( Continuing from https://www.reddit.com/r/kayakfishing/comments/1m23gwb/2nd_3rd_kayak_outings_lessons_learnt_and_how_its/ )
This is madness. Every gram I lose I add it in new gear to carry. This thing will never float properly hahaha
Ok it was kinda my brother's fault. He insisted that I bring a 2nd rod to fish with some bait. I am happy paddling around right now and exploring the bay a bit, and if I can fish a bit with the 1 rod then its more than enough. But he insisted so I put both rods in the rear holders and went.
This time I took a bit to "redesign" the small kayak fishing kit and its location. Nothing inside the hull, keep the central hatch closed and minimize water entry possibilities. All gear goes now in a shoulder bag that is tied to the chair and resting behind it, or under the chair itself. And the rods go on the rear holders or the railblaza holder I added to the central hatch, all good. Ah and I left the cart in the car to save around 5 kilos. But the rod and leads and bottle of water maybe made up for that.
It was a pleasant day, one of those grey calm evenings after some rain. As I get some practice I am getting more used to the weight of the kayak, paddling decently and carrying some momentum. My brother is also happy on the blue kayak. I named it "Snails", its been like 2 weeks and some days I still find some snail coming out of it or trying to escape a bit of salt water in a puddle of drool haha. I leave them across the street in the plants and laugh about the name.
In the widest area of the bay it was somewhat windy and choppy, it was fun because the current cancelled against the wind and we would basically stay at the same point. We tried some fishing. The guy at the fishing shop had sold me these squid lures, one is a sinker and the other is a floater, you throw that from a boat and leave it basically alone. Cool. Also tried some lure trolling. Catched a lot of posidonia ha. This bay is full of it, both floating and in the bottom hahaha at least right now.
Fun fact, not far from here, farmers have these cables from the cliffs, like a ski lift but it lifts big baskets of algae, they dry those and use them as fertilizer. We got literally tons of them ha.
At some point on the way back I checked inside the hull, and there was a significant amount of water. Nothing to worry but at the ramp we drained the kayak and it was easily 12-15L of water.
Those rear rod holders, are not closed in the bottom, they have a bar across but they are basically open inside, so any water that reaches them, goes into the hull. Thats my suspicion. Or it could be the central hatch, its rubber seal its coming unglued and it may have been not correctly fitted.
Anyway this feels like a step backwards. The rod holders have rubber caps, I could not use them and water wont come in. And the rubber seal I will glue back, sure. But I have the feeling this kayak has too many holes for water to possibly come inside. For me and my current weight at least. Around 365lb right now, the number is going down but not faster than water is coming in lol. And I wanted to add an anchor, a fish finder with a battery…
I am back into the rabbit hole of kayak researching, head first. Very limited "safe" options and a few risky bets. Will probably discuss them here, it could be interesting.
Posted by Khali_FC