Rigging for offshore kayak fishing + quick trip report

[longhairedwahoo]

Hey guys,

Went chasing some snapper offshore from the bay islands on thursday on the new (2nd hand) kayak. Pulled up a nice mixed bag of small cod, sweetlip and also kept a great size blacksaddle goatfish (my first one and very impressive on the chew) and a squire. Was using a relatively heavy telescopic rod that I imported (see previous posts) and one of the cheap as reels in size 6000 from BCF which meant that when the reel started screaming with something huge (thinking possibly a kingy or a shark but who knows) I had had no hope of stopping it. After about two mins it had me around the bottom and that was the end of that :_( Still a great morning on the water with no one out but me and the whales.

On the kayak I really try to keep my rigging as simple as possible because doing any rigging while on the water is a giant pain. This is why I spool my reels with mono and run that straight to the hook, with a sinker sitting directly on the hook. After missing that fish I'm going to look at upgrading my setup to a Penn Spinfisher VI in size 6000 but want to know what size mono I should rig it with keeping in mind I wont be using leader. Because I'm fighting fish on the yak I dont think I need as much line capacity because when the fish really start running I can set the drag high and just get towed so I am more concerned about fishing too heavy line that reduces bites from smaller demersal species. Im currently thinking 30lb and rigging this to a set of gangs to trawl pillies on.

In short is 30-40lb a good size albeit on the lighter side to land pelagics up to the 10ish kg range and am I an idiot for not using leader? Also if a mackerel does get hooked in summer can the gang hooks act like wire trace or will it still find away to get its teeth on the line?

Cheers legends

[Hweebe]

30lb is a good all round diameter in the bay. Before the advent of braid running straight mono to hook was normal.

The ganged hook will give you some protection for mackeral, i don't use wire in the bay, better hookup rate without it imho.

Just wondering if you plan to troll baits whether you would benefit from a swivel (reduce line twist) to fluoro (and fluoro benefits)

[ellicat]

Yes, like @Hweebe said - definitely put a swivel in the line to prevent a massive twist up, maybe a couple of metres above the hook.

[kmcrosby78]

30lb sounds good to me and like the others have said, add a swivel for any trolling. Gangs should be fine for most bay mackerel. Good luck .

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Sounds like you've been having some good fun! I know people who catch squire in the river who use 40-60 pound leader (fishing for threadies and bycatch) and it doesn't seem to be an issue so I'm sure thirty pound would be fine in the bay too. 

Cheers Hamish

[longhairedwahoo]

Cheers for the advice legends. Fairly new to trolling on the yak so will defintely take your advice on the swivel though have seen gangs where the first hook comes with one already rigged straight to it so might just go with them for simplicity on the water. Also just thought I'd clarify that I have been doing all my fishing offshore of straddie, so am outside the bay but I think all the advice would still be the same

[Leeroy]

Go as light as possible. I think people fish way too heavy for snapper/mackeral.

My equal PB came on 10lb braid/16lb leader and i've even caught 60cm fish on 6lb/12lb.

I use 15lb/20lb for plastics/metals and 30/40lb for livies.

You will get more bites and lose the odd fish but i'd rather hook them then not at all.

Lot more fun too.

[mzaakir]

I tend to always use a leader but then I use braid, but as mentioned above, good idea to use a swivel. A gang hook will help but sometimes mackerel will rip straight through the mono