LB foray, 21Jun12

TR by Tiberium

G'day yakkers

Sorry for not writing this on the day we went out but just didn't get to it till now.

Woke up at 5am on Thursday (had the day off school) feeling really excited for it being my first time EVER on the ocean. I got down to the beach at 5:45 being early with no one there yet and started to rig up the yak while watching the sunrise.


My mate Carlton got there at 6 but there was supposed to be one more person coming so we waited for 30 minutes not knowing he wasn't coming anymore. Should have looked at the emails before bed.

I'm the one next to the Profish and that's Carlton with his aircraft carrier

Launching

6:30 Carlton and I launched heading to Little Hall's hoping for some reefies for dinner and maybe some mackerel or tuna because we heard there had been some action with the pelagics that week so we trolled all the way there. We got closer to Little Halls and saw a lot of bust ups in the distance but when we got close to them saw it was only dolphins.

With the wind picking up to 10 knots and not getting anything from Little Halls we headed to Jew Shoal. On the way there we saw a massive bust up not far from the shore that went on for 15 minutes or so and of cause we had to be too far from it so we didn't bother with it (now I wish we did).

Coming onto Jew Shoal

At Jew Shoal we threw out the sea anchor and drifted some pilchards. We sat there for half an hour still with no hook ups only some bites and then, getting hungry, we decided to call it a day and took off to Tea-tree Bay for some lunch.

Tea-tree Bay

After lunch we thought “Why not give the river a go?” To make a long story short, no fish again.

I had a lot fun and I think I'm getting the grasp of why people love kayak fishing. Of cause catching fish is the main thing but the beauty you see from the yak and where the yak will take you, getting some exercise, meeting new people, having fun with a mate and much more are all important. All up we got nothing but I had fun and can’t wait for next time I go out.

Cheers

Tiberium

Glassy at Halls. 20Jun12


TR by sunshiner with contribution by pedro at end

Wind: gentle SW then NW, see pic
Swell: tiny easterly
Current: at Halls Reef, toward the north, about 1kph
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: pedro, richmond, barry (friend of richmond), turtleboy, eli, sunshiner

Even though recent close inshore fishing reports left little room for optimism regarding fishing, the weather today was so good for an offshore paddle that six of us showed up. I was the last to arrive at Middle Groyne carpark, at around 06:30, to find turtleboy prepping his yak. He and I hit the beach a few minutes later and could see Eli paddling off toward the north. Pedro, richmond and barry had left earlier.

Our destination, Halls Reef, is 5 km away in the direction of the high ground at centre right.

Soon turtleboy and I were in contact by radio with richmond and pedro at Halls who informed us that they’d seen no action and had boated no fish at that time. Bummer, but not unexpected.

We still opted to go for Halls Reef mainly because we couldn’t think of any other option which hadn’t been tried lately. The water was noticeably cleaner than on Sunday when I’d last launched here so that bodes well for the near future, as long as we have no more extreme weather.

All the way to Halls Reef we sighted brief isolated splashes caused by bonito or little mac tuna, but no large scale bustups. I trolled my HLP all the way without result and about an hour after leaving Middle Groyne we were in the company of pedro and co, less Eli who could soon be sighted approaching us from the east. A few very brief bustups were occurring and richmond had just reported by radio that he’d spotted a longtail leaping behind pedro so we were hopeful but unsuccessful at attracting strikes. By around 08:15 the limited surface action died away completely causing most of us to revert to bottom fishing, drifting with bait or SPs. Pedro was armed with salted mac tuna fillets and soon these started to produce results. A nice 500mm grassy was his first capture then he caught and released two more each around 350mm, followed by a 400mm specimen which somehow eluded his grasp and jumped back over the side. The rest of us were catching nothing of consequence, and in my case, nothing at all.

By about 09:30 all except pedro were heading south on the lengthy but pleasant paddle back toward Middle Groyne.

Five kilometres out from Middle Groyne, looking toward Noosa.

The closer we got to the river mouth area the more frequent the isolated splashes became, giving us some hope that we might get some action. But, as richmond tersely remarked, they were mainly small mac tuna which came up for five seconds and went down for five minutes.

Richmond and Barry were first onto the beach, followed by me and then Eli. I took the opportunity to take a couple of pics for the blog record.

Barry, on this his first offshore foray in a kayak, seemed to enjoy himself immensely and will likely join us in the near future.

Eli squeezes the absolute maximum from his tiny craft. He’d paddled at least 14km when this pic was taken. And he earned his Noosa Yakkers stickers today, this being his second trip with us.

Now, what about pedro? The latest info we had from him was that he’d moved to Jew Shoal and was thinking of travelling onward to Sunshine Reef. Hopefully he’ll fill us in on the detail later, if he can muster the energy.

Good luck to the guys going out tomorrow [at this time: carlton, hollywood (harry) and izak (first trip with us)].

Kev


From pedro

After Turtleboy headed for MG, I drift fished for another 40 minutes.

The day was so nice, I decided to head for JS and arrived when Turtleboy called on the radio after landing at MG.

JS was very similar to Halls with only a few bites and one snapper for the effort.

Arrived at MG 2.30pm 23klm on the trip computer and my legs are feeling it.



Cheers
Pedro

Good exercise! 17Jun12.

TR by sunshiner with later contribution by turtleboy at end

Wind: SW, starting at less than 5 knots, building to 10 knot southerly
Swell: moderate SE
Current: at A-Bay Reef, none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: corie, kiwimike, whalebait, turtleboy, whalerider, stormin, eli (first trip as a NY), sunshiner

With a late launch time of 06:30 nominated by me we had a bit of a crowd in the Middle Groyne carpark. Whalebait sauntered over to say hello and to let me know that kiwimike had just launched and was heading for the north shore, no doubt with longtails on his mind. I’d already declared my intention to head for A-Bay Reef in the hope of finding clean water and reefies and found that whalebait and stormin were also headed there. When Eli asked if we minded if he tag along with us to that distant spot, where he’d never before ventured, we had four for A-Bay Reef. Turtleboy and whalerider opted for the north shore and were a little later than the rest of us.

Easy launch today, as you can see.

Paddling conditions were superb and the water looked a bit cleaner than I expected, although high tide, which it was, normally has that effect. In due course the four for A-Bay reef arrived there, with whalebait getting there first.

As soon as I popped my drogue I could see that there was still some murk around, even out there. The drogue filled nicely in the gentle SW breeze and its lower parts were not so sharply defined underwater as they usually are. Not a good sign. Nevertheless, we’d spent an hour or so paddling out to there so we weren’t going to give up without a fight. In around 2.5 hours the three of us caught just one fish (35cm grassy, whalebait) despite using baits and SPs on at least two rods each. At 10:00 we pulled the pin, although Eli had left earlier (no radio so results unknown).

While we were out there we could hear occasional radio commentary from the guys across the other side of the Bay (a remarkable transmission distance, incidentally, given the intervening landscape, height of the aerials and curvature of the earth). They reported sighting momentary bustups of pelagics around LH Reef and turtleboy has indicated he’ll add some detail about this to the TR later.

Within a few minutes of our departure from A-Bay Reef (actually 700 metres further east of that as we had tried deeper water) the forecast southerly sprung up, quickly building to sufficient speed to cause white caps. This wind hampered our progress toward Hells Gates but we plugged along, eventually reaching the shelter of the headland. The trip back took all three of us about 1:20 non-stop, and I must admit to feeling a little jaded by the time I faced the low-tide sand monster.

Actually the swell was mostly quite small, but it was now close to low tide and all of the waves were breaking about 10-20 metres out from the end of the wall so everyone had to deal with white water. Stormin, famous for spectacular returns to the beach, was mounted for the first time on his replacement Hobie, a Revo(lution), a pedal craft much more suited to surf than his Outback was. Consequently I got to the beach first and dashed out with the camera to record stormin’s return to the beach.

He did a fine job, using the paddle only, and even managed an excellent bracing manoeuvre when the wave which caught up with him threatened to roll him. Here's a collage using a couple of frames from the video I shot.


Well done stormin, now onto bigger challenges. For the record, whalebait timed his return perfectly.

Today’s outcome (fish-wise) was not surprising given the recent crappy conditions which have disturbed the silt hereabouts. Given the forecast for the next week or so there’s a good chance that much of that silt will settle and make conditions more suitable for fishing in the near future. I certainly intend to try to get out again this coming week and hope some of you can make it also. Eli, if you bagged anything today please let us know.

Sunshiner



Contribution from TurtleBoy


Over a beer the night before, WhaleRider and I decided to arrive at MG at around 6.15am. Our intention was to head north between Little Halls and Halls reef in search of Tuna. We knew of Sunshiner's intention to head out past ABay but thought it was a good idea to spread the net.

We made it out through the surf zone and rigged up all ok despite the fact that I counted a 5 wave set and went for it after 4. So much for being both a SurfLifeSaver and a CPA.

Stormin' Norman had just finished rigging up and turned his Hobie for Hell's Gates, following Sunshiner and the gang.

I called out to WhaleRider and asked him to set course for Little Halls Reef. Ok, he said as he put his head down and paddle furiously due North and a little wider than I thought. Later I radioed him to check on his course only to find he didn't respond and later admitted that he misread his GPS co-ordinates.

At that point I realised that WhaleRider is a much better call sign than Navigator, later confirmed correct by his lovely wife Kate.

We had an easy paddle up past LHR and met up with Kiwi Mike. By this stage the light breeze had completely abated and we enjoyed the glassy conditions. Mike had been further North and advised that Corie was up past Halls Reef.

After a bit of a chat we chased a few bust-ups. Some solo Tuna and a few with maybe six fish on the surface. After 20 minutes or so, Mike announced that he was heading back and we parted company.

Richmond then radioed in to announce that he had fished the river that morning without even a tap on the line. We heard him calling Sunshiner around at Abay but didn't hear a reply. Not sure if you both connected.

Eventually we followed Mike back to MG fish-less but glad for the exercise. We both arrived back on shore all ok. We were greeted by Carlton who was standing on MG.

A great morning out followed by coffee at Costa Noosa, Sunshine Beach Village.

In summary, a great morning on the water. Need fish!

Turtleboy

The Doc is Back, 04Jun12


TR by Pedro
Wind: 5knots early 12knots later
Swell: 0.5 to 1m
Launch Point: MG
Participants: Pedro and Doctor Dog


I launched solo around 6am and headed north trolling a headstart with gar (check them out online). I headed for LH reef, scanning the water for surface activity. The birds were working small bust-ups. Following these I ended up just north of the river mouth when I met up with Doctor Dog.

Doctor dogs launch conditions below

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

We followed the birds, getting a cast off now and then, and I eventually hooked up and landed a mac tuna which I kept for salting down(snapper bait). After I caught and released two more, and with no longtails around, we decided to head north in close to the beach.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

The water cleaned up the further north we went and we came across more turns hovering over large bait schools. This is where the Doctor hooked up on a solid tuna which towed him east. I stayed in the zone hoping for one too while keeping an eye on Doctor Dogs progress. I did manage to get a couple of casts at the surface boils but the tuna were shy and staying deeper.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

After Mark had boated his fish, we met up and I helped him stow it in the front hatch. We then made our way back to MG meeting up with Turtleboy on the beach.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

Cheers
Pedro

Contribution for Doctor Dog


Pedro's report covered it pretty well. We were on the Teewah side of first cutting when I decided I would head back to MG.I had been trolling an old faithful( Halco Laser Pro 120 Pilchard pattern) all morning with no strikes and had not had any interest in either the Laser Pro or my 40 gram Raider cast offering. Pedro & I discussed whether we should be trying smaller lures as the bait fish around about seemed to be very small.

I had just reached Halls Knob on my course back to main beach and I was thinking of changing lures when my trolling outfit went off with a solid scream of the ratchet against the drag - "don't you just love that sound".

The strike stayed solid and the fish proceeded to tow me round in circles gradually heading to the east. It seemed to be a good fish and showed characteristic speed power and head shakes typical of longtail tuna.

I fish with 50lb braid on my trolling rod so I can put a fair bit of hurt on the fish if I want to but I did not want a fish of this size coming to the yack green so I was moderate with my application of drag . Having said that the fish was towing me at a fairly good clip and when he wanted to change direction I had to be careful he did not tip me out of the yak as he fought with a lot of "youthful enthusiasm".

After 20 + minutes I was able to grab his tail and also plant a gaff into his cheek plate. It took me some time to regain my composure, take a few photos and then paddle over to Pedro with a "lapful" of longtail . He was kind enough to help me stow my fish in the forward hatch before heading back to MG for an uneventful beach landing.

Thanks for the company Pedro and for making me stay out for that little bit longer. I would have missed my fish otherwise. This tuna capped off a delightful morning out on the water.

The Tuna was 1110mm on the brag mat and 15 kg on the scales.

Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos

Cheers,
Doctor Dog