Fishing Australia

WHAT’S SUP?

If you’re into surfing you will know that SUP stands for "Stand Up Paddle" board.  It's a new craze that has swept the USA and is fast becoming popular across the world and Down Under is no exception.

First impressions are that a SUP is basically a big ‘long board’, stable enough to stand on at rest so you can paddle it around. While first impressions are usually right, there is much more too it than first meets the eye.

My first experience with this type of sport was some 25 years ago when I was into windsurfing. Basically if the wind wasn’t up, my friends and I would take the sail off the bigger wind surf boards stand up on them and use a paddle to propel them around.

These days the sport has advanced far beyond using a non-purpose built board and a $20 wooden paddle.

There is now a mass of stunning new boards to choose from and the paddles are amazing graphite works of art that are so light and powerful they will blow you away.

SUP FISHING

As you might imagine in the right scenario you can fish off these things and that’s what has rekindled my interest.

I was lucky enough to get hold of one of the first 12 foot 6 inch models made by hobie, and immediately decked it out for fishing.

There are eyelets in front of where you stand that hold a bungy cord which can be used to secure a milk crate. In my case, a rod holder cable-tied to the crate provided for hands-free rod storage, although if you were planning upon going through the surf or other places where you might go bum-up, a hand-line is probably the go.

Similarly, an esky can easily be strapped to the board so you have somewhere to place your drinks, ice and fish. It also makes a great seat!

My first trip was to the pretty little surfside town of Shellharbour near Wollongong on the NSW South Coast. As it turns out, the conditions weren’t suitable for fishing, so we hit the surf instead.

A big board and small waves?  That’s me in my element.  Add a paddle into the mix and the fun is multiplied. Struth, I’ll be doing more of this, and my wife and kids, who are learning to surf, are getting into it as well.

The next outing was a bizarre contrast to the surf and sand. Scott Hunter from Wet Spot Water Sports in Fyshwick ACT joined me at Googong Dam for a ‘SUP test cast’.

We found our feet without the gear strapped on, and the first thing Scotty remarked on was how good the view was from the standing position, especially once he had borrowed my polarized glasses. Googong is an old haunt of mine but it was good to see how much a newcomer enjoyed being able to look into the pristine clear waters that are dressed in luscious weed growth.

In the dead flat water, I found it was easy and fun to move forward and even pivot on the spot when needed. Scotty and I were right into it now, seeing who could look the most comfortable, or paddle the fastest. I must say these things rip along when you give them some grunt!

The paddle is freakish and allows you to put power into a stroke in almost any direction you dare meaning you can perform some pretty funky maneuvers.

With the fishing gear strapped on I found it easy enough to fish from and once seated on the esky, trolling and casting was even more straight forward.

I missed having my hands free to fish like I do when using a kayak with Hobies' Mirage Drive, but hey, new challenges are always fun.

There is a stack of things and ways you can attach equipment to the board, it all comes down to ‘where there is a will, there is a way’. A double handed paddle would be better for trolling, which got me to thinking this SUP is as stable as some of the early kayaks I used to use.

There is all sorts of board and paddle sizes and types to choose from to suit your scene and a dealer can help you through the choices for this sort of stuff.

Visit www.hobiesup.com.au for more info.

THE VERDICT?

While a SUP board will never replace the Mirage Drive as a serious fishing machine that can hold into the current or wind while you fish, the verdict is yes, you can fish off them, and yes, there are a stack of new fishing scenarios and target species that will become popular over the coming years.  And yes, they are an interesting alternative to a standard paddle driven kayak.

So if you want something that you can both surf and fish from, the SUP craze is well worth investigating.

See you on the water.

Rob Paxevanos