NorthWest Kayak Anglers
Regional Discussions => Alaska Kayak Fishing => Topic started by: kardinal_84 on May 22, 2017, 12:26:17 AM
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Ryu and I head out to Whiskey Gulch looking for Kings. Didn't happen. Bummer.
The day I guess would have to be classified as a good day still. We launched at about High tide and pedaled our way to the South Stariski Creek Closure line. About that time Ryu's Gopro runs out of battery so we decide to switch to halibut gear so we can drift around and get new batteries and SD cards into his gopro. We lower our halibut gear and instantly both of us are hooked up to Halibut. My gopro of course was flashing SD card error...ARGH.
We managed to land what I guess to be about 40 pound and 25 pound fish. Ryu puts on a smaller jig and immediately lands a 10 pounder that he released. We continued to troll for kings with no luck.
(http://i.imgur.com/dR3ouN1.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1kFSeGF.jpg)
The halibut we have been catching, even the super small ones have been ultra healthy so far this year. They look "rounder" than the halibut from years past and the meat has been super good with zero chalkiness or mushy halibut.
The 40 pounder had over 24 crabs in its stomach. We didn't open up the 25 pounder but you could tell it was loaded with crab as well. Obviously fish digest faster than crab shell, but I was surprised to not find any evidence of herring or hooligan in the stomach of the larger fish.
(http://i.imgur.com/KK7DGYI.jpg)
Too bad about the failed gopro, I was using a Daiwa Single Action mooching reel on a Daiwa Saltist Jigging rod which made for a fun battle. I will say, I now know why I don't use spinning reels. It's a pain in the back end to deal with a reel below your rod when on a kayak. Especially while jigging. Still, I think I am going to use this setup when fishing under 100 ft of water. The large arbor on the reel makes line pick up not too bad. Lots of fun, though I am one day going to be unhappy when I lose a knuckle or two on a big fish. As far as the gopro goes, I am going to rig up a system where I can hard wire power to Ryu's camera. Then with a larger SD card, I will just delete video segments that have nothing on them using my phone.
(http://i.imgur.com/OkJhGEF.jpg)
Though a little light I think for halibut, Ryu's Daiwa Lexa 300 line counter reel performed flawlessly on his Daiwa Saltiga jig stick.
(http://i.imgur.com/7fam6qJ.jpg)
So we didn't catch what we were targeting, but the bycatch was pretty dang good. lol.
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Looks like a great day. I like your doing, looking for fun tackle, with your rods/reels. I've been looking to change up my halibut gear. I like using the lite tackle. I think we may all be surprised at the size of halibut we could bring up with liter tackle, especially on the kayaks. Think about some of the big fish caught on salmon tackle. I really think anything over 60 lb. braid is overkill for what we do. We're in lot different situation than being in an anchored boat where we need to pull the fish to us.
Looking forward to getting out there with the Tupperware Navy.
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The halibut bite picked up right when you guys passed though. Glad to see you guys pick up some too. We kept 2 decent ones. I fried some up at home last night. Nothing better than fresh hali(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170522/d24b0cc66fbec8cc568060a99197eaf3.jpg)
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Great to see everyone out on the water this weekend! I had a great time and brought back a few small ones for the table...as a matter a fact, Halibut for lunch today!
P.S. I appreciated the help at WG on fish identification!
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Great to see everyone out on the water this weekend! I had a great time and brought back a few small ones for the table...as a matter a fact, Halibut for lunch today!
P.S. I appreciated the help at WG on fish identification!
Looks like the Slayer worked well for you!
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Looks like the Slayer worked well for you!
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Lacks the in-kayak storage of my Ocean Kayak Big Game II but more than makes up for it in increased trolling ability...was able to stay on the water for about 8 hours yesterday...I'm learning to leave extra gear in the truck and just go back to it for breaks...easier to accomplish in Homer than at WG....even on a small tide day!
Only issue I'll have to find a solution for is the raw spot develops on my backside from peddling...hard to sit up straight when peddling hard but the result of slouching forward is a blistered butt!
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Looks like the Slayer worked well for you!
Lacks the in-kayak storage of my Ocean Kayak Big Game II but more than makes up for it in increased trolling ability...was able to stay on the water for about 8 hours yesterday...I'm learning to leave extra gear in the truck and just go back to it for breaks...easier to accomplish in Homer than at WG....even on a small tide day!
Only issue I'll have to find a solution for is the raw spot develops on my backside from peddling...hard to sit up straight when peddling hard but the result of slouching forward is a blistered butt!
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I would like a little more storage, but for me, being in the kayak is a minimalist approach to fishing in the first place - the less crap on board, the better. I've not encountered backside issues from long periods of pedaling. I lean my seat back a bit for a more comfortable pedaling angle. Only issue I have is the seat of my drysuit is slick so my arse tends to slide forward.
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Very well done fellas! I'm missing it already. Hey Rudy, did you ever try those crab jigs I saw you'd built awhile back? Be interesting to see them work.
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Nice work guys! That's great news about the fish quality. Seems like that anomaly has passed for the most part.
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Very well done fellas! I'm missing it already. Hey Rudy, did you ever try those crab jigs I saw you'd built awhile back? Be interesting to see them work.
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I need to break them out. Havent trued them lately. Have yet to cstch one on them but I know they will work. Itd be awesome to catch a bonus octopus!
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