Summary, August 2017

Facebook provides an excellent and simple facility for conducting group discussions in text form, including unbeatable support for adding still pictures, movies and "shares". As a result, with our Facebook Group we have better media-rich communication within Noosa Yakkers than ever before, with lots of info and useful material appearing quickly on our Group because it's so easy to post, to view and to make comments. Not on Facebook? I encourage you to dip your paddle in the Facebook sea and give it a try. If the oldest members of Noosa Yakkers can do it probably you can. Not convinced? Don't despair. We have no intention of dropping our tried and true Google Group email or our indispensable blog of Trip Reports and generally useful yak fishing info. But if you're not on Facebook, you're missing out.

To help retain contact with our established world wide blog audience we've decided to publish this monthly summary of our fishing activity. The info has been extracted from our closed (private) Facebook Group. The included link to each post will work only for members of the Noosa Yakkers Facebook Group. Constructive ideas to improve this summary and/or volunteered editorial skills are welcomed.

Don't want your Facebook post reproduced here? Please contact a committee member.

This monthly brief summary of fishing trip information is only a fraction of the useful and interesting info and banter appearing on our Facebook Group. You can see our public Page here:
Noosa Yakkers public Page (includes Sign Up link)
and our Group (fully accessible only to members) here:
Noosa Yakkers Facebook Group

Overview, weather and species

Noosa sea temperature 01Aug17 22.8°C/73°F and at 31Aug17 22.2°C/72°F

Fish species mentioned or featured in Noosa Yakkers' reports this month in Noosa area: snapper, grass sweetlip, Maori cod, bonito, pike

06Aug17

weeksie:

Go to FB post

10Aug17

The hoff:

Go to Facebook post

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1417167165044287/

12Aug17

willie, animal, 

Go to Facebook post

13Aug17

animal, weeksie, microbe, noosaboy:

Go to Facebook post

14Aug17

jealo, tunny, sunshiner:

Go to Facebook post

Go to Facebook post

15Aug17

jimbo:

Go to Facebook post

20Aug17

redwood:

Go to Facebook post

27Aug17

sunshiner:

Go to Facebook post

teematt:

Go to Facebook post

scottyB:

Go to Facebook post

30Aug17

tunny:

Go to Facebook post

~~~~~~~~~~

Kayak fishing was generally very poor in the Noosa area this month. Light winds offered plenty of opportunity to get offshore but the fish just didn't put in an appearance. Warmer weather coming up and all are hoping for the snapper and cobia to show up soon, as they often have in the past.

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

Coral trout at Bowen, NQ.

TR by sunshiner

07Aug17. Location: Bowen inshore, during a road trip Noosa to Cairns and back over three weeks.

As you can see, launch was a doddle. Photo by Mary from our balcony.

It was my fourth launch at the sheltered beach just below our accommodation at Bowen. The previous three launches over two days had been useful for reconnaissance and for whale excitement but hadn't produced any noteworthy fish.

So for the last time I headed out to the rocky island just over one km away which marks the northern tip of the peninsula. These looked like fishy waters but so far the pelagic predators which I hoped might be hanging around hadn't appeared.

I trolled a HLP around for an hour without a decent hookup so I then decided, as a last option before heading in and home to Noosa the next day, to target the upcurrent side of the reef at the island with a white curly tail SP on 10kg line and a half ounce jighead. The E-W current was causing upwellings on the surface as the water pushed through from 12m depth to around 7m. On the sonar it looked like ideal reef predator habitat so I cranked up the drag on the basis that in that cave-filled territory I'd get only one chance to turn any decent fish which darted out from its refuge to smash my offering.

It was right on noon. Having selected a start point for my drift in the gentle current and calm conditions I fed out about 7m of line, allowing the jig to sink pretty much vertically then started to jig it gently. On the second lift it got smashed and the fight was on.

After the initial whack it took me a few seconds to turn on the chest cam and in that time the initial gentle take turned into a bare knuckle scrap as the fish went straight for the bottom and I upped the drag a teensy bit more in desperation. I could feel the leader rubbing on the coral and rock but kept the pressure on and eventually won out (see the movie embedded in this post).

What a fish! My first coral trout from the yak and my biggest ever, I think; certainly the most memorable coral trout given I've forgotten about the others.

The freshly caught fish. Magnificent, eh? That white spot on its flank interests me. It faded away after death.

54cm on the well travelled Noosa Yakkers brag mat.

The trout made it, in great condition, the 1200km back to Noosa. You may be interested in the process:

(1) Within 90 minutes of capture I took it, whole and intact, to the local fishing co-op store where Terry, the owner, advised me to pack it immediately in a foam cooler box ($4 at the store) with ice. He explained that he routinely processes boat loads of commercially caught fish and doesn’t bother cleaning the fish before packaging it in ice-filled boxes. Stored and transported this way he said his fish are “good for at least a week”.

(2) I took his advice and left the box (with fish, packed in free ice they provided) on their premises overnight before picking it up the next morning on our way out of Bowen on the seven-hour road trip to Rockhampton. Total charge: $4.

(3) Our motel in Rockhampton had a restaurant and associated cold room and were happy to store the box overnight for no charge. Before putting the box to bed for the night I checked the ice situation and was pleased to see that it was still viable and in fact was hardly melted at all.

(4) On departure the next morning I again checked the ice (still good) and we left for the seven hour road trip to home, where, on arrival, I placed the box into my spare downstairs fridge (ice still viable).

(5) Gutted and filleted the fish the morning after arriving home. The fish looked and smelt as fresh as when first caught nearly three days before. It yielded one kilogram of skinless, boneless fillets. Coral trout fillets are sold to the restaurant trade in Rockhampton for $50 per kilogram (source: the motel owner in Rockhampton, who told me that never offers coral trout on the menu any more because it is too expensive “these days")

Hope you get one too, one day!

Happy fishing

Kev

Summary July 2017

Facebook provides an excellent and simple facility for conducting group discussions in text form, including unbeatable support for adding still pictures, movies and "shares". As a result, with our Facebook Group we have better media-rich communication within Noosa Yakkers than ever before, with lots of info and useful material appearing quickly on our Group because it's so easy to post, to view and to make comments. Not on Facebook? I encourage you to dip your paddle in the Facebook sea and give it a try. If the oldest members of Noosa Yakkers can do it probably you can. Not convinced? Don't despair. We have no intention of dropping our tried and true Google Group email or our indispensable blog of Trip Reports and generally useful yak fishing info. But if you're not on Facebook, you're missing out.

To help retain contact with our established world wide blog audience we've decided to publish this monthly summary of our fishing activity. The info has been extracted from our closed (private) Facebook Group. Constructive ideas to improve this summary and/or volunteered editorial skills are welcomed.

Don't want your Facebook post reproduced here? Please contact a committee member.

This monthly brief summary of fishing trip information is only a fraction of the useful and interesting info and banter appearing on our Facebook Group. You can see our public Page here:
Noosa Yakkers public Page (includes Sign Up link)
and our Group (fully accessible only to members) here:
Noosa Yakkers Facebook Group

Overview, weather and species

Noosa sea temperature 01Jul17 22.8°C/73°F and at 31Jul17 22.8°C/73°F

Fish species mentioned or featured in Noosa Yakkers' reports this month in Noosa area: snapper, queenfish, bonito, grass sweetlip, Spanish mackerel, longtail tuna, school mackerel

03Jul17

doctor dog and others:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1380094668751537/

05Jul17

bogey:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1382034655224205/

06Jul17

sunshiner and diesel:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1382928878468116/

07Jul17

the hoff and others:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1384013285026342/

08Jul17

arjee (solo):

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1385012704926400/

09Jul17

wala (solo):

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1385931011501236/

jbone:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1387764751317862/

14Jul17

sunshiner and others:

17Jul17

lazybugger:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1393048417456162/

23Jul17

teematt:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1399994536761550/

tunny and others:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1400348160059521/

24Jul17

doctor dog:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1400337523393918/

26Jul17

tunny:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1403606159733721/

30Jul17

sprocket:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1407138329380504/

scatter:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1407174999376837/

tunny and co:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1407332136027790/

teematt and isobar:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1407387646022239/

31Jul17

doctor dog:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1408080979286239/

So much for July. Good to see some brand new yakkers getting involved and having success. Let's see what August brings.


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 June 2017

Facebook provides an excellent and simple facility for conducting group discussions in text form, including unbeatable support for adding still pictures, movies and "shares". As a result, with our Facebook Group we have better media-rich communication within Noosa Yakkers than ever before, with lots of info and useful material appearing quickly on our Group because it's so easy to post, to view and to make comments. Not on Facebook? I encourage you to dip your paddle in the Facebook sea and give it a try. If the oldest members of Noosa Yakkers can do it probably you can. Not convinced? Don't despair. We have no intention of dropping our tried and true Google Group email or our indispensable blog of Trip Reports and generally useful yak fishing info. But if you're not on Facebook, you're missing out.

To help retain contact with our established world wide blog audience we've decided to publish this monthly summary of our fishing activity. The info has been extracted from our closed (private) Facebook Group. Constructive ideas to improve this summary and/or volunteered editorial skills are welcomed.

Don't want your Facebook post reproduced here? Please contact a committee member.

This monthly brief summary of fishing trip information is only a fraction of the useful and interesting info and banter appearing on our Facebook Group. You can see our public Page here:
Noosa Yakkers public Page (includes Sign Up link)
and our Group (fully accessible only to members) here:
Noosa Yakkers Facebook Group

Overview, weather and species

Strong winds 07Jun17 -- 23Jun17

Noosa sea temperature 01Jun17 24.4°C/76°F and at 30Jun17 22.8°C/73°F

Fish species mentioned or featured in Noosa Yakkers' reports this month in Noosa area: longtail tuna, snapper, grass sweetlip, Spanish mackerel, school mackerel, spangled emperor


# 06Jun17

sunshiner, diesel, tickey, arjee

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1352208221540182/

bogey

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1352308311530173/

# 24Jun17

stormin and co

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1370728739688130/

the hoff

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1370731456354525/

isobar

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1370772839683720/

bogey

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1370810039680000/

scottyD

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1370776549683349/

# 25Jun17

tickey and others...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1371662159594788/

# 26Jun17

unsinkable (posting about trips on 24 and 25 June)

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1372892952805042/

# 27Jun17

willy:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1374673985960272/

# 28Jun17

bogey:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1374708249290179/

So, a pretty quiet month, but three top class longtails presented. Bring on July!

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

Fishing Summary May 2017

Facebook provides an excellent and simple facility for conducting group discussions in text form, including unbeatable support for adding still pictures, movies and "shares". As a result, with our Facebook Group we have better media-rich communication within Noosa Yakkers than ever before, with lots of info and useful material appearing quickly on our Group because it's so easy to post, to view and to make comments. Not on Facebook? I encourage you to dip your paddle in the Facebook sea and give it a try. If the oldest members of Noosa Yakkers can do it probably you can. Not convinced? Don't despair. We have no intention of dropping our tried and true Google Group email or our indispensable blog of Trip Reports and generally useful yak fishing info. But if you're not on Facebook, you're missing out.

To help retain contact with our established world wide blog audience we've decided to publish this monthly summary of our fishing activity. The info has been extracted from our closed (private) Facebook Group. Constructive ideas to improve this summary and/or volunteered editorial skills are welcomed.

Don't want your Facebook post reproduced here? Please contact a committee member.

This monthly brief summary of fishing trip information is only a fraction of the useful and interesting info and banter appearing on our Facebook Group. You can see our public Page here:
Noosa Yakkers public Page (includes Sign Up link)
and our Group (fully accessible only to members) here:
Noosa Yakkers Facebook Group

Overview, weather and species

Early in the month we were still getting over the dirty water effects of Cyclone Debbie, but at least the wind was showing signs of dropping.

Noosa sea temperature 01May17 25°C/77°F and at 31May17 25°C/77°F

Fish species mentioned or featured in Noosa Yakkers' reports this month in Noosa area: longtail tuna, mackerel tuna, spotted mackerel, snapper, spangled emperor

# 02May17

sunshiner and several others:

Go to Facebook post

YT video by sunshiner

https://youtu.be/GCBSO8PW4aA

# 15May17

doctor dog (solo):

Go to Facebook post 

# 16May17

sunshiner and five others:

Go to Facebook post

sunshiner's yt video of the trip

https://youtu.be/ZgpoE-YDDF8

# 17May17

weeksie plus willy:

Go to Facebook post 

# 25May17

arjee:

Go to Facebook post

# 28May17

jonny:

Go to Facebook post

sunshiner/stormin and others:

Go to Facebook post

Video by stormin:

# 29May17

Doc dog and jimbo

Go to Facebook post

So, fairly quiet, but at least we had some spotty macs show up early on and one of the biggest longtails we've seen was brought in late in the month. Here's hoping we get some great offshore weather for June.

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

Fishing Summary April 2017

Facebook provides an excellent and simple facility for conducting group discussions in text form, including unbeatable support for adding still pictures, movies and "shares". As a result, with our Facebook Group we have better media-rich communication within Noosa Yakkers than ever before, with lots of info and useful material appearing quickly on our Group because it's so easy to post, to view and to make comments. Not on Facebook? I encourage you to dip your paddle in the Facebook sea and give it a try. If the oldest members of Noosa Yakkers can do it probably you can. Not convinced? Don't despair. We have no intention of dropping our tried and true Google Group email or our indispensable blog of Trip Reports and generally useful yak fishing info. But if you're not on Facebook, you're missing out.

To help retain contact with our established world wide blog audience we've decided to publish this monthly summary of our fishing activity. The info has been extracted from our closed (private) Facebook Group. Constructive ideas to improve this summary and/or volunteered editorial skills are welcomed.

Don't want your Facebook post reproduced here? Please contact a committee member.

This monthly brief summary of fishing trip information is only a fraction of the useful and interesting info and banter appearing on our Facebook Group. You can see our public Page here:
Noosa Yakkers public Page (includes Sign Up link)
and our Group (fully accessible only to members) here:
Noosa Yakkers Facebook Group

Overview, weather and species

Local weather was dominated by the arrival of the remnants of Cyclone Debbie in late March. The accompanying heavy seas and high rainfall made fishing difficult in all local waters until mid April.

Noosa sea temperature 01Apr17 27.2°C/81°F and at 30Apr17 25°C/77°F

Fish species mentioned or featured in Noosa Yakkers' reports this month in Noosa area: longtail tuna, snapper, mackerel tuna, bass

# 14April17

stormin:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1296038893823782/

# 16Apr17

the hoff:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1298344950259843/

jollyroger and stormin:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1298446353583036/

Stormin meets the sand monster

https://instagram.com/p/BS7wQZHlpWP/

# 25Apr17

stormin:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1308163712611300/

gemini:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1308213602606311/

# 30Apr17

weeksie snuck out not so early and had some pelagic fun:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/527838470643832/permalink/1313597475401257/

~~~~~~~~~~

And that was the quietest month we've had in ages. Cyclone Debbie was the main reason. Things are looking better for May, though.

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