I have been fishing off a Viking Profish 400 for a number of years now and been having my share of success, having been lucky enough of living in a great part of Northland and also able to get access into part of its coastline not available to the public
After recently watching Big Angry Fish with my beloved wife and seeing them fishing with a bixby on their kayak she asked why don’t you get one of those ?
Well who was I to argue ?
Instead of adding one to my Profish we looked into getting a Reload with a Bixby already fitted
It’s my 50th coming up and the decision was we would get one for my birthday
Well next brownie point for the wife she went ahead and got it delivered last week so I could have it for Labour weekend
I didn’t know too much about them and just thought it was only going to assist me with my paddling - I was wrong !
These things are a game changer and after catching plenty of snaps - one which won me 2nd prize in a local comp and releasing several others I was starting to think the poor snappers don’t stand a chance against me anymore
These things have so much battery power to help get you to your spots but once your there I found I barely needed my paddle anymore
I could manoeuvre the kayak to the perfect spot to cast my softbait into the shallow coastline and with an easy adjustment on the bluetooth controls on my wrist I could keep myself in the perfect distance or angle to where I wanted to be
In the past when I’ve been hooked to a decent size moocher they could drag me close to the rocks or other dangers or obstacles , now I call all the shots and can drag them into where I want them to be
Another problem I’ve often had in the past with fishing in such shallow reefy coastline is you often can cast your softie over the back of a reef and get a snag with the bixby I just manoeuvred myself at the right angle and pulled out my hook - not one re-tie , as you would know a pain in the ass retying your knots on the kayak
As for the wife I think she’s a keeper