Lake Mac, Matt, 14May11

Subject: Fishing Today - Sat 14th May
Date: Sun, 15 May 2011 10:39:30 +1000
From: Matt Reid

Nice one Kodaz!

Nothing much to report from my Lake MacDonald adventure. I was blown about the lake by some pretty strong wind gusts, making it fairly unpleasant when traversing the unsheltered areas. I trolled a 1/4oz spinner around the edges of the weed beds for a couple of hours, making the odd stop for few casts with a popper, but I didn't see anything but ravenous schools of guppies.

The sounder was showing a few deeper down, but they weren't interested.

Cheers!

Matt
Call sign: Gemini

Longtail first time, 14May11

Subject: Fishing Today - Sat 14th May
From: Jono Lomas
Date: 14/05/2011 5:28 PM

Hey Noosa Yakkers,

Launched today around 6:30 from MG with my brother in ideal launch conditions. We headed towards little Hall's and found there was barely any wind at all as long as we stayed within a km of the shore.

There was a lot of surface activity today beyond the river mouth; surface boils would stay around long enough to paddle to and there were plenty of birds about too.

I hooked and landed 2 mack tuna which were returned to the ocean but stand out catch went to my brother who hooked and landed a 10.8kg longtail; not bad given his first time out.

Probably got as far as mid-way to Halls and played around with the schools until 9:30, then headed back as the westerly was starting to pick up by then.

See you next time

Jono (kodaz)

big longtail, 11May11

Subject: Fishing Today 11/05/2011
From: "Jaro Cerny"
Date: 11/05/2011 3:38 PM

Hi Yakkers,

I arrived at MG at 5.45am to see that Eye Tag, Jeff, and Mike had already departed. I was greeted by a cloudless, beautiful, though coldish morning with a noticeable SW to westerly wind. However, the sea was very calm as the wind was essentially offshore. Getting out was no problem at all. I called Eye Tag to find that they were all heading for Halls Reef and so I set off after them arriving about 45 minutes later. They had as yet caught nothing. We all continued to drift, fishing for reefies with no real success except for my catching a number of sharks which I released.

After some time the others decided to troll for tuna towards the shore as there had been some seen jumping. I continued reef fishing and eventually gave up after catching my 7th shark. During this time Eye Tag had hooked onto a long tail tuna and eventually successfully landed it, a big one which he estimated it to be 12kg. He had caught it trolling a soft plastic.

I trolled over to where they (Eye Tag and Jeff... Mike had already headed for home) were. I then took a photo of Eye Tag and his tuna... and what a good specimen it was.

Ian (Eye Tag) with his longtail. Note the beautiful conditions on the water.

We continued trolling slowly back to MG without any further success and we all landed onshore without any incident.

Result: Ian 1 tuna, 2 sharks and one undersize snapper.
Myself, 7 sharks and one undersize snapper.
Jeff and Mike, I think had a fishless day.
Thanks for coming guys.

Jaro
Noosa Yakkers Coordinator
Viking Pro Fish 45
Call Sign Jaro
http://noosayakkers.blogspot.com

HR grassies, 09May11

Contributions, in sequence: pedro, eyetag

Subject: today's fishing
From: Pete
Date: 9/05/2011 4:20 PM

Ian and I met at the car park, pre-dawn, easy launch in light rain and calm conditions.

We headed north to HR where Ian had caught his Sweetlip the day before in the stink boat...

We had an enjoyable time battling an unpredicted cold wet southerly that sprung up. I found I could pedal & steer my Hobie nose into the wind to keep the bait underneath me.

Using this tactic and some prawn for bait I landed 8 sweeties, throwing back 3 undersize.

It was worth the effort, a nice change from Tuna.

Pedro


Email from Ian:
::::::::

Hi all
Not much to add except that I got 4 Grassies and 2 Squire, keeping 2 Grassies and a Squire.

Sorry I don't have photos. Peter was right about the fact that we had fun in the unpredicted Southerly but it was worth it.

Ian
call sign;eye tag

More longtails, 08May11

Contributions, in sequence: richmond (Jeff), jimbo, sunshiner

:::::
Subject: today's fishing 08 May 2011
From: "Jeff"
Date: 8/05/2011 4:12 PM

Hi Hookers,

We were met with beautiful conditions today, very light winds and a glassy sea.

I met Kodaz in the car park where I told him I was going to fish Little Halls in close.

He had decided to head to Jew Shoal along with the other yaks who had decided on that destination today.

Things were pretty quiet, there were sporadic bust ups here and there but nothing very significant. Whilst on LH I had a radio call from Maverick and EyeTag on Stu's stinky. They said there was a little action in close behind the breakers at the first cutting where they were fishing.

I trolled in to investigate. Typically, the action had seemed to disappear. I had been trolling a Rapala CD 12 in a slimey mackerel colour around for hours without a touch and my spin rod had yet to have a cast!

After a couple of hours the boys out at JS decided to come to LH. When they arrived the action seemed to pick up a bit in close behind the surf line. Kodaz was the first to hook up. He landed and released a nice Mack Tuna.

I finally had a chance to throw my slice at a few random bustups. With my yak still gliding along and my trolled CD 12 still out the back it got smashed! I knew this fish was not a MT, it had far too much weight to it.

At about this time Jimbo radioed that he was hooked up also. Anyway, after about a 30 minute battle I land a 102cm Longie. Geez they fight hard, fight to the death. I tail grabbed him and stowed him for the trip home as I'd had enough. Beautiful conditions, safe landing, I had a great day even though the action was pretty slow. What more could you ask for?

Jeff.





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Subject: fishing today - 08May11
From: "Jim Thompson"
Date: 8/05/2011 5:07 PM

Hi Yakkers,

Not much to add to Jeff’s and Sunshiner's reports .....

Harry (Hollywood) was also amongst the participants this morning. He mentioned he was without his radio as it is still with Andrews Communications being repaired (been waiting 10 weeks to get a part). Harry also reported he landed about five "standard sized" sharks, presumably at Little Halls. Stu Denissen (Maverick) and Ian Tagg (EyeTag) were also slumming around Laguna Bay in a stink boat with a female person on board, saying the reason for being in a stink boat was something to do with Mother's Day which didn't make any sense to me. They reported about mid morning from south of Halls Rf they had landed about nine sweetlip and a number of sharks between them.

With the exception of Richmond who headed for Lt Halls, all the other yakkers initially headed for Jew Sh. However, it was very quiet there with no-one even registering a bite, and Kodaz reporting he was not seeing any bait fish on his sounder. There was also a cool westerly breeze setting up an annoying wind chop. About 7.30 Richmond reported a few minor bust-ups occurring at Lt Halls (which later turned out to be mac tuna), and gradually all the yakkers started heading for Lt Halls, except for Jaro and his Czech friends who were still getting used to the phenomenon of kayak fishing. Jaro later reporting boating two undersized snapper which he released.

On arrival at Lt Halls the breeze had dropped right down and it had clouded over, with just a slow S>N current flowing, ie, ideal conditions. However, the snapper and sweetlip, if they were there, weren't hungry. At around 0830 I counted six NYs all within about 500m of each other with absolutely nothing happening. Eventually Richmond and Kodaz reported some bust ups occurring closer inshore, with Kodaz reporting the landing and release of a mac tuna. At this point Jackson, Carlo (I think) and I reset our HB lures and started heading in that direction. I had only gone about 200m when my Rapala HB got smashed. I picked this fish for a longtail but was surprised when it came in quite quickly, about 10 minutes, but played it around the yak for another 5 minutes as it was still too "green" to bring on board. While doing this Richmond reported he was also hooked up and having quite a battle. Long story short, Richmond eventually landed his longtail, no-one else hooked anything else, and we were all heading back in by 0930 in wonderfully calm conditions.

The beach landing was relatively easy but the sand bar that now extends practically all the way to the end of the groyne creates an annoying shore break, and Sunshiner was there with his camera eagerly waiting to film anyone who should come to grief, as Kodaz found out (see pic below).

Very slow fishing but a great morning. Great to have your company this morning, Jackson, hopefully this will be the start of many (more profitable) NY fishing trips for you. I can just about guarantee to all NY that conditions are about to improve markedly as I am about to go overseas for five weeks. Please leave a few fish for when I return.

Cheers,
Jimbo

:::::::::
Subject:
some pics from fishing today - 08May11
From:
sunshiner
Date:
8/05/2011 12:08 PM

Participants: Jimbo, Jackson (first trip), Richmond, Carlo, Kodaz, Jaro (with two young friends from Czech Republic), Hollywood

I'm looking after overseas visitors for a few days so was unable to participate today. Conditions were exactly as forecast on Seabreeze, ie perfect, but I did get a break from my duties to allow me to wander down to MG around 0945 to find out whether any NYs were heading in. Richmond responded quickly to my radio call and so I hung around for an hour or so while the yaks trickled in. Took some pics, so here we go.



Richmond powers in, determined to beat the shore break, which he did, successfully

Richmond had a nice big longtail aboard, taken on a trolled hard bodied lure



Above, Kodaz seems to be going OK, then... see below
Below, No real harm done but MG claimed yet another pair of sunnies.

Above, a smiling Jackson closely follows Jimbo in

Jimbo with yet another longtail

Jackson got to shore OK, but as soon as he tried to get out of the yak, he suffered the "weak legs" syndrome, as often happens, and immediately took an involuntary bath. The above pic taken after he'd removed his soaked shirt and other stuff.

Jaro and his two guests were still out at JS when I left the beach for home but they were having fun in beautiful conditions, despite having no keepers at that time.

Kev
Red & white Stealth Supalite, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://www.noosayakkers.blogspot.com/

All sorts, and surf, 03May11

Contributions, in sequence: sunshiner, bill, eyetag, pedro

Subject: fishing today -- 3may11
From: sunshiner
Date: 3/05/2011 1:23 PM

Weather
Cloud cover: cloudly early, becoming clear
Wind direction & speed: light and variable, glassing out completely by 0800
Sea state: pretty big swell from just south of east

Participants: Mike Wykes (first trip); jaro, eyetag, pedro, sunshiner and Bill Barnett

Eyetag and Pedro's trolley tracks on the beach had been made maybe an hour earlier. They led to the usual left side where there was today no channel and a build up of the sandbank. Mike, Jaro and I had checked it out and deemed it doable with care and timing. Every now and again a set of three dumpers was arriving at the end of the groyne but we reckoned we could do it OK.

0605hrs. See how shallow it is and the lack of a channel. Boardriders waiting for the biggies. Jaro's trying to time it so that he misses them.

And so we did, all three of us got out OK, with jaro having a dream run -- didn't even get water over the bow. I got a little damp from a wave that broke just before I got to it.

Having found out from eyetag and pedro by radio that there was not much happening out at Little Hall's Reef, we decided to head for Jew Shoal and so set out, once or twice passing signs of fish action, but nothing worth putting in the Trip Report.

On arrival at JS we found we had a gentle SW breeze and a big swell. We all opted to drift for snapper, with Jaro selecting baits and Mike and I deciding to go for soft plastics.

Things were seriously quiet even though the water was clean. But, our Kiwi member Mike came up with a nice snapper on this his first trip out to Jew Shoal.

Mike with snapper for dinner

Jaro and I remained fishless and at some stage eyetag called up to report the catch of yet another longtail. Mike had to start work at 1130 so he headed off to MG while Jaro and I, partly out of boredom, decided to paddle the 3.4km across to LH Reef. It was a great trip, on glassy seas with the swell up our tails and the breakers showing starkly against the north shore. At LH Reef there were a few signs of fish activity, but again nothing significant so after about an hour there I decided to head home. Jaro decided to follow close behind me.

The only sign of decent fish I spotted on the way back was when a 10kg plus longtail cleared the water in an arcing leap about 20m away on my port bow.

The closer we got to MG the more menacing the swell looked. I pulled up to stow my gear and was appalled at the size of some of the waves hitting the end of the groyne. But it was clear that there were sufficient gaps of small waves between the sets. All Jaro and I had to do was time it right.

And so we did. I went first and got the end of a nice little wave that the Stealth rode with style all the way in to the beach. I looked back and could see that Jaro was still de-rigging so waded (yes, it's that shallow) out to near the end of the groyne and propped myself up against a rock with the camera, hoping to record a video of Jaro stacking it spectacularly, as the potential was certainly there if his timing was off.

Jaro waiting outside the break.

As he often does, however, Jaro timed it perfectly, cruising through without even getting his knees wet. One of these days I'm going to record another "Jaro's Epic Ride", but not today.

Later, on the beach, he confirmed that he'd taken extra precautions to protect his gear as he wasn't totally confident that he could time it so well.

After we'd returned to our cars I found a note on my windscreen. It was Bill Barnett's Trip Report. So I've included it here. Hope Bill tells us about it his wipeout...


Thanks for coming along guys. Looks good for more days this week.

Kev
Red & white Stealth Supalite, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://www.noosayakkers.blogspot.com/

Contribution from Ian
:::::::
Subject: fishing today -- 3may11
From: "Ian"
Date: 3/05/2011 6:20 PM

Hi all,

Not much to report. Peter(Pedro) and I had a good launch getting lucky in the dark.

Peter rigging up after launching

A PB for Bream on Halls Reef

Like Sunshiner said I got a Longtail about 1km from Halls. Peter and I fished HR for a good 3 hours for 1 small Bream, 1 Red Scorpion Cod and 12 Sharks. When we decided to head in we hugged the coastline.

Peter chased some bust ups and I kept paddling home then almost as soon as we separated my Jaro special went off again and I landed another Longtail. Peter kept this one and may supply a photo.

With great disgust I must report that the Shorey got me. Nothing lost or damaged just my pride.



Ian
call sign;eye tag

Contribution from pedro
:::::::
Hi All,

Sorry Ian

But in my rush to finally fillet the longtail before the storm hit last night I forgot to take photo.

Thanks for the company and the fish yesterday Ian.

A note to hookers that the only time my sounder showed plenty of large fish was along the coffee rock behind the breakers.

Ian, I wonder if picking up the ice breaker was a message from Huey?

Two longtails, 02May11

Subject: Fishing today -- 2nd May 2011
From: "Ian"
Date: 2/05/2011 3:56 PM

Weather
Cloud cover: cloudless.
Wind direction & speed: Variable Cloud cover: cloudless.
Wind direction & speed: Variable 3 knots
Sea state: 3-4 foot S/SE swell
Current: at LH Reef non existant
Participants: eye tag

Hi Yakkers, The launch today wasn't difficult as long as you waited for a lull between sets, which were quite lengthy. After getting clear of the break I first took a photo then deployed my Jaro special and headed for the RM. Things were quiet with only a few birds that were heading in the same direction as I was. This can't be a bad thing I thought.

Just before sunrise looking East from MG

After crossing the RM the odd bust up started to appear. Then I had one right beside me so I cast a slug and hooked up and after a 20 minute battle had a Longtail on my lap. After stowing him I continued trolling chasing bust ups and after about 50,000 casts I'd landed 4 small Mack Tuna.

Trying to pick the difference between schools I finally got one right and landed another Longtail just as Stu and Le Roux came along in Stu's stink boat(a nice one at that).

The boat on the left is Stu with Le Roux,the other is a 10 foot inflatable (sorry about the distance)

With tired arms I decided to head in with a return free from mishap.

11kg Longtail taken on a 30 gram slug (I dropped the other 9.5kg fish off to a friend on the way home and didn't get a photo)

As I was washing the yak the swell seemed to swing around more to the East (as predicted) which could make things interesting tomorrow.

The Longtail bust ups tended to be single fish and casting near the bust up proved successful and all my fish were hooked with a slowish retrieve rather than a fast one. I've now trolled a Jaro special around for 10 hours over 4 trips and haven't had a touch. Maybe it's lost its Mojo.

Ian
call sign;eye tag