Hey all at BWE.
My name is Andre, from Cape Town South Africa. Been lurking here for a while now, first post for me though.
Little background and an intro....
Grew up on the East Coast of South Africa, in a little surf and fishing town... fished from the day I could hold a rod, and never stopped.... Moved to the Cayman Islands at 18 to work as a boat captain and scuba instructor, and discovered Yak fishing while I was there.... Pretty much fished everyday of old beat up rental yaks for everything from Tarpon to snapper and tuna.....
Spent 5 years in Cayman, but now back in Cape Town, running a Production Company..... Just bought my first Yak down here, a WS Tarpon 160i. Super stoked on it, as its an insane boat.
Yak fishing ain't to big down here ( ok, its tiny! ) Up on the East coast, its pretty huge though, but guys fishing off craft called Fishingski's (
www.fishingski.co.za ) which were modeled off the old surf rescue paddle craft.... They are glass fibre craft, handle the big surf our east coast dishes up well, but are a bit piggish to paddle, and being glass, are kinda brittle if you hit rock....Anyway, I wanted a yak I could do long range river trips, as well as ocean trips with, and the WS are the only ones available here... sick boat, love it!
Down here in the Cape, the yak scene is tiny, perhaps thats because we do have one of the largest populations of Great WHites in the world.....
But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained right?
Anyway, our conditions down here with regards to species and structure, seem pretty similar to yours on the West coast, with alot of Yellowtail, WSB and othe slightly similar rockfish, as well as the bait sources of squid and mackeral, so I've been trying to get as much info from these boards as possible, as well trying to pull a crew together to fish with...
So a few questions to you seasoned Yakkers on here:
Tackle:
I am looking for a spinning rod to match up with a Shimano Stella 6000 which should be on its way soon. Gonna spool up with 65lb Braid for throwing topwaters for Tail, as well as Vertical and casting jigs ( Irons ) and possibly bait fishing.
I'd really like to get something that I can travel with, preferably 3 piece, as I travel alot, as wll as I'll need to ship it in, so thats a cost/ease of use factor.... Any suggestions??
Rigging:
Basically a question for anyone else running a WS Tarpon 160i.... Whats your ideas on rigging for this Yak? I was really keen to set up one of those Kayatank livewells, but unfortunately, after chatting to Mo at Yakshack, I discovered they can't be fitted to the Tarpons... So I was wondering what your guys best solution is to a live well, as well as a tackle storage system.... Have any of you tried the new Cratemate Jnr's on offer from kayakfishingstuff? Any thoughts or ideas or pics would be great.
I'd like to get as much out of my Yak as possible, and having a live well for me is imperitive.... I have seen a few yaks with the Liquidfishing Wells, as well as the Hook1 systems.... what do you guys do for additional tackle storage with these systems as they take up a fair amount of space.
Additional Rod Holders:
I've got two flushmounts aft of my seat, and a Scotty holder between my feet, and am thinking of adding a few more... Are the Ram tubes a good option, with the added height they give?
If I were to go with the Cratemate, obviously that would offer an additional 3 holders, but I'd like to maybe add two more to hold rods in Trolling or fishing posistions...
I've noticed on alot of the Malibu Yaks, you guys have added a number of additional Flushmounts forward of the seating position... Good idea on the Tarpon?
Wow, I've just reread this post, and its frickin long, for which I apologise, and sorry for all the questions.... Unfortunately, being on the bottom of the planet down here, there are no stores or communities of Yak fisherman I can chat to or learn from, so all my info comes from you guys on line, and I really appreciate any info or suggestions or ideas you could swing my way...
I'm also gonna be in the states for 2 months over the summer this year, basically fishing and skating my way from West to East coast, then a week in the keys, and 2 more weeks back in Cayman, so perhaps I'll get the chance to hook up with a few of you, learn some tricks, drink a few cold ones and get towed around by some fish!
Thanks again for your time and for reading!
Mad respect from the Dark Continent.
Andre