PB GT

Well, my only GT.

I went for a short paddle in the Mooloola River in between the heavy rain periods we have been having here on the Sunshine Coast.  I launched under the motorway bridges and paddled my way up the canals past million dollar houses and yachts, poor suckers were probably at work.  It was a perfect day on the water with zero wind and a nice dirty water line forming as the fresh water pushed against the salt on its way out to sea.  I followed this line for about 1km watching the sounder picking up lots of activity under me.  I couldn't pin anything!  About an hour into the session I saw some action next to the canal revetment wall and flicked my Atomic surface walker right where the boil was and started the retrieve.  Two twitches into the retrieve it was smashed in an explosion of water and it took off like a freight train.  I called it for a Jack but it didn't dive for cover like I would have expected.  Line was peeling from my small reel and my 1kg rod had the biggest bend I had ever seen in it before.  I built the rod on a Samurai blank which had plenty of stick in the butt so I tightened the drag and gave him some curry and up swam a fish I had never cought before.

going to 41cm it was my PB and broke a month long drought I have been experiencing.  My camera battery was flat from the day before and I wasn't too fussed about getting any photos so I leave you with the few I got of the fish on my phone.



I was initially concerned about swapping over trebbles for single hook but I am completey sold after how they performed and my snag up rate has dropped significantly.  Hook up rate hasn't declined, but that might be only because I have not been getting any lately!

Cheers

Dan.

DIY Hobie kayak sail kit

Hello readers!  As you may know I recently bought a Hobie Pro Angler 12.  They are pretty good fishing machines especially when travelling long distances.  I recently came up with the idea that I would really like to be able to sail the kayak when the wind is up.  I visit the Great Sandy Straits a lot and this body of water is perfect for both the PA12 and for sailing - why not add water and mix well...?  Enquiring with the Hobie dealer I was shocked (well not really I know Hobie like to charge a lot) to find it was in excess of $400.  This was something I would only be using in the Straits for maybe once a month.  I couldn't really justify the money.  So I thought now I have nothing to lose by making one myself.  I did a bit of interwebs research on DIY sails and discovered that most young budding DIY sailers use something called Tyvek - a DuPont product used for waterproofing houses.  So I bit the bullet and ordered the 10' X 9' sheet off ebay for about $30 delivered.  Once it turned up I could see why it's used for sails, it's tough as and light as a feather.  So the next weekend I got a sail-making.  First I doubled over the sheet, making about 9' in sail height and 5' in length.  Going off the sizes of the hobie sails, it was about 100mm shorter but about 200mm longer.  Negligible difference I though.

Next I marked up the shape, like the hobie version leaving a shape at the top where the batton would slip in filling out the sail.  I left 50mm around the edges to double fold and stitch.  The mast is a piece of aluminium tube that was once used as a rock fishing gaff handle.  The tube was about 20mm so I sleeved it top and bottom with some ag pipe which brought it out to about 25mm and made a better fit in the hobie mast hole.  the top sleeve was to give the sail some protection when it's slid in so the ali isn't rubbing on the paper directly.

Here is what it looks like on the inside.

Next I cut it out and got it ready for sewing.

Once sewn with a cross stitch along all the seams and eyes attached to the bottom and longest edges - where the rope is attached I made up a furling device out of some PVC pipe.  This allows you to furl the sail by simply pulling on the rope around the mast.  To unfurl you just pull the rope attached to the back and out she rips.  It worked really well especially considering it was my first attempt at both sail making and sailing.  I got up a good speed and didn't even need to use the pedals to tack.  I look forward to some better weather next time and maybe a few more hours on the water.  I might push my luck and see if I can make it to Fraser Island, some 8k's.  Ill leave you with some piccies below to show you how it looks full of wind.