Perfect tide timing .. perfect weather for this place that I have always wanted to return to. The end of the monsoon makes this the place to fish on a kayak but it’s gonna be a long paddle. A last minute decision at 10pm the night before to go out the next morning: - it’s 10hrs to fishing time!!!!
I met my buddy at 8am after I drop off my kid to a weekend class. Our plan was to have an quick setup and ride the receding tide out to the sea. Troll lures along the way targeting for groupers and other predators. It was a long paddle so the lures would have covered a lot of ground for the day. Hopefully we could get a strike along the way. Fish in the zone for 2 hours before riding back on the rising tide.
Understanding the tidal movement is an important step to kayak fishing, as it is a predictable element. Make use of it and life will be much easier at sea.
The day started with me trolling a deep diver along the rocky bottoms at about 15-2oft depth. A quarter into our journey ... I had a solid take on my heaviest tackle of the day ...... Zzzzzzzz........ as I stop paddling forward. I held onto the rod gave it a firm tug to ensure a solid hook up ... ... ‘perck’ ... the line snapped. No fighting chance .... a fish lost ..... a good lure gone. We continued with our journey. It was the deepest diver that I had, nothing in my arsenal dives deeper to reach the bottom.
Without the proper weaponry ... there was no a single take for the rest of the hour plus of paddling. Once we reach our targeted zone .... I dropped my anchor as the wind was rather strong ... drifting me away from my intended zone. Lowered my line ... ‘tok tok tok’ .... a baby parrot fish. Another bait ...’tot tot tot’ .. a small blue hind. Another bait ... all the legs on the prawn were gone. Not what I have expected for such a long paddle. I decided try controlled drift fish and hopefully the smaller nibblers will not attack a faster moving target.
With the rod in the holder ... a sinker with a long leader line ... I drifted with the wind while using the paddle to assist in the direction that I want to fish .... basically drifting back towards launch pad. Less paddling needed later. :) 5 minutes into the drift ...... "booms” a hugh fish jump into the air, just behind Mathew’s kayak! I could see the fish as my rod bended with the reel screaming away. As I was not anchored .. I was towed towards the open sea and it didn’t stop! I was just holding tight to the rod on a 14lb line and there was nothing I could do about it but continued the ride to the open sea. As I was dragged away from a sheltered bay ... the water turns choppy. Mathew chased after me ... watching all the actions. I could see boaters staring at me from afar ..... what da?! When I finally managed to bring the fish up ... I was at least 200m away from my original spot. Blame it on the fish, wind and current. The fish had to go with the flow. It can sure read the elements.
A quick photo and it was released back to sea, blessed to fight another day. That was the easy part. The paddle back to the fishing spot was against the wind and current was the tough part. We made it back to the shelter zone and our expectation were very high, given the size of the fish caught. More blue hinds and parrot fishes but nothing as big or impressive.
Our friend Jimmy decided to come visit us on his boat. We took a break by his boat and chatted. Mathew borrowed some deep divers from him as he was kinda lost using bait in the area. After only a few cast ... Mathew got a solid take but it failed to hook up ...... another take .... another failed hook up. Not much luck for the rest of the day. Before long our time was up and we needed to paddle back to avoid fighting against the elements.
I took out my Christmas present .. a little lucifer lure .... and trolled our way back. Another Blue Hind took the lure. Released it and paddle on. As we were approaching our base ... Mathew who was just behind me commented that I might have something on. I stopped, look at the rod ... no action .. I paddled on. He commented again ... the actions was just not right ..."maybe you have a fish on”, he repeated. I reeled in my line and true enough a baby grouper ..... much smaller than my lure! What a greedy little bugger!
As we reach base .. Mathew was already complainting about the body aches. It was a tough day out in the open sea ... but at least I have managed to catch another first on a kayak.
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