SgtBundy

I hit Pittwater on Wednesday as well on a yak (yellow PA14). Started early and got some squid up near Barrenjoey. I didn't want to waste the live squid early so first bait I dropped was a tailor fillet - literally as it hit the water and sank after I dropped it in (I was still fussing with the rod holder) a king swam up, looked at, and swam away - only one I saw all day. Plenty of surface action straight after though and pulled in a few frigate macs on fast stick baits but that was it. Trolled the live squid around for 4 hours but nothing touched it, it came home for Calamari.

Any spots you find check against the fisheries local guides : http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/fishing/recreational/resources/info For example Gunnamatta bay is easily accessible with a big sand flat but is off limits for bait collection.

If thats tough fishing then I must be some sort of masochist - salmon, squid and a king in one day would is a pretty good one to me Good on you as always!

Thanks Sharknett

Now that I have a kayak and sounder I have moved from struggling to attract fish from one spot (land based) to struggling to find fish all over. The sounder has been great for finding bait schools say around the fridge, and occasionally seeing what I think are larger fish under me as I move about, but I am yet to really mark fish and put something onto them. I am just wondering what are some techniques I can use to make better use of my sounder? If say I am moving around and mark an arch under me, should I be immediately trying to drop a plastic on its head and jig up some activity, or should I be looking for the bait schools and working around them? If I do mark a bait school should I be trying to stay on top of them or just work the area? The other question is if I am not marking any fish, should I be moving on until I find something? For example on the weekend I was looking to try jigging some soft plastics hoping for jewfish around spit bridge. If I am not seeing anything is it worth creating the activity anyway and just prospect around, or seeing as I have this tech should I be hunting around for the bait or marks to seek out the fish? Obviously I should be looking for structure or water flows that support the fish, but is it a matter of testing the waters and validating the spot with the sounder, or using the sounder to find the spots? Maybe some basic questions but I guess I feel like I am sort of bumbling around with a downward looking window and am not sure what to do with it

Between weather, work, family events and issues and potential house hunting its been a while I have done a kayak session. With work stress pilling up of late the wife sent me fishing (I didn't argue) so I did a lazy start at middle harbour today, launching after 10 from Clontarf. The plan was live baiting (a work vendor was teasing me that yakkas were back around Balmoral) but when I setup my live bait tank just would not go. Even stranger the sounder was working even though its power feed was turned off. I should have thought about this some more but after a few replugs and tests I figured something had gone with the switches and I would have to look into it later. But it meant if I got any livies I would have nowhere to keep them. Tried around the fridge and marked some bait schools but was unable to tease any up, even though a few boats around me were. Tried for a while but decided to go check Balmoral headland but found nothing at all there. Spotted a series of bust ups in the Balmoral marina but was not quick enough to get into them by the time I put a metal on so I just trolled around towards middle head. I brought some banana prawns with me intended for baiting my bait jig if they were not hitting it clean. Having spotted no more bait I put the prawns out to see if I could pull anything that way. Got some picker interest but nothing that would take that hook. Around then a series of bust ups started near by me and I had the metal ready this time but they kept going under so fast only to pop up again in another direction completely. Fighting boat wakes (please people slow down if you have to go near kayaks) and swell made it tricky to fully chase the bustups, but they stayed around enough to have a few attempts. At one point I was completely surrounded by salmon and I could see them darting up and past my kayak, I even watched one follow my 5g metal up and then give up at the last minute. In the end they moved off faster than I could keep up and I wasn't keen to push further south around middle head anyway. I tried dangling prawns again on the north side of middle head but no takes, and took to trolling a lure again back towards Balmoral and back over towards Clontarf. With the tide change coming up at 3:45 I headed over to the other side of the spit bridge to see if I could pick up anything over there. As the tide steadied I tried jigging some plastic whip baits but again no takes. I continued the troll, drop prawns, repeat back around to the fridge. By that time the sun was getting low so I called it a day. After I got home I took apart my electrics and found nothing wrong. After some further head scratching I realised my "3 different plugs so I cant mix them up" setup had a flaw (I have to dismantle the whole setup each trip to put the kayak on the car roof, so the through hull cables all have to be unplugged) . Two of the plugs are the same type, but opposite male/female. So the sounder worked because it was getting the battery plug direct, the live bait tank didn't work because the battery plug wasn't going into the switch box. Facepalm. Time to colour code. A nice enough day on the water even though it was a donut - better before the wind picked up mid afternoon but otherwise fine. Good to see a lot more activity both in bust ups and sounder marks. Hopefully as it warms up things will improve (as will I).

Congrats - with the rod blessed by the blackfish godfathers and the blackfish themselves you will now be a force of nature

I got a Raymarine Dragonfly 4 Pro for my kayak - only got the chance to use it twice so far (second time after a capsize on the first trip out). Its brilliant - the down image side by side with the regular sonar helps identify the bottom. I got the pro model because I wanted GPS to help with marks or searching new water for holes etc. It also has its own wifi which lets you connect to it on your phone as a second screen or to take screenshots etc. I looked at the Lowrance 4x as well but most reports I read seemed that people were happier with the Raymarines. As above its even been upside down in the harbour seems to have survived it without issue.

Congrats - planning to start trying to target jews off the kayak myself

Thanks all - it certainly was a moment when she first came into view - more so when I was able to get her on the mat Thanks Andrew - very chuffed. With the head this girl had on her I am not surprised she took that yakka, but still I would not have figured a flathead going for a yakka that size. Be nice - its only happened once so far! Thanks I had her on straight without the photo to get the measure and it was enough of a task - I might have cheated myself a cm or two but I didn't want to stress her too much and I had no real options to get her onto a flat surface. I am contemplating making some sort of measuring board out of a large pipe section or something like I have seen other kayakers do. Now that I think about it I am glad she was so sedate because otherwise I could have copped a nasty spike if she decided to thrash.

Lol - thanks. I normally have a yellow chamois for handling fish but I lost it last week in the capsize. Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Does the yellow pull tag on my lifejacket qualify for FOTM submission? Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Following last weeks capsize and dunking I had a few repairs to effect. The major one being my live bait tank "control" box, that also feeds power to my sounder, which got water logged. I had tried to build a timer for the tank but failed, so to rebuild I ordered a proper livewell timer and put together a new setup that was built a little better. By Saturday night it was done and tested. Keen to put to use I headed out again from Clontarf around 7am. Checking the fridge I couldnt sound any bait so I moved over to Balmoral, and the sounder was doing its job as two times on the way I sounded bait balls but lost them by the time I turned to chase them. Finding none in multiple spots I trolled a lure out in front of middle head and then switched to dropping pilchard cubes while I planned to look for spots to try for squid. Multiple times the sounder lit up with activity and a few times I could visually see schools under me and in the burley trail. I eventually got a hookup which I could only think was a very large slimey. Thinking it too big for live bait I released it. After that I got a steady stream of small trevally, shy of legal snapper and more bait balls. When I saw what appeared to be yakkas I dropped some burley and a jig and managed a large yakka that went into the tank. Unfortunately I ran out of burley before I could get any more and they moved on. I stayed on cubing but kept getting pickers so I switched to a live bait hook and put the yakka out. I trolled it half way across middle head but conditions had got sloppy and after last week I opted not to push my luck so went back in towards cobblers. I prospected with plastics while letting the live yakka swim but nothing eventuated. As it was coming up to noon and I promised to be home for the arvo I headed back to clontarf still trailing the live yakka. As I made my way I aimed to stay near the deeper water but was not in much hope of any action. The yakka was on a baitrunner type reel so every now and then it would pull a little of the light drag - not much just spots. Then half way back in woke up but was only a slow move but more than before. I picked up the rod, engaged drag and loaded up to significant weight. It seemed to just sit so given the terrain I figured it for a ray, but it soon picked up and I was able to start raising it. As it came up I saw the biggest flathead I have ever seen in the flesh. Once I got it up she disagreed and took off peeling 20lb line. After a few yo yos I had her beside the yak but she refused the net and kept taking off. All this time I am trying to tell her soothing things like I only want to take a measure, half prayers really. The net shot was made harder by the fact I was using an 8ft rod. I finally got her head into my way too small net but a tangle ment I had to dump her and let her run and try all over again. After about 5 minutes I finally had her caught. After I eventually figured out a way to measure her the only way I could snap it in frame was holding my phone as high above me as possible. I called it for 84cm which is 28cm above my previous best. Once I had the photo I didnt stress her any more and gently slid her off the mat and watched her swim off. Absolutely awesome - would never have thought a yakka as big as that (was at least 25cm) would be useful for flathead. It was also cool that all my new toys played a part - sounder on spotting the bait, live tank for keeping it and the bait teaser reel for running it out. Happy for a good fishing brag on monday I headed home pretty chuffed. Big improvement on last weeks drama. Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Yeah - the unfit part is what let me down Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

I also mix some cajan powder the flour too but not sure it makes much difference Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk