Kayak Trolling

[Jason Taylor]

Hey Guys,

Have a new kayak and i was wondering if anybody can set me in the right direction regarding the right equipment for kayak trolling on the estuaries....i.e. what rod, reel, bait and tackle is best for a beginner.

Cheers for any advice.

J

[poppers81]

Hey Jason,
I have had my yak about 6 months.. I started off trolling with the same outfit i would use in the boat.. 20lb braid and 4-6kg baitcaster. I have gone right down to 4 lb and 6 or 8lb leader. Catching heaps more fish but have been busted up a couple of times..... price you pay sometimes but it is a lot more fun...

Any brand etc...Really whatever your budget will allow... I use a shimano sedona 2500 spinning reel for the yak. Nothing to fancy as it can wet easily... If i had endless coin I might use my stradic but at this stage no need.. I use a little 6 foot loomis rod but anything will do..

Any little lures will get you started.. the berkley frenzy range are a good entry point lure.. Any thing up from that will catch fish...

You will have a ball...

Cheers

Andy

[FishHunter]

As poppers said you dont need any special equipment. Personally I use 7ft rods as you will often need to get the line past the nose of your kayak. Don't worry about fancy reels as the do get a soaking every time and high modulus graphite rods need to be handled with care as its easy to high stick them.

As for lures pretty much anything you fancy will do. The Frenzy's are good but the hooks need to be upgraded.

[chaspion01]

I use 7 foot graphite rods, 2 - 4kg, 2500 reels, 2lb - 8lb braid, 10lb leader and troll 1mtr - 3mtr hard bodied lures depending on the depth I'm fishing, I also have mounted adjustable rod holders to the yak which allow me to spread the lures straight out either side like out riggers giving me a broader range of coverage, ie right into the snags without the worry of hitting over hanging trees. Pick up plenty of Bream that way, great on the lakes too chasing Bass etc

[Just_chips]

Any gear as mentioned above, obviously budget dictates what we all use, but it does not need to be anything fancy. I do like the use of braided lines though as you can see the lure working correctly through the rod tip, there's nothing worse than trolling for ages only to check your lure and find a clump of weed on it and not know how long it's been there.

Get yourself a couple of ecogear SX40's. They run straight right out of the packet and catch anything that swims. Make sure you have a leash on your rods when trolling, as the next rod to get bounced out of a rod holder and dissapears into the blue by a solid strike won't be the last......

Kev

[Jason Taylor]

Many thanks Guys for setting me in the right direction. You have saved me a lot of a time.

Cheers again.

Jason

[FishHunter]

Any gear as mentioned above, obviously budget dictates what we all use, but it does not need to be anything fancy. I do like the use of braided lines though as you can see the lure working correctly through the rod tip, there's nothing worse than trolling for ages only to check your lure and find a clump of weed on it and not know how long it's been there.

Get yourself a couple of ecogear SX40's. They run straight right out of the packet and catch anything that swims. Make sure you have a leash on your rods when trolling, as the next rod to get bounced out of a rod holder and dissapears into the blue by a solid strike won't be the last......

Kev

I on the other hand think the SX40's are vastly over rated and much prefer the Atomic HArdz lures in that size, Stiffie minnows are also good.

I use a few rigs depending where I am going. My medium rig is a Diawa Excellor 5 to 10kg rod with a Diawa Procast 4000 reel with 20lb braid and 20 to 40lb Flourocarbon leader.

Light is a 2 to 4 kg Sic Stick with a Sedona 2500 and 8lb Fireline and 12lb Flourocarbon leader

Baitcaster is a Rovex CArbon Tec 5 to 10kg with a Shimano Corvallus and 30lb braid and 30 to 40lb Flourocrabon leader

Heavy is a 15 to 25kg Fin Nor Ahab and a Penn 850ssm with 50lb Braid and 40 to 60lb Flourocarbon leader.

[LostNearBribie]

Lots of good info for you there mate.
The only thing I think I could add is that I have always done better trolling with the tide.
Rather than against it. A lot of fish, like flathead for instance sit in wait with their nose into the tide and pick up bits and pieces that come past them.
Always keep an eye on the tip of your rod, it can only take one little piece of weed to stop the movement of a lure and nothing will hit it then.
When you first start you will see the vibration of the lure through the rod tip.
If it isn't vibrating, something is wrong.

i have had a bunch of SX40s and 45's that have not trolled well also...

[paymetofish]

to save money and come to respect your gear is you start off with a rod that does not have any fibreglass tip on the end as it will be sensitive and it will put lures high and far into tree's where you will lose it, trust me when your paying a min $10 to $20 max and then an hour later throwing it away into a tree is very anoying, exspecially when it had court 4 fish minutes before. when it comes to a spinning reel get one above $30 as it will with stand the one day out session, and its more or less going to last for a couple of years whilst on your L's. fishing line in estury i would recomend 6lb to max 8lb the rest will come with exsperience.

the good way to troll is to find the edge of the weed where it drops off. i like to troll on my right side i was holding my rod with my feet this is out of a canoe aswell. when trolling i would troll up the river close as posible to the weed turn around and troll back on the other side. i can say i have a 100% hit rait and this is just bass to

[Feral]

These days I use either a 1-2kilo rod (I'd go a 2-4 kilo rod for starting out ) with 1000 series reel and 6lb braid for bream and flatties, or if looking for something a little bigger a 2-5 kilo baitcaster with 8lb braid. start with a shorter rod, around 6 foot. Longer rods are just that little bit harder to get the fish in the net with.

Hard to go past Sienna reels, good value, do the job, disposable at that price if you accidentally dunk em. Dont try cheap baitcasters, if you cant afford $200-250 minimum stick with the spinning reels.

generally either 6lb or 10lb leader.

Definitely a silicon net (so lures dont get caught in it and fish are a lot easier to get out to)

For bream whiting etc in the shallows, lures in the 30 to 35mm range, looking for a dive depth around 50 to 75cm (river to sea and atomics do good lures in this range) bream and flatties bit deeper, lures in the 40 to 50mm range, diving to 1 to 1.5m. For the deeper channels hard to go past reidy's little lucifers and micro mullets diving 2 to 2.5m

Get a fistful of poppers if you want to do some casting. 35 to 50mm in size. Great fun in the shallows

Then of course there are plastics. Have to get someone else to give you info on those, dont use em these days. (If I want my fingers to stink I figure may as well use bait)

[FishHunter]

These days I use either a 1-2kilo rod (I'd go a 2-4 kilo rod for starting out ) with 1000 series reel and 6lb braid for bream and flatties, or if looking for something a little bigger a 2-5 kilo baitcaster with 8lb braid. start with a shorter rod, around 6 foot. Longer rods are just that little bit harder to get the fish in the net with.

Hard to go past Sienna reels, good value, do the job, disposable at that price if you accidentally dunk em. Dont try cheap baitcasters, if you cant afford $200-250 minimum stick with the spinning reels.

generally either 6lb or 10lb leader.

Definitely a silicon net (so lures dont get caught in it and fish are a lot easier to get out to)

For bream whiting etc in the shallows, lures in the 30 to 35mm range, looking for a dive depth around 50 to 75cm (river to sea and atomics do good lures in this range) bream and flatties bit deeper, lures in the 40 to 50mm range, diving to 1 to 1.5m. For the deeper channels hard to go past reidy's little lucifers and micro mullets diving 2 to 2.5m

Get a fistful of poppers if you want to do some casting. 35 to 50mm in size. Great fun in the shallows

Then of course there are plastics. Have to get someone else to give you info on those, dont use em these days. (If I want my fingers to stink I figure may as well use bait)

Plastics dont make your fingers stink or leak all over the place only bait does that

[LostNearBribie]

So I guess you call Gulps bait then?

[robvee]

Plastics dont make your fingers stink or leak all over the place only bait does that

Plastic Schmastik
EVERY packet I have tried (all 2 of them) has leaked and my whole tackle box STINKS now !!!
Gimme bait and HB's any day - cannot stand plastics

[FishHunter]

[quote=robvee;1267568]Plastic Schmastik
EVERY packet I have tried (all 2 of them) has leaked and my whole tackle box STINKS now !!!
Gimme bait and HB's any day - cannot stand plastics [/quote

You guys keep confusing plastic and bait, I use plastics all the time and never had a smelly finger or a packet leak.

[Feral]

At my local it is almost impossible to buy plastics that are not soaking in some stinky juice or other.

But I do prefer hard bodies. Hard bodies are good if your not used to trolling in a yak, pick floaters, so if you pull up or slow down the lure will tend to float, not sink down in to the snags.