Spinning
Spinning is when you sit stationary on your kayak and cast out a lure and retrieve. These lures could be a range from Rapala’s to lead spoons. Refer to the picture. You will often see boats spin where birds are actively diving.
Spinning is probably the most fun way to catch a YT or Bonnie. You typically spin on a thinner rod and small lure to be comfortable. The thinner rod enables you to cast out that spoon and the smaller reel just makes things a whole lot of fun.
Attached some pictures of my spinning collection
Jigging
Jigging is very simular to spinning. This is where you from a stationary position drop your lure down deeper and retrieve in various ways. Jigging lures have vertical motion, striking them to move up and down gives the lure life.
You will often find the fish on your sounder a bit deeper not working the surface and this is where you get out your jigs and work them.
Below some pictures of my jigs.
Dead Bait
Bait isn’t a popular choice for Kayakers due to all the seals and occasional sharks in the water. They don’t take your lures however bait is a whole different story. The reality is you are going to one day head out and try everything but come out empty handed. Right next to you the commercials are pulling YT out one after the other using bait. Then… we use bait. Some pilchard fillets wrapped on a 9/0 hook and we drop it to the depth of where the sounder shows these buggers.
Trolling Lures
Most guys typically troll with 2x rods or bungees. You release your lure about 7m out behind your kayak and paddle at around 6-8km/h.
For trolling you could use a number of different lures. I have quite a selection of Rapala’s and Halco’s but majority of the time I start with one pink and one blue. On the Kayak I mostly prefer the 2,5m or 3m divers. Sometimes when I’m brave I’ll troll my 5m pink deep diver.
When trolling lures I always add a couple of teasers to the line. This just attracts more attention and increases your luck. I’ve had a couple of double ups on a single line.
Lately we’ve started switching to squids, just like the commercials these are as effective. As per the picture the setup is quite simple and you’ll quickly realise this is quite cost effective.
You do lose a couple of lures, sometimes due to seals sometimes the occasional shark. You get reefed or your knot or leader fails… the squids offer an as effective but more cost effective alternative.