Despite the illusion of serenity suggested by the calm seas of Spot X at 7AM, Alby & I were well aware that this was merely the calm before the storm. 30+ knot offshore winds were predicted to roll in sometime during the morning, to be followed by rising seas. It was likely to be a small window of opportunity that most yak fishoes I know would have decided not to risk. We were pretty determined to get out there though and for all we knew, the reports would be wrong.
They weren't. But we did manage to reach some reefy grounds about 5 - 6km out before any signs of rough weather emerged. When we stopped trolling to drift it was still pretty comfortable out there and as we started catching fish we were both glad we'd come out. In about 30 metres of water our soft plastics were finding the bottom, where we were both able to entice small rock cod, Alby bagged a couple more snapper and I caught my first Pearl Perch, which I mistook for a snapper at first. Fooled by colour, it wasn't until I took a good look at it with the black background of the tramp behind it that I realised that snapper don't have eyes that big, and completely different fins and tail as well.
40cm Pearl Perch - yummy!
I was hoping for a snapper, but this was even better. According to Alby, Pearl Perch are one of the tastiest fish in the sea and upon learning this I was suddenly very glad we'd decided to brave the weather. By now it was still surprisingly moderate, but unknown to us at the time was that some locals had been watching the incoming front from an observatory and looking out at our position in the distance, were wondering if and when to send out a rescue boat for us. Being locals and all, no doubt they'd seen kayakers get into trouble out there before. But these weren't any old kayaks...
Today's highlight was absolutely awe-inspiring and before I go on to describe it in detail, I have to make a sort of disclaimer and get it out of the way first. When a gargantuan humpback whale (I'd guestimate at about 16-18 metres) surfaced right between Alby and I, no more than 10 metres away from either of us and dwarfing us both, we had absolutely no warning that it was about to happen. We did know there were humpbacks in the area, as we could see them jumping some 7 - 8 km further out to sea. But this one just appeared out of no where, slicing a path between us as we drifted, heading north with purpose. There was simply no way that either of us could have averted what happened next. Had we known a whale was any where near us, we would not have had lines in the water, full stop.
As I watched on in amazement, my jaw ajar, Alby laughing uncontrollably, I felt my rod tip bend and the line tighten steadily and immediately I knew what was transpiring. The whale had swum right into my line (this demonstrating how close it came) and was now peeling it from my reel at a rate of knots on it's north-bound route. My first thought was to cut the line but then I thought it might be better to try and apply a little pressure to force the line to come free from the whale - I figured it may just be snagged on a barnicle. As the whale pulled away there were no headshakes or tailbeats... just a strong steady pull. I doubt the whale knew it had even swam into anything. With a breaking strain of 20lb, I knew the line wouldn't last long but to my surprise the whale did manage to spool it. This all happened in less than 30 seconds.
There's some big trips planned for later this year, including a week-long yak fishing/sailing trip for a handful of AI adventurers around Fraser Island later this year, as well as numerous more kayak camping trips around the Clarence Coast area leading up to it. Inspired by Holger's recent article on the topic of custom-made 1st aid kits, now seemed like a pretty good time to go forth and update my 1st aid kit, which was by now some 7-8 years old. Most of it's contents were just fine however, and a lot of it was transferred and added to the new kit.
I looked into buying the various bits and pieces I wanted to update, as well as a more waterproof container to store it in, and quickly realised that buying a well-suited ready-made kit might not be a bad idea. The Aide Comp SC kit has a fair bit going for it as a kayak-friendly kit due to it's tough little drybag container, as well as how it's contents are sealed. All of it's contents (listed below) are of a very high quality and packaged really well - all of it in tough waterproof satchels (some of it vaccuum sealed) and much better than almost all of the alternatives available to me from the local chemist. So what initially seemed like a relatively expensive option turned out to be not so bad after all. I figured $60 was a pretty reasonable investment in a truly worthy kit for kayak fishing.
And with just enough spare room in the drybag for me to add a few hand-picked items, I included a triangular bandage, stretch bandage, a few satchels of suncream, a few satchels of sting-eze cream, a few alcohole swabs, a couple of condoms (not for what you think... but hey...). I also included some painkillers in the form of Nurofen Plus (Ibuprofen & codeine), which is pretty much the strongest painkiller you can get over the counter. I figure that if you need painkillers out there, chances are you need bloody good ones. I'd also pack morphine if I could get it.
So those items are now combined with the stock items that come with the Aide Comp SC, making for a pretty complete little kit. I store this as a part of my safety kit, which is a bright yellow waterproof box, which sits in the rear storage well of the kayak. I'll elaborate on the contents of my safety kit in a seperate write up in the near future.
With the Lismore Caravan, Camping & 4WD show coming up next weekend (where Maclean Outdoors will be exhibiting the range of Hobie kayaks), my next week of work will be a 12-day affair. So it wasn't too difficult for me to twist Doug's arm and squeeze a day off for Friday. The Alby & Allan show are still loitering around Spot X (and will be till Saturday) so i thought I'd join them for one more trip out before they head home. And oh boy, tomorrow looks like a doozie.
But not in the perfect fishing conditions kind of way us fishoes usually reserve the term 'doozie' for. Strong gusty westerly winds are predicted for tomorrow, which can be really very hazardous for off shore fishing on the east coast. With up to 30 knots expected in the morning it's going to be a wild and wooly launch. For sure... it may not even happen. But I'm going equipped with the full island, so if it is blowing up I might just embrace that, do some sailing and troll for tuna. Otherwise we may all just hug the coastline and chase the tailor instead. We're pretty determined, so I think that somehow we'll hatch a good plan.
Saturday and Sunday are looking far more relaxed in the wind department and do look to be more hospitable at this stage, so I'll be aiming to get out both days over the weekend as well. Both Sandon and Woody Head are in my radar. At some stage I'll be targeting snapper, though after last weekend's incident, I'm rather keen to get revenge on the longtail as well. This time I'll be trolling with mono instead of braid line, which I've concluded simply makes much more sense for this style of fishing, for various reasons.
If I had announced that I was going to go barramundi fishing in July I would get a range of comments casting doubt on my sanity, hertitage and possibly sexual preferences. However there was method to my madness; there were a range of factors that actually would make this series of tides productive for barra - the moon was right, the temps were perfect and I saw one leaping about a week ago.
The day was perfect, 24 degrees, sun shining, 5 knot winds, calm seas... gee I hate winter. Using the AI with a single outrigger I would fish the outgoing tide then wait until it turns and fish the incoming back to the ramp. I launched at 11.00 am at Victor Creek boat ramp with a plan to fish the channels deep and slow.
Having spent hours chasing mackerel without success it was time to get clever and see if I could tempt a winter barra on to a lure. Digging into to my freshwater bag of tricks I decided on 2 tactics, firstly to slow trolled big soft plastic and the faster and more dynamic cast and retrieve with either blade or surface lures. The game plan was to troll the lure with the current so that they would travel slow and bounce along the bottom.
Heading out past the channel markers my rudder hits something so hard it stops the yak, I pull up ruuder to inspect and all is fine. However when I got back to shore I found a set of teeth marks scratched in to the rudder blade. Eekkk shark attack! A bit further out I came across some dugongs and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get a photo of what sailors of old used to call mermaids.
As I trolled I cast the blade lure far and wide, across the flats, jigging the deep and running the dropoffs all for zip. As the tide continued to race out I headed to rabbit island to fish the hole on the NE tip, although not completely landlocked it was shallow going on the bottom of the tide. With me was the local fishing guide and a couple of other tinnies, very little got caught and I nearly had a decent sized leopard ray leap into my lap.
Having changed to a surface stick bait I hammered away until the tide started to run and then started again trolling the sp and casting into the bank. Coming across to Acaica island there was a little action in the channel, but nothing could be tempted on to my stick bait. As I came to the island I cut a cross the head land dragging the lure across a sandbar and the reel went off.
90cm barra - my work here is done
Reaching around to grab the rod I forgot to set the camera and didn't get a chance till the very end. The fish had power and I could tell it was no trevally and my thoughts drifted to barra, stripping line on a soft drag I coaxed the AI around and was able to regain some control. This fish had power and stayed deep in a gutter we had drifted over, no colour yet, tightened drag a little and tried to turn it's head, a bit of back and forth and the fish came up. All I saw was silver then the big paddle tail of the barra as it took off it spraying me with water.
I really wanted this fish and a sort of calm came over me, I automatically reduced the drag a little, prepared the gaff. The fish lunges turning the AI and puts itself on the side with the outrigger. I folded the outrigger in a and as the the fish made a pass I hooked the gaff through the jaw and brought it on board. I was one very happy chappy - the fish was hooked in the corner of the mouth and did not jump once.
SA based Island yak fisho, Drew Lenman, has produced another clip highlighting his adventures fishing down south. In this clip Drew shoots some nice underwater footage, catching a curious seal in frame, as well getting onto some Aussie sambos - one of which gets a little payback towards the end. Here's what Drew had to say about his clip:
A lively salmon jumped out of the water half a dozen times giving my 6lb braid a run for its money, then slid under the mirage drive and had me worried... but the line was still in tact. On board is where he got revenge in a lesson in handling a fish with a sharp? lure attached, whilst being distracted by the camera in the other hand. Further content covers a rather inquisitive seal that led me on a photographic mission, and also an ST double header.
A couple of weeks ago I lost my gaff during a rough surf entry. Unfortunately it didn't float and was gone forever. So I started to have a look around for a replacement. Initially I thought about getting the X-Tool Gaff Josh uses, which comes very close to what I expect from a good Kayak-gaff: relatively short, rustproof, lightweight, and it must float. After I learned that they are no longer available in Australia, and I couldn't find anything close to what I wanted, I decided to make my own. I purchased the gaff-hook in my local tackle shop and the rest I found in my shed: aluminium tube, foam tube/ insulation, epoxy glue and some electrical tape and paint.
First I secured the hook in the alu-tube by using a splinter. To make sure, I fitted an end cap at the hook end and filled that end up with epoxy resin, to glue the hook safely in place as well. It won't come out, that's for sure! Next I sanded the alu-tube, covered it in epoxy and slit a length of foam-tube over it. These closed cell foam tubes are used to insulate the hot water tubes of e.g. solar hot water systems, and provides a soft grip and the necessary flotation. Then I just trimmed off the end, fitted an end-cap which I painted signal red first, and finished it off using electrical tape to give the ends a neater appearance.
There you go, a gaff which does everything I want for under 10 bucks!
Snapper, tuna, dolphins, whales, turtles, tangles, broken rod and broken heart...
You know how sometimes when you wake up early for a kayak fishing trip the first thing you say to yourself is WTF and I doing? That didn't happen this morning - I bounced out of bed like a kid on Xmas day. Something inside me seemed to know it was going to be a great day on the water. And indeed it was. Today was the the best trip I've had out on the water since the recent floods, thanks to great weather, great company and great fishing. I met up with Albert (AKA Alby to the Oz kayak fishing community) and Allan at the shores of 'Spot X' at 7AM. We weren't in any rush, so while we sipped back on coffee and rigged our kayaks we discussed strategies for fishing as well as surf launching & landing. This was my first time fishing at this particular spot X, so I welcomed the advice being offered by Alby and Allan, both of whom were quite familiar with the area, as well as both being pretty experienced kayakers.
Allan was the first to boat a fish, pulling up a perfectly pan-sized squire snapper a few hundred metres out from launch. Our target destination was some 5 - 6km out, though it took longer to get there than planned because we hooked up to a few more along the way. Allan hooked (but lost) another snapper, Alby picked up a couple of his own (the first few of what turned out to be a nice bag for him) and I hooked, you guessed it, another Longtail tuna.
This fish gave me a hell of a fight and kept me guessing on it's species for some 28 minutes before I was able to positively identify it. I hooked it on my Nitro Viper rod, rigged with a Diawa Certate reel and 15lb braid, making for much better sport than the Godzilla rod, which is what I usually hook them on. At first I thought it was a snapper but 10 minutes into the fight I started to wonder. Throughout the fight I surmised it to possibly be a jew, maybe an amberjack, possibly even a kingy. When I finally saw colour amberjack was still a possibility I thought and as it came closer I wondered if it was a shark... it not a cobia. I was getting fleeting glimpses of colour, often seeing dark or light shades. Half an hour of fighting revealed it to be a longtail tuna (over a metre long).
It was when I got it to the side of the kayak that things when bad. Truth be told, however, despite breaking the tip off my rod and losing the fish in the process, matters could have been oh so much worse. I only have myself to blame for the idiocy that ensued and I really should know better. Time and time again I've witnessed (the hard way) the perils of trolling 2 lines. One would think I'd have learned by now, but no. Whilst fighting the fish I was able to reel in the other line, but instead of reeling it all the way in, I allowed the lure to dangle around the rudder at the stern. It'll be OK there I told myself.
But it was not OK. When the tuna surfaced it started circling, as they do. And before I could sink in the gaff it circled right into the dangling line and the lure tangled with the active line. In what was possibly the dumbest thing I've done on a kayak in quite some time (reaffirming my moniker 'Yakass') I grabbed the lure, gripped it tightly and tried to untangle it. Had there not been a 10kg+ tuna pulling on the other line I might have succeeded, but instead somehow managed to snap my rod tip and line in the process. Not only that, but somehow my rudder pin managed to get snapped in the process as well! Fortunately I'm not neglegent enough to head out without spares, so it was a simple matter of getting Alby to paddle alongside and put in a new one for me.
I was left holding on to the lure (thankfully it's trebles hadn't buried themselves into my hand) but had lost the fish - what was very probably my biggest longtail yet. It was certainly the longest longtail fight my arms have endured, which I think had part to do with the fact that I was pulling it up on a lighter line than I typically use for these fish. Of course this was extremely heartbreaking - it always hurts to lose a big fish... especially when you have it so close. But in a way I'm glad it happened, because this time I have learned my lesson - and it did make the resulting video clip just as entertaining as it is educational. I'll never troll 2 passive lines off shore ever again. You live... and eventually you learn.
The fight was a ripper though so at least I had fun reeling it in. My right bicep still aches as I type. And no doubt some lucky shark is thanking me for screwing it up as well, scoring a free feed of tuna. Now with a sharp ache in my bicep, I wasn't at all sure I wanted to hook another tuna and rigged up lures that I thought more suitable for snapper. Suitable they may have been, but no where near as well suited as the lures used by Alby and Allan, both of whom were using deep-diving hardbody lures (RMG and Predatek) to great success. Especially Alby, who landed 5 or 6 keepers, all ideal pan-sized fish. My lures were trolling much higher in the water column, which I think is why I hooked a tuna, and not a snapper.
On the return journey to land but I resolved to stock up on a few of those lures that Alby and Allan were using. Partially inspired by my experience with the tangled lines, as well as a conversation with Alby later on, I also decided to switch back to monofilament mainline for fishing off shore. It would have been much easier to untangle monofilament, and perhaps there might not have been a tangle at all. Going back to mono has merit in other ways as well. No real need for a leader eliminates the leader knot, which is typically the weakest link in the chain - something thats caused grief in the past as well. Sure... it won't cast quite as far, nor will it be as sensitive... but I'm now thinking the pros most definitely outweigh the cons. Especially when it comes to trolling, which is what I do most off shore.
It took me longer than planned, but I finally got around to cutting together a clip with some of the highlights on our kayaik camping trip at the Sandon river. Behold:
It's been getting harder and harder to find inspiration to work online lately, mainly because up until today my Internet connection has given new meaning to the word 'sucks'. Just loading the backend to publish content would take several minutes to get past the login screen at times and uploading videos would take forever. My connection is a shared wireless type, piggy-backing onto the Maclean Outdoors store connection, which is about 70 metres away and I have to admit to be surprised to get any connection at all. A wired connection at this house is impossible according to the telco overlords, despite the fact that the library next door has an ADSL2 connection.
So the other day a fit of rage overcame me and I ripped all of the cords from my notebook, flung them aside, picked up the laptop and just as I felt like throwing it out the window instead I walked around the house with it to see if there was an area that would provide a better connection. There was... in the storage room at the front of the house, which up until today was filled with back-up stock for the shop. One bar suddenly transformed into 4, intermittently creeping up to 5. Eureka!
Unfortunately this meant emptying what was my lounge room and then transferring all the stock into there, then moving all my gear into the front room. Quite a task actually, but I'm glad to have done it. Now my connection feels much like a wired ADSL one and everything is a lot smoother now. So there'll be a lot less procrastinating on producing and publishing content from now on.
Why do I mention that Allah has blessed me with 5 bars? No, I'm not a Muslim. But Bin Laden is, and getting a 5 bar connection using a piggy-backed wireless connection seems like a miracle to me... much like Bin Laden's apparent ability to get mobile phone reception in a cave. Ever since those kind of stories started emerging a few years ago I have been left wondering just who his mobile service provider is. If it really is that good, for sure, I'd be signing up to the Jihad wireless telecommunications network without hesitation!
My NSW fishing licence was about to run out so I decided to go online (www.dpi.nsw.gov.au), and renew my licence there. There's an advantage of doing it online in that your license arrives in the form of a credit card sized, waterproof plastic card, which is clearly a much better option (especially for yak fishoes) than the paper printed variety, which is what you'll get if you buy from a retail outlet. The only exception to this is when you buy a 3 yr licence, in which you are issued a temporary paper version and a plastic card arrives in the mail a week or so later.
Buying online you can pay four or five different ways, such as credit card, b-pay and so on. Within a week of paying I received my new licence in the mail. Finally no flimsy piece of paper in a dodgy plastic bag, which is unreadable as soon as it gets wet. So if you have to renew your licence do it online (or otherwise buy a 3 year permit) and get one of the cards. It's worth it.
The depressing weather that has become par for the course up in Nth NSW of late looks set to continue this weekend and it's definitely going to limit my yak fishing options. The Clarence river is far from recovered and by all reports, barely worth fishing (unless down towards the entrance, where I can expect to catch species I'm not terribly interested in) so it'll be off shore, if anywhere this weekend. Sunday is looking like the better day, so on Saturday I'll be catching up on some outstanding work I have to do (there's no shortage of it right now).
Target destination for this weekend is Brooms Head, where I plan to catch up with 'Alby' and head out in the hunt for Snapper. He did a recon trip today and didn't fare too well, which didn't surprise me a whole lot. I'm not expecting miracles on Sunday, but you never know with fishing. If there's anything I've learned about fishing, it's that when you least expect it, expect it. So I'm not completely pessimistic about our chances.
Another thing I've learned about fishing is that it never pays to be truly pessimistic. Being so tends to effect ones performance in various ways. Pessimism erodes creativity, and some times it can really pay to be creative out there. So I'm trying not to put too much stock in recent reports and the results from the past months worth of fishing. It's gotta turn around sooner or later... doesn't it?
The upcoming Wivenhoe Kayak & Canoe Fishing Convention had flown in under my radar until recently when KFDU admin Biggles reminded me that it was coming up, suggesting I make an appearance to find out what bass fishing fever is all about. Today I was fortunate to meet the man behind the convention, Sweetwater.com.au 's Garry Fitzgerald. After discussing the event and finding out more about it from the horses mouth, now I'm even more keen to go.
There's over $6000 in prizes on offer for this event, including an Ocean Kayak Electric Powered Peekaboo Angler, which is a very interesting new fishing kayak soon to be released into the Australian market. Ok, so now that has your attention, a summary of event details are as follows:
Where: Logans Inlet - Lake Wivenhoe When: September 12 & 13 Cost: $50 each Camping: Captain Logans Camp & Lumley Hill. Lake Wivenhoe Craft: Canoe or Kayak only, & Paddle, peddle, electric motor or sail only (no catamarans or dedicated sailing boats) Fishing style: Cast & retreive or trolling- Lure / Fly only Concept: Catch, Measure, Photo (on measuring mat) & let it go.
Kayak camping adventure (despite the threat of rain)
Ready to launch and the clouds look set to unleash hell
This weekend's kayak camping expedition very nearly didn't happen, due tio heavy rains that persisted most of the day prior and into the night. It was still raining at 9AM when the suggestion was made that perhaps it really wasn't a very good idea to head out. I rang Holger and told him it looked like the trip had been canned, and observing the rain fall from his position at Brunswick Heads, he agreed that was probably best. But an hour later clouds started clearing and we started changing our minds. We got tp packing again and eventually managed to get message to Holger that we were heading out after all. For him that meant getting in his car immediately, because we had a couple of hours up on him. Fortunately for all, thats exactly how long we stuffed around for, and Holger managed to pull into the Sandon carpark just as were sliding the yaks into the water. The plan was for him to catch up and find us at an as-yet undisclosed location (we weren't sure on our final destination), but luckily we didn't have to put him through that.
Crusing upstream with the tide flowing in behind us
Because of this Holger had to be completely self-sufficient just in case he couldn't find us, which was a very real possibility. I too was packed to be camping alone, as I thought that if it was raining hard at Sandon when we got there, the other guys might turn back. At that point I wouldn't have been willing to, so I had to be able to go solo. We launched just after 2PM with Holger not far behind, catching up to us only minutes later. We were Doug (Adventure), Troy (Adventure), Craig (Revo), Holger (Adventure) and me and my Adventure, rigged with a single ama and tramp. The tramp served beautifully as a storage platform for my XL 80 litre drybag and although the extra weight added by the ama did slow me down a bit, for the most part I kept up nicely.
Landing kayaks here is every bit as tricky as it looks
We didn't have a lot of time to find a suitable camping spot, and we wanted to stretch our legs before pulling up, so we dug in and covered some 10km before nightfall. We discovered numerous worthy camping spots along the way, finally settling on one that offered a good raised platform and room enough for four or five tents. It was a little tricky to land as the water was very steep right up to the banks, although I had it pretty easy with the stability offered by the ama. This made a huge difference when launching the following morning to - while the other guys cautiously lowered themselves into their yaks, I just pushed the outrigger into the water, stepped on the tramp and into the yak. Too easy.
The camping kayak fleet has landed
We had been incredibly lucky up to the point of landing, with rain holding off for pretty much the entire journey, in and back. Whilst it threatened rain almost the entire time, the only time that the heavens really did open up on us was, ironically, right as we started pitching our tents. As such, all of our inner tents got a little bit of a hosing. We'd all packed our gear in dry bags pretty well though and were well prepared for rain. I was pretty impressed with how my newly declared kayak camping rig fared and was equally impressed with how easy it was for us all to cram our yaks with whatever we needed. Holger's set up was very neat indeed.His kayak didn't even look like it was going camping, let alone completely self-sufficient. Doug, Troy and Craig were a little less minimalist in their approach, packing eskies, XL bed rolls, swags and a bulkyish tent. And there was room spare for more!
Not great fishing conditions, but very leisurely kayaking weekend
Back-up paddle for mono-hull, primary for dual or tri-hull use
A full-length double-bladed paddle is lost on an Island and rendered equally useless when used as an outrigger yak as well, which is fine because I rarely feel a need to reach for the paddle when I roll that way. The akas do get in the way of a full paddle stroke as does the tramps as well. If my paddle was a standard aluminium Hobie paddle, I'd probably just put one of the new T-handles into the female end as use that as a single paddle instead (this is what I'd do if I had the Pro Angler as well). But my paddle is one of the Bending Branches (BB) Hobie paddles, which is a higher quality fibreglass version, offering lighter weight, stiffer and more responsive blades. I like this paddle a lot (and always use that if I take out the hull only) but the T-handles don't fit into them properly, to I decided to find another solution. The obvious solution came in the form of a lightweight telescopic aluminium paddle.
I took one out for the first time this weekend and thought it served pretty well. Whilst the flat blades don't scoop water quite as well, it's certainly enough to get moving. I did have to fall back on it in the shallows of the Sandon river several times and it was also used to back up when getting too close to mangroves and overhanging branches. A lot of the guys at the ABT kayak fishing tournament events were using table-tennis bats for manoeuvring in a similar fashion and even they worked pretty well. I do prefer the telescoping paddle though - it is far more effective at getting the kayak moving. But it does pack down to a respectably small size and can easily be stored inside the hull. I think I'll probably secure it inside the hull with some kind of clip or bungee system and just leave it in there permanently.
In selecting a telescoping paddle I had a couple of choices. The first one offering a larger blade, slightly longer length and smoother locking system, the second one offering similar utility at almost a 3rd of the price. Despite being notably dearer I decided on the former, simply because I figured that one day my life may every well rely upon it, and it's extra size and strength looked like a worthwhile investment. I think it more likely that the more expensive option would be made of better materials as well (it certainly looks that way) and thus likely more corrosion resistant. Oh, and yes... it floats to.
I think something like this is a worthwhile investment for any kayak to be honest - particularly traditional paddle-only kayaks. The thought of losing ones paddle out at sea in a yak like that is a little intimidating, and unless leashed securely, is entirely possible. Having something like this as a back-up would offer good peace of mind.
To go kayak camping or not to go kayak camping... that is the question
As if the Clarence Coast needed more rain right now, here it is, right on cue. Cats 'n dogs. It's timing is particularly impeccible because this is the weekend Doug, Holger, Troy, Craig and myself were planning to go kayak camping somewhere along the Sandon river. The plan was simply to arrive at the river just after midday and then paddle/pedal aimlessly upstream until we reach somewhere suitable to camp. 'Was' being the operative word, because judging from the way the rain looks right now, coupled with rather shakey predictions for both Saturday and Sunday, there's a very real possibility that one of us will question the sanity of heading out and in my experience, that sort of thing often has a snowball effect. I'll understand if that happens, but will be dissapointed because I'm pretty well geared up to go and am especially keen to put those tramps into action for a camping trip. There's always next weekend though. We'll make the call in the morning.
At last, some promising reports are filtering in on the appearance of snapper at Woody Head, apparently showing up late afternoon (several hours after Holger and I lfet, dammit). So if the camping trip is canned, I may just try and sneak in a trip or two at Woody instead. Right now I'm not reaally sure how the weekend will unfold, but hopefully the weather won't dampen all my chances.
There's some big trips planned for later this year, including a week-long yak fishing/sailing trip for a handful of AI adventurers around Fraser Island later this year, as well as numerous more kayak camping trips around the Clarence Coast area leading up to it. Inspired by Holger's recent article on the topic of 
And with just enough spare room in the drybag for me to add a few hand-picked items, I included a triangular bandage, stretch bandage, a few satchels of suncream, a few satchels of sting-eze cream, a few alcohole swabs, a couple of condoms (not for what you think... but hey...). I also included some painkillers in the form of Nurofen Plus (Ibuprofen & codeine), which is pretty much the strongest painkiller you can get over the counter. I figure that if you need painkillers out there, chances are you need bloody good ones. I'd also pack morphine if I could get it. 
A full-length double-bladed paddle is lost on an Island and rendered equally useless when used as an outrigger yak as well, which is fine because I rarely feel a need to reach for the paddle when I roll that way. The akas do get in the way of a full paddle stroke as does the tramps as well. If my paddle was a standard aluminium Hobie paddle, I'd probably just put one of the new 
