Hugh`s fish fight

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has started a new campaign, following the success of his Chicken adventure with the main supermarkets, he has now taken up the gauntlet in the name of fish disgards. Battling against the European government, he attended a meeting in Brussels today to fight the corner for wasted fish in the Common fisheries policy reform meeting.

It`s a full frontal attack on this diabolical waste, with a website for people to sign up to the cause,        sign up here
running alongside the river cottage website he`s also started pages on social networking sites for people to join. 
Officially the launch of his campaign will be in January 2011 with a broadcast of Hugh`s fish fight, but at the rate he`s getting sign ups, currently 1000/hour, he`ll have plenty of backing from the British public.  

A return to Crinan

We`d made our plans and the time had come for myself and some friends to take another trip up to Crinan in Scotland for a few days fishing for the Common Skate. We all started arriving at the campsite in Lochgilphead around teatime on Thursday, Paul & Daz were first there, then myself followed by Spud and finally later came  Alain and his boat, Lozz turned up sometime while we were all fast asleep, having driven from Dover straight from finishing work.

Friday morning and the wind was up, too much for Crinan and Skate, so we all set off for Loch Etive to fish there. The wind was a little better so we launched and spent the day on the water. The fishing wasn`t great but kept us occupied with plenty of Spurdogs being caught along with Dogfish and the odd Ray.

Saturday saw us back at Crinan and the weather played the game, starting off with a stiff breeze that dropped to nothing, with the sun shining just like a late summers day should be. 
Stephen had joined us by this time so the numbers were rising in our favour, with six rods in the water. Lozz, Stephen and Spud were anchored together while myself and Paul dropped a second anchor a  short distance away, Alain was off up the Loch in his boat giving us a wide birth while Daz was set up on the shore off the point at Crinan.

It wasn`t long before the first fish was on it`s way up for Lozz, then almost immediately Spud was into a fish, Lozz had already released from Stephen and was being pulled away from Spud by his first Skate of the day. Spud was into a small Thornback.
We heard Alain over the VHF, he was about 3/4 of a mile away and also into his first Skate.


The day was set to be a good one.

Alain had a second Skate shortly after but the two he`d boated were only smaller fish so he pulled his anchor and came over to join us. As he arrived Spud was on his first Skate and also Paul.
Meanwhile Stephen and myself were still waiting to hook into a Skate.
Everything was quiet for a short time and then Paul was heaving at his rod, Skate number 2 for him, a shout from over the way and lozz was pumping too. Stephen had left Spud and Lozz to try a bit further down the loch and he was also into a fish.
Not looking good this I thought, I was the only one that had not had a fish or even a bite.
We had started to slip anchor so while Paul dealt with his fish, I pulled anchor and moved back up tide and re-deployed it. Paul was back after his second catch and I was still waiting for my first. A quick hour passed and again the nod of Paul`s rod meant he was into Skate number 3, he released his buddy line and set off down the sound, after 5 minutes I had what felt like a good bite so I leaned into what felt like a good sized fish, it was on. I started the long haul, 25 minutes had gone by and I realised something wasn`t quite right, Paul having been 50 yds down tide from me was now getting closer and I was still on the anchor. I stopped hauling and my line went slack, we`d got the same fish. When it finally surfaced Pauls hook was in the Skates mouth and my hook was in it`s tail, Pauls 3rd and me still el blanko.

Time was moving on, Stephen had gone back, Spud was on his way, Lozz was still fishing so was Alain and myself and Paul the Skate magnet was into his forth.
This was starting to feel like Neptune had something agaist me, I had to take pictures of Paul holding onto his forth  fish of the day.

Meanwhile Alain still close by was into another Skate, talk about taking the proverbial, all around me fish were being caught.




But Alain had a big problem, this big Skate was putting up a good fight and Alain was puttin on the presure with a kidney harness and the reel foot snapped off the cage. Paul paddled over to help Alain keep the fish on while changing the reel, in the meantime Lozz had gone and this intrepid angler, angled on straight into his first Skate, yes I actually had a bite and a fish on all to myself. I again started the long haul happy in my mind it was all for myself.          

The wind had got up by now and the night sky was closing in on us. Paul had changed Alains reel and his fish was on it`s way up and I was firmly hooked up to what fealt like a monster of a Skate, this fish was not giving anything in fact it was continually taking line.

Alain had boated his Skate and Paul was busy taking pictures, he eventually got back in his yak and came over hoping to get a gurning shot of me but I wasn`t having any of it, I was into my first Skate.



The darkness kept coming but the Skate hadn`t so I made the decision to put the reel in low gear and winch it the whole way. All the way up this fish was still taking line at every opportunity, I could feel it had plenty of power, to me it was huge.

 


Darkness had fallen by the time the fish came to the surface, well over an hour of endless fighting but and I mean butt, the Skate was hooked in the ass, about 80lb and still trying to swim away, I had caught my first Skate in the bumhole. No wonder it fealt big and strong and managed to take so much from me.

It was my first and will be my most memorable Skate if this never happens again, hopefully in the future the gay Skate will keep clear of my baited hooks.

That was it, the end of the days fishing and the end of the fishing for the rest of the trip, the wind was back and we didn`t really bother with any more but the trip was a success we caught our targeted species and enjoyed each others company.

I did take the opportunity to try out a new toy while at Crinan. I`ve bought an Oregon AT2K helmet cam. I plunged the camera under the water as we released the Skate Paul and I hooked, nice bit of kit for £30




                                    

Filey Kayak match

Well the time had arrived and the weather wasn`t too bad, though the sea state was giving concern to everyone. The Brigg had not been fishing well, but 39 Kayak fisherman turned up to try their best.
10.00 am saw the launch and we paddled out to the fishing ground behind Filey Brigg. The sea was giving us a swell of about 3ft to contend with but this was slack water and it would get worse once the tide started running. The fishing was hard work with less than half the anglers getting fish, a mishap round a pot bouy saw me loose my box of lures and my dignity halfway through the match, though my self rescue in a now running tide with a good swell, gave me a certain amount of pride. Having lost my lures I decided to head into Filey bay and bait fish, after an hour with nothing to show I headed in.


On reaching the car park I heard a recall on the vhf, the sea was now really snotty and the match was cut short and anglers were requested to return to shore.
After last years match, this years results were a little disapointing with catch rates and weights well below the 2009 results, never the less, it was still a good event.

1              Martin Lamb        Cod        5-4-8
2              Ken Oliver            Pollock    5-3-4
3              Ian Pickering       Cod         4-7-0
4              Paul Hodgson      Pollock     4-3-8
5              Ben Horton          Pollock     3-14-8
6              Carl Kilbride         Cod          3-13-8
7              Robert Quinn       Cod          3-10-14
8              Sam Baxter          Cod          3-10-6
9              Geoff Elliot           Cod          3-10-4
10            Lawrence Taylor  Pollock      3-9-6 
11            Simon Baxter       Cod           3-1-0
12            Mark Radcliff        Cod            1-10-10

Heaviest fish from the bay    Mick Webster  Dab   1-2-4

heaviest Flatfish                    mark radcliff   Dab    0-7-8
 

Drawn pairs   C Kilbride / G Elliott     7-7-10

 

Sharkatag & Crinan

Well the time had arrived and the Mull of Galloway was the destination. We arrived Thursday morning and made camp at Sandhead, the weather was looking good and the anticipated fishing was causing excitement.

First launch was at Ardwell where the fishing wasn`t as good as anticipated, some Mackerel, a few doggy`s and the odd Smoothy were all the sea could offer, not a sign of Tope. Friday saw us launch at Terally Bay, now this was a good day to say the least.

Again Tope were not on the cards but a constant stream of Smoothy`s kept us busy along with the usual Dogfish and a couple of LSD`s.


Mackerel were plenty so we bagged a good amount for bait and a few for our tea.




 The Smoothy`s were varying sizes with the best being
 about 90cm and getting tagged.

 Saturday was a complete wash out for us, we decided on Ardwell back bay as our launch site and no sooner had we got the yaks off the roof and the wind got up. Others had gone to Port Logan only to face the same. We spent the day spinning from the rocks with nothing to show.
On arriving back at camp we heard the news that Lozz had caught Tope over at Port William, time to check the forcast, got the laptop set up and spotted a window in the wind, early rise needed. The forcast was for no wind between 3am and 10am on the Sunday.
We got up at 4am Sunday, made our way to Port William and launched on a mill pond at 5.30. We sat waiting and waiting with only the odd Doggy to land. By 9am the wind was showing itself, building steadily and at 9.45 we headed back in. There were a couple of boats out on the water not catching much, like us, as soon as we hit the slip, over the radio we heard one had landed a tope, then the other. Just our luck, but we couldn`t hang about, we were off to Crinan.


After traveling to Crinan we found Lozz already at the campsite, it was early evening, no wind but plenty of the dreaded midges to keep us on our toes.

The Loch was like glass and a lazy laid back group of anglers got comfy and waited for the action to begin.









And waited

 Eventually, Paul uttered his most common frase "doggy bite" to which Lozz replied, "yeh, that doggy could be a 100lb, strike" Paul did strike and it was solid,   

Fish on and Paul was aching big time, it was a good sized Skate.







After a good 40 minutes I could see his prize coming up from the depths, a leviathan of the sea bed, a large male.

The wingspan measured 60 inches making the Skate around the 110/120lb mark. Paul was well impressed as I was.
Next up was Lozz, not long after he hit into a fish, a slightly smaller female.

That was it for the day, I didn`t catch or get a bite but the thrill of it all was plenty.
On the Tuesday we launched again for a second time. First thing we had to do was locate our anchor and bouy which for some reason had been dragged over a quater mile across the tide. We spent a few hours fishing with no indication of activity until the wind forced us to quit, it wasn`t too bad to fish but it would have been hard work to land a Skate. Lozz cut the anchor loose and we paddled to the shore. After a couple of hours the wind had dropped off, we made our way back out to the mark hoping our leads would hold us fast.

Just as the tide started to pick up Lozz hit into a fish.

 A female around 140lb. He had it along side after a short 10 minute fight, then she woke up and took him spinning around in circles.

I enjoyed the experience of Crinan even though I did not catch a Skate. I will make a return trip later in the year when hopefully I`ll hook up with one of these giants.

Many thanks to Paul and Daz for their company and Lozz for his company and experience.

Tywyn Tope fishing

After traveling the best part of an evening, myself and friend Paul arrived at Tywyn in Wales to find other friends already at the kebab shop. We then made our way to where we would be staying next to the launch site and settled down for the night.

The next morning, Friday we woke to a good fresh wind and light rain. There was going to be no fishing today, so we got ready and drove into town for a breakfast and tour of local attractions, there were two tackle shops to view and waves lashing up the prom. Returning to the launch point we decided to give ourselves a bit of shelter by tying a tarp between two of the vehicles and spent the day chatting.


The day seamed to go quickly and as night arrived the BBQ made it`s appearance, all fed and logs turned it into a camp fire.

We were all in our sacks by 9.30pm ready for an early start as the forcast for Saturday was more favourable.

 As Saturday dawned the wind had gone and conditions were right for a launch. We all got our kit ready and were on the way down the river by 7.30am.



The paddle down was very easy as the tide was on the way out so we were being gently drawn by the flow. At the end of the river there are some gentle rapids just before you hit the beach, the tide was just right to paddle staight out of the mouth and through the surf and breakers, the biggest being about 3ft. Once away from the river mouth the sea was pretty calm with a slight swell maybe about 18 inches to 2ft, we paddled out to where some of the others were anchored and picked ourselves a spot.

I dropped anchor with dubby bag attached and Paul teathered to my yak. We both got ready our rods with Mackerel flappers and cast different sides, game on we thought. After a couple of minutes the rods started nodding but not the signs we were there for, the doggies were in on the act. Their attack on our baits was constant but they weren`t big enough to get anywhere near the hook, Paul decided a second rod was going down to get into this pesky action.



I resisted the sight of Paul bringing one after the other to the surface for about an hour, then tackled my second rod for some of the same. The action was constant, the competition below must have been fierce, some of these fish weren`t even hooked and only let go of the bait once they felt the yak under them. A good hour and a half, right through the turn of the tide the doggies kept us entertained. The tope rods kept giving the odd ratchet click as we swung in the tide, making us both jump with anticipation, but the doggies kept coming. Paul was using squid for his dog slaughter I wasn`t wasting good bait, I just hooked the tail end from my flappers and they wanted it enough. All this time we kept focussed on what we were there for, with attention on our tope rods reeling in and re-baiting, now with full Mackerel so they would last a bit longer, I reeled in my tope rod and the baitfish had been gutted out by the dogs, I thought give it another ten minutes use so back in it went.
   The Dogfish were still performing so I carried on, by now we must have had 50 or 60 fish between us, Paul having the most as I took time out to have a lay down and catch some sun, so the day wasn`t wasted if we didn`t catch a tope, but things were to change. I`d just reeled another doggy in and my Tope rod gave a click, then a few more, I put the doggy rod to rest and picked up the tope rod ready for a run, but nothing. Paul`s eyes were wide and he said "it`s still there", I tightened up and struck into something that didn`t like what I`d done.

 The reel was now screaming and line was peeling off, I was into what we came for a Tope and a decent one, a little bit concerned by using a new reel, I slowly increased the drag lever but this fish was still going, the thumb went on the spool. I was starting to gain control and the fish surfaced on the far side of Pauls yak, luckily Paul had got both his rods in and out of the way and was now armed with his camera.

As the fish came along side it decided the time wasn`t right to be boated and made another run for the bottom but having seen it was firmly hooked in the bottom lip I had no concerns and let it burn some more energy.  Finally back to the side of the yak I grabbed the leader, put the rod down and lifted her on board. I thought yes, my biggest yet. Looking at the fish and holding it I estimated somewhere between 25-30lbs, Paul thought more but what ever it was, it`s a new personal best as I`ve never had one that big before.

We carried on with our quest for another hour or so, with a chance of further Tope but they weren`t there in numbers only the Dogfish which became less in numbers as the sea drained from beneath us.
We headed back to shore to find the river mouth was 3 flat swirling races of water spreading out from a very fast running set of rapids, we tied a length of cord to each yak and started to pull them up stream to more settled water where we paddled back to the launch site.

Not the couple of days Tope fishing we were after but still enjoyable and a break from the usual.

Malachite performance

Having waited some time to get the new yak on the water for some serious paddling, the oppertunity came with a weekend on the North East coast. Saturday saw a few friends and myself out of North bay at Scarborough, the weather was rain with a slight wind and the sea had about a foot of swell so nothing that could not be handled.

Once out on the water I soon got used to the tippy feel of the yak and settled in to paddling. The yak moved through the water with ease which I expected but I was really suprised by how it tracked keeping a straight line even with cross wind, having spent the last couple of years paddling the Big Game and fighting the slightest breeze to keep straight, this yak was a pleasure.


After 20 mins or so, we decided to put a bit of recovery practice in, so I capsized the yak and took the plunge.

On starting my self recovery I was amazed at how the yak came to meet me, with the gunwale below the waterline it made recovery very easy, the only thing needing any thought was how not to go straight over the other side. The narrow beam means that weight shifting suddenly from one side to the other needed to be done with a bit of agile presision, something I`ve grown out of over the years but the riding a bike theory applies to yaking and I managed to stay upright.
After a couple of re-entries we got back to paddling and ventured further from the beach, paddling into the wind, across it and then with it, the yak was behaving itself nicely but it didn`t seem challenging enough so I started a bit of messing about. I flipped over the side and made my way round to the bow, I intended mounting the yak from the bow just to see if it could be done, well maybe on a mill pond with an acrobat but not me, not today. First attempt and I was straight back in, second go and I managed to get up on the bow deck and sat for about 5 seconds, bump from a wave and the sea had got me back in, leave that for another day I thought.

Having seen the pictures taken on the day, courtesy of Andy Elliot, the Malachite seems to be sat a bit low in the water suggesting that my 13 stone may just be a little short of its load carrying ability, if I were to compare it to other s.o.t`s, that may be the case, looking at the first picture with Dave`s sit in sea kayak, both seem to be at the same level so I`m not to concerned. A future test of load carrying will have to take place.



The Sunday of the weekend saw us launch at Flamborough`s North landing. Now this isn`t a place for the faint hearted, the slip is enough to bust your lungs when you are pulling your yak back up.

The forcast was looking good and the weather was perfect. We made our way down the slip and launched on to a calm sea, paddled out of the cove and into a wind of about 5mph, we were heading into the wind and up towards Bempton cliffs. I had put on the thigh straps today, these were supplied with the yak and what a difference they made. Control of the craft was much improved and they also allowed me to deliver more power to my paddle stroke, I will keep them on the yak from now on.
Arriving under Bempton we decided to do a spot of fishing, now the comfort of the BG was begining to be missed. I prefer to fish side saddle, the malachite does not lend itself to this very easily, I felt very vulnerable and decided that for the time being, sat in the seat with my legs over each side was the safer option.  Having spent an hour fishing without any sign of fish, we decided to head back down the coast and try our luck near the landing, I stowed my gear and off we went.

I stopped along the way and beached my yak at the bottom of the cliffs on the rocks, by this time the sea had got up a bit and there were 2/3ft waves breaking. I noticed Dave was heading towards me in his Dorado, he took one look at the shore line and promptly turned back out to sea. Definately one advantage poly yaks have over glass yaks is you can beach on rocks.
Once we reached the landing the others carried on with their fishing while I carried on getting to know my yak.

I`ve enjoyed my first couple of days afloat on the Malachite and look forward to many more outings and more new experiences.

DIY Anchor reel

Having used a cable tidy for the past two years, I decided it was time to sort myself out with something a little better for storage of my anchor rope.
I have found myself short sometimes with the 50m of 8mm rope that I normally use, so replacement storage needed to hold more rope, using 8mm would need something large to hold 150m or more. I needed to change my requirements on the size of rope for anchoring. Fishing a lot of rocky ground means a fast anchor needs a comfortable grip on a thicker rope, to pull it free. Deeper water often has cleaner ground so thin rope would be ok, as a lot of yak anglers I know use paracord, I opted for the same. With my thinking cap on I began my calculations for making a reel and how big it would need to be, after some scribbling and use of a calculator I had achieved a size and design.
Next a list of materials, what I had already and what I needed to source. I had everything I needed but required something for the sides, a quick trip to Tesco`s and I had a good sized 8mm thick nylon chopping board for a minimal price of £3.
A friend of mine has a very big old lathe, I had a word and got a couple of hours time in his workshop.

I marked out the chopping board with 2 circles at 165mm diameter, then marked one of these with all the drilling centres I needed for fixing the hub, the shaft, the turning knob, a shackle and ventilation holes. First hole to be drilled was in the centre, this allowed me to bolt both pieces together for machining everything else, and end up with two matching sides. I drilled a pilot hole in every point marked, then began with a 5mm bit drilling all the hub fixing holes and the points where the knob and shackle were to be fixed. The ventilation holes were drilled with a 20mm and a 25mm Fostner bit as these are neater than holesaws. The next job was to mount the whole thing in the jaws of the lathe chuck, the bolt holding the 2 pieces together was of sufficient length to do this. The job of turning was very easy because of the soft nature of the nylon board and they were soon down to size with a nice smooth finish.
The hub was next, a spare piece of 50mm nylon bar was put in the lathe and both ends machined flat reaching a length of 100mm. While in the chuck I took the opertunity to drill the centre for the shaft, a 6.5mm drill to allow a clearence hole for the 6mm stainless shaft.
While the lathe was still warm, I decided to get everything done that involved machining so some 20mm nylon rod was put in the chuck. I turned a knob on the end of it and drilled the centre, this was cut off and I machined the inside face. I put the rod back in the chuck and proceeded to make the handle for the shaft, length was 125mm. One end of the handle and one end of the knob then received further attention and were recessed to hide the ends of screw threads and nyloc nuts.

Back to the hub, this needed to be drilled and threaded to fix the sides to it. A piece of 6mm screwed rod was cut to size and the reel side plates were bolted in place using the centre holes. The whole thing was then held on the pillar drill and every other fixing hole was drilled. I had intended using 6 fixings on each side but thought better of it and 3 would do. Once drilled, the screwed rod was taken out and the fixing holes were tapped to 5mm.

The final piece to make was the shaft, this was made from a piece of 6mm stainless rod cut to size and threaded on the ends, the finished length was 240mm.

The side plate on the knob side of the reel then had the centre hole drilled out to 14mm, this was to recess the nut on the end of the shaft but also allow the use of a socket to tighten it up.

Assembly was a dream, with the use of precision machinary, everything fitted perfect. The side plates were fixed in place with 3 - 25mm X 5mm countersunk screws on each side. A nut was put on one end of the shaft with a washer then inserted through the reel, 2 stainless washer were put on the shaft followed by the handle, then a further washer and finally the other nut, everything was tightened up just enough for the whole thing to spin freely. The knob was fixed in place again leaving it to spin.

An oversight soon became apparent, the only place to fix a cord to the reel was the ventilation holes. A quick thought on the matter soon had a drill in my hand and I was drilling into the hub through one of the unused side plate fixing holes, this came out just inside the edge of the hub.

It was finished, my new anchor reel. A small D shackle was put in the hole opposite the knob, this will be used for a snap link to lock the anchor reel off and fix it to the anchor buoy.

I just needed to put on the paracord. I had purchased a spool of 100m off Ebay, price £7. I threaded the end through the hole I had drilled in the hub and tied a knot, then began to wind, it didn`t take too long before I reached the other end of the spool leaving plenty of room on the anchor reel for at least another 50m, maybe another 100m once the cord has been wet and re-wound back on tight.

I am pleased with the end result and look forward to using my new anchor reel. I must admit, making it was a great pleasure which will always be in my mind when I have it in my hand.

Total cost for this project including cord was around £13.

Sharkatag 2010

Well last years Sharkatag was a great event, kayak fishermen were invited to attend a weekend of shark fishing organised by the Scotish sea angling conservation network.
This year the invitation has been offered again, I will not be missing it and expect there to be many others attending as well.  Held in Luce Bay and around the Mull of Galloway, Sharkatag offers a fantastic oppertunity for kayak anglers to join others and have a great weekends fishing for UK shark species, recording and tagging their catches.      
All details at  http://www.ssacn.org/sharkatag

Safety leash`s

There are three types of leash that I have when yak fishing. Paddle, Rod and personal.

The leash`s I use while kayak fishing are the Crack of dawn paddle leash and the Crack of dawn accessory leash. Both are very well made and of the coiled construction. Available from H2o Kayaks. My personal leash is homemade.

The paddle leash is a coiled plastic one, length 50cm but stretching out achieves 180cm. One end has a barrel swivel with a loop of cord and the other end has a very strong velcro wrap for the paddle. I attach the loop end to the yak with a snap link. The only time I`ve had a problem with this leash was with the cord snapping, it was due to ware & tear, right at the point where the cord lies in the barrel swivel it creates a weak spot that with time and use breaks, obviously the cord being wet and drying off adds to this. Overall I can say this leash is worth the money and a good investment.

The Crack of dawn accessory leash is the choice for my rods. This is just as well made as the paddle leash. Starting at the business end, the leash has a little elasticated loop with an adjusting stop,this is what you use to connect to your rod/reel. Just put the loop around the reel foot and set the stop. The elastic is running through a nylon webbing which is where you`ll find a quick release buckle allowing instant detachment when needed, more webbing takes you to the coiled nylon bungee type cord, this allows for the leash to stretch to over a metre in length. The brass clip at the end finishes off the leash, just clip to a strap eye on your yak and everything is secure.
These leashes aren`t the cheapest, but if you only like to but things once these are the business.

A personal leash is an option that not many people explore. Fishing in areas where strong tides run, the personal leash can mean the difference between a problem and an emergency. Getting dumped in the drink while your yak is at anchor becomes a nightmare if the tide is running at a few knots, also wind against tide can seperate you from your yak if you end up in the briney, even when not at anchor.
My own personal leash is a simple affair made up of 5m of 6mm cord and two snap links, it stows in the rear pocket of my seat with one end through the drainage eye fitted with a snap link, this snaps to the strap eye behind the seat on the yak. The cord is just laid neatly in the pocket with the other end hanging out of the zip fixed with the second snap link, this in turn can be snapped on to your pfd when needs must. If you happen to fall off your yak, the cord just pays out of the pocket through the zip, now your in the water but still connected to your yak, even if the current is very strong you can still recover to your yak. It`s simple and cheap but very effective.

C Kayaks Malachite

Having spent a long time searching the internet for a new fishing kayak, I finally made a choice. I was looking for something made of polyethylene, that had a characteristic kayak hull and plenty of below deck stowage. In the back of my mind was also finding something that might be marketable in the UK.
My choice was the C Kayaks Malachite made by GW Industries in South Africa.
http://www.c-kayak.co.za/catalogue_malachite.htm



I decided to place an order and received my shipment just before christmas. The cost of the kayak was £500 and shipping £375 delivered, of course the Queen wanted her bit in the form of duty & vat. Total cost £1000, not cheap but not expensive for a yak.
After unpacking, my first impression was not bad but then the critical eye kicked in and I started to notice things that were a disapointment. After a couple of hours pulling my new toy to pieces, I resigned myself to the fact that I couldn`t really send it back so would have to bring it up to a standard that made me happy, this would involve re-fitting everything, not something you should have to do after spending £1000, but then the yak is only worth £500. Well what do you want for £500.

The main thing I noticed was a mis-alignment of the hull and deck line, most apparent at this point by the rod holder. Now as this is a roto-moulded kayak my first thought was that some plonker had dropped and bent one half of the mold, or even that the mold had been incorrectly tightened up during manufacture. The apparent reason for this mis-alignment is that the Malachite has been modelled from a copy of another kayak, Kaskazi`s Pelican. With this in mind I`ll leave the performance till a later date when a true comparison has been made. I also noticed a few what I call flat spots, one on the deck after the rear hatch and one in the hull below the seat area of the cockpit, these appear to be the result of a lack of support within the construction of the kayak.

Fixtures.
It is quite apparent that the people involved in the manufacture of this fishing kayak have no idea of the importance of good fixtures and the fitting of such.

The strap eyes fitted were only abs plastic, which considering 4 of them were anchor points for the supplied thigh straps didn`t seem a very strong option, add to this the fact they were secured with 10mm self tapping screws and you have the perfect scenario for failure.

Rod holders were the narrow flush mounted type, again fixed with 10mm s/t screws, sealed with silicone but the cut outs looked a little rough. I wonder if they`ve heard of hole saws in South Africa, I`m sure the job would be easier if not neater done with such a modern device.


Drain plug, now this one really got me thinking, are these people purposely setting out to cause distress. Again fixed with the terrible 10mm s/t screws, this time not such a problem, but why a butchered near triangular hole for something that is perfectly round and why the hell is it not sealed, this is fitted in the bow deck and on testing in surf was the point of the most water ingress. The lack of a piece of retaining cord must be an oversight.


The rudder looked OK till a closer inspection revealed how cheap and thoughtless the installation had been.
This fixing with two pieces of bent SS screwed rod was in my mind shoddy and the use of standard nuts shows total disregard.
There is no way this rudder fixing can be secured, tightening it up just distorts the hull. The control lines for the rudder are just drilled through the deck at a convenient place but not sealed, same in the foot well. Pedal control and adjustment worked very well but cannot be lined up with one another.

Carry handles are in the form of two Heath Robinson affairs made up of nylon webbing straps covered with pieces of hose pipe, these in turn are fixed to the deck with two plastic straps bolted
with 5mm SS screws and standard nuts.


The carry handles are fitted at bow and stern, there are no side handles making car topping on your own difficult.

The hatches on the Malachite deck are the rubber gasket type, they fit really well and are water tight with retaining cords fixed to the screws holding the handles. The 6" screw hatch fitted in the foot well forward bulkhead was fixed with the usual 10mm s/t screws and sealed though the screws did not allow for the fixing of the retaining strap to be attached, another oversight.

Having found all these, what I call defects, I made the decision to rectify them and will post my upgrades and rigging at a later date.
I will finish my review by saying, if you are in the market for a fishing kayak but you don`t have the time or ability to totally re-fit it, look somewhere else as C Kayaks Malachite is not a viable option. If the manufacturer could have addressed the mold alignment, which I doubt very much and supplied the yak unfurnished at a lower container load price (currently £270 each), I would have seriously considered supplying them to the UK market fully rigged. Having now seen the yak and knowing a little about it`s origins, I`ll be giving that idea no more consideration.


Mods and rigging the Malachite


I decided the first thing to do was fit a pair of side carry handles. This was going to be an impossible job without the aid of some lepricorn to climb into the gunwale and hold a spanner.

I had a think about the job and came to the conclusion I would need to employ some form of support for the handles and also the strap eyes to anchor the thigh straps to.

A piece of aluminium flat bar would do the trick. I carefully marked out the positions for the handle and strap eyes on a piece 1m long, 30mm wide and 4mm thick.
I drilled holes and tapped a thread into each, for the handles I screwed in a piece of 6mm threaded SS rod and secured them on the reverse side with a nut. With all the holes drilled in the yak, I put the flat bar into position managing to hold it through one of the hatches, then I put on the webbing of the handle followed by the plastic covers. Each end of the handles was then secured with a SS washer and dome nut, a liberal dose of silicone sealant was applied at each hole in the yak.


I then attached the four SS strap eyes fixed with 5mm SS screws. The aluminium flat bar now gave me a solid trouble free foundation to fix other things to the gunwale`s.

While aluminium was on my mind, I came up with the solution for the poorly fitted rudder. I fabricated a bracket to fit tight up in the stern, this allowed for the rudder mounting to be fixed solid with 5mm SS screws. Again this proved to be another handy mod with regard to future rigging.

The lack of structural support causing the flat spot on the rear deck was easily overcome. I warmed the deck with my wife`s hair dryer till I could push the deck up slightly, I then cut two pieces of PVC board to size and braced the deck from the keel of the hull. This was finished off with an application of PVC cement to hold it together.

I replaced the narrow rod holders with new ones from H2o kayaks,
these are made by seadog and in my opinion are the best type for kayaks.
Sealed at the bottom and no fiddley caps. I used a hole saw to make the hole neater, applied silicone and bolted them in with 5mm screws, washers and nyloc nuts.

The drain plug needed sorting out so I ordered a replacement from H2o and fitted it with the 10mm s/t screws I had removed, I also sealed this one. The drain plug comes with it`s own retaining clip and soft sealing washer.

While working on the drain plug it gave me the oppertunity to fit the forward pulley for the anchor trolley. I needed to get this as far forward as possible and this was fixed without the usual bungee, I bolted the pulley solid to the deck with 5mm SS screw and nut but also fitted lock nuts in the pulley frame, spacing the frame just off the deck with a thick SS washer. I managed to hold the nut and washer with a ring spanner and a smear of silicone, it stayed together just long enough to pass the whole lot through the hole for the drain plug and thread the screw.

 I then moved my attention on to the aft pulley. Again this needed to be fiited as far back as possible. I cut and shaped a piece of aluminium angle to suit, then drilled it to utilise two of the rudder fixing screws and then bolted on the pulley.

 As I wanted two seperate anchor trolleys, I had to fit two further pulleys to the gunwale. Now this is where the aluminium flat bar really helped out, it was just a case of marking out, drilling the holes, tapping the thread and screwing the pulleys in position. I then fixed two clam cleats just off with 10mm s/t screws as trolley locks.

 I threaded the pulleys with 6mm paracord tying a SS snap link to one end and a loop in the other. The two ends were brought together with a loop of 5mm bungee cord to take up the slack and ultimately act as shock absorbers. The anchor set up will also have bungee, I`ll explain in a later post.

Back to the rudder, the haul cord needed attention. I again marked a position for a pulley, then drilled and tapped the hole into the aluminium. Thread some 5mm bungee through the pulley and tied on to both ends of the rudder haul with knobs in place. The bungee just affords enough tension to keep things neat.



The only thing left to do was fit a rod holder in the seat well area to allow for easily resting the rod while tackling/baiting up or dealing with a fish.

Sitting in the kayak with my chosen rod holder at hand, I finally settled on a position between my feet and using an extension for the holder. I also fitted a strap eye closer to the seat for the purpose of leashing. These two last items needed strengthening under the floor of the cockpit, this was done by means of an aluminium plate fabricated in much the same way as the flat bar in the gunwales.

First outing.
                                                                                

Having waited some time to get the new yak on the water for some serious paddling, the oppertunity came with a weekend on the North East coast. Saturday saw a few friends and myself out of North bay at Scarborough, the weather was rain with a slight wind and the sea had about a foot of swell so nothing that could not be handled.

Once out on the water I soon got used to the tippy feel of the yak and settled in to paddling. The yak moved through the water with ease which I expected but I was really suprised by how it tracked keeping a straight line even with cross wind, having spent the last couple of years paddling the Big Game and fighting the slightest breeze to keep straight, this yak was a pleasure.


After 20 mins or so, we decided to put a bit of recovery practice in, so I capsized the yak and took the plunge.

On starting my self recovery I was amazed at how the yak came to meet me, with the gunwale below the waterline it made recovery very easy, the only thing needing any thought was how not to go straight over the other side. The narrow beam means that weight shifting suddenly from one side to the other needed to be done with a bit of agile presision, something I`ve grown out of over the years but the riding a bike theory applies to yaking and I managed to stay upright.
After a couple of re-entries we got back to paddling and ventured further from the beach, paddling into the wind, across it and then with it, the yak was behaving itself nicely but it didn`t seem challenging enough so I started a bit of messing about. I flipped over the side and made my way round to the bow, I intended mounting the yak from the bow just to see if it could be done, well maybe on a mill pond with an acrobat but not me, not today. First attempt and I was straight back in, second go and I managed to get up on the bow deck and sat for about 5 seconds, bump from a wave and the sea had got me back in, leave that for another day I thought.

Having seen the pictures taken on the day, courtesy of Andy Elliot, the Malachite seems to be sat a bit low in the water suggesting that my 13 stone may just be a little short of its load carrying ability, if I were to compare it to other s.o.t`s, that may be the case, looking at the first picture with Dave`s sit in sea kayak, both seem to be at the same level so I`m not to concerned. A future test of load carrying will have to take place.



The Sunday of the weekend saw us launch at Flamborough`s North landing. Now this isn`t a place for the faint hearted, the slip is enough to bust your lungs when you are pulling your yak back up.

The forcast was looking good and the weather was perfect. We made our way down the slip and launched on to a calm sea, paddled out of the cove and into a wind of about 5mph, we were heading into the wind and up towards Bempton cliffs. I had put on the thigh straps today, these were supplied with the yak and what a difference they made. Control of the craft was much improved and they also allowed me to deliver more power to my paddle stroke, I will keep them on the yak from now on.
Arriving under Bempton we decided to do a spot of fishing, now the comfort of the BG was begining to be missed. I prefer to fish side saddle, the malachite does not lend itself to this very easily, I felt very vulnerable and decided that for the time being, sat in the seat with my legs over each side was the safer option.  Having spent an hour fishing without any sign of fish, we decided to head back down the coast and try our luck near the landing, I stowed my gear and off we went.

I stopped along the way and beached my yak at the bottom of the cliffs on the rocks, by this time the sea had got up a bit and there were 2/3ft waves breaking. I noticed Dave was heading towards me in his Dorado, he took one look at the shore line and promptly turned back out to sea. Definately one advantage poly yaks have over glass yaks is you can beach on rocks.
Once we reached the landing the others carried on with their fishing while I carried on getting to know my yak.

I`ve enjoyed my first couple of days afloat on the Malachite and look forward to many more outings and more new experiences.