By Paul Lebowitz

Here it is June. With yellowtail popping lately at La Jolla and the islands, its time to break out the surface trolling gear, jig up some mackerel, and get your fish on.

Of course there’s often a snag - or at least the chance of one. If you’re anywhere near the kelp - in tight to the weed line or dragging live mackerel tantalizingly just above submerged stringers – you’re living dangerously.

Hook a powerful fish and you’re at its mercy. Any but the smallest yellowtail is in the driver’s seat. If it’s a kelp seeking missile (they usually are), in nothing flat that fork-tailed motor will tow a kayak straight into the jungle. With mono, it’s a recipe for trouble.

Savvy kayakers have an answer in the kelp cutter rig. Simple stuff really, just your normal big game outfit (for kayakers, the 20 to 40-lb heavy artillery), but spooled up with braid such as Tuf Line from Western Filament. 65-lb string offers a good balance of strength and small diameter. Add a rod’s length of no-see-‘um fluorocarbon leader and you’re good to go.

It’s not exactly a buzz saw, but oh the feeling when a fish wraps itself. Pour on the tension, and then if all goes right savor the “pop, pop, pop!” as the line lasers through the stringers. Sink the gaff and break out the soy sauce.

Ok, this isn’t fairy tale land where a happy ending is guaranteed. As with anything in fishing, there’s a trade-off for the beneficial kelp-cutting action. Spectra line is unforgiving stuff, with none of the stretch of mono. The fluorocarbon doesn’t flex much either. The combo creates a herky-jerky fight. Pulling the hook is a real danger, particularly with soft-mouthed fish such as white seabass.

Why not whip out a noodle then? Something nice and parabolic that’ll eat up the surges? It works well enough for jigging rods designed for braided lines. Sticks in the mold of Shimano’s popular Trevala rainbow right down to the handle.

Unfortunately a truly whippy stick literally won’t cut it – it’s shy the necessary backbone to saw quickly and confidently through the kelp. Accordingly, many kayakers opt to convert the same rods they’d use for trolling live baits with mono, traditional sticks with substantial lifting power in the butt sections.

As far as that goes, rods with a more moderate action are preferable because they even out some of the braid-induced bumps. Good old fashioned glass seems to perform better in this role than graphite or many of the fast taper composites. Those often shut down too fast. As far as I can determine, no manufacturer is cranking out rods specifically designed to fish braid around the kelp, leaving the angler to balance the pros and cons of any particular model. There’s always a compromise.

Recently I retired a cheap off-brand fiberglass rod I’d used for as my kelp cutter trolling rig. That thing was heavy and crude. When I looked around for a replacement, I discovered Calstar’s new BTG blanks and GG factory rods. They were just hitting the market during this year’s Fred Hall shows. According to the company’s John Cameron, the GGs were designed to provide actions consistent with fiberglass, yet retain graphite’s many benefits.

These new blanks have a strip of graphite inside running from tip to butt, and less glass in butt section where the change doesn’t affect the action. The resulting rod weighs about 20 percent less than a comparable all-glass model. Cameron said company pull tests show the graphite in the GG 870 produces from 15 to 18 percent more pulling power than the fiberglass 870.

TIME TO ‘BRAID UP’ FOR ‘TAILS – In late May yellowtail started to pop at La Jolla and the islands, meaning its time to switch up and fish the surface. Typically, kayakers slow troll live mackerel caught on the spot, often fishing in dangerous proximity to kelp. To reduce the number of fish lost to the weeds, many kayakers swap the mono for the braided line of a kelp cutter rig. The pictured kelp-seeking missile isn’t a fan.

A CUSTOM KAYAK RIG – Due to our ‘sit-down’ fishing style, average every-day rods don’t always cut it. An ideal kayak fishing stick comes with extra floatation for those ‘oops’ moments, is built of tough materials, has a shortened butt section for ease of handling, and enough reach to get around the bow. Pictured, the author’s Calstar BTG870 kelp cutter rig, built by custom kayak rod builder Erik Kunz of Kunz Reel Rods.

SALVAGED FROM A KELPY SNARE – A kelp cutter rig is a ticket back from the brink of a lost-fish disaster. Kayakers need this fall-back because we can’t put much pressure on a charging fish. They’ll tow a light-weight ‘yak right into the weeds. Saw them out with Spectra, just like the pictured Yellow Banks ‘tail. It found a deep set of stringers but wasn’t wrapped for long. PHOTO COURTESY RANDY JANUSH

“Graphite is always pulling on a fish, trying to straighten out,” Cameron added.

As a bonus, with an 80-20 glass / graphite split, the GGs are durable and strong. Although Cameron always discourages high-sticking a rod, this model is well suited for kayak fishing. For us, high-sticking is sometimes impossible to avoid when landing fish.

“You should see how we test every blank. We pull them straight over and turn them. You’d cringe,” Cameron said.

I entrusted my new BTG870 kelp cutter to custom rod builder Erik Kunz of Kunz’s Reel Rods. The man lives and breathes kayak fishing, so he’s well attuned to the many considerations that can turn an ordinary boat stick into a precision kayak weapon. He turns out beautiful work too, genuine functional art.

I put the finished product to the test during mid-May’s Qualifier 105 Northern Baja 3-day mothership. Although water conditions were off and powerful pelagics nowhere to be found, I put a few bends in it and came away impressed. The rod shuts down about a third of the way from the tip, leaving plenty of lever for lifting a stubborn ‘tail or chopping through the weeds. At the same time, it’s slow enough to provide ample shock absorption and reduce the chances of losing a hard-charging fish. Although only hanging a good one will tell the tale, the Calstar BTG / GG 870 looks like a superior stick for the kelp cutter application.