Sometimes it’s the little things that can make a great day on the water even better, by making rigging much easier and keeping tackle and equipment organized.
Shopping for the ’yak fisher in your life
All too often it’s easy to get carried away with partners or friends looking for ideas to throw inside the next bit of colourful wrapping paper. talking about the latest technology or some of the So here are a few of the ‘little things’ that make shiny and expensive new toys we’ve purchased, a difference to my own enjoyment on the water, and forget about the many small items we take for starting with my most important at the top: granted almost every trip. On-board tackle boxes ertainly I’m no better than anyone else – the tackle, yet often make such a difference to our This has been a personal odyssey, where ‘magpie effect’ strikes and I have to chatter on enjoyment on the water. Some of these are very I’ve explored everything from elaborate multi- Cabout new rods, reels, lures (oh, the lures, you much taken for granted and rarely ever thought compartment and guaranteed 100% waterproof can never have enough!). about, some are carried just in case (like the little options, right through to the simple water-resistant This month is about recognising some of the compasses), but none is particularly expensive. lunch boxes I now use for storing the bulk of my smaller items that lack the glamour of the latest Consequently, they also make great gifts if you have on-water fishing tackle. My biggest issue has always
62 New Zealand Fishing News
62-65 kayak dec12fn.indd 62 2:36:58 p.m. Simple, inexpensive ‘lunch boxes’ make a brilliant, easy-to-clean alternative to the traditional multi-compartment tackle boxes. Using small zip-lock plastic bags keeps rigs organized, while rubber banding hooks to lure bodies eliminates the potential for a massive tangle of points and barbs. been trying to keep corrosion at bay, and Black Magic clip-swivels I’ve had to keep reminding myself the These robust clip-swivels dramatically greatest source of salt water entering changed my attitude towards using clips on the various tackle boxes being used light tackle sport-fishing rigs (under 15kg). has been from wet fingers and hands. Unfortunate experiences as a land-based The fact that wet hands on a kayak are angler using interlock snaps had given me unavoidable and towels to dry them on are a sour attitude towards anything other than inconvenient, quickly negate any advantages coastlock or McMahon game-fishing clips, but of totally waterproof seals, especially when experimenting with these little Black Magic tackle boxes are being accessed regularly. In beauties was a revelation. Years on I’m still turn, these waterproof seals tend to lull us into using them, have yet to break one, and can’t recall a false sense of security, and any box left closed ever losing a fish to an open clip, despite dragging rather than opened to air out, has the potential for them through heavy kelp and structure on numerous significant amounts of expensive fishing tackle to occasions. quietly corrode into a salty, rusty mess. These clip-swivels play an important role, enabling With one exception, my current tackle-box me to multi-task my rod-and-reel kayak combos preference is for the simple, water-resistant one or (especially so for anglers with only a single rod two compartment lunchbox-style containers, which to work with, or one light and one heavy rig, with are easily stowed in my kayak’s centre-well. They’re Zip-lock plastic bags and rubber bands each serving many purposes). Clip-swivels give also simple to place in the dishwasher periodically, I’ve given these their own heading, but they go switched-on anglers the ability to rapidly re-task rod removing any salt build-up, and using small zip-lock hand-in-glove with the tackle boxes listed earlier. and reels combos as conditions and circumstances plastic bags makes selecting tackle selections for the They are the tackle organiser’s key to making simple change, without having to tie knots in pressured day uncomplicated (on those kayaks where space single or double compartment tackle boxes work so circumstances. Useful roles include: is at a premium, it’s easy to swap the bagged tackle well. The small 75 x 100mm bags are inexpensive • Swapping from baits to lures and back again on in and out of your container and only take what you and big enough to fit all my commonly-used rigs. the one outfit; need). It’s quick and easy to shuffle through them to see • Running radically different lure systems from a The only tackle box I have on board that breaks the what needs stocking-up on board the kayak, and single rod and reel; rule is one used for my slow-jig/inchiku selection. any bags with damp insides are obvious, making it • Instantly re-tasking another outfit after the one Here I use a simple compartmented box with fixed easy to spot contents needing a rinse and dry before you’ve been using has been busted off; dividers (having movable dividers makes salty tackle re-bagging. • When stray-lining, simply unclipping the trace-end boxes a pain to clean and dry). Pure and simple, The rubber bands are key to keeping lures from loop to swap sinker sizes and vary sink rates (so I’ve found it impossible to keep the flexible skirts ending up in a tangled ball, snagging everything in much faster than tying knots); and razor-sharp multiple hooks organised any other sight. I use them on: metal jigs to keep the assist rigs • And, most importantly, making it easy to de-rig way. There’s little on the water more hilarious than contained; on treble-rigged hard bodies and blades outfits for surf transitions, so there’s nothing sharp watching a kayak angler frantically trying to untangle to keep the hooks against the body of these lures; attached to lines in the event of a ‘turtle’ in the a mixed ball of rubber and Kevlar strands, along with and also on trace spools to stop the line springing crash zone! hooks that imbed in everything, as gannets pound loose (I’ve found most line keepers on the small A factor that’s never ceased to amaze me is how the pilchard and anchovy schools right beside the diameter spools unreliable). strong these swivel and clip combinations are. In kayak!
“If you want a “Got Kayak Fishing top fishing kayak, Questions? Follow then call the guys Call Me Now!”us on at Viking - they’re - Stephen Tapp great to deal with” vikingkayaks.co.nz - Matt Watson
Viking Kayaks are professionally set up for fishing by Stephen Tapp. Ph: 0800 529 253 for your nearest stockist. View full range at www.vikingkayaks.co.nz FN5496
New Zealand Fishing News 2:37:03 p.m. One of my most used and least expensive Using good quality braid scissors kayaking accessories is a simple ‘rigging on board kayaks makes re-rigging puller’. Nothing more than a piece of 1.2mm considerably easier. They are cheap to stainless TIG wire shaped into a hook replace and far safer than a sharp knife and handle, this piece of kit makes for cutting braid lines! it incredibly easy to hold onto Black Magic clip-swivels have made swivels and fish hooks to an enormous difference to rigging- tighten knots, even with up on kayaks, enabling outfits to cold, wet hands. quickly switch between fishing techniques. 0 FN541
64 New Zealand Fishing News
62-65 kayak dec12fn.indd 64 2:37:12 p.m. fact, I now ignore the rating Black Magic puts on its packets and happily fish the 4-8kg clip-swivels on line classes up to and including 15kg. I also use the 2-3kg clip-swivels when lure fishing on line classes up to 10kg, and the only reason I don’t use them for bait fishing is they are so small they regularly end up wedged INSIDE the holes in my ball sinkers!
Rigging puller This is an incredibly cheap piece of indispensable kit I made myself out of a length of 1.2mm stainless TIG welding wire (there are also nicely-made commercial ones with plastic handles available for a few dollars from most tackle stores). Nothing more than a stainless hook with a handle that fits nicely in your fingers, the rigging puller lives up to its name by making it easy to properly pull terminal knots tight when tying to hooks, swivels and lures. It also makes forming end loops in mono and fluorocarbon a breeze.
SHARP braid scissors Like most of the bits of kit mentioned here, braid scissors sound so mundane they’re hardly worthy of mention – everyone has a pair, right? What I’m talking about is owning at least two SHARP pairs of The humble compass, often overlooked in this modern electronic age, but an incredibly reliable way to tell which way is scissors (one for the tackle box at home and one to home if darkness falls or fog cuts visibility to nil. Unlike electronic gadgetry, there’s no battery to flatten or circuits to fail. go out on board the kayak). The idea is that these should actually be able to cut the lines you’re using without trying to maul and mangle your way through. Compass Good quality braid scissors are inexpensive and This is an interesting item to put under the topic visibility of less than 20m; in the rush to get back there’s no excuse for trying to persevere with a pair of ‘little things that count’, especially as I consider a earlier on, he’d ended up paddling the wrong way! no longer up to the task. I shudder at the number compass an essential part of any kayaker’s kit, but I By the time he finally realised his mistake, he was of times I see kayak anglers on the water waving encounter so many paddlers without even the most far offshore and beyond his capabilities to return their bait or rescue knife around, trying to trim a basic way of telling which way is east or west, I have unaided. Even the most basic of compasses would line as close as possible without actually cutting to mention it. Personally, just as with every trip I do have told him which way the coast was and kept him themselves! into the hills and mountains, every kayaking trip sees on a relatively straight course there. At less than $15 a pair, I have scissors on my at least a little plastic compass in a pocket or hanging Given it isn’t prudent to rely solely on your rigging bench, a pair in my large tackle box, and a off the front of my PFD (Personal Flotation Device) – electronics for navigation, especially in a wet pair to take out on the water with me. Actually, I have in fact, I now feel somewhat naked if it’s not there. kayaking environment, carrying a basic compass another spare pair in the side pocket of my Hilux’s Far too many paddlers believe they can ALWAYS makes sense. At around $15 for a good quality Silva driver’s door too, just in case my kayak scissors get tell which way they need to go to hit the coast, but unit to clip out of the way on the front of your PFD, seized by the salt or someone I’m paddling with most forget they may end up paddling in heavy fog there’s little excuse for not carrying one. In fact, forgets theirs (I really do hate seeing knives used or similar ‘whiteout’ conditions if seas and winds are they are so good I think these simple navigation to cut lines when hands and fingers play such an calm. I’ve personally rescued one paddler caught in aids make the best Christmas or birthday gift for any important role in paddling you back home!). a rain squall so heavy it created flat conditions and kayak angler.
New Zealand Fishing News 65
62-65 kayak dec12fn.indd 65 13/11/2012 2:37:17 p.m.