Saturday, May 25, 2013

How To Pour Your Broken Soft Plastic Lures Into New Ones

Soft plastics catch fish. They are my favorite type of bait, hands down. The problem with soft plastics is that they do not last long. If I can catch 3 fish on one before it is destroyed, I feel lucky.
Instead of tossing my old torn soft plastics, I recycle them into custom poured baits.
 
 
It is stupidly easy and inexpensive. All you need is a small glass container, some gloves, a microwave, and a mold.
 
 
The mold is probably the only thing you will need to buy. I got mine on ebay for $7 shipped. So, for about the price of one bag of soft plastics, I can make an infinite supply from my broken baits.
 
I chose a 5.5" lizard mold as it is my confidence bait and can be hard to find. You can find a mold for just about anything.
 
 
The first step is to put a couple baits in the glass container. Don't put too many in at first.
 
 
Then microwave them until they are melted. I start with 1:20, but check it constantly. You do not want to burn it. It is very stinky, so have an open window or exhaust fan going.

 
Put on your gloves and stir the molten baits with a toothpick or something.

It will be extremely hot. I often get burnt through my gloves. Be very, very careful!

 
Slowly, and carefully pour the melted plastic into the mold.

 
The more careful you are, the less trim work you will have to do.
 
 
The plastic cools quickly. After a min or two, carefully peel your new bait out of the mold.

 
Notice the areas you will need to trim.

 

 
Take a sharp knife or scissors and trim up your bait.
 
 
Your hand poured baits will probably not look as nice as ones from a factory. They will have some jagged edges and uneven areas. Don't wory, they will fish just as well. In fact, your baits may have some unique action.

 
Once you get the hang of it, you can try to make some neet two tone baits. You can make some cool baits that you simply cannot find in stores.
 
 
In one evening, I was able to make a nice pile of lures at virtualy no cost.



Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Kayak Anchoring System

I have been working on the rigging of my new Trident 13 for several months now. I am finished and am going to start a series of post on what I did and how I did it. I plan on finishing with a monster overview post, showing all of my customization. This is the tenth post in the series.

1st post: Installing a Fish Finder 
2nd post: Upgrading a Plano Dry Box
3rd post: How To Install SuperNova Fishing Lights On Your Kayak
4th post: Install Scotty Flush Mounts on a Kayak
5th post: YackAttack GearTrack GT90 Install and Review
6th post: The Ultimate DIY Kayak Crate - Part 1
7th post: The Ultimate DIY Kayak Crate - Part 2
8th post: Silent Traction System Install
9th post: A Few Little Improvements To The Trident 13



I have put this post off because it has been done a hundred times. And yet, it is one of the most asked questions on kayak forums. "How do you use an anchor on a kayak?"

It is an important question because A) Most kayak anglers will need to use an anchor and B)  anchoring a kayak is dangerous.

When I say dangerous, I mean it can kill you if done improperly. If a strong current or large wave hits you while anchored incorrectly you will capsize. If you get tangled in a caught anchor when overboard,  you can drown. In some situations, even while wearing a PFD. Sometimes you have to move NOW to get out of the way of a boat or position yourself to take a wave. An anchor will prevent you from doing this.

So, what are the considerations when using an anchor in a kayak?

First, the anchor needs to be attached to your bow or stern. This will allow you to ride out a wave or current. If it is attached to the side of your boat, a wave or strong current can flip your kayak very easily. This creates a challenge as most kayakers do not have easy access to their bow or stern while paddling.  There are a couple ways to combat this, but I believe the best way is with an anchor trolley.

An anchor trolley is a loop of rope attached at one end to either or bow or stern and the other end to the side of your boat where you can reach it. The loop of rope has a ring tied on it. You attach your anchor line to this ring and then by pulling on the loop of rope, run the ring to the front (or rear) of you kayak.  It is confusing to explain, but actually quite simple.

There are a lot of fancy anchor trolley designs out there. You can even buy a pre-made kit like this one.  A lot of them use pulleys. I prefer to keep things simple, pulleys bind at the most inopportune times and complex things are hard to repair in the field.

My anchor trolley is simply made of Paracord , a two Stainless Steel Rings , a Pad Eye , three Carabiners , and a Cutting Board .

I actually put two anchor trolleys on my Trindent 13, one for the stern and one for the bow. This way I can point myself in any direction I want.


I started out by adding a pad eye to the bow of my kayak and running a carabiner through it. Then I attached one end of my trolley rope to the carabiner.


At the other end, right where my elbow is when I an sitting, I added another carabiner. I was able to attach it to existing hardware on my boat. You may need to add a pad eye here. Again, I ran the trolley rope through the carabiner. Here is another picture of this:

Yes, my kayak is always this dirty. 
The rear anchor trolley is very similar except instead of adding a pad eye to the rear, I made a mount out of a cheap peace of cutting board and attached it to the rudder mount.


This allows me to get the anchor all the way to the back.

This solves the problem of keeping our anchor to the bow or stern, but how do we keep from getting caught up in our anchor?

We have to create a quick disconnect. This is vitally important. There will come a time when you will need to dump your anchor. You will either need to get out of the way of something FAST, or you will hook a big fish and want to go for a sleigh ride (one of the most exciting parts of kayak fishing).

This is how I do it: (Warning: it is slightly complex.)


That is the big picture, lets zoom into the important part.


Take your anchor line and create a loop. Run that loop though your trolley ring, position your anchor trolley to the stern or bow, and cleat it off. Now, if you need to dump your anchor, you just have to un-cleat it. The loop will pull itself out of the ring.

The cleat I currently have installed is a Zig-Zag Cleat .


This is not the best. It is much faster to disconnect a Cam Cleat . I will be making this upgrade soon.

As for the anchor itself, I use a homemade one.


I just used some scrap metal I had laying around and welded it up. It works as well as those collapsible anchors and is lighter. A kayak anchor does not have to be heavy, it just has to be able to grip the sea floor. This is why makeshift anchors like bum-bells do not work well.



Notice how the anchor rope is tied to the front of the anchor and then attached to the end of the anchor with a piece of 20 pound mono. This is so that if my anchor gets caught, I can pull hard and break the 20 pound mono. This will reverse where the anchor is being pulled and release it.



Also notice that instead of threading the anchor rope through the Float , I attached the float with a carabiner. This prevents the float from knocking against my hull when the anchor is out. You need a Float so that you can recover you anchor if you ever need to dump it.



The anchor rope itself is simple nylon rope . Do not use rope sold as "anchor rope" in stores. This is usually floating rope which is very dangerous to a kayaker. If you flip you kayak, all of that floating rope will be floating around you, making it easy to get tangled up.

Remember, you need three times the depth you are anchoring in rope to get a good hold. So if you are anchoring in 10 feet of water, you need 30 feet of rope out. I keep 50' of rope always attached to my anchor. If I need more, I simply tie on another 50' with a strong knot.



Wednesday, May 15, 2013

A Few Little Improvements To The Trident 13

I have been working on the rigging of my new Trident 13 for several months now. I am finished and am going to start a series of post on what I did and how I did it. I plan on finishing with a monster overview post, showing all of my customization. This is the ninth post in the series.

1st post: Installing a Fish Finder 
2nd post: Upgrading a Plano Dry Box
3rd post: How To Install SuperNova Fishing Lights On Your Kayak
4th post: Install Scotty Flush Mounts on a Kayak
5th post: YackAttack GearTrack GT90 Install and Review
6th post: The Ultimate DIY Kayak Crate - Part 1
7th post: The Ultimate DIY Kayak Crate - Part 2
8th post: Silent Traction System Install



Before I begin to show a few little improvements I made to my kayak, take a look at these trophy fish my good friend Jonathan Walker caught:


Jonathan has had trouble getting on the fish this year, but got into them in a big way on the Western Branch Reservoir. This 13" Shell Cracker is the largest I have ever seen!


This Trophy 43" Gar gave him a big surprise! He was using a light reel and rod while drifting a 3" dead shad in 15' of water, looking for a catfish or rockfish. This bad boy made his day!

If you have a trophy fish you would like to show off, email me a picture of it. I'll add it to the beginning of my next post!

On to the main subject....

I love my Ocean Kayak Trident 13. It is a great, versatile boat. Many things are well thought out on it. The rod pod, sonar shield, and hull design are just a few of its great qualities. However, there are a few minor, nitpicky things I dislike about it.

The paddle holders

The paddle holders on the Trident 13 hold a paddle very, very securely. I have not removed them for this reason. There are times that I want to know that nothing will strip my paddle from the side of my boat.

Realistically, those times are rare.

The standard paddle holder

What the Trident 13's paddle holders do not do is allow you to easily stow your paddle. It takes me two hands and a good deal of effort to do it. Now, someone with larger, stronger hands may be able to do it one handed, but not this guy.

I need to be able to quickly stow my paddle one handed. So, I added a Scotty Paddle Clip to the side of my kayak. It is not as secure, but I can stow and retrieve my paddle one handed.



Just this past week I hooked a fish that felt large. When I hooked it, I had my paddle and an extra rod in my lap. You want your deck clear when a big fish comes on board. As I fought the fish, I quickly put the extra rod in a rod holder and clipped my paddle to the Scotty paddle clip. I could do this without even looking. The fish ended up only being a little 23" catfish, but it was full of eggs and fought like a 10 pounder!


Towing Handles

The towing handles on the Trident 13 are some of the strongest you can find. That is the only good thing I can say about them.

The way they give and flop around make loading my kayak into the bed of a truck very difficult. Since they are attached to bungees, it is difficult to obtain the leverage need. So, I added a handle to the front and rear of my deck.


Now I can grip it with both hands and I have a solid grip to work with.


Take a close look at the picture above. See the drain plug in front of the handle? It sucks. In a $1200 kayak you would have thought they could have come up with something better. It works fine for draining, that is not the problem. The problem is that any time you try to drag your Trident 13 up a hill the handle of this plug digs into your fingers. It is very uncomfortable. I have yet to figure out a practical solution to this problem. I would love for someone at Ocean Kayak to read this and fix this problem in future kayaks. 

The Seat Snap

This one is very nitpicky. 

The seat on the Trident 13 can fold down for transport. It is held in place, up or down, by a bungee and plastic clip.  


This system works well, and I like it. However, the clip provided is a cheap plastic deal. It is hard to fasten and unfasten. I replaced this clip with a small Carabiner .


It's things like this that annoy me. They saved maybe 25 cents by using a cheap clip. Why not just do it right, your customers notice the little things.

The Trident 13 is an amazing boat. No boat is going to have everything I want. When you think about it, this is a very short list.

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