Viking Profish GT to kick off my second attempt
Posted: 15 Dec 2018, 18:59
Hello everyone -long time member/lurker, first time poster. I have a love/hate relationship with internet forums so we'll see how we go - I've posted here instead of the various Facebook pages or the yak section on Fishing Vic as this site seems to be the more sober (metaphorically), mature, and knowledgeable site with the fewest cowboys and more people simply keen to share info etc.
I owned a kayak many, many years ago and made a right fool of myself with it out of sheer ignorance and youthful machismo. Jump forward a decade and I've spent the last few years getting more acquainted with the ocean with the Aus Vol Coast guard: I decided the time was right to try yakking again.
This morning as a close-enough birthday pressie for myself I picked up a secondhand Viking Profish GT that came with a Lowrance Hook-4x on the tackle pod, a chill pod, anchor, 150S inflatable pfd and 50S Calcutta MTI pfd, flag, light pole and light with flag attachment and a few other bits and pieces. I am stoked with it. The tackle pod and chill pod blow me away for ease of use/convenience (even though old mate has made some mods to the tackle pod that I wouldn't have personally).
Initial impressions on the water: after years of reading, I immediately understand why 4m+ is better in a multitude of ways. However, the 3.6m Vik Pf GT is a huge step up in quality from what I've previously had and is miles ahead of the too-short cheapies I was considering as a second-attempt starter yak. Within approx 45mins of fooling around on the yak I was confident enough to flick some plastics around for a few flathead out from St Leonards (with reasonable success, as it happens.... success is relative I guess, but I had a great day and will enjoy my dinner). I became confident in the vessel's stability in the short, small swell and boat-wake that I encountered today and look forward to my next attempt.
I now have a million questions, and am hoping someone might be able to address some of them. My first and main question is this: I see some of you have joined 'mainstream' canoe/kayak clubs to work on technique etc., has this been beneficial? I am in Ballarat (we have a club here, but I will %99 be fishing saltwater), and would happily travel to Torquay or Geelong regularly to get some instruction on my technique in regards to my yak.
Second question: will I still benefit from lessons from my local inland club that mostly do 'proper' competitive rowing etc etc?
Third: can anyone recommend which section of this forum is the best to schedule trips/meetups with others (on a small scale)? Regardless of formal clubs/lessons, I'd love to learn whatever I can from more experienced yak fishers. I doubt I'll ever be landing monsters (and I'm not in it for that), but I would like to.
Anyway, I've tried to upload some pictures but they are too large, even when I've shrunk them down as screenshots etc... sorry! Thanks for reading. Cheers.
I owned a kayak many, many years ago and made a right fool of myself with it out of sheer ignorance and youthful machismo. Jump forward a decade and I've spent the last few years getting more acquainted with the ocean with the Aus Vol Coast guard: I decided the time was right to try yakking again.
This morning as a close-enough birthday pressie for myself I picked up a secondhand Viking Profish GT that came with a Lowrance Hook-4x on the tackle pod, a chill pod, anchor, 150S inflatable pfd and 50S Calcutta MTI pfd, flag, light pole and light with flag attachment and a few other bits and pieces. I am stoked with it. The tackle pod and chill pod blow me away for ease of use/convenience (even though old mate has made some mods to the tackle pod that I wouldn't have personally).
Initial impressions on the water: after years of reading, I immediately understand why 4m+ is better in a multitude of ways. However, the 3.6m Vik Pf GT is a huge step up in quality from what I've previously had and is miles ahead of the too-short cheapies I was considering as a second-attempt starter yak. Within approx 45mins of fooling around on the yak I was confident enough to flick some plastics around for a few flathead out from St Leonards (with reasonable success, as it happens.... success is relative I guess, but I had a great day and will enjoy my dinner). I became confident in the vessel's stability in the short, small swell and boat-wake that I encountered today and look forward to my next attempt.
I now have a million questions, and am hoping someone might be able to address some of them. My first and main question is this: I see some of you have joined 'mainstream' canoe/kayak clubs to work on technique etc., has this been beneficial? I am in Ballarat (we have a club here, but I will %99 be fishing saltwater), and would happily travel to Torquay or Geelong regularly to get some instruction on my technique in regards to my yak.
Second question: will I still benefit from lessons from my local inland club that mostly do 'proper' competitive rowing etc etc?
Third: can anyone recommend which section of this forum is the best to schedule trips/meetups with others (on a small scale)? Regardless of formal clubs/lessons, I'd love to learn whatever I can from more experienced yak fishers. I doubt I'll ever be landing monsters (and I'm not in it for that), but I would like to.
Anyway, I've tried to upload some pictures but they are too large, even when I've shrunk them down as screenshots etc... sorry! Thanks for reading. Cheers.