Goodvibes ProFisherman

8519 Views 15 Replies 8 Participants Last post by goodvibes, Apr 3, 2006

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · Mar 3, 2006

What can you do when the cyclone is moving down the coast, the rains pelting down, the winds peaking at 40 knots and the swell is over 3 metres?
Well its time to put together my rigged kayak report and try and fiddle with these pictures and get them up on PhilÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s site.
Having spent an initiation of a year on my Cobra Explorer it was time to upgrade to a more specialised fishing yak.
Following Yakman's kingie exploits on the new Cobra ProFisherman, I could see that some serious thinking had gone into the setup of this yak.
I contacted the Kayak Shop in Monavale and picked up the almost new yak in January and have had a ball on it since.
I mainly fish for snapper, bream and mackeral, offshore at Diggers Beach, Coffs Harbour.
PBs this year include: Snapper 4.5kg, Tailor 2.5kg and a 1kg bream.
A normal session starts off early (about 1hr before sunrise), launching in "Cowards Corner" at Diggers.
I paddle out the front and have a short session floating baits for snapper and tailor, before the sun comes up, then its into jigging some slimies for a slow troll in the hope of picking up a mackeral.
If the mackeral aren't cooperating, then a few fresh slimie fillets are soaked in the washes for a decent bream.
I sold my Explorer to Wally, a specialist bream fisherman, who delights in pulling out of his bag, a kilo + bream, when I have spent an hour fruitlessly dragging live baits around.
(But you just waitÃ¢â‚¬Â¦.one day soonÃ¢â‚¬Â¦IÃ¢â‚¬â„¢m going to get that big Spaniard!)
I have fitted hinges to the two large rectangular hatches, attached a gaff on the starboard side, assembled an anchor retrieval system with a float and designed and built a bait keeper setup.
I also had to modify my pvc pipe dolly to fit the new hull shape, turning it from a scupper hole model into a rack style.
I really enjoyed fishing from the Explorer, which was great in close, sloshing around only metres from the rocks, pulling bream out of the whitewater, but now I feel I have a yak more suited to pelagic fishing.
The ProFisherman has excellent storage for a plastic yak, with a large centre hatch that houses a Ã¢â‚¬Å"ThermabagÃ¢â‚¬

See less See more

4

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

Jake

· #2 · Mar 4, 2006

Gday Ray,
You've got some good ideas there. I will definitely be looking you up down at Coffs in the future. I would love to get some good Spanyards myself.
Cheers,
Jake

Dodge

· #3 · Mar 4, 2006

Gday Ray

You've got her set up great and it's good to hear you're happy with her.

Cowards Corner sounds my kind of spot as a launch site, where is Diggers Beach in relation to the main harbour?

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · #4 · Mar 4, 2006

Jake,
The spaniards should be here soon, March, April and May is the prime time.
Would be great to have you come on down and hook into one...hope you can pedal fast.
Richo
Diggers is about 3kms north of the Harbour, near the "Big Banana".
There is usually no "Sand Monster" there, even Peril would be able to make it out.
Regards
Ray

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 4, 2006

Here are a few more pics of the ProFisherman
Regards
Ray

See less See more

4

yaker

· #6 · Mar 4, 2006

.

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 4, 2006

Tony,
The Ã¢â‚¬Å"Bait PenÃ¢â‚¬

See less See more

3

sunshiner

· #8 · Mar 5, 2006

Occy

occy said:
I think I spotted some Berocca tubes there

Berocca tubes sound interesting. What the hell are they?

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 5, 2006

Sunshiner,
Those bloody Berocca tubes!
Now look what youv'e done Occy...everyone will know about us now.
Regards
Ray

See less See more

Salty Dog

· #10 · Mar 5, 2006

Nice one Goodvibes - I have relo's near Coffs, so I might look you up too sometime if you want an altogether unskilled fishing companion.

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · #11 · Mar 6, 2006

Adam,
If you are planning a trip up Coffs way, give us a call and we can plan a trip.
I'll PM you with my phone contact.
Regards
Ray

See less See more

spooled1

· #12 · Apr 1, 2006

Hi Ray,

Do you get many slimies jumping out of the bait pen? They can be fiesty little buggers. Also does it cause much drag on the yak?

yaksta

· #13 · Apr 2, 2006

Hi Ray
Was wondering how you attached the wheels to your trolley. I am planning to build one for my tarpon using the scupper holes to support the trolley.
I just haven't come up with a good solution for fixing the wheels to the trolley.
Also did you find the PVC was strong enough to support the weight of the yak or did you need to reinforce it somehow?

Thanks
Wayne

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · #14 · Apr 3, 2006

Hi Wayne
I used a plan I saw on a US website, (lost the link but maybe Phil knows it).
I used the good quality PVC plumbing pipe and a 1" aluminium tube (reasonably heavy gauge) fits perfectly inside it.
Mine used to be a scupper hole type and I used it with my Cobra Explorer for over 12 months with no adverse effects on the scupper holes, but I could see how you could accidently stab the uprights through a weak spot in the scupper hole area.
Also many experienced yakers advised against a scupper hole model.
For the Cobra Profisherman I erred on the side of caution and converted my trolley to a supporting arrangement where two bars sit either side of my gull wing central hull.
Hope this is of help.
Regards
Ray

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 3, 2006

Dan, The pen will hold about a dozen baits.
I lose a few when I am frigging around taking them off the jigger and sometimes if I handle them (they are slimies after all.)
I find the best technique is to only use 3 hooks on the jigger (that gets me two jiggers for the price of one.) I jig them up, shake them off in my lap and place ach one in the baitpen.
The width of the container with a pool noodle on each side restricts most of them from jumping out.
The actual gap on the top would be about 6-7cms.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Ray

goodvibes

Discussion Starter · #16 · Apr 3, 2006

Hi Dan again,
Yes it does a bit.
If you are doing a slow troll with the breeze it isnt a hassle, but hen you have to punch back into the headwind you have to use some opposite rudder and paddle hard.
For the last few trips I have an anchor system to it, simply some 15kg line and a big snapper lead on a float (piece of pool noodle)
The area I troll is only a couple of hundred metres so put it somewhere central and troll around it.
Regards
Ray

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.