YakFishWest

Archive for August, 2009

Basically my requirements from a camera are pretty simple. The camera has to be tough enough for kayak fishing. I want to point and shoot, mainly scenery and fish, the pictures have to be good enough quality to post on this blog. My old 5 megapixel Ricoh served me well. While it copped its fair share of saltwater and fish slime but it wasn’t waterproof so it had to be kept in a dry bag. The tedious routine of opening the hatch, removing the dry bag, taking out the camera, taking a picture, closing the dry bag, putting it back in the hatch, closing the hatch meant that I was missing a lot of photo opportunities.

Recently I lashed out and bought a new camera. I got an Olympus Mju 8000 Tough.

• 12 Megapixels
• 3.6x Optical Zoom with wide angle lens
• Waterproof to 10m
• Shockproof to 2.0m
• Snowproof to -10°c
• Crushproof to 100kg
• Dual Shakeproof CCD Shift Image Stabiliser
• Tap Control Mode
• In-Built Panorama
• Face Detection and Shadow Adjust
• 2.7″ HyperCrystal III LCD Screen

After a couple of months this camera is fulfilling the task perfectly. I can keep it in my board shorts pocket for easy access. The ability to take underwater photos adds a new dimension. But really the proof is in the photos so here are some of my favourites so far…

The next step is to come up with a mounting option for the yak so I can get some grip’n’grin pictures of my yak captures. Since everyone else is doing it I am thinking I might get some yak fishing footage while I am at it.

It had been a month since I had been out in my kayak and 7 weeks and more than 30kms of paddling since  I had caught a fish. Plans were laid for a Saturday morning dawn assault. I woke to find a breeze stiff enough to send me back to bed. I had to settle for a fruitless evening landbased session. Disheartened I didn’t set an alarm for Sunday. I woke up to find a perfectly still morning! Within an hour I was launching into Dampier harbour eager to end my run of donuts.

100m metres from the ramp I noticed some fish milling around on the surface before I had a chance to act my trolled lure was taken. No sooner had i grabbed the rod something else scoffed whatever I had hooked! With my hopes up I continued to troll across the the channel towards East Intercourse Island (EII) wary of the tugs headed my way. Just as I got clear of the channel another hit, the little school mackerel was no match for my heavy trolling gear but a fish none the less.

Nice little School Mackerel

I dealt with the mackie just in time to turn and face the wake of the tugs.

Trolled my way around EII towards the ore wharf . I was on the look out for manta rays and hopefully cobia. Cobia fishing this spot has been featured on Fishing WA a few years ago. I got blown away here by a 15kg cobia the previous week when we spotted a manta here while out in a mates boat.

I changed lures to a 8m+ scorpion and after a bit of tune up I was under way again. The scorpion got hammer! I set the hooks into a solid fish, the yak lurched around and and i held on for the ride! Fairly confident the hooks were set i put the rod down and cranked in my other trolling line. I settled in for the fight by it didn’t quite feel right… there was plenty of weight but it was swimming strangely.

Sure enough about 10minutes later i had colour…

Big Shark! By far the the biggest fish I have caught on the yak. While it circled under the yak I took the opportunity to test my new underwater camera with awesome results. I brought it to the surface and it took off again and again, a couple of times drenching me in the process.

Eventually it tired enough to get it in for a closer look. A grey reef shark maybe a metre and a half long.

My lure was well and truly hooked in the corner of its jaw. The thought of sharp teeth, trebles and a thrashing shark didn’t really appeal to me so I cut the line. I rerigged and started to loop back around I trolled out to a current line where I spotted surface activity but couldn’t find any action when I got there. At the point of EII I spotted a school of mackies but they were so close the act of reaching for a rod spooked them. When I retreived my lures ready to land I found a small barracuda hooked on one. I don’t know how long I towed it around for but it self released yakside.

Cheers

Swamp

After 2 quiet sessions, getting a few stinky snapper back on board is a real bonus. Hit the water this morning, headed out to the marks, where amazingly, there was only one boat! Trolled for a while, with only a solitary hit, then, applied some soft plastics where i hit a gold mine! Scored one approx. 70cm ish on the second cast, then only 20mins later landed a second one just a fraction bigger!! By this stage Shorty had arrived, and cruised around chucking a few placcies, when i hooked up solid for a third time, playing it tentativley to within 10m from the yak where it decided to drop the hook! Great morning none-the-less, and all the Pinkies went back to produce more Pinks which will eventually end up being Massive Pinks which i can then catch…

First fish of the day snaffled a Atomic soft placcie!

Second fish, went closer to 80cm, slammed a Gulp on the sink, put up a great fight on the 14lb outfit!

Awesome morning, would’ve loved to land the third one! Is great releasing a few, stocking up on Karma points for the next monster! Thanks for the company Shorty!

Well it’s certainly Snapper time in the West at the moment, and we are looking at an excellent year. Here is a video i made of last years highlights!!

Enjoy!

Well, what an awesome day! We really have had some great weather lately, and today was no exception. I met up with Matt at the launch spot at 7am, and we hit the water. Heading North West, through the reef, and onto the ground behind Garden Island.

Matty launching with the sunrise.

We cruised out to the 20m+ mark approx 2-3km behind the island, and cruised around looking for bottom structure. We drifted with the drogue’s out for a while, with a few Whiting and Herring to show for it, before heading North to look for more structure. The land seemed desolate of any rock, so we headed closer to the back of the island, where we found an abundance of ground, heading around behind the breakers for a while, before finding a nice sandy patch with good reef around it, we dropped our picks.

I threw out some berly, and a large fillet bait, accompanied by the second rod working 3-5″ soft plastics. I landed a few Wrasse, before the lighter rod with the SP gets a touch, i slowly wriggle the placcie around before it gets slammed by something solid! The Revros 2500 screams for mercy as the fish takes a few solid runs, before settling into the tell-tale slug of a Pinky. Slowly work him off the structure and yakside, before slipping him into the net!! Woops of delight as i land only my second Pinky on a soft plastic!

Great little Pinky falls for the old placcy on a jighead trick!

We eventually decide to pull the pin, and head back along the back of the island to our landing spot. Some decent swell entertains us as we avoid te shallow bombies along the dropoff, and eventually get to shore , where we both catch a wave in to land.

Matty on the move on his X-13!

Another great day on the water, thanks for the company Matty!

*Here’s a video of the day. Watch with the sound up!!