Another first for redwood. 28Nov13

TR by sunshiner, with photo contributions by redwood

Wind: light E to light W
Swell: 1m SE
Current: none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: jaro, jimbo, dugout, redwood, turtleboy, pedro, sunshiner

It's not often I go yak fishing and I don't take any pics but it happened today, only because there were no fish caught in my vicinity.

True to the forecast, the wind had dropped right away to almost nothing by 3:30am, my get-out-of-bed time today. By 4:00am I was at Middle Groyne ready to launch, with just enough light from the waning moon to see clearly that there was no white water at all at our launch point.

Pedro had launched about 3:30, as he'd predicted, as he was almost at Jew Shoal by the time I spoke to him by radio, immediately after I launched sedately through the tiny shore break. Just behind me were jaro and redwood with the remainder still not present, although dugout was by this time making his way, as usual, on foot from his home on Noosa Hill, trundling his Swing to launch in the corner of Main Beach. Welcome back, Doug!

Sunrise as seen from near the river mouth. What were those two commercial fishing boats doing there? Pic by redwood.

Although today was perfect, weather-wise, the fish just didn't show up, at least in the first three hours or so. Mutton birds are still hanging around and a few terns could be seen after sunrise, but fish action was paltry.

Dugout trolled a Spaniard Special from the shark nets to A-Bay and back for zilch. Jaro, pedro and I fished Jew Shoal for several grinners (although pedro was left out there alone and may have a result by now). Jimbo, redwood and turtleboy worked over the river mouth, Little Halls Reef and Halls Reef areas for one undersized Spaniard. Only two micro-burst bustups were reported and jimbo spotted two tuna leaping near him at one stage.

Redwood's first Spaniard, estimated at 70cm. Released boat side after capture at river mouth. Pic by redwood.

It was notable that jaro and pedro fished with baits for several hours around Jew Shoal and caught only grinners. The water is clear and warm and plenty of baitfish were visible on sonar, down deep, at Jew Shoal.

Beautiful day though!

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange



Birds, bust-ups and pelagic's - 23Nov13

TR by Redwood

Trip date: 23 November 2013
Participants: Soren, Weeksie, Tunny, Redwood
Launch Site:  Middle Groyne
Destination:  Hall's Reef
Conditions:  Wind 5 knots increasing to 15 by mid-morning;  swell 0.5 m

Tunny and I had decided late Friday afternoon that an escape was possible and the forecast looked good, so it was on. I put out a NY call and only Weeksie responded in the affirmative. We all gathered at MG car park around 4am, including a surprise yakker; Soren.

The tide was low and only a single dumper stood between the big blue and us. Tunny and I pushed out together with myself using the old wade-past-the-breaker-at-low-tide trick before jumping on. Soren and Weeksie followed soon after and we all started rigging up 300m out where the action began immediately. Tunny and I had big plans, we were going to snag a Spaniard tolling Spanish Specials up the North shore. I had carefully baited-up the single purposely thawed pillie on the Special and chucked it out back with it dangling a few inches in the water. Bang! The Special and my leader were gone. I radioed this through with Tunny responding that he was onto something and ditto for Soren. Both landed small sharks, neither of which had a Spanish Special hanging off them unfortunately. Tunny put his back whilst Soren kept his, as he'd not eaten shark before. Jimbo radioed from the beach later in the morning and mentioned that anyone and everyone was picking up small sharks between the beach and the nets and that the floor must be littered with them. Luckily, I had a second Special which I quickly rigged up before following the others North to Halls.

Tunny and I were sticking to the plan and trolling very, very slowly North following the shoreline.  At around the Little Hall’s mark I noticed Trekka 2 pull up also doing a slow troll, however they were turning around at LH and doing laps between there and the mouth. Soren, meanwhile was dabbling with a stint at LH as his sounder was showing a lot of bait fish with Weeksie zooming far ahead.

Without a touch on the Specials and due to the slow trolling technique, Hall’s was still quite some way off . Tunny and I decided to reel them in and make some water before deploying at the reef again.

Sky and sea littered with birds

As the morning wore on, the bird and surface action increased dramatically. I’d never seen so many birds working—they were everywhere with bust-ups all around us. As Tunny and I approached Hall’s we came upon a huge bust-up, which Soren was positioned right in the middle of. We all started throwing out slugs but without luck and the Mutton birds were proving a real irritation getting themselves tangled in lines and diving and retrieving the slugs. We tried everything; trolling through the bust-ups, slugs, softies, but nothing was biting for anyone.

Soren decided he was going back to LH as his sounder had shown more baitfish down that way. Tunny and I decided to do a spot of bottom bashing to see if we could change our luck. Whilst I was untying yet another Mutton bird Tunny radioed that he was onto something decent, which turned out to be a nice Mackerel that he picked up on the Special just as he’d stopped to rig up for jigging. Tunny initially thought it was a small 75cm Spanish but I wasn’t sure, as I couldn’t see any tiger stripes. Further research lead me to believe it's an adult School Mackerel, but I stand to be corrected.

Tunny's Mackerel securely aboard the Green Mamba

Tunny at Hall's having a whale of a time
After all excitement of the Mackerel had abated, I headed back to my mark for some more bottom bashing and picked up a keeper snapper on squid bait and soon after two smaller ones that were released. Getting the bait to the bottom was proving to be a real challenge because of the Mutton birds. If the bait didn’t drop fast enough they’d just dive and pick it up and even if you cast it where they weren’t, they’d just road-runner over 20-30m and get it. I eventually put a huge ball sinker on to get down as quickly as possible, but even then I had to distract them with bait—pesky but effective hustlers.

Weeksie and Soren had pulled the pin at this point. Weeksie radioed from the beach that he’d landed a keeper Grassie at the mouth on a deep diving red head Halco. I’m not sure how Soren finished up. Tunny and I decided to persist.

Whilst bottom bashing I thought it could do no harm in having out the Special about half way to the bottom, which proved to be a good thing as it was smashed on my way back to the mark. The reel screamed but I couldn’t get the rod out of the holder for some reason. I think the force and angle had jammed the butt in the holder. After a few tense moments I finally wiggled the rod free and stared reeling in.  A short strong fight ensued, then the fish came to the surface easily on the big Penn. Just as it became visible I thought, “bugger, a shark”, but a very beautiful shark. Whist I was admiring its beautiful lateral stripe it dawned on me it wasn’t a shark but a Cobia. Beauty!!! I kept it in the water while I checked the legal size on the chart and reckoned it had a very good chance of meeting the 75cm requirement. Tunny came over and gave some boating technique assistance and after securing the fish with a tail rope (Sunshiner, you can be proud) measured it on the recently adhered ruler decal. It’s difficult to measure accurately on a yak, but it looked for all money like this was a keeper. Off water measuring confirmed the Cobia to be bang-on 75cm.

Cobia with Spanish Special still hanging out of its mouth

Beautiful Cobia

Cobia secured with tail rope
After a final drift we packed it in and trolled hard bodies back to MG, which went untouched. Landing was a breeze with the small swell and high tide.

Redwood managing to stay upright for a change
On shore, we brag-matted and conscripted a young lady and her son for the pic. Tunny and I seriously debated asking the Bridal party on the groyne to do it, but decided no bride or bridesmaid would be game enough to risk getting all fishy. My old man would have said; “if you don’t ask you don’t get”.  Maybe next time we’ll ask.

76cm School Mackerel and 75 cm Cobia
Mother and Son do the honours


Fussy Trevally river session - 23Nov13

TR by eyetag

Wind: 5 knot N/NW
Current: Run out tide
Launch Point: Noosa Heads Lions Park
Participants: Eyetag

I had a paddle in the river last night,launching around midnight. I trolled a Gold Bomber straight to Ricky's arriving fishless. There was quite a lot of activity there on the surface that turned out to be Bigeye Trevally 20-40cm and were thick from Ricky's down to the river mouth. They were a bit fussier than usual with their eating habits though due to a lot of small Prawns in the river,which is all they seemed to want and every cast of a small Gladiator Prawn I was getting smashed but the bigger prawn was only getting hit every 3rd or 4th cast.

note the glow bead to help keep the stinger on

I drifted this area for a couple of hours landing dozens of Trevally and 1 nice Jack,which as usual was feeding under the Trevally,having a lot of fun on the light gear. The return trolls using a Gold Bomber only produced Hairtail which were still there in numbers.
There was now light starting to appear in the sky so it was time to chase a Jack in the Woods Bay. I trolled around the Inner Woods Bay focusing on a couple of favourite locations and finally I heard the drag screaming and after a tough fight I landed another nice Jack.

A pigeon pair of 50cm Mangrove Jack

On the River with JagOne, 20Nov13


TR by JagOne
Launch point; Noosa Lions Park
Fishing; Noosa River
Conditions; Breezy


When I arrived, I was apprehensive about the breeze as all the yachties were out in force. Fortunately, it did abate nicely by about 6.00pm. I'd been in touch with Matt [cybertech] who has been hitting the river also, but didn't see him and no response on the radio.
                                   
I launched from the Lion's park at 5.45 and headed to the wood's bay area towing a gold bomber and a Manns s10+. The Manns is my favourite for flattie as it runs 2mtrs deep which is great for bumping over sand flats. About 70mtrs from Ricky's the Manns went off and I expected my first flattie. Happily, it turned out to be a nice jack.
                           
 photo noosariver201113700x406_zps41710742.jpg

The tide was still running out a little so I headed for the bar which is a trick in the half light when you haven't been there for a while. Thank god for sounders. I took a keeper flattie on the way on the bomber and then started doing circuits out off the inner end of the rock wall. There was a sandbar which had formed across the river and it was negating the incoming swell. This then spilled over into a 2-3mtr deep area that slowly shallowed out to the sand flats. The tidal flow was nonexistent in this area and it was quite comfortable.
                                    
On the first lap the bomber went off with a really good GT which I subsequently lost at the yak. I had gaffed him and a treble had embedded itself through my sea anchor running cord  and in the ensuing struggle, the fish freed itself from the trebles and the gaff. Anyway, I took off on another lap and the bigger flattie scoffed the bomber and I didn't make the same mistake with him.                                    

I then headed back towards town and pulled a dreaded hairtail on the way. After a quiet lap of the Sound I called it quits at 10.00pm as my hips and butt were seizing up from lack of kayaking practice.
As you can see by the pics, the Manns is showing signs of wear, plus the two fish of the day.

 photo noosariver2201113700x494_zps72230298.jpg
Cheers
See you on the water
Geoff

TR by Cybertech Sunday 17th Nov

TR by Cybertech,
Wind: 10 knots
Swell:
Current: run out tide
Launch point: Weyba creek
Participants: cybertech, turtleboy, owie

Launched at weyba creek around 2pm on Sunday afternoon. Weather was ordinary and wind around 10 knots. My first drift over a channel landed me this little beauty.

Flathead measured 58cm

The next 2 and a half hours I netted another 3 flathead but all under size. Owie I believe netted a 41cm flathead, I packed up around 4.30pm as rain and lightning was getting stronger. Not sure how turtle boy finished but hopefully he landed a keeper.

Thanks guys, will let you know when I head out next.

Cybertech


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

River session reaches quota Sat 16Nov13

TR by eyetag

Wind: 10 knot N then S change 10 knot
Current: Run out tide
Launch Point: Noosa Heads Lions Park
Participants: Eyetag

After paddling in Laguna Bay for almost 4 hours yesterday morning without a touch I wasn't happy with my quota for the week so after a quick look at the tide chart I decided to give the river a try. I arrived at Ricky's around 9.pm to find some surface action which turned out to be small Bigeye Trevally.


Not happy with the size I headed to the river mouth and on arrival my Gold Bomber got smashed,a couple of minutes later I landed a nice Bigeye and for the next 90 minutes they kept coming aboard,around 15 of them and I kept 5 all between 40 and 50cm,until the current picked up and the danger of being taken across the bar by a fish got the better of me.


I paddled back to Ricky's and did a few drifts with Gladiator prawns,which produced Bigeyes,a nice Jack and on the return trolls the dreaded Hairtail. Then after about 4 hours in the saddle I was satisfied with my quota so home I went.

A Hairtail's mouth is one place you don't want to put your hands.

TR by Cybertech, 16Nov13

TR by Cybertech,
Wind: very light
Swell: 1m
Current:
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: cybertech, redwood, Deecee, Eyetag, Weeksie

I arrived at MG around 3.50 and found Eyetag and Deecee already starting to load up with redwood arriving soon after. Eyetag advised he was heading to river mouth then towards little halls staying in close to shoreline. The rest heading for JS, all launched without drama, some biggish sets but far apart.


I wasn't feeling overly fresh and found I was struggling to find the motivation to keep going. Redwood and Deecee went on ahead and when I finally caught up redwood was onto something massive. He was fighting this thing for 20 minutes before I arrived. It turned out to be a big ray and busted the line so no photos.


We arrived at JS and at this stage I'm getting greener and greener, an hour into it and I had called time out and headed back in trolling. Not much action apart from a little reef shark just before the rock wall.

Eyetag reported no action, redwood, Deecee and Weeksie only reported a juvenile snapper, diamond trevally and some grinners. Weeksie ended up catching a reef shark at the same location I did.

Few photos below.


Most launched without drama, redwood got a soaking.






Contribution by Darren (Deecee)

Arrived at Car park around 3.30am, it was dark! Sounded like there was a
bit of swell too so I decided to wait until I could see better before
rigging up. Once I saw the swell, it as easily doable so went back to rig
up. Eyetag & Cybertech were in the car park already rigging up, Redwood
arrived shortly after.

Eyetag said he was going to troll up the beach, Redwood, Cybertech & myself
were going to head to Jew Shoal.

Got a super wet ar$e on the way out, goes without saying really...rather on
the way out than on the way in!

Rigged up a lure and started the trip out to Jew Shoal...ran into Redwood
3/4 way out, he was heading back in under tow of a large something (later
identified as a stingray) so I stopped and watched the battle. Cybertech
joined us after a few minutes to also watch...

After that battle (20 add mins) we all headed to JS where we took up
different spots and proceeded to bottom bash along with an ever increasing
number of tinnies...after a few runs across JS and a couple of fish, these
being a small grinner & small snapper it was time to head in (8.30amish), on
the way in I heard Cybertech, who left a little earlier not feeling the best
had landed a small shark just off the end of the groyne before landing on
the beach.

On the way in I ran into Weeksie who I met for the first time today who was
also fighting a small reef shark, left him to it after a couple of minutes
watching and dry bummed it back to the beach in between some decent
swells...

Quick chat to the guys about the day and off home...


You can tell them all about your beach landing ;P

Cheers

Darren

Fishing Today, 15Nov13

TR by Jaro with Contribution from Panno

Paticipants: Jimbo, Tunny, Panno and Jaro
Conditions: A beautiful day with a breeze of 5 to 8 knots from changing directions during the morning. There was a strong W to NW current at JS.


We all arrived around 4.00am at MG and were soon out on the water without any dramas and we all set off for JS.

I caught a 42cm snapper and a 35cm pearl perch in the first hour at JS. From then on it was quiet for all of us. So quiet in fact that there were no more fish caught by any of us at JS. Panno left early and I left for home at 8.40am and Jimbo and Tunny followed soon after. Jimbo caught a smallish shark as he was coming to MG which he kept.

So all in all it was a quiet but beautiful day out on the water.

Jaro

Contribution from Panno

Hi all - not much to report from my perspective apart from a 2-3 ft shark just out from MG (ironic given recent chat !) - myself, Jimbo, Jaro & Tunny all fished JS and when I left around 7.30am Jaro had 2 keeper reefs (I think a snapper & a pearl perch), but that was all I was aware of. I trolled out & back, but even coming home, the birds were very scattered, still searching far & wide for condensed bait - it seemed to me as though the pelagics were yet to round up the bait into balls, and hence the feeding frenzy I was hoping for was not seen - maybe the other guys got luckier as the day progressed ???

ciao & good luck to those heading out tomorrow.

Andy Panno

Feeding fish, snaps and jealousy - 09Nov13

TR by Redwood

Trip date: 9 November 2013
Participants: Redwood
Launch Site:  Middle Groyne
Destination:  JS
Conditions:  Wind 5-8 knots, swell 0.5 - 1.5 m, mild current to the North


I arrived at the MG car park at about 4.30am with no sign of other yakkers so looked like I was going solo. The conditions looked messy and the swell quite big compared to the prediction, but still perfectly doable, so it was on--more fish for me.

Gold Bomber ready for take-off
I headed out to JS trolling a red and white HLP which gained no attention. The swell was big and close together and the going was a bit tough. A few stinky's passed me on the way and a couple stopped at JS, so looked like I'd have some stinky company. Once at JS I trolled the HLP around for a bit but my heart wasn't in it as I was dreaming of big old Grassy's and Snapper.

The one stinky was a few hundred off the pinnacles, the other with divers, right on the mark. I snuggled in between them and set up a prawn drift as Tunny had said prawns and softies saw the most action the previous day. The first prawn was smashed before it hit the bottom with the bail arm still open so I lost that one. The second disappeared without trace and the third got hooked up on the reef. I was on my way back to my slot for another go when the stinky next to me hooked up with something serious, I could hear the reel screaming. I watched for 10 minutes while he landed a very nice Spanish. I was jealous. He got it anchored and on a floated pillie. A stinky friend of mine wondered if the yakkers used balloons and come to think of it I haven't seen any do it, so perhaps something to consider.

I continued with a few more prawn drifts but was getting zero action. Mr Spaniard, who most likely was also getting no action, decided to start trolling; hey dude, that's my wave! That was my cue to move off to a mark I had in the GPS North of the pinnacles, which was far enough away that I could avoid getting gassed and the fish wouldn't be spooked. I also decided to switch to squid baits.

On the first drift I hooked up and landed a 43cm Snapper. On the second I hooked a 1m shark who managed to pull a manoeuvre boat side and he bit himself off. The next couple had excellent bites but I was unable to hookup. With the next I landed a 39cm Snapper.

43cm Snapper on squid bait
39cm Snapper on squid bait
By now it was 9.30am and the swell had flattened out nicely. I was pretty sure if I stayed I'd be able to land more, but I had already puked twice and the slimy green fingers of motion sickness had me firmly in its grasp, so I decide to pull the pin and head back. I puked again on the way back and my HLP was again untouched. The surf return was easy.

43 and 39cm Snapper

During the throws of motion sickness, besides thinking you'd rather be dead, you do think that perhaps you'll chuck it all in; I plead temporary insanity, I'll be back.

Old Faithful - 09Nov13


TR by DeeCee

Wind: None - light NNW
Launch point: Beach adjacent car park, Ewan Maddock Dam
Participants: DeeCee


Arrived at EMD just before 5.00am and was on the water soon after, beaten by 1 to be first on the water this morning...




Decided today to stop persevering with the Beetle Jigs I'd been using (with mixed results and no decent fish) the past couple of visits today and go back to Old Faithful, a $5.00 lure I bought from Ebay a couple of years ago.




Headed out past the swimming area and threw Old Faithful out the back for a troll straight across from the beach to my usual starting spot and about halfway there got my first fish, a type of perch, small but a fish nonetheless. I headed to the left, eastern end of the dam for a quick flick before hitting Spot X. No hits flicking through the weed and after 15 mins headed towards Spot X, just before I turned into the bay I was hit again, this time a 20cm Bass, had the 1kg rod bending nicely...he was released and I spent the next 30 mins flicking through the bay before meeting up with kayaker No.1 who was having a slow morning, trying to persevere with a spinner bait but having no luck. I left him to his frustration and headed out towards the point of the bay where I hooked onto a decent fish, it even took some line! This one darted into the weed and was a real b!tch to get out.




He was released after a quick pick and I headed over to the western side of the dam, just as I got to the other side I had another perch hooked up, I did a quick loop of the bay and hooked another Bass in the middle and a real hard hitter as I rounded the southern end of the bay, this one peeled off a heap of line and had me going for 30 - 40 seconds before I sighted a nice Bass, even had to use the net for this one...what a ripper fight!




I continued on my journey south and landed a couple more small (15cm) Bass which were still hitting surprisingly hard for little fellas before I decided to troll back to the north and back to the beach. I turned around and headed north across the small bay I had caught 3 fish a few minutes earlier. I got to the northern corner of the bay and was hit again, another small perch which again was released and continued north towards the exclusion area, about halfway there I got hit by another fish, a 25cm Bass which was good fun. I released him and threw the lure out the back but before I even got a stroke in I was hit by something huge...grabbed the rod and line was peeling off fast and then right in front of me a fish jumped clean out of the water, immediate thought was Barra but how would it have got in there? Then I remembered the Dam had a good stock of Saratoga, the fish jumped again and again, the 1kg rod was doubled over and line was coming and going, I was on to my first Saratoga! After a minute or so and having been towed around a bit I had the Toga alongside the yak, netted after a couple of goes and onto the yak..or so I thought, the Toga did its best Eel impersonation and was out of the net and back in the water, thankfully the lure was still hooked, a short time later Toga was back in the net and then the yak to do exactly the same thing again but this time the lure let go and the Toga was gone....my adrenaline was still running high an hour or so later when I arrived home...what a great day.

Toga was estimated about 65cm, measuring how much he stuck out the landing net, Biggest Bass were 35cm & 38cm. Total 11 fish caught. Best day on the dam yet.... :)

Still buzzing as I write this...

Cheers

Deecee

Old guys rule, 08Nov13

TR by sunshiner, with contributions by jaro and tunny at bottom

Wind: light SW
Swell: 1m SE
Current: none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: jaro, jimbo, sully, barefoot (maybe?), imax, carlo, cybertech, tunny, weeksie, doctor dog, redgreg (visitor, AKFF, in blue and white Stealth), sunshiner

Bloody hell, what a crowd for a weekday! But conditions were perfect so why not? I was committed to getting back home before 0900 so my trip was cut short, but it was a top morning.

Jaro had nominated an arrival time of 4:00 am, and several of us were there at or before that time, with others coming along a bit later. Anyway, just as the eastern sky was starting to lose its dark pallor we were assembling on the beach ready to go. Jaro, super keen got away first and no one would have had any trouble getting out today.

Tunny was in his new ride, a Stealth Supalite BFS, it being big enough to comfortably accommodate his long legs and body (pic later). He was one of the first three to head for Jew Shoal, jaro and I being the others.

While sea conditions were perfect, there were very few terns visible so clearly baitfish were in short supply in the bay. Nevertheless, we all trolled our lures out to our respective locations (some went to Halls Reef) apparently without attracting action. I maintained the trolling tactic after arrival at the Pinnacles and spent about 30 minutes trolling in patterns centred on that location. There were no signs on the sounder of densely packed baitfish and no surface splashes at that time. So I reverted to my usual pattern: casting a light jighead with 100mm SP and drifting with the breeze from the Pinnacles to the NE, where the water gradually goes from about 14m to 21m.

North west of me, and also drift fishing but using bait (prawns and pillies) was Jaro who came up fairly quickly on the radio announcing a keeper snapper capture. Last time I was out here, last Sunday, I fished long and hard for one small tap-tap and a damaged SP. But my system works, eventually, and I was hopeful that today would prove that.

I was in 21m, with nothing in particular showing on the sounder. The 1/8 ounce jig with its impaled SP was down near the bottom and starting to drag out behind me when I felt the gentlest tap. Feeding the SP back a little, I then pulled it back toward me a little only to find it was possibly snagged; but then the snag started to move. Whoopee! Hookup!

More likely a grassy than a snapper, I thought, as the tussle was more up and down than the occasional long runs of a snapper. And so it proved as the unmistakeable brown-ness and heaviness of a decent grassy appeared below.


The jighead and SP were right inside the mouth.

Weeksie was nearby and took a couple of pics with his camera (thanks, Paul).


Then jaro was announcing another snapper and when he hooked another the gang started to get the message although I fear they were too late as I understand all went quiet around 07:30.

Being under pressure to get home, I trolled around for a while, getting this pic of tunny as I moved past him.




I was also curious as to the identity of the guy on a blue and white Supalite who had joined us in the last hour or so. Turned out he was redgreg, a Sunny Coast AKFFer whom we met at the Straddy comp last year. So if you’re reading this, Greg, get in touch with us to join up.

Anyway, I had an enjoyable paddle home in idyllic conditions with almost no wind and a tiny wave to push me onto the beach in the last 100 metres. On measuring the grassy (which I'd estimated at 45cm) I found that it had apparently grown 6cm!




Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author
Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange




Contribution by jaro

I didn't catch any more but I think Tunny caught a sweet lip and stayed out there after we had all returned to shore. Saw Bruce (Barefoot) on shore. He did not come out due to his wife due to deliver their baby any time. He was practising exits and entries. My snappers measured 42, 43 and 50cms. After you left there was no more activity save Tunny's sweet lip. I left JS at 8.15.


Contribution by tunny

I stayed out a little longer than most of the Noosa Yakkers today as I was
determined not to have a "dry run" on my first trip in the new Stealth.
Perseverance paid off and around 10am I landed a 43cm grassy using a 5"
soft plastic. Greg and I were the last to leave Jew Shoal, heading in
around 11am. We both trolled hard bodied lures on the way back, and Greg
caught 2 small Bonito about midway between JS and Middle Groyne.



Cheers
Dave (tunny)


Quick session with a long battle 03Nov13

Sunday 3rd November 2013

TR by eyetag

Wind: 15-20 knot N/NW
Current: Run out tide
Launch Point: Inner Woods Bay Noosa
Participants: Eyetag


After launching at 11pm from Woods Bay,because the Lions Park was not available due to the Noosa Tri,I headed to Ricky's current line only to find a very stiff N/NW breeze,I thought I'm here so I may as well give it a try. I did a couple of drifts with the Gladiator Prawn and got a nice Jack and a small Spotted Grunter Bream, or commonly named Javelin fish.



The wind made things a bit too difficult and there was also a lot of phosphorous in the water which often brings out the big predators and the smaller fish go into hiding so I decided to troll around the Noosa Sound and back to my launch point. Things were very quiet until I was just entering the Inner Woods Bay when my Gold Bomber was smashed by what I thought was a Jack,then it grew to a big Jack and then it kept on growing and growing and after an epic 40 minute battle on 12lb braid and a lot of one handed paddling to avoid boats,jetties and anchor ropes I finally got colour and saw a foul hooked Bull Shark that was around 2 metres long. I managed to get a quick photo before cutting him free. That was one lure I wasn't phased about losing.

EMD Maiden Voyage - 03Nov13


TR by Gemini

Participants:   DeeCee, Gemini
Launch Site: Swimming Area, Ewan Maddock Dam
Conditions: fine, wind strengthening through the morning

Today I decided to head out with DeeCee to Ewan Maddock Dam instead of braving the craziness of the Noosa Tri. I'd never fished the place, so I was looking forward to a new locale to explore. I had heard good things about EMD, so I had high hopes for a good day.

I was first in the car park just shy of 5AM, with DeeCee arriving shortly after. We had the place to ourselves at this stage (asides from a van full of campers), and made our way quickly onto the glassy water.



DeeCee leads the way.


EMD has far less weed than Lake MacDonald and I decided to bring a trolling rig with me. The snags would be easier to manage here, and the open stretches of water would require attention as we travelled around. However, it didn't quite work the way I had intended...

We trolled from our launch site to the opposite shore and began to attack the edges of the reeds and weeds. EMD has some interesting structure around the edges with thick patches of reeds which you can traverse and find pockets of fishy goodness within.



DeeCee in the thick of it.


Not long into the journey I found myself stationary and casting away at the edges, when my trolling rig starting jumping around. Thinking I had caught the bottom while drifting, I gave it a tug and found the line slack, so I shrugged my shoulders and continued casting. Seconds later the rod jumped around again. I reeled it in this time, and it wasn't until it neared the yak that I felt anything on the line. A Speckled Perch had decided the R2S flexi vibe I was using looked tasty and smashed it...while it was sitting on the bottom! Like I said before, the lake was glass, so there was no movement of my yak for any swimming action to be had from that lure. These fish weren't fussy, as this happened to me twice more during the day.



EMD Speckled Perch


Working the edges, we started coming across what we came for: bass. Most of the fish were small, but aggressive. Where the fish didn't take up the offer, the taps of missed strikes were a telling sign that there were still plenty around.



EMD Bass


We headed down to the bottom of the lake (to the artificial boundary) and then back up again. Along the way I noted spots to stop for a bite to eat, and some good timber structure laying around in deeper water, just asking to be attacked. The wind had picked up now, so the trip back was a little slower.



Trip map.


There was no sign of Saratoga today, but it may be a little early for them yet. All up the totals were 2 bass and 2 spangled perch for DeeCee, and 4 bass and 3 spangled Perch for me. EMD is a nice spot, and it's different enough to my usual stomping grounds of Lake Mac to make it a worthwhile drive. I'll be sure to come back for the toga over summer!

Try-fish-athon, 03Nov13

TR by sunshiner, with contribution by redwood to come

Wind: light NW
Swell: 1m SE
Current: none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: stormin, redwood, weeksie, soren, emil, jaro, sunshiner

Distance to foreground: Sunshiner, Jaro and Redwood - 4am launch

The Noosa Triathlon, in the end, had no effect on our ability to park at Middle Groyne at 4:00am. This observation may be useful for fishing trips planned for this day in future years.

Having said that, it was clear that some cars had been parked overnight, and some vehicles had sleeping occupants who would have been pissed off with the hubbub starting around 4:00 am in the moonless dark as Noosa Yakkers started to arrive to go fishing. Too bad, it's illegal to camp there anyway.

With the eastern horizon just starting to pale, Jaro was first out of the starting blocks at 04:14, way too dark to take a pic, but the light adapted human eye could discern the small breakers coming through and no one reported difficulties with the launch. Radio checks completed, the flotilla broke into two groups, one for Jew Shoal (jaro, soren, emil, me) and one for Halls Reef (stormin, redwood). Weeksie was yet to show but later turned up at Jew Shoal.

I led the Jew Shoal group and soon after crossing the shark nets started noticing little floating corpses bobbing in the tiny NW chop. Some were right way up, with heads hanging under the water, while others were belly up. All were black and feathery and very buoyant which explains how they end up making mutton bird cemeteries on our east facing beaches. Also obvious were the occasional living individuals of this feathery tribe, bobbing heads up on the waves or fluttering along near our kayaks, probably doomed to share the fate of their head-down lifeless kin in the very near future. As Darwin pointed out, these clearly unsuitable individuals will contribute, by never getting to breed, to the gradual improvement of the well-being of the species overall.

As I said, I was in the lead, and headed straight for the Pinnacles towing a HLP in Qantas. Grrr… went the reel, just as the lure swung through the slightly deeper area close to the shallows. Bewdy, I thought, but quickly concluded this was no big fish, although it did pull some line off the spool as I retrieved the lure, but then somehow, somehow, the lure lost its grip and swum into my view sans fish.

A few laps of the strike area using the same technique failed to elicit another hit, and neither did the next 20 minutes as I fished the 10-14m shallows with a SP. First drop in the deeper water to the north did result in a quick rat-a-tat which coincided with the neat chopping off of the paddle tail of my SP, as I discovered when I checked it a minute later.

The surviving, starving mutton birds were gradually becoming a nuisance today. They seem to associate boats with food and hung around us, occasionally risking their perilous existence to try to grab a rapidly sinking bait meant for fish, and even, in my case, a large SP.

This one tangled in my line and pecked me while I went about freeing it.

Jaro was way off to the north, fishing in flat and featureless 22m with pillies and prawn, and soon became the first with a fish on board, a 35cm grassy (Carol will be pleased!). As there was nothing doing where I was I joined him on his drift line and was nearby when his prawn rod went off so paddled over with the camera when he revealed that a better grassy was the culprit.

OK, this was more like it

Just as this sweetie was being stowed carefully in the fishbox Jaro's pillie outfit went off, this time to a small but keeper snapper which ended up in my boat (thanks, Jaro).

But really the action was tediously slow. We would have soon become totally bored if it wasn't for the occasional distractions. There was the free-leaping dolphin not far away to the SE. And then weeksie and I, drifting along fairly close together felt rather than heard this almighty WHOMP! Suspecting a whale, I unsuccessfully looked for it but then, sure enough, it (or they) popped up to the north and started to put on a display worthy of the best you’d see in a SeaWorld theme park, if any of them actually had a full-grown humpback whale among its employees. Lastly was the turtle-mating event. I'd seen this once before, m-a-n-y years ago, just north of Hinchinbrook Island, in far north Queensland. Flippers held up above the surface is the giveaway, and today this was happening not far away from me so, suspecting sex, I gently paddled over to the floating, groping huddle with two heads and two backs (reminds me of Shakespeare's "beast with two backs"). Obviously they were somewhat distracted as they let me get quite close before becoming embarrassed and dodging downwards behind a watery curtain. Show's over for today!

Mating turtles

Also keeping us entertained were stormin's occasional radio calls reporting sweet(lip) success at Halls Reef. Last I heard he had three in the fish bag and he was checking with me the possession limit (10)! We await with interest the final bag result.

Soren and Emil having departed earlier, by 9:00 am even Jaro was happy to consider heading for home, especially as the breeze now had more of a northerly component and thus was more suited to helping his sail help him home. Leaving stormin and redwood at Halls Reef and picking up weeksie on the way, we packed up and headed south, both trolling Halcos across Jew Shoal and through its southern fringe which has sometimes in the past supplied a trolled up fish as a parting gift. Even though he had his sail up, Jaro was bringing up the rear, sipping coffee and looking at the scenery as I burnt oxygen to try to stay in front using muscle power alone. Yes, he was trolling through the very water that I had just trolled through. "Yahoo" from Jaro? WTF? Surely not? I spun around to see his trolling rod bent and watched him madly cranking and lifting, shouting all the while, as he does when he has a biggy on. Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. Still, another photo opportunity. My HLP retrieved, I paddled back to make my old kayak fishing mate even more famous.

Nice snapper, taken on mid depth golden Halco Laser Pro.

And so we resumed the journey. We hit the beach together, right way up and pulled out the measure mat. Note: hardly anyone on the beach, despite perfect weather; certainly no fish holders around.

Jaro's two best, although he did take two large grinners also, allegedly to feed to the poor little mutton birds.

Thanks for coming guys. Lovely day, and thoroughly enjoyed.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange

 Addition by Redwood

As mentioned in Sunshiner's report Stomin and I headed North to Hall's via Little Halls. We both trolled on route to LH but no action despite changing lures a few times. We decided to have a quick bottom bash at LH's but with few bites decide to move onto Hall's. Stormin went ahead whist I did a 2km slow troll with a spaniard special. Half way there Stormin radioed in with his Sweetlip catch and I felt like speeding up but stuck to the plan with no result. The fish were on the chew at Hall's and despite my best efforts I couldn't hook up and boat anything. I had a very good hit on half a pillie and it was hooked up, but not 30 seconds into the tussle the braid snapped. Buggery bollocks! Tunny subsequently advised that my drag was too tight, so I'll be slacking it off in the future.

Stormin on the other hand was havin' a stormin' day. He landed 8 fish in total from 36-44cm: 1 undersized squire, 4 small cod and 3 keeper Grassies (one of which he kindly gave to me - shhhhhh, don't tell my wife and kids, thanks Stormin).




The fish where still there; Stormin had run out of bait and was trolling, whilst I continued to try and get something with pillies and squid but it had gone quiet, plus I was feeling very tired from the 3am start. We decided to pack it in and troll our way back to MG as the wind was really starting to pick up (luckily an offshore wind). We paddled back and beached without further action or incident at around 11.30am.

Stormin's Grassie catch

Stormin's biggest Grassie at 44cm

It was a long day and a long trip and I was totally zonked when I got home, but still a great day and as Stormin said, "What a great sport to do in our part of the world".