First Session in the Trident 15

The wind eased a bit today, the rain had gone and the sky was bright. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to get out, test the Trident with a normal fishing load on normal water (for my fishing) and christen it with a fish. 10am or thereabouts saw me unloaded and by the waters edge rigged and ready to go.



The water was very high and the wind was pretty strong still, creating a fair chop on the Broad. Conditions, therefore, were not ideal – I have heard from a guy who pike-fishes there very regularly that when the water is high the pike aren’t interested - and this fits with my own experience here, wind also being a problem as usual hotspots seem to be empty. Still, the route takes them in anyway. So off I went up the margins and around the reedy bays



Nope, nothing was playing ball. I’d got a Shakespeare Big S blue mackerel on the one rod, perhaps my most productive piker, and a Rapala in a shiny blue mackerel pattern on the other. I decided to change them, and on went a Big S and a Rapala Super Shad Rap, both Redheads, and off I went again, this time downwind and further from the margins



Still nothing. I headed back up again, into the wind and about a third of the way up I heard the clutch on the Shimano TR-100G screaming – something was on the end (probably weed or a mussel bed). I stowed the paddle, grabbed the rod and was in



Whatever it was, it was big.

Big, and not wanting to come up to the surface in any great hurry.

It didn’t seem in a hurry to go anywhere quite frankly. But it wasn’t the bottom – there was movement…

Up it came

Further, until

A shape broke the surface and slid down again…

It appeared once again



It took a while to land, but was definitely a new personal best as far as chairs went.



So I continued on my second circuit, and on reaching a bay that is often fished by pikers in winter and which usually sees some action on float fished maggots I tied off to a tree and chucked in a telescopic for some small silvers – expecting nothing as all I had was some old casters from the previous lot of maggots and a few crumbs from the sausage rolls I’d got from the bakers on the way back from the school run. I was not disappointed in this as I caught the expected nothing.



I changed tactics and chucked some Storm Naturistic lures for a while, a small pike one and a large perch one, along with the redhead Super Shad Rap. Nope, nothing doing at all. I untied and continued the troll, using the Storm’s.

Nothing doing, I tied off near another hotspot where I had hooked large pike and close to where Simon had got one on the fly last year. I tried the Storms, the Super Shad Raps, still nothing. 2.5 hours I’d been on the broad by now and I hadn’t had anything bar a chair. Except for the bit of tree stump covered in mussels that I finally hauled in from here. I untied and went off, lures changed to a Rapala CD11, silver with a black back, and a Super Shad Rap in gold shiner -basically a goldfish made of plastic with two trebles. Simon had his biggie on one of these but I’d yet to tempt a fish with it.

I paddled off. Spoke with a guy on the bank who’d also had nothing when

zzzzz

I was in. I stowed the paddle and grabbed the rod.

Yes, I was in. It wasn’t doing a lot though. No head shaking, no powerful runs. Maybe it was off or I’d got some weed after all?

20 yards off and up came Jack



and down went Jack



and in came Jack



It made one dash for freedom, a solid run, when near the boat and then it came alongside: it wasn’t a bad size, 3-4lb and the reason for its relative inactivity became clear. It was a damaged fish. There was a chunk of flesh missing from the right gill-cover and the raker was visible, this was the first thing (I have seen this a few times but am none the wiser as to the cause) and the second was that the hook was at the top of the eye socket rather than in the mouth.



I lifted it out and unhooked the lure from the fish



A quick pic at arms length – just fitting with it zoomed back as wide as possible and me leaning back as far as I could



and one laid across my legs for a flank shot to show better its markings



and back it went, the first fish to be taken from my Trident. Presumably the first UK freshwater fish taken from a Trident. In fact, the British record Trident-caught pike and the largest fish ever landed in the UK in freshwater from a Trident. Which still doesn’t make it any bigger but a fisherman has to have a tale, right? The best bit was that I hadn’t blanked on the maiden fishing trip.

I carried on down to the bottom and began going up the side again, deciding that I would complete one last circuit or catch one more pike and then come in as I had to get home fairly soon. I passed the chair and was just into deeper water when I felt the rod going

And off went fish two.

A lively one this, only a pound and a half or so, and when it wasn’t dashing off it was leaping out of the water



It’d also fell to the gold shiner, caught on the belly hook fully in the mouth – having come presumably from below and grabbed it from the underside. Judging by its belly (bear in mind it’s shallow here, 6 feet or so, so it wasn’t gassed up) it had already eaten breakfast. I do like a fish with an appetite.



A couple more jumps and I managed to get my fingers in behind the gill covers and up it came.



Unhooked, snapped, and back it went.



I was happy with that. Either the fish had come back on the feed or orange was the colour of the day but it was about time to leave and so I turned around and paddled back to the launch point in what was now a proper fishing kayak.

Trident 15 First Paddle...12/09/07

The C-Tug stowed in the front hatch, camera in the rod pod and PFD on I dragged the trident into the water, getting in without about 8 inches beneath me. Swell was a couple of feet tops with a decent distance between each wave. Wind was fairly strong and blustery.



[u]I was also trying out a new paddle[/u], a Carlisle carbon fibre two-piece jobby that I was quite excited about. This was not a good idea though as I realised after launching that I couldn’t compare handling if using a different paddle to the one I normally use. Furthermore, I think the paddle is too short for me unless I need to alter my technique and the kayak was practically empty. Hence this is just a short and generalised review, not felt to be accurate, and while I am reporting things they will be revised the next time I go out – [u]please don’t take them as gospel[/u].

I paddled out, head into the surf. The first thing that struck me was that the nose was more buoyant than the Prowler 15. The second thing to strike me was a breaking wave that dumped water in my lap. So, the dry ride promised on all the forums was not 100% truthful…but then I always get a wave in my lap anyway. Directional stability was very good and the kayak kept its course with ease on the way out. It was a stable ride through the surfzone and I took it gently just to test these things. I could feel it was heavier and for all the talk of its speed I felt it was slower than the 15 on this occasion.

Getting out into deeper water and away from the groynes I started to feel the main difference I’d heard of; the seating position is higher than on my previous yaks. While it didn’t feel tippy or unstable, it did feel different and I seemed to feel more movement than normal – but this is possibly down to being used to a different boat as well as the higher seat. Response to the paddle was more like a Frenzy directionally with the nose veering slightly with each stroke. This may be due to the new paddle though as I also found that if I paddled equally and in an intended straight line I gradually turned in a circle. It was also hard work to get anywhere!

I decided to not bother with the paddling things any further for the time being and just to see how it responded when left to is own devices. It seemed to weathercock slower than the 15, which was good, and less water came in from the chop. It also drained out of the footwells and scupper holes very effectively (the lap full of water at launch was very quickly gone). It was also quite comfy to lie down in but so is the P15. Next I decided to try it in the surf.

As I paddled towards the surfzone I noticed it was very keen to pick up a wave on its own and ride it. It was doing it every time with no attempt by me to do so, even when I was not paddling but just slowly drifting in. After enjoying this I got to the point where I’d usually head in and caught a decent wave. Straight as a die, no need to correct with extra strokes and no tipping. The bow stayed out of the water and I glided in effortlessly, turned and went back out. It turned easier than the 15 too at this point. The next time I came in it was very slowly. Again, no turning from my course, no dipping of the bow under the water and no tipping. Very impressive. The last time I caught an even nicer wave by chance (the yak made me do it!) and I surfed it in easily, being turned a bit when I got into about a foot or so of water.

Certainly today, [u]in these conditions and with a paddle that wasn't right,[/u] it marked itself as a better surf yak than the Prowler 15, but an inferior paddle. I'll

Another Fish off Lowestoft...09/09/07

Does twice make it a regular thing? It’s certainly become easier with my wife to agree to, even if the poor girl is going hungry still. 9th September is my wedding anniversary, so at 6am on the dot Mike turned up ready to fish again – resplendent in his new dry trousers which regrettably I didn’t photograph. I’d got everything out of the shed and ready to go out into the alleyway to be loaded up and he took care of this while I took the bait out and divvied it up. A fillet of Mackerel and a box of baby squid from the freezer complimented some excellent ragworm and absolutely dire baby lugworm. I figured a choice of baits might see some action, especially as I had heard some reports of the codling beginning to show (and even seen one with my own eyes!).

C-Tugs on, we wandered down to the beach. Conditions were a bit more sea-like than last week and we were faced with a nice bit of surf to go through to begin with. It’s a very shallow sandy slope where I launch so the surf zone is quite drawn out with waves breaking over quite an area. Magic Seaweed had predicted a 3ft swell at 6 second spacing, a 16mph northerly wind and the current was running in the same direction as it was flooding up to high tide at 08:40. So nice and refreshing then…

Both times Mike had come out so far it had been a nice gentle launch but after getting things stowed and sorted out I decided to go first so as to be in position out of the surf to come and assist if need be. After taking pictures of him getting soaked of course. Out I went, getting plenty of water in my lap and onto the back of the fishfinder (whose batteries had died on me and hadn’t been checked). I got into position, turned and became the spectator:



Obviously watching Hawaii 5-0 in the past had left it’s mark and Mike made it with no trouble at all.



So, off we went to choose a spot. We’d planned to head for the sandbank off the Claremont Pier, about ¾ of a mile out. Quite a way past this longliner in fact:



A few hundred metres from where I reckoned it to be we stopped and anchored up, the swell being noticeably larger on the bank itself. We’d gone a few hundred metres further south than the pier as well and were in a spot that gave us a decent view of the CEFAS building (The Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science), formerly the Grand Hotel, perched high on Pakefield cliffs



I quite like stooging around here mid-week as many friends work there and I do it to piss them off.

Anchors down, we let out loads of line and both managed to catch a hold on the first go. I was on a 0.75kg disposable anchor, mindful of the sea-pikeys of last week, and Mike was using a 1.5. Tackling up with 2-hook paternosters and 8oz breakaway leads I dived into the bait tub and did some pick n’ mix. Mackerel strip and ragworm, lugworm inside a squid tube, lugworm tipped with mackerel and ragworm tipped with squid and mackerel and cast the lines either side of me about 30 yards out so as to avoid any disturbance from the boat, anchor line etc.

After about half an hour Mike was in!



That’s twice now that he’s drawn first blood, and he proudly showed off his PERSONAL BEST shore crab. Sadly he was too far and it was too overcast for a decent snap but I don’t think it was mantelpiece fodder anyway.



After ¾ of an hour I was up for moving but Mike wanted to stay. Being without a finder there wasn’t much point anyway as I would be able to spot any features so I did stay put and rebaited. Ten minute or so later and I got the classic whiting knocks, the rod tip going up and down rapidly. Hitting it ineffectively (I have decided to try a different design of rod holder) I felt it shaking down below but then nothing. It was off. At least I knew there was a fish down there. Three more bites without hook-ups followed and I figured the baits were too big so I slimmed them down a bit.

The next knock saw me get a whiting up, a little baby, and I held it up on the line and called Mike to show him but it dropped off seconds before he turned his head. Caught but shaken off, I wasn’t too bothered as it was way undersized.

As was the next one.



Although small, it was pretty and a new species for the year. About ¼ of a fish cake I’d estimate, heavy on the potato and with an equal measure of parsley!



So back it went



A couple more small bites that were left until developing – which they failed to do – and then I reeled in a shore crab, which dropped over the side while I was grabbing the camera. Almost out of bait by now and with half an hour of pass left it was time to pack up and head in. Mike had beaten his PB shore crab by now and had boated both of them, though they were returned unrecorded by camera. He’d not noticed any fish bites though so it goes to show that there is a large percentage of luck involved in fishing blind. He came alongside and we stowed rods and things in the hatches before heading off, me dropping down the anchor I’d just began to retrieve to keep us from drifting.

Paddling back was a breeze, and I decided to try out a different way of going in through surf – across the wave diagonally as opposed to straight in, which I usually opt for, or with the wave when I want to have a surf to finish a session. I figured it may help to avoid the nose swinging and tipping me up and so with Mike holding off I tried that method. It was not effective and I nearly got tipped so I finished it off going in straight, hauling the yak onto the sand and watching Mike head in for his first beaching in the surf, again hoping to catching him getting dunked!



He came in at a reasonable pace and kept an eye on what the waves were doing, timing it well



Very well in fact, only get picked up by a wave towards the end



and riding it in to the beach. No mean feat in a Prowler 15 which doesn’t like the surf very much and which was nose heavy from the C-Tug and assorted kit in the bow hatch..



Another trip complete it was time to head back for a coffee and to put stuff away. Unloading, I noticed something was missing again – BLOODY PIKEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two more converts…

Well, I just had to go out again, didn’t I.

After a good lunch and fine ale at the Geldeston Locks (a real Broadland ‘place’) I took a couple of newbies with me. Finding a likely looking spot, we settled and cast out a couple of maggots on a size 16 hook and a short trace under the float.

As the float went under, Jonas was in:

His first yak fish, a dace, his first ever fish being half an hour before – a dace from the bank. One happy five year old!

Time to find another place so off we paddled, finding a couple of trees down and overhanging the edge of the river, so we found a spot and re-cast

Down it went again and Eloise was in – and in came a dace. Now her first fish was a pike of a few pounds (300m downstream) but this was her first from the yak

Another happy five year old!

Hmm. I could just get down to Christchurch by 3am if I left now…..

Sunday Morning off Lowestoft...02/09/2007

5:30. I’d seen it before once or twice but not in recent times. But that’s when the alarm went off this morning – Mike was due in half an hour for his first session at sea with a rod. A four hour pass had been wangled by me, somehow and with arguments involved to tell the truth. You see as I was not ‘doing the conger’ and was not at Old Warden (both theoretically possible after all as her sister is over for a week and thus we have two cars available) I felt it was only right that I, as hunter-gatherer, should be allowed out to play, compromising by saying I’d be back in at ten and thus we could still go out and do family stuff etc, especially as neither of them would be ready to go out before 11 anyway (12 actually!). So we came to a compromise – I said I was going and she gave in. Good tactic that!

Besides, I’d bought the ragworm already.

Mike duly arrived while I was finishing my coffee and we loaded the yaks on the trolleys and dragged them down to the beach.

The sea was nice and smooth, the sun was out and the wind wasn’t anywhere near as bad as predicted. We launched and trolled spinners out before deciding which way to go, heading north to the buoys marking the outfall at the back of Birds Eye, directly off the most easterly point of the kingdom.

Passing the harbour the current picked up and we were soon in the vicinity of the ridge. Anchors down followed by ragworm on two hook rigs. The current was pretty quick and we were both drifting. At one point Mike suddenly shot backwards as his anchor got a firm hold for a short while – looked pretty hairy from where I was sitting!

So, time for breakfast – coffee and a hotdog followed in short order by a burger.

Fed up drifting I decided to try again for a firmer hold in a better spot and began hauling my anchor up. Bugger me if it isn’t turning out to be an expensive week – bloody pikey’s must have nicked some scuba gear – 1.5kg of scrap for them and an urgent need for a pot buoy for me!

Finding one I tied off. Plenty of returns from the area and being quite close inshore and close to rocks but with 7 metres underneath me I was pretty confident but after an hour gave up on it and began a drift, the current now slower and on the flood. Mike drifted a bit further out. I found a spot close to the rocks a bit further up and tied up again to another buoy while Mike carried on out and got his first Yak species. A starfish.

It was my turn next (at last!)…

…and I reeled in a nice sized Dover Sole – my first sole, and my first saltwater yak fish! Not sure if it took the bait before or as I reeled in as I didn’t notice a bite but nonetheless it was fairly hooked in the mouth and went into the dive bag for later consumption.

It must have been the new lucky hat. Actually, it’s my mums and I nicked it off her – she nicked it off my auntie who had them made for her boat. She’ll have to get another when she goes over again in October! Like it?

(Do I look a little bit like Bruce Willis in that hat do you think? Do you?)

Re-baited and re-cast, it was about 5 minutes before I got a cracking take. It felt good when I tightened up to it but then it snagged me up. Either my line had damaged or I scraped it over a rock but the 40lb Powerpro parted and I swore. Nothing else happened and after a while I decided to untie as the current was picking up and Mike was quite a way down from me by now. I soon caught up and showed him my catch, being quite excited by now!

Tying off to another buoy we tried for another but the current was too quick here and I decided that it was unwise to stay on it so we headed back past the harbour and into the shelter of the down-tide side. I’d heard of small codling coming from here this week but I couldn’t tempt them and phone call to my wife failed to get an extension so we headed in, the wind and swell a bit more than when we had launched but still a nice easy landing.

Packed up, sorted out and photographed we headed back to the house, depositing the yaks onto my car ready for the afternoon’s family time.

Poor old Mike – I made him wait for his coffee while I prepared ‘Our Sole’ (say it aloud) first of all – it was coming up to time for elevenses (I’m so decadent me!).

So, take one sole, wash it, wash it some more (slimy bloody things) and then wash it. Lay it flat onto a piece of foil – whole, not filleted (though you may want to gut it first although I didn’t bother)

Wanting to keep it simple I then sprinkled on some sea salt and cracked pepper and splashed some olive oil onto it, a small amount of lemon juice, folded down the foil into a parcel and stuck it under the grill (full heat) for a few minutes each side.

Taking it out it looked done:

Being distinctly odd I decided to serve us each an upper and lower half rather than a straight fillet and thus buggered up the final presentation somewhat but this didn’t affect the taste so isn’t important for elevenses.

It tasted good. Nice and firm, clean white flesh and a real fresh ‘taste’ to it. Though Rick Stein says they should be left for a couple of days to became more tender and develop their flavour I shall reserve judgement until next time – best sole I’ve tasted by far.

Wasn’t any left. I knew there was a fish off Lowestoft.....maybe another one will come by soon, same time next week then Mike?!