tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35479328951852793992012-02-03T04:56:09.279+02:00Kayaking and fishing in AustraliaIdo Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-82767130407260851502012-01-15T08:49:00.000+02:002012-01-15T08:52:29.128+02:00

While everyone were drousy and sleepy after new year's eve, I took my kayak and went to the ocean, early morning, the 1/01/2012. As usuall lately, there weren't any fish caught, so I came back to the shore, put all my fishing gear and rods in the car and went back to surf a little bit: It's still kind of new to me, surfing with a big Sit On Top with a rudder, but soon enough I got it, it

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-34943688682050314552011-12-25T03:16:00.002+02:002011-12-25T03:16:45.726+02:00

Last Saturday, I scheduled a meeting with the coach of the Maroochy river Canoe club, right at the fork with Eudlo creek. The meeting was set for 8:00am, so I had plenty of time to paddle upstream the creek and look for some fish. I've paddled a bit upstream, got used to trolling the shallow water of the river, getting snugged in branches, sand bars and even a clam that closed itself on my line.

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-49560997291766204832011-12-19T10:36:00.001+02:002011-12-19T10:37:13.910+02:00

Hello,Past weekend the weather had smiled at us - with sunny mornings and some calmer winds. It was all I needed to get outside and paddle the surrounding waters.I started on Friday morning, intended to set out to the ocean, but when I got there, it was raining and windy, so I launched and turned back into the marina and Mooloola river. I paddled between the numerous Yachts and Boats that were

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-12933590561032083422011-12-15T13:22:00.001+02:002011-12-15T13:22:09.375+02:00

I've just got my kayak on Sunday and was eager to get it wet. The forecast was promising for Tuesday's morning - no wind and low swell, so I headed early morning towards the southern corner of the Mooloolaba bay:When I arrived to the beach, I took my time getting the yak ready to go and enjoying the morning silence and calm sea:I put all the gear in the Stealth huge hatch and with a few strokes

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-26832630183287324432011-12-11T13:44:00.001+02:002011-12-11T13:44:40.569+02:00

A total mixture - A South African Stealth Evolution 495 kayak, on a Swedish Thule roof rack (only 60$ on eBay!), mounted on a Korean car, driven by an Israeli guy, on Australian soil.That's going to be interesting.... I hope to get it wet ASAP and update you guys... 

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-35340162625335623432011-12-11T03:23:00.001+02:002011-12-11T03:28:16.664+02:00

Hi,Last weekend I took advantage of the great, sunny weather and took my new car for a ride around, with couple of goals to achieve:1. Find the local canoe club and figure out if it'll be a good place for Adi (my beloved, K1 sprinter) to practice.Well, it wasn't easy to find, as I'm new to the area, without a GPS, so I just cruised around in my car, till I saw a pickup with a couple of Hayden

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-57176812739372989932011-11-30T15:21:00.001+02:002011-11-30T16:13:45.047+02:00

Hi, First thing I would like to appologize to my few, but dedicated readers, which I've neglected for so long. It wasn't that I had nothing to write about, but I got busy finishing my MSc, working, getting married (yes, I'm a happy married man now) and most of all, I've kept paddling and fishing. I'll fill you in, but gradually, not all in one time. The really exciting news and the reason I've

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-91809643061681411282010-08-01T16:10:00.002+03:002010-08-01T16:14:23.917+03:00

Hi dear readers,After coming back from South Africa, where everything on the water had to do with Surf Ski's, and every afternoon everyone takes their skis to paddle the ocean, I had to check it out myself.Last time I've tried to paddle a surf ski, it was at the Stealth skis introduction event: I was a little drunk, in the dark, first time holding a wing paddle. As you can imagine, it wasn't the

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-16628099252350555882010-07-06T20:24:00.002+03:002010-07-15T14:22:25.039+03:00

About a week later, I came back to Durban and this time made contact with Brett Challenor, the owner of Stealth kayaks (I’d like to thank Eyal Abro for making all the connections for me). We set out to go fishing at uMhlanga Rocks, a suburb at northern Durban.This time we didn’t have a wave breaker and we launched from an open beach, with 1.5-2m surf waves. Again, I’ve got the Stealth EVO 465, my

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-70095843230214515312010-07-06T19:24:00.003+03:002010-07-15T14:22:49.165+03:00

Hi to all!!!I'm in South Africa now, waiting for the world cup, and meanwhile, trying to get some kayak fishing.Before i came here, I've made contact to a local kayak fisherman, Mick Clarke, who invited me to join him for some kayak fishing trips. He has a lovely guest house right over the bay, and just infront of Aliwal Shaol, one of Africa's best reefs. June's supposed to be the month when the

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-91829784462693862652010-04-08T12:42:00.002+03:002010-04-08T12:43:10.386+03:00

I know Purim fest was long ago (more than a month ago), but we had such a great time that I thought it would be unfair that my lack of muse should get in the way.This Purim we had a visitor from the USA - Andrew, a skilled kayaker and an extremely friendly guy, who paddled with Yossale and Gilad back on the Futalefue in Chile. He "was in the neighborhood" (Uganda ;-)) and stopped by.We hosted him

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-3697524336574122542009-12-21T16:51:00.004+02:002009-12-24T11:04:48.901+02:00

Last month, I was introduced as Kayak Angler of the month by Kayak Fishing Magazine. Besides flattering me, it also introduced me to the enormous community of kayak fishermen from the USA.One of them is Kevin, from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Kevin came to Israel for a few weeks and asked me to arrange a fishing trip for him. I arranged a kayak and full paddling and fishing gear for him and picked

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-4473552515863741002009-12-20T14:39:00.004+02:002009-12-24T11:12:20.928+02:00

Winter has finally come, and the last couple of weeks were stormy, with strong winds and rain, bringing along great waves to surf. The stormy sea is not suitable for surfers, so the only lunatics out there are a bunch of kayakers with small, whitewater kayaks, just trying to keep our heads out of the water.On days like this we can't cross the surf, so we need a sheltered beach to launch from -

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-67329297261250147282009-11-23T13:03:00.003+02:002009-12-20T14:05:27.092+02:00

This weekend, the Israel Kayak Fishing forum held it's semi-annual fishing tournament, and this year the sponsor was "Optimist" kayak club and shop in Caesare, my home club, owned by my best friend's family, so I was very excited, along with the great expectations after winning the last tournament.We arrived early to the beach, and there was even a news team that came to cover the event. As the

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-18898703042113765662009-09-22T12:48:00.002+03:002009-09-22T13:22:28.036+03:00

Usually I fish from my Sit On Top Tarpon 140 kayak as it is very stable, comfortable and rigged to fish and dive from.However, as a kayak instructor, I spend hours and hours paddling in touring sea kayaks, and I thought to myself, why not fish from them as well, when the sea is calm.I've installed a rod holder behind the deck in one of the kayaks, so I can place a rod there, and troll lures when

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-24937225321285753292009-09-07T16:50:00.002+03:002009-09-22T13:22:59.459+03:00

Last week I went south to the Red sea, and I got an invitation from Eli and his team to paddle with them.I arrived early morning, and got a bit nervous when I saw them wearing the pulse meters...As I feared, they paddled in a murderous pace against the northern wind and I found myself way behind them, grasping for air. What they didn't know, was that I had a surprise up my sleeve - I brought with

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-86832832057238407472009-04-27T11:13:00.010+03:002009-04-27T23:16:58.122+03:00

Last week passed very slowly for me, I was waiting anxiously for the annual kayak fishing tournament of the Israel Kayak Fishing forum. This year the 1st prize was bigger than ever - a brand new composite fishing kayak - Kaskazi Dorado II :The night before the tournement, I've met Nadav, a great friend of mine, and we arranged and prepared all the fishing equipment, kayaks, and our fishing

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-65568913712861251982009-04-18T19:09:00.005+03:002009-04-18T19:50:31.699+03:00

Hi, Pesach was here last week, to remind us that the spring is almost over, and the summer awaits at the door.Pesach is usually a holiday for fishermen - the fish prices are high due to high demands for fish at the dinners in holiday's eve. The full moon and spring time sends all the sea inhabitants to reproduce, and the sea is full with fish eggs, larvae and other plankton, and lots of fish that

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-58941283301921490972009-03-10T01:16:00.002+02:002009-03-10T01:20:37.571+02:00

Last weekend there was a real storm, and at last, nearly at the last minute before spring, there was enough rain in the north to flood the Jordan river.That Tuesday, the water reached 140 cms, x10 fold than it was a few days before.Shachar Arieli took pictures that day, and you can watch in his Picassa album.I had to wait patiently till the weekend, and at Thursday night I packed my gear, kayak,

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-55901144751436616402009-02-12T06:42:00.003+02:002009-02-12T06:42:56.533+02:00

Hi,This post will be short, as there isn't much to tell and the youtube will speak for itself.A tiny storm has passed us in the last couple of days, with some showers of rain after a long drought (but still not enough), as a bonus, the waves had grown to 3 and 4 meters high.Due to the high sea, the outing with Rami's club was canceled, so we set to meet in Hilton beach, where there's a wave

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-45046754676662685092009-01-23T00:28:00.002+02:002009-01-26T15:57:21.821+02:00

At last, the war in Gaza has ended (for now), and Ashkelon returned to be the nice, quiet, lovely town it is when rockets aren't falling from the sky.My friend Doron and I went spearfishing there today, to take advantage of the calm sea just before the wind changes and bring along waves.We arrived to the marina early morning, at dawn and dressed properly after almost freezing in the last

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-85992342946169150792008-11-30T21:19:00.001+02:002008-11-30T21:19:18.454+02:00

This morning I spent a couple of hours paddling alone and relaxing. I took a fishing rod, and paddled towards the buoys located just a mile to the west, where I had hopes to find some Dorado fish (they gather around the buoy).You can imagine my disappointment when I found out that the buoys where gone! Somebody stole them!I got closer and I saw the thieves in action, it was the electricity

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-25843042854996459362008-11-20T12:42:00.001+02:002008-11-20T12:42:17.254+02:00

Couple of days ago I went spearfishing at the shore near my house. The sea was amazing - smooth as a mirror and crystal clear (at least near the shore), as you can see the water color was turquoise, Caribbean style:I wouldn't listen to a good friend of mine and insisted to attach the camera to the speargun and "shoot" the fish while I shoot the fish. Unfortunately, I lost was distracted by the

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-59366604927582966582008-11-16T20:44:00.001+02:002008-11-16T20:44:33.340+02:00

Our kayak club, "Daniel rowing center" is located at the mouth of the Yarkon river in Tel Aviv, about 300m from the sea.Located at the heart of Israel`s urban center, the Yarkon often suffers from chemical and sewage pollutions, and is a potential health hazard. In 1997, during the Jewish Olympic games (Maccabia), more than a hundred athletes fell into the river when a bridge collapsed. The

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-32849161553270824452008-11-09T08:40:00.000+02:002008-11-09T08:44:21.828+02:00

My best friend Yossale and two other friends left yesterday for an ambitious quest - paddling along the Patagonian coast line from the peninsula Chiloe (Puerto Montt) to southern Patagonia (Puerto Natales).The journey should take approximately 2 months to accomplish during which they will face harsh weather, rough seas and will need all their paddling and survival skills.The journey will travel

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-77094977221663376052008-09-09T13:08:00.005+03:002008-11-30T21:14:46.938+02:00

This morning I spent a couple of hours to paddle alone and to relax. I took a fishing rod, and paddled towards the buoys just a mile to the west, where I had hopes to find some Dorado fish (they gather around the buoy).You can imagine my disappointment when I found out that the buoy where gone! Somebody stole them!I got closer and I saw the thieves in action, it was the electricity company's

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-66418652593659820562008-09-04T08:25:00.007+03:002008-09-09T16:02:41.328+03:00

Fall is coming, and with it promises for calm seas ideal for long trips and diving, meanwhile we enjoy the end of the summer with nice waves.Oded, Yoav, Noy and me spent a couple of hours surfing the waves, specially practicing surfing backwards.There were some cool moves, like Oded surfing backwards, getting his stern deep in the water, turning 180° and continue surfing forwards, or Yoav turning

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-15562633503467652522008-08-28T21:09:00.005+03:002008-08-28T21:28:36.270+03:00

Yesterday I made an adapter to mount my underwater camera to the new speargun.The adaptor is an aluminum arm, holding the camera case.I went diving to test it, the visibility was quite poor, and I didn't catch any fish, but a couple of trevallys came to visit (but didn't stay for lunch ;-)

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-88903045075908532142008-08-21T00:29:00.004+03:002008-08-21T13:20:00.535+03:00

Yesterday I managed to spare a few hours to test my new wooden speargun in the water.The sea was calm, but visibility was quite poor. I dove to a reef 8m deep, and ambushed visiting predators.The first nice fish to come was a Yellowmouth Barracuda, around 80cm long. it was swimming towards me, and I noticed it had a crank bait on its lip. I shot it from below, hitting right in the middle, and got

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-72048342140069162142008-08-20T00:23:00.007+03:002008-08-21T00:11:04.246+03:00

Today and yesterday we enjoyed a calm sea, after almost a month full of waves.The calm sea drew many kayakers to Rami Gil's club, and we took every kayak available, including the tandem kayak. Rami and Nava practiced eskimo roll with the tandem kayak: All the rest of us just enjoyed the beautiful day and the conditions were perfect to take some pictures:

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-79326617469868949902008-08-17T02:16:00.015+03:002008-08-17T03:37:45.142+03:00

Hi,I haven't posted in a while, being busy in quitting my job, looking for a new one, and specially working on my latest project - my first wooden speargun.I've been working on it for about 6 months, and I really love the result.It's made out of Teak wood, that was sliced into 5 strips and then glued back together in opposite directions, for added rigidity and to avoid warping of the wood.Then I

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-26694606560129904932008-06-10T12:04:00.016+03:002008-08-17T04:20:45.194+03:00

Hi,This weekend was Shavout holiday, also known as "Water Fest" in Israel. To celebrate it, my girlfriend Shira and I drove south to Eilat to spend the weekend near the Red Sea shores, diving and snorkling.We arrived at friday noon, and needed some time to rest from the drive, and to adjust to Eilat's hot climate...On Saturday morning we hired scuba equipment, and dove to the coral reserve.Shira

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3547932895185279399.post-17716886285438392782008-03-02T14:53:00.014+02:002008-08-17T16:12:04.505+03:00

About a month ago I gave a wedding gift to my friend Yariv, my spearfishing buddy - I took him to Eilat to take an AIDA free diving course.AIDA is a freediving association, which tries to make some order in this wonderfull, but dangerous sport. Our guide was Gad Levy, a great friend I've met when I worked at Eilat court's security.We arrived to Eilat on thursday evening after the 5 hours drive,

Ido Barhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09166985235176206938noreply@blogger.com2