[Nick The Greek]

hi everyone,
not sure if this should be on this forum but cos i'm after local info i hope its kept on here.
does anyone use kayaks for fishing round the kent coast and what are your tips/ experiences?
me and my mate steve are just about to buy our first proper angling kayaks, since we both love close, inshore fishing, and having had god knows how many other small waterbourne vessels between us it seemed a natural progression. 500 quid gets you a cracking little vessel. we are gonna be spinning for bass off of norfolk soon but the tide up there is not what it is round here and any tips on fishing round kent would be appreciated.
with there light weight and easy launching, we aim to take the kayaks all over the country with us and fish as much as possible. we are both fully aware of risks, safety and the limitations of fishing from such small craft, ours will be kitted out with compasses, handheld vhf, fish finders, hanheld gps, plus all flares, etc, etc have to admit i wasnt into the idea of kayak fishing until i was 'enlightened' !!! cheers, nick.

 

[Guest]

rather u than me mate but as i can't swim...... hnoes: hnoes:

good luck with it though,see u down dover next weekend nick.....dave.

 

[Guest]

Hi Nick,

I would try and get a look at the place you want to fish at low water first.

Next try looking on windows live local at places you want to fish (some good indication of what is underwater).

Also look on an admiralty chart if you have one.

The chart will give you tide direction and rate at a given spot (it's a little diamond with a letter in it) so you can see when might be the best time to try that location without too much paddling against the tide.

As yet we haven't tried drift fishing from our inflatable but will be trying it before very long.

I am sure you will have fun especially when you get a double figured thornback or smoothound on...

Malcolm.

 

[Nick The Greek]

hi dave,
looking fwd to next week mate should be good, do ya know what type of fishing were doing yet?
was nearly talked into a free fall parachute course yesterday on the account of '.....it will be a good laugh!' - no chance! my mrs thinks i'm mad too! :crazy:
somehow these boats are alot easier to use and more seaworthy than the poxy dinghys we used to sail out of Plymouth Sound that capsized if someone farted nearby! you spent the next half hour swimming after it and trying to right it! :doh:

 

[Nick The Greek]

Hi Nick,

I would try and get a look at the place you want to fish at low water first.

Next try looking on windows live local at places you want to fish (some good indication of what is underwater).

Also look on an admiralty chart if you have one.

The chart will give you tide direction and rate at a given spot (it's a little diamond with a letter in it) so you can see when might be the best time to try that location without too much paddling against the tide.

As yet we haven't tried drift fishing from our inflatable but will be trying it before very long.

I am sure you will have fun especially when you get a double figured thornback or smoothound on...

Malcolm.

cheers malcolm, got some charts somewhere, been looking at a few sites, hopefully will be anchoring up on the sandbanks for the smoothies n bass when they arrive, wont be going too far out, thats for sure!
nice little smoothy the other night by the way! nick

 

[Guest]

Thanks Nick, wish it had been me who had the smoothy but the other half beat me to it (just as she did with the thornback).

I am still waiting to cath one so hopefully I will get one like creedy did last year

Just one thing about the "yak"...

.. How stable are they when you get a load of jetskis come past?

Malcolm.

 

[Why Worry Angling Charters]

Thanks Nick, wish it had been me who had the smoothy but the other half beat me to it (just as she did with the thornback).

I am still waiting to cath one so hopefully I will get one like creedy did last year

Just one thing about the "yak"...

.. How stable are they when you get a load of jetskis come past?

Malcolm.

Get some crab for bait Malcolm,they dont have to be prime peelers,lift the top shell off and fish them whole,hook them through the back and pass the hook up into there mouth and then bare the barb and if there are hounds around you cannot fail mate.Male sure you set the clutch though or the whole outfit will take off!

Ron

 

[Guest]

Thanks for that tip Ron.

I will try that next time we go out.

 

[Nick The Greek]

not encountered jet skis on a sea kayak yet, but i suppose side on, not brilliant mate! used an 8ft one that was ok but nowhere near as stable as these new ones and without the storage space either, gonna get a 11 -13ft one, very well balanced. its just choosing the make, features etc. will be doing my level best to avoid jet skiers, cos of the light weight were gonna try n launch well away from anyone else and get to fish some really quiet places..........hopefully!!

 

[Guest]

Well one thing Nick, you shouldn't have this happen to you round the Kent coast...

The phrase "we need a bigger boat" springs to mind...

 

[Nick The Greek]

:blink: bu9ger me!!! the bloke doesnt appear to be doing much!! personally i'd be paddling so fast that kayak would be transformed into a speedboat! i'll stick to whiting n pout i think!

 

[hjlt]

Nice one.....

Kayak fishing is superb, you will outfish both shore anglers and boat by being able to get into areas unfished before.

I fish the River Crouch on my Kayak, you get some strange looks simetimes butb theyb soon think differently when they see the prime bass.

I use an 8.5 foot sit on top Nomad Kayak, its great for rough water, surf and is easy to manouver, anchor and can safely cut through just 1 foot of water.

Drifting over rock beds is great for bass, anchor up if the current is too strong but do get out at low tide and spot the marks that have great features.

I leave anchorage at good spots and this saves carrying anchors on the Kayak, i use homemade bouys (big fabric conditioner bottles painted red - now you know what the hell they are doing dotted round the crouch for all you that have wondered!!!!). I rope a decent sized rock and drop them as anchors, its cheap as chips and does no harm if you leave them.

Although my Kayak is not a custom built fishing Kayak it does the job well.....although i am toying with looking at some purpose built fishing Kayaks. What i like about my one is it is light weight and easy to carry from mark to mark.

If you venture down the Crouch way ever let me know and ill join you for a paddle.

Cant rate it enough, dont just fish off the Kayak but use it to get onto islands or wrecks etc and fish off them. You will fish un fished marks that are full of fish.

What will surprise you is how close to fish you will get, a silent drift will see bass and mullet feet away and unspooked from your Kayak.

Good luck and let me know who you do.

 

[Nick The Greek]

cheers hjlt,
great stuff mate, this is exactly the sort of info i need, brilliant idea with the fabric conditioner bottles!

our biggest aim is to get away from all the crowds etc and fish on our own and try many different places.

kayak wise, we are trying to find the balance between, light weight/easy to carry and having enough stowage space for our gear! being able to strap it to the car roof rack is essential as well! we did look second hand but prices are not far off new ones that are already kitted out as a fishing package.

i would imagine it will be at least a month or so before were sorted properly but will let u know when were up n running and hopefully meet up for a paddle. nick.

 

[hjlt]

great stuff - look forward to it

 

[clouser]

cheers hjlt,
great stuff mate, this is exactly the sort of info i need, brilliant idea with the fabric conditioner bottles!

our biggest aim is to get away from all the crowds etc and fish on our own and try many different places.

kayak wise, we are trying to find the balance between, light weight/easy to carry and having enough stowage space for our gear! being able to strap it to the car roof rack is essential as well! we did look second hand but prices are not far off new ones that are already kitted out as a fishing package.

i would imagine it will be at least a month or so before were sorted properly but will let u know when were up n running and hopefully meet up for a paddle. nick.

Hi Nick,
Just about to start Kayak fishing myself, have a look at some of the sites on the internet....it's an eye opener...........one chap up Scotland caught a Skate of over170lb !
Anglers afloat is a good site http://anglersafloat.proboards107.com/

Trying to decide on the right Kayak is hard.....If your a big chap , then a Drifter might suit.......or a Prowler 13 or Elite 4.5 or a Perception Angler or a Big game.....
Like i said it ain't easy:blink:
Thats the problem i'm having at the moment ..............

Lots of info out there, just take some time reading it all, especially the safety side of things.

Dave

 

[Nick The Greek]

Hi Nick,
Just about to start Kayak fishing myself, have a look at some of the sites on the internet....it's an eye opener...........one chap up Scotland caught a Skate of over170lb !
Anglers afloat is a good site http://anglersafloat.proboards107.com/

Trying to decide on the right Kayak is hard.....If your a big chap , then a Drifter might suit.......or a Prowler 13 or Elite 4.5 or a Perception Angler or a Big game.....
Like i said it ain't easy:blink:
Thats the problem i'm having at the moment ..............

Lots of info out there, just take some time reading it all, especially the safety side of things.

Dave

hi dave,
I think i've decided on one of the ocean kayak range myself, again i dont know which one though! I'm only 5ft 8' tall and about the same wide! so i really need to go to the dealer and have a dam good look. the drifter does sound good, especially fitted with a backrest n proper seat!
there are certainly some good web sites, that one you mention shows you how to install various bits of equipment on your boat. those prowlers etc are pretty expensive although they do have 'angler' packages.
safety gear is a big part of my budget so i may scrimp a tad on the boat to get better fittings, flares, compass etc. just looking at roof carriers for 'em as well. Thule do a couple of good'uns. nick.

 

[Guest]

u have a pm mate....dave.

 

[gonefishin]

I thought that I had seen a Kayak forum on WSF but then again I often think I've seen things that dont exist ( like fish!)
Any how have a look here, there might be something useful to you guys looking at yaks.
http://www.anglersafloat.co.uk/KayakPictures.html

 

[big guy]

alot of people use the tide to drift them from one end of thanet and back to the other.

most people spin from them, but i can't see why you can't float fish from them especially if you can get hold of some live prawn or sandeel.

 

[flyingdutchman]

I think I saw a feature on ocean kayaks in either the sea angler or the boat fishing monthly a fair few months back. They were fishing in South Africa, ( where you get real fish and real tides etc) and it looked great.