The Mighty Spaniard 09Apr12

TR by gemini with contribution by sunshiner and eyetag

Wind: SW, starting at 5 knots, dying out gradually
Swell: low E
Current: none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: eyetag, richmond, gemini, carlo, beejay, whalebait, helveticus, sunshiner, jaro, jimbo, imax, stretch, hollywood (13)

Distance 22.8 km
Max Speed 12.6 km/hour
Avg Speed 4.0 km/hour

Richmond, whalebait, eyetag, and myself all arrived at MG within minutes of each other a little before 5AM. I made sure I was first so I could steal Richmond's car park for the second time this weekend... sorry mate. :) We promptly unloaded without much fuss and headed down for launch. The tide was out a ways, so the launch would be a possible damp one...as Richmond and myself found out. Asides from wet bums, we had no troubles launching onto a moonlit bay.

As usual, my stuffing around with tackle after launch put me behind the pack as we headed up the north shore. It was my intention to keep relatively close to the shore on my way north, and then out to Halls for a bottom bash if the pelagics didn't show. Whalebait and eyetag kept close to shore as they moved north, and Richmond stayed further out to the east of me. Dawn broke, and still we continued north with no hits. Schools of baitfish had started to appear on my sounder, and birds were seen heading north, but no bustups had yet been sighted. By this time we had been hailed on the radio from the other yakkers to say they were on the water with some heading our way, and some heading to JS.

Richmond turned in further towards the shorline as we moved north, and I decided to head out to Halls for a look. By the time I arrived there and rigged my bottom bashing rig, eyetag and whalebait had reported bustups appearing closer to shore. I observed a lone stinky briefly trolling around Halls and then taking off, not filling me with much confidence, so I made my way back closer to shore.

I trolled a lazy arc on my way back closer into shore and then headed south to troll parallel to the coastline for a while. About 500m into this heading I had my trolled line smashed, producing a most satisfying scream from the reel. I decided to test my line strength with this fish (or "cheating" as Jaro put it) and didn't give him much drag to play with. The line held and very soon I had a healthy longtail tuna aboard. He even de-hooked himself for me after I'd gaffed him, allowing me to put him straight in the hold. How considerate!

Pic by sunshiner

I continued my parallel troll down the coast until I heard the magic words from eyetag... "I've just boated a 20kg spaniard!". I turned north again and headed to where all the action was being reported from eyetag and whalebait. I swung out east first to find Jaro and eyetag who were admiring eyetags spaniard before he headed back to MG. The spaniard was so large he could not keep it in his storage without destabilising his yak, so he had to nurse it home!

Pic by Jaro

From here Jaro and I made our way north to find whalebait and the mackerel. As we made our way past the caravan park on the north shore we found many small bustups, and whalebait in amongst them fighting another longtail (his fourth for the day I believe). Jaro and I trolled around for a while, with Jaro hooking up, but failing to land. I had one hookup on a cast into a bustup, but the little bugger had teeth and took my slug.

By this time my body was telling me i'd had enough for the day and the bustups were disappearing rapidly. I started a slow troll back along the shoreline to the south. Other yakkers further south were also reporting they were heading back to MG by this time too.

It was only a few hundred meters before my trolled line was screaming again. This time I quickly boated a spotted mackerel, but the spotty had other ideas about its final destination. After gaffing him and pulling him over the bow of my yak, he decided sitting still wasn't in his repertoire. Thrashing madly, he managed to pull free of the gaff, attach my lure to the reef shoe on my left foot (pulling free of it in the process), and then buggered off over the side, all in the blink of an eye. I think I was pretty lucky not to have a treble in my foot, and without the footwear that would most likely have been the case. At that stage, imax arrived on the scene to offer his condolences.

After that excitement, the long troll back to MG was uneventful. I was very glad to be back on the beach after that 22.8KM paddle!


GPS Track

Sunshiner contribution

Got a wet bum again today despite the fact that the swell was lower than two days ago. I had orders from the main cook to get a sweetlip or snapper today so ignored the charge up the beach by the rest of the throng and paddled alone out to Jew Shoal, noting quite a few terns going out and even a dolphin crossing my path. Looks like conditions are getting better.

On arrival at Jew Shoal I switched my casting outfit to my customary 1/8 oz jig and 100mm squidgy SP and started a drift near the Pinnacles. There were baitfish on the sounder but absolutely no signs of predators on the surface. However, a few hundreds metres away to the SW there were occasional bustups. I'd laid out my third cast and was monitoring the jig’s progress downward with my finger gently on the braid, bail arm closed. I quick tap was distinctly transmitted up the line followed a couple of seconds later by the tightening of the braid and the bending of the rod tip. Aha, a snapper I thought, but then a screaming run, almost identical to that I experienced last time I'd chucked out an SP over a month ago in the same area, had me changing my mind. Oh no! Not another longtail on my 6kg snapper outfit! The lengthy and one-sided fight was going OK, I thought, but the knot to the leader, just tied yesterday, gave out when I was getting the fish close to the yak. Almost certainly a longtail.

About now I heard the first radio ”yahoo” from whalebait, way over at Halls Reef. Then, every few minutes someone else would chime in as there were many users on the radio net and almost all were over in the same area. The picture I got from 4km away was that the fish were going nuts, very close to the shore. Bustups all around were being reported.

This was all too much for me so I packed up and headed west and not long afterward eyetag radioed his news about his huge Spaniard. Then he mentioned that he’d had to leave because the fish was too big to allow him to continue fishing safely.

Well, of course I got there way too late, but at least I did paddle over there. The wind was kind this time and dropped out completely allowing me a gentle paddle back to Middle Groyne where four of us landed simultaneously, with I being the only one not to have caught a longtail. On the beach I waited and measured most longtails as the yaks arrived. Amazingly, all were just on or just under a metre in length.

The final tally as far as I’m aware was:

whalebait: four longtails boated, two released, two kept
gemini: one longtail, one dropped spotty mac
jimbo: one longtail, one small snapper
eyetag: one ENORMOUS Spaniard
imax: one longtail
richmond: one longtail

A great Noosa Yakkers fishing expedition. Knackered now after a ~20km paddle.


Photo provided by Richmond


Eyetag contribution


After a long spell of bad weather and work commitments it was good to finally get out in the ocean for a fish. The day started slowly with a launch around 4.45. After a brief discussion of destination, north we went. I paddled close to shore alongside Brian (whale bait) while Jeff (richmond) and Matt (gemini) peeled off and stayed wider. We kept heading North with the birds, then we started to see the odd bust up. Around the time the sun was just clear of the horizon Brian yelled "YEP I'm on", and the fight began with a Longtail that was landed some time later. I paddled over to have a look and got a photo. I started trolling again and I was thinking it must be my turn now. Shortly after I had a strike but dropped the fish after a couple of minutes. Checking the lure, everything seemed in order so out it went again. I'd paddled about 5 minutes to the South when the reel screamed and kept screaming untill the spool was half empty and I started to get some line back. The fight was all over the place with the fish going deep then rising, coming straight toward me then deep and hanging tough, then I felt the head shakes and thought surely not this couldn't be a Spaniard. Dismissing the thought of a Spaniard I battled on and on until it came to the surface about 10 metres away, so I backed off the drag and went easy on him. A couple of minutes later he was on the gaff and across my lap. STOKED! What a nice looking fish, another victim to the Jaro Special (the only alteration being single hooks instead of the trebles). I think he must have been one very unlucky fish, once onboard the hook almost fell out of his lip and I was using 60lb mono leader. With the fish stowed I headed for home.

What a difference 24 hours makes, 08Apr12

Trip report by Turtleboy

Whalerider, with his new 4.3 metre Prowler, and I launched from MG at around 630am. It was a beautiful morning and an easy launch through a small swell before rigging up and heading north. I had already radioed IMAX who was out around the tip of the national park and BigKev who was up past Little Halls Reef. I believe that Corie was also out but not sure of his location.

We decided to head north, based upon the intel from the previous day, and we made it in record time to Little Halls Reef aided by an increasingly strong south, south easterly wind. Whalerider was checking our progress on his new gps and confirmed that we were traveling at an average of 7 kph with little effort. That's the good news !

Whilst we stopped to speak to a few surfers and a lone fisherman on a jet ski, there was little other activity. No birds nor bust ups. So after trolling around LHR for 45 minutes, with increasing winds and bad weather out to sea, we decided to head home which took a lot longer than the drift out.

Bashing into a nasty little chop we made it back in about an hour. I saw one small bust up but was unable to get a cast away due to the distance and the breeze right on the bow of the kayak. Meanwhile BigKev had skirted back down the shoreline and across the river mouth. We all arrived back at MG at about the same time. After a successful beach landing we compared notes and agreed it was a challenging work out despite the lack of fish on board.

Corie, who I think had landed and packed up earlier, and Grant had a quick body surf whilst I provided details of our club to 2 new potential members, and of course had a quick chat to the surf club members in the west beach tower, on what we know as middle groyne.

Turtleboy

Lots of longtails! 07Apr12

TR contributions by sunshiner, richmond, gemini, in that sequence, below



Sunshiner contribution

Wind: SE, starting at 5 knots, building to 10 knots
Swell: 2m SE
Current: not recorded
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Water quality: Slightly murky in the bay but cleaning up quickly
Participants: richmond, gemini, corie, beejay, jaro, sunshiner

It being Easter, the moon was full and being a clear sky morning, it was beaming brightly low in the west when I arrived, early but last, at the Middle Groyne carpark. Corie M-T, richmond and gemini were already on the water (this was about 05:15), jaro had just arrived and beejay was readying his yak on the beach, having trundled it all the way from the western end of Hastings Street. Before offloading I strolled down to the beach, past a couple of huddled bodies in sleeping bags, where I found beejay assembling his gear. A small surf break that wouldn’t pose any problems today (really?) was visible in the moonlight just off the end of the groyne.

Shortly afterward jaro and I joined beejay at the launch point. I went first, closely followed by jaro who had a splendid view as I went through the break zone just a little too early and collided with a head high wave just as it was breaking. I got through OK, but it was definitely not a dry-bum launch. Jaro got some amusement, and I was thoroughly soaked from head to foot (so glad I'm launching into a sea whose temperature is usually near 20 celsius).

By radio I then confirmed with richmond that he was heading toward LH Reef and Hall’s, followed closely by gemini. Corie doesn’t have a radio but richmond told me that he had launched earlier and was also headed for Hall’s. We three at Middle Groyne now decided to head for Jew Shoal, thereby spreading the scouting parties around.

The breeze was steady from the SE so jaro and beejay popped their sails and soon jaro was way ahead of me. Only a few terns were visible on the way but the water was reasonably clean. By the time we reached the shoal I’d seen no dolphins, turtles, flying fish or surface activity but a dozen or so terns were hanging around the shoal, staying up high but obviously looking carefully for signs of baitfish being pushed to the surface. Just after we’d arrived I was trolling my Halco LP in a pattern over the Pinnacles and other prime Jew Shoal locations when the radio blared. It was a ”Yee-Ha” from richmond, about 4 km to the west. Then shortly afterward he explained that he was at Hall’s Reef, there were longtails blasting out all over the place and he was already hooked up to one of these speedsters. Then gemini radioed that he also was hooked up in the same area. While we had no obvious surface action at Jew Shoal I had spotted two big ”boils” from individual large fish so I and my companions were torn between staying here (might burst into life) and heading for Hall’s (definite action, but still nearly 4km away). Eventually, after a few minutes consideration, I decided that I’d take the plunge and paddle downwind to Hall’s even though I knew that the 5km paddle back to Middle Groyne from there would be all into the breeze. My two companions at Jew Shoal decided the same.

When still 1km from Hall’s I came upon richmond with fresh blood on his fishing shirt, a fish in the fishbox but a frown on his face. I’ll let him tell you why he was frowning instead of smiling, for as you can see, he had reason to smile.

07:30. Richmond with slug-caught longtail

About now, gemini chimed in with the info that his fish had just self-released 40 minutes into the fight. But at least he got his lure back. According to richmond, the amount of activity had dropped off markedly now compared with earlier. Even so, bustups could be seen here and there.

We were now almost 5km from Middle Groyne, which was directly upwind. The breeze had just now slackened a little but could spring up again at any time. Be warned, this trip can be a very hard slog if the SE breeze gets to 10 knots. Being aware of this possible problem, the five of us (don’t know where Corie was) now started to punch into the breeze toward Middle Groyne, anxious to reduce the burden if possible. I trolled, as did the others I believe and as we plugged along we were distracted from time to time by small, brief bustups on or near our course.

On one of these distractions, jaro cast a slug and got a hookup, which lasted only a minute or so before the fish detached. Very shortly afterward I got a solid strike on my Halco LP. The line poured off against the drag and I was just settling in to the fight when this fish also detached. Bummer!

The five of us were spread over a couple of kilometres length and about a kilometre wide, all heading toward Middle Groyne. Richmond (no radio at this stage) led the pack, while gemini was tail end charlie. I’d just watched the GPS tick over the distance to Middle Groyne from 3km into the high twos when gemini, down the back, announced another hookup.

Knowing that he might need some help as these were big fish (we could see them jumping) and he hadn’t caught one before, I decided to turn downwind again and paddle the 600m or so back to him. Besides, I had a camera and he hadn’t and a man’s first kayak-caught tuna should be photographed on the water if possible. Jaro decided to come back also.

08:31. Gemini half way into the fight.

Eventually the longtail (for that’s what it was as we’d seen it a couple of times as it came up to the yak) tired and gemini planted the gaff and hauled it aboard.

08:44. Gemini working on getting his lure out.

His first longtail, Laguna Bay

It was just after gemini had gaffed his fish that beejay, now closest to the beach of the rest of us announced that he also was hooked up. This was also likely to be a longtail and another first so jaro headed off to see if he needed any help while gemini and I had a photo session and tidied up.

After this it was the long slog back to the beach for gemini and me, almost an hour away. During this time beejay successfully boated his longtail and also headed for the beach so that jaro, I, beejay and gemini arrived back in that order, over a period of 20 minutes or so. Although there were a few hopeful board riders at the outer end of the groyne, there was no real problem in getting back in and all hit the beach the right way up.

Beejay’s first longtail, held by his son’s girlfriend (yes, the whole family was down on the beach to welcome him back)

Same fish, this time with beejay

Gemini’s longtail reluctantly held by Jasmine, young visitor from UK.

Jaro leaving beach fishless! We oldies let the young guys catch the fish today!

Thanks for coming along guys. Monday, perhaps?

Richmond’s contribution in which he explains why he wasn’t listening to his radio after catching his longtail:

Richmond’s contribution

I pulled into the MG carpark bright and early to find Corie and Gemini unloading their yaks.

After a little chat with Corie I decided to follow his lead and head off to the Little Hall’s and Hall’s Reef areas.

Corey was out of sight when Matt and I launched (which was a breeze), so we headed our yaks to LH and off we went. Upon first light the birds were pretty thick and were overtaking us heading for the Hall’s reef belt. Nothing happened, no hits or action until we got to Hall’s. Matt headed off to some birds dipping and I headed off in another direction.

At one stage I looked over at Matt and a decent Longy jumped right out in front of him. It looked about 10 metres away from him. Would have been a great photo.

Shortly afterward I cast my 40gram Raider into the feeding tuna. The slug nearly made it back to the yak but a Longy belted it 5 metres away. I was on. First decent fish for a while and boy did it feel good!

It was a short brutal fight and he came to the yak pretty green. I couldn’t tail grab as he was still going strong, so I decided to gaff him and bring him aboard.

Did I say he was green????

Bloody hell, the fish went berserk, his beating tail was giving me a hiding, blood everywhere, his tail hit me in the face and actually flicked my radio off my PFD. Bye bye radio! Not happy Jan!!! The Icom radio floats, but do you think I could find it? No, it was a needle in the proverbial haystack.

Oh well, nice fish landed, tough lesson learnt… tether everything!

I stayed out maybe another hour after that, the tuna boils seemed to be dissipating, then headed for home.

As it turned out Corie landed on the beach about 5 minutes ahead of me.

He also had a Longtail on board about the same size. He also had a bigger Longtail on but only landed the head as it was attacked and devoured by 2 Tiger Sharks. Corie said the biggest was about 7 to 8 foot long.

Richmond (left) and Corie

It was Corie’s day today, he scored a nice Longtail, didn’t get attacked by the 2 tigers and he found a $50 note floating at the end of Middle Groyne.

So Corie made money, and I’ve gotta fork out for another Icom radio! Lol.

That’s fishin’.

Congrats to gemini and beejay on what I think is their first tunas. Good job fellas.

Jeff
(Richmond)



Gemini's contribution

Distance: 16.5 km
Max Speed: 8.4 km/hour
Avg Speed: 3.3 km/hour

After a brief discussion of options before launch at 5AM, Richmond decided Halls Reef would be worth a look. I had no better plan, so I tagged along for the ride. We were not far past the river mouth when Sunshiner called in via the radio to let us know he and the others were on the water and heading to Jew Shoal.

Around the Little Halls area we started to see a lot of birds restlessly hunting around. Things were looking good, and it wasn't long before we started to see bustups appearing all over the place.

Not far from the Hall’s Reef mark both Richmond and I targeted a bustup that appeared within range of us, and we both hooked up immediately. I was dragged away from Richmond by a fair distance, and in the process of fighting his tuna he managed to lose his radio overboard (so I was told later), so communication between us halted at that point. [Editor: See Richmond’s contribution above]

My fight lasted a good 35-40 minutes before the rotten bugger dropped his hook and charged away. I managed a look at him a few times before he escaped, and it was a nice sized longtail tuna. The below image shows an extreme closeup of the GPS track showing how the tuna dragged me around for a portion of the fight.



After swearing at the sea gods for a few minutes, I then turned about and went to find the others. The tuna were about in force, and a few hookups were called over the radio on my way in.

As I dejectedly paddled my way home, it appeared the sea gods didn't take kindly to my cursing of their names, and offered me another tuna to play with in compensation. My trolled line started screaming, and I was quick to accept the rod into my hands. Sunshiner and Jaro arrived to watch the fun as I was hauled around by the longtail, offering titbits of advice such as how to maximise my chances of NOT having my wrist broken by the tuna’s tail. :)

The fight was over much faster than my first failed exercise, mainly due to the heavier tackle on the troll rod, but my declining stamina and barracking cheer squad also helped. My first longtail tuna had been landed!

Once I had tidied up I headed back to shore, not bothering to put down any trolled lines (I wasn’t feeling greedy).

Not a bad day out!


GPS Track

Borumba Dam 04Apr12

Trip Report by JaG One

Jen came with me and we left at gentleman's hours (after breakfast). The dam was dead smooth again with only a couple of family groups towing tubes etc and a few odd tinnies. There was no wind until about 10.30 and it barely ruffled the surface.



We paddled 8.15klms again for 1.5hrs, and Jen managed a good 50-60% paddling, and no seasickness. We had dropped in 4 traps(each with a par/boiled spud), but I also put a tin of cat food each in two of the traps.

Jen recovered the first (c/f & spud) which had 9 keepers.



The next was my turn (c/f & spud) and it was loaded, including the "possible NY record". The other two held one keeper and a couple of bait size. In all, we kept 27 and threw back 5.



Talking to a fellow RC fan at the boat ramp, it seems he thought the cat food was the most reliable, although he had found that the RC can be picky with their diet (sounds like fishing!!!). For a first trip, the result was better than I had hoped for. The 'overnight trapping' obviously works, as they are basically a nocturnal forager. The big one is probably a male,(they can grow to 600gms), and the females are smaller than the males and carry their eggs under their tail. For the technically minded, their scientific title is "cherax quadricarinatus". Oh, and apparently they are good eating, too!!



JaG

Borumba Dam, 03Apr12

TR by Jag-one


Hi Yakkers,

A nice day on the water with one of my grandsons. Alex and I covered 8.2klms, paddling for 1hr and 40mins. Of that time, Alex paddled at least half which is pretty good for a 10yr old.

Anyway, we dropped in my regulation 4 traps, photographed a huge goanna near us during lunch, checked out the sounder a bit, spoke to some fishos and yakkers, and had an ice cream in Imbil on the way home.

It doesn't get any better. Unless, of course, Jen and I have some redclaw early tomorrow morning when we retrieve said traps. Will catch up tomorrow.

See you on the water
Geoff Stolberg
Call Sign ..JaG one

The gaff, the gaff! LB 03Apr12

TR by pedro
Wind: Light SW early, increasing to 15knot S/SW
Swell: .5 to 1m SE
Launch point: MG
Participants: Pedro

I launched around 5am, just light enough to see the sets and make it out with a dry bum.

I headed for JS hoping the wind would stay southerly as the headland would give some protection.

Trolled HB and garfish for a couple of hours with no action so changed to drift fishing without losing a bait and by 8.30 with commitments at home headed for MG.

At about half way my HB took off and an hour later I had a 15kg longtail doing circles around the yak.

After two failed attempts at a tail grab the hooks pulled. Should have used the gaff.

The waves at MG were standing up as it was now closer to low tide, but a little patience saw me on the beach upright. Here's hoping April is better than March.

Pedro

Lake Mac bass are back, 03Apr12

TR by Gemini

Where: Lake MacDonald
Participants: Gemini
Conditions: light breeze 5-7knts, sunny, reasonable water quality
Distance: 3.0 km
Max Speed: 6.5 km/hour
Avg Speed: 1.0 km/hour

A 6:15AM launch found me amongst the weed near the bird hide on the S/E arm of Lake Macdonald. The water looked good, and the baitfish and bugs were about, so it looked promising. After passing through the weed and progressing into the first channel, I started casting with my bibless minnow. Three casts later I had my first strike. He fought hard for his size, and I had to release some drag, taking him perilously close to the weeds. I boated him without too much other drama and measured him up.


He measured in at just shy of 32cm (30cm is legal), and then went back to fight another day.


I took my time cruising the channels around that single arm of the lake, alternating between my minnow and a 1/4oz spinner. I took a few hits here and there, but none took the hook. The bird and insect life were plentiful, and as I reached the top of my circuit the surface activity picked up. I switched to a popper and attempted to find some interest, but was not successful.

I switched back to the minnow and made my way slowly back to the launch site. It wasn't far from where I landed the first bass that I came across my second for the morning.


This little fella was just over 20cm, so he also went back for a swim.


On my way in I passed a couple of solemn looking black swans who honked in greeting (more in alarm I suspect), but I didn't have the camera handy unfortunately. Lake MacDonald always knows how to put on a show of wildlife for your viewing pleasure.


I can't rave about these things enough. The River2Sea Mini Vib 43. Apparently they're great for bream too.


GPS Track Map