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The South Coast of NSW is really firing early this year; big fish are coming in super close and within reach. Large Snapper, Kingfish and even Tuna and Marlin are on the cards from a kayak, also best to add species like Shark to that equation. Had a few reports and emails come to attention recently, mainly from around the Batemans Bay area and a little further south. Some have tangled with dozens of Bonito and XOS Salmon on recent sorties but most, if not all, have been targeting Snapper. There has been enough written on Snapper on hard bodies and Snapper on plastics from boats and very similar principles apply from a kayak. Its great and easy to learn but the best part of all (Techniques aside) is they are close enough to cast blindly to off the rocks or target them just past the breakers from a kayak.
This time of year most fishing grounds begin to get crowded with visitors from interstate looking to get in on the action, some of the best results over the years have been from repeat visits. In recent times KFA received a small amount of worrying complaints about kayak anglers (In general) disrespecting local wants and wishes when it came to visiting and fishing certain locations around the Batemans Bay region. Areas like Depot Beach were often populated by anglers fishing from kayaks last year (And even the year before), parking was at an impossible premium and upsetting local concern was noted (From numerous individuals).
It’s at this stage I hope to influence each and every one of you on why respect for an area is so important when following another’s footsteps. Believe me these places are very popular with the majority of the fishing fraternity and while they are just like you and me they are not in the minority. Kayak Fishermen stand out from the crowd and locals, given continual frustration, could relegate us to ‘The worst of the worst’ when it comes to being seen as perceptual offending over and over again.
Just keep in mind even locals are visitors to these areas, some places only fire for certain times of the year and any perceived angling pressure will be taken into account when the blame game starts. Using Depot as an example, If organising group trips make sure you park your car correctly and DONT park in the steep angled ramp, people use this as a reversing area for boat launching. Keep in mind that while you all want to park together its not the right thing to do, use your kayak trolley and walk the distance if need be but don’t permanently contribute to the road load. Pay your park fees (If visiting a National Park), nothing worse than contributing to the problem and your vehicle donning a yellow envelop for all to see.
Break up your visits, continual pressure on the one area will see you seen as a threat. Take a few weekends to visit other product spots (Chances are they hold fish too) before returning, no matter how successful. Keep GPS coordinates, maps, and sounder images off the net, describing and sharing in person is far better than archiving information for all to see. Nothing wrong with images and names of locations, even tackle used and so on but plots and breadcrumbs should never make it into internet reports IMO. Google is a very powerful tool but sometimes it’s just a little too useful, treat it like a spot X, share exact details with good friends only.
The rewards for keeping all this in mind will be all of us collectively learning from any perceived past mistakes and keeping any wanting pirates at bay, now and ever.
