Solo Doctor Dog, 27Oct12


TR by Doc Dog
Wind: NW early
Swell: Small
Current: 1 kmh at North Sunshine Reef
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: Doc Dog

Hi guys, not much to report.

I went for a paddle at the gentlemanly hour of 7 am from MG. Exit from the beach and surf zone was a dry affair as I found I had the bay to myself, with only an occasional stink boat and a couple of outriggers for company. I called on CH 9 but when no Noosa Yakkers replied I logged into Noosa Coastguard.

I then headed out to North Sunshine reef dragging a couple of HB lures and checked out a couple of marks I have there. Nary a touch on either the trolled outfits nor the hour and a half of SP work.

There was only a slight breeze from the NW early and a N-S current of around 1.0 km / hr. Conditions were eminently fishable, but other than small schools of bonito working on the surface from time to time, there was no real activity. The bonito seemed to be chasing even smaller fry that were sheltering close to the large blue jelly fish that were in evidence in large numbers along a current line about 2 km off Hell's Gates.

Two whales cruised past about 100 m off, but no breaching action today, and a large pod of dolphins milled around my craft lazily for a time as I returned towards the headland.

A point of interest to me was a radio call I put in to Noosa Coastguard from about 1 km off Hells Gates without reply. I expected coverage at my position as I thought there was a repeater up on Noosa Hill. It wasn't until I rounded the corner and had line of sight to the tower at the river mouth that I was able to advise Noosa Coastguard of my delayed return to MG.

Not productive, no pics, but a great paddle with the freshening Sou'Easter helping to push me home.

Cheers, Mark
           
Doctor Dog

2 comments:

  1. I have spoken directly with CGNoosa by VHF on several occasions when out at A-Bay Reef and DB Reef and apparently masked by the headland. On every occasion I tried it worked fine, but maybe there's a dead spot out there.

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  2. Hi Mark, I wonder if you repeated your call to NCG 2-3 times over a period of time, say 2-3 minutes. I often scan both Chanels 09 & 22 when out in the yak. The operators at the CG are pretty good, but it does happen from time to time that they miss an isolated call on 22 because the single operator on duty is busy talking on another frequency. Like Kev, I have also talked to NCG from DB Reef when supposedly not in direct line of sight to Noosa Hill or the river mouth. Cheers, Jimbo.

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