Just A Swell...05/11/2013

Just A Swell...05/11/2013 I’ve been hoping to get out after the cod off the coast for a few weeks but with high winds, big seas, children on holiday and everything else it’s taken far too long for the opportunity to present itself. Now it seems that the cod have dwindled to what we had here a few weeks back but testing was the main goal and I had a few hours that could be used. The trouble was it was pouring with rain. I hate rain. Still, needs must and all that. I drove down to the launch and unloaded. I didn’t need a lot, just a pair of 12lb class rods and the reels, rigged ready to go with 2/0 pennels and a leahs apiece, with a spare rig and three 8oz breakaway leads. That was the fishing kit, other gear apart from the Cuda 14 consisted off a C-Tug trolley, my McMahon large dive reel, buoy and 1kg bruce anchor, my paddle – a carbon Lendal 225cm varilock crank with the powerful Mystik surf blades – a priest and a bait knife. Wearing my Typhoon PS220 drysuit, Palm Kola boots, diver’s undersuit and Palm Symbiant Tour PFD I’d be warm and dry too. Bait consisted of a wrap of frozen black lugworm and a pound of unwashed loligo squid. That’s the standard get-up for my cod fishing in winter though I’d normally take more bait if planning to stay longer but tides weren’t going to give me more than a couple of hours. The Cuda was on the trolley and I started to drag it down to the launch. I hate this bit, I’m lazy and not as fit as might be expected and the 80lb of plastic had me sweating as I crossed the road and pulled it down to the beach. Once on the shingle the trolley sank and I had to ditch it, that’s a first. I pulled the kayak the rest of the way, smoothly enough, on its hull. I was sweating despite it being only 7 degrees. I could see it was swelly out there and there was a bit of a shore dump, between 2 and 4ft depending so I chose a smaller set to launch through. It still lifted the bow clear, even with the C-Tug in the nose but not alarmingly so and I had a nice dry cockpit. I paddled out against a dying flood tide, a big spring so still a couple of knots. I gave up after running against the tide about three groyne lengths (500 yards?) and heading out about the same distance and dropped anchor, the tide peeling the line off nicely. Eventually. Trouble was I’d tangled around my buoy so I had to haul it back amidships and unclip, reclip and shuttle it back. This took a couple of minutes as it got caught in the carabiner’s tooth so there I was, being pulled against swell and tide, beam on. I didn’t feel concerned though, the Cuda side-slipping easily over the surface rather than being pulled down on one side as I’m used to with deeper hulled boats. Freed off, I dropped the rest down and stabilised level with my launch point. I’ve done alright here before so I stayed and rotated the ram tubes forward. Yep, they’re in the right position. I’d still rather have a choice of those and flush mounts together but for the bait fishing they’re spot on, it’s how I’ve been set up since 2007 and it works. So, first bait prepared – hooks set at the right distance, one lug on, one ring of squid. Wheeeee! Out it goes with half a pound of lead, a fifty yard flick or so. Perfectly fine putting some power in the cast even on the higher seat than I’m used to and in that sea. Second bait out and I wait. Am I going to christen it with a cod? No. Whiting, a small one. I put the bait back down and catch a few more, better ones around a pound, but return them all as I already have a bag full of fillets so they may as well drop their spawn while I scoff their brothers and sisters. I’ve got some decent swells rolling under me at times. Though mostly it’s a couple of feet maybe six seconds apart some are 3-4 and the occasional 5 appears. The wind has picked up too, from a force two at home to a four an hour later; the Cuda is solid as a rock, riding up and over and feeling perfectly at ease. I don’t need my fete out but it’s now force of habit and is a good indicator of what the flow is like. I get a whacking great bite and think I’ve got a huge whiting. Nope, a dab (species 19 for this leg) thinks it’s a halibut and fights me all the way up. I take a minute to decide whether to keep it or not and decide I may as well, I like them a lot and gave my lost few to dad. I rebait with a whole squid, maybe tempt a codling with that by keeping it down longer and a couple of thornbacks were caught at the weekend, surprisingly, so I might chance upon one of those which would be a good test of the ‘dealing with decent fish and finding somewhere to store it’ side of things. But no, just more whiting to be returned and with the tide dropping off I pull anchor and paddle in. I’m running through the troughs with the swells approaching from my port side and rolling under me, picking me up and dropping me back down again as I head in across maybe half a knot of tide. An easy cruise at 3 knots, no struggling at all but I am getting that gurgling from the front scuppers again. Then up to the beach, wait for the right wave and go in on a wave letting it do what it wants. It does fine with a nice, dry, easy landing though I have to lean back as the bow grinds its way along the shingle shoreline while my arse is still up in the air. Might have tipped with a sharper bow profile; I like a blunt nose. Drag it across the beach again, not up the concrete steps like normal though as it’s Phil’s yak, not mine and the extra weigth would scrape more off than I normally do. I take everything off, carry it up then, nose into the step, up, grab hold and balance it on my shoulder… On the trolley, strapped up and the butts go into the nose cover, for once they won’t either fall off or get hooked up in the veg when I go down the path to the car park. It may be a large bit of plastic but it’ does a great job. nuts. Now for the long drag up the hill. Did I mention my hatred of heavy kayaks? :D Points from day 4. Very easy to sit on at sea in swell and wind, stable, comfortable and steady as a rock. PFD rises up my back anyway so the seat back felt comfy enough all the way through. Quick enough across a slow tide and running between swells from the beam and against a force four in my face. Easy stowage and storage. No tankwell full of water, stuff in the hold stayed dry, no pools of blood, guts, water around my feet. No tippiness when pulling side on against a snarled up anchor Tidal flow dictates where you’re fishing, you aren’t going uptide very far. I still need to go to the gym because it still weighs a ton. Overall from trying my usual stuff over four sessions I have to say it’s a pleasant platform to fish from and all the features work and work well. The downsides for me were, are and always will be the weight and speed, that’s all. I can’t fault the Cuda 14 on anything else. It’s enough to make me want to give it back early, what with the hills and flows I am forced to contend with because I so love the Scupper pro for that and I am probably missing out on some of those short evening river sessions I’d been using the Tetra for this summer but hey, it’s not let me down and it’s a far, far better yak than I was expecting.