Trolling in a Kayak

[Left_Hand_Gun]

Hi there
This is my first time, hope I go OK!
I've just bought a kayak for excercise and to get back into fishing.
I used to drift for flathead in St Georges Basin and Sussex inlet when I was younger and was pretty successfful using live poddies.
Now I'm using the soft plastics which I've gone sort of OK with land based shoreline flicking.
What I need to know is this,
If I'm paddling slowly I can't tell if the lure is on the bottom.It probably isn't as I'm not flicking it out and letting it sink as in LB fishing.
Should I use more weight or deepdiving minnows or change the rig to adropper with lure hanging off a 3point swivel? (I read about the last bit, I'm not that clever!!)
I hope I get a bit of feedback, This is an amazing website!
Thanks
Paul

[HiRAEdd]

If you're paddling at all, it goes without saying that you're going to be travelling quicker than a drift so you may need a little extra weight to keep it on the bottom. That being said, a successful stragegy can be to do a couple of quick strokes, then stop and drift for a few seconds giving the bait time to drop to the bottom again, then another few strokes and repeat. This gives a similar action of reefing the rod a couple of times and letting it drop. The other thing to consider in a drift situation, if you've got any chop on the water, the movement of your yak will be much shorter and sharper than a boat so that action alone can work to your advantage.

[Canoedle]

You will know if your lure is hitting the bottom by looking at the rod tip, it will look similar to getting hits, but it's just bouncing along, good for getting flatties. If I'm trolling a soft plastic I usually go for a grub tail or one of the other shaped plastics like the pogys that have a bit of action through the water, minnows require a bit of rod work to get this action. hope this helps, congrats on getting your kayak, hope you do well, you might get some more ideas by checking out thise website.
http://www.akff.net/forum/index.php
;)

[Left_Hand_Gun]

Thanks for that advice Gavin, I'll slow down a bit.
I can't wait to get in the water. I live near Middle Harbour so not far to travel. I've caught the odd lizard off the shore but really want to yank one into the yak.
Also, Canoedle, I checked out that website, so much info to look at and you go off in tangents with other suggested links!
Thanks for the support
Paul

[Canoedle]

Plenty of reading on there Paul, just make sure you remember to shut down the computer and go FISHING! :D

[AdrianK]

Even if you are not paddling, you'll need weight, as water general runs slower, further towards the bottom (fluid dynamics).