Jackson Kayak Fishing Team

Its been an exciting few weeks.........

From joining the Jackson Kayak fishing team, to collecting my new Kraken then getting it wet for its first time. I choose the Kraken from a wide variety of options as I personally felt that it would suit my needs in offshore trips. It is a beast of a kayak at 15.7 feet long and 30 inches wide and weighing in at 36kgs. I originally thought it would have been a struggle to manage it by myself as I regularly venture out on adventures by alone..........my opinion soon changed.

                                           Click here for more info

It all started with a trip down to Dublin to the Jackson kayak dealers I-Canoe once I was informed of the delivery landing on Friday I was straight down the following morning like a child at christmas.
After a nice chat with the owners I went out to load up and leave as I had work to get home to, my father was with me so he gave me a hand on to the roof of the van and off we went.

I had been kayak-less for a few weeks waiting on the new one arriving so as you can imagine I was busting to get out, the weather for the following week was, well very Irish!!!!!!!
There was a boat angling Ireland meet in Carlingford lough on the North east coast the following weekend that was postponed due to poor weather and high winds. I was hoping to attend this meet in the new Yak with a few other kayaking friends, the location would not be my first choice as the lough is very tidal and was not ideal for a first paddle in a new kayak.

Entrance to carlingford lough and the point is where we camped at Greenore

There was talk of heading up anyway for the weekend but as the winds on Saturday where in access of 40mph I went to work instead. That afternoon the weather was to break over night and with a quick couple of phone calls David Smith, Tony Powell and myself were on our way to meet for an overnight stay at a camping site at the location. When we arrived we where greeted by Andy and Paula from http://www.chasingsilverflies.com/ who where there from the night before.

We set up camp and had a great nights crack around the camp fires sharing stories of the ones we lost.

The following morning I dont think any one was mentally our physically fit to venture out on the lough as there was some pretty sore heads :)
After a fine breakfast from our cook David the weather really started to pick up with winds dropping by the minute we started to arrange the kayaks to get them on the water.

 
I must say, I was very anxious about the Kraken as it was the first of its kind to land in Ireland,
Size, weight, length, higher seating position etc. The strong tides and wind was not helping the situation!!!!!

First thing I noticed followed by David was actually how easy it was to car top on your own. We could lift it above our heads with No issues, The two grab handles at each side of the seating position are very well positioned as the kayak is very well balance once picked up.Also a citroen berlingo van is higher than your average car.

Into the water she went, again anxious as every one was intrigued with it and watching closely I really did not want to have a wet mishap!!!!!!!!

                                                                         WOW!!!!!
Shocked would not be the word to describe my first impression with stability, by far the most stable kayak I have paddled and soon to learn also the fastest.
It was unbelievable, once on the water it really comes to life, all my worries left me and I was really enjoying it. That much in fact I headed straight out into the middle of the lough in 20mph winds to test it in the 5/6 Knot tidal flow. Again no issues here what so ever.

                                     David tying of a buoy in mental current
As we where actually out to target Tope but could not get to the marks with the weather ( I no it looks nice in the pics) we decided to try for anything, and we did with several different rigs from http://www.shamrocktackle.com/ and http://www.coxandrawle.com/ and a wide variety of baits but not a nibble between the three of us.

                   Tony couldnt keep his eyes of me..... I mean the Kraken

With very poor fishing it was time to call it a day, so back to dry land we went where the lads had a paddle in the Kraken.

Tony

David

The lay out on the yak is really well though of with yakattack geartracs all over it there is no where you cant mount something with a mount from Ram Mounts.

8 yea you herd that right 8 rod holders, 2 flush mounts, two ram tubes three uprite tubes on the Jkrate and one rod holder positioned, well where you want it on the supplied ram ball with geartrac adapter all supplied with the kayak.

The seat well you would have to try it yourself to see how comfortable it is. Under the seat there is two pockets to put the again supplied plano lure boxes.

Seat with thermarest back support

Jkrate and large Plano tackle box

Lure boxes and water bottle

 Built in light and rod holder on geartrac

Rear hatch(space normally wasted on other kayaks as they dont have access)

Im 6.3 foot and I have loads of room as the seat is adjustable and so are the foot pegs

Hull with large transducer scupper hole

Iv yet to find a fault with this kayak apart from the minor problem that the rudder will solve, and as a lot of you no me if there was something I was not happy about I would be the first to tell yas.

I will do another review in a few months to see if  and problems arise which I dont think will to be honest!!!!

Its the best suited kayak iv paddled to date, all I need to do now is catch some fish on it.

Until my next adventure guys

Tight lines...

Cod Have Arrived

The last couple of salt adventures for Cod have failed but today things changed!

 I originally planned to head out early Saturday morning but when I woke up at 6am Saturday morning I could not see the wall outside my house with the fog, So back to bed I went and that was that.

Sunday morning I got up at 7am and nipped down to the shop for a coffee the weather was lovely, the sea like a mirror and a slight bit of fog that looked like it was burning off quite quickly. I returned to the house a happy bunny and packed the car. All ready to head off to my local launch point 100 yards away I just happened to take a glance out the window " Not so good" a blanket of fog had returned from no where.

I normally would not dare, NOR would I advise any one to head out in these conditions but today was the only chance I had of catching a fish. Over the past few years I personally feel like I have been well trained by the members of Irish Kayak Angling and have gained the knowledge and experiences to deal with such a condition confidently and more important safely!
I went straight back out to the car and double checked all my safety kit, compass, flares, vhf and fully charged, phone also fully charged. I phoned my father and let him know that I was heading out and where I would be fishing, and while launching at the marina I let the lad know that runs the place of my plans.

Happy with all I could do I launched the yak and paddled out past the Harbour took a compass bearing back to shore (North west) and continued on out into the bay, approx half a mile out I lost sight of everything, an extremely freaky feeling.

My favorite rig on (Shamrock tackle bleeding glow worms) baited with mackerel and sent it to the bottom, BUMP.............straight away fish on , happy days then to make things better it was a long over due Codling. Shortly following that I had another things where looking good for the day until I snagged the bottom and lost the rig. Bummer this was the only one I had so I set up a euro champ in gold and continued.

During the summer I detest catching \scorpion fish but with things being slow over the winter I have started to enjoy pulling them up as no two are the same. The fog started to thin out and the sun was breaking through, conditions were picking up quickly and as the did a few lads on boats headed out past me.

In around 15 minutes it went from this!!!

To this.

By far the best day of the year, and the fish kept coming I had countless small codling and Scorpion fish all caught on a reef half a mile out from the bay. I thought I would try for a coley for the species hunt and paddled back to the shore, different tactics needed so out came the spinning rod with a berkley jig head and jelly fire tail. My personal favorite for Pollock and Coley, first cast I hooked a fish but to disappointment it was a small pollock.

I paddled half a mile north along the rocks with the spinning rod along the way I picked up another small pollock but things were poor for an hour after that so I headed back out to the reef for another bash for some bigger cod as the tide was full in. I got the anchor down in around 80 feet of water and put bigger baits on, again straight away I was into something a little bigger.........another Cod happy days as it was the biggest so far.

My father put the boat in for a run out and came out to me before heading up the coast a few miles to a spot that produces decent Cod and Ling on a regular basis, a short time later he was back with out a bite to fish the same reef I was on. He was the only other person that caught fish that day with four other boats on the water, he had 9 small whiting.

He was going mad as he had the whiting back to back then not a thing in an hour and I was still catching Codling ever drop with the odd Scorpion as well.

Another decent one....

They started to gradually get bigger but it was time to call it a day and head in

On the way in there was a lad getting towed in by another crab boat as his engine was giving trouble, just gives you another advantage of kayak angling!!!!

As I was passing the harbor I dropped a rig for the last time and had a few bites followed by a hook up....... another species for the year my first Coley ;)

It was an interesting day to say the least with decent fishing, not much I could complain about plus it was the first run out with my new scotty flust mounts and rocket launchers which allow my rods to face forward to allow me to see the bites instead of the rods resting on my lap, they also double up as decent arm rests.

Until my next adventure

Tight lines....

Home Turf

With the warmer weather recently it was time to have another crack at the salt!!!!

A quick chat with a Noel Mckernan and it was arranged to meet on Saturday in my home village of Ardglass Co.Down. It was nice to actually lie in bed to a reasonable hour and get up, organised and arrive at the launch point (100 yards from my house) all in less than 30 minutes.

We did not take long to get on the water as usual, and my main target of the day was Cod, normally this time of year there are plenty of them around here, also the local trawler lads are catching boxes of them up to 30lb weight only 5 miles out, so this also motivated me to get out there. 

The weather was great with a slight westerly breeze so we headed straight out into the bay in search of the previously scarce Cod, with in 5 minutes Noel was into a fish and long and behold it was a decent little Cod of around a few pound weight, he shouted over " Happy days we could catch these all day".............. Well that Cod must have been lost or something as I think it was the only one in the Irish sea that day!!!!! 

Things were very slow after that, we tried everything and all the close by marks that normally produce fish with no joy. I paddled closer to the shore and anchored up to try a spot that very rarely lets me down, not long after I got the anchor down in around 35 feet of water I had a hook up, and was I glad as it saved me blanking, especially on my local grounds.

Two small Pollock

After an hour had passed sitting at anchor with nothing more than the two pollock it was time for a change of location and tactics, we paddled a mile further south to a large kelp bed in hope for a Wrasse and on the way stopping and having small drifts to try to pick something up, I had one sea Scorpion on the way.

Arrived at kelp bed a short time later and fished it for around 30 minutes with not a bump, at this point I realized that there was a nearby reef around half a mile out. I aimed for it as I had some cracking fish from it over the years from the boat but never fished it from the yak. I had a few failed attempts of targeting it from the yak with weather so I was pretty keen to get to it seeing I was so close. We paddled out and on our way the weather started to pick up, sea state was getting very choppy and the wind had shifted northerly making things tricky, we persisted!   

When we arrived at the reef with the big spring tides we were in 90 foot of water, very strange as iv never seen it deeper than 80, but anyways we had a few failed drifts and with the increasingly picking up weather I called the retreat back to shelter. Once again the weather has beaten me in fishing this mark from the kayak!

 
On our way in Noel fished along the rock faces and picked up a few small Coalie, I was over in the bay still trying to catch my Cod, but the only thing I could catch were the sea Scorpions 5 in total.

We called it a day and headed in, once we arrived back at the harbor we had some bait left so we tried for some fatties and conger. Well this was interesting as I had put a large Mackerel head onto a size 8 circle hook dropped it down the side of the harbor wall and with in minutes the rod started thumping, I never had bites like it, it then started pealing line of the reel. I tightened the drag down and it started pulling me into the wall, then nothing.....so I brought the bait up to check it and the head was clean bit in two. I re baited with another large head dropped it down and the same started happening all over again, I tightened the drag one again and wound down......this time I had something of size on It took a few runs then I had the better of it as I was nearer the kayak I looked down into the water below me and as soon as I spotted the largest flat fish iv seen it let go and swam straight back down, it was literally the size of a bin lid and as it was bottom side up and pure white I have no idea what it was. I re baited and tried again and again, same thing over and over mental bites and runs with no clean hook ups until I was out of bait. I blame the circle hook......and I will be back soon with different rigs to see what is down there....

While getting melted with something stealing my bait on the heavy rod over and over I had a doggie and crab after crab on the lighter rod.

   It was a very tough days fishing and I never got what I intended to catch, but most importantly we never blanked. I am itching to get back to the harbor with some better set ups to see what is annoying me, whether it was a large conger and that I hooked the flattie by chance or is there big flatties roaming around down there, only time will tell.

Tight lines  

A Day To Remember

The weather is starting to improve with arrival of spring, the mornings are brighter and there is a stretch in daylight in the evenings, a very welcome sight that a lot of us have been waiting on all winter.....

Sundays weather looked promising, So David, John and myself arranged to meet at a lake in the midlands for one last bash at fresh water before the real fishing starts with the good weather approaching. I loaded the car up on Sunday morning and set off around 6am, arriving at the lake just over an hour later to find the other two had just arrived before me. A quick coffee while discussing tactics and setting up, we agreed on mainly targeting Perch as none of us have ever caught any. I have had a pretty productive winter chasing Pike and really wanted to catch a Perch to the point that I was not going to target Pike at all that day!!!

When we got to the waters edge there where a lot of small fish breaking the surface so we all set up simple rigs, small hooks some lead shot and floats with maggots as bait to small jig heads for drop shoting. David was first in the water from the bank and instantly pulled out a Perch, I couldn't believe it, nor was I amused as he caught one before me lol, but as soon as my bait hit the water I had my first as well (Above pic) shortly followed by John using drop shots. It was great crack we were pulling them out hand over fist all small but it was addictive fishing and as small as they were they put up a great little fight.

David with his first

Followed by John    

    

Anyways more to the point we needed to start catching them from the Kayaks, so on to the water we went. David and John had there first kayak caught Perch with in minutes and continued to keep catching them one after the other..........I couldn't catch one!.............It was driving me nuts and to make matters worse the lads were taking the piss out of me laughing at my misfortune, but what was I doing wrong as I caught loads of the bank?. My rig was fishing about two feet deep so I adjusted the depth to around four feet and BANG my first kayak caught Perch, I couldn't stop smiling lol.

    Another one for the species hunt!

After that they just kept coming, mostly tiny little fellas with the odd bigger one, John had the biggest of the day as far as I remember.

They look to have a right attitude problem :)

You could sit and catch them all day but as we caught what we came for it was decided to have a go for our last Pike of the season.

John hooked up nearly straight away with a nice fish around the 8lb mark but the man always underestimates his size, shortly followed by another small jack while David and myself paddled all around the lake trying everything with no joy. At this point we decided to head in for some lunch so I stuck on a copper spoon to trawl on the way in, with in 10 feet I had a thump on the rod........fish on......just as I was taking a pic my dead bait rod bent over and line started screaming of the reel like mad. I just about got a pic of the small Pike before having to drop it over the side so I could grab and strike the dead bait rod.............

  First little jack on a copper spoon

This fish felt a lot bigger every time I gained a little line it took double, It faught like mad and I was convinced it was going to be a personal best! After a cracking scrap I had the Pike on my lap in disappointment, It fought like a fish at least twice its size the water temp was up quite a bit maybe this has livened them up..... who knows.

    Number 2

Anyways happy with two Pike back to back it was time for lunch, I paddled in to find John just stepping out of his kayak too. As I went to step out of mine I felt one of my rods thumping at first it looked snagged on the bottom but as the kayak was stationary and the rod was still thumping I lifted it to find another Pike on the end of it lol,

No 3

The weather was great, but quite cold

After a quick bite to eat from our cook David and myself giving him some abuse as he had yet to catch a Pike we where back on the water as the day was becoming very much enjoyable.

I was not on the water for five minutes when I had hook up number Four

Again a small jack No 4

What a day I was having definitely my most productive fresh water session to date....

 At this point David lay down and give up, I think he was on ebay looking to buy a set of golf clubs on his phone....

 Karmas a B***h lol

John at this point was playing with the drop shop rigs obsessed with trying to catch a big Perch as apparently there are a few in this lake.

Then again my lure rod trawling the copper spoon about started thumping again, another hook up..........and YES another jack Pike.......starting to wonder is there any big Pike in this lake at all.

This one had some scaring from a bigger Pike or a bird.

We called it a day shortly after and on our way back in had one last crack at the Perch.

This last crack turned into an hours fishing for them as its bloody addictive 

We also tried with some sweetcorn to see what was about and had a few Roach too.

By far one of my most enjoyable and exciting days fishing with more Perch than we could count 5 Pike and Roach.

Until Next Time

Tight Lines...