Subject: fishing today -- 06jun09
Date: Saturday, 6 June 2009 3:22 PM
Fantastic weather today -- light winds, almost cloudless sky. But things were quiet out at Jew Shoal.
Four or us went today -- Brian launched about 0600, Jaro about 0645, I at 0655 and Steve around 0800 (I think). Here's what it looked like when I launched.
0655. The occasional breaker was still lurking, but generally it was dead easy.
By the time I'd got out to the shoal at around 0740 Brian had already bagged a 48cm snapper. The light SW had just enough strength to get a nice drift going and we three all fished the same general area as the last trip.
At around 0815 a dive boat anchored up right in the middle of our drift line and I happened to be within about 50m of it when it arrived. A quite nice snapper chose this moment to seize my soft plastic so I played this fish out while the occupants of the dive boat stared in disbelief. This was a quite nice snapper -- probably about 42cm, but not really big enough to use the gaff on, so I decided to casually pick it up by the jig head. Big mistake -- it was only just lip hooked and the hook broke free of the skin and the snapper returned free to the ocean.
The fishing wasn't exactly red hot but the weather was glorious and soon the capture of a legal sweetlip at least gave me one to put in the fishbox.
0836. Grass sweetlip -- delicious and just big enough to provide the basis of a meal for Mary and me.
A short time later, 0900, in fact, my soft plastic took a thump and a powerful fish tore line off the reel against the drag briefly before the fight was ended abruptly by a bite-off. Probably a snapper whose big front teeth had luckily managed to crush and break the tensioned line -- a rare but occasional event in my experience. Just as I was bemoaning my loss I heard Brian nearby yell out that he was hooked up to a decent fish. I immediately paddled over with the camera.
He'd hooked a small shark and I got there in time to catch the last part of the fight on video. Rather than gaff the shark Brian opted to grab it by the tail.
0903. Brian plucks his shark (80cm) which then started to kick up a fuss. (Still from video). He kept it to convert to flake. [Note: From 01Jul09 the Qld bag limit for sharks is 1 only, and it must be 1.5m long or less. GWS and some other sharks are not permitted to be taken.]
I caught a few little reefies and an undersize snapper over the next hour or so but there was little to encourage us to stay much longer as the wind dropped and the sea started to glass off. Brian caught a second shark, larger than the first and opted not to bring it onto the yak, releasing it while it was still in the water. This pic of Brian kneeling, facing backward in his yak will give you an idea of how glassy the situation out there was this morning.
1001hrs. Brian demonstrates the stability of his Heritage Redfin yak in the glassy conditions, Mount Cooroy prominent in the background. (Still from video).
By 1100 Brian had already left for he had a plane to catch to Melbourne and Jaro, Steve and I opted to head back even though we had only one keeper, and a small one at that, between the three of us. The trip back was undertaken in idyllic conditions and finished with a flourish when we all caught small waves to surf in to the beach, one of us sideways but at least upright. A beautiful morning, despite the dearth of take-home fish. Thanks for coming along guys.
Over to you Jaro, to organize the next trip.
Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
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