Wind: calm
Swell: 1.0m ESE
Water temp: 25°-26°
Current: n/a
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: tunny, stormin, weeksie, Iain, lisbeth, soren, andy (unexpected visitor who launched with us), sunshiner
Exactly as forecast, the SE wind dropped overnight from a steady 20 knots at DIP at midnight, to less than 5 knots at 3:30am.
Lazybugger and co faced crappy conditions the day before which forced them to fish the sheltered waters only, with some success, a Spaniard which took a slow-trolled pillie.
But today was perfect. And as I approached The Pinnacles mark at Jew Shoal I started to get strong indications from my fishfinder that there were lots of baitfish present. My HLP was throbbing away, about 2m down and I truly expected it to go off any second.
Just one image in a continuous display of echoes today
Two days ago here there were no such displays, but today the baitfish were packed in, with many instances where the baitfish occupied the entire water column from surface to bottom. When this situation coincides with the presence of fishy predators usually there will be surface eruptions everywhere, accompanied by flocks of fluttering terns. Such days for a kayak fisher out here are truly memorable, the sort of thing which when recalled will still cause palpitations when you're in the old folks' home, and I've seen quite a few of such days over the years. Unfortunately such events are unpredictable, by me anyway, except that they always occur in the warmer months, December to May. The only way to experience such days is to be out there when it happens.
So today I felt confident but the only surface activity I came across was early on when the tops of the densely packed baitfish schools coincided with the surface, bringing that familiar dimpling effect as those at the surface, vulnerable to terns, tried to push down through the writhing mass below, to comparative safety. And the terns did get in on the act briefly, but it would have been slim pickings as to get a good meal they usually rely on the tunas, mackerels and sharks to panic the hapless baitfish, pushing them to the surface. There the baitfish are caught between a rock and a hard place, stay on the surface and be eaten by both fish and fowl or go deep and be eaten only by the fish.
So I and my kayak borne companions and only a few stinkies (jetskis, tinnies and floating gin palaces) trolled back and forth, for nix. No one was getting anything. A huge black and shiny devil ray (or possibly manta?) erupted from the surface, twice, nearby at one stage; boy do they make a splash! I wonder if they'd ever accidentally drop onto a kayak?
As the ambient light increased the terns disappeared and the sun's rays started to heat me up so I announced to my mates that I was pulling the pin early. It was about 06:20.
Trolled all the way back to Middle Groyne without seeing anything to encourage me to stay out longer. But arrived back at Middle Groyne at the same time as Lisbeth and Soren, one of the wife and husband teams in Noosa Yakkers. They'd stayed close to shore today and also had seen nothing fishy and caught nothing. Photo opportunity.
Soren and Lisbeth, a long way from their native Denmark. I think they fit into the Noosa scene really well! Great hat, Lisbeth.
By now the tide had risen. The result at Middle Groyne was a limpid lagoon. No waves; whiting and bream clearly visible foraging around the feet of the few swimmers. It's true: beautiful one day, perfect the next; even if I don't catch fish.
Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
Contribution by weeksie (posted on FB)
Paddled around 18km this morning for 0. Did a few laps over Jew Shoal then over to A Bay mark trolling all the way with various lures.
Sunshiner did report bait fish over JS pinnacles coming up on his fish finder. I didn't hear of any catches by the time I returned.
Contribution by tunny
Hi Kev,
Your decision to leave early was a wise one. Stormin and I stayed out until 9 am, with no signs of any fish. The birds also disappeared as you left. I tried trolling Halco lures, and jigged soft plastics at Jew Shoal while Stormin went over to Little Halls. I never saw any fish being caught from stinkies or jet skis. At least with the year starting at a low base it can only improve from here.
Cheers
Dave (Tunny)
No comments:
Post a Comment