Rob’s Kayak Fishing in the Tropics

At home on his Kayak: Rob with a nice trevally landed just 100 meters from the beach.

The boom in the sport of Kayak Fishing has not yet hit Australia’s Tropics, but after a recent trip up north to test the waters I found there are some scenarios that are absolutely perfect for ‘the yak’.

At first I was talked out of kayaking in the tropics by people who were concerned about the dangers of crocodiles, but I soon figured that tropical fishing isn’t all about chasing barra in the estuaries, which is where most big crocs hang out!

There are plenty of places away from major rivers where crocs are not a threat, for example offshore islands in the dry season.

My adventure began in the Torres Straight where there are a good number of croc free fish yet fishy looking islands to choose from, all with nice warm winter temps in the high twenties.

The next hurdle was that no one up there had a half decent kayak let alone one of the pedal powered Hobies that I prefer to use because they leave my hands free to fish.

Shipping a yak up was looking like an expensive and time consuming exercise until I came across an inflatable hobie that packs up into its own large suitcase and can be checked in with the rest of your baggage on the plane. How cool is that!

Before I knew it I was wheeling the case down the beach on the tiny Island of Poruma, while locals looked on wondering exactly what this little white fella was up too.

After just 5 minutes I had the yak unpacked, pumped up, on the water and into some small to medium sized Queenfish on 3 kg spin gear. Queenfish are awesome; great fight and even better acrobatics, especially when viewed from water level! All this and I could see the pristine reef and sand below me the whole time!

At one stage a school of Queenfish circled me like I was a fad (fish attracting device), this was a great experience and something I have never seen out of a larger powered craft. Once again the yak was proving to be an intimate and fun way of doing something I have done plenty of.

To catch the Queenfish a small white soft plastic retrieved quickly was the stand out technique.

The warm up in the shallows served two purposes: getting to know the 12 foot long craft and building up the confidence to fish the drop off just 100 meters away where bigger fish lurked.

Good fishing spots around tropical islands sometimes go and in hand with sharks, everything from small reefies up to bigger whalers, hammer heads and tigers.

As usually happens current, wind and waves were more important than worrying about shark, so I took my time until it was obvious it was safe on the edge of the first drop off in 18 meters of water.

It was all a learning experience. I didn’t burley from the yak, so my toothy friends didn’t come too close. The whalers sometimes stole a hooked fish from me which was good; I knew they were about and what they were interested in!

I was not nearly as game as the snorkelers and divers who actually get in the water in the same areas! It’s all about putting things in perspective and once you’re out there you soon start to realize that it’s far more fun than fear.

Once settled in I had an absolute ball landing trevally to around a meter long, Coral Trout to 5 kilos, and numerous other species.

While poppers, knife jigs and metal slices all work up north, a tray of buck tail jigs from half an ounce up to 5 ounces covered every depth and species and I only had to work them gently which meant I could save my energy for kayaking, fighting fish and taking in the scenery.

I could’ve happily paddled around exploring the island and catching fish every day for a month. I felt as happy, fit, warm and adventure bound as I have in months.

Kayaking fishing will definitely catch on in the topics, after all it goes hand in hand with warm weather, palm trees and that idyllic island holiday many of us are looking for.

Special thanks to the Torres Straight Regional Authority, queenslandholidays.com.au, hobiekayaks.com.au, and poruma.com.au

You can catch the start of my Torres Straight adventure this week followed by a snap shot of my Kayak Adventure at Poruma next week on WIN Televisions Fishing Australia, 5:30 pm Saturdays.

See you on the telly just after the sun goes down.

Rob Paxevanos.

Stay tuned........for more action from Rob Paxevanos