North Shore Challenge 2018 ( Portland offshore kayak comp )
Posted: Sun Jan 28, 2018 1:32 pm
First off with our spring being damn windy I finally got around to building a soft floor camper trailer ( not quite finished but good enough to camp from ) got it registered a week before the event and that worked out quite well - it towed really well simple to put up and very comfortable -
this gave me somewhere to live this year and will do very well for other trips away
I set off Thursday morning for the 5 1/2 hour drive to Portland on arriving the weather wasn't quite running true to the forecast it looked more like a 15+ Knot onshore wind so then there was a little head scratching - should we do a pre fish or not
very few had ventured out but one group before I had arrived returned with a mate ( minny from South Aust ) had returned suffering chest pains , on the safe side he was carted off to the local hospital and was air lifted down to Melbourne when it was proved to be a heart attack - this will no doubt keep him off the water for a while
between trying to get current news on Minny and the fact the sea was less that friendly a quiet rigging session was opted for - Fridays forecast was for the wind to drop for the morning
Friday morning Aust day the rude awakening at 5.00 am by my alarm I could easy have slept longer in my new comfortable camper - in the darkness you could hear the wind ( the weather man lied again ) never mind a bit on breakfast gather the gear and head down to the beach - the 250 meter walk with my kayak was along the break wall at Henty Bay C/park looking at the water thinking this is going to be hard work today - after safety checks to make sure everyone had the legal requirements for off shore and picking up a numbered tag ( something you have to return as a safeguard that everyone is back at the end of the event ) Seasherpa admin said the wind was 14 knot onshore at that stage and the event would have to be called at 17 knot due to the insurance had the wind strength as a threshold
on the beach just a radio check to Seasherpa on the beach and I was released to go - my plan was to troll my way out to the ship anchorage about 7 km straight out.
During the week there had been a few Tuna caught out around here and there gut was full of arrow squid , so my trolling rigs were one side a small dead arrow squid on a dead bait rig ( basically at squid pinned on a 40 gram bib jighead with a stinger hook through the head ) these look pretty natural in the water and a red head Hard body on the other side both on 15 kg gear --- I also had a light set up 8 kg with a small white plastic paddle tail to cast into and bust ups I could find
about 4.5 km out in about 15 meters of water ( quite a slog out to there I might add into a 14 knot head wind trolling lures) was the first sign of birds working so I and another kayaker were on the sprint to catch up to this bust up - again not an easy challenge on a good day tuna move fast even busting surface looking at the GPS 7 kph was the best I could make on the Stealth into a stiff breeze and chop - the guy on the Viking Reload had less hope - by the time I caught the birds the bust up had gone deep again with birds flying higher looking for the school as well
back to trolling pickup up some weed on the hard body stop paddling and cleared it when something was on the squid a small pinky snapper about 32 cm ( not a monster ) but a size fish and more important one on the list for the comp ( also some fresh fish for dinner )
reloading the squid on the dead bait rig got a few more hits while drifting the wave action probably helping make the swimming action look good to - I was setting up another rod with the same setup and thought I drift this line with 2 baits -- then a message from Tas to Seasherpa I need help the kayak is full of water - 6 km out in some less than Ideal conditions the rear hatch on his AI had come open and flooded the hull - this happened quite quickly and he had no hope of pumping it out ( just a side note on this his hand operated bilge floated away when he dropped it , it might be worth thinking about a tether on an important piece of equipment ) so one of the support boats was sent over to help - they sorted out the problem with little fuss both Taz and Kayak were retrieved - not long after that and only 2 1/2 hours into the event the radio call the wind had hit 18 knots and the event was called - really it didn't seam any worse on the water from when we headed out everyone headed in and was accounted for fish were measured in - one nice King fish won the event I dont remember it's length but looked around 85 cm - a 62 cm aust salmon and quite a few pinkies
after the event many said they were packing up to head in around the time that the event was pulled in any rate --
this years event had 43 entries up from the 35 the year before - my pinky pulled 8th place with only a dozen or so weighing in it was hard work but fun just the same
I'll post some pics later --
this gave me somewhere to live this year and will do very well for other trips away
I set off Thursday morning for the 5 1/2 hour drive to Portland on arriving the weather wasn't quite running true to the forecast it looked more like a 15+ Knot onshore wind so then there was a little head scratching - should we do a pre fish or not
very few had ventured out but one group before I had arrived returned with a mate ( minny from South Aust ) had returned suffering chest pains , on the safe side he was carted off to the local hospital and was air lifted down to Melbourne when it was proved to be a heart attack - this will no doubt keep him off the water for a while
between trying to get current news on Minny and the fact the sea was less that friendly a quiet rigging session was opted for - Fridays forecast was for the wind to drop for the morning
Friday morning Aust day the rude awakening at 5.00 am by my alarm I could easy have slept longer in my new comfortable camper - in the darkness you could hear the wind ( the weather man lied again ) never mind a bit on breakfast gather the gear and head down to the beach - the 250 meter walk with my kayak was along the break wall at Henty Bay C/park looking at the water thinking this is going to be hard work today - after safety checks to make sure everyone had the legal requirements for off shore and picking up a numbered tag ( something you have to return as a safeguard that everyone is back at the end of the event ) Seasherpa admin said the wind was 14 knot onshore at that stage and the event would have to be called at 17 knot due to the insurance had the wind strength as a threshold
on the beach just a radio check to Seasherpa on the beach and I was released to go - my plan was to troll my way out to the ship anchorage about 7 km straight out.
During the week there had been a few Tuna caught out around here and there gut was full of arrow squid , so my trolling rigs were one side a small dead arrow squid on a dead bait rig ( basically at squid pinned on a 40 gram bib jighead with a stinger hook through the head ) these look pretty natural in the water and a red head Hard body on the other side both on 15 kg gear --- I also had a light set up 8 kg with a small white plastic paddle tail to cast into and bust ups I could find
about 4.5 km out in about 15 meters of water ( quite a slog out to there I might add into a 14 knot head wind trolling lures) was the first sign of birds working so I and another kayaker were on the sprint to catch up to this bust up - again not an easy challenge on a good day tuna move fast even busting surface looking at the GPS 7 kph was the best I could make on the Stealth into a stiff breeze and chop - the guy on the Viking Reload had less hope - by the time I caught the birds the bust up had gone deep again with birds flying higher looking for the school as well
back to trolling pickup up some weed on the hard body stop paddling and cleared it when something was on the squid a small pinky snapper about 32 cm ( not a monster ) but a size fish and more important one on the list for the comp ( also some fresh fish for dinner )
reloading the squid on the dead bait rig got a few more hits while drifting the wave action probably helping make the swimming action look good to - I was setting up another rod with the same setup and thought I drift this line with 2 baits -- then a message from Tas to Seasherpa I need help the kayak is full of water - 6 km out in some less than Ideal conditions the rear hatch on his AI had come open and flooded the hull - this happened quite quickly and he had no hope of pumping it out ( just a side note on this his hand operated bilge floated away when he dropped it , it might be worth thinking about a tether on an important piece of equipment ) so one of the support boats was sent over to help - they sorted out the problem with little fuss both Taz and Kayak were retrieved - not long after that and only 2 1/2 hours into the event the radio call the wind had hit 18 knots and the event was called - really it didn't seam any worse on the water from when we headed out everyone headed in and was accounted for fish were measured in - one nice King fish won the event I dont remember it's length but looked around 85 cm - a 62 cm aust salmon and quite a few pinkies
after the event many said they were packing up to head in around the time that the event was pulled in any rate --
this years event had 43 entries up from the 35 the year before - my pinky pulled 8th place with only a dozen or so weighing in it was hard work but fun just the same
I'll post some pics later --