[WayneD]

Well, what an experience today was!!!! My first ever surf launch and boy didn't I do it tough. I got dumped twice and then went to the beach for a rest and then Duran showed up and guided me through it. Tough stuff, by the time I got out the back my arms felt like jelly and the paddle felt like it had a bucket either end.

Slowly paddled out to Palm Reef and boy wasn't I hurting. That was when I saw Duran back peddaling and coming towards me. He said don't hang your legs in the water and pointed to a fin sticking out of the water. Great! My first encounter with a shark on the yak! We just paddled around it though and never saw it again.

I must have swallowed too much salt water or maybe it was seasickness but by the time I got out to the reef I was ready to blow. And blow I did, four times to be exact. No burley as I hadn't eaten anything yet, thank god with that shark around!!

Took me about 1/2 hr to feel well enough to rig up. No fish caught in this time by any of the 12-15 boats around us. Not sure how long it took but I finally got a hookup. Although I knew it wasn't a mackeral as the fight was very lacklustre, ended up being a big flathead, went 80cms equalling my PB, dammit. As good as that was I felt dissapointed when I saw it as I was hoping for a mackeral. Called it for a wobbegong to start with looked huge in the water.

Headed back in not long after. Got dumped on the way in also but out of the three dumpings I never lost anything so that's a bonus.

 

[Dodge]

Quite an adventure there Wayne and good on you for having a go after each dumping

 

[Fishing Man]

well done Wayne,

mate were all bound to get dumped a few times initially hey,
Im yet to do my first surf launch but expect to come unstuck a few times even though i surf a lot.

was the water clear out there/ can you see the reef bottom??

also did you see anyone else catch anything?

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Peril]

Wayne, good on you for persisting. Its the best way to learn and the rewards follow.

Red card for complaining about an 80cm lizard! Top fish mate!!!!

 

[Davey G]

just another 80cm flattie.. bugger.. :roll: obviously the flatties are keen on your burley..

good effort on getting out through the surf zone, it certainly gives the arms a workout. next time just toss a lure onto the back of durans yak and get a free tow :idea: :wink:

 

[YakAtak]

Well done for having a go Wayne, better luck next time.
OH yeah, NICE FLATTIE.

 

[WayneD]

Fishing Man - I woud have seen about 6 mackeral caught all morning. They certainly weren't prolific like they were on the weekend. Oh well, it was a nice morning once I felt a bit better.

Don't get me wrong I was stoked to get another big flattie on the yak but the dissapointment of not catching a mackeral sort of outweighed it. Plus catching a big flattie on 8kg line and a steel trace doesn't exactly constitute sports fishing now does it. I was actually lucky that it wasn't a mackeral because the line wrapped around the tip of my rod whilst trolling if a mackeral had of hit it might have snapped my tip off.

 

[Fishing Man]

any idea on what depth you were in,
and can you see the bottom out there?

 

[JD]

Goodonya, I'm not game enough to try the surf yet. What size were the waves? I knew all that tuition I gave you in the Pine would pay off. Sorry I only covered Bream and Flathead, next time Mackeral!!! haha

 

[WayneD]

FM- no idea about depth as I left the FF at home, don't think it would have made it through the waves. I couldn't see the bottom and the water was really blue, from when I had the flathead on I could see it from about 5 metres down.

JD waves were about 3ft I would say some ranging to 4ft. Timing the entrance is the key to it all. Duran gave good advice on getting through them. Once out there I was bobbing up and down everywhere, some of the swells seemed quite large to me, mind you I was seeing green.

A great experience but I don't know how soon I will be back out there to try again. Still feeling a bit Queezy now, must have swallowed heaps of salt water!!

 

[spottymac]

A Big pat on the back Wayne.
Your made of the right stuff with grit and determination for hanging in there.
l didn't think you had a hope in hell of getting out, there were some big sets rolling in at times and l only just made it over one of them.
Sorry for not hanging around to guide you out at 4 am but l had to be at work at 6am and it was still dark, l thought you would have a better chance in daylight with Duran.
l am sure we are all MAD,MAD,MAD doing this stuff to catch a fish for breaky.
Hey that's a nice flattie you got,but l know what you mean about cathing a spotty.
Did Duran or Dennis catch anything.

 

[spottymac]

Ben, the reef is about 10 to 20m in most places.

Come on Wayne don't give up now, you will find it alot easyer next time with a good surf launch.

 

[milansek]

good on you Wayne top effort

 

[WayneD]

Stu- Duran got zilch and Dennis only got a tailor.

I will be back, catching that first mackeral will make it all worthwile. Just have to perfect the entry. Coming back in I don't mind getting dunked. Certainly an art to it.

 

[spooled1]

Wayne - Good onya mate,

You copped a dumping and didn't give up!
You spewed and kept going 4 times!

Great work and welcome to the world of offshore yak fishing. I bet you're fully addicted.

Today I was out for 3 hours. 1/2 an hour fishing before I discovered an awesome 3 foot dumper at belongil. Today was best described as a practice day.

Mate, everyday in the surf is a skill refined. I caught some great waves and on one occasion fully mastered the, "nose dive flip, full immersion, yak twist". SIIIIIICK MAAAAAATE.....

Keep it up - Soon you'll be almost fearless shockand love it.

 

[troppo]

All I can say, WayneD, is top effort. Ya got dumped but ya kept trying till ya got out.

How do you carry ya rods when making the trip out through the waves?

 

[WayneD]

Troppo - My espri has bungy cord criss crossing the front of it so I just shoved the rod butts under there and hoped for the best, and it worked although one of my eyelets got a bit bent. Next time I will probably take out a two piece rod so that I can store it below deck. THe reels I had below deck in a waterproof bag.

I did have a crate on the back that made things interesting. Will try to get rid of that next time. It only had my bait in it and a few lures anyway. The old bungee cord held strong and I didn't loose it which I thought I might.

One thing I did notice was that the first time I got flipped I couldn't turn the kayak back over when I wasn't touching the bottom. SO I had to wait to get pushed back in to be able to flip the kayak upright. I did panic though and I have thought of ways to do it since then, although in the surf getting pounded by waves might make it a bit tough. I had planned on having some fun in the waves after coming in (on the trip down, befor eI got smashed) but it was just a relief to touch land again and there was no way I am fit enough to paddle back out there through those waves again.

 

[WayneD]

Sppoled- I don't think I am quite addicted yet, once I catch my first mackeral maybe. But at the moment it is a lot of hard work to get through those waves when I have a nice easy launch from a boat ramp up the creek and I enjoy catching the estuary species. We'll see how I go.

 

[Fishing Man]

heres a question for yo wayne or any of the other guys who regularly fish outside, do you have the yak tethered to yourselves as you launch in the surf?. i wondered what happens if you are 50-100m from the shore and come unstuck from a set, do you swim after the yak or do you have a system similar to that of a surfboard legrope?

i know it sounds like a silly question