2015 Fishing Road Trip (Part 1)

For a couple of good reasons I didn’t publish much about a ten day August road trip that I enjoyed with my good friend Daniel van der Post. Though I’m sat here, and the weatherman has forecast another wet and windy weekend, the third in a row!. It’s been over a month since I was last afloat so I’ve decided to see what I can recollect from our August trip.

I’ve visited and fished with Daniel several times in his own country, the Netherlands, though he’d yet to visit and fish the saltwater here in England. He’d read my reports over the years and finally made the decision to cross the English Channel and sample what I’d been taking for granted for several years. As much as I’d really been looking forward to this trip, it put a little pressure on me as I naturally wanted Daniel to enjoy some good success and leave with a smile of his face.

Over a few weeks, I did my research, whether it was on the web or mailing a few friends for some additional information. It was important that we’d be able to fish regardless of the weather, whilst ensuring that we were fishing venues that were likely to produce some memorable fish. I also wanted to put as many different species on his kayak as possible, as many of the fish that are readily available here in UK waters are a rarity, or simple don’t exist in Dutch coastal waters. One thing was for certain, we were going to be covering quite some miles in order to satisfy all of my wishes.

That said, I didn’t want to spend 10 days on the road neither. To that end, I’d decided that we’d potentially fish from South West Wales down through Devon and Somerset, to Lands End in Cornwall. Daniel was very keen to fish for Tope, so that was my number one priority.

Daniel arrived in the UK, via the cross Channel ferry, making it to my house before dark. He was to use my old 2011 Hobie Outback for the duration of the trip, it being well kitted out for the task of saltwater fishing. We spent the evening organising tackle and packing the car, it really is amazing what goes into the car for a 10 day fishing/camping trip (way too much!).

The forecast was quite favourable for the first 2-3 days, so the decision was made to head directly to the Tope grounds located in Pembrokeshire, South West Wales. As much as I’d read about how productive this area can be for Tope, I’d never visited the area myself, so I found myself relying on some information from a friend. As it turned out, the tips were good!.

We made camp on a local campsite, located reasonably close to the fishing grounds. It meant a drive every morning, though there was a beach within a stones throw distance which provided an enjoyable evening stroll.

I had packed a cool box with frozen mackerel and some sand eel, though this was only to last a couple of days at best. We were soon on the beach, checking rigs and other niff naff prior to launching. As exciting as it always is to fish a new location, there’s always the big question mark over whether or not it was going to perform. There’s no substitute for fresh bait, so the frozen bait was taken afloat, though the mackerel feathers were quickly deployed.

I think it turned out to be harder to catch mackerel than anything else!, though one by one we amassed sufficient fresh bait throughout the day to keep us fishing. We initially chose to fish towards the centre of a large bay. The ground was fairly clean, though not featureless. As the tide flow was not excessive I chose to fish with my lighter 6-8lb class road, a 6000 sized reel with a running ledger to a 5/0 Sakuma 545 hook. The trace was tipped off with a few inches of metal trace as there was a strong likelihood of hooking into some toothy fish. With anchors down we commenced fishing, the breeze was a little firm at times, but conditions were pretty good. All we needed was some fish!

As it happened we didn’t have to wait too long to find some fish. We started to catch one tope after another and it was great fun. Though these were ‘pack Tope’, smaller fish  between 5-10kg that tend to shoal together, though on light tackle they still provided very enjoyable sport. It’s important to strike early with these fish to prevent a deep hook up. It used to be the ‘norm’ to strike on the second run, though I tend to tighten into the fish within 3-4 seconds. Occasionally the fish will drop the bait, though if left, the Tope regularly return and pick it up once more, often within seconds. I probably land 3 out of 4 Tope that take the bait, that’s a hook up percentage that I’m more than happy with, whilst minimising the risk of a deeply hooked fish.

Daniel was also catching, the fishing was good, we were having a great time!.

Though after a couple of hours things went quiet, almost dead in fact, so the decision was made to move to another mark. I took us to a nearby headland to fish some deeper water.

I was concerned about the tide, though it didn’t appear too bad so once more the anchors disappeared into the depths. Both kayaks were equipped with a full length anchor trolley and a ‘clip on’ anchor setup. The latter permitted easy release of the anchor and featured a buoy so it could be left in the water to allow you to photograph the other anglers fish, etc.

I’ve used this setup for years and it works extremely well. Returning the the anchor it was merely a case of clipping back on and swinging into the tide to fish once more.

We anchored up in much deeper water which also enjoyed a stronger tidal flow, though certainly nowhere as near as I’d feared. This was monitored throughout the session. I would have certainly had no qualms about relocating should it have become too strong. With another whole mackerel on a dedicated Tope rig (8/0 de-barbed bronze hook) I was soon fishing again. I must say that the scenery around Pembrokeshire was stunning, catching fish was honestly a bonus. Again, we didn’t have to wait too long before the baits were found and the reels began to scream.

With Daniel hooked up into a fish, I simply recovered my bait, unclipped the anchor and pedalled over to take some photos. This is where the clip on anchor system comes into it’s own.

We fished as light as possible given the tide, with minimal lead used to hold bottom at all times. We were also equipped with lure rods in the hope of finding some Bass and Pollack later in the day.

The easiest way to bring a decent sized Tope aboard the kayak is to grab a pectoral fin pull the fish onto your lap.

With the Tope on board, they often settle down quickly when positioned on its back (tonic immobility). Though it doesn’t always work!

All fish were quickly photographed and returned, apart from a few cod and bass for the table, I very rarely keep any fish these days.

 

I hadn’t taken my GoPro with me so I relied quite heavily on Daniel to take the occasional photograph for me. I’ve caught quite a few Tope over the years, but it’s always nice to have a couple of photos from every trip. Just to show that I didn’t blank if nothing else!. My biggest fish of the day ‘was released early’ before Daniel made it over to my yak!

We fished this mark for a couple of days, managing 22 Tope between us which I consider to be extremely successful. Daniel was certainly pleased, the No.1 target had been caught!. Other species were caught including Bullhuss, Gurnard, Ray, Launce, Dogfish and some Bass & Pollack to lures.

It had been a cracking start to the trip. Though the weather had began to turn with the South Westerly winds picking up to a point where it was getting rather uncomfortable to fish. We’d done well, so with the camping gear packed we headed around the Bristol Channel, leaving the northern side and heading to the southern side.

Rigging the Hobie Outback for fishing (Part1)

I’ve had the Hobie Outback for a few months now, rigging has been steady, perhaps a little pedestrian. A times parts have been slow to arrive, a lot of time has been spent planning and there’s been fishing, Christmas, Easter and other holidays and weekends away in between.

I’ve rigged several kayaks before, mostly for other people. The Outback had to be capable of being fished in various guises, anchoring, fishing with live or deadbait, trolling, lure fishing and sailing. Obviously not all at once!, however, It needed to be rigged in such a way that would permit the role of the kayak to be changed quickly and with minimal fuss. Consideration was also given to safety and I decided early on that I’d be fitting a bilge pump. It’s something I’d always wanted to fit to my Big Game, though I never got around to doing it. With the Outback I had a plain canvas, and with several years of experience behind me, I wanted to get it right from day one.

The rigging is now effectively completed, sure, there’s a couple of minor changes that I’ll embody in time, though for all intents and purposes it’s finished and ready to tackle anything that I choose to throw at it.

Below are two photos, the first one shows the Outback as it was supplied, the one below that shows the rigging complete, but with the kayak fully stripped for storage/transport.

Hobie Outback (as supplied)

Hobie Outback (Fully rigged and stripped)

At a glance there’s not a lot of difference to be honest, though that kayak can now be rigged to sail and/or fish in a matter of minutes, day or night. Look closely and you’ll see various pieces of GearTrac, a couple of cleats and two rod holders (removable if required). Look a  little closer and you’ll notice electrical cables, the kayak is fully wired to permit the connection of a battery to power up a fish finder, GPS, a bilge pump plus a navigation light.

There’s a crossbar fixed behind the seat, this permits the fitment of Hobie Sidekicks (click the link for the full article) which are ideally suited to sailing or perhaps fishing in rough seas. There’s also an anchor trolley system fitted, a must for anchoring in tidal waters and anchoring duties in general. Also visible on the other side of the kayak, close to the nose is another trolley system. This is actually a half-trolley and was fitted to permit the use of a drogue whilst anchored.

With a few pointers you may notice that the rudder is larger than the standard item, having being upgraded to a ‘sailing rudder’. At the rear left of the kayak (behind a section of GearTrac) is a flush outlet for the bilge pump. So at a glance there’s not much change, however, there’s actually many hours of planning and rigging taken place to reach that point.

Rigging for ‘basic fishing duties’

Below there’s a few photos showing the rigging that I’d consider ideal for standard fishing duties, whether it be anchored up or drifting. This would perhaps permit some lure fishing, fishing with dead baits, perhaps a livebait if caught and used immediately.

                

The only additions have been my trusty dry box, a GoPro Hero 2 camera mounted up front on a PanFish Portrait. The PanFish is mounted to a piece of YakAttack’s GT90 GearTrac, another piece is mounted on the rear upper side of the dry box, the latter allowing the fitment of a VisiCarbon Pro flag/light and my camera monopod. The GoPro is remote controlled so it’s position up front is not a concern.

The GearTrac is strong and versatile, permitting the quick and easy fitment and removal of suitably equipped accessories as required. I also have four piece of GearTrac GT175 positioned around the kayak, more on that later.

There’s a anchor reel and anchor situated in the front hatch (in the Hobie hatch liner – not shown), though the dry box also features two anchor stowages, so there are various options for storing the anchor & reel. The kayak trolley is fitted upside down, located in the tank well scupper holes and secured using the forward straps on the dry box.

 

I fitted additional stainless steel pad eyes either side of the seat to permit the front securing straps of the dry box to be attached kayak. There are Hobie mounting points either side of the dry box though their positioning was unsuitable, however, they are perfect for securing the Hobie Livewell. As can be seen in the photos above, I’ve run two continuous lengths of bungee cord around the dry box to permit items to be easily stored, yet remaining readily available. I keep by  removable cutting board and paddle float secured in these positions.

The cutting board is a must for bait fishing and was simple enough to manufacture. I utilised a MightyMount from YakAttack and associated T-bolt, thus allowing it be fitted and removed from the front right GearTrac in seconds.

Ok, I’ll take a closer look at the permanent fit as well as the electrical items.

The rod holders are modified composite RAM tubes. I’ve fitted them on either side of the seat in the recesses that permits the storage of pliers, etc, whilst fishing. They weren't a straight forward fit and required spacers and a longer bolt for the handle to permit them to be correctly fitted. They’re ideally placed and provide an ‘armchair’ fishing position. Rod leashes are also attached in this location, keeping those expensive rods and reels leashed to the kayak at all times.

I found the centre 8” ‘Twist & Lock’ hatch not that user friendly to begin with. Like most hatches it opens up directly to the hull and does not permit the easy storage of tackle and other items. Hobie don’t produce a ‘hatch bag’ for the 8” hatch so after a some thought I produced my own hatch liner (click the link for the full article) for little money. The end result was a cavernous compartment that allows many items of tackle, a flask, food, etc, to be stored as required.

There was of course the requirement (luxury) of having an electronics fit. I did consider a fish finder/GPS combo unit, though once you combine the initial purchase price with a mapping card they suddenly become very expensive. I already owned a Garmin 60Csx GPS with Bluecharts, so I decided to stick with that and to add a new fish finder. After an awful lot of deliberation I settled on a Lowrance Elite 4x DSI. This is a small down imaging unit and from the various reviews that I’d read, it’s performance (and price) were quite impressive.

The GPS was already mounted to a RAM cradle and could be fitted to the GearTrac in seconds. The Lowrance is supplied with a rather bulky mount, though for some additional expenditure a dedicated RAM mount can be purchased (part No.RAM-B-101-LO11). This negates the requirement for the supplied Lowrance mount and permits the unit to be mounted directly to the GearTrac using a ScrewBall from YakAttack. Both the fish finder and the GPS are easily removed and stored for surf landings if required.

  

The transducer for the DSI units should ideally be placed outside the hull, as opposed to a ‘shoot through hull’ configuration and generally used with traditional sonars. This did prove somewhat difficult on the Outback as the only suitable mounting points were the rear scupper holes. I didn’t want to lose the facility of using the Hobie kayak trolley so an alternative mounting point was required. I’m not a fan of mounting a transducer on an ‘arm’, hanging it over the side of the kayak, though after quite some though I worked out that by removing the thread from a seat scupper that the transducer would pass through. The transducer mount needed quite some modification, though the end result was neat, tidy and very functional.

 

I’ll cover the fish finder installation in a little more detail at a later date. I also took the opportunity to fit a an electric bilge pump (click the link for the full article) to enable water to be quickly removed from the hull should I ever experience a leak whilst I’m afloat. Sure, it’s unlikely, but if it does happen I’ll certainly be happy that I took the time to fit the system.

  

The last electrical item that I fitted was a homemade navigation light. It’s nothing special, an off the shelf light unit, aluminium pole, foam grip and a waterproof plug. I modified the base, fitting a T-Bolt from YakAttack, thus allowing me to fit the light to a section of GearTrac. A mating waterproof socket was fitted to the hull and it was wired into the main electrical loom. The light is easily removed when afloat and can be stored for surf landings if required.

The main wiring loom was made in one piece and fully sealed to prevent corrosion and the ingress of moisture.

  

An anchor trolley was also required so I chose to fit the genuine Hobie trolley system (click the link for the full article). This came supplied with some quality components and was fitted in well under an hour. I modified the suggested routing a little to meet my own requirements. It’s a full length trolley, running from the bow to the stern, permitting the positioning of the anchor anywhere along the trolley run.

As mentioned earlier, on the right hand side of the kayak I fitted a ‘half trolley’, running fully forward from the centre of the kayak. This was fitted purely to permit the use of a drogue whilst at anchor. If you’re subjected to a cross wind whilst at anchor the kayak will tend to swing across the tide. This can be quite annoying and doesn’t provide the best fishing position. With a drogue deployed just ahead of the kayak, with the trolley fully forward, the kayak will (with some tide running) swing back into the tide. I use this method a lot and it works extremely well.

This is my basic fishing setup and as I mentioned earlier I’ve already covered the rigging required for sailing the Outback. The Part 2 ‘Rigging the Outback’ will look at setting up the kayak for live baiting and trolling.

Pain, grief and lots of swearing!

I’ve spent the last couple of days de-rigging the kayak and re-rigging it with some GearTrac. I’ll post more on this later as I’m not finished yet, well my body is, so many aches, pains, cuts and scratches. I’d almost forgotten how much fun rigging can be!

The old aluminium RAM ball mounts were badly corroded ad looking extremely tatty. I took the opportunity to unbolt them and fit some new composite RAM balls in their place. That wasn’t terribly difficult, well not in theory anyway. However, I’d fitted them as far back as possible using nuts and bolts, access to the nuts is via the centre hatch. It’ s a heck of a stretch and highly uncomfortable, it didn’t seem quite so difficult when I fitted them in mid-1997. Yup, it’s official, I’m getting old!

Anyway, with that job out of the way I did some work on the rudder system. It’d been stiff to operate for some time, so it was stripped down, inspected, cleaned and re-assembled. Post that work it was far easier to operate. I took the opportunity to fit a couple of drilled plastic balls onto the operating ropes to give an improved handhold when pulling on the ropes to lower/raise the rudder.

I also moved the zig-zag cleat as I always fold my rod tubes back these days. In the early days I folded them forward so it was placed up on an edge adjacent to its new position (see the bolts). It was subject to getting knocked when loading onto the roof of the car and finally broke last year. At least in this position it should be safe from abuse!

   

However, all that was simple compared to how the next job turned out!. One of the flush mounts had not been watertight from new. Fill it up with water and it’d drain in down in seconds. It explained how I’d take on a few cups of water in a choppy sea. So the plan was to remove them, seal them up, then to re-fit them. Three screws, how difficult could it be?. The screws fix into well nuts, a fitting that I hate with a vengeance. The first two came out just fine, though the last one was seized and just turned. I was soon back to being a contortionist and managed to get a small pair of mole grips onto the well nut. I’d get a few turns if I was lucky then the moles grips slipped off. I’d struggle to re-attach the mole grips before getting a another turn on the screw.

It eventually came out and the old well nuts were cut out. I considered fitting nuts, bolts and washers though access was clearly a nightmare so I fitted some new well nuts. I managed to break two of them just as I was reaching the desired tightness… not impressed!!!!

I had a hell of a job removing them and once off (about 45 minutes later!) I decided to attempt to fit nuts, bolts and penny washers. It was a rather tricky job, I do believe that I might have sworn… many times. It was a good 90 minutes to finish that job. I still have one left to do, should I leave it??, I feel as though I should give it a wide berth. That said, I know myself, I’ll be swearing again tomorrow, I will win!!

The wiring loom that runs from the front to the rear of the kayak had come adrift so that was suitably secured using plastic P-clips to existing nuts/bolts passing into the hull. I’m sure I’ve tackled other minor jobs as the day progressed. There’s quite a bit of work left to do, though right now I need a hot bath and some liquid refreshment to ease the pain.