tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3680693968622455262024-03-13T23:16:46.711-07:00Sea kayak fishingReviews, reports and information about sea kayak fishing on the Yorkshire coast.Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-21282429613761174462015-06-26T05:17:00.000-07:002015-07-02T05:57:23.368-07:00Final post... :-(Well guys, you may have noticed I've not updated the blog for many months. The truth is that I no longer feel there's a need for me to write up what the blog offered - fishing tips and trips, reviews of tackle and advice on sea kayak fishing. <br />
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For a start, there's a lot more folk writing their blogs now, many of them semi-professionally. There's also plenty of forums on kayak fishing, some are even quite friendly. ;-)<br />
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Secondly, while there's always more tackle to review, I have a system now that works and I don't see a lot of change on the horizon... Weedless jigging for cod and soft plastics for bass is the way forward! Yes, I know I've been printing soft lures on my 3D printer and I've just bought a lobster pot - but you don't want to read about that, do you?!<br />
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Thirdly, the comments on Google / Blogger blogs are getting repeatedly spammed, unfortunately by humans employed to do just that. If you turn off the comments, you ruin the feedback you get from your audience...<br />
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Finally, I have so many other things on my plate at the moment that I don't have time or the energy to make a good job of the blog any longer, and if you can't do something well then there's not much point in doing it. So regrettably this is the last post...<br />
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:-(<br />
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It's been a great experience, and I wish you who've read the blog and enjoyed the articles - tight lines!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com82tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-55620965851117473262014-10-07T02:11:00.000-07:002014-10-07T02:11:12.794-07:00End of season bass fishingSo, what a splendid year it's been for me, with some incredible fish (my personal best cod at somewhere between 15-16lb), some very hairy moments (coming back over those standing waves round the back of Filey Brigg in a big swell) and finally ending up with a lovely mellow September, which allowed us plenty of time to go bass fishing, even if my own work commitments weren't quite so forgiving!<br />
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In previous years I used to waste parts of my summer messing about for bass too early in the year. These days I know better and don't even head towards the bass grounds until at least August, but more usually September / October. There is a risk with this strategy, in that in bad years you might only get one or two chances to go. But in most years, you'll get three or four chances, and that's easily enough to get my yearly quota of bass for the freezer (generally around 10-15 fish).<br />
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This year, September was frankly a bit of nightmare work-wise, with barely a free weekend, which meant the few opportunities I did get I was straight out there catching fish. Not much has really come on the scene this year with regard to new lures. Yes, a couple of late additions to what have become de facto weedless type minnows and sandeel lures have come along from Sidewinder and RedGill, but they've both arrived a little too late in the year to get a thorough testing. So once again I was down to the perennial favourites the 120 Fiiish Black Minnow (shore) in various guises and the 125 SavageGear Sandeel. There's been a fair bit of 'ummming' and 'ahhhing' over which of these is the best lure. The SavageGear is slightly cheaper, but the hook is exposed so you lose a lot more in the thick kelp that infests our marks. But which catches more fish?<br />
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Well they both work, there's no doubt about that. Casting from the kayak isn't an issue, so doesn't concern us here. The resilience of the BM 120 is possibly a bit better, but I've had half a dozen fish on one SG sandeel without it getting totally wrecked, so they're probably about equal. True, you can't really fish through the kelp with the SG eels, but provided you go gently over the top you won't loose too many of them. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LM3ZYu86NZo/VDMBV77FNII/AAAAAAAAOIU/kvNK-eRqHbM/s1600/P3110180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LM3ZYu86NZo/VDMBV77FNII/AAAAAAAAOIU/kvNK-eRqHbM/s320/P3110180.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another engulfed SG sandeel</td></tr>
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There is one thing I have noticed with the SG eels, and that is the fish tend to engulf them deep into their throats. I don't know if this means the fish really believe they are sandeels or not. The SG sandeel has livelier action than the BM 120, it really waggles its tail and wobbles from side to side, and it did outfish a friend who was fishing exclusively with the BM 120 alongside me, but there are many factors at play also, such as depth, speed and type of retrieve, all of which might have played a part. As I say, both lures catch fish. But you can see how often the fish swallow the SG eel whole in the two photos either side. If you like to return your bass, this might be an issue for you. Fish hooked on the BM are generally mouth hooked. <br />
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The fishing this year has been steady rather than spectacular. No red letter days of catching 20-30 bass or anything like that. Instead it seems to be all single fish in small patches of water. But over 5 or 6 hours, picking up a fish an hour gradually starts to add up. It doesn't make for a wildly exciting day's fishing, but at least it's not a total blank. My three sessions this year:<br />
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The largest fish in the last session was around 25", so about the 63cm mark. A long lean fish, it gave a far better scrap than you would think given its condition, and took me about five minutes before I could get it anywhere near the surface, and this was in about 12 feet of water!<br />
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In terms of new tackle, the two recent entrants to the weedless category of soft plastics I spoke of earlier do seem to have come a bit late in the year, no idea why companies can't get their production sorted out during the winter months to have stock ready for the summer months. What is the point of bringing a new lure to the market in late September? True the world's a big place, and it's not all about the UK, but for a company like Redgill I would have thought its main market was here and that the company would have wanted to test and try out the lures early in the season, so that they could be recommended to others for the rest of the summer!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">30g Sidewinder Weedless Super Minnow in Pearl</td></tr>
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The Sidewinder weedless minnow looks good, though the head is a bit heavy for fishing the shallow waters we favour for sea bass. The hook has a long shank, which means it really extends right down the length of the body - this is generally a good thing, as it means you get those fish that like to nip the tail of the lures. Choice of colours is a bit limited, and it has the feel of not really being made to target sea bass in particular, but the pearl colour is always good colour where we fish and I think this lure will do ok, particularly when the sea kicks up a bit in strong winds and you need to keep it below the waves. <br />
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The Redgill Evo Stix sandeels are a more interesting addition. Redgills have always been a staple in the boat angler's lure box and I think this is possibly the first time they've done a weedless variant of their famous sandeel which is known to every sea bass angler that has probably ever lived. But their high point of fame was probably back in the 1980s, when many good bass were taken on the lure. Since then, the soft plastic lure scene has exploded, particularly in the last decade and Redgill gradually lost their way amongst the plethora of Japanese and American imports.<br />
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So what does their latest soft lure, the Evo Stix offer? And I must say it looks good and it's a good price too. The soft plastic used is the very tough type, you can really feel it gripping the hook, so I'm quite hopeful they'll outlast even the SG eels. The hooks seem slightly on the short side, but one good thing about them is that they are a standard worm style hook. Unlike lures like SavageGear's 4play, that require the company's own, slightly odd hook, as standard hooks tend rip through the noses much sooner. One nice feature is that the Redgills come with a variety of weights for the same lure. The weights are simply hollow cones that slide up the line. Sometimes this type of weight can wear on the line, particularly around the hook knot, so it's worth checking them to see if there are any rough edges on the leads that could damage or fray your line. The 10g weight in particular looks perfect for skipping the lure along the top of the kelp beds.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">Mounted Redgill Evo Stix 145mm in mackerel, shown with the three included weights of 5gm, 10gm & 15gm</td></tr>
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The kit contains 3 weights, 2 Mustard hooks and 5 bodies, which is great value for £7, particularly when you compare it with a pack of rigged Black Minnows at £6.50 that contains just a single head and two bodies. My only doubt about the design is that the hook is mounted quite a long way up towards the head, but bass generally strike at the head of the lure anyway, so we'll have to see if this is a factor in missing the odd strike (though you could say that the weight forms part of the body, so in fact the hook extends further than it looks). I'm looking forward to testing these. I like their simplicity and I hope they do well.<br />
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All we need now is one last spell of calm weather before the season comes to an end and I can test them out and report back! Until then I'll leave you with another new item of tackle, my Penn Spinfisher. This sealed reel is only in its first season, so it's a bit early to say but so far so good. It has survived a couple of dunkings in the brine, the drag is lovely and smooth (it needs to be, there's no backwind) and it feels as smooth as when I bought it (which Penn critics will say isn't much, but it's smooth enough!). If I'm still doing the blog, I'll report back before start of the coming year, which is when any ingress of sea water will have done it's damage. <br />
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Until next time, tight lines!<br />
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Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com103tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-67576943627609421292014-09-03T04:35:00.002-07:002014-09-03T04:49:44.887-07:00Penn Spinfisher Fixed Spool Reel: SSV3500 SpinSo, another season and another new reel! What I hear you cry? Are you mad? What happened to all the others you've had?<br />
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Truth be told, is that the supposedly waterproof Alcedo lasted longer than most, but ultimately failed (twice). First time the spool jammed (and what else I don't know). Secondly the handle broke (rivet actually wore out, therefore unfixable). Italia fishing charmingly charged me £4 to send me my old handle back. Thirdly, the spool head lifting mechanism, that basically is a piece of metal with a groove in it for a pin on the main cog, shattered into pieces. This last one can only be down to poor quality alloy casting. Quite a mess, as you can see:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption">The wrecked gears of a two year old Alcedo Aluminum MTC Match Reel</td></tr>
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Now I could send good money after bad, thinking along the lines that having one wrecked reel will do for spares for the new one. But what if this is a design fault? Can't buy spares for them. To be fair to Alcedo, their Marine Spin reel (also reviewed on this site) has fared much better and is still going OK. But I felt it was time for a change. <br />
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Never really got on much with Penn fixed spools in the past. Always seemed a bit like dinosaurs from another (all metal) age; strong but too heavy, with a somewhat agricultural line lay and gearing. But last year Penn released a new watertight version of their Spinfisher series. The new spec has one or two nifty features, and I feel the time has come to have another look at their latest reel.<br />
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<b><u>Penn SSV3500 Spin</u></b><br />
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The baby of the series is still a pretty hefty beast. Penn seem to think their sizing should be a size larger than everybody else's for some reason, so for most of us a 3000/3500 size reel might be around the 300g mark or less. Not the SSV3500, on my scales this reel comes in around 412g mark (without line), so around an extra 4oz will be in your hand all day when casting. But does this matter, if we get five years out of it? Is the extra weight a sign of robustness? Only time can tell, and I must admit that I don't really notice the extra weight so far.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iW75ZQkDl_Y/VAX7gwdngSI/AAAAAAAANlg/UnzVkch9BqM/w1537-h865-no/IMG_20140902_171036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iW75ZQkDl_Y/VAX7gwdngSI/AAAAAAAANlg/UnzVkch9BqM/w1537-h865-no/IMG_20140902_171036.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SSV3500 between the Abu Cardinal Saltwater 174i (left) and the Alcedo Marine Spin 5000 (right). The Penn reel is heavier than both and just marginally smaller than the 5000 sized reel.</td></tr>
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The Penn SSV3500 feels smoother than previous Spinfishers that I've owned. Annoyingly, there is still a bit of play on the reel handle, something that you don't tend to find with brand new reels around the £100 mark (admittedly the SSV3500 is just short of that) but overall the reel is smooth and feels hefty and strong. The reel has the usual number of bearings, though Penn do stress that these are sealed and corrosion resistant. However, I've never had the bearings on a reel fail. For me, it's always the internal gears that go first, and saltwater ingress is the problem there. Hopefully the 'watertight' construction of the Penn SSV3500 will stop that being the first point of failure. <br />
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The reel's drag is also sealed and seems smooth. This is important, as the reel has no reverse, it's in permanent anti-reverse mode. If you like to play fish using the reverse rather than the drag, this might not be the reel for you. For me, I grew up trout fishing and have always played fish using the reverse gear of the reel. This was partly down to the poor quality of fixed spool drags 30 years ago. They were unreliable, sticking things that were best screwed down tight and forgotten. But modern sealed drags are different. They are reliable and smooth, and the arguments for maintaining a reverse gear on the reel are not as strong. Finally, it must be said that playing trout out on a mountain river using your reel's reverse is one thing. Trying to control the heart stopping plunge of a big pollack at sea using a reel's reverse gear is not going to happen. What is certain to happen is a breakage of something!<br />
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There is one killer feature I love on this new reel (other than it being watertight): a friction stop on the spool head when the bail is open. This is such a simple idea, but it effectively stops any chance of the reel handle swinging round and triggering the bail arm to close during a cast. For the vigorous casters out there, we've all had to suffer snap offs with expensive braid and watched our expensive Japanese plugs disappear into the distance. I reckon this should cure it. Yes, it's a friction stop. So you can force the handle to turn and it will trigger the bail arm to close as normal, but it encourages you to flick the bail arm over yourself after casting which I have always considered a good habit to get into.<br />
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The reel itself comes with a nice parts plan and helpful instructions on filling the spool / line lay (more below):<br />
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Ah yes, the line lay. This is probably the only weak point of the reel. Never been a strong point of Penn's in my opinion compared to the Japanese competition, and frankly it is a bit "rustic" if you get my drift. To be fair, Penn do supply some washers with instructions on how to fix the line lay if it tapers in either direction. But I'm mystified why they can't build it so that the line lay is straight? Most decent reels just work straight off, with no adjustment needed. I'm not sure what's going on here, and sure enough, I filled up my reel with 13lb Grauvell Teklon Gold Mono that has a diameter similar to most 8lb mono<span style="background-color: white; color: #545454; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18.200000762939453px;"> </span>and the line lay ended up tapered with a slight gap under the top lip of the spool and narrow at the top than the bottom:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EGy9Dw1aUqo/VAWN6VuNbMI/AAAAAAAANe8/cKfxhok81-M/w1537-h865-no/IMG_20140902_102747954_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EGy9Dw1aUqo/VAWN6VuNbMI/AAAAAAAANe8/cKfxhok81-M/w1537-h865-no/IMG_20140902_102747954_HDR.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The less than stellar line lay of the Penn SSV3500.</td></tr>
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I did as suggested and fitted a narrower washer to the base of the spool and we'll have to see if it rectifies the line lay over the course of the next trip. It might not be an issue, but it does seem a bit odd to have to do this on a brand new reel.<br />
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So do I recommend the Penn SSV3500 for sea kayak fishing? Not yet, it needs to last a couple of seasons first! But from the spec, the reel ticks most of my boxes for sea kayak fishing. It needs to be watertight and saltwater proof. These are the absolute minimum requirements for sea kayak fishing, as our reels get splashed every minute or so when trolling, either by paddles or waves. There's no way to avoid this, so any reel has withstand this treatment. Then there's the price. True, the Penn isn't the cheapest reel out there. But it is the cheapest watertight (not waterproof) reel out there. Penn do have a good reputation for making reliable, robust reels, albeit at a weight cost! But if you're considering a new reel for sea kayak fishing, there are very few around that can do the job if you want one that you can use for more than just a season and I'd definitely check it out.<br />
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As always, I'll update the review at the end of the season (which is pretty soon now) to let you know how the reel has performed on the sea.<br />
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<br />Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-80374585801419874272014-07-01T15:24:00.000-07:002015-06-26T05:19:42.001-07:00Personal best cod!So, I've been fishing the Brigg for some time now, and I always knew it had the potential for big fish. After all this place holds the British shore caught record for coalfish - a monster of 23lb. I've never even seen one into double figures!<br />
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I noticed in my first season there how the general stamp of the fish is bigger than several local marks - I regularly catch 7-8lbers there. But for some reason I never seemed to connect with anything much bigger. That was until today. OMG... When I hauled up this beast from the depths, my first thoughts were "can I get that in the kayak?!".<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P4Dnt3px6ag/U7MSLOhr92I/AAAAAAAAL-M/mFKC226Pm8A/s1600/P1010145.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-P4Dnt3px6ag/U7MSLOhr92I/AAAAAAAAL-M/mFKC226Pm8A/s1600/P1010145.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gnarled face of a 15lb cod - click on it to see the grim details!</td></tr>
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Yes, my feet are in the water and that thing's tail is in the footwell. Took about ten minutes to fetch it in, and made several powerful dives that initially made me think I'd tail hooked a big pollack or something. To be honest, I didn't know what I had on the end of my line til I saw it circling below me like some biege coloured whale! When I finally got to shore, the fish nose was just above my waist while its tail was dragging on the ground. What a big old, leathery beast!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X_-ge6NDtpg/U7MSeJCDLFI/AAAAAAAAL-U/DbijJTqQQ5s/s1600/P1010147.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X_-ge6NDtpg/U7MSeJCDLFI/AAAAAAAAL-U/DbijJTqQQ5s/s1600/P1010147.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thank goodness for those big gill plates - I don't carry a gaff!</td></tr>
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This was the start of a fantastic session. Which to be fair, had started in a less auspicious fashion by me hooking a pout. As this is a bit of rarity so close in, I thought I'd take a photo. Clipped my pliers in my pocket as I reached for my camera, and flip, plop, and gone over the side! Grrr! <br />
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After the whale of Filey was landed, it was basically a fish every drop, with many of them decent cod around the 5lb mark. All the cod bare a couple of the smaller ones were caught on the bottom SavageGear 4 Play soft lure (largest size, which is only just big enough). The rest were all on the 30mm Sakura Split shads - cod love these. Of course, there is always the odd nuisance fish, by which I mean inedible, even if they are often incredibly pretty:<br />
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Nice ballan wrasse, with those amazing turquoise tails. Later in the year, the Brigg really starts to show some big pollack and coalfish. This one barely counts! <br />
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There was a surprising amount of swell out there. Forecast was 2ft, which means round the back of the Brigg it will be anywhere from 4-8ft! <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">now you don't!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now you see it...</td></tr>
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It's almost impossible to show swell on a photo, best obviously in a video, but I couldn't be arsed to do one. Suffice to say, there was enough swell to make it very unpleasant coming back over the end o' the Brigg.<br />
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Sure enough, I realised that the swell was breaking in more or less a semi-circle in front of me and it was time to head back. There was a parking meter running, after all! But crossing that swell where it kicks up over the end the Brigg can be a bit of nightmare if you time it badly. Waves that look as though they are big but rolling (so passable with care) can suddenly start to break if a big series of them come through. I waited, and waited, and waited. And then made a mad dash for it. I have to confess I got lucky, I was very nearly tipped out twice when my rudder ended up out of the wave, leaving me only able to lean into the wave with the paddle. It was all a bit too close and messy, but thankfully I made it back into the Bay and found a quiet patch to gut the fish.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look back over the end o' the Brigg where I just came. Not for the faint hearted (or sensible!).</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Back on the beach, I was finally able to get the beast out of the front hatch and ready for gutting. Little photo shoot beforehand:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's not a toy paddle...</td></tr>
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If you know the size of cavernous front hatch of the Stealth Profisha 575, then you can see the girth and size of that cod. Gutting on the beach is not something I like doing, but unavoidable with this fish. This didn't go unnoticed in the town, and sure enough I had plenty of questions on my way back up to the car. Did chat with a chap who takes part in the local boat competitions, who said it was the biggest fish he's seen come from the behind the Brigg this year - his estimate was around the 15-16lb mark.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gutted beast back home - its head is bigger than mine, even after I caught it!!</td></tr>
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So with the other half dozen cod (and a random mackerel), the hairy crossing back into the Bay and my lost pliers, it was a pretty exciting trip. What a great sport this is! <br />
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Tight lines to all those fishing!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com166tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-43889433211403074962014-06-13T02:37:00.001-07:002014-06-13T02:38:00.574-07:00The return of the algal bloom?That was the question on everyone's lips yesterday, as we fished round the back of Filey Brigg. The area, which in the memorable phrase of one boat angler on channel 10, had "fished its tits off last week", with various claims of 30 stone of fish and more going to several boats. A fellow kayaker (Phil) was also dismayed at how the fishing had gone from hero to zero in just a few days. We ended up with a couple of fish, but nothing to write up about.<br />
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I guess no one really knows what kills the fishing when this happens. It's true that the sea had turned that horrible green we all associate with the algal bloom that's often called the "May Bloom", as that's when it usually appears. But my own theory is that the bloom is caused by excessive nitrates (fertilizer) being washed off the land into the rivers and then into the sea after periods of heavy rain. Yes, it's most common in May, but if that lot gets washed off the farmers put a fresh lot on. And the next time it rains (mid June in our case), back comes the algal bloom and bang, there goes the fishing! At least that's one theory. The truth is that there have been times when I've fished 12 hours after a fantastic session, same place, same tackle, same conditions and had no fish. So you just can't tell.<br />
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So with the fishing not up to much, we pootled along the Brigg, looking at the nesting guillemots, razorbills and puffins. From the water, the Brigg is pretty impressive. While obviously not on the scale of its near neighbour Bempton, and apparently devoid of gannets nesting (plenty flying about), it's still a pretty site and seems particularly popular with guillemots for some reason. There was a smudge of the lens for the first shot, but the others are reasonably clear (click to enlarge).<br />
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There is somewhere an old hand drawn map that gives names to every part of the Brigg and the fishing features nearby, and no doubt this bit has a name too, but I don't know it. The water just below the cliffs had escaped the dreaded bloom, and was absolutely crystal clear, which is how it should be at this time of year. <br />
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Roll on clear water next time we go!<br />
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Tight lines.Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-9507794584913211602014-06-01T12:06:00.001-07:002014-06-01T12:08:31.266-07:00The cod start in earnest...So, after the misery of our May bloom trip to Runswick Bay, and despite all the recent rain, I took advantage of what were forecast to be several days of calm weather. Turned out we only got a couple, and the day I went the forecast was pretty well wide of the mark.<br />
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Last year I fished behind Filey Brigg systematically for the first time, trying to work out what makes it such a productive but frustrating mark. On its day it's hard to beat, but there can often be long patches where the tide doesn't seem to do much and the fishing is dead. Then all of sudden, you'll have half a dozen fish in the same number of drifts. It seems to be all about trying to work out the sweet spots, both in terms of depth (which varies quite a bit behind the Brigg), place and tide. I guess that's the same for every mark you fish anywhere, but the Brigg can be mystifying at times as to why the fish are not there.<br />
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The forecast on Windguru had the swell at a foot and wind speeds under 10mph. I should know by know that a) the Brigg seems to always generate its own little local weather spot, particularly for the wind that comes down the edge of the Brigg, and b) the back of the Brigg is always a tricky, sloppy, unpredictable sea state, even on the calmest of days. So it was on Saturday. I was out on the water for around 6am and the weather on the Bay side was quite nice. But as I rounded the corner of the Brigg, sure enough I started to see the waves kicking up ahead of me and even breaking beyond the bell buoy. Going round the corner is always the "stomach in your mouth" moment of the trip, as the waves come in several directions at once. If the tide is running at pace, there are generally standing waves to negotiate into the bargain, and the whole bit is one where you need to keep your wits about you as you paddle.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dark and gloomy, but plenty of birds about this year. Noticed quite a few puffins too.</td></tr>
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That bit safely negotiated, the far side was pretty sloppy too with a far bigger swell than forecast making its presence felt via the usual clapotis off the back of the Brigg. Sure enough, I fished for a couple of hours with not much to show for my efforts. Then, as the tide really picked up pace, I started to catch cod. First up was the classic 'cod on the bottom with a pollack on the first'. Well, if not a pollack then its close cousin the coalfish. But it is remarkable how often that pattern is repeated. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CF_Y_SXeVYI/U4t25DcTKhI/AAAAAAAALlM/_J44L4i1hSY/s1600/P5310109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CF_Y_SXeVYI/U4t25DcTKhI/AAAAAAAALlM/_J44L4i1hSY/s1600/P5310109.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All the fish were on my new weedless rigs, with a big bottom soft plastic weighted with an inline trolling sinker, topped by a string of smaller soft plastics. Cod as always, fell to the big soft plastic on the bottom.</td></tr>
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After that there followed a hectic period, with a fish every drift and many missed. The wind was gusting quite strongly by now, which meant if you came too far out from the lea of cliff then the full force of both the wind and tide would catch you and you would end up drifting too fast to hold bottom. I don't generally like going much heavier than 4 or 5oz, so I restricted my drifts to short bursts that went outwards from the cliff at the 45 degree angle due to the tide. While the tide was running, the fish kept coming. But as it reached low water, and the flow slowed, the fishing dropped dead once more. <br />
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I hung around for a bit, but by now I had 6 good cod and a coalfish, and I felt that was enough for the day. Plus I was desperate for a p*ss and there's nowhere easy to do that round the back of the Brigg on a kayak, especially when half the world and his dog seemed to be out either fishing or walking! So I ran the gauntlet past the end of the Brigg, which for once had decent waves in my favour and I had a bit of nervous laugh surfing them for a few minutes until I was safely back in the calm waters of the Bay. One thing I love about the Stealth Profisha models is the built in rudder, it really does make a huge difference when you have to surf waves and it's an absolute joy to paddle in cross winds, which used to be the bane of my life trying to keep a straight course in the Scupper Pro.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rare shot of a cod bag for me, as the fish are still intact. Generally parts of them are feeding the crabs before I come home.</td></tr>
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Good first trip round the back o' the Brigg. No tackle losses, which suggests my new weedless rigs are working on the rough ground. The only downer for the trip was the fact I'd forgotten my knife, which meant I had to fetch all the fish back with their heads and guts intact! Bit of a nightmare, and not very green either, but it did mean you get what is a very rare shot from me of a bag of fish that actually look like fish in the bag, and not just carcasses! Fish stock anyone? :-)<br />
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Good luck to all those fishing.Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-71636685037050426162014-05-29T05:12:00.001-07:002014-06-01T12:16:41.502-07:00100,000 visitors milestone!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, it doesn't seem that long ago that I was celebrating 10,000 visitors to the blog. Fast forward a couple of years and the 100K mark passes in a blur. The site now averages about 4-5K visitors a month.<br />
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But I think this may well be the last year I run it. Just so busy I struggle to keep it up to date, add photos and reports and the like. We'll see. Hopefully I'll be able to add some stuff on 3D printed lures soon, and who knows what the coming months will bring. There's always some new innovation, though I suspect my days of big purchases are over, now that I have my beloved Stealth Profisha 575!<br />
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Tight lines.Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-46290405991157773902014-05-15T02:35:00.002-07:002014-05-15T02:36:49.301-07:00Alabama Rig for North Sea Cod?Well, if it works for black bass, why not for cod? They're just as greedy and stupid! But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. First off, what is an Alabama rig? Well there seem to be <a href="http://www.thealabamarig.com/about.htm" target="_blank">various claims</a> about who was the first to come up with the idea, but at its heart is an extremely simple representation of a shoal of baitfish. Essentially, the Alabama rig is a series of wires bound together with a lead head representing an even smaller fish. You push the wires outwards to make a star shape and attach a soft plastic to the end of each wire. The rig has had its share of controversy, some saying it's not sport fishing in any sense of the word, it's more of a commercial fisherman's rig. Indeed, it has been banned in a few states and bass tournaments in the US. <br />
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Luckily we face no such issues at sea! After all, this is a place where commercial fishing still goes on with unabated lust and little care for fish stocks. So let's have a look at the basic rig (you might need to click on the photos to get a better view):<br />
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This is how you get it. First spread the wires out:<br />
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Then attach your hooks and put on some soft plastics of your choice. The ones I've chosen here are probably a bit on the small size for this particular rig:<br />
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I think the better rigs out there have black swivels, these silver ones stand out too much in my opinion and I'm sure will attract mackerel. But if mackerel become a problem you can always up the size of the soft plastics to around 4" or bigger, especially with wide bodied shads, and that seems to put most of them off. The rig can now be folded up as you got it with the split ring, keeping everything nice and tidy:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShHxYWOiLZE/U3PIp1NL7EI/AAAAAAAALa0/2jut091y2fI/w1537-h865-no/IMG_20140514_204834138.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ShHxYWOiLZE/U3PIp1NL7EI/AAAAAAAALa0/2jut091y2fI/w1537-h865-no/IMG_20140514_204834138.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
I attached mine to a 4oz inline trolling sinker or lead weight, so that it can get down to where the cod are despite strong tides or high drift speeds on the kayak. The idea is bump them off the bottom on the first drop and then fish on the drift, jigging the rig just within touching distance of the bottom. I have some of the 3'' Sakura Slit Shads which I really rate that I'm sure will work great on this Alabama rig. So, there you have it. Simplicity itself, saves you tying up your own rigs, and gives a nice representation of a more natural group of baitfish than the 'string of lures' type rig we usually fish. Yes it doesn't have the big bottom shad which we've found so effective at nailing the big cod, but I'm sure the smaller spring cod and pollack will hit this rig hard!<br />
<br />
But as always, the proof is in the fishing. Roll on good weather tomorrow at Runswick Bay!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-70752633892525493262014-04-30T06:10:00.001-07:002014-05-15T02:37:04.904-07:00Cod in the fogSo, first trip of the year. Expectations high, weather forecast good, tackle primed and ready to go. We left our homes at 6am to be on the water for 7.30am and paddled out from Runswick in lovely conditions. There was a slight haze and the sun was weakly shining through a thin layer of cloud. For the first hour not much happened. We drifted. We jigged. We drifted and jigged some more. Then my mate radio'd in to say he'd had a whiting. A little later near Kettleness he reported a small coalie.<br />
<br />
Meantime I let the drift take me round the back of Port Mulgrove. Don't tend to fish this side of the bay much, but there's no reason not too. Had some good catches there in the past and sure enough, I started getting a few nips at the shads. Something I noticed last year is that smaller fish love trying to bite soft plastics, and will often follow them along the sea bed nipping at their tails, somethimes biting the tails clean off!<br />
<br />
Sure enough, as I held the rod up to lift the jellies off the sea bed, I started to get a few tentative nibbles. Then a pull, and I struck back into a small codling. One for the pot, so at least the first trip wasn't a blank! Few minutes later, another series of nibbles. This time I gently kept increasing the pressure until suddenly a felt a good pull back and up came another little cod. <br />
<br />
At this point my fishing buddy radio'd over to ask where I was, as he couldn't even see me... now, there was a little bit of haze around, so that didn't surprise me. So I radio'd back and started paddling back against the drift to go and meet him half way.<br />
<br />
And that's when it happened. He gradually came into sight, and I noticed the haze was getting thicker. But on reaching him, I literally turned back round realised the land had completely disappeared! The fog just seemed to roll in from nowhere in seconds, and it was a total pea souper. You could barely make out the sun and everything quickly became very disorientating.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whoa, where'd everything go? No sky, no land, no pot flags!</td></tr>
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Luckily we are both equipped with GPS devices (though mine's on my phone, so not ideal) and we were able to navigate back in towards Runswick. But the fog was so thick, and the tide so low, that even as we followed Mulgrove point round, we still weren't sure where we were. In fact even after landing on the sand at Runswick, it was hard to know where abouts on the beach we were, as you couldn't see the start of the grass or any cliffs. The fog literally gave us a little circle of about 50 metres around which you could make things out.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking up the beach, looking out to sea. Runswick Bay vanishes!</td></tr>
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I'm not one for paddling in those conditions, GPS or not, it's just too unsettling. You can hear boats around you but you can't see where they're heading. So we packed up and headed home. At least we shook off the winter cobwebs, tested the new weedless rigs and bagged a couple of fish:<br />
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Roll on the calm weather, the mackerel and the big cod that come following in behind!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-12242789521351640062014-04-08T06:44:00.000-07:002014-04-08T06:50:32.264-07:00Weedless rigs for cod and pollackReaders of this blog will know that last I tried some experimental rigs that replaced hokkais with small soft lures known sometimes as jelly worms or paddle tails. We had already found that by replacing the traditional pirk with a big weighted shad, we caught more cod and bigger cod. But the tackle losses continued to be heavy, despite the big shads only having a single hook and generally staying free of snags. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another fat cod falls to a big 6" bottom shad. </td></tr>
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The problem was the hokkais. These themselves are a more effective replacement for the traditional cod feathers, but essentially they are the same. A single exposed hook surrounded with a bit of fluff and plastic! And having three of these on a rig means that pot lines, kelp forests and even rough ground are a recipe for snags and tackle losses. Now I don't like throwing money away as much as the rest of you. Neither am I wildly keen about littering the sea bed with heavy lead weights and the rest of the rubbish that anglers use. I thought there has to be a better way. And so there was. <br />
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Last year we tried for the first time replacing hokkais with tiny jelly lures rigged weedlessly and the results were fantastic. I particularly like the Reins range of small paddletails called "Rockvibe Shad". We favour the 2" and 3" sizes, but it might be possible to go bigger. Sometimes it is possible just to leave a rig of these in the current and watch your rod tip as fish try nibbling at them! Of course if let them do that too long, you'll reel in a string of bare hooks! But despite the success we had with these lures last year, we were still losing tackle to snags. This time the culprit had to be the big bottom shad. The search was on for a weedless version of the big bottom shad. Not as easy as you might imagine. Most large shads are not designed to be weedless, they're usually designed to go with a weighted head which is nearly always not weedless. Unfortunately, even so called "heavy" shads are often just not heavy enough for use on the kayak as they are not intended to be used with a string of jelly lures above them. They might work ok on the their own, but when added to a rig of jellies the tide drag on a 100ft of water is considerable and means that shad needs to be at least around 100g / 4oz or more to fish the bottom effectively for cod.<br />
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Luckily my sea bass fishing had taken me down the route of soft lures several years previously. Many of these originally came over from the USA and Japan where they're widely used for black bass fishing, though they'll pretty much catch anything predatory. In recent years there have been a whole slew of designs targeting European sea bass in particular. Readers of this blog will know of my recommendations relating to Fiiish Black Minnows from a couple of years back, along with Savage Gear Sandeels and other paddle tail designs that I find are safer to fish with from a kayak (no stray trebles hooks) and catch just as many fish.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WyA2dXX959Y/UXZScDo6wWI/AAAAAAAAJRc/PloW2ahbKxo/s1600/20130423_090738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WyA2dXX959Y/UXZScDo6wWI/AAAAAAAAJRc/PloW2ahbKxo/s1600/20130423_090738.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early test rigged failed as the Black Minnow 160 heads <br />
were just too lightweight. BTW, the gap between<br />
the bottom shad and the next jelly should not be more<br />
than about 10" (i.e bit less than shown).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Fiiish Black Minnow as we all know has become incredibly popular, despite its relatively poor casting from the shore. One of the main reasons for its popularity is the fact that it is rigged to be weedless, thus reducing snags amongst weed and rocks. I had hoped to use the bigger versions as a weedless bottom shad for my cod rigs. The larger size, the 160mm and above, do work as single lures (though the very largest 200mm is just a bit too big for close in cod jigging, IMHO). But at 60g the 160mm just isn't heavy enough to get a rig of jelly lures down to the bottom when drifting against a strong tide. We needed something about double that!<br />
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<br />
I thought about my early experiments fishing single 25g 4" shads weighted down with two 1oz bullets. It looked awful, but the cod didn't seem to mind. The answer surely had to be fish a big weedless soft lure using a decent lead weight. After much internet searching, I finally found a lead mould that met all my requirements. The Do-It Mold 'Inline trolling sinker' model D3139. This mould casts 3, 4 and 5oz weights. All you need are No. 2 brass or stainless steel loops for either end.<br />
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After an hour or so melting lead in the back garden, I had a dozen different inline sinkers to try out. The next task was to find some big shads that could be rigged weedlessly. To be honest, this has proven much harder than I thought it would be. A decent sized shad for large cod is around 6" / 150mm. You can go longer, particularly if you use a sandeel or launce imitation. In that case, anything upto 200mm is probably OK, though there is an upper limit with regard to hook size. If the lure gets too long, then you find that it's difficult to purchase the right shape and size offset hook.<br />
<br />
Most offset hooks go up to about 5/0. When what we need is about a 6/0. Of course, you can use a smaller shad. The market is flooded with small 4 or 5" shads that can be rigged to be weedless. I found that two nice soft lures in this sort of range that can be rigged with offset hooks are the SavageGear 4play softlure and the Daiwa D’Swim. Here they are shown rigged to 4oz inline sinkers. The D'Swim has a Krog hook for the largest size Black Minnow (200), the SavageGear lure has a Krog 160 hook. These hooks are fantastically strong, ideal for hauling up big cod:<br />
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You can see how streamlined the weights look. The remainder of the rig is simply to attach the Reins Rockvibe Shads above the weight (you can click on these to enlarge them):<br />
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A simple piece of hose cut lengthwise with a slit in either end make a simple rig holder and keeps everything neat and tidy. You can tuck the little jelly lures into the piece of hose to stop the rig unravelling:<br />
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That's it! To my knowledge this is the first truly weedless cod rig I know of, specifically designed to be fished from a kayak for our waters. It should cut down the tackle losses to a bare minimum as there are no hooks exposed. Yes, the lead might still get caught up in a cleft between boulders or something, and I know there's no such thing as a completely snag free rig, but I think this is as close as it gets. If you have any recommendations for big shads that can be rigged weedless with offset hooks around the 6" / 150mm mark, please let me know! Until then...<br />
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Tight lines for the coming season!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-29097370100214973222014-01-14T14:39:00.000-08:002014-01-15T05:09:29.062-08:00What can 3D printing do for anglers?Well folks, I admit that I've been absent a long time from the blog. In fact, I had been considering retiring / archiving the lot. When I started blogging about sea kayak fishing, there was a great deal that was new, particularly for the UK. There was a great deal that could be put up and easily found by anglers new to the sport that would be useful to them. As time has gone on, the number of fishing blogs has naturally blossomed into the thousands, even amongst the kayak fishing fraternity. There is no longer the need to help out the beginner, to constantly try out new tackle and report back as there are just so many more people out there doing exactly the same. <br />
<br />
The other perhaps slightly worrying thing is that I feel at a point where there isn't much left to improve. I'm not far off having what I would consider the perfect set up for me. I have what I consider the best fishing kayak (Stealth ProFisha 575), I have a top end dry suit (Kokatat), I have found a way to weedlessly jig for cod and pollack with rigs that far outfish traditional hokkei and pirk rigs. My seabass fishing is also much improved. Gone are the lethal triple sets of treble hook infested plugs costing £25 a throw in favour of single hook soft plastics. I've found reasonably reliable reels that can withstand the salt to a large degree. I've found some nice kayak sized rods that allow the fish to give a good account of themselves but which can handle the odd monster. There's really not much left on the horizon that I can see which really gets me excited about future developments. <br />
<br />
But, just when you're ready to let your blog die a natural death of neglect, along comes a game changer. Something that could fundamentally change the relationship anglers have with top lure manufacturers permanently, and something that may well result in an explosion of home spun innovation from hobbyists anglers all over the world.<br />
<br />
That game changer is 3D printing. The ability to print objects from strong rigid plastics like ABS, the same plastic used by Duo, IMA and other top Japanese lure manufacturers, will change how people buy and design this type of hard lure. But 3D printers are also printing in newer flexible materials that will let us print out soft lures. It's hard to imagine, but I really think this is the future and it's not as far off as you might imagine.<br />
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<h4>
3D printing and what does it mean for me?</h4>
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Put simply, a 3D printer uses a 3D file format to print solid objects by adding very thin layers of melted plastic on top one another until the object is printed. It's not fast, and the quality is often poor. A fair way to compare it would be to try and recall the early dot matrix printers - do you remember how awful they were? Yet within five years we would have relatively cheap laser printers rivalling professionally printed documents. Five years after that and we had cheap inkjet printers for everyone. And that's the kind of revolution in quality and speed I'm expecting to happen with 3D printing.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cel-robox.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/RBX-01KS_ISO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.cel-robox.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/RBX-01KS_ISO.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The CEL Robox 3D printer in its Kickstarter colours!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I recently backed the <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robox/robox-desktop-3d-printer-and-micro-manufacturing-p" target="_blank">Robox project on Kickstarter</a> by a small Bristol based company called <a href="http://www.cel-uk.com/" target="_blank">CEL</a>. You might have seen them on Dragon's Den, where they successfully pitched an idea for a battery powered <a href="http://www.cel-uk.com/celwork/power8workshop/ws3.html" target="_blank">multi-tool workshop</a>. I'd wanted to explore a little about 3D printing, but the technology always promised more than it delivered, a little like the early attempts at smartphones by Nokia and the like. They were horrible, rip-off phones with woeful usability, but it has to start somewhere. The Robox 3D printer cures some of the most annoying usability problems with 3D printers that have really held them back for the last few years and I think the technology looks mature enough for me to dip my toe in and experiment making a few things. The quality is definitely starting to get good enough to fool fish:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cel-robox.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Buddha_50mu_pencil_cu_2000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.cel-robox.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Buddha_50mu_pencil_cu_2000.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3D printed at 50 microns and this will no doubt improve soon, but even this level of finish is perfectly acceptable for most fishing tackle!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Naturally, I wanted to start with some fishing tackle and the obvious target were the extremely expensive but beautifully made Japanese sea bass plugs. We've all seen photos like this one of the internals of a top end Duo lure on Henry Gilbey's website:<br />
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It looks impossibly sleek, incredibly difficult to make, a thing of great beauty. But is really that difficult to make? It would be, if you had to carve out the shape in wood, create a mould, work out the interiors and weights. Duo estimate this process generally takes around 2 years from design concept to finished product. That's an enormous investment of labour. No wonder the end product is so darned expensive!<br />
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But let's try a little experiment. Using a simple, freely available 3D design program like <a href="https://tinkercad.com/" target="_blank">TinkerCad</a>, could you create two halves of plug that you could just print out, glue together and experiment with until you got the casting weight and action you wanted? I don't see why not. I spent one weekend having a go. The results convinced me that I wanted to buy a 3D printer to find out:<br />
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Wow, just add tungsten ball bearings, stainless steel wire loops and plumber's glue! If I could do that in a weekend without any prior knowledge of 3D modelling software then I imagine a whole lot more sophisticated stuff is possible after a few years experience. I'm not saying that my rough design would work as it is, but it could form a simple prototype on which to refine. Don't forget, I can print this stuff out like printing out a receipt for just a few pence. <i>I can afford to experiment. </i>Now this is starting to get interesting!<br />
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I'm <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:25437/" target="_blank">not the only one</a> who's seen the potential for this. New flexible materials will be coming to a 3D printer near you in the future - in fact it's already started:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/31/07/b2/28/c0/Tadpole_withhook_preview_featured.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://thingiverse-production.s3.amazonaws.com/renders/31/07/b2/28/c0/Tadpole_withhook_preview_featured.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3D printed soft lure using white Ninjaflex filament.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
There are plastic filaments for 3D printing that glow, there are even plant-based plastics that biodegrade - why not? If it costs peanuts to print them out, why not just chuck them into the sea when they break and let them degrade back into plant food with no damage to the environment? This could be great in so many ways!<br />
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Anglers are always making stuff, and anglers have been making their own tackle since the year dot. But there was always a gap between professional tackle makers and the gifted amatuer. In recent years, that gap has probably widened more than it ever has, but with 3D printing I see the pendulum start to swing the other way. This is a very interesting development, and it's just enough to make me continue with the blog a bit longer!<br />
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Not saying that I won't still post my summer catch reports, or any developments that are particularly useful to me, but I think I might have found something that's got my mojo up and running again! I'm downright excited by the prospect of 3D printers for fishing. And you, dear reader, can expect the more than the odd report of my own experiments with <i>printing out fishing tackle!</i><br />
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That's it for now - more in the coming months. Don't forget to check your reels and rod rings over the winter months for signs of wear and damage. It's amazing how that stuff catches up with everyone at the same time and then you find everywhere is out of stock of the stuff you need!<br />
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Happy new year and tight lines for 2014.Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com347tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-1472313528629842762013-10-24T07:45:00.000-07:002013-10-24T07:45:55.563-07:00Duo photo competition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://duo-inc.co.jp/en/staffblog/images/934822_491501750905520_931244736_n.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="http://duo-inc.co.jp/en/staffblog/images/934822_491501750905520_931244736_n.png" width="320" /></a></div>
It's the start of the close season and Duo have started up their photo competitions. This time they ask you to take picture of Duo lures in your city, which is a bit different. Full details are <a href="http://duo-inc.co.jp/en/staffblog/2013/10/111813.php" target="_blank">here</a> and the closing date is the 15th November. There will be 5 prize packs to be won, so get clicking!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-40725991305401590462013-10-16T04:13:00.003-07:002013-10-18T01:06:52.514-07:00Grim east coast forecasts ending the sea kayak fishing seasonOh dear. If you will go putting all your sea bass eggs in the end of season basket, prepare to lose half of them when Mother Nature dumps several weeks worth of autumnal storms on your favourite beaches. In my last post I talked about leaving the bass fishing on the kayak until Sept / Oct can mean that you end up with the same catches overall as you would have had if you'd gone for more trips in the less productive summer months. <br />
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But of course for that calculation to work, you have to be able to get out in the kayak. For the last few weeks the wind charts on windguru have looked like this:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YCJmkw7pzLg/UmDsENnHa8I/AAAAAAAAJrY/WzBhgL5cuH8/s1600/Fullscreen+capture+18102013+090356.bmp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YCJmkw7pzLg/UmDsENnHa8I/AAAAAAAAJrY/WzBhgL5cuH8/s400/Fullscreen+capture+18102013+090356.bmp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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There's far too much magenta on that chart for the next week! And there's every chance that the week after will follow the same pattern. Even if the winds subside, the sea will take a good few days to clear. <br />
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So was my last trip the final trip of the year? Let's hope not. It'll mean I ended up with very few sea bass this year, despite a bonanza year for cod and pollack. I still hold out hope of one last trip while I can cycle to work without gloves, but every day more and more leaves are falling while each morning I wake up it's darker and colder...<br />
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and once the gloves come on, that's me done with sea kayak fishing for the winter!<br />
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Tight lines for those able to get out (you lucky south and west coast people!).<br />
<br />Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-5701662206076526822013-09-23T05:30:00.000-07:002013-09-23T05:30:38.898-07:00The joys and frustrations of trolling for bass<h4>
Start of the autumn bass fishing!</h4>
Well it's that time of year again when the 'cod goggles' finally get taken off and I start to focus on sea bass. My sea bass window is surprisingly short, just a few weeks, as bad weather can be a curse at this time of year. You might ask why I wait until now to target them as a species? The reason is that although you can pick up several fish over the course of session during July and August, you only really start to hit the good sessions later in the year. Besides which, before that there's plenty of great fishing to be had with the cod, pollack and mackerel. <br />
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Anyhow, it's late September and now the chances of picking up decent bass starts to increase. I set out yesterday to try some of my favourite marks despite the unpromising forecast. Winds were predicted to be westerlies with gusts to 30mph! However, the average wind speed was meant to be around the 15mph max. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. <br />
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If the winds were a tad on the big side, so was the tide. The two flowing in the same direction made fishing almost impossible in the morning session. With my apologies for the poor quality photographs, you can see the short steep chop making the sea messy and unpredictable. Couple that with the wind knocking off the tops of the waves and you had some pretty challenging conditions. One factor of the Pro Fisha 575 which is usually a boon worked against me yesterday. The 575 is known to weathercock in strong winds so that you end up with your back to the wind while fishing (this behaviour is due to the classic Stealth yak design of low backside and nose being clear of the water). Generally this is what you want. But yesterday was a strong westerly and as the sun rose bright as a button in the east, I was forced to fish into the dazzle. Even with good sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat, staring into the choppy glitter for several hours was not much fun.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4YnM3PdzypE/UkAsJFVllJI/AAAAAAAAJog/0mAPVleqGrY/s1600/P9210089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4YnM3PdzypE/UkAsJFVllJI/AAAAAAAAJog/0mAPVleqGrY/s400/P9210089.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Short chop and strong winds made fishing difficult.</td></tr>
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But the water looked good. Reasonably clear, but with a pronounced green, milky tinge to it. Perfect for bass fishing. If I could just get more than three casts in over a drift! It was a case of paddling 10 mins back up to the start of the mark, then hurtling down to the bottom of the mark in about 3 mins! After just a single fish over three hours, and battling almost continuous wind and wave spray, I called it a morning and went on shore to share a sandwich with some fellow kayak fishermen. <br />
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Fortified with food, the shifting position of the sun and noticing a slight drop in the wind, I set out again determined to find the bass. The tide had slowed a little as low tide was approaching, and all of a sudden the bass started to appear in numbers. The frustrating thing was that I just couldn't find them while casting! The only way I could catch any was to troll my lure behind the kayak. Inevitably this would result in an immediate hook up. I landed fish after fish, each starting to fish immediately in the area where the fish was hooked, but I couldn't entice a single fish. Eventually I'd give up, cast out and start trolling back up to the start of the mark and bang! Another fish on!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XnV8iEcftg4/UkAsI7rPLKI/AAAAAAAAJpA/mKuAhZ99I0A/s1600/P9210095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XnV8iEcftg4/UkAsI7rPLKI/AAAAAAAAJpA/mKuAhZ99I0A/s400/P9210095.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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I don't have the explanation why trolling sometimes beats conventional fishing. It must be something to do the speed, depth of the lure, etc. But it might also have something to do with the rocking action of the kayak imparting just the right movement to the lure. I tried everything I could think of to mimic the trolling action of the kayak, but I could not get a fish to bite. It's bizarre, but it's happened to me before. One of the problems when you try to recreate the action of trolling is that it's very difficult to judge the speed at which your kayak moves through the water when trolling and to then copy that using your reel while trying to counteract the effect of your drift speed. The rod too points upwards in the rod holder, meaning that the lure probably also rides higher up in the water than usual. Then there is the rocking motion of the kayak. Generally it's pretty slight, but yesterday the conditions were as rough as I'm prepared to paddle and the rod tip might have been moving more than usual.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w8lctWxLTNY/UkAsJCYHDGI/AAAAAAAAJo8/9gh1l_r3dJs/s1600/P9210091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w8lctWxLTNY/UkAsJCYHDGI/AAAAAAAAJo8/9gh1l_r3dJs/s400/P9210091.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rare underwater shot that actually worked of a bass coming in!</td></tr>
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Whatever the reason, thanks to being able to successfully troll I was soon getting a fish a drift and quickly got into double figures. As I went along I took some for the pot and returned the rest. Some involuntary - one was just about to get clobbered with my priest when it gave one last wriggle for freedom, got out of my hands, over legs and into the water. I had to laugh - bass are an aggressive fish with plenty of attitude, one of the reasons they give such good sport.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x6JP_fvF4HQ/UkAsJn99M5I/AAAAAAAAJpI/AKD2Sr5ouc8/s1600/P9210096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-x6JP_fvF4HQ/UkAsJn99M5I/AAAAAAAAJpI/AKD2Sr5ouc8/s400/P9210096.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black minnow 120 doing what was it was bought for.</td></tr>
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Once again the soft lures proved their worth. I still meet with anglers who believe in the hard lure propaganda spread by obsessive tackle tarts on the forums. Most hard lures are an expensive rip off. Yes, I was sponsored by Duo last year. But if I can be converted to soft lures, and I got some of the best hard lures that money can buy for free, then anyone can. Let's look at the main advantages:<br />
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<ol>
<li><b>They're cheap and effective.</b> About three to one against hard lures in terms of their price.</li>
<li><b>They use a single hook.</b> This is so much safer in a kayak that there shouldn't really be any discussion about the matter. Why risk landing a flapping fish with three sets of trebles in between your legs? It's bonkers! Stick with single hook lures and let's have no more horror stories of treble hooks embedded in thumbs while at sea and needing to paddle home. It's an accident waiting to happen.</li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5YWb9SMJOOw/UkAsKMWTH3I/AAAAAAAAJpM/P-BU-TkPkWo/s1600/P9210098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5YWb9SMJOOw/UkAsKMWTH3I/AAAAAAAAJpM/P-BU-TkPkWo/s400/P9210098.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another slab-sided Yorkshire bass. Cracking!</td></tr>
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So despite the weather, I ended up with a bag of eight fish, with probably double that caught over the day. I've probably one or two more sessions left before the season closes for me personally. You might think that just three bass sessions per year barely counts as fishing, but it's all in the timing. I will catch more in those three sessions than I would have if I'd been ten times earlier in the year. Trust me, I've done it. Fingers crossed that the weather is kinder next time!</div>
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Tight lines.</div>
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<br />Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-60706793990184542952013-07-22T08:54:00.000-07:002013-07-22T03:23:03.050-07:00Big cod and pollack still about!Only had time for a quick trip to the back o' the Brigg after my hols and conditions proved tough. After all that hot weather, you would have thought the water would have cleared nicely. But to our dismay, not only were we to be paddling under clear blue skies, we soon discovered that the water was bright green and full algal growth, not too dissimilar to the May bloom of a month back. <br />
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And to add to our distress, we timed it terribly. We got there bang on low tide. Long walk out to the sea followed by paddling out to the end of the Brigg only to find that the tide was slack. That meant basically a two hour wait before the tide would pick up speed and we could expect to see some fish. In the meantime we paddled about, hoping for the odd early mackerel but surprisingly nothing could be found. It seemed everywhere we looked it was the same story: people were trying half an hour here and there but not finding any fish. It was very hot out there under the sun in a dry suit I can tell you!<br />
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Eventually the tide did pick up, the water cleared up a bit and we started to get a few small codling showing. My mate was first to the cod with a nice fish to his bottom shad:<br />
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I followed this with another thumping pollack, not far off the beauty I'd had here a few weeks before. Again this fell to the jellyworm fished just above a big bottom shad. Pollack rarely tackle the big shads, not sure why. If you know how big the Stealth Pro Fisha 575 hatch is, you can get an idea of the length of that pollack.<br />
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Shortly after this I was into a decent cod myself and finished the day like that:<br />
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All in all it wasn't a bad session, given our rotten timing, the ridiculously hot weather and the horrible green water when we first arrived! <br />
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Not long now before I move onto the bass. Still hoping for one or two decent mackerel sessions and a few late cod. You can never have too many cod in the freezer!<br />
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Tight lines to all those fishing.Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-87021532789610246072013-07-16T05:37:00.000-07:002013-07-16T05:37:37.642-07:00Speed test of the Stealth Pro Fisha range<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.stealthpp.co.za/all-3-pro-fishas-speed-tested-analysed/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://www.stealthpp.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/IMGP1484-Medium.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
An excellent<a href="http://www.stealthpp.co.za/all-3-pro-fishas-speed-tested-analysed/" target="_blank"> review and analysis</a> by Brett Challenor using a Garmin GPS unit of the three Pro Fisha kayaks from Stealth. <br />
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As you would expect, the mighty 575 is the quickest, averaging 11km/h! That's damn quick for a fishing kayak but I suspect it might not be so easy if you're not a top paddler like Brett... <br />
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<a href="http://www.stealthpp.co.za/all-3-pro-fishas-speed-tested-analysed/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://www.stealthpp.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/DSCF5274-Medium.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
But the "big guy yak" 525 isn't that far behind at 10km/h. This yak has a lot more buoyancy and stability, as tested by the well-muscled chap above (a good 30kg heavier than Brett!). <br />
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The shortest yak in the range (but still respectable) 475 managed an average speed of equivalent to the 525. So what you gain in length doesn't really offset the greater stability needs of the 525. Very interesting read. Very impressed with my 575, it's the quickest fishing kayak I've ever paddled and as a dedicated platform it's not really missing anything that I need. I'm not in any way affiliated with Stealth, but I really think the Pro Fisha 575 is great product and I'm happy to spread the word!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-89618798572061847922013-07-08T03:15:00.002-07:002014-09-03T04:43:53.465-07:00Saltwater-proof spinning reel? First look at the Alcedo Hokkaido Marine Spin 5000Some of you who know this blog will be wondering if I'm not a glutton for punishment, after previously having difficulty with another <a href="http://seakayakfishing.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/sealed-fixed-spool-spinning-reel-for.html" target="_blank">Alcedo reel that claimed to be waterproof</a>. Thing is, firstly their agent for the UK did replace the reel after it jammed, clearly having got saltwater inside. Secondly, the reel was pretty good otherwise. When I got the replacement, I ignored the silly "you'll void your warranty if you open it up" warnings and applied plenty of good quality reel grease to anywhere I thought the brine could get it. And so far, it's held up much better than its predecessor. Not that difficult, I suppose, given the first lasted less than a season.<br />
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So why, you might ask, have I gone out and bought another reel from them? Well, Bill (their agent) did say that they were working on making a saltwater resistant reel (notice the careful wording). The new reel, the Marine Spin 5000 is pretty much the same reel as the Aluminium MTC, other than its supposed saltwater resistance. Which means it could be a good thing, given that the Aluminium MTC failed in just a few weak places. That reel was never waterproof, which is why when the salt got inside, it was doomed to fail as the materials weren't saltwater proof. The spool jammed, the reel pretty much seized up solid.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u9GTkWjWO24/UbnkM4z5TgI/AAAAAAAAJkA/M8P8Jxjnguc/s1600/20130608_100027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u9GTkWjWO24/UbnkM4z5TgI/AAAAAAAAJkA/M8P8Jxjnguc/s400/20130608_100027.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah, the handle's big, but it's not that big! Sorry for the weird "phone camera" perspective!</td></tr>
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Anyhow, here we are again. The Marine Spin is a bigger reel than the Aluminium MTC, so it should handle the hard work of many hours plugging and soft lure work, particularly as some of the lures get up to an ounce or two. Surprisingly, the reel is only 100g heavier, which means it works as an ideal replacement for light jigging work where you would generally use a multiplier. Hence I guess the enormous power handle, which looks purpose made for jigging and was one of the reasons I bought it, having<a href="http://seakayakfishing.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/that-horrible-moment.html" target="_blank"> lost my previous set up</a> over the side! But I've also come to the conclusion that even with a spiral ring placement on your rod, using a fixed spool to jig rather than a multiplier is just a lot easier. The problem to date has been the reliability of fixed spools is nowhere near that of multipliers, particularly in hard marine environments.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weasel words or the genuine article? We'll see in a few months time.</td></tr>
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The Marine Spin 5000 certainly looks the part, handsomely finished in orange and black. It feels pretty beefy and it should be with a compromise gear ratio of 4.9, which isn't the fastest nor the slowest but should be low enough for winching those scaly beasts up from the depths. The reel is perhaps not as smooth running as the smaller Aluminium MTC but is perfectly acceptable. I might feel differently if this was going to be my main spinning reel, but it going to be mostly used for jigging for cod and pollack, so it won't get the huge number of hours of use that a spinning reel gets. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCp0wC0utI8/UbnkL3J4pTI/AAAAAAAAJj0/8QhIOgqTHG8/s1600/20130608_102618.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZCp0wC0utI8/UbnkL3J4pTI/AAAAAAAAJj0/8QhIOgqTHG8/s400/20130608_102618.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The handle looks great for hanging on when those heart-stopping pollack-thumps strike without warning. The clutch seems silky out of the box. We'll see if starts to stick after a few months of being drenched in paddle and wave splashes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
The line lay with 33lb braid (15kg Power Pro Depth Hunter) is good, no evidence of bedding even when pressure is applied on the retrieve. The drag seems particularly good, but they always do straight off the production line! Let's see how smooth it is after a few dunkings in the brine... :-) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Although Alcedo, like all reel manufacturers, like to shout about how many bearings etc. the reel has (it has 8), the only thing that really counts for sea kayak fishermen is whether it can keep out the salt. That remains to be seen. My new Shimano boat rod has a long handle (so long I took 4" off it - <a href="http://seakayakfishing.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/shimano-vengeance-slim-boat-rod-6-12lb.html" target="_blank">see here</a>), which keeps the reel pretty clear of stray waves. Of course, when sea kayak fishing, reels always get splashed with sea water, particularly if you're doing a lot of trolling. They have to be able to withstand that one basic requirement and I'm hopeful that the Alcedo Marine Spin 500 will do just that. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Like always I'll be reporting back on the reel at the end of the season with an update on how the reel has performed. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>5 trips update!</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
So far, so good. Reel has been dunked and splashed in saltwater and is still turning smoothly. It gets rinsed with freshwater after each trip but I'm pleasantly surprised. The drag remains pretty smooth (slight stickiness on higher kg loads, but hasn't failed me when getting hit hard by big pollack) and it's proved itself capable of winching up some big cod.. No visible signs of rust anywhere yet and the body coating has taken a far battering. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The end of season update will follow in the winter months.<br />
<br />
<b>End of season update</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Done ok this reel. Slight stiffness on picking it up after the winter period, but used it all through 2014 so far and it seems fine. Had several dunkings in the brine, still holding up. Thumbs up so far!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xfnbvfIA8sA/VAWPdYS7FAI/AAAAAAAANfo/IpeS78Swgi0/w1537-h865-no/IMG_20140902_103508214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xfnbvfIA8sA/VAWPdYS7FAI/AAAAAAAANfo/IpeS78Swgi0/w1537-h865-no/IMG_20140902_103508214.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Battered but hanging in there, so far so good after its 2nd season.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br /></div>
Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-86389734156240596662013-06-20T06:01:00.001-07:002013-06-24T13:06:44.441-07:00Cod bonanza!The summer cod have well and truly arrived. My latest session at the "back o' Brigg" resulted in cod after cod, ending up with seven for the bag with the best going on 7lb. I also had two pollack, with one being even bigger than the best cod! All in all, a cracking trip.<br />
<br />
It started slow. The weather seemed perfect (overcast and windless) and the water was clearer than I have seen for a long time, lovely to see it like that after the May bloom a few weeks back. I thought I was going to "fill my boots", but I started with a few tentative drifts towards the end of the Brigg with very little to show for it. I started with my <a href="http://seakayakfishing.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/weedless-jigging-rig-for-cod-and-pollack.html" target="_blank">weedless jigging rig</a> using the 160 size Fiiish Black Minnow as the bottom shad and three Reins Rockvibe Shad 3" UV King Silver soft lures above it. <br />
<br />
I was actually surprised and disappointed that my first drift didn't produce a fish! The next only produced small stuff. And the next after that. Where were all the decent cod? After an hour or so, it became clear that the perfect conditions were not producing perfect fishing conditions. I had a couple of boats come past me to ask how things were going and it seemed slow for everybody. The weather was just getting darker and darker, and in the humidity and heat I started to worry about thunderstorms forming. <br />
<br />
I decided to change to a 6" bright orange shad for the bottom above the little Rockvibe shads. It was nice and bright and might just attract fish. Sure enough, almost immediately I was into a fish. It slipped off and I reeled in to check the rig and noticed that one of the rockvibe shads was missing. Replaced it, dropped it down and bang! First decent cod of the day. OK, there are fish about! I paddled back up to the start of the drift. The tide was really racing through now in the same direction as the breeze, which meant I was drifting at pace. I'm not a fan of anchoring up, as I never fish bait and I believe that drifting lets you cover more ground. Sure on occasion you can lose the fish if they're tightly clustered, but for most of the time covering more ground is what gets you the fish. <br />
<br />
Whether that big orange shad really did draw fish in, or whether something changed in the tide or currents, I don't know. But the fish started coming thick and fast. Before I knew it, I was hitting (and losing) big fish. I could feel some of them were pollack - no mistaking that initial run for cover! But then I hit into something heavy, doing the typical "head nodding" fight of a cod, but then also trying to dive. I couldn't work out what was going on, but it was something pretty large whatever it was...<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V8HKBtmGFuU/UcLwgtB2seI/AAAAAAAAJko/32zHexhjWw8/s1600/P6180051.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V8HKBtmGFuU/UcLwgtB2seI/AAAAAAAAJko/32zHexhjWw8/s400/P6180051.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ah, cod as long my foreleg and a pollack to match. Bring it on!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nhNpVzdJDbw/UcLwhCSuzZI/AAAAAAAAJk4/MFI-yIiF6S8/s1600/P6180052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nhNpVzdJDbw/UcLwhCSuzZI/AAAAAAAAJk4/MFI-yIiF6S8/s400/P6180052.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice coloured cod about 7lb, pollack about 4 or 5lb.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
That's it, I was off! Every drift resulted in a fish or me getting smashed or losing a fish. Before long, the pollack really started showing, resulting in some hefty specimens:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o7JI76BV6p8/UcLwhjkSaPI/AAAAAAAAJk8/kHdXbxsNUwY/s1600/P6180054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o7JI76BV6p8/UcLwhjkSaPI/AAAAAAAAJk8/kHdXbxsNUwY/s400/P6180054.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Biggest pollack ended up around the 8lb mark. I lost a few that we're probably bigger...</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What was strange though was that almost every fish, even the better cod, ignored the big orange shad instead going for the little Reins Rockvibe shads above. That can only mean one thing - the sandeel have arrived and the fish were totally focused on them as a food source, something that was confirmed when I gutted the fish. Sometimes using a big bottom shad works brilliantly as an attractor and that was what happened today. I think the bright colour actually helped in that regard as when I later changed to a more natural looking shad the catches once again dropped off. I went through a whole pack of the Rockvibe shads. They are great fish catchers but robustness is not their first quality. Still, they work out no more than hokkais, and in my opinion they outfish them by some margin.<br />
<br />
I could have stayed all day catching cod like that. I love seeing their fat white belly come spiralling up the through the water towards you. Of course, the more you catch, the longer you have to spend gutting and filleting them and my cool bag was almost completely full. I started the gutting out at sea with a group photo, unfortunately the foot wells of the Pro Fisha 575 only hold so much cod....<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QFzLWpm2T-I/UcLwiz7XlgI/AAAAAAAAJlM/kurwi2RGH7A/s1600/P6180066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QFzLWpm2T-I/UcLwiz7XlgI/AAAAAAAAJlM/kurwi2RGH7A/s400/P6180066.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Real beast of a pollack, too big for my bag, with 8 other fish!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The back of the Brigg is great spot when it's fishable (from a kayak). With the right tackle the fishing can be nothing short of fantastic. But if you've never kayaked there before considering going with someone else for your first trip. The Brigg has two very different sides. One is all calm and tranquillity, the other can be horrendous. Never get tempted to short cut as you go round, the waves can swell up and break from nowhere, even a hundred metres or so beyond the end. Give it a wide berth and play safe. Even so, you'll still have to cross the whirlpools and swirling currents that you can feel gripping and spinning your kayak as you go round. Once you're round the other side, you've then got the clapotis (reflected waves) to deal with. They can be disarming as they come at you from unexpected angles. So play safe, only go when it's calm and if it's your first time go with someone.<br />
<br />
Tight lines to all those going fishing!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-67757680964758064122013-06-18T07:32:00.000-07:002013-08-09T02:56:25.931-07:00Shimano Vengeance Slim Boat Rod 6-12lb: reviewAfter losing both rod and reel over the side, it is time for a new rod. There isn't a huge choice out there for sea kayak fishermen. Most of the UK market is concerned with boat angling, which implies you're fishing 4 feet or more out of the water, hence the standard length of eight and half feet. Rather oddly, the Japanese and French boat rods are often much shorter, between 7-8ft, which makes them a good length for a kayak. Unfortunately, many of these are very expensive, in order of several hundred pounds and for kayak fishing that just spells madness, as it's (ahem!) always possible you might lose it over the side in a moment's carelessness or through no fault of your own. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f2ZBJtAm-UQ/UbnkNdgdW6I/AAAAAAAAJkE/wnCwdhMjI0Q/s1600/20130608_095853.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f2ZBJtAm-UQ/UbnkNdgdW6I/AAAAAAAAJkE/wnCwdhMjI0Q/s400/20130608_095853.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slim? American slim you mean?!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Sea kayak fishermen ideally want cheap rods that can stand a good deal of rough treatment. As we all know, there's no worse environment for tackle than on a sea kayak. If the salt doesn't get them, then the sand and grit will! The second requirement is length. You can't use a long rod (i.e. 9ft or more) comfortably on a kayak, as you are so close to the water it can make trying to land a fish nigh on impossible except by grabbing the line and hauling it in by hand. The maximum length you want is just enough to get the tip of the rod past the nose of your kayak, for those cases like when you're trying to free up a snag on a quick drift, when you quickly need to move the line over to the other side. For my new kayak (Stealth 575), this unfortunately means I'll have to fish with something around the 8ft mark. Far longer than I would generally recommend.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xp-PV6WMhP4/UbnkLDrpM-I/AAAAAAAAJjs/2tz1IyAzloE/s1600/20130608_102907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xp-PV6WMhP4/UbnkLDrpM-I/AAAAAAAAJjs/2tz1IyAzloE/s400/20130608_102907.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The handle is far too long on this rod. Think about it, for a 6-12lb rod, do you really need the extra length to stick in your belt so that you can winch fish up? No, the handle need be no longer than your down to your elbow. As you can see, the blank is anything but slim, particularly at the tip.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My final requirement was that the rod should be less that £70. Even that is pushing it a bit. After all, we're talking about a stout stick to haul cod, pollack and mackerel out of the North Sea, not some state of the art carbon wand to flick feathers at an overfed trout in a chalkstream! Given all of these, there isn't much out there. Again, many rods are broken at the handle, rather than mid-length. This is supposedly for reasons of action. Please see my argument about winching cod up. Most of us are just not that bothered. <br />
<br />
So what did I end up with? Shimano Vengeance Slim Boat Rod 6-12lb from Gerry's (great service, BTW). For £44 you get a bog standard parabolic action boat rod. Surprisingly for a UK rod (well OK, a Japanese rod!), the rating is actually pretty close to what it says. Most UK boat rods are way too stiff and strong. Would I recommend this rod for sea kayak fishermen? Yes. It's not great, it's cheap and cheerful. You pays your money, you gets what you asked for, see?<br />
<br />
<b>Pros:</b>
<br />
<ul>
<li>Rated 6-12lb, and it actually is 6-12lb!</li>
<li>Duplon / EVA foam type handle</li>
<li>Cheap</li>
</ul>
<div>
<b>Cons:</b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Handle is way too long. I had to cut 4" off mine to make it usable in the kayak.</li>
<li>Slim? This rod blank is not much slimmer than any other boat rod.</li>
<li>Two piece? Not really, one very long piece, one short piece. Makes storing and fitting it into the boot of your car difficult. In fact it won't go in my boot.</li>
<li>Soft parabolic action. Why do manufacturers think this is what boat anglers want? How does a soft through action help when you're trying to jig a cod lure 100ft down? It doesn't. Give us tip action rods, please!</li>
</ul>
<div>
You might think there are more cons than pros for this rod. But as I say, it's about the best out there for the price. There isn't much to choose from in all honesty, so until a rod manufacturer sits down with some experienced sea kayak anglers and asks them what they want, I guess we'll still be in this situation for the next few years. Things will change I hope, but kayak fishing is still relatively young as a sport. It's time will come!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Tight lines to all those fishing.<br />
<br />
<b><u>UPDATE!</u></b><br />
<b><u><br /></u></b>
Well after just several trips over a few months, the tip eye broke its lining. Unbeknown to me, I lost three full rigs and about a hundred yards of expensive braid due to the broken tip eye lining having a sharp edge and cutting through the line. Very unhappy, as you can imagine. And I wasn't that happy with the rod to begin with! Not impressed with the quality, but I guess you get what you won't pay for and it ending up costing me half the price of the rod in lost tackle. I look over the rings shows that many of them have also started to rust.<br />
<br />
Given the poor quality components, I'm changing my recommendation on this rod to "Don't buy". It's just not tough enough for kayak fishing.<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-22368579216000073992013-06-08T01:42:00.000-07:002013-06-08T01:42:16.943-07:00The cod are back! <div dir="ltr">
It seems like a long time since I last hooked up with a decent cod, but I heard that a few had been taken on shads off Filey Brigg and that the May bloom was clearing at last.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dttTGTUKips/UbLmw4CfvpI/AAAAAAAAJhg/EaBhSXxIMDw/s1600/P6060033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dttTGTUKips/UbLmw4CfvpI/AAAAAAAAJhg/EaBhSXxIMDw/s400/P6060033.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of the Brigg with Filey in the distance</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr">
For those that don't know it, the Brigg is a daunting place. You don't need much of a swell to have huge breakers booming against the far side, sending up sheets of spray twenty foot or more, while the Bay side can be in perfect tranquility! It's a funny spot, one that had to be treated with caution. It's all too easy to assume it's calm on the Bay side, get close to the end of the Brigg and be suddenly faced waves that appear from nowhere. And it's not just the size of the waves that can be a problem. On a big tide the currents swirl around the end creating whirlpools and causing waves to come at you from all angles. Indeed, even once you're safely past the end of the Brigg on a calm day you can find that the clapotis (reflected waves from a cliff) can throw you about in unexpected ways. It's a place you need to keep your wits about you.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bb4IDfxxyxc/UbLmyLeXoSI/AAAAAAAAJho/ohNmqA5bdGM/s1600/P6060035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bb4IDfxxyxc/UbLmyLeXoSI/AAAAAAAAJho/ohNmqA5bdGM/s400/P6060035.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking along the Brigg towards Scarborough. This is where the roughest ground is found, and some of the best fishing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr">
That said, when conditions allow it, the fishing round the back of the Brigg can be nothing short of spectacular. It's a big cod and pollack ground, a tackle graveyard for the unwary, and of course in the summer months the mackerel descend in their thousands.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
The weather had been hot and sunny, not generally good conditions, but with the water still a bit green I didn't think it would do any harm if as much light as possible could get down into the depths. It's amazing what a difference a week makes, last Monday the sea was dead when I went out. Nothing except the minutiae in the bloom was moving. Today it was a different story. It smelt different, I swear I could smell something that said fish are about! Gannets were diving in the distance and cormorants, guillemots and puffins were bobbing up all around me. Sure enough I started getting fish the first drift. At first it was mostly small rubbish, a lot of which were getting foul hooked on the big shad or chasing the first jelly up. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R9zPZsqtQlI/UbLm0GPxtGI/AAAAAAAAJh4/7uKNlW1FVzs/s1600/P6060041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R9zPZsqtQlI/UbLm0GPxtGI/AAAAAAAAJh4/7uKNlW1FVzs/s400/P6060041.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of small rubbish about!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr">
Sometimes this is a sign that there aren't many bigger fish about. But then bang!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZD3YLa5WLU/UbLmzOLaBkI/AAAAAAAAJhw/7UcAjee8Ot0/s1600/P6060040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MZD3YLa5WLU/UbLmzOLaBkI/AAAAAAAAJhw/7UcAjee8Ot0/s400/P6060040.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally a better stamp of fish. Taken on a six inch shad on home cast lead head.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr">
First of the better fish to come to the big bottom shad. You can see here that a 150g six inch shad isn't any bother for a 5 or 6lb cod. Yes, four inch shad might get you more fish, but the big shads get better fish. Sure enough, I started hitting big fish every other drift. As some of you may know, last Monday I lost my rod and reel over the side (aaaargh!) after experimenting with a shorter paddle. Today I was forced to fish with a back up spinning reel loaded with 18lb braid. Not really heavy enough for the Brigg. I got broken twice by big fish heading for the depths. The first was definitely a pollack. I didn't have my drag screwed down tight enough and the fish just stormed away into the rough where it snagged up for a break. The second time, I tightened the drag and guess what? Yep, got broken after discovering that you really can't hope to hold a big fish back on 18lb braid! Still, I tied on a new rig and I was back in business:</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fjYH4HkWLHY/UbLm1BT-WII/AAAAAAAAJiA/DJfTGHANqjk/s1600/P6060046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fjYH4HkWLHY/UbLm1BT-WII/AAAAAAAAJiA/DJfTGHANqjk/s400/P6060046.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doesn't look it, but this fish was not far off the first one. A lot fatter to boot.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div dir="ltr">
The Stealth 575 was well and truly blooded now, and I always like to check what the fish have been feeding on. For those of sensitive disposition, look away now...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cQtekESQ7iw/UbLm2KT13nI/AAAAAAAAJiI/inMi7EYmdug/s1600/P6060047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cQtekESQ7iw/UbLm2KT13nI/AAAAAAAAJiI/inMi7EYmdug/s400/P6060047.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DYJZQWOn5GY/UbLm3D4vPrI/AAAAAAAAJiQ/r5aa5ZaQWmU/s1600/P6060049.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DYJZQWOn5GY/UbLm3D4vPrI/AAAAAAAAJiQ/r5aa5ZaQWmU/s400/P6060049.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Stealth 575 is well and truly blooded with it's first cod guts!</td></tr>
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So that's three intact crabs, one flatfish (what was that doing in rough ground?) and a good fistfull of part digested other stuff, mostly crab from the feel of it. But no small fry or sandeel. Early yet, but worth noting.</div>
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The other thing of note that happened was that a seal came up right behind me while I was fishing. I never mind seals - they generally indicate I'm about to catch a fish. Sure enough, I hit one right as this one was bobbing about behind, about a yard or two off. I didn't know what was best, as I was in pretty deep water, I lifted it clear of the rough and just left it there on the end of my line, waiting for the seal to bugger off. I turned round to see where it had got to, and found the bugger trying to climb onto my yak!! I shouted "Oi!!", at which point the seal suddenly seemed to twig there was a human on board this bit of flotsam, panicked and dived at the great rate of knots. I waited a few minutes and then winched my fish up as fast as I could. Amazingly I got past the seal, as he came back a bit later, swimming right under the yak. Great sight and a great way to end the day. </div>
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Bring on a few more days like today and I'll be a happy kayaker!</div>
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Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-9472088495969348692013-06-05T14:02:00.000-07:002013-06-05T14:03:06.516-07:00That horrible moment...So, despite the water still being green with the May bloom, off I went paddling in search of maybe the odd fish. I wanted a good paddle to see what a "distance" paddle felt like in my new Stealth 575. Unfortunately given the heat and bright sun, the distance I did (about 6 or 7 miles) was pretty uncomfortable as it was. I was soaked through with sweat by the end of it and got my first ever dry suit rash!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v0u5Ua5R8cs/Ua-mazdSlRI/AAAAAAAAJgg/m_Ush6WOHt8/s1600/P6020030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v0u5Ua5R8cs/Ua-mazdSlRI/AAAAAAAAJgg/m_Ush6WOHt8/s400/P6020030.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The puffins bobbed about, laughing at my fecklessness!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
But all that pales into insignificance after what happened. I paddled out to the Head for a try for some pollack or codling. Foul hooked a little one, had a sandwich and a cup of coffee before getting ready for the big paddle over to Bempton. Turned round to look at a bird or someone on the cliffs or something (can't remember exactly), set off paddling and just as I started my raising my paddle out of the water I clipped the reel or or bottom ring on my rod, yanking it out of the rod holder. <br />
<br />
One little splash, momentary glimpse of the rod and reel under a couple of feet of water and it was all over. Too quick for me to jump in after it. I hopelessly stabbed at it with the paddle but it was gone. Tried with my other rod to foul hook it on the bottom, but the ground off Flamborough is pretty rough and all I hooked was the bottom itself. <br />
<br />
Absolutely gutted. I'd had that Penn multiplier for about ten years. The rod was one I'd <a href="http://seakayakfishing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/spiral-guide-placement.html" target="_blank">spiral whipped myself</a> to make it more suitable for jigging. First time I've ever lost anything other than a set of pliers over the side. So why did it happen?<br />
<br />
The first reason is probably that I'd foolishly changed my paddle shaft to one that is shorter. For me I think that meant I was raising the paddle blade closer to me on the back stroke - hence a slightly greater risk of clipping a rod in the trolling rod holders. The second is that the rod holder on the Stealth 575 are much closer to you than they are on many kayaks, so that was also something I haven't got used to yet. Annoyingly I had already clipped the rod while I was paddling, but stupidly didn't think anything of it. Never thought for one moment I might catch it with enough force to pull it out.<br />
<br />
Yes, I probably should have had it leashed. But then a leash is nuisance, especially when you're landing fish and in all my years I've never come within a mile of losing a rod over the side. But there has to be a first time, and if I'd thought about it carefully I might have predicted it would be with a new kayak and a shorter paddle. <br />
<br />
Never mind. Time for a new rod and reel? I'm on the case already! Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-75428704988298628462013-05-30T07:10:00.002-07:002013-05-30T07:10:54.990-07:00May bloom in full effect...Well it's that time of year. The sea gets green and gloopy, algae spawn or "bloom" and the fishing goes stone dead. Or at least it does for lure fishermen. For those fishing bait, there are fish still about to catch. The May bloom is a curious and mysterious event. No one's really sure why it seems to put the fish off (despite the obvious lack of water clarity - but I'm not convinced this is a huge issue when you're fishing a hundred feet down in dark water), but it definitely does. There's nothing for it but bide your time and stay at home. Unfortunately there's always that first trip when you realise it's arrived...<br />
<br />
I paddled out from Runswick on Sunday with nothing to show for my efforts. It looked bad from the moment I got on the water, the water was a bright, nearly opaque green. There wasn't a bird to be seen anywhere and it all seemed lifeless, except for the billions of little critters that make up the bloom. As got I further and further out, I realised the water was probably green for several miles and there was no realistic hope of getting beyond it. You have to be careful at places like Runswick, where the majority of the rough ground is fairly close in. If you go too far out you'll end up on a smooth bottom sea bed with no features. Sure there are wrecks that are reachable in good weather, but they can be a bit hit and miss, not to mention the horrible feeling of nearly reaching it just as a charter boat steams past you full of anglers and hogs it for an hour or more! <br />
<br />
When does the bloom go? Again opinions vary. It seems a bit later than usual this year - how far through its cycle it is I don't know. Generally it lasts about two to three weeks, but there are probably quite few variables that might affect it, such as wind, weather and water temperature. Without checking the forums continuously or speaking to the charter boats (who tend to go out beyond it anyway), it's hard to gauge when it's gone. The best option is probably to head somewhere where there is the option of doing a bit of sea kayaking tourism in case the fishing turns out to be poor. My favourite place for this is Bempton Cliffs to see the gannets, puffins, guillemots and razorbills. The cliffs tower about 400 feet above you, and Mazy Shelves is one of the great views from the sea - fantastic metamorphic contortions of chalk sediments. For those that don't know it, I've added a couple of photographs from a few years ago. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I9AaylZpH_I/SCdA46-ur2I/AAAAAAAAB7c/PvGKxKRujpw/s1600/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I9AaylZpH_I/SCdA46-ur2I/AAAAAAAAB7c/PvGKxKRujpw/s400/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+045.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The gannet stack</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t4nrDdFR-6w/SCdCE6-usGI/AAAAAAAAB9k/21Mewh6XzGw/s1600/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+076.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-t4nrDdFR-6w/SCdCE6-usGI/AAAAAAAAB9k/21Mewh6XzGw/s400/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+076.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They can be a bit flighty as you get close, but they resettle soon enough.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3RxQ8nWG_HI/SCdBea-ur_I/AAAAAAAAB8o/D1JmJ6czP9k/s1600/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3RxQ8nWG_HI/SCdBea-ur_I/AAAAAAAAB8o/D1JmJ6czP9k/s400/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+066.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clearly this is where the second class gannets have to stay: the sunless side!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bdVEY8jj2oM/SCdBvq-usCI/AAAAAAAAB9A/V2BPeqDHg5g/s1600/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+070.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bdVEY8jj2oM/SCdBvq-usCI/AAAAAAAAB9A/V2BPeqDHg5g/s400/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+070.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look closely and you can see the nests (click to enlarge).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zxnDU79Z8FE/SCdB1K-usDI/AAAAAAAAB9I/Mgc24BaMXwo/s1600/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zxnDU79Z8FE/SCdB1K-usDI/AAAAAAAAB9I/Mgc24BaMXwo/s400/Kayaking+under+the+gannets+072.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More amazing folds in the cliffs.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Tight lines to those fishing!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-61344015366971136912013-05-09T02:44:00.000-07:002013-05-10T07:57:03.141-07:00The Stealth Pro Fisha 575: first impressions in the wetSo, the day finally arrived with almost no wind, bright sun and Bank holiday to boot, meaning I got the chance to dip my new Stealth Pro Fisha 575 in the sea for the first time. <br />
<br />
Before I start this "wet first impressions", I must say that I'm constantly surprised at how light such a long SOT kayak is, the boat is over a metre longer than a Scupper Pro but weighs less. I can lift it on and off the car without a problem with regards to the weight, but its length is another thing. The yak is so light and long that when the wind catches it on your shoulder it can easily catch you off guard, and once something so long starts to swing it can take a bit of stopping!<br />
<br />
I had spent weeks rehearsing how my various paraphernalia would fit in or on the Pro Fisha 575. The 575 has a truly cavernous interior, accessed by a huge front hatch. However, this is not quite as large as you first think. For example, a C-Tug has to broken down to get it into the hatch. But because the space in there is so big, I decided I could fit my C-Tug, my insulated fish bag and my tackle boxes all inside the hatch! This does work, but it means that if you want to squeeze your rods in to go through the surf, you might find it difficult to get them past all the various bags.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-giHovDnfEko/UYfllIBoaeI/AAAAAAAAJYA/IcZsACDJ4ms/s1600/P5050022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-giHovDnfEko/UYfllIBoaeI/AAAAAAAAJYA/IcZsACDJ4ms/s400/P5050022.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plastic bath tub vs. fibre-glass arrow!</td></tr>
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First thing you are made aware of is the presence of the rudder. This means you can't easily put the kayak down on tarmac or any hard surface, or at least if you do then it has to rest on its side. You'll notice this most if you try and land on concrete slip ways or pebble beaches, as you have to drag it on its side to avoid the rudder. Even on sand, you have to drag it on its side. Rods in their holders either fall out or go into the ground when it's on its side, the paddle will fall out of its clip and so on, and it doesn't somehow feel right to drag the yak up a concrete slip on its side... The on-land aspect of having a permanent rudder is the one thing I don't really like about the yak, I wish Stealth had thought about a retractable system, such as that found on the <a href="http://www.epickayaks.com/products/surfskikayaks/v6" target="_blank">Epic V6</a>.<br />
<br />
Once on the water though it's a different story: the rudder is great. Almost no drag and very sensitive to careless adjustment by my unthinking feet! Indeed, for the first hour or so I struggled to remember which foot did what and not to casually push forward in my footrests to stretch my legs, then veer alarmingly to one side! I generally dislike flip down rudders, they add a noticeable drag which means you don't tend to want to use them and when you do need them they can be a major hassle, often jamming in position.<br />
<br />
The Stealth 575's rudder has none of these issues, there's no drag and it's always there. It doesn't seem to catch the bottom even on very shallow landing sites. For someone who's been used to constantly correcting their direction using paddle strokes, having a good rudder was something of a revelation. You can just concentrate on your paddle strokes and let your feet correct your course. Love that! <br />
<br />
Despite the length of the 575, I found I could spin it round with the same ease as my Scupper Pro, possibly even easier. I was very relieved to discover how manoeuvrable it was. It's quite impressive in that respect and it might have something to do with the boat having a more pronounced rocker than first meets the eye.<br />
<br />
As a paddling vehicle, the 575 seems perhaps at the max about a third quicker than my Scupper Pro. That doesn't sound a lot, but it makes a massive difference when you want to get somewhere in a hurry. On several occasions I looked to see where my mate was before thinking "that'll take about ten minutes to get over there". But the 575 just eats up the metres once you get the speed up. I found that whereas with the Scupper Pro I quickly reached a sense of the maximum speed of the kayak, beyond which paddling harder doesn't make much sense, with the 575 there seems to be smooth progression that doesn't seem to top out at a maximum. The harder you paddle, the faster it seemed to want to go. When I paddled back to the launch with my mate in his Ocean Kayak Big Game, I was literally taking two or three strokes then waiting 10-15 secs for him to catch up! I'm really looking forward to trying the Pro Fisha 575 out on some of the long distance marks to get a better sense of how much better it is, particularly in rougher conditions. The conditions we had were practically windless at times, and so I didn't get any chance to test paddling across the direction of the swell, or with a following sea. I'll save those for a later report. <br />
<br />
For me the biggest difference between the Pro Fisha 575 and my Scupper Pro was that the 575 is a far, far better fishing platform. In fact there's no comparison really, the Scupper Pro is horribly designed in terms of fishing space and layout, whereas the 575 is pretty much perfect. I've always been something of a minimalist, but the Scupper Pro was frankly a pain to gut fish on and store tackle securely - my fish bag had to be right behind me and I have lost a couple of fish from them slipping out of my grasp as I reached behind me, missing the opening of the bag and then having them slide off into the depths! The Pro Fisha 575 has everything there within easy reach, secure and protected beneath a hatch. That's a big improvement, and I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more when I come into land with a bit of surf. The only thing I didn't really like is the paddle clip, which barely holds the paddle in place. Don't fancy trusting that in rough water...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N75SaRlB114/UYfloo2o9wI/AAAAAAAAJYQ/buj17NOYr78/s1600/P5050013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-N75SaRlB114/UYfloo2o9wI/AAAAAAAAJYQ/buj17NOYr78/s400/P5050013.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perfect fishing platform, shame about the lack of fish!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fishing wise, it's still a bit early for clear water. The sea had that green murk we associate with the May Bloom, and generally it's a killer for the fishing. There was no sign of diving birds and everything looked pretty lifeless out there. I tried my new <a href="http://seakayakfishing.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/weedless-jigging-rig-for-cod-and-pollack.html" target="_blank">weedless rig</a> fitted with the Fiiish Black Minnow 160. The rig worked pretty well, but on a fast drift 60g is just a bit on the light side and struggles to hold bottom. But the big issue I had was that I didn't make sure all hook points on the lures were well inserted into their soft plastic bodies. If you don't check this, they can work loose to expose the hook point and then snag up. Ouch! Nearly a tenner's worth left on the bottom! Didn't make that mistake twice and the rig managed to winkle out a couple of little coalies:<br />
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One thing you need to watch out even with a weedless rig is that flourocarbon is really pretty crap when it comes to abrasion resistance - I'm sure it's not as tough as something like Amnesia. After an hour or so, I noticed the section close to the Black Minnow was within a whisker of breaking:<br />
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But today was not about the fishing, it was all about a practice paddle in my new yak. The final thing to do was to try out some self rescues. We came right into the bay where the water was marginally warmer and shallower. It's still bloody cold - this is the North Sea after all! After watching <a href="http://www.paddleguy.com/reviews/stealth-kayak-pro-fisha-575-review-part-3-of-4-rough-water-trial-self-rescue-test/" target="_blank">Big Paddle</a>'s review and self rescue on the 575, I thought it looked pretty easy. He certainly made it look easy in his video! True, I had the Stealth Deluxe seat fitted, which does get in your way a little, but eventually I got the hang of it. I definitely need more practice though! <br />
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In summary, the Stealth Pro Fisha 575 is a brilliant fishing platform. It's a long, light, quick and responsive boat on the water. It may not have the agility of a smaller boat in the surf, but that's not something I generally ever need. It's eats up the kilometres with ease, and I've heard it actually performs better with a load of fish on board, so bring on those big catches of cod and mackerel in the summer months!<br />
<br />
All in all, I'm really pleased with the kayak. It's everything I hoped it would be and some things I didn't think it would be!Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-47270490845735036172013-04-23T02:57:00.002-07:002013-04-23T02:57:26.456-07:00Weedless jigging rig for cod and pollackThis time of year is prime for the spring cod run in the north east, before the dreaded May "bloom" kicks in and kills the fishing somewhat. If you've visited this blog before or searched for cod rigs, you'll know that I gave up using the traditional pirk plus hokkais combination some years ago. Even when you rigged the pirk with an assist hook, you still ended up with quite a bit of tackle losses as a result of fishing close to the bottom, especially if on a fast drift or over a big swell. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g7MQ7Uf4-N0/TWl84IHPhnI/AAAAAAAAGz0/s8rcUr2ky0c/s1600/IMAG0912.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g7MQ7Uf4-N0/TWl84IHPhnI/AAAAAAAAGz0/s8rcUr2ky0c/s320/IMAG0912.jpg" width="190" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lots of different ways to store a pirk<br />
plus hokkai rig - simplest is just to wrap<br />
it round and tie it with a rubber band.</td></tr>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2ICx7kF8DI/TWqxeyrds7I/AAAAAAAAG1I/aigw38XdrII/s1600/pirk_trace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y2ICx7kF8DI/TWqxeyrds7I/AAAAAAAAG1I/aigw38XdrII/s320/pirk_trace.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bog standard pirk plus hokkais rig used all<br />
over the north east for cod.<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
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</tbody></table>
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Tackle losses are to be expected in such conditions, but after I replaced the pirks with a big jelly shad (5") and a heavy lead head, I lost far less tackle due to the shad tending to rest on its head or side when it hit the bottom, so the exposed hook had less chance to get stuck into anything.<br />
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I also found the big shad attracted a better stamp of fish. This fish had a few goes at a Storm Giant Jigging Shad before ending up in the yak. Sometimes if you feel a nip, it's wise to reel in and check they haven't bitten the tail of your jelly lure, thereby rendering it useless.<br />
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Unfortunately, although we lost fewer rigs overall, that improvement tended to be offset by the far greater initial cost of the big shads compared to a traditional pirk. Even with home cast lead heads and cheap jelly bodies, we still weren't curing the problem because no matter how well designed the lead head is, if the hook is exposed, there is every chance that you come up against the kayak fisherman's worst enemy:<b> the pot rope!</b> Even if your fishfinder shows these up in mid-water, on a fast drift / tide it can be hard to get your tackle up in time to avoid them and the fishfinder doesn't always pick them up when they're close to the bottom.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homemade shad heads: expect heavy tackle losses and arm yourself with enough for the year!</td></tr>
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My plan this year is to go with all jelly lures and by rigging the whole lot weedless, to hopefully end up with a snag proof rig that'll avoid the bottom snags as well as avoiding the pot ropes.<br />
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First stage is to look for a replacement for the hokkais. Hokkais are simply a better form of the old fashioned mackerel or cod feathers. Yes, they have glowing beads and a few glittery bits, but basically it's the same idea that is very difficult to rig weedless. Luckily, over the last decade or so, ultra light rock fishing has become popular in Japan (and here too). This has meant we now have an excellent choice of tiny paddle tail jelly lures that can be rigged weedlessly. These are the Reins Rockvibe Shad 2" UV Super Glow B63 and the slightly larger 3" Neon Wakasagi:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are from the Reins freshwater range, with the right hook they can be rigged weedless. </td></tr>
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So that's hopefully going to cure the pot rope snags. It's true that these won't have the resistance that hokkais do, but even hokkais get torn up after a few mackerel. The tiny paddle tails are cheap (10p each) and easy to replace.</div>
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Now to cure the shad problem. I still want a big paddle tail, but there's not much out there that can be easily rigged weedless. But early last year, my prayer's were answered when the first "daddies" of the Fiiish Black Minnow range came on sale. At 16cm, it's quite a long lure (a near perfect launce imitation in my opinion), and with a maximum head weight of 60g it remains to be seen whether they'll keep their depth in a really big tide or an uptide drift: </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Beax3vNxNnY/UXZSVS315aI/AAAAAAAAJRU/6Nq_cBkqOIo/s1600/20130423_090428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Beax3vNxNnY/UXZSVS315aI/AAAAAAAAJRU/6Nq_cBkqOIo/s400/20130423_090428.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The big daddy of the Fiiish Black Minnow range, 160mm with a 60g offshore head. The perfect launce imitation?</td></tr>
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As we know big launce love baby sandeel and sandeel imitations (I frequently catch them on hokkais), it makes sense to rig them so that it gives the appearance of a launce chasing a smaller sandeel. Generally it's the bottom sandeel imitation that the pollack grab, while the bigger cod nearly always hit the bottom shad. I stick to just three sandeel imitations, any more than that and you're asking for trouble when the mackerel hit it in numbers.<br />
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That's it! Hopefully a cod and pollack jigging rig that is snagproof on the bottom and against pot ropes. Of course if you're travelling at pace, I would still expect the tiny paddletails to snag up against a rope as the soft lure only barely covers the hook point. We'll see. I'm confident it'll catch, and I'm confident it'll be better than the rig I was using last year, where every hook on the shad or hokkais was exposed.<br />
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And that's what it's all about isn't it? Trying to do things better, to make it easier to catch more fish.<br />
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Tight lines for the coming season!<br />
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Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368069396862245526.post-85497407311242617602013-04-09T04:48:00.000-07:002013-04-10T05:25:30.784-07:00The Stealth Pro Fisha 575: first impressions in the dryWell, it finally arrived after what seemed months of waiting! Chris and Victoria pulled into our little street of tightly terraced houses to deliver my nearly 6m sea fishing kayak. First impressions?<br />
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First impressions are exactly that. What strikes you as you glance at it for the first time, which is generally the paint job and the profile. There's no doubt that the 575 has a fantastic looking profile, it just looks like it's built for speed. That very low profile back end sits low in the water, extending the waterline without catching the wind and I can't wait to try it out. Its hull is practically flat, which should make for good stability and surfing characteristics, and speed of course.<br />
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As for the paint job, well it's probably the only time you'll ever look it in such detail, in the months to come that nice shiny finish will soon be scratched and matted up all over with sand, gravel, fish guts and who knows what! But for the meantime it's absolutely pristine, which means that faults tend to show up more. Stealth are known for their sometimes wild and wacky colour schemes dreamt up by customers from all over the globe, which is great, but the more complicated and exotic the colour scheme, the more likely you'll see the odd error. <br />
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My 575 is white tipped with red. Pretty simple, but even this proved a bit difficult for the gel coat finishers at Stealth. One side the lines don't quite meet up at the binding strip and on another they meet up but one isn't straight. The bonding strip is also a bit wobbly on the edges and still spotted with the release agent from the mould, giving it a slightly ragged appearance. This is a shame, as the kayak is generally finished quite well and the fittings look good quality.</div>
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the odd line that veers off from the vertical.</td></tr>
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As I say, the paint job will soon be scuffed, scratched and generally look a mess, so it's not really a big deal. It's just those first impressions. ;-)</div>
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What else? Well, laying it on the world's smallest lawn gave me chance to go over some options on where to put stuff. Certainly the front hatch is cavernous, really enormous, and everything could just go in there. The South Africans seem to put their fish straight in the hatch, but I prefer to use a cool bag to store my catch so I can keep it really cold with freezer blocks. When I freeze mackerel, I like to see the colours still on them! A cool bag does restrict access to the space further up and below:<br />
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But you don't need access to it all the time, you can just keep a small opening and slide the fish in there, keeping your tackle boxes in front. <br />
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The next big item for me is my C-Tug. This won't fit in the back hatch at all, so it has to either go in the front or strapped to the back. You don't really want your C-Tug covered in mud / sand to go in with your tackle and fish, getting everything all mucked up. If you feel you can make it secure, the C-Tug fits quite nicely strapped on the back with the elastic cord. But it would need a roll test to make sure it doesn't come out if the yak turns over. The other point is that the rear of the 575 sits pretty low in the water, so it may be that the wheels will drag a little. I'll have to check that out on the water. The best place for it might be right up at the front. Extra weight there can help keep the nose down a little, which can marginally extend your waterline and so improve your speed.<br />
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Perhaps my biggest surprise are two factors that reflect the kayak's designers live in a warm water environment with sandy beaches. First, the Pro Fisha 575 has a permanent rudder, making it difficult to drag up rocky or shingle beaches using the front end handle. Stealth provide a "drag" handle, but that's not something you want to use if you're on rough ground as it just scrapes the side of the yak.<br />
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If you've already fitted your rudder, and you want to adjust your feeting position before you get on the water, you need to find somewhere with soft sand so that you don't risk buckling the rudder as the entire weight of you plus yak will be on it. Best to get your foot rests in the right place before you put the rudder on. <br />
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And speaking of feeting position, we come to the second feature that seems pretty typical of SA kayaks: tiny little footwells, suitable for bare feet or at best feet wearing just neoprene. Most UK guys paddle in cold water for most of the year, and if you're wearing boots on top of dry socks (i.e. from a dry suit, so a size up from your normal boot size) then you probably won't fit them into the Pro Fisha footwells. Bit annoying, as we don't all launch or land onto sandy beaches. Where I fish it can often be sharp barnacled rock edges on the shoreline. Not great for glass yaks, but even worse for neoprene socks. You need boots in these places, but my Orvis wading boots don't fit so I'm in the market for some new footwear. This seems to have been something that the Dorado 2 has addressed specifically, though the footwells are still pretty narrow in that boat too from what I hear. If you're a big guy, try your footwear out first in someone else's!<br />
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That's it for my first impressions. What really counts is it's performance on the water. If it's fast, comfortable and handles rough water, that will do for me. All other considerations are secondary!<br />
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But now I have it, the question is where do you put a six metre kayak? It'll have to go up the back wall like my Scupper Pro did, but this is over a metre longer... Imagine the neighbours fear and delight when they saw nearly six metres of kayak arrive ready to go up against our gable!<br />
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First thing is to get it on the wall, note the rubber fenders on the gable to protect the yak:<br />
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Next is to get the sophisticated and fully patented Vertical Yak Lifting End Protection Unit in place:<br />
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Then carefully lift it into position, nose down in the fully patented protection unit with one end resting on a wall buttress, and attach the pulley:<br />
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From outside it looks even more ridiculous. Remember the nose is about a foot from the corner of the house...</div>
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Next step is too walk along the kayak, holding it above your head, until it rears vertically up against the wall. I think you can forgive me if there are no photos of this part! Bit jittery the first time, but in the twinkle of an eye the job is done.<br />
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The kayak, all 5.75m of it, extending even above the roof line, is strapped securely in place! <br />
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Yes I know it's bonkers, I can't wait till we move house! <br />
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Coming next will be an on-the-water first impressions, stay subscribed for the updates!</div>
Kesterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17863649127192342283noreply@blogger.com9