The location today for the Adventure Outlet Demo Day was at Budds Beach in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. Its a local estuary on the Nerang river that offers great parking, BBQ"s, Tables, toilets and heaps of grass with a gentle sloping sandy beach into the waters edge. Really its an ideal location for a demo day like wise with the tournaments, KFT launches from here too.

Craig from Adventure Outlet had a great line up of kayaks, some from his stock range, hugely supported by the Linday and Mike from BLA who were displaying the full range of Ocean Kayak, Old Town and Necky kayaks. As well as Palmy Mick from Stealth Kayaks with a range of the Stealth Kayak fishing skis...

Not a huge turn up today but there was a steady flow of new comers, one couple I noticed tried just about every kayak on hand, they will have a tough choice but they kept going back to a Prowler or the Tarpon 120. Steven M and I were there and in between roll ups we were trying out all the different kayaks as well. Steven and I both now have new kayaks on our lists that we wish to buy...

So all I can say that next time Craig holds a demo day get down to Budds Beach and have a go, Craig has Demo Days regularly so watch his website for the next one, http://www.adventureoutlet.com.au

Well after much thought and consideration I decided last week to end my association with the Ocean Kayak Sponsorship. I have enjoyed my time using their huge range of Kayaks and accessories over the past two years and being sponsored by Ocean Kayak has been fun. I wish the Team at Ocean Kayak in Australia all the best in the future and  I will continue to use there products and promote their products but on a personal level. I still own a Prowler 13 and in my opinion I think its the best kayak Ocean Kayak has in their range, it is a true all round kayak.

So in saying that I went out and bought a different brand of kayak, I have been longing to get into a Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 for some time after owning a Tarpon 100 a few years ago, for some reason most likely to move onto another kayak I sold it to a kayak fishing friend and I have forever regretted this decision. 

For the last week I have been slowly rigging the Tarpon 120, I have rigged a lot of kayaks over the years and this is a process I really enjoy. I think it is important to thoroughly think about how to do it and if you take your time and ponder over where to put each add on accessory I think you will come up with a better result. 

Like the Ocean Kayak System where they use screw brass inserts to enable you to easily add accessories to your kayak, the Wilderness Systems Kayaks have the Side Trax system which allows you to add accessories to your kayak with ease. The Side Trax system is basically a flush fitted rail that runs along the sides of the kayak both front and rear. They have a full range of accessories to fit these rails but I have some Ram Rod Holders so I used their system to attach these to my Tarpon 120. The  rails allow for some rectangular shaped nuts to slide along the rail to secure your attachment. You can buy these nuts ready made but I decided to make my own after finding some ideas on a Kayak Fishing web site in the USA.

So after a week of rigging my WS Tarpon 120 this is the result, check out the pictures below, click on them for a closer view...