# How did you get into Kayak fishing?



## mal.com (Feb 10, 2007)

I found this old photo from the mid 70's the other day, & I have stuck it up as my avatar.

How did you venture into this magnificent form of fishing i.e. out of a kayak.

I have been fishing out of canoes since I literally trawled this one up from the bottom of the harbour at Balmoral in 1976, when I was skippered the research vessel "Kamala" for the NSW Fisheries.

The picture was taken on the way to Goodooga where I got a very nice Murray cod out of the river where we were camped. The canoe came with us to Tasmania for 20 years where I used it for trout fishing up the lakes in summer. It ended up in a Launceston pre school embedded in the play area.

In my recent return to Kayak fishing, I bought my present kayak as an exercise implement, one day after owning it for a couple of years I took out a boat rod off Barlings Beach. Where I hooked a massive Snapper, which I lost, but which in turn hooked me on kayak fishing.

About 5 months later whilst researching papers on NSW estuary pollution I came across a link to a kayak fishing forum in the US, which led me to the Australian sites. It was only then that I realized that there were others in Australia fishing out of these things as well.

Now I see kayak fisho's every weekend.

cheers

mal de mer


----------



## john316 (Jan 15, 2009)

mal, my photos from 1976 are the ones of me and the blushing bride. My earliest memories of fishing are as a little kid with no-one to show me what to do so I grabbed a bit of meat some cotton and bent a pin. All that caught was a lot of laughing from a lot of people who had no interest in encouraging the scrawny little bloke. Over the years I have fished beaches, rivers, fresh, salt, baits and lures. I have fished for whatever might be there and I have gathered specialist equipment for specific species and have a fly rod, a blackfish rod, surf rods, an antique rod, spin rods, bait rods, overheads, threadlines and now finesse bream rods. 
I started kayaking because my wife (same one as in 76) wanted to have a go at it and we were both hooked straight up but I couldn't pass the opportunity to throw a line in the water when we went out exploring. Next thing was cutting a great big hole in my yak and installing a rod holder and then someone asked if I was a member of the "forum". Had no idea what they were on about but started to gooooogle things and found the site and suddenly discovered that I hadn't discovered anything. There were heaps of folk out and about fishing from kayaks and from there it grew into a magnificent obbsession. We still have the two touring kayaks but now have also got a pair of Hobies as well all decked out for fishing. My wifes is an Adventure we bought second hand and mine is an Adventure Island that we bought new (except that every kayaker in NSW had had a "test drive" in it).

Now that daylight savings has finished I can only get out at the weekends. I head outside with 3 overhead boat rods for lures, jigs and bait as well as an SP setup. For the rivers and lakes usually take 2 Ian Miller raider rods with small shimano reels the 1000 sienna is loaded with 4lb braid and the 1500 symetre is loaded with 10lb braid.

The hobie is the more versatile fishing platform but we still love to get out and paddle the tourers...

cheers

John


----------



## DrJed (Sep 13, 2007)

Sorry to dissapoint but I was not yet concieved in 76 :lol: ...if it's any consolation I had lost all my hair by 98 

I bought my first yak a glass SIK Rosco Tidemark for getting a bit of exercise and just enjoying a paddle - sucker! 3 trips total I think without rods before I got sick of making do and decided to buy a proper fishing yak. The prowler is fantastic, but 15Kg heavier to get on the car. I do miss the Tidemark, they are a great vessel, but I spose thats what happens when a landlocked fishing nut gets floating.

Cheers
Steve


----------



## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

I fished in Port Philip Bay out of an 8 foot rowboat for years (ages 11-25) before AKFF member Milt loaned me a kayak and we did a few trips together - then I bought my own couple of months later 

Mal, *what a photo*! :shock:  You were even wearing a midriff top decades before they became fashionable :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## dunebuggy (Dec 21, 2008)

Wow, great stories guys. In the 70's I was at school. lol. Turned 47 today. I decided lasy year that i would get back into kayaking for exercise.
At least .......that was the plan. In my late teens to early 20's I paddled fibreglass roscoes and KW's and thought that is what I should get again.
Then I decided that since I no longer owned a trailer boat that I should get a yak that I could fish from instead of just having one for exercise.
Well, the 1st yak was purchased just before christmas just gone and the 2nd just after christmas.

So the original idea of getting a yak was for exercising the upperbody by paddling and getting out and doing it on a regular basis. So much for exercising the upperbody as I had planned, after a couple of trips with forum members I decided that trying to fish and paddle at the same time was a downright P.I.T.A. and so .... a hobie revo was purchased. I don't remember exactly who it was that told me about this forum but, I wish I had joined the forum and done some research before I purchased my yak. Now I have 3 yaks and only use one of them. lol.

As for exercising on a regular basis . . . well, I just don't see the sense in going out on the water with a yak and NOT taking a fishing rod. lol.


----------



## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

I've been paddling yaks since I was around 5 years old - serisously. We used to take them up to Lake Leschenaultia.
Dad had a couple of fibreglass tourers, (SIKs of course back then) with timber paddles. 
In all the places we took them, Kalbarri, the (WA) Murray river, Busselton and most of the dams in SW WA, I never thought of fishing from one.
In 2001 I did the Avon Descent, a kayak race in WA that required me to buy a yak. I bought a Finn. In 2002 we moved to Tamworth, 3 years of very little fishing as I had no boat. Again, it never occured to me to take the Finn out with a rod.   
'Bout two years ago I decided to take the Finn out for a paddle with a rod wedged under my leg. Can't remember where, might have been lake Tinaroo. Realised I could mount a rod holder! Epiphany moment.
Used the Finn in the rivers and dams, even mildly offshore a few times but it's way too tippy in the ocean. So I bought a Revo about 9 months ago. Bought a Revo so I could paddle or pedal, yer right! I've never paddled it seriously at all. Still take the Finn in the Rivers though, about to upgrade her in the next few weeks to a Feel Free X-press or a Mission Line 280. Well, when I say upgrade I won't be selling the Finn of course, she's special.


----------



## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

my old man bought a kayak (SIK) when i was in my early teens (early 80's). he had a couple of goes in it and then she hung in the shed gathering cobwebs. as we only lived a short walk away from gunamatta bay at cronulla I rigged up an old golf buggy 'trolley' and used to wheel the kayak down to the bay and muck around on it with my mates. I then started doing some distance paddles and entered a few 'marathons' (only 10-15km but a long way when you're only 13). despite being a keen fisho as a kid, and seeing schools of fish busting up while out in the kayak, i too never put 2 and 2 together...d'oh. :?

after my 2nd child was born (4 years ago) and I'd given up competing in other sports (oztag, mountain biking, snow skiing) I decided that I needed to get 'another' toy - something that would hopefully keep a bit of flab off my upper body. I've always surfed (still do) and love being around the water so decided that a kayak was the go. I test paddled a few and bought a Tarpon 120, which i loved. First trip out, I spotted flatties, bream etc etc. Second trip out I had rod holders and fishing gear aboard! Like others I thought that I was the only one doing this, but when i found the forum a few months later I discovered that there were other geniuses just like me...


----------



## onemorecast (Apr 17, 2006)

Was having a coffee at Bobbin Head watching people feeding chips to 35 - 40cm+ bream around the marina. Struck up a conversation with one of the maintenance workers who told me that he used to sneak over in a dingy late at night and fish for them before being caught and threatened to be sacked. He said now go up where the boats can't get to and smiled with an evil grin.

Having fished from canoes most of my life in fresh water, I started thinking about getting one of them again. A couple of weeks later I ran into a yak fisherman at the wave marker near North Head ( I was in the stinkie). This started the wheels turning.... :?

2 Yaks later ....


----------



## Revo (Aug 3, 2008)

I hadn't fished since I was 12 years old, so when I test-pedalled a Hobie Revolution in January 2007, it wasn't fishing that got me thinking about buying my own yak. It was nature photography. I bought my own Hobie Revolution in October of that year and started to cruise the rivers, estuaries and headlands on the South Coast of NSW over that summer, enjoying the stealth factor of the yak - enabling me to get into quiet, undisturbed locations and up close to birds, dolphins, seals, etc. Early in 2008, I decided to take a small rod and reel combo and some soft plastics with me "just for something to occupy the time if there wasn't anything around to photograph". It only took a couple of sessions ... and I was hooked on yakfishing!  Nowadays, my yak ventures are 95% fishing and 5% photography! ;-)


----------



## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

i was paddling K1s competatively and also long clubbie SLSA skis, so i thought i should have a sea kayak just to relax in and have pleasant paddles as my race boats are very tippy and if you think twice , you swim , wasnt long before the fishing bug bit again , i had years before been a keen river and offshore fisherman . So i began to troll hard bodies and irons behind the sea kayak , that was about 12 years ago , then i found this site and was well and truly hooked again and been broke ever since . :? :?


----------



## shappy (May 29, 2008)

i have always loved my fishing, as a kid it was land base or with anyone who had a boat that took me with them. about 6 years ago i bought my first boat, a basic open tinny. after two years my father inlaw went part owner with me in a quintrex hornet which was a magic boat. i fished southern moreton bay alot and always would see people kayak fishing and thought what a top idea!
then oneday the father inlaw ran in to some money trouble and needed to sell out. i took my share of the money and intended to buy another basic tinny. i spent the money on a new car and left the boat idea for later. after a couple of months i remembered the fishing kayaks i saw and it started from there. i have been kayak fishing for 7 months now and do not want another boat!!!! i will let my mates have the boats and its expenses and fish with them when they ask me out, funny thing is though i have knocked back there offers of late and fished in the yak insted 

cheers, shappy


----------



## Scruffy (Nov 9, 2008)

Hi,I grew up in Newcastle and have always been around the water.I have had canoes, surfmats, body boards, wave skis and have had a love of the ocean all my life.I suffered a back injury that curtailed my wave ski surfing as I could no longer do eskimo rolls.When I retired from work I thought about what I was going to do now.Bowls and golf do not interest me. A mate put the idea of getting a kayak into my head as we do a lot of camping together.He bought an inflatable one to use on the rivers and lakes.I wanted one that I could use to sneak out behind the surf break to fish and I saw a way to return to the ocean.
I started to research kayaks and kayak fishing on the net and found AKFF.I read the reports and stories and was inspired by what I read.I had no idea that the sport was this big.I have purchased a Hobie Outback and I am a contented man as I have returned to the ocean.The fishing is a bonus.
Cheers,
Terry.


----------



## paffoh (Aug 24, 2006)

Bit of a long story, cut short for yall :

http://www.kayakfishingmagazine.net/KFM ... Coast.html

Complusive shopper, long time fisher, caught little fish locally, saw Outback cruise by, got jealous much, joined AKFF, bought one, met Red Phoenix, caught native, then bought another, almost bought 3 but decided more fish first. Met likeminded people (been and gone) and had a ball, its more inept that snooker but thems the breaks (Pun much).

Ende...


----------



## JTC (Oct 19, 2007)

Great topic Mal and that photo of yours is a cracker. Very groovy and very 70's.

I was only 2 years old in '76, but having 2 older brothers that were both keen fishos it wasn't long before I was tagging along. I lived in Melbourne until the age of 12 so most of my early fishing was done at the "Warmies" in Newport. We'd ride our bikes down there, climb under, through or over the fence to get access to the churning water and spend all day fishing. It was a rare day that we went home without a full bag of fish and the variety of fish caught there was great.

At 12 the family moved to Bacchus Marsh (about 50kms west of Melbourne). So the target species became Brown Trout and Redfin in the local rivers. Will always have a soft spot for Trout as some of my best fishing memories were of days spent walking and swimming from hole to hole up the Lerderderg river chasing them.

The only other fishing I did in that period was the ocassional trip along the Great Ocean Road from Torquay to Lorne where we'd chase *****'s and Mullloway in the Surf.

The last 10 years or so though I had hardly fished at all. The local rivers had all dried up with the drought and with work and a young family, I found it hard to find time to make the effort to travel for a fish, as the Surf beaches I liked to fish were about an hour and a halfs drive away.

With no end in sight to the drought, the wife and I made the decision 2 years ago to move somewhere closer to the beach, that wasn't effected by drought and was a little warmer, so that our kids could enjoy the water that we took for granted as kids. After much research the decision came down to the Sunshine Coast or Coffs Harbour. We took a holiday to check both places out and noticed while travelling around Northern NSW in particular, that there were people kayaking everywhere. We made the decision then that wherever we chose to move to, the first thing we would do would be to get a couple of kayaks, or a tandem to go exploring all these new waterways. At this point, although I was excited about the prospect of moving to an area with so many fishing options, I had not even thought about fishing from a yak.

Eventually we decided on the Sunshine Coast and on the second day that I arrived I noticed the Viking Kayaks Shop up here. So in I stroll to take a look at what they've got and out I stroll 20 minutes later having just ordered a tandem kayak (Nemo 2+1), that would be able to get my wife, myself and both my boys out on the water. While in shop though I noticed the Tempos, all rigged up with rod holders, sounders and Minn Kodas. That got the brain ticking and I decided then that sometime in the next couple of years I would get something like that.

Within a week of moving I had landed a job at the new BCF that was about to open in Caloundra and during the training it was mentioned that there was a deal available to all of the new staff to purchase either a Prowler 13 or Prowler 4.5 at a heavily discounted price. Well I couldn't pass up that opportunity so I grabbed a P13 and in the space of a week was now the proud owner of 2 kayaks. I found the forum shortly after and have met so many great, like minded people and learnt so much that I haven't looked back since.

Cheers,

Jason


----------



## skorgard (Oct 6, 2007)

I grew up in Adelaide but as a poor student I could only fish land-based but did alright. I was away for 20 years and came back a few years ago. Started thinking about fishing again, surfed Fish SA, and saw a picture of a bream with the bow of a kayak in the background. I thought "What a good idea!" Put "kayak fishing" into Google, found AKFF. Read for a bit, then bought an Outback, and now also an AI. It has been just brilliant. Have met some great mates this way as well.


----------



## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

JTC said:


> the wife and I made the decision 2 years ago to move somewhere closer to the beach, that was a little warmer, so that our kids could enjoy the water that we took for granted as kids. .Eventually we decided on the Sunshine Coast


You're a wise man Jason. I'm just about to do the same thing....


----------



## dunebuggy (Dec 21, 2008)

Davey G said:


> JTC said:
> 
> 
> > the wife and I made the decision 2 years ago to move somewhere closer to the beach, that was a little warmer, so that our kids could enjoy the water that we took for granted as kids. .Eventually we decided on the Sunshine Coast
> ...


Woo hoo Davey G. Sunshine Coast huh? We will have to show you all our secret spots. lol. It won't take me long, I don't have any. lol.


----------



## johnny (Aug 12, 2007)

20 years ago...invented my own customisation of yak,,only silly bugger doing it anywhere...then i found kfdu then this happy dysfunctional family


----------



## Mad Dog (Mar 31, 2006)

Mal

I can't compete with the canoe on top but have included a piccy of my baby, it might bring back a few other memories (or nightmares)


----------



## ausbass (Feb 15, 2007)

It all started when my dad and i made our wooden canoe at home over the christmas holidays way back when i was 13 (18 now). 
we fished from this canoe many times for bass in our local creeks (my PB coming caught whilst in it) and I also paddled the entire length of the paddle for life charity event 4 times, in the trusty canoe, so its done some miles.

that was until i saw the almighty hobie mirage kayaks in 2004. :shock: :shock:

like most males (and women ;-) ) when the mirage drive kayaks were released, i wanted one, so i saved all my spare money, worked my arse of with dad building sheds and performing erroneous chores around the house until one day (sometime during 2008) i had enough to buy my dream kayak;

a hobie outback (to be honest i wanted the sport at first but then 'upgraded' in my head to the outback). 
   this decison was laughed at by my friends as most of them were buying cars, where i was buying a kayak instead! :lol:

after organising a test pedal with doug down at maclean outdoors, in both the outback and the revolution. I simply liked the revo more, so off it came home with us tied to the roof racks!    

now my repotoire in the 'yak includes surfing in 1.5m swells and failing at one stage(  :shock: ), catching bass, bream and flathead in the local rivers, aquaplanning behind our boat (  ) and being guided by some of our experienced offshore kayak fishers when i had a go at fishing offshore in the yak. ;-) ;-)

from the first fish caught out of the canoe, i have felt the same awe and overwhelming sense of serenity that kayak (and canoe) fishers enjoy and i hope to enjoy if further into the future! 8)


----------



## Rezon8 (Jan 6, 2009)

Started kayaking as a kid in England. During school holidays I would grab my mates kayak and we would dissapear down some cannal or river for a week or so. Used to take a fishing rod and air rifle any vegies needed were nabbed from local farmers paddocks.

Came to Oz and bought a Land Rover for 4W driving. Went fishing and hunting a lot in the old girl. Used to Kayak on the Thomson river a lot. Even managed to Kayak down the Thomson in my Landy on the odd occasion.

I have had a Kayak for several years(used for fun and photography), but I have only just started fishing from one again since the start of the year.


----------



## mal.com (Feb 10, 2007)

Yeah I loved all the responses, Its amazing how so many people invented kayak fishing all around the same time.

Squidder, some people follow fashion, others lead

Ray&#8230; I think I'll need counseling

Davey & Co &#8230;after the weather, and what,s to come, I'm gazing at the Sunshine coast too.

I was checking out the ropes used to hold down the canoe, in that photo; fairly substantial, none of your flimsy tie down straps then.

Cheers

Mal

PS&#8230;. A couple of Landrover's stuck in South Vietnam, Nui Dat 1970, took a bit of explaining I can tell you.


----------

