ROKK, Wrasse and Wrecks

A few weeks ago i was contacted by George, Product Designer at Scanstrut. The guys at Scanstrut are releasing an exciting new range of accessory mounts for the kayak and small craft market using their ROKK Mini mounts. We had planned a day on the water to test a range of the new products, discuss future products and provide George with a taste of kayak fishing to better understand the needs of us kayak anglers. The day went to plan, the weather was perfect and i caught a stunning new PB....

If you aren't familiar with the brand Scanstrut, they are a UK based company who manufacture high-quality mounts and installation products for a vast range of marine electronics. ​​The guys at Scanstrut are releasing an exciting new range of accessory mounts for the kayak and small craft market using their ROKK Mini mounts. The ROKK Mini range is based on a 3 component system. First up is the base mount - which can be in the form of a screw down/bolt down mount (A nice low profile design - perfect for kayak decks), rail mounts, sticky mounts or a suction mount. Onto this base clips an adjustable captive ball-in-socket mount, and onto this again a top mount which can house a variety of accessory mounts. As the name suggests the mount is absolutely rock solid when fitted and put in position - high quality and very impressive. 

Given the calm conditions the day before, i decided on another launch at Sennen to fish in the bay. The forecast was looking even more favourable than the day before - perfect conditions for George to try his hand at kayak fishing! We met mid morning and spent some time looking over the range of ROKK Mini accessory mounts before rigging up the RTM Rytmo and Hobie Revo 16 with various accessories to test on the water including Go Pro Mounts, Digital Camera Mounts, Fish Finder Mounts, Phone/VHF Mounts and more. We discussed a few other very cool accessories which are at the design stage too - watch this space!

Kayaks rigged, it was time to get suited and booted. Well i say suited - it was actually really warm so it gave me a chance to try out my Palm Neoflex top - a stretchy neoprene which is great for wearing in warm weather. We launched onto mirror calm water. ​​

George was a natural paddler from the off and took to paddling like a duck to water! ​

It was so calm and George was paddling well so i took the decision to head a little further out than planned in the hope of finding some Pollack in deeper water. Things were a little slow but that gave me chance to show George the ropes and he was soon working a lure through the water by himself. I found a few smaller Pollack on the first mark but the tide was making it difficult to fish. We moved ground and a few more bites started coming our way....

After several bites and missed takes, George soon had his rod doubled over with his first fish! A good scrap and a Pollack was soon in the kayak with one happy kayak fisherman! ​

We kept moving around with eyes on the fish finder, looking for tempting spots to lower the lures down too. The tide was making things a little difficult with working the lures....

We persisted and had a few more Pollack up to about 6lb. Another move and i found an anomaly on the bottom which almost looked like part of a wreck sitting in 100ft of water. Lures down!

First drift over the mark produced a few nibbles. And then on the next drift something special happened. The lure hit the bottom, i wound in the slack and immediately had a big bite, wound in a little more and BANG... the 30-60gr lure rod doubled over and knowing that the lure was so close to the bottom i really had the rod and braid at the limits of breaking to keep the fish away from the bottom. Something powerful was at the other end and it really wanted to get back to cover. Harsh persuasion and a squeaky arse moment, and the fish was turned and i could get some line back and bring it up into mid water. This felt like a big powerful fish, maybe a nice double figure Pollack. 

The powerful lunges and runs continued all the way up, and peering over the kayak the expected flanks of a Pollack did not show. A stunning golden orangey beast was heading for the surface..... it was a Ballan Wrasse and a big one too. Thankfully it arrived at the kayak and was brought onboard swiftly without any issues. A monster Ballan was now sat on my lap!

WOW! This was a special fish. An incredible set of nashers too....

George came over to do the honours with the camera. A quick weigh on the scales and the reading showed around 6lb 14oz! ​

To put a dampener on the situation, the fish unfortunately wouldn't swim off. It had been brought up from a fair depth and Wrasse species don't tend to fair well with such a pressure change. Despite trying to kick it was struggling to swim down, even though little air appeared to be held in its swim bladder. I stayed with the fish for around 10 minutes but it just wasn't happening. I don't like to kill Wrasse but i couldn't let this magnificent fish float away to be pecked by the gulls. Later at home i got two big fillets off the fish to be eaten - it wouldn't go to waste, and the fish weighed 6lb 13oz 6dr on land. A Personal Best for me, and one that i may not beat for a while! 

Back to the fishing and a few more Pollack came our way. Sport was slow though so seeing as it was so calm we paddled down the coast to explore the rocks beneath Lands End as i had done the day before. ​

I couldn't resist going through the cave under Dr Syntax's Head again!

You may notice something on my bow. It a Rokk Mini Go Pro Mount with a suction cup base. It attaches really well to the smooth bow on the Revo 16... i like it a lot! Easily removable at the end of the day too. It held firmly in place for the whole session.

Heading back to the launch we took a closer look at the wreck of the RMS Mulheim, but this time it was calm enough to land the kayaks on the boulder foreshore....

Time to explore!

We climbed onboard for a look around. The wreck sits at quite a steep angle on the shore which makes climbing around it a little tricky, and certainly dangerous in wet conditions. ​

It's quite an impressive sight. It's not everyday you get to climb around a shipwreck and i have been wanting to look around this one for years. It's the first time it has been calm enough for me to actually access it via kayak. 

That finished off a successful session. We headed back to the launch just as the wind started picking up. Everything went to plan and we both caught fish. We discussed the products we had been using a little more and George kindly left me with a few mounts to use and test over the coming months. We discussed further mounts which would be useful for kayak fishing and George went away with a better idea of what kayak fishing is all about, the requirements we need for our accessory mounts, with some ideas for new products and a Pollack for tea! I'm sure we will be sorting out another session again in the future. 

A great two days on the water. The weather has now closed in for a few weeks. Hopefully the next session won't be too far away as the fish seem to be biting! ​