On Kerren's suggestion - a more meaningful title.

Have been doing some kayak fishing for several months now on borrowed kayaks and looking out for the best setup for this.

Have been using Ocean River Freedom http://www.yellow.co.nz/site/mckeeplastics/Kayaks.html">http://www.yellow.co.nz/site/mckeeplastics/Kayaks.html sit on's about 4 m in length and quite wide and convinced that a sitton is the only way to go if you are fishing out of it as opposed to travelling to rocks.

We go out in pairs either with the wife or son , hook the 2 kayaks side by side with a short rope and use a small sarca anchor. Haven't been short of a feed even quite close in.

The Ocean River is nice from a stability and storage hatch perspective but a fairly basic machine. The shape makes it a bugger to transport as the 2 don't mate properly.

The 2 options I have looked at are the Tempo from Kayak Direct http://www.vikingkayaks.co.nz/flash/kayaks.html">http://www.vikingkayaks.co.nz/flash/kayaks.html and the Scrambler XT from Fergs http://www.fergskayaks.co.nz/Family%20Kayaks%20Buyers%20Guide.htm">http://www.fergskayaks.co.nz/Family%20Kayaks%20Buyers%20Guide.htm .

Am leaning towards the Tempo due to better options and versatility. Love the pod arrangement.

Any feedback re either of these would be appreciated ?

Pland

Hi pland,

I had a query in Feb., about kayak fishing and got some excellent replies and links to kayaks fishing sites.

The easiest way to get to those pages and some other similar threads too  is to go to the top right hand corner of this page and use the search option. Hope the feedback there is of help.

Cheers

Mmm - now that we have a kayak thread going, maybe we can also talk about some of the equipment that experiened kayak fisher use.

I have only been fishing from my kayak since the beginning of the year, using a fairly heavy boat rod & reel.  Been thinking that I need to splash out on something lighter, like a graphite trigger grip rod with a small baitcaster reel with 6 kg, something that can be easily cast with one hand.   What do you folks use on the kayak?  Any suggestions on equipment - been thinking of a Fenwick rod & Abu reel....  I am a bit worried about damage to carbon fibre rods though.

On the other hand, I have had great fun fishing with a $5 handline from the kayak.   Have had some reasonable results with this.  I always throw this into the back of the kayak with some salted bait - even if I just go for a paddle.  Can always make time for a fish.  

Cheers

stingray, i always bring the handline as well. i am in the process of making up a bungie cord handline, will use some 100lbs cord and same wiehgt leader with two sections of strong bungee for kingies, hoping that pulling the kayak around will tire them out. the rod i use is a lightweight whitetail, from jarvis walker. and the reel is an old penn 268 i bought from the flee market for 5$ and rebuilt. i usually fish a shimano TLD 20/40 stardrag but not in my kayak as i worry it will accidently get dunked too many times.

 still sorting out an anchor. i so far have only drifted but anchoring is the way to go i think. for a livey tank i am looking for a basket with a lid so i can lift it out of the water a bit to grab a livey instead of mucking around. still haven't checked out fishfinders as i am still sorting out my technique, and have been targeting the big old resident snapper near shore that wouldn't show up anyway. read an article about a guy up north who uses a ff to spot schools of kingies and then drops jigs to them, he says he has done well this way.

As was mentioned in an earlier thread, Stephen Tapp from Limitless in Whangarei is a bit of a kayak fishing guru. I've been involved in shooting a bit of kayak fishing video with him recently and he really does have it sussed!

In fact he should be poking his nose in here real soon. Hey Stephen, you here??

oh can't wait!

CJ, your bungie cord hanline sounds interesting.  The largest fish that I have caught with the handline has been a 38 cm snapper - I have always wondered what would happen if I hook a real monster kingi on a hand line.  Could only be fun...

I have drift fished a few times, but normally drop the anchor.  I have rigged it so that I can drop the anchor from the stern through the kayak carry loops so that the kayak rides easy in the waves, but have an arrangement so that when I want to lift the anchor, I can pull the anchor rope alongside and retrieve it without the friction of pulling the rope through the carry loops.  The anchor I use is one of the small folding grapnel types, with a short length of chain and 5 mm rope.  

Always interesting trying to get a snagged anchor loose on the kayak.  My kayak is pretty stable, but the only time that I have come close to capsizing was when a stuck anchor suddenly came loose while I was hauling away at it.

I have read that you can epoxy the fish finder transducer onto  the inside of the kayak using marine epoxy, and as long as you do not get air bubbles in the epoxy, it would work fine through the plastic.  Would love to here from someone who has done this before trying it, though.

Cj / Stingray

I often sit there with bait in the water , pray for a monster and wonder I'm going to do when it arrives.

The siton kayaks are incredibly stable and with the 2 together are not really an issue except for those prone to vicious strikes. My son had a fright early on when he almost toppled over backwards striking at air , but method has now improved.

I also tend to use cheap rod and reel sets on the kayaks , losing the baitrunner would bring tears to the eye.

Am also keen to hear what people have done re fishfinders , I have an old Hummingbird lying in the garage , but don't really want to fit it on a borrowed kayak. Need to make it portable.

Jacko - Bring on the video's  - where can we get them?

 I went fishing on a kayak for the first time a few days ago. I had the time of my life- we had a line trolling on the back and even took the craypot out and set that.  Weather wasnt the greatest and we didnt produce any food but i had an awesome time and i can tell you now there is no better way to fish.  You can go out in almost any depth and its great for your fitness.  As soon as i start catching some biguns ill have regular posts im sure-

ive been thingking of buliding some sort of a trailer for the kayak so we can use it to carry out the craypot and other gear.  Idea seems pretty easy- has any one else already done this???