Since mid 2007, members of Noosa Yakkers have been writing and illustrating kayak fishing Trip Reports and publishing them by whatever means available. This blog collects all of our early reports (sent out by email) plus the later TR published here on Blogger, and more recently, Monthly Summaries of the reports published on our Facebook Group.
Wind: N 8-14(?)knots over the course of the morning
Swell: 1.1m E
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: Yes
Participants: Panno, Corie, Wouldnot, Gemini
Keen Angler Program: No frames donated
The weather forecast had slightly deteriorated overnight, but not enough to stop us heading out at 5:30AM as intended. The breeze was there, but manageable, as we headed directly into it towards Little Halls. Corie was off at a fast pace followed by Panno, while Wouldnot and I took the rear after some additional setup on the water.
Wouldnot in his Hobie widened the gap between us rapidly, his pedal powered machine having a definite advantage in the wind compared to my Viking tank. I plodded along alone across the river mouth, and then I ran into trouble...
I was pretty much past the mouth, about 700m from the bar, when a well known local fishing charter boat appeared from the river and raced towards me. He was about half way to me from the bar when I started to think he hadn't seen me, so I waved my paddle in the air and hoped he would change course. He did, but not enough, nor did he slow down. He raced past my stern and picked up my trolled line. My reel screamed and emptied rapidly, getting pretty hot in the process. I waved and screamed at the boat to stop, and a few passengers noticed and pointed towards me, but there was no slowing or stopping from the skipper. Luckily my leader gave way and snapped free, leaving me to retrieve the line (minus a 120mm Qantas LP lure and a few feet of leader). I was pretty miffed as you could well imagine, but it could have been worse. The GPS track below has the event location marked, as you can see where I drifted back while rigging my line again.
After swearing a bit, re-rigging my line, and then swearing some more, I resumed course to Little Halls. Wouldnot was there waiting for me flicking some lures about, but no action as yet. I noted the water here was also a very dirty brown colour. During this time Corie called through from Halls with the news that he had boated a nice Spaniard, and things were heating up out his way. Another paddle into the now stiffening breeze didn't thrill me much, but we pressed on anyway.
Not far from Little Halls the bustups starting to appear out wide from us. Wouldnot and I battled heroically against the wind to reach a number of them, but they were either just out of reach, or they dissipated before we could get there. Wouldnot managed a brief hookup on a cast into a disappearing bustup, but it spat the hook shortly after.
The wind by this stage was really starting to whip up. I was wearing nearly every wave I paddled into against the wind, and a visit to Halls at this stage was pretty much off the cards. Wouldnot and I paddled around looking for opportunities going with the wind, but the pickings were slim. Eventually I spied a few reasonable sized bustups back towards Little Halls, but the closer I got, the faster they moved to the north into the wind. It was at this stage I gave up and headed back to MG with a nice tailwind.
The beach landings were mostly incident free, although Wouldnot had a swim near the end of the wall. Lucky for him it wasn't caught on camera!
Unpleasant wind and events aside, at least Panno and Corie had a decent morning out. Panno took 2 mack tuna, and Corie took a shark, 2 mack tuna, and a very nice Spaniard.
TR by sunshiner, with some GoPro pics from stormin's video files
Wind: calm (as forecast)
Swell: 1.3m E
Water temp: 26.7°C
Tides: 3:04 am : 0.43 L; 9:00 am : 1.61 H
Current: no significant
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: Yes, lots, all tuna
Participants: diesel, stormin, eyetag, cuddles, weeksie, beejay, sunshiner
Keen Angler Program: missed out again today as we were targetting tuna!
Eyetag's tipoff from sightings yesterday that tuna were likely in the western bay today proved accurate. Conditions couldn't have been better, as long as care was taken at the 0530 launch time as the tide was still a long way from high. I understand that cuddles may have taken a bath, but as far as I know everyone else got out and back without problems.
Beejay and stormin were running a bit late, but the rest of us were on the water as planned, and soon after heading for the NW on what was certainly a glorious morning with glassy seas, low swell and clear sky.
Stormin's GoPro #1 captured this frame at launch time.
Conditions at sunrise. What were you doing?
I was somewhere in the centre of the pack, with eyetag and cuddles (no radio) up front. Stormin and beejay announced their launch when the rest of us were at least half way to Little Halls Reef. Then the first indicator came by radio from eyetag "Bustups, boys!" as he approached Little Halls Reef. Then a bustup occurred right in front of me. I could see these were small fish, likely mac tuna, and largely ignored them, trolling onward with my usual HLP. About now eyetag announced a hookup, on a trolled hardbody, and it was on for everyone. The sun was just clearing the horizon and everyone was seeing splashes as the tuna started to feed in earnest.
A typical bustup today, sometimes only a few splashes but often many more. (GoPro frame)
Confirmation that there were longtails mixed up in the melee came from eyetag when he boated the first, early in the action. Bringing up the rear, of course were beejay and stormin and they breathlessly joined in the radio conversation to announce that they were in the midst of lots of bustups, not far from the rivermouth. Soon stormin had hooked up on a trolled hardbody which pulled free. Then he cast a SP into a bustup, while his trolling outfit was deployed. The SP was seized, so he started to retrieve the trolling outfit when it was also taken, so a double header under way. The SP fish busted off but he then turned his attention to the other fish and boated it.
Stormin's first longtail in the new Stealth ProFisha (cropped GoPro frame). That's beejay in the background, also taking pics.
Meanwhile, back up near Little Halls Reef, I was tagging along with eyetag, sure that he would soon hookup. I'd been told not to bring a fish home today so was concentrating on trying to get some good video footage. Sure enough, soon eyetag had hooked up to a decent fish by casting a slug into a bustup and retrieving it flat out. I asked and received permission to move up close with the GoPro and then set up so that I was about 10-15m from, and parallel with, eyetag's yak, just letting the GoPro do its thing.
Eyetag's boating technique (frame from GoPro)
After capture pic (frame from GoPro)
Optio pic with time stamp
Meanwhile, stormin was providing a breathless radio commentary of a second longtail hookup, down near the river mouth.
Stormin's longtail #2, captured with his GoPro #1.
No one else seemed to be having much action, or at least there was no radio talk from them. But surely I would get a hit soon? In between shooting movie and manoeuvering for this purpose I'd been trolling my HLP, fully expecting it to go off at any second. But, just in case, I also had rigged a slug and the opportunity to use this arose eventually. One cast into a bustup and I hooked up. This turned out to be a fairly standard mac tuna which was foul hooked in the belly and therefore took a bit longer to subdue than I'd expect. Anyway, it was easy to release when the time came.
Releasing the mac tuna.
Diesel around this time had a tail of woe to tell over the radio. Having spent quite a time hooked up to a longtail on a trolled hardbody, he had the misfortune to have it self release yak-side, but he did get his lure back. Next thing on the same lure he'd hooked a spot-tail shark, which is considered great tucker in Chez Diesel, so it went home with him.
By around 07:30 the action had tapered off considerably and I started to head for home as I wanted to make sure I was on the beach to get the pics I wanted.
Just off Middle Groyne I was approached by a guy in a very flash outrigger boat. It was our own Hollywood (Harry), recovering slowly from a shoulder injury.
Beautiful craft, eh?
The beach return was pretty easy, the tide being pretty high by now. But there were many visitors in the water near our beach, collision prospects all.
Some beach pics
The larger of eyetag's two longtails. The other was 80cm.
These ladies asked us to take a photo of them with eyetag's fish.
Stormin had three longtails. This was the largest, the others being each around 80cm.
Three longtails on the ProFisha seat.
Diesel and beejay with some nice yaks.
A very happy stormin, who'd filled the hatch of his new boat at last!
Great day. Sorry you missed it. Movie now available:
Kev Long Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
Wind: 5-8 kn WNW
Swell: 1.0-1.5m E
Tides: High 1.8m 0820
Current: Strong W->E "upper layer" current aided by a slight WNW breeze resulting in a very fast 1.5-2.0 kph drift speed. Suspect there was a "lower layer" current heading in opposite direction, ie, E->W, given fast rate the cast line transitioned below the kayak while the drogue was hanging quite loosly beside kayak.
Launch Point: Middle Groyne
Conditions: Cloudy initially, brief shower about 0815-0845, then clearing to sunny late morning.
Keen Angler Program: no contribution.
Participants: Eyetag, Stormin, Wardy, Jimbo and new NY member Paul Siboni.
When I arrived at the Middle Groyne car park at first light at 0520, Stormin had already transferred his yak at the water's edge and was returning his trolley to his car, and Paul was completing his preparations. Stormin reported the launch conditions were doable but a wet bum was likely, and that Eyetag must have already launched earlier at "Oh-dark-hundred".
On the beach I gave Paul a few suggestions on how to better stow his gear, and offered some guidance on how to best negotiate a surf zone crossing next to the rock groyne. The sand monster was definitely working but with careful timing we three made it out the back relatively unscathed.
After setting up, we learnt by radio from Eyetag, now already trolling around Jew Sh, that Wardy was ahead of us, also on his way to JS. Paul, having only one rod, was first to set up and then set off towards the NE, which was a lille strange as he did not have a radio or GPS, and had said he intended to tag along with Stormin.
On arrival at JS, there were no birds to be seen, and no surface action, so I went into bottom bashing mode with prawn bait out towards the west of the shoal to utilize the W->E drift while Eyetag, Wardy and Stormin continued doing trolling laps around the shoal, which we were sharing with 3-4 stinkies. I could not see Paul anywhere, but distant visibility between yakkers was problematic with the prevailing swell.
After about an hour, with no hook-ups reported, Eyetag decided to head to Halls Rf, apparently followed by Wardy. About a further hour later, Stormin, having determined from Eyetag that he had not fared any better at Halls Rf, decided to give A-Bay Rf a try. Stormin reported that he also had lost sight of Paul, but had last seen him in the vicinity of the Pinnacles.
About this time, my trolling rig baited with a trailing pilchard started buzzing. Initially I thought this might have been a small shark, but was pleased when a smallish school mackerel came yak. A quick check of my new NY Limits Table indicated the minimum length for a schoolie was 50 cm, and given my hooked model was clearly about 60+ cm, I was happy to sink the gaff into him and pull him aboard.
At around 0830, and with light rain falling, Stormin reported that there was nothing happening at A-Bay Rf so he was going to start heading back to MG. About this time Stormin also received a radio call from an unidentified boat operator asking the location of "Stormin in a kayak". A brief conversation with this boat operator indicated he was passing on a message from a kayaker named Paul located ... “about 4 km north of the river mouth”. The boat operator was asked to pass back a message to Paul that all his fellow kayakers were now heading back to Middle Groyne and he should now start doing the same. Unbeknown to all of us, Paul had apparently left Jew Sh and made his way, without a GPS, to somewhere in the vicinity of Halls Rf, but was not seen by either Eyetag or Wardy.
Not much else to report fishing wise. Wardy, about 1 km north of Halls Rf reported hooking up to a longtail, apparently on a small cast slug, but the hooks pulled before it could be landed. Eyetag on return to the beach, reported there were bust-ups and birds all over the place around Halls Rf but trolled HBL and cast slugs generally proved non productive.
Back at Middle Groyne, the sand monster was still lurking, as was Sunshiner standing on the end of the rock groyne armed with his Go-Pro ready to video the surf zone returns to the beach. Anyway, four of us managed to judge the sets and land upright back on the beach at around 0945. Being Easter Sunday, with the cloud clearing and the sun now starting to stir the tourist beach goers, it was easy to entice a couple of junior fish holders.
Pic by Sunshiner
Here's my school mack on Stormin's new brag mat, thanks Stormin. Pic by Sunshiner
After we had all washed down our yaks and loaded them onto our cars, and it now being 1030, our thoughts turn to the whereabouts of new NY Paul who had not been heard of since the unidentified boat operator's message about two hours earlier. Sunshiner hung around for a while and subsequently reported that Paul eventually returned to the beach around 1100, fishless, and asking where he could buy a radio and which one he should buy!
Here's Paul after his very extended maiden Laguna Bay fishing trip with NY. It appears he had no concept of how easy it is to become separated from other yakkers in the open sea. At least he's now convinced of the great value of a VHF radio. Paul, perhaps you could add a comment below on how you managed to get from Jew Sh to somewhere near Halls Rf without a GPS, and how come it took so long for you to get back to Middle Groyne after receiving my message from the boat operator.
An Easter Sunday that looked very gloomy to start with, but turned out quite nice in the end ... well, for me at least. And good prospects for those yakkers intending to head towards Lt Halls/Halls RF and the North Shore this morning (Easter Monday).
TR by sunshiner and diesel (separate contribution at the end)
Wind: SE to 15 knots before 8:00am
Swell: 1.5m E
Water temp: 27.2°C
Tides: 5:39 am : 1.64 H
Current: no significant
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: Heaps!
Participants: diesel, sunshiner
Keen Angler Program: missed out again today as we were targetting tuna!
As you may be aware, yesterday afternoon I'd reported large bustups in Laguna Bay sighted during an afternoon walk in the National Park. I decided to try for a shot at them early this morning and diesel, always keen for a paddle, accepted my invitation to come along. But we didn't decide finally until 4:00am today when my weather analysis told me that the sea would be lumpy, but the wind would be generally around 10 knots. We launched at around 05:30.
And lumpy it was, as we discovered once we'd cleared the dubious shelter of the headland. As per our agreed plan, diesel (younger, faster) had headed for Jew Shoal while I pretty much went straight for Hells Gates. By 06:30 diesel had already been to Jew Shoal and was approaching Granite Bay while I was circling just north of Hells Gates. It had been a slow trip for me, working my way eastward, upwind and upsea. Only a couple of individual terns sighted and no fish action at all.
Then the switch was thrown. Diesel drew my attention by radio to birds working close-in at Granite. Although I couldn't see them, I headed that way, and sure enough, there they were, and lots of splashing under them as the pelagics carved up their brekky. And right among them was diesel, visible only whenever we were both at the peak of a swell. In that area the depth is only about six metres and the swells were making the most of it to scarily increase their stature.
I decided initially to just drag my HLP 120 around the edge of the bustups. No hits, but I was passing fish busting out less than 30 metres away. Despite the number of bustups (we could see several at once over an area of about a square kilometre) I found it difficult to get into position for a cast. Deciding that trolling a HLP wasn't working, I rigged up a slug on my light casting outfit and then tossed out the back a white SP, just letting it hang out there while I manoeuvered to get into a casting position. At last diesel announced he'd hooked up on a cast slug and was headed for New Caledonia, not a good destination as he doesn't speak French, I understand. So I knew that the fish were susceptible to a well presented slug.
A short time later, my chance came as I was paddling toward the largest bustup I could see. All of a sudden, I'd made my own bustup as the ocean erupted with fish all around me. Out went the slug and instantly I was on. By now I was aware that diesel's fish was a mac tuna so I wasn't surprised when mine proved to be also. This fish wasn't boated as a terminal tackle failure at the last moment before gaffing let him free.
If anything the action was becoming more hectic as the sun rose, well hidden by the heavy bank of cloud which was keeping us in partial darkness. Then I spotted what was definitely a longtail tuna as it cleared the water nearby. With that I resolved to retrieve the white SP and replace it with the HLP 120, and to troll it eastward, toward the open water, where I could see two or three large flocks of terns whose individual members were becoming fatter by the minute, as no doubt were the tuna below.
This decision was rewarded with a strident hookup on the HLP but the hook pulled loose soon after I picked up the rod. Double bugger! I put it out for what turned out to be its farewell performance as it was soon hit again, in a powerful strike. This time I had the fish on a bit longer but felt the line go slack to find that a knot had failed at the small swivel connection of the wire trace I was using. Down two lures! And still no fish aboard. By now, about 9:00 am, I was happy to agree with diesel that perhaps we should head in. Remember, we'd been battling this lumpy sea for over three hours and our teeth are longer than they used to be, years ago. So I put on my next and second last HLP 120, the Qantas coloured one, with the rusting hooks, rigged with wire, which had accounted for several spotty macs, and then turned through 180° back through the maelstrom of churning fish and terns toward Middle Groyne. At least we were going downwind and downsea this time. Pow! Off it went as I paddled past the edge of another eruption. (Note that I'd trolled past many such eruptions earlier in the morning without any result.) Diesel was now nearby and kindly got out his camera for the coup de grâce on my third longtail tuna for the month.
Pic by diesel.
Pic by GoPro.
Movie 1:46. The capture (added 02Apr15)
At this we headed for home, literally leaving them biting as we passed two or three more bustups just north of Dolphin Point on the way in.
Once we'd reached the shelter of the bay, diesel posed on the water with his first ever mac tuna.
On the beach conditions were grey with very few beachgoers. But as we pulled out our new brag mats and our fish, all of a sudden we were the centre of attention and spent a good 30 minutes responding to the many questions of the holidaymakers. Diesel is particularly good at this reparteé and was holding the onlookers enthralled with tales of derring do on the high seas.
Some beach pics
Some of the crowd
The ones who wanted Internet fame
Diesel daubed with tuna blood
My fish on my brag mat (note that diesel has the honour of being the first person to put his fish on the new Noosa Yakkers mat)
Both fish on a mat
Kev Long Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
Contribution by diesel
I had just unloaded the yak when Sunshiner arrived at Middle Groyne. It was about 0515 and we were not the only ones in the car park: a group of lady outrigger boat paddlers had also arrived and were prepping for a paddle. They were on the water and doing 15 kts before we launched.
Our launch went off well with me only taking on a little water ballast on the way through the first break. It was my third trip in the Evolution 4.65 and there are a lot of differences to the Prowler 4.5 and non draining foot wells is one of them. I now know all about foot saunas. I headed off for the shoal, lit by a glorious sunrise which promised bad weather.
Sunrise by diesel
On the other hand I'm loving the speed and made it out to Jew Shoal in record time, towing a Halco 120mm minnow pattern hard body lure without a hint of interest by the fishy inhabitants.
I trolled around there for about 30 minutes and then headed out past the headland chasing bust ups which were starting to happen. Sunshiner was already out there and there seemed to be bust ups everywhere I wasn't.
The Halco had no takers and this was getting depressing, a new yak on its third trip and not yet blooded.
Bingo, I'm sitting in the middle of a huge bust-up so I flicked out my $5 Aldi metal slug and I was on in about two winds of the handle. Whatever it was did a massive first run, taking me down to less than half the spool, then I started to win some line back. It took 11 minutes before I saw my first colour and before long I could see it was a Mackerel Tuna about 70cm. Opened the hatch and prepared the gaff. The gaffing was a non event and my first ever mac tuna was in the hatch and the Evo was blooded.
This one is for Carter, the previous owner of the Evo! Note regurgitated baitfish. pic by diesel.
The rest of the fishing was uneventful for me with only one other hook up and spit out. I chased bust ups all around the headland to no avail.
By now sunshiner had his longtail in the hatch and was down a couple of lures. We started back to the Groyne dragging lures with me chasing little bust ups all the way.
The swell wasn't too bad at the beach but is still spat me out once again. My excuse is that I'm still learning this new yak!
It was now time to try out the new Noosa Yakkers brag mats which created a lot of interest and a possible new member.
My fish on my new brag mat.
My first mac tuna! Pic by beach lady.
Just another day in paradise! Hope it makes sense!
Conditions: water 26 degrees, 1-2m swell, 1-2knt to north current, wind SE @10kn early dropping out over the course of the morning, some rain
Surface action: Free jumping tuna and scattered bustups throughout the day
Keen Angler Program: no frames donated
Redwood and I headed up the beach at first light yesterday to try and redeem ourselves after our role as passengers on the Sunny Coast team at Adder. The surf wasn't too bad and we both made it out without incident. Once on the water we saw Tarzan who said he was being pestered by mack tuna which were mangling his spanish rigs. We trolled South and I had a slimy bitten in half without a hookup, despite the fact the bite was about an inch above the stinger and managed to kink the wire.
Redwood looking south on lumpy water
Lots of action on the sounder
As the day wore on we started to see tuna free jumping and Tim reported he saw both longtails and yellowfin among them. I had a white SP out the back and as I was paddling quickly to try to catch a bustup it was absolutely monstered. The first run of this fish was lightning and when I upped the drag whatever it was replied by going even faster! I've never been spooled before but the 4000 stradic was no match for this train.
I was now down to just the overhead and guessed from the last hookup that the fish might like speed. The next time a bustup occurred it was directly behind me and I immediately put the hammer down and was rewarded with a hookup on the slimie. Another howling run followed but I was much better prepared on this outfit and after about 5 minutes I had a solid Spaniard at the gaff. Not much else to report; Redwood didn't get a touch on his slimey and Tarzan we think only picked up the Mac Tuna. The rain closed in and we hit the beach just before 10. Feels good to be back on the board, after two donuts in the AKS comps I was low on mojo.
Scatter reels in a nice Spanish after a short tussle
Scatter with his Spaniard
Mmm, raw Spanish with coriander, chilli and coconut milk - it's the bomb (thanks for the recipe Ido)
Trip date: 28 March 2014
Participants: Tunny at 5.30 am, Stormin at 3.00 pm
Launch Site: MG
Conditions: wind less than 10 knots variable, swell less than 1 metre
Keen Angler Program: None
I arrived to find the MG car park deserted so I guess the rest of you suspected the fishing would not be great. I launched at 5.30 am through a small shore break and headed out scanning the horizon for any signs of birds. With no birds in sight I decided to head for Jew Shoal trolling a weighted pilchard. There was no action on the way to JS but on arrival I noticed a few birds flying back towards Little Halls. I did a few circuits of Jew Shoal, but with no surface action or any signs of bait balls on the sounder I decided the birds knew better and turned towards Little Halls. I did not follow a direct route but chased the occasional patches of diving birds and small bust-ups of what looked like Mac Tuna. These were always well out of reach so I never got a chance to cast my 20 g Halco Twisty.
About 200 m from Little Halls my trolling rig was taken by a small shark which I released. On arrival at Little Halls I switched from trolling to jigging soft plastics, landing two more sharks. It was now 10 am and I started heading back towards MG trolling a pilchard which was soon taken by another shark. I arrived at MG at 10.30 am, catching a nice wave from about 30 m offshore all the way in.
Stormin then contacted me to find out what conditions were like and headed out at 3.00 pm. He spotted birds working in the direction of JS and decided to head there, trolling a dead bait. He hooked three small sharks and got bitten off twice above the wire by what he suspects were larger sharks. Stormin then headed back, arriving at MG just before dark.
Wind: NW less than 5 knots before 8:00am, then strengthening from the north to 10-15knots
Swell: 1m E
Water temp: 27.2°C
Tides: 7:08 am : 0.68 L
Current: no significant
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: Only a couple of minor bustups at Halls Reef, just after sunrise
Participants: diesel, sunshiner
Keen Angler Program: missed out today!
Launch was a little trickier than I expected but we still got out easily, at our planned launch time.
Jimbo's Tuesday TR had told us that Jew Shoal was likely to be quiet so diesel and I opted to try out Halls Reef, which is 5km NW from our launch point. We were aware that the wind would likely increase from the north later, giving us a tail wind component on the homeward leg. Certainly the forward leg was easy, as the wind was barely sufficient to cause a ripple on the surface.
Diesel's new ride is a Stealth Evolution 465, acquired recently (pic later). He and the boat are a lethal speed combination and this showed as he arrived at our destination around 400m before I did. The 5km paddle took me 50 minutes, trolling a HLP all the way (not a touch!).
And so we settled into our individual fishing routines. The depth at Halls Reef varies from 16m to 19m and there was one other boat, a stinky, out there. I was drifting a white SP while casting around with another, my usual technique. Not long after out arrival I noticed some terns fluttering out to the west a little so diesel and I headed over to see what the fuss was about. No way could the action be described as furious. a few small splashes could be seen briefly under the terns as they wheeled, dipped, then flew a couple of hundred metres to the next similar piece of action. I'm sure you know how frustrating for some kayak fishos this can be. We largely ignored the activity because our sonar devices showed quite a lot of bait patches and so we trusted that concentrating on this stuff might produce the goods.
Diesel was fishing with bait and, as often happens, was wiped out by something which grabbed his trailing pillie and took it home. An hour after arriving I'd not had a touch. Nevertheless, the amount of sonar screen clutter encouraged me and soon afterward my cast SP was picked up in no uncertain terms, at mid water, just after I'd cast it out. This was a screamer, with the spool rapidly emptying of 6kg braid. Thinking that this might be a longtail, I started to decrease the kayak drag on the fish by retrieving my drogue only to experience the disappointment of a slack line. Either I'd been bitten off or the strain had been too much for one of the knots. In any case my SP and jighead had been stolen. Bugger!
By around 8:30am the breeze was starting to increase, from the north as forecast and I decided to start trolling gently with the breeze toward Little Halls Reef and Middle Groyne. Diesel followed a few minutes later and passed me eventually, near the river mouth. Here my HLP went off, but the hooked fish put up no fight, swimming toward me cooperatively. I never did get to find out what it was as it spat the hook right under the yak, about 3m down. Bugger again!
Just off Middle Groyne I took the opportunity to take a pic of diesel and his new ride before he stashed his rods and gear (wisely, as it turned out).
Stealth Evolution 465 formerly owned by Sydney-based Noosa Yakker Carter Mullins, and sold through Noosa Yakkers.
The sand monster was on patrol, assisted by low tide and some occasional big waves. Being ready to go first, I confidently headed for the white water and was doing OK until I was run down by a semi-broken wave. As the GoPro video shows, the unbroken section, nearer the wall, broke on top of me just as the wave reached me. This sudden surge forced the stern around to the west and I countered by bracing on the port side. See the movie embedded below for the consequences.
No harm was done, but diesel was still out there, manoeuvering in what he didn't realize was the break zone. For a second I thought he might get away with it, but he was slammed side on by another breaking wave and the score was sand monster 2, yakkers nil. Again, all his gear was stowed and no damage occurred.
On the beach I took the opportunity to take a pic of our new brag mat.
Pity there were no fish on it, but hopefully the situation will be rectified very soon.
Kev Long Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
