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Yak It

By Sean Bekkers

Although my favourite type of fishing is spinning artificials from a boat, I do jump at the chance to try something new. When a good mate of mine Justin flicked me a message and said that there was a kayak going cheap, that needed a little TLC as it had a habit of leaking, this was music to my ears. A nice little weekend project and the potential to see what all the fuss is about when it comes to kayak fishing, sign me up. In the past I have dabbled with some kayak fishing but nothing serious... I am really just a hack, lol.

The first thing that I did, after getting the kayak home, was to fill it with some water and no more than ten minutes after starting to fill it I found two cracks that were about 5-10cm long under the seat area. I started watching You Tube videos on how to plastic weld at home and there is tones of them. In a nutshell I needed to find the same type of plastic that the yak was made from and then melt them together... doesn't seem too hard right? To be honest it was a little tricky and after mucking around for a few hours and another water test, I had reduced the leaks to just a weep on the outside. I also added two scab patches, for a little extra strength, where the cracks had been and the kayak was ready for a session. It's not the prettiest job but it works. There is tonnes of information out there for fixing up your kayak, just Google it.

The following weekend was to be the main test, for not only the yak but me as well and I was going to have a flick up on the flats with Justin. All week I had been sorting my tackle into a small bag and figuring out where I was going to put everything, as I wanted to be as prepared as possible. The morning finally came around and as I live pretty close to the water I decided to use my C-Tug (aka kayak trolley) to get the yak to the water. I have to say, this was such a relaxing way to start a day and a fishing session... no stress of launching at the ramp and only the sound of the C-Tug wheels rolling my yak to the water's edge. This really set the mood for the session.

Once on the water I spent the first half hour or so just setting up my seat position, rod positioning and drift positioning to hit our intended spot. Justin's knowledge is invaluable when it comes to getting a yak hack like me into the right position, as wind, tide and chop can have you cruising along rather fast and even paddle position while fishing can make a difference. All of these factors need to be taken into account when selecting what weight jighead to throw on the flats. There's no point sending a cast out, only to drift onto it on the second or third hop. On this occasion it was wind over tide, so our drift was slow and lumpy.

Righto, to the important stuff. We covered a far bit of ground before finding some fish that wanted to play. On the flats, out the front of a creek, is where we ended up. Justin was hooked up before me, on his old favourite ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ in Midnight Oil colour and 1/4oz 1/0H TT Lures DemonZ jighead. This is a combo that has caught plenty of fish, just read his Fishing Monthly articles.

On the other hand, I was changing between Justin's favourite and a Mepps Olive Bug 4 gram inline spinner. Of late I've been experimenting with using the Mepps to target estuary species and this session I was keen to add some more species to the list of catches. It took me a while to chalk up a fish and on one retrieve I was getting these bumpy kind of knocks. As the spinner came into view I saw a solid flathead (60-70cm) just nudging the spinner. Unfortunately, it saw the yak before I could get a hook up and it was safe to say that I was a little frustrated at this point. Justin was up three fish to my nil, lol.

A few casts later and while adding a pause on the retrieve I was locked onto a solid bream of approximately 30cm, in less than a foot of water. The fight was awesome on a light outfit and I chalked up another fish on the Mepps. These little weapons are fast becoming a favourite presentation for me.

Unfortunately that bream was the last fish that I would actually get into the yak for this trip. I kept switching it up and for the next couple of hours and hooked and lost a few flathead, ranging up to 40cm. This wasn't a bad thing though as I spent this time to perfect my game in the yak and let's face it, there's a lot for me to improve. On the other hand, this is something that Justin has down pat... exceptional yak handling skills and knowledge saw him land over ten fish for our trip, which consisted five flathead, including one each for dinner, 45 cm and a 57cm, along with a mixed bag of bream, grunter and trevally.

Don't worry, I have just seen this as a challenge and it won't be long before I start nailing fish. On our paddle home the wind had whipped up and instead of punching our way back to where we launched, we found a nice little beach area, brought the yaks in and loaded them onto the trolleys. Within five minutes we were wandering back up the footpath. This got me thinking that the ability to access stretches of untouched water more easily has to be the biggest attractions for kayak fishing and one that I want to explore more. Highlights for my yak trip were the amount of wildlife that are at your fingertips. Aside from the fish, seeing stingrays and dugongs close up was very cool and being so quiet and relaxed was a high point as well... a very welcome change of pace for me.

A thing to remember, when crossing the channel it was a bit like crossing the road. Look left, right and left again as you never know what the boats are going to do, so just play it safe and try to keep away from them as much as possible. Also don't forget to wear long pants or slap sunscreen on your legs otherwise you get the treatment from Mother Nature's solarium, which I received. So, if you're keen on something different from walking the bank or dragging a boat around, give kayak fishing a go. It doesn't need to be the most expensive kayak and have all of the gadgets, it really just needs to be stable. My next kayak adventure is already locked and loaded... so stay tuned!

Screaming Drags
Sean

Sean's Gear:

Okuma Helios Spinning Rods - HS-S-701L 7' 1-3kg
Helios Spinning Reels - HSX-30
Platypus P8 Braid - 8lb
Mepps Bug - Olive #1 4 gram
ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ - Motor Oil colour
ZMan 3" Slim SwimZ - Motor Oil colour
TT Lures HeadlockZ Finesse Jighead - 1/4oz 1/0L

Justin's Gear:

Okuma Helios SX Spin Rods - HSX-S-701M 7' 3-6kg
Okuma Aria Spin Reels - ARIA-30A
Okuma Cerros Spinning Rods - CER-S-701ML 7' 2-4kg
Okuma Alaris Spinning Reels - ALS-30
Platypus Platinum Braid - 10lb
ZMan 2.5" Slim SwimZ - Midnight Oil & Motor Oil colours
TT Lures DemonZ Jigheads - 1/4oz 1/0H in Golden Boy colour