/ 
Just a box of decoys
I had to go and see if it was true, and what better way to find out than with a kayak trip. Although the coefficients weren't very high, I decided to go for a ride anyway. For this outing, I decided to change my habits a little. It's going to be a "light" outing. I'm taking just one box of lures, with a minimalist selection, but only the best values from my tackle boxes. Two rods, my Kendoza 701 MH, fitted with a Penn Slammer 3500. This rod is designed for trolling and casting swimming fish. The second rod is a newcomer to my rack, a Ryokan in 7X28g, fitted with a Penn battle IV, in 1000. A small reel that will allow me to scrape gently with soft lures.
The area is also home to pollack. As this fish is still not open for recreation, and although the bottoms are not very deep, this will allow me to gently bring the fish in, allowing them to decompress gently. I might as well release them with the best chance of survival.
Trust your sense of water
With a view to lightening my equipment, I won't be taking my electronics with me, I'll be relying on my sense of the water, which is good to put to the test from time to time. Relatively speaking, though, as I know this area by heart and could draw the bathymetry from memory...
The launch area is downwind, but I start by working it with a soft lure. I've rigged an Eel body on an Astufish profyler ballhead in 12 grs. There's a large sandy area between two rocky zones. From the very first cast, it worked. The fish are there, and I'll make several in a row at the scratching game. Some fish just under the mesh, but it's nice to feel you haven't made a mistake.
With the wind in full force, I decide to return to the shelter of the Aber. It's a succession of parks and I'm going to try and get as close to them as possible, without leaving my lures behind. Good idea, as soon as I make my first passes, I record my first catches. I chose a Jerkbait, a 3 DB in 110 from Flashmer. A juvenile yellow lake color. I'll make half a dozen of them, meshed between 42 and 47 cm.
On the way back to my starting point, the last two will be measured at 51 and 52 cm, which is better. It's 11:00 a.m. and I've reached a deeper zone in what's known as the seaweed field. This is an area where seaweed is grown for cosmetics, and where there are cages for fattening farmed abalone. The wind is still quite strong and the sea is a bit rough. I decide to make my way between two rows of buoys, knowing that there are about ten meters below the kayak. For this zone, I switched to a lure working in the 4-meter depth range. A Deep Diver 90 in pearly white, again from Flashmer. I try to keep my nose in front of the waves as I work my way up the buoy lines, and then it's the cartridge in my arm, this one's prettier. It gives me a nice fight. I have to work the fish, while keeping my line of navigation. You have to avoid getting in the way, while avoiding getting too close to the buoy lines. Thanks to the steppe and the rudder control which responds well. I put it in the net on the first try. The fish measures 62 cm, which is much better.
Still too many decoys
I'll do two more more modest fish, and even a sand eel that can't resist the pearly whites. That's the last fish of the morning, it's past midday and time for a snack break. I return with the wave in the rudder, which goes a lot faster... This outing showed me that I'd still taken too many lures with me. I put a dozen in the water, but only 3 caught fish. I also found that the low coefficients at high tide aren't all that bad. This session showed that on this part of the coast, the sea bass have finished their winter work and are fattening up again, but they don't throw themselves at just anything, so think again...
