Hi all. I am new to this site and new to kayak fishing in the Oak Bay area of Victoria BC Canada.
Is there anyone out there with advice on catching salmon and lingcod in this area?
Also. Being in a kayak does anyone have advice on how to deal with fish to big and/or nasty to put in the boat with you while keeping the seals at bay?


Sincerely,
Rex

Hi Rex - welcome to the forum.

Good to hear that you got into kayak fishing. It's the most exciting way to fish
I never have problems with seals where I fish so wouldn't know how to keep them at bay. Probably best to fish a bit further away from their beach/rocks.

As for bigger fish - what size of fish are we talking about?

I find its easier to bring bigger fish into the yak than small ones. They tend to stay calm once the fight is over. Smaller fish are all over the yak if you're not careful.

The biggest fish I catch are around 1 meter long king fish or 40 - 60 cm long snapper.

I guess salmon and cod are of similar size so should be easy to land them in the yak with either a big net or gaff and then kill them quickly.

Over the last year or so, I have added a hobie sail to my yak for trolling and made a huge skeg out of a large cutting board to keep me straight. I also had to add stabalizers because of the wind gusts that want to tip me over.
Google "killer whale lands on kayak". Some say it is fake but I met the guy and I live very close to where it happened. it's not fake. This is what I worry about. But they were harassing the pod so maybe that is it. When I see these whales I leave because they put all the fish down for at least a mile around for hours.
One day I will have enough money to add to your site and buy a camera but I chose to fish more and live poor. That makes me very wealthy indeed.
I also see more and more yak fishermen out there these days and that is a good sign.