projoe

How much kayak fishing and ocean kayaking experience do you have? What Kayak?
It can be pretty big water out there. You would want to pick your day and be experienced in deep water reentry and surf launching.
 
Coorong is much easier and more sheltered for the yak.

I have some old braid and mono that I keep to practice knots with and while trying the knots mentioned in this thread, I also decided to tie a couple of line to leaders using the surgeons knot. I tied a few 3 turn and few 6 turn knots. I forgot what a good knot this is. Very quick and easy to tie, which raises the issue of repeatability. The best knot is often the knot "you" can repeatedly tie correctly. This is why the surgeons knot is such a good line to leader knot. If you can tie an overhand knot, you can tie a reliable surgeons knot.

Great advice / info MAH.
And yes, slithers of Gar flesh do work - just need to catch one Gar to get those slithers though lol
Red meat slithers, like chicken slithers, are also another alternative that I have had success with.  
(Now some may say 'can't use meat/chicken' - well as slithers it is all ok and given the ok by Fishery guys/girls walking the planks)

About 3 decades ago when i used bait to catch a few fish for a meal or 2 in my boat i would look out local for snapper, salmon, drummer or some fish with a drag pulling capacity. Once i had caught a couple of these species I would move on to the appetisers like gar, tommies, or even a couple of good sized leatheries.
Now for the garfish as i always had some pilchards left i would carefully fillet a couple of half frozen pillies & cut them in long slivers appox 40mm & about 5mm wide these would be carefully put on a size 8 longshank gamakatsu or diiachi hook with a half hitch holding the top of the bait & with a nice slow action 2kg rod & small spinning reel with 2kg line i would cast this unweighted morsel into the berley stream i had running out of the muncher on the back of the boat made of bread & a few pillies. If the garfish were a bit shy i would  stoop to dipping the end of the bait in a tiny bit of tuna oil & would slowly very slowly retrieve the bait back this generally got them biting & the larger gar were bloody good fun on this gear. Flyfishing for the gar on trout 4 weight gear with a maggot fly of my own design worked a real treat retrieved in the same fashion as above but thats another story for later.

About 3 decades ago when i used bait to catch a few fish for a meal or 2 in my boat i would look out local for snapper, salmon, drummer or some fish with a drag pulling capacity. Once i had caught a couple of these species I would move on to the appetisers like gar, tommies, or even a couple of good sized leatheries.
Now for the garfish as i always had some pilchards left i would carefully fillet a couple of half frozen pillies & cut them in long slivers appox 40mm & about 5mm wide these would be carefully put on a size 8 longshank gamakatsu or diiachi hook with a half hitch holding the top of the bait & with a nice slow action 2kg rod & small spinning reel with 2kg line i would cast this unweighted morsel into the berley stream i had running out of the muncher on the back of the boat made of bread & a few pillies. If the garfish were a bit shy i would  stoop to dipping the end of the bait in a tiny bit of tuna oil & would slowly very slowly retrieve the bait back this generally got them biting & the larger gar were bloody good fun on this gear. Flyfishing for the gar on trout 4 weight gear with a maggot fly of my own design worked a real treat retrieved in the same fashion as above but thats another story for later.

About 3 decades ago when i used bait to catch a few fish for a meal or 2 in my boat i would look out local for snapper, salmon, drummer or some fish with a drag pulling capacity. Once i had caught a couple of these species I would move on to the appetisers like gar, tommies, or even a couple of good sized leatheries.
Now for the garfish as i always had some pilchards left i would carefully fillet a couple of half frozen pillies & cut them in long slivers appox 40mm & about 5mm wide these would be carefully put on a size 8 longshank gamakatsu or diiachi hook with a half hitch holding the top of the bait & with a nice slow action 2kg rod & small spinning reel with 2kg line i would cast this unweighted morsel into the berley stream i had running out of the muncher on the back of the boat made of bread & a few pillies. If the garfish were a bit shy i would  stoop to dipping the end of the bait in a tiny bit of tuna oil & would slowly very slowly retrieve the bait back this generally got them biting & the larger gar were bloody good fun on this gear. Flyfishing for the gar on trout 4 weight gear with a maggot fly of my own design worked a real treat retrieved in the same fashion as above but thats another story for later.

"Slivers of Garfish
I've never tried this, but I've heard good reports of taking a few slivers off the first garfish you catch and using this as bait. This is suggested as a way to mix up your bait if the garfish are being timid".
Yep this works. Also dip into their green poop - with all baits. Slivers off pilchard woks great as well. The rubber gents also work. Also slivers off cockles & cheese. A touch of aniseed can stir them up. 
Also when timid, no float. Just hook & bait at the back of boat drifting naturally with the current.

Add in tiny bits of prawn, over the last year or so and after a reasonable amount of side by side comparison I've come to the conclusion that our gar in both gulfs probably prefer the prawn more than anything else, barely touch squid, okish on cockle flesh, certainly like gents but if I had to catch one to save my life 2 years ago I'd have said "I'll use gents thanks" but now it's prawn, which kind of makes sense given the previous post on diet since prawns are kind of giant versions of their natural, non salad based, diet.

A common principle of fishing is to try and match the hatch, or in other words, use bait that is the same or similar to the target fish diet; but considering the primary dietary components of southern garfish are seagrasses of the family Zosteraceae and planktonic amphipods, it's not really possible.
Instead, generations of fishos have used substitute baits for southern garfish including;
maggots bread chicken slivers of garfish Which bait to use seems to be a personal preference (I stick with maggots and chicken).
Maggots
Maggots are probably the most common bait used for southern garfish. Apart from the "yuk" factor at the thought of maggots, they are a great bait to have on hand, they don't, smell, they last for months in the fridge and you get a tub of approx 350 maggots for $6-$8. When fishing maggots, they also stay on the hook well and it takes quite a few bites before you need to re-bait.
Bread
Cheap! Readily available. Can be used both as bait and soaked in water for burley. If you have non-fishing partner, they will not complain about bread in the house (as opposed to a tub of maggots). Downside to bread is you need to re-bait more regularly.
Chicken
It was an old timer on Largs Pier that taught me about chicken for garfish (he also fished off the bottom, not under a float). He used chicken breast, so I have always used chicken breast. Once you have bought the chicken, put into the freezer. When you want to go fishing take it out before, let it partially defrost, so it makes easier to cut even thin slices. I like to take these slices and pat dry with paper towel, to remove as much moisture as possible (the more moisture you remove, the firm it will be and it will stay on the hook better). Next, take the slices and cut them into small slithers ready for your hooks, then put in a container with some breadcrumbs (the breadcrumbs absorb more water and add to the burley trail when fishing). Sometimes I will put some tuna oil on the slithers before adding to breadcrumbs. This is a great bait to have on hand, it's cheap, readily available, you can keep it in the freezer and not yuk out anyone else in the house.
Slivers of Garfish
I've never tried this, but I've heard good reports of taking a few slivers off the first garfish you catch and using this as bait. This is suggested as a way to mix up your bait if the garfish are being timid.

About 3 decades ago when i used bait to catch a few fish for a meal or 2 in my boat i would look out local for snapper, salmon, drummer or some fish with a drag pulling capacity. Once i had caught a couple of these species I would move on to the appetisers like gar, tommies, or even a couple of good sized leatheries.
Now for the garfish as i always had some pilchards left i would carefully fillet a couple of half frozen pillies & cut them in long slivers appox 40mm & about 5mm wide these would be carefully put on a size 8 longshank gamakatsu or diiachi hook with a half hitch holding the top of the bait & with a nice slow action 2kg rod & small spinning reel with 2kg line i would cast this unweighted morsel into the berley stream i had running out of the muncher on the back of the boat made of bread & a few pillies. If the garfish were a bit shy i would  stoop to dipping the end of the bait in a tiny bit of tuna oil & would slowly very slowly retrieve the bait back this generally got them biting & the larger gar were bloody good fun on this gear. Flyfishing for the gar on trout 4 weight gear with a maggot fly of my own design worked a real treat retrieved in the same fashion as above but thats another story for later.

They are one of my favorite & most successful lures for deep water use in my boat when chasing bream & schoolies.  they are very good snag detectors & i've had a few find new homes in the onka when fishing them from the bank & tend to stick to hards & softs in there these days. 
my most successful method of use was a good long cast but you need to just feather the last bit of the cast to make the lure lands with out tangling up i'll let the lure sink to the bottom & even let it sit there for a few second have had bream pick them up on the first cast. after a few seconds i give the the rod a sharp upward lift you will feel the blade vibe then let it drop be ready tho bream will quite often hit on the drop.
ive dropped in a couple of photos of some of the many bream ive caught on vibes over the years. cop the fatty in the 3rd pic gave me a reel tussel to get him out of 10 metres of water.

Just to keep the juices going ive put up some more picks of other species that have taken a liking to the vibe/blade
 
 

Ok trip one using a blade thought I’d try the Pat . Not a good idea in winter and yes I knew that from years of going there . Besides landing bucket loads of weed what did I learn . It’s slightly like using a plastic . Now it’s tiny weighs 4 grams the weight size of a 65 mm DC so it casts well . Tomorrow all being good I’ll try around west lakes . The vibration feels strange but I’ll get used to it .

Just to keep the juices going ive put up some more picks of other species that have taken a liking to the vibe/blade
 
 

They are one of my favorite & most successful lures for deep water use in my boat when chasing bream & schoolies.  they are very good snag detectors & i've had a few find new homes in the onka when fishing them from the bank & tend to stick to hards & softs in there these days. 
my most successful method of use was a good long cast but you need to just feather the last bit of the cast to make the lure lands with out tangling up i'll let the lure sink to the bottom & even let it sit there for a few second have had bream pick them up on the first cast. after a few seconds i give the the rod a sharp upward lift you will feel the blade vibe then let it drop be ready tho bream will quite often hit on the drop.
ive dropped in a couple of photos of some of the many bream ive caught on vibes over the years. cop the fatty in the 3rd pic gave me a reel tussel to get him out of 10 metres of water.

Just to keep the juices going ive put up some more picks of other species that have taken a liking to the vibe/blade
 
 

They are one of my favorite & most successful lures for deep water use in my boat when chasing bream & schoolies.  they are very good snag detectors & i've had a few find new homes in the onka when fishing them from the bank & tend to stick to hards & softs in there these days. 
my most successful method of use was a good long cast but you need to just feather the last bit of the cast to make the lure lands with out tangling up i'll let the lure sink to the bottom & even let it sit there for a few second have had bream pick them up on the first cast. after a few seconds i give the the rod a sharp upward lift you will feel the blade vibe then let it drop be ready tho bream will quite often hit on the drop.
ive dropped in a couple of photos of some of the many bream ive caught on vibes over the years. cop the fatty in the 3rd pic gave me a reel tussel to get him out of 10 metres of water.

Just to keep the juices going ive put up some more picks of other species that have taken a liking to the vibe/blade
 
 

They are one of my favorite & most successful lures for deep water use in my boat when chasing bream & schoolies.  they are very good snag detectors & i've had a few find new homes in the onka when fishing them from the bank & tend to stick to hards & softs in there these days. 
my most successful method of use was a good long cast but you need to just feather the last bit of the cast to make the lure lands with out tangling up i'll let the lure sink to the bottom & even let it sit there for a few second have had bream pick them up on the first cast. after a few seconds i give the the rod a sharp upward lift you will feel the blade vibe then let it drop be ready tho bream will quite often hit on the drop.
ive dropped in a couple of photos of some of the many bream ive caught on vibes over the years. cop the fatty in the 3rd pic gave me a reel tussel to get him out of 10 metres of water.

Just to keep the juices going ive put up some more picks of other species that have taken a liking to the vibe/blade
 
 

They are one of my favorite & most successful lures for deep water use in my boat when chasing bream & schoolies.  they are very good snag detectors & i've had a few find new homes in the onka when fishing them from the bank & tend to stick to hards & softs in there these days. 
my most successful method of use was a good long cast but you need to just feather the last bit of the cast to make the lure lands with out tangling up i'll let the lure sink to the bottom & even let it sit there for a few second have had bream pick them up on the first cast. after a few seconds i give the the rod a sharp upward lift you will feel the blade vibe then let it drop be ready tho bream will quite often hit on the drop.
ive dropped in a couple of photos of some of the many bream ive caught on vibes over the years. cop the fatty in the 3rd pic gave me a reel tussel to get him out of 10 metres of water.

Just to keep the juices going ive put up some more picks of other species that have taken a liking to the vibe/blade
 
 

if you use the the split ring on the tow eye of the lure that could be your problem i have found a lot of these split rings have sharp edges on the end of the wire the line of the knot slips into or is located at that point & will break off i have had it happen to me in the past all my lures now have no split ring on the tow eye & are now tied straight to the lures tow eye with a loop knot

always take em off, tie or clip the go straight to nose or bib loop
 

if your launching at the new ramp with the pontoons & stay with in the channel markers there should not be any problems remember tho its 7 knots speed limit