NOT a longtail day. 07Apr16

TR by sunshiner


Wind: Light SW-southerly
Swell: 1.5m easterly
Water temp: 26.7°C
Tides: Low 01:34am (0.28m); High 07:45am (2.00m)
Current: n/a
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: Nil at Little Halls Reef, heaps at Jew Shoal
Participants: jaro, diesel, gemini, jimbo, tunny, dugout, bonnyboy (scratched), sunshiner
My trip distance: 11km
Redmap: No sightings provided
Keen Angler Program: Unknown, but two snapper possibles.

Longtail fever hit the Noosa Yakkers community recently, coincident with the arrival of superb kayak fishing weather for about ten days. And those of us who could got out more often than the Australian cricket team batsmen; and some of us even got ducks. Then came four days of strong SE winds, which ended yesterday.

The news of the longtails even reached Victoria with the result that one keen yakfisher loaded up his big white van and joined Noosa Yakkers while en route to Noosa, texting and emailing us from his phone while he hammered up Highway One. Justin (aka bonnyboy) became the quickest join we've ever had, and he was posting on our Facebook page within five minutes, asking about longtails.

And yes, bonnyboy was in the Middle Groyne carpark when I arrived in the dark this morning. He was chatting with tunny and diesel and copying down the recipe for boiled longtail (a little prematurely, as it turned out). Ominously, on the roof of his van was a Hobie pedal craft (Outback or Revo). Even more ominous was the crump of the shorey. We three offered him launch advice, additional to the detailed written advice he'd already received via our new-member joining system.

The tide was over half way in, so the shorey wasn't too bad. Out we went, apparently without problem, other than the expected wet bums. But then no one knew where bonnyboy (no radio, no GPS) was. He'd been seen heading for the beach, Hobie in tow but apparently didn't make the set up area, out the back. In the end, we could do nothing, as no one had actually seen him attempt to launch. The rest of us, of course, were in contact with each other by radio; tunny opted to head to Little Halls Reef while the rest of us headed for Jew Shoal, led by diesel.

Half way to Jew Shoal a surprise. Dugout (long time Noosa Yakkers member and occasional Noosa resident) called up for a radio check, telling us he had launched from Coward's Corner, and was also heading for Jew Shoal.

I was intent on catching a snapper so headed for my favourite SP drift area for a SW breeze. Diesel was recycling some mac tuna, jaro used prawns, dugout was trolling for mackerel, while jimbo and gemini opted to chase the tuna schools with slugs (not the garden variety). Gemini hooked up really quickly.

Gemini's mac tuna as seen by his GoPro.

Then jaro announced he had a shark on. Dugout, who is not a Victorian, but lives there a fair bit, offered to take it off his hands. So that was dinner sorted in the dugout household.

Meanwhile, all around us, terns were fluttering and diving and eruptions of white water showed where the baitfish were being smashed.

Two shots from gemini's GoPro as he approached the bustups.

I fished on and eventually got a good solid run on my cast SP but the hook dislodged after a few seconds (bugger!). Shortly afterward jaro confirmed that snapper were present by telling us he'd boated a 50cm specimen. Then I got another run, spool buzzing as it released line and again the hook failed to find a firm hold (double bugger).

Diesel, meanwhile, was continuing his informal survey of species present at Jew Shoal.

Spangled emperor (undersize, min 45cm)

Maori cod (undersize, min 45cm)

Yellowlip Threadfin Bream, Nemipterus aurifilum (Ogilby 1910) (aka butterfly bream)

And finally, a keeper

Tunny reported no action at Little Halls Reef and that he was heading in as he had to be home early today. Shortly afterward, with tunny's arrival at Middle Groyne, the mystery of bonnyboy's whereabouts was cleared up. Tunny found him still in the car park, eating canned tuna (alright, I made that up) and doing makeshift repairs on his fishing gear. Yes, he'd been smashed in the small surf, with terminal damage to some vital fishing equipment. Ask him, maybe he'll tell you the story or maybe the pic he supplied this arvo will do the job (see below).

At least two smashed rods as far as I can tell, and all the reels will need servicing. Don't transit the surf zone with rods held vertically.

Bonnyboy, we appreciate your candor in sending us this pic. Perhaps you should consider buying a kayak Rod Bag (Google "pedro's rod bags"), invented and sold by Noosa Yakkers' member pedro, who uses a Hobie Revolution and launches from Middle Groyne.

Shortly afterward we were all heading back. The tide by now was high but dropping and the Middle Groyne sand monster was on the prowl. Several baby surfers were blocking our usual entrance (surely school holidays must end soon) so some of us opted for the eastern side of the groyne. The shorey was spectacularly nasty.

Experimental embed from instagram (15 sec movie)

Mean shorey at Middle Groyne today. Can't win 'em all, but I try. #noosayakkers #kayakfishing #stealthkayak #stealthkayaks #DiscoverQueensland #noosa #kayakspecialists #fishingnoosa #shorebreak

A video posted by Kevin Long (@noosakev) on Apr 6, 2016 at 7:18pm PDT

Thanks for reading and thanks to my companions today for coming along.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPhone, iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
FREE iBook "Kayak Fishing Laguna Bay & Jew Shoal" for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Summary, March 2016

March 2016 Summary

This TR is a monthly brief summary of fishing trip information which has been posted on our Facebook Group page or elsewhere and not posted on this blog. Noosa Yakkers Facebook Group

Water temp at end of month: 27.2°C
Weather conditions: Very windy from early in the month until 19Mar, when we got a break, then ideal conditions from 23Mar onward.

19Mar16 (first calm day in about five weeks)
gemini, stormin, tunny hit the bay.

stormin bagged two nice grassies, 42 and 48cm

redgreg went out from Doggie Beach and busted the Spaniard record
See TR on this blog.

23Mar16
Email from pedro received 23Mar16:

For those going tomorrow:
I took a mate out to JS today for his first trip, we ended up with three snapper 50 to 55 cm, one spangled emperor, one spotty, one cobia 80cm.
Good Luck
Cheers
Pedro

24Mar16
See TR on this blog

25Mar16
diesel, stormin, redwood and jonny launched at Middle Groyne

Stormin bagged the first longtail of the season

26Mar16

Gemini, holidaying at Rainbow Beach, took a bath

26Mar16
A crowd launched from Middle Groyne
scottyB, redwood, tunny, jaro, Mentos Man (visitor), beejay, stormin, imax, thorny, noel, Matt Baker, sunshiner

One of two small keeper snapper landed using SPs by sunshiner

27Mar16
jimbo and son Simon, microbe, the hoff, and weeksie hit the bay and nearby

The hoff nailed a grassy

28Mar16
stormin, irish luck and thorny headed out

irish luck and thorny each nailed his first longtail

29Mar16
diesel, jaro, tunny, bluedog, sunshiner headed out to Little Halls Reef and Halls Reef

jaro and diesel got a longtail each, while bluedog got his first Spaniard

wet but happy bluedog

31Mar16
Participants: Pedro, crofty + 1, diesel, jimbo, jaro, redwood, tunny, sunshiner, and, a late mention, scottyD, who bravely launched from Doggie Beach.

A big paddle for those (all but two) who went to Little Halls Reef and Halls Reef. My trip was 19km for zilch but lots of great scenery and some exciting close encounters (see vid below). Longtails and other pelagics busting out. Several fish hooked at Halls Reef but nothing of consequence brought home, although we haven't yet heard from pedro (last seen heading for Sunshine Reef). ScottyD bagged a Spaniard and a big spotty mac.

Two minute vid (a big screen will let you see the jumping fish better):

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPhone, iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
FREE iBook "Kayak Fishing Laguna Bay & Jew Shoal" for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Doctor Dogs Double Island Adventure March 25 & 26 2016

Trip Report Friday 25 Saturday 26 March 2016
TR by doctordog
Solo trip report from Paradise Beach north side Double Island Point for 25 th & 26 th March .
Wind: SE 5-15 knots ( stronger on 25 th than 26th)
Swell: 1.5 m Easterly
Current: variable light northerly
Launch point: Paradise Beach , Double Island Point
Participants: DoctorDog

Staying at Huxley cottage at Double Island Point Lighthouse gave me the opportunity to trial a north side launch to access the bommies for snapper around the headland and the open water for the pelagics known to haunt these waters.
With the cottages being some 75 m above sea level it is an easy trundle to get the yak down the 500 m sandy track to the beach on the sheltered northside. The swell wraps around the headland making for an interesting but not dangerous launch provided the swell is not too big. Timing is everything.

Once out beyond the break I rigged up troll a Halco Laser Pro 120 HB for the easy paddle out to the line from the lighthouse to Wolf Rock. This was virgin territory for me to paddle a kayak but I had surfed and visited this area for many years prior to launching a yak based adventure. On my recce paddle the day before I tried out radio coverage , GPS and my sounder as well as testing my left shoulder damaged in the surf 3 days prior. Radio coverage is patchy but adequate - the sounder worked perfectly - but GPS marks were not finding the reef due to operator error and the damaged shoulder was complaining but largely being ignored due to the intruiging possibilities being offered.

Jane joined me on the water on day 2
Close in to the headland where the bommie lies the reflected waves make conditions somewhat uncomfortable with waves breaking across the deck at times.
The reflected chop rising at right angles to the swell lines and carrying with them a few blue bottles ready to sting the bare thighs of the underdressed paddler. On day one blue bottles were painful but by day 2 when Jane joined me for an exploratory paddle most of the blueys had gone.

On both days when I could see fish on the sounder I would get bites. A few interesting small “ooglies” including footballer cod , wire netting cod and sweep but equally frequently the distinctive hard bites and fast head shaking runs of snapper.
On both days I struggled to find where the fish where holding on the structure but once I found them the bites came thick and fast. The really craggy country was good for bites but snags were notable here ending in lost terminal tackle as well.












On Day one the average size of fish was greater with Snapper of 40 50 and 55 cm.


On day two 4 fish between 36 and 46 cm were boated. On Day 2 I left them biting after two notable incidents — one where I was “bricked” by a hard running reef dweller in the craggy country. Then my trailing SP outfit of Nuclear Chicken SP 100 mm on 20 lb braid on a Loomis rod fitted with a Calcutta 3000 went off at a great rate of knots wrapping my drogue with the line after 150 metres had been stripped in quick time. I ended up with an overrun snagging on the level wind leading to a bite off at the hook.
Time to take my injured shoulder back to the beach for a rest.
Return to the beach was uneventful but required a patient wait for the right lull and a quick sprint to the beach between the sets.
At a later date I will detail my trolley rig I have adapted to haul the kayak back up to the cottage 75 m above sea level without ruining my back and shoulders.
Clearly DIP is a challenging place to fish although under the right conditions and with a little planning patience and a touch of fortitude the results are worth the effort.
Tight lines,
DoctorDog
PS Light house cottages are available for working holidays for members of Noosa Parks Association - all members of the public are welcome to join. An annual ballot is held for members wishing to stay for a week and willing to do the required courses and perform the 2 hrs work each day.
http://www.noosaparks.org.au/index.php?page=double-island-point

Another whopper Spanish, plus other stuff. 24Mar16

TR by sunshiner


Wind: Light southerly
Swell: 1.6m easterly
Water temp: 28.3°C
Tides: Low 02:22am (0.43m); High 08:30am (1.85m)
Current: n/a
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: occasional bustups, east of Jew Shoal
Participants: tunny, weeksie, sunshiner
My trip distance: 12.5km
Redmap: No sightings provided
Keen Angler Program: At least one snapper frame today.

At last the wind's dropping. MetEye was in slight disagreement with Seabreeze yesterday, showing winds lighter than 10 knots up to 10am. Tunny was the first to spot the opportunity and emailed his intention to go today, before the Easter rush. Only weeksie and I put our hands up to go too, but pedro had group-emailed the info that he'd done pretty well at Jew Shoal on Wednesday.

At 4:00am the wind was certainly down, but I could hear rain pattering on the roof. At 5:00am the three of us were in the Middle Groyne carpark and by about 5:15am we were on the beach, where the swell and rising tide were conspiring to try to thwart our launch attempt. Tunny, going first, got totally soaked at least once but punched through. I, second, had a narrow escape, being rescued by a rush of adrenalin and my SupaliteX as its nose rose to meet the challenge of a very high and steep face which, as usual, came out of nowhere. I was very relieved as we flopped down into the relatively quiet water behind as the wave broke with a roar immediately after my passage. Weeksie was cool.

The passage to Jew Shoal was quick as the small breeze was behind us and the sea pretty calm.

Snapper was my target species today, but I was in a bit of a quandary as flocks of terns, indicating possible pelagics (pedro had reported catching a spotty mac yesterday) could be seen gathering to the east. In any case my snapper plan was soon interrupted when weeksie radioed that he was hooked up (trolling a slimy mac). This hookup and subsequent Noosa sleigh ride took him close to where I was drift fishing and as he passed me I promised that I'd come over with the camera if he had anything decent on. Anything decent! Before long weeksie was letting me know that he had a whopper Spaniard up near the yak, so I fulfilled my promise and paddled over. It was a whopper alright. Weeksie had no real alternative but to lift the fish's head with the gaff and slide the fish straight into the hatch.

When I got there he spent some time manoeuvering the fish so that I could get a live on-water pic.

That white stuff around weeksie's nose is sweat froth or maybe sunscreen.

Barely had we got the job done than tunny came up on the Icom to say that he was hooked up, possibly to a longtail. He'd cast a slug (like a boy scout, he's always prepared) into a nearby tuna bust up and hooked up immediately. He was nearby so I paddled over to do the photo thing for him, too. After a decent tussle he discovered that he had a pretty big mac tuna on. The tuna was bleeding so heavily that he decided to take it for bait (this species is regarded as poor eating).

Tunny with the second fish of the morning.

With this sorted, I resolved to go back to my snapper fishing, even though occasional large splashes and baitfish showers indicated the presence of pelagic predators.

It took a while, but at last my SP was grabbed by a snapper. The third and smallest fish of the morning was mine.

It's worth remarking that this was the third or fourth snapper I've caught on this exact same SP, which is panel-beaten with superglue as necessary (but at home, not on the yak).

The wind was starting to get up, from the south, promising a likely slow slog home. Weeksie had his fish, so announced that he was heading in. I had my fish too and didn't want to miss the beach-goer response when weeksie dragged his monster out of the yak, so I decided to head in too. Tunny reckoned he'd hang on for another half hour to see if he could improve his score. I'd been paddling south for maybe five minutes when tunny came up on the Icom and let us know he'd bagged a snapper bigger than mine, caught on SP. I was not in a position to easily get an on-water photo of this fish, but tunny was also soon heading for Middle Groyne. See you on the beach, guys!

The presence of a few board riders close in at the western side of Middle Groyne is always an indicator of a potentially tricky beach return. Also an indicator is the spray flung skywards and high when big waves smashed into the groyne rocks. Both of these indicators were present.

OK, I took a bath, as did tunny. Both of us were run down by waves which were already carrying a board rider. My excuse is that I was distracted by the board rider as I thought we'd collide.

This wave became really steep in the next second, the bow nose-dived and the stern went sideways. No harm done, everything stowed. Video later, maybe.

Beach pics

141cm Spaniard. A PB for weeksie.

Loretta volunteered.

I wouldn't normally include a smeary image like this in the TR but this is the only pic I have of tunny's beautiful 72cm snapper. The combined catch.

Weeksie reckons his new yak now has mojo.

I wonder how the rest of the Easter weekend will go?

Thanks for reading and thanks to my companions today for coming along.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPhone, iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
FREE iBook "Kayak Fishing Laguna Bay & Jew Shoal" for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Redgreg's huge Spanish. 19Mar16

TR by redgreg


Hi all, I'm redgreg and here's my first trip report for Noosa Yakkers, with some editing help from sunshiner.

On Saturday 19Mar16 at 5am I, with a group of very motivated yakkers (Bones, Walawala, Bigkev, Cav, freeyaker, Reedy) paddled out from Doggie Beach. The day was hot -- hot with birds working over bait fish that were getting eaten from below and hot as in 30°C.

My plan that day was ready. One km off the beach I found bait on the screen. Down goes the jig and up come five pike. I get three into the yak as two of them bit off the hooks.

The next part of the plan was to paddle around with a 300mm live pike with a 4x strong stinger on 44lb wire in its back, looking for Spanish mackerel. This last part of the plan was set.

So for five hours that live bait went all over Sunshine Reef. The boys were all over the reef plus there were 15 stink boats. Half of the stinkies were continually on the move, going from bust-up to bust-up and not a bent rod that I could see.

By 10 am all the birds had moved on. I decided to try one more mark in 20m of water then go off home. I had the bait 15m down with some lead on the end of a 6m leader hanging off a rubber band. On my way up the face of the reef from 32m of water the TLD told me that something was looking at my little friend! By the time I had the rod in my butt holder in my lap, with the reel drag as tight as I dared, the line was half gone from the spool. So by the time she turned me around the TLD that had started with say 350m of 20lb mono was emptying fast. That was about the same time as I saw two guys in a big boat out to the right. They stayed away but they told me later they saw the hit and then had the show of their lives.

I called it for a shark for the first 20 minutes then she came up half way 10m down. It was magic because I had my line coming back and we were going 2kph out to sea. By the time I saw her in about 15 minutes she had calmed down. Not me, I wet myself.

This Spanish mackerel was moving us fast, locked in close to the yak with line up high, gaff in hand. "Here goes…", remember the boaties are having a side show. As I was manoeuvering the gaff around her big head to get a clear shot, the handle of the gaff hit her and she got upset and ran away. (I gave a gaff away to a mackerel last year.) She came back after ten minutes; same place hard in to my yak. This time I put the gaff under her head and up hard.

Oh dear, here goes, I am kilometres off shore and those two guys in a stink boat thinking how funny it was. I then said "Now what?" 32kg (70lb) of fish longer than me. She went into the hull on the fourth try.

With that I gave the guys in the boat the two live baits and made I way back to Doggie Beach, arriving at about the same time as most of my mates.

Beach pics…

Thanks for reading, RedGreg.

Spam, sharks, surf, smashed. 26Feb16

TR by sunshiner


Wind: None
Swell: 2m+ easterly
Water temp: 27.2°C
Tides: Low 03:53am (0.50m); High 10:06am (1.77m)
Current: n/a
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none
Participants: tickey, doctor dog, stormin, diesel, red greg, sunshiner
My trip distance: 12.5km
Redmap: No sightings provided
Keen Angler Program: Nothing today.
Mexican Immigrant Food Appeal: One spot-tail shark donated.

A whole week of strong winds before, with today's forecast lull the last for another week, made for a keen bunch of Noosa Yakkers; keen to get a fish, but not so keen to take on the huge swell resulting from the remains of TC Winston, which recently made a mess of some parts of Fiji. We'd gone to the trouble of recce-ing the launch point 12 hours before but we knew a larger swell was coming. It was only a question of when it would arrive.

So there we were on the beach, just before 5:00am, all five of us ready to go and not a man under 60 years old (kid stormin came later). The waning moon was bright and the sky almost cloudless. Low tide was at 4:00am, so the water was shallow on the sandbank out the front of the groyne. As every seafarer knows, shallow water causes waves to break, and the bigger than usual swells were certainly breaking spectacularly right in front of us. The background roar and the frequent "crump" as a biggie spent its energy trying to smash the end of the groyne were enough to make a grown man want to return home to bed.

It's important in this situation to minimise the time you spend in the crunch zone, so this means you get as close as you dare to the maelstrom before boarding. Once aboard you go like hell, as staying in your place is not possible; you'll either be swept sideways or backward. At one stage this morning, while waiting to jump on I saw tickey next to me, submerged to the chest and still holding on to his upside down Supalite; this was before he'd even boarded.

The difficult part is judging when to board and paddle out, especially in low light, as what seems like a coming lull can change in an instant as a big nasty surprise appears from nowhere. There were no dry bums today. But we all got out, some on their second attempt, and paddled the minimum 300 metres or so to the "safe" area out the back. Here, diesel spent some time trying to catch a small shark, which were here in plague proportions last time we launched. In fact I had a presumed shark whack my paddle as I paddled out.

Red greg and doc dog opted to visit Little Halls Reef/Halls Reef while the remainder headed for Jew Shoal. Stinkboats were not an issue today as the swell, and the resulting hair-raising bar crossing, deterred all but the desperate and the crazy.

Jew Shoal was dead. No sign of surface action, no sign of bait shoals on the sonar. It was quite a relief when doc dog told us that he'd seen some baitfish and longtails at Little Halls Reef. Off we paddled, tickey, diesel and I with tickey demonstrating that he really has mastered his GPS by travelling unerringly the 3.5km across the bay to our mark at Little Halls Reef.

Little Halls Reef seemed dead also. Certainly no surface action. Doc dog had moved on to Halls Reef where he reported that a small turtle there was begging pilchard pieces from him. Tickey pulled the pin around 8:00am while diesel and I had agreed that we'd head in around 08:30. Stormin had launched (much easier launch than at the earlier time) about 7:30am after working all night and opted to paddle to Halls Reef.

I was just tidying up to leave when my trailing outfit, with large SP and jighead hanging down about 10m, went off with a scream. For 30 secs or so I held a faint hope that this might be a snapper, but of course, as you'd expect, at this time of the year and in this place, it was a spot-tail shark. Diesel and his missus love eating shark so I radioed him and he confirmed he'd take it if I didn't want it.

Dinner for diesel.

And so we headed back in, noting as we approached the groyne that there were some big waves blanketing the outer edge of the rocks and throwing spray high into the air.

It's important here to time your run well if you wish to avoid embarrassment. Wait as close to the break zone as you dare until a set of three or so big waves have passed through then verify that no more big waves are visible before paddling like hell for the beach. Invariably you'll be run down, but by then you should be past the break zone and into water where you can deal with these fairly easily.

I saw diesel dash through safely and followed soon after, picking up a nice small wave to carry me right in to the beach.

Then came doc dog and red greg. You can see how they (and I) went in the video below.

Tickey confessed that he'd got a soaking both going out and coming in. The only fish brought in was the shark that I'd kept for diesel. Several other sharks were caught and released, a couple of them right in front of the groyne.

Hope to see some of you for a beer at the NH surf club, 5:30pm next Wednesday.

Thanks for reading and thanks to my companions today for coming along.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPhone, iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
FREE iBook "Kayak Fishing Laguna Bay & Jew Shoal" for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Cuddles in the Spaniard Club. 18Feb16

TR by sunshiner


Wind: None
Swell: about 1.5m easterly
Water temp: 26.7°C
Tides: High 05:00am (1.79m); Low 11:30am, (0.66m)
Current: at Jew Shoal, toward the east
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: sporadic, tiny longtail tuna (see pics below)
Participants: cuddles, diesel, jimbo, sunshiner
My trip distance: 12.5km
Redmap: No sightings provided
Keen Angler Program: Nothing today.

With an overcast sky, waxing moon already set, and a 5:30am sunrise, light levels on the beach were low at 4:45am this morning. Even so, by the time we launched into the small surf we could see reasonably well, especially the bright whiteness of the broken waves marching toward us. Cuddles, diesel and I launched together, with jimbo electing to come along a little later. Launch was easy, and in fact I dry-bummed it.

Both diesel and cuddles reported seeing, even in the low light levels, many small sharks swarming under and around their yaks in 6m depth as soon as they stopped to set up after launch. I couldn't see the sharks, but perhaps they avoided my boat!

Cuddles, with no radio, GPS or sonar, opted to stick along with diesel and me, heading for Jew Shoal and so we three headed NNE together in clammy, calm conditions.

Diesel kindly let cuddles know when we'd arrived at The Pinnacles, explained the depth and structure to him and left him to his own devices. As for me, I'd decided to use up my Jew Shoal time on trying for a snapper or sweetlip so out came the soft plastics. As we've shown on many occasions, we catch snapper in every month of the year, so it's always worth a shot. Diesel was digging out his bottom fishing rigs.

At first there were no signs of tern or surface action. Then, quite suddenly, soon after sunrise, I noticed a large flock of terns wheeling around out to the east. Diesel was right in the middle of them and radioed back that they appeared not to be feeding, but simply wheeling around in expectation that something might happen.

When fishing for snapper and sweetlip I usually try to find baitfish down deep on the sonar and fish there. But today, I could find no baitfish around Jew Shoal. Nevertheless, I stuck to my plan after briefly considering paddling after the large flash crowd of terns, still visible, but obviously working their way toward the SE, ie, further away.

My first SP was launched around 6:00am and I hadn't had a serious touch by around 7:30am, when I suddenly boated an undersize Maori cod. Simultaneously diesel reported from a couple of hundred metres away nailing a just undersized snapper, then another. Earlier, he'd hooked a shark near Old Faithful and lost it boatside (Mexicans love to eat shark and this one had a narrow escape). Speaking of sharks, Jimbo, who'd launched later than we had and headed for Little Halls Reef called us up and reported that he'd boated a small bronze whaler and whacked it in the hatch. As for cuddles, we'd last seen him paddling toward the SE after the flock of terns.

By 8:00am I was contemplating pulling up stakes and heading home when I noticed that the flash mob of terns had arrived back at the eastern end of Jew Shoal. And there, paddling directly toward me from the centre of the flock, was the unmistakeable figure of cuddles. When he was closer I could see he had a big smile on his face and was just waiting for me to ask how he went. So, of course, I didn't ask, for about ten seconds.

After confirming with me that there's no size or possession limit on tuna, he confessed that he'd been chasing the terns and been casting a slug into them. So he had six tiny tuna in his strap-on bag (his Stealth Splash has no fish hatch). Needless to say they were little guys but he'd kept them in the hope that they might be good eating. But, more to the point, he'd just nailed his first Spaniard a few minutes before, right among the flock of terns.

Cuddles' first ever Spaniard, taken on a trolled dead bait and SAFA rig. Nice fish, 119cm.

He had to head home as work beckoned, so off he went. Soon afterward I decided that I too would head in as there was no sign of the snapper that I wanted. Diesel agreed to head in also, so I turned toward Middle Groyne.

On the way, off Tea Tree Bay, I found myself paddling near a bust up of the small tuna which cuddles had done battle with. I was curious to see exactly which species they were as cuddles' fish were definitely not mac tuna. They were easily within range of my light SP casting outfit so I chucked the SP in and got a hookup instantly followed by a spirited fight, and in due course, a live release.

Isobar caught one of these on Christmas Day last year, at Sunshine Reef (the day he caught his marlin) and I saw and photographed the specimen he kept. (See his TR from that day.) Being a fisheries scientist with lots of international contacts isobar eventually concluded that it was a juvenile longtail tuna. Those who have caught adult longtail tuna will notice that this juvenile has a much larger pectoral fin than you'd expect and also perhaps that the eye seems larger than you'd expect too. Nevertheless, the experts reckon that it's a baby longtail. Until I saw isobar's specimen on Christmas Day I'd never seen tuna like this. Now we have a bay packed with them. They'd be dynamite as a live bait, I reckon.

Cuddles promised to send me a photo of his Spanish next to a measuring device, and duly delivered on that promise:

119cm Spaniard. Well done and congrats on joining the Spaniard Club, cuddles.

Thanks for reading.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
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