Fishing PLO at night?

[hobieadventure]

I have bee fishing PLO at night with great results in the past few months. I capsized for the first time this weekend about a mile from the shore. I think it was the unbalanced weight of all the fish I had caught. It wasn't fun for a few mintues until I got back on my yak. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it a very unwise idea? I know it's not the brightest idea.

[ictalurus]

Sorry that you flipped, but I'm glad you were able to do a self-rescue easily. Did you have a big stringer of fish hanging off the side and capsize when you went to pull them in? I've never sat in an Adventure, but they are quite a bit narrower than the Revo. I could see that happening if you were leaning over as you pulled the fish in. I keep my fish in a cooler bag since I like to ice them down right away, which keeps the weight centered, but I seldom keep more than I'll eat in a day or two (I also don't have the "problem" of catching big fish ). You might want to try that to keep the weight centered.

Alternatively, some yaks might potentially get less stable as they approach their weight limit, especially if the weight makes the yak more top-heavy. You might have to think about how to lighten your load when you fish or move some stuff to the center hatch to keep the weight lower. It might be worth going somewhere sheltered with bags of bricks or sand to approximate a loaded yak and playing around with the weight distribution. You can also buy or make outriggers if you think you need more stability.

[hobieadventure]

Sorry that you flipped, but I'm glad you were able to do a self-rescue easily. Did you have a big stringer of fish hanging off the side and capsize when you went to pull them in? I've never sat in an Adventure, but they are quite a bit narrower than the Revo. I could see that happening if you were leaning over as you pulled the fish in. I keep my fish in a cooler bag since I like to ice them down right away, which keeps the weight centered, but I seldom keep more than I'll eat in a day or two (I also don't have the "problem" of catching big fish ). You might want to try that to keep the weight centered.

Alternatively, some yaks might potentially get less stable as they approach their weight limit, especially if the weight makes the yak more top-heavy. You might have to think about how to lighten your load when you fish or move some stuff to the center hatch to keep the weight lower. It might be worth going somewhere sheltered with bags of bricks or sand to approximate a loaded yak and playing around with the weight distribution. You can also buy or make outriggers if you think you need more stability.

Thanks ictalurus.I had ice and about 25 big croakers and a few spots in the fish bag. Some of the croakers were about 16". That probably moved the center of gravity higher. I usually have no trouble but I don't know why I capsized this time. I was thinking about upgrading to Adventure Island. It might be more stable, but righting it will probably be much more difficult if it capsizes?

[ictalurus]

If you capsize an AI, I think you've got bigger problems than trying to right it, such as you're surrounded by waves like the big one in The Perfect Storm. I'm not sure how you would fish from an AI because the arms for the outriggers would seem to be in the way. People use them to fish for the big pelagics out in Hawaii, though. Depending on the year of your Adventure, it should have the hardware built in to accept the AI outriggers so you wouldn't have to cough up the cash for a new boat.

[Hanover_Yakker]

Actually, fishing out of an AI is not difficult. I've seen folks do the single outrigger, as well as the double AMA/Outrigger. You can still cast to either side consistently, also most people I know that fish out of an AI actually furl the sail closed to permit casting in front of them, then retract the respective outrigger if needed to bring the fish in. Otherwise they use just one outrigger and bring the fish alongside the non-outrigger side.

Now the TI would be a tad more difficult since it has two seats and a much larger sail but then again, all you need to do is retract the outrigger when the fish is closer. Plenty of YouTube videos on this very situation - especially the guy in NZ. He fishes on his AI all the time, and the Living Waters guys in TX fish out of both the AI and TI.

[CB kayak 02]

Or you get the tramps for the amas and then you can climb all over the thing and actually fish from the amas or go on then to land a fish.

[hobieadventure]

Thanks CB Kayak 02, Hanover_Yakker, and ictalurus for you valuable advice. I think I am going to get the Adventure Island kit.

[jet]

i hope to get an adventure island too. tons of videos online of guys fishing from them. some guys do some ridiculous mods to them from hakas to rollbars and even adding jibs.