Come aboard Mr Red

Here is the red from my last post. Once again - 5" Nuclear Chicken Gulp SP, just off Coronet Bay in about 5m of water. Love it!

I see red, I see red, I see red!

Went to a working bee at Coronet Bay this weekend with the family. Saturday saw us painting, digging holes and concreting. A lazy sunday morning saw us finishing off breakfast about 9am so I decided to take out the kayak to test out its new anchor system. Promised Zach that I wouldn't be long so he could have a go, so had to make it quick. I grabbed a rod with a 5" Nuclear Chicken SP on in and was away.
I headed out towards the stick and anchored up about 150-200m short of it (The anchor system works well) and started casting. 4th cast I had a massive hit, but failed to hook up. Next cast I hit an underwater steam train and it was game on! On my light gear the fish ran and ran, but after a while was tiring. I saw a flash of red and it was off again. Got it to the boat 4 or 5 times but didn't have a net! Finally got it in the boat and it measured in at 47cms. Great eating, but more importantly my first kayak fish! Next cast saw another missed hit, then had 3 more casts and had to head in. So due to time restrictions got in only 10 casts but had 3 hits - Will definitely be back out soon!
Pictures to come (They were taken on Dad's mobile phone so he needs to email them), but a big lesson was that I need a net!

Is this cheating?

Ok this isn't technically a kayaking report, but it is my first real red of the season and it was caught in 7m of water straight out from Coronet Bay - I've paddled over there before so it's a possibility in the near future!


Dad and I had an after work session, launching at Corinella at 6.45pm and on the spot just after 7. There were many boats around and apart from nearly getting spooled by a ray on my bait catching rod with a tiny pilchard fillet on, and a banjo shark on my only fresh bait after only being in the water 2 mins (Trevally fillet - NOT HAPPY!) nothing much was happening.
We moved a couple of hundred metres away and things started to heat up. I had a few runs on some half pilchards and caught a 36cm red and a 41cm red. Then all 3 of my rods went off at once. I only managed to hook one (Dad wasn't quick enough on the others!) and after a good fight in came a 65cm, 3.5kg red. Shortly after, as I was about to cast out, one of my rods went off so I put the rod I was about to cast back in the rod holder. I pulled in a very large port jackson shark, only to find my rod I was about to cast going off - Even though it was sitting on top of the water! It was a barracouta, which when filleted accounted for the next 2 reds - a 48cm and a 38cm model.
Not much action after that except for a triple hook up on eagle rays, where, despite their best efforts, all tangles were eventually freed. There seemed to be no action on Dad's side of the boat, so he's due for a monster red next trip.

Emergency Procedures

Went out over the weekend a couple of times from Coronet Bay, and was lucky enough to have a mate out yachting near me, even though the water was flat and there was no wind!
I decided to take advantage of this by 'falling' out of the kayak and seeing how easy it is to get back in. Turns out it is very stable and I'd be lucky to fall out, even in rough circumstances. When I did jump out and was in the water, it was simply a matter of grabbing the opposite side of the kayak to where I was, and pulling myself up with minimal disruption to the kayak.
The one problem I did find though was that when I jumped out, shaking the kayak my paddle came free of the paddle holder, so I have to remember to tighten that.
A great weekend, no fishing out of it yet but next time I go I'm all set now!

The adventure begins

My first trip in Sharkbait 1 was last saturday, 17th October. It was an average day at Coronet Bay, with 15 knots or so of wing and white caps. However, I was bored and the kayak looked tempting, so I ventured out, without taking any rods. It was easy to handle and smooth through the water. With the waves I did get fairly wet but that's kayaking. I didn't use the scupper plugs for under my backside but that may have been an option. Overall a very enjoyable experience.
Since then I have purchased a 1.5kg anchor from ebay for $16, and need to get some chain, anchor cord and rig up a pulley system for it, so that I can get out on the whiting over summer. Am at a wedding this weekend but the following weekend is cup day, so 4 days at the beach for testing it further and putting on my new anchor system!

Sharkbait 1 has arrived!

Here is my new baby - A Perception Swing.


I have just picked it up and can't wait to try it out. It has 2 storage hatches (Front and rear) and a mini one between your knees for wallet/phone/keys/etc. It also has 4 flush mount rod holders and a modified berkley rod holder for one of the front. Now I figure I need a PFD, anchor and waterproof bag for my phone!
Next on the list are a crate/esky or similar to fit in the back and a fish finder.... Not that I'm getting too greedy.
Here is a view from the business section of it:

Trips and research

I have just spent a couple of hours researching kayaks first hand. Capacity Sports in Sandringham and Sport Phillip Marine in Mornington. I first went to Capacity Sports and they were extremely helpful and I am very interested in their Moken 12 by Feel Free, which they had at $1595 with a decent seat and rudder, or an Ocean Kayak Prowler 13 at $1795 with seat and rudder. I will try them both out probably next weekend (They hire them for up to 3 days). The Moken particularly looks good, although the advantage of the Prowler is the bait board. Both have pros and cons. Sport Phillip Marine was a long drive for only a couple of kayaks, and they tended to be a bit more expensive than Capacity Sports, so I think I'll stick to the guys in Sandringham. I figure if Dad, Glen and myself each put in about $1000 then we can get 2 kayaks, as if three of us are fishing at once we may as well just take the boat!