Another trip to the Wraysbury Lakes complex

It's been three weeks since I posted a report covering my fishing trip to Wraysbury Lake. When the opportunity arose for another trip I grabbed it, quite eager to try my luck at catching another large Pike, perhaps even the elusive Perch. I say that the Perch are elusive, though it's probably more down to the fact that bar a couple of tiddlers that I'd caught previously, I'd not actually seen a Perch of note in the flesh so to speak.

The plan had been to meet up with Ian Harris and David Morris to fish both days over the weekend. The weather forecast wasn't exactly favourable, though the margins are generally quite heavily wooded so there's  generally always shelter to be found. I was already fairly organised, or was it more a case that I'd not really unpacked from my previous trip?

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It was also an opportunity to test out my new LiFePo4 (lithium iron phosphate) battery, a whopping 23ah that I deemed necessary to power my Lowrance HDS9 Carbon combo FF/GPS unit. Though my HDS7 Gen 3 was also killing off my 12ah SLA battery in any session over 6 hours. These big display units are actually very nice to own, though there is one big cost.... current draw!. However, I'll look more at batteries in a later article.

The alarm went off at 0600 and by 0745 I'd hit the road having already loaded the kayak and consumed a large coffee. It's an hours drive to the Wraysbury complex for me, quite a pleasurable one at that time of the morning. It was a different lake to what I'd previously fished and it certainly looked interesting, what with numerous islands and a few backwaters, there was plenty to fish or just to explore!. I'm not sure what time we launched, probably by 0900, though how I'd love to slip into the water there at 0630.

I'd had a look on the Insight Genesis webpage to check if the lake had been previously mapped. Sadly there was nothing, so I planned to map as much as the lake as reasonably possibly during the session. I had actually hoped to utilise Navionic's SonarChart Live, though it transpired that my Navionics Gold card didn't offer that facility. I do have a more up to date card in the post, however, using this feature will have to wait until at least my next trip. Creating your own charts on the go?, that has to be a good thing... watch this space.

I do like fishing alone at times, just enjoying a venue, the time of the morning, etc. Once launched I headed around the corner into quite a large bay. I trolled the margins a couple of times and then covered the remainder of the bay casting methodically. Third cast saw me hook up into a fish!. It was a 'jack' pike of 3-4 lbs, no complaints as it meant that at least I wasn't going to blank!

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I did try to get a decent photograph of my first fish of the day, though it didn't want to wait about...

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I caught three fish in quick succession, all a very similar size. All were taken on a Fox Rage Pro shad mated to both 10g and 15g jig heads. I find the 15g ideals for trolling in depths of up to 5m with the 10g ok for casting, perhaps even a 7g would work just as well. Though they are quite prone to damage and the two I had with me became somewhat unusable within a couple of hours.

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I'm sponsored by Lowrance so I'm somewhat spoilt when it comes to electronics. This day I had the latest HDS9 Carbon fitted. It has a 9" screen and this enables me to split the screen into three sections with ease. As I was mapping the lake I chose to have a map overview displayed along with Broadband sonar and StructureScan . As much as I didn't have a usable chart loaded, it enabled me to see what areas of the lake I'd covered. Helpful both in mapping and ensuring that I'd potentially covered all fish holding areas (note the left section of the display below).

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What there is as this venue is an abundance of wildlife, I spend probably too much time listening to the variety of bird calls and try to locate the various species in the tree tops. Am I a closet 'twitcher' ?.. perhaps. Though I did enjoy watching a pair of Red Kites for almost an hour, very graceful birds.
I left the bay and headed along a narrow stretch of water. I was regularly getting brief hits to my lure, the number of failed hook-ups was numerous to say the least. Small Perch or Pike no doubt, both frustrating and entertaining at the same time.

The fish kept on coming, though they were generally quite small in size, feisty though!. Like most anglers I do at times lose a little too much tackle. I can go weeks without losing something, then lose 7-8 lures in a session!. It's always nice to get a little payback, so when I spotted a lure in a nearly tree I couldn't let it remain there.

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I have to admit that today did not result in many notable photographs. I caught a nice double figure Pike and it gave quite a memorable fight. It was eventually netted and quickly unhooked, ready for its photo call...  it had other ideas (again!).

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So I can catch fish, just not photograph them apparently. It seems that it's safer to photograph them in the net first... here's a Pike in the net :)

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The fish just kept on coming, here's another one...

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I'm often asked about using Side Scan sonar (Lowrance StructureScan), is it worth it?. Well traditional broadband sonar, even down imaging, covers only a small area of the water beneath the kayak. Yes, the deeper the water the greater the coverage, though in reality that area is still very small. Being able to look 15-25 metres either side of the kayak with ease?, well that's somewhat priceless. It's possible to pass directly over a featureless bottom whilst being totally ignorant to both fish and structure that may exist either side of the kayak. Look at the screenshot below:

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The traditional broadband sonar (top right) is showing a rather featureless bottom, increasing in depth over time. Though look at the StructureScan directly below. To the left are several raised areas of terrain though to the right it's somewhat bland. Well how does this help?, turning around and heading back a few metres off to the left will put you onto potentially fish holding structure. I cant see any fish on that particular screen shot though it doesn't mean that there are none there. I used this method many times throughout the day and it provided me with hook-ups on several occasions.

How do fish appear on the StructureScan?. Well that depends on various factors including fish size, water depth as well as there's position relative to the sonar (i.e beneath or off to one side). Below are a couple of images of what I'm talking about. The first picture below shows a shoal of Carp pretty much directly beneath the kayak. They are clearly visible to the left of the display on the Broadband sonar as large 'fish arches'.

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Though on the StructureScan display to the right (above) they are clearly visible towards the bottom of the water column (even Carp shaped!) as well as some shadows off to the right created by fish. Shadows?, sonar like light will create shadows due to being unable to pass through an object. It's not terribly clear on the image above, though how about this image below?

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There are clearly two fish (white marks) about 9 metres to the left of the kayak, now several metres behind the kayak. As they are off the bottom they are casting a 'sonar shadow' immediately to their left and can therefore be confirmed as fish. This shadow can be used to provide an idea of the depth of the fish. Also, note the methodical mapping track. Parallel tracks to ensure total coverage. It also helps to cover all possible fish holding areas to a good degree.

I actually targeted those fish above by tapping on the display on the HDS9 Carbon and selecting the 'GOTO' option. I was steered directly back towards these fish as can be seen below to the left of the screen. Out of interest you can also see another large fish on the broadband sonar below (top right) lying hard on the bottom at around 4 metres, seen whilst navigating back towards the two fish I highlighted on the StructureScan... fish everywhere!

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That fish above that's lying hard against the bottom was most likely a Pike. With the water temperature so cold these fish are lying deep in the water, a clue being the leeches that are attached to pectoral fins of the fish that are caught during the colder months, this can be seen below.

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These end up littering the kayak after a few fish, it's become pastime to locate them and ditch them overboard during those quieter moments.

With my two fox lures destroyed it was time to try out my new collection of Westin lures.
I'd previously had some great success with the Westin Shad Teez (below), not doubt very effective due to its famous rolling action. Sadly my only 'Crazy Deal' colour Shad Teez had been chewed up beyond recognition so I decided to try another Westin lure from my box.

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Out of the box came my one and only Hypo Teez, well in this particular colour scheme (below).

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I mainly trolled this lure and it was smashed in the first 10 seconds!, trust me, that builds your confidence in a lure VERY quickly!. It took many Pike during the session and it showed very little wear considering the abuse it took. It doesn't possess the rolling action of the Shad Teez, though the paddle tail creates very effective movement. I'll certainly be adding several to my collection, though I'll also use them with 7-10g jig heads for casting purposes, especially into shallower water.

As mentioned, the Hypo Teez was killing the Pike out in the lake (not literally!). Below is what became a common occurrence... an 'inhaled' Hypo Teez. At times unhooking required forceps. Note the lure clip!!!!. I'd had problems with the clip on the previous fish. False economy for sure. Next time a lure clip shows signs of damage it gets changed. Last thing you want to do is lose a great fish or leave your lure in the mouth of a fish.. best avoided wherever possible.

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The hunt for Pike continued and there was no shortage of them. I stopped keeping count at fifteen, though I caught a few after that as well. Despite the sheer number of fish my best had topped out at around double figures. However, the was eventually to change as I hooked up into the 'beast'.

This fish stayed deep for some time before I managed to lift it off the bottom and bring it up towards the kayak. It still had plenty of life remaining  even then, stripping line from the reel as it so wished.

Point to note - Two days earlier I'd taken deliver of a new XL Savage Gear folding landing net. It seemed huge compared to my Bass Pro scoop net which is 50cm long so I made the decision to leave it at home.

The fish surfaced and it was far bigger than I'd expected. I knew it was a decent fish, but no, this was a very big fish. I could see that it was very lightly hooked (in the cheek) so I didn't want to put excessive pressure onto it by bringing it next to the kayak to hand lift out. Despite knowing the net was too small I had a plan. Get its head into the net and somehow grab its tail and bring it aboard. Well that was the plan......

Below is a video of the result.

​​Yup, it was very painful. I did regret leaving that nice new big Savage Gear landing net at home... several dozen times in fact. That said, its handle is way too long and I don't want to have to pull out the handle each time, it needs modifying for kayak use.

Though that decision did cost me what was probably my biggest ever Pike.... what could have been.

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I wont lie, I was feeling rather glum for at least 10 minutes. A packet of Jaffa Cakes later and moral was mostly restored. Ok, I'm lying, I was gutted for several hours.

I continued to map and fish the lake. It proved to be fairly featureless in the deeper areas, bar the odd bank and depression here and there. Though I did pick up a large area of rough ground several metres off to one side (thank you StructureScan) so I cast a lure in that direction. After allowing it time to sink i started a slow retrieve. Literally 3-4 seconds into the retrieve it was smashed and it didn't feel particularly 'Pike-like' .... and it wasn't!.

It turned out to be a cracking Perch which slipped very nicely into my 50cm Bass Pro net!. I don't think it was my biggest Perch (currently 46cm), though as I didn't take a measuring board I'll never know.  It was back in the water within a minute, quickly unhooked, a flurry of photos before watching it plunge back down into the muddy depths.

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Catching that Perch certainly eased the pain of having lost that big Pike an hour earlier and it was a really great way to wrap up a cracking session afloat. Ok, I said that I'd stopped counting at 15 Pike, 18 was the final count, plus a nice big fat Perch!

The LiFePo4 23ah battery was still holding 60% of its charge after the 6+ hour session. That's well on target to it's expected 13-15 hour life that I'm expecting for the HDS9 Carbon FF/GPS or over 25 hours for the Elite 7 Ti. That's pretty awesome, I could use the Elite 7 Ti for a long weekend away on one charge. That said, a full charge only takes 4 hours, that's super quick by SLA standards.

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If you'd like the chance to kayak fish at the famous Wraysbury Lake complex why not come and join me and many other kayak anglers at the London International Kayak Fishing Festival. At £40 for the 3 day lure only predator competition, including camping, it's going to be a very special event.
Put the dates in your diary: June 9-11th 2017

Here's the promotional video below.

 

UPGRADE - Lowrance TotalScan All-In-One Transducer

I've been using the Lowrance HDS Gen3 combo fish finder/GPS for some time now. Several months ago I rigged both my Hobie Outback and Adventure Island for Side Scan (Lowrance Structure Scan) using the LSS2 Structure Scan transducer fitted to a deployable swing arm. Historically I've always hated the idea of having to deploy a swing arm over the kayak. It's another thing to rig, wires lying around the kayak, something to snag an underwater obstructions, etc. They're not my thing at all, though I was forced down that route in order to utilise the Structure Scan.

My dislikes for using the swing arm became very apparent as I often found myself not wanting to take it along, only to find myself afloat wishing I had Structure Scan available to use. It was a bit of a love hate relationship to be honest. I loved using it, but I rather disliked the way I'd been forced to rig it. However, with the recent release of the Lowrance TotalScan LSS2 transducer I was presented with the option to re-rig the kayaks and lose the swing arm assembly!. I'm sponsored by Lowrance and they very kindly sent me a new TotalScan transducer to upgrade my system to the latest specification.

So what is the TotalScan transducer?. It's exactly what it says on the tin as they say. Its one transducer that integrates broadband sonar (83/200Khz, CHIRP (Med/High), DownScan and StructureScan. This sounded perfect for me, though we all know that nothing is perfect!. It's a rather large transducer measuring in a 10" (L), 1.5" (H) and 2.5" (H), very similar in size to the LSS2. Though one thing was for sure, it was not going to fit into the Lowrance ready scupper hole that was currently occupied by the current 83/200Khz transducer in my Hobie Outback, it was just way too long.

I'd recently seen a some photos on Facebook where a couple of kayak anglers had mounted the TotalScan transducer to the removable cover of the Hobie Lowrance ready scupper. They'd also fitted a guard just ahead of the transducer to protect again impact damage when underway. I really liked the look of this setup and decided that I'd follow the same route.

Firstly its worth having a quick look at the current setup on my Outback, with the Lowance HDS Gen3, swing arm, electrical connections and cabling that live outside of the hull. The current configuration has 3 connections to the head unit (Power supply, Broadband Sonar and StructureScan). Then there's the swing arm, LSS2 transducer, coils of cable that reside beneath the seat and the cable that runs forward from the seat to the head unit.

Fitting the TotalScan transducer would result in the loss off the swing arm assembly, LSS2 transducer plus its cabling and the 83/200Khz Broadband Sonar plus its associated cabling. Clearly the upper deck of the Outback was going to get a lot tidier and that's a great thing.

First thing was to gain access to the inside of the kayak in order to remove the old Broadband transducer as well as to route the cable for the replacement TotalScan unit. The right hand rubber side pocket was removed, the rectangular centre hatch and centre storage bag and Lowrance scupper cover.

The old Broadband transducer was easily removed, though it was interesting to note that the Hobie cable gland in the right hand pocket had loosened off slightly. Probably due to compression of the rubber seal over time?. I checked the others and they had also loosened slightly. A quick tighten and all was good, though it's worthy of a mention.

It didn't long at all to gain the access and remove the old transducer and cable. The swing arm was already off the kayak, though the mounting post will always remain, perhaps it may be utilised in the future. When I designed the mounting post I ensured that the positioning of the four bolts were in the exact same pattern of a RAM ball, so that may re-appear in due course. With a pile of removed items now sitting on the ground it was time to progress with the upgrade.

The first job was to look closely at the new TotalScan transducer and to sit it against the scupper transducer cover to see how it lay against the hull of the kayak. I was pleased to see that rear portion of the transducer that passed over the rear edge of the scupper cover lay flat and tight against the hull of the kayak. So at a glance I only had to fit the transducer to the scupper cover and that part was done. There was of course the issue the sonar cable that emerges from the front edge of the transducer.

I'd decided to utilise screw that secures the front edge of the scupper cover to fix the guard that would protect the transducer from frontal impact as well as permitting the hull to rest on the ground whilst not placing the hull weight directly onto the transducer. I therefore needed to route the cable through the cover before the guard itself. Simple enough and this is what I did.

The scupper cover has two vertical mounting arms that secured the old transducer into position, these weren't required so I removed these as well as their strengthening webs at the base. I used a hacksaw to remove the bulk and a Dremel tool to remove the webbing as required.

Time needs to be taken to decide on the exact placement of the cable hole and the transducer mounting holes that are to be drilled into the cover. Get it wrong and you'll be buying a replacement cover. It's placement is going to be central looking fore to aft, though were it's placed along the length of the cover is dependent upon the design on the guard. Here's a couple of photos of the modified cover and cable access hole.

As it happens the cable hole was slightly smaller than I'd anticipated and actually sat within the plastic support arms that I'd chopped off, so they could have stayed. Though it's unlikely that I'll ever revert to a standard transducer, plus the hole would permit dirt to enter and gather around an internally mounted transducer. I'd just buy another cover if I ever reverted to a basic setup.

Here's the transducer mounted to the scupper cover. I used a little medium strength thread lock when securing the transducer to the cover. Note, only 4 out of the six transducer securing bolts were used. This still provides a very strong connection.

With the transducer mounted to the scupper cover, checked for alignment and secured into place, it was time to produce a suitable guard to protect the transducer. I had a few pieces of thick and thin HDPE lying about in the garage so I decided to utilise these. The front edge of the scupper cover was recessed beneath the hull so I required the guard to be stepped, permitting it to sit flush against the hull whilst sitting correctly against the cover to permit effective attachment with the single screw.

After checking my stock of HDPE and comparing thicknesses, I decided to use a thin section to fill in the recessed area and the thicker material for the main guard itself. I hacksawed the thick material to the overall size I wanted and then sawed sloped edges to the front and sides.

With the main guard cut to a suitable profile, I rounded off the edges a little before fitting the thinner HDPE spacer to take up the space between the scupper cover and the main hull profile. I did originally use Mitre Glue, and as much as it appeared highly effective, it wasn't!. The last thing I needed was to return from a trip to find the guard missing!. I decided to use 4 stainless self tappers and Marine Goop to secure the spacer to the main guard. It's certainly not going to detach anytime soon!.

An access hole is clearly visible to allow a screw to be fitted to permit the guard to be attached to the hull of the kayak. The original screw for the scupper cover is not long enough, regardless of how deep that holes is drilled, so a longer screw was required. I found something suitable in my spares box and that dictated how deep I drilled into the guard block. The upper hole is large to permit the screw head to be recessed into the guard, though this then reduced to the diameter of the screw thread itself.

Note the notch at the rear of the guard. This it to allow the transducer cable to pass through the rear edge of the guard block whilst permitting the guard to be positioned close to the front edge of the transducer itself.

It was now time to fit the transducer and guard assembly to the hull. The scupper cover assembly was attached using the rear two screws only as the guard was to utilise the front screw.

With the cover assembly secured, the guard was attached next as previously mentioned, utilising a screw that picked up on the front thread for the scupper cover. I did a trial fit and it secured tightly against the hull with a good amount of effort required to cause any rotation to the guard. Though, to ensure that the guard remained in place regardless of knocks, I applied a liberal amount of Marine Goop to the base of the guard prior to fitting it.

The guard was then fitted, again with a small amount of medium thread lock being applied to the screw. Any excess Goop was wiped away, producing a neat fillet along the edges of the guard.

That was basically it, here's a few photos from different angles.

Looking from the front of the kayak, the guard provided excellent protection to the transducer and should hopefully prevent long term damage. A little caution and thought will always be required.

As mentioned earlier I had noticed that the Hobie cable glands had loosened slightly over time. I'd noticed small amounts of water in the hull after trips in choppy water and I feel that' there's a chance that water had entered the kayak via the transducer cable gland. To ensure that this couldn't happen I applied some Marine Goop around the rear cable gland.

All that was left to do was to route the transducer out through the front pocket. Easy right?...  wrong!

I was unable to pass both the existing power lead and the new TotalScan plugs through the locking ring for the rear of the Hobie cable gland. I quickly realised that there was no quick fix and that another gland was going to be required. The next problem was the base of the right hand pocket was shaped to permit the fitment of only one factory cable gland. The profile of the remainder of the pocket just wasn't quite right, close, but not quite suitable.

The thickness of the material in this area was good, so I found a large socket that matched the diameter of the cable gland and heated it up.... hot!. I gently pressed this into the area of the pocket where I wanted the additional cable gland to sit and CAREFULLY pushed to the hot socket into the hull. The radius edges on the hull pocket base were pushed flat forming the perfect recess for the cable gland. Job done!. With an additional cable gland fitted, the power and TotalScan cables were routed from inside the kayak, via the pocket cable glands to the head unit. The rubber pocket was re-attached later.

With the upgrade completed it's important to ensure that the software on the head unit is updated to the latest version. This is especially important in this case as the TotalScan transducer will not show when re-installing the sonar. I connected the HDS via WIFI and the unit was fully updated within a couple of minutes.

With this update completed it's simply a case of going into the main settings, then sonar settings and configuring the installation. The transducer type can be changed from the drop down menu and TotalScan can be selected, it's a bizarrely good feeling!. With the settings saved, that's it!. I also added a keel offset of +0.1m to ensure the most accurate depth reading (not shown).

With the installation completed what are the benefits?. Well firstly for me, the transducer swing arm and the LSS2 transducer are history. That results in a notable weight saving and the upper hull of the kayak is now much less cluttered. The parts below are now history... GOODBYE swing arm!!!

The connections to the head unit itself are now simplified. It's now possible to leave the head unit permanently attached without any additional electrical connections to be made (I always removed the swing arm after each trip).

Below is the older setup with the swing arm, LSS1 transducer and three connections to the head unit.

Below is the updated setup with the TotalScan transducer installed. The swing arm and StructureScan LSS2 transducer are gone, the Broadband 83/200Khz transducer is gone, the excess transducer cable cluttering the upper deck is gone... it really is GREATnews.

Downsides?, well the cost of upgrading to the TotalScan transducer isn't cheap and a little additional thought as to handling the kayak is now required. However, to me, these are TINY disadvantages, with the gains FAR outweighing them.

My understanding is that the TotalScan transducer also has upgraded ceramics that should provide improved performance. I'll find out very shortly as I've trips planned for the next month already, I just need the weather to be kind and I'll be able to report back very shortly.