benno573

I used to love the arvo sesh in winter time. Launch about lunch time, stay until after dark. Often the bite would drop off after dark but so would the boat traffic so it was just nice being out there.

17 hours ago, Old Scaley said:

Knowing how much you love ski lice @benno573, I can imagine you had a different purpose for the rope in mind........

i showed him a rope and then told him i didn't have one... 

i was fishing in a quieter section down the pin one day and two knobs on jetskis decided to come and hoon around within 20-30m of my boat.  i could not contain my laughter when one ran up onto a sandbank that was covered with about 2" of water and went AOT over the handlebars.  he was fine but he was soooo beached and only about 2hrs into the outgoing tide, he wasn't going anywhere any time soon. 

his mate then came and asked me if i had a rope and could help them to recover the ski... should we start a poll on what my answer was? 

i personally haven't beached a boat and been stuck in one place waiting for the tide.  I have come a croppa on sandbanks several times but thankfully only briefly.

this thread got a bit silly now didn't it... good to see @GregOug is still keeping the australian wine industry afloat...

my thought bubble on this for you @ellicat would be how much use you are going to get from it.  it's a significant outlay of cash (especially when you factor in 2 x lithium batteries, the new battery charger, the wiring, install etc), would that cash be better utilized elsewhere?  new better pitched prop for the merc maybe? new boat towing rig?

of course.. you could just give up the durries and you'll have it paid for 4 times before xmas... 

Do it!!!  The advantages far outweigh the additional costs.  for a serious fishing yak you can't go past pedals.  

I got my hobie outback 2nd hand off gumtree, had to spend a few $ on it to get it working properly but all up i was on the water fishing for about $2K, with only some fairly minor maintenance costs in the past 5 years.

Some advantages over the paddle kayaks:

- both hands free to fish

- much easier to fight larger fish when you can have two hands on the rod and still move the kayak around

- I can easily cover 20km in a day

- can troll at up to 5kn easily

- easier to maintain forward momentum in choppy conditions - more stability

disadvantages:

- generally heavier

- cost

- fins can be a bit limiting in super shallow waters (less than 30cm deep)

- more moving parts so more potential for breakages

the way i see it, i don't have a "real" boat, so i am saving $ straight up on 2 x regos, insurance etc.  to have a toy i can troll for flatties in 30cm of water or chase snapper and macks offshore on the right day with no real ongoing costs, easily transportable etc, for me it was not hard to justify the extra expense.  especially great now i can take the little one for a trip out as well.

just my 2c worth.

@Drop Bear

Hi all,

Headed up to Cotton Tree Holiday Park on the weekend with the family for a short camping trip.

Managed to sneak out on the yak on Saturday arvo when bubs went for a snooze.  I am not familiar with the area so thought i would go for a bit of a troll around and see what i could find.  Wasn't long before I got a hit in the shallows just off the edge of a sandbank and was a little surprised to see a 30cm bream on the end of the line, i was certainly expecting a flatty in that area.  I continued on and found a small flatty that liked my lure and while unhooking this one disturbed another in the super shallow water, massive puff of sand and a large flathead took off, estimated at about 80cm, super cool to see.

I continued on and found another flathead that was just legal but released.  i found a very likely looking area and soon caught a small flatty, had barely reset the lure when it got whacked hard, this one was even peeling line.  a fairly short but spirited fight ( @ellicat - the little wascal had spiwit) and a 38cm bream made it into the net, a quick measure and he was sent on his way.  another few smaller bream and a flathead soon followed from the same area.  I was then winding in one of the lures quickly to enable a quick easy turn around and the lure got whacked on the retrieve.  a few jumps and runs later i had a lovely probably 50cm tailor beside the yak but unfortunately the teeth found the leader and it was bye bye breakfast and $20 lure... 

the next day after packing up camp, i headed out with the wee one on board.  first port of call was to cruise across the shallows and look for stingrays which were thankfully plentiful that morning.  after that we had to stop and chase the soldier crabs around of course.  and then chase the seagulls.  after that, a quick museli bar and back on the yak to see if we can catch a fish.  not long after starting trolling along, a small flathead grabbed the lure, wee one was super keen to wind the handle and even pointed at the fish without me saying and said "flathead dadda".  I don't think i've ever been as proud a parent as then.  We watched the little flathead swim away and then not long after hooked up again and after some more handle winding and "it's a bream dadda".  again... so proud.  only her 2nd fishing trip too!  we let the bream go and then spent a while watching some pelicans feeding and then hooked something a lot heavier.  more handle turning and a "really really big flathead" appeared.  it was just over 50cm on the ruler which i guess isn't really really big but when you're only 1m tall it would appear pretty big.  we let this one go too as it was not quite big enough to feed the 3 of us on it's own - definitely its lucky day.

after that it was clear that kayak time was nearly over so a hasty retreat was sought, managed to make it back home before the bruce highway become a cluster ef which was good.

i don't have any fish photos to share this time but thought i would put the story up regardless.

cheers,

ben

Awesome stuff mate… fair play to @Allnighter for sharing his tips and helping get him over the line at last.

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