Fishing 29.5 2014

Last post I wrote that my new battleship wasn't been tested in rough weather conditions,well on the basis of forecasts this could be a perfect day for that,13 m/s and wind gusts up to 15 m/s a bit outer so at least 10 m/s could be realistic.

Was out with My brother who ride my old Commander kayak in these days.
We arrived to the shore around 8.30 am in rainy,windy and cloudy conditions and made up a plan were to fish so that the  wind would disturb our fishing as little as possible.
Our first stop was just about 200 meters from shore in pretty sheltered area but still it was a rocky ride,fished there for not so long and even landed couple of some jacks before we decided to defy the wind.

Went out from the sheltered area and met a strong wind but 13 m/s....my ass,max 7 m/s,was a happy surprise anyway.
When we arrived to the next stop our expectations went sky high.We saw three pikes at same time feeding on surface so I decided to try my topwater flies which worked nice imo,landed some jacks here,no big guns here,nice fishing anyway even if I distinguish myself in dropping a lot of fishes.Biggest was my  brothers landed here on photo,also his next biggest on fly.

After this stop it was time to take a well deserved break,pretty nice to eat and drink in a heavy rain,who would not like soaked sandwiches  ?
While eating we made plans for next stop,couldn't made a plan for the whole day because of the wind.
Decided the place including a short stop on a special place for couple of casts.
not much more to tell you about,landed some fishes now and then,had some breaks,think my brother can now be called a "kayak angler" think he loved it.Would only had been nice to land some big mommas too but hey,you can't always win,not even every time :)
My brothers biggest catch showed and at the end,here's mine

Ride 135 VS Commander 140

First of all I want to remind you that almost everything in this post is just MY thoughts,not some scientific truths,hard to put these two in any kind of competition because they are so different right from basis.

Anyway,Used my commander for a season and was very pleased with that in any ways,actually there is not a single thing  to complain,not in handle,not in use and not in featuring.

                                                             First feelings

Remember when I went out with my Commander for first time,even if I had read how stable it is it really didn't felt so,I was so scared I barely dare to move but that feeling disappeared quickly when I got used to it.Nowadays I would dare to stand in both.
Both of these kayaks are in my opinion so stable that it would be very difficult to overturn either of them.

In my opinion Commander feels a bit safer because you are sitting a bit lower and you got some sides around you,this attribute comes to it's rights especially if you are a beginner.

After learn to trust in both kayaks stability it's time to paddle around a bit in different weather conditions.
While writing this I wan't to remind you that I haven't been out with my Ride 135 in VERY bad weather so my opinions might change later on at this season.
With the Commander I was out couple of times in pretty bad weather and was even scared couple of times,especially when a big wave hit me and in a second my kayak was filled with water,I believe it was a "handling mistake" but at that moment I really missed dewatering holes anyway.
Most significant difference is that you sit a bit higher in Ride than commander which might give you a feeling of instability but trust me,you get over it very quick.
Even if the seats seem to be same I of some reason like Ride135 seat slightly more,maybe because you sit a bit higher.
Also think Ride is a bit slower because of the width ??? dewatering holes ??? or am I only imagine ???
Anyway the difference is very small in my opinion.

                                                                 Featuring

While you have been out testing you probably wanna feature your ship with different things like anchor trolley etc,etc...
To mount anything on both of these ships I would say that Commander take the game about 100-0 due to three things:
On a Commander you can easily mount a dashboard by just "click it in" and on that you can mount rod holders,sonar or whatever without drilling holes in your ship.

Secondly Commander got long and many slide tracks were it's easy to mount almost everything you can image.
For third thing You got a lot more space around you in Commander than in  Ride 135,very few mountings comes really in your way.

There's a lot of setups on internet and it's just to pick up some of your own needs or if you are some kind of discoverer find out your own solutions.
One of my own solutions that I have been very happy with is absolutely the "camera rig" which has gave me the opportunity to take decent photos of nice fishes.

Carrying capacity is pretty much same on both but loading a Commander is much easier because of the open construction,Ride instead got two waterproof storage places,someone need them,someone don't.
Anyway,in my opinion IF you want to mount a lot of things on your battleship it will be much easier on a Commander,also removing them is easier because you don't have to drill so much holes on it.
Mounting anything on your Ride 135 needs to be carefully thought first.

Some of you might think why I even bought a Ride 135,well first of all I got an offer too hard to resist and secondly because 95 % of my fishing is fly fishing for pike I like to sit a bit higher,feel it easier to cast,you can sit higher in a commander too but I didn't felt it very comfortable,also I don't need that much space,get easily 50 flies in one box and everything else fits well behind my back or in the two waterproof storage places.
Don't even want /need too much rod holders etc because fly line has an very annoying attribute,it tangle on every possible AND impossible place too.

                                                   Testrun continue.

So far I have been very pleased with my Ride135,some difficulties first but overcome them with some thinking were to mount all extras to suit my fishing and the last trip left me only one question and that's were to put my paddle while fishing,don't like the current solution but I know that sooner or later I will get some idea for that too.
Will be back for some more thoughts after I got some miles behind me with this battleship.

Fishing 24.5 2014

Even if the title says fishing my  aim target was to test the new adds on my kayak,most important of them were my landing net "rig" but also my camera rig solution

Both solutions easy to made but increase the comfort with 100%.
I Cut of 37 cm from the shank and added a fastener and problem solved,costs of 1,19 € sound fair to me :)

When I looked at the weather I was doubtful about if I was going to get any tests of the camera rig but there will be times for that later.
Also made a roach pattern for this trip because I saw last time big flocks of roaches on shallow areas and  the plan today was to fish close to those places were pikes lying in deeper areas and now and then came up for feeding.
Had two places in mind but while paddling to the first one I decided to try a place on my way there.
Fished for a while with no contacts and was about to give up when I of some reason decided to change the fly to a black/white/silver and from the first cast there was action  with almost every cast,if not hits then at least followers but only very small pikes,one with some nasty looking scars.

Scars from spawning maybe,don't know ???
Anyway,landed a lot of pikes but only small ones as I thought before the trip,sunny,27 degrees and no wind,decided to take a Sunday selfie to test my new cam rig.

Anyway,no need to bully these small guns anymore so I started to paddle to my destination I planned the day before today but once again I stopped to try a well known place and same story continued,a lot of small jacks were hooked or followed my fly.
Made a new plan,decided to go were I had planned to and fish some places on my way back but first I thought it  was time to eat something and stopped on a small islet and while sitting there looking out at the sea I once again have to say that our archipelago is stunning,a place to relax.

After a light lunch it was time to start fish the place I had originally planned,spent here a long time but only small jacks at home here too.

Moved to a small bay with no big expectations but after a couple of casts I had the heaviest hit ever on my fly,saw a big whirl and in a second  my line moved 4-5 meters to right of me and I had a  really angry mam hooked,took me about 6-7 minutes before I had her landed and finally I had my new camera rig tested.

Not the biggest but she really made my day.

There was more to come,didn't even change the place,next cast and a small jack hit my fly just when I was about to start a new cast and with the next cast I once again felt a heavy hit and minutes after that I once again tested my camera rig.

Looking at these photos I first thought it was the same fish but looking at markings at her tail revealed that it was two different ones.

Time to move position a bit and again a better hit,oh man this seem to be my day.

If you wonder the photo is because the battery in the cam was empty so I used my phone instead.
Anyway,fished a while but only small jacks landed and I decided to end this day while it still felt magical and while I was paddling back I calculated landed fishes and came to a amount of 39,not bad for a day which was only meant to be a kayak test :)

Tying videos.

I have recently made some tying videos which haven't been added to my blog so I think I need to fix that...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw3C6-HUhTE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYow0lglOCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqv87oymjbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te5m20ZnMfs

Nothing new or revolutionary in these,just fun to share with all of you.
Hope you got some ideas,visions or inspiration from these.

Fishing 17.5 2014

Not often i have been at so good mood when I launched my new battleship early last Saturday.
Warm weather,sunny and no wind but felt so happy and relaxed anyway,had no "must have a fish" feeling at all,to test my new battleship was my main target.
Only thing I made before this trip was an anchor trolley rig,decided to test before any mounting of camera rig or rod holders.

So out on sea and do some testing while fishing.
Had made some plans were to fish but stopped on two places before my first real spot and managed to test the anchor trolley at same time.
Notice: fly casting is easier from this ship then from my Commander,also like that I 'm able to have a fly box under the seat.No fishes....

Not sure was I unaccustomed or what but this ship felt a bit slower than Commander,might be so,Ride is 6 cm: s wider.
Anyway,when I arrived to days first real spot I noticed that I need to find a solution where to put the paddle for longer stops.
Anchor rig also need some adjustments.
Fishing:We had some light breeze now so fishing looked a bit better,parked my kayak on a shallow area close to bit deeper area so i could fish both shallow and deep.Had a good feeling about this place.
Not many casts before  I felt a hit on my fly,first a very light and smooth one but when I got the fish closer to the kayak and up at the shallow area the fight was on.
Now I knew that this was not a jack,definitely a better one,need my landing net here,I can tell you that unfold your landing net and fighting a big fish at same time is not that funny I wanna do it again.
after some hustle I managed to land a beautiful ma'm,she had suffered enough of my hazing so even if the photo is shit it will have to do.

Notice: Need to find a rational place for my Landing net.Got some ideas already...

Nice start anyway.lifted the anchor and let my kayak drift a bit further and continued the fishing and not long before once again a heavy hit disturbed my thoughts,this time there was no hustle with landing but photo taking is something that also need to be solved.

    

At this moment I saw that I had drifted a bit because my anchor trolley had broke so it was about time to take a break with some coffee and sandwiches and of course I had to fix the anchor too.

It was a warm and sunny day so I really enjoyed sitting and watching the sea..

After some fixing and coffee it was time for a paddling in a bit heavier wind to second spot.

Fished here for some hours and landed couple jacks and soon I felt it would be nice to eat something and as soon I saw a good place to ashore it was time for the second break for the day.

Decided to take a walk at this islet and found a shallow area were it was impossible to reach with boat,or maybe even a kayak,but there was a lot of small fishes,roaches maybe spawning and got me an idea to tie up a fly looking like them.

took some photos and eat a warm meal.

While I was eating I saw a interesting place and decided it was well worth a try and also decided it will be the last spot for today and after a couple of minutes I arrived there but there was already two fishermen fishing from the shore so I just made couple of casts.....and landed a nice fish in front of them.

So,even if I had to paddle against the wind I was happy about this day,13 hours out at sea was absolutely something I both needed and wanted.Now I got a week to solve some of the problems I found out today and take a new try next weekend.

Waiting for the weekend.

So,as I told you in my earlier post there is a new battleship arriving and now it's lying on the roof of my car waiting for baptismal which will be this weekend.
So have been in a bit of hurry to do all the mandatory adds like the anchor rig before I get it out on the water.
Planned that I could add a rod holder for my fly rod today,maybe the camera rig too but we'll have to see.

Here's a photo of my new kayak without the seat but with the anchor rig mounted.
Didn't want to drill too many holes in it so mounted the wheels at both ends with a rubber twine and only drilled holes for the pad eyes.

Pad eyes were mounted using silicone and rivets,rivets because I didn't have too much of inside access.
Rod holder is planned to be mounted close to the waterproof storage place in the middle of the kayak and I think I could use screws and lock nuts here.
A big question about the camera rig is where to mount it,it's almost necessary to have a inside access because it has to be mounted with screws,need to study the big internet world and hopefully find out a solution.
Will report more after the weekend.

New battleship on it's way

Now when I'm just about to buy a new battleship I realized that I have only talked about fishing,not with what kind of ship I'm hunting out there.
It all started about two years ago with some light interesting in fishing from a kayak and after a year of study on internet I finally decided to go for it.
My choice was a Wilderness system Commander 140 which is not a just a SOT kayak,it's more a hybrid of a kayak and canoe but  man i was happy when I loaded it on the roof on my car and if possible even more happy when I next weekend went out for my first ride,hard to describe the feeling but I knew that this was my way to go,and so it is even today even if I sometimes go out also with my boat.

I had for example in years planned a trip to were we had our childhood cottage but not before I had my kayak  I finally managed to fulfill this trip.
Also noticed that even if I had fished at same areas for many,many years I now with this battleship found something new at every trip on the same areas.

After couple of days with just enjoying it was time to "pimp my ride" with rod holders,sonar and anchor trolley.Had me some wonderful times with this setup.

Anyway,sooner or later it was time to add something I had not copy from anybody else
After some decent fishes and shitty photos I just moved my solution from my boat to my kayak.one of the best I've ever done,cheap and useful.

As you can see I had to remove one rod holder,would have done it anyway,have learned that less is more when fly fishing from kayak.

Fished almost every trip from kayak last season and had a awesome season,made some longer trips in summertime and as result of them I noticed that it was not just fishing that was nice,it was the feeling...

A stroke forced me away from water completely and even a long time after that I had to go fishing with my boat but never stopped to dream to get back in my smaller battleship,and thank's to our very mild winter I had my chance to get back,oh man what I enjoyed that.

One thing I also noticed except awesome fishing is that I have started to see our archipelago in totally new way which has lead to that I have been interested in photography too beside fishing which suit me fine,if fishing is shit I can always concentrate me on taking photos,maybe you have noticed that I have less trophy photos to show :)

Anyway,my Commander is heading for a new home and a brand new Wilderness system Ride 135 is heading home in a 2014 new camo color.
Ride 135 is a pure SOT kayak,15 cm shorter,6 cm wider and also six kilos heavier than my battleship.couple of kilos more carrying outfit too.

I'm gonna be a little bit wiser with pimping this one with no useless stuff added to this one,undressed my Commander pretty much too,a fly line had all attributes to tangle on every place it's possible.

Anyway,forthcoming weekend I will be out both Sat and Sun not just fishing but testing my new battleship thinking and planning were to mount all necessary things.

Testrun/fishing

Have tested the "new" pattern more or less seriously couple trips and have to say that it has been outstanding and fulfilled all my hopes I set on it since I had it fresh from the vise
I knew it from beginning that this won't be any kind of a allrounder,it was tied for one place for one meaning,to be fished around a wide shallow area were there are hundred of breams spawning,as a "match the hatch" fly but after three trips it might be worth to evolve this fly further,

As I mentioned in my last post one reason for this pattern was to get some better hooking attributes but to be honest I didn't seen much difference compared to traditional flies,have dropped fishes with this pattern too,which was a bit surprising imo,
A nice thing with this pattern is that the tail flash not too often tangling around the hook which mean that the fly keep the full movement

Anyway,outside the testing I have also enjoyed my fishing too with this pattern
First trip I fished standing on the deeper area casting my fly to the shallow but only small ones as a result,had so strong feelings about bigger ones lying somewhere around and by changing method to sneak up on the shoal and casting out at the deeper area the size increased noticeably even if there was only one "big gun" landed.
Always nice to break the code anyway :)
One remarkable thing about yesterdays fishing was that when the heavy rain stopped and was followed by a thick fog and last for about two hours and really activated the pikes.Landed about 80% of the pikes in those two hours.
Finally a mixed compilation of caught fishes and landscapes....

Also got a lot of video material which still need to be edited before releasing,but it have to wait