Back into the Ausbream socials with the new yak and after a month off. High winds forecast but as we set off at 7 there wasn't a skerrick of breeze.
Futzed around a bit proving that I still don't know how to fish gulp sandworms, and losing a couple of jigs to underwater ropes around pontoons. Decided to go for a troll and try out some different lures, with a popper at the ready in case some interesting shoreline presented. Quickly got a couple of tailor on a Jackall Deep Diving Chubby in red/gold. Tried out my newly purchased Cabelas popper around a small mangrove stand for no hits, but some tailor follows. Trolled some more for an undersized bream.
Found a mangrove lined bay and tried the popper around it for nothing. On the troll again. Picked up a small lizard on the chubby while clearing my other lure. Breeze had really come up by then so I headed further upstream to find some shelter. On the way get a big hit on the chubby and start fighting a fish that had some weight. My guess is flathead but I'll never know as I had the drag too tight for the 4lb leader. Ping
Found a sheltered creek and picked up a silver biddy and another chopper. Ran out of creek so headed back out and met Cid who was coming into the creek with two bream already in the well. The main creek had whitecaps but I thought I'd be ok to head further upstream. Only action was to snag and lose one of my beloved blue gill SX40s.
Decided to head back downstream at around 11. By this time the wind was horrendous with some gusts that felt as if they were blowing me backwards. I left a couple of lures out but made very heavy going. Got into a bit of strife when I stopped paddling to clear one of the lures and got blown into the mangroves, with rods and lures getting caught repeatedly. Eventually go out of there without loss and went looking for a more convenient spot to sort out the mess. In the end, I needed a break from the paddling so found a less than convenient spot and just got into more strife, getting rods and lures caught up in the mangroves.
Guess what, I fell out of the yak again trying to sort that mess out while holding station alongside some fallen branches. Sorted out the mess, stowed the rods inside the hull (easy to do when you're not in the seat) then paddled straight back to the ramp. Arrived just after 1 so wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. GPS said I covered just under 15km for the 6 hours, but a quarter of that was being blown backwards.
The yak handled the conditions really well. Only untoward behaviour was a tendency for the stern to be blown around when heading downwind, but that may have been the net and fishing bag catching the wind. Seabreeze says the winds were around 25kts, gusting to 40kts. Now I know that the yak can handle those winds, and it is possible to punch into them at around 1-2kts, I'll be doing my best to avoid conditions like that.
The other thing is that I'm proving to be decidedly crap at these comps. I think I'll put a bit more effort into bream fishing and try to sort out a small number of locations rather than turning up to these socials to fish unfamiliar conditions. Too hard a way to learn.
Futzed around a bit proving that I still don't know how to fish gulp sandworms, and losing a couple of jigs to underwater ropes around pontoons. Decided to go for a troll and try out some different lures, with a popper at the ready in case some interesting shoreline presented. Quickly got a couple of tailor on a Jackall Deep Diving Chubby in red/gold. Tried out my newly purchased Cabelas popper around a small mangrove stand for no hits, but some tailor follows. Trolled some more for an undersized bream.
Found a mangrove lined bay and tried the popper around it for nothing. On the troll again. Picked up a small lizard on the chubby while clearing my other lure. Breeze had really come up by then so I headed further upstream to find some shelter. On the way get a big hit on the chubby and start fighting a fish that had some weight. My guess is flathead but I'll never know as I had the drag too tight for the 4lb leader. Ping
Found a sheltered creek and picked up a silver biddy and another chopper. Ran out of creek so headed back out and met Cid who was coming into the creek with two bream already in the well. The main creek had whitecaps but I thought I'd be ok to head further upstream. Only action was to snag and lose one of my beloved blue gill SX40s.
Decided to head back downstream at around 11. By this time the wind was horrendous with some gusts that felt as if they were blowing me backwards. I left a couple of lures out but made very heavy going. Got into a bit of strife when I stopped paddling to clear one of the lures and got blown into the mangroves, with rods and lures getting caught repeatedly. Eventually go out of there without loss and went looking for a more convenient spot to sort out the mess. In the end, I needed a break from the paddling so found a less than convenient spot and just got into more strife, getting rods and lures caught up in the mangroves.
Guess what, I fell out of the yak again trying to sort that mess out while holding station alongside some fallen branches. Sorted out the mess, stowed the rods inside the hull (easy to do when you're not in the seat) then paddled straight back to the ramp. Arrived just after 1 so wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. GPS said I covered just under 15km for the 6 hours, but a quarter of that was being blown backwards.
The yak handled the conditions really well. Only untoward behaviour was a tendency for the stern to be blown around when heading downwind, but that may have been the net and fishing bag catching the wind. Seabreeze says the winds were around 25kts, gusting to 40kts. Now I know that the yak can handle those winds, and it is possible to punch into them at around 1-2kts, I'll be doing my best to avoid conditions like that.
The other thing is that I'm proving to be decidedly crap at these comps. I think I'll put a bit more effort into bream fishing and try to sort out a small number of locations rather than turning up to these socials to fish unfamiliar conditions. Too hard a way to learn.
