low tide was about 2pm, so we didn't really have a tide to fish but we started casting squid jigs around the Cerberus and its associated structure. After about 20 minutes of no luck we headed out to flick some plastics. The sounder lit up with baitfish everywhere, alas there didn't seem to be any predators around. After about 45 minutes of drifting I finally had my first fish - A little minnow that was about half the size of my 4" nuclear chicken jerk shad. Unfortunately even with all of these baitfish around, birds diving etc we couldn't find the salmon.
A couple of casts later I was on, and pulled in a healthy 25cm pinkie. Just as I was releasing it I heard a "whoosh" sound and turned to look out about 200m away where a whale had breached the water, which was dead calm by now. It then came out vertically before splashing back down. After a couple of minutes of acrobatics it only seemed to come up for air intermittently, and even from that distance you could hear its distinctive "whoosh" every time it came up. Amazing stuff.
Then we started to get more hits, and I pulled in a 32cm model, which went into the bag to become baked snapper later in the week. Dad was missing a few hits, and it seemed to be contagious as I started to miss them too. It didn't help that the only plastics I had with me were 4" nuclear chicken jerk shads and the jighead was a 1/8oz with a 1/0 hook - Note to self: Pack smaller plastics next time!
Dad anchored and I was drifting about 6-8m away when a massive seal came up between us. After recently hearing about a vyakker knocked off his kayak by a seal I was a bit apprehensive, especially as this guy seemed quite curious. After circling us for a bit, he got bored and went off on his merry way, much to the disgust of the nearby boatie that he started to annoy who threw a few choice words his way.
Within half an hour of dusk we were getting hits every cast. Dad managed to land a couple of smaller models and I did as well, but I also got another 2 around the 32cm mark. We each had a couple of nice runs as dusk approached, and were hooking up or missing hits every single cast, with multiple hits on most casts. Most were about 25cm. We got a better hook-up rate when we really let the fish take it before loading up, which was hard when the first instinct is to strike.
Unfortunately we don't have lights on the kayaks, so had to head back as dusk fell, which was disappointing as we had started to have some good hits and there were sill fish everywhere. I have now ordered a light for the yak so in future I can stay out on hot bites like this!


A couple of lessons learned:

1. Take smaller plastics and jigheads for Winter pinkies
2. Make sure you take a scaler and knife so you don't have to clean them at home
3. Park somewhere else - Half Moon Bay is $12 with no fish cleaning facilities and no toilets
4. If you don't want to be harassed by whales and seals stick to the nice friendly mud of Westernport!