Eyetag's last say for 2012, 31Dec12

TR by Eyetag

Wind - South easterly to 15 knots
Launch point - Lions Park Noosa


Participants - Eyetag

Hi All,

 I had a paddle very early this morning, launching just after midnight from Lions Park Noosa Heads. I went straight around to the Inner Woods Bay and on my way past the Sheraton I had my first strike. Unfortunately it was a Hairtail around 70cm.

A little further on I got another. Not wanting any more of these toothy critters, I decided to keep all lures in until I got near the current line out from Ricky's. Things were a little quiet here with only one under sized Spotted Grunter Bream ( Javelin Fish ) and a small Big Eye Trevally caught both on a slow rolled small Gladiator Prawn. With the wind howling I thought I'd head for somewhere a little more comfortable.

Off I went up Weyba Creek to Weyba Hole where it was a lot calmer with a little protection from the wind but the fish didn't seem to be here. I fished the area for for an hour with Gladiator Prawns and Gold Bomber with out a touch. So up the Creek I went to a spot that never seems to fail and it didn't let me down with 3 Big Eye Trevally around 30cm on the Gladiator Prawn.

Still thinking about Weyba Hole I paddled back and on arrival I could hear a bit of activity in the form of bust ups. When the Trevally are busting up here there is usually Jacks underneath them. I did a few drifts with a Gladiator Prawn on the bottom and casting the Gold Bomber, it was all happening, I was hooked up on the Bomber when the Prawn went off. This ended up costing me 2 fish and 20 metres of braid. I retied my rigs and simplified things by casting and retrieving the Gold Bomber.

This worked and I was hooked up to something solid losing 30 metres on the first run and with the fish fighting on the surface the whole time. I thought I had a Barra but when I finally saw it I wasn't disappointed with it being a Jack and an equal PB for me at 53cm. Next cast I had another nice fish that felt as good but it turned out to be hooked in the top of the head and dorsal ( he would have attacked from underneath the lure ) which explained the extra weight during the fight. This fish was around 45cm. I released him and thought I'd go back to the current line near Ricky's. Things were still quiet here but I managed to get another undersized Javelin Fish.

The Sun was starting to rise and as I was heading along the Sound Jetties I had another strike and landed Jack number three. This fish about the same length as the second was also released cause I think they're too good to catch once.



Battle scars on what was a new Gold Bomber



The size of the small Gladiator Prawn



Shot taken near the capture point. Photo courtesy of fishingnoosa.


Eyetag

Sunshine beach launch, 29Dec12

TR by Jamie-D

Hey Guys,

Launched from Sunshine Beach 4.30am on my own. Faced some initial stiff opposition in the form of wave sets standing up about 50m off shore, finally got out the back. Set out for Sunshine reef with some very lumpy seas early on that glassed off about 6.30am to small manageable chop out on the reef itself. Troller a Halco laser Pro and another lure with a large bib I forget the name of just off the top of my head. Scater came on the VHF from a Stink boat after spotting me all the way out there with the boat brigade, he wasn't having much luck when I last saw him. Contacted Scater just before starting to to head back to Sunshine beach to say good luck and I'm heading back to Sunshine beach with a slow troll , then I signed off and turned my radio off.

Funny how ironic life can be , only yesterday I decided that I was going to make a habit from now on of having a rod rigged with a slug just in case. Well 500 m from sunshine beach " In case " happened. Apparently out of nowhere a massive bust up appeared , about 30 m north of where the rocks begin at the end of Sunshine Beach and about 500m out from the beach itself. I was actually just thinking when the bust up appeared , I think I'll pack my rods away and get ready for a surf landing. I jumped straight on the VHF to contact Scater and his offsider but obviously he'd turned off his radio, Scater ?

Thankfully I had my rod rigged and ready to go. The bust up was pelagics feeding agressively on the surface spalshing like all hell, I couldn't make a call on the species as I'm relatively new to fishing for Pelagic Species and would just be guessing . The Bust up was initially one mass about 20m across , but after being disturbed by some pr!ck in a stinker that came roaring over to join the fun after seeing the birds going mental and the spalshing the school went deep and then reappeared in two groups about 10m across in surface area. I was throwing a 10gram slug and managed to hammer about half a dozen casts into the group before the moved out of my range followed by the stinker. Made my way in after that flurry of excitement.

Had to laugh had no action all morning about 4-5km offshore and then the party is only 500m off Sunshine Beach.

Hope that info is of use or at least signals some increase in activity.

Regards
Jamie D

Jaro, 28Dec12

TR by Jaro
Conditions: Perfect
Wind: Very little
Swell: Small
Current: Nil

Participants: Stormin, Andrew (Panno), Greg, Mike (Bomber), Jaro and others that I did not meet up with.

I arrived at MG car park at 4.00am. Easy launch and took off towards SR with Bomber and Andrew. Stormin started a little later and went to JS.

I can only speak for Andrew, Stormin and myself as I did not hear from the others but I don't believe any fish were caught.

I only saw the odd bird activity and small bust ups (certain they were bonitos). We decided to do some bottom fishing on the outer SR marks and soon had a 1.5m shark which I duly unhooked and released.

I moved from mark to mark without success, bottom fishing at each mark and then trolling a pilchard to the next mark. I was doing this toward the most southern mark and with my trolling rod behind me (unusual for me) I suddenly heard the reel scream, turned around saw the road bent and a large splash where the lure should be, then nothing. The hook did not take and I reeled in a pilchard-less lure. That was my only excitement for the day.

There were a very large number of stink boats well out on SR so I decided to paddle out there amongst them, also without any action. I pulled the plug at 9.00am and paddled back with my sail up making for an effortless trip home arriving on the shore at 10.20am. This was easily the furthest offshore I have paddled, at least 4 km off Alexandria Bay.

Andrew reported a fish less day. Stormin, likewise after continually trolling the whole time.

Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day to be out paddling.

Cheers

Jaro

Boxing Day, 26Dec12

TR by Jaro
Conditions: Great
Wind: Calm up to max 5 knots.
Current: Nil
Sky: Clear for most of the morning.
Participants: EyeTag, Stormin and Jaro.

I arrived at the car park at 4.00am to find EyeTag and Stormin already there. EyeTag took off for Little Halls and Halls. Stormin and I went to JS.

Getting out and in was a breeze. Quite a few birds about but spread over a large area. I didn't see any bust ups and settled in for some bottom fishing and caught a 41cm sweet lip on my second cast.

I had a few other bites but no more hook ups. We lost contact with EyeTag so I don't know how he went. Stormin remained fish-less. I pulled the plug at 8.00am and hit the beach at around 9.00am with Stormin landing safely shortly thereafter.

It was a lovely day. I intend to go out again on Friday.

Cheers

Jaro

Pedro's Xmas DIP (not), 25Dec12

Pedro's Xmas Day and Boxing Day Trip report from DIP.

Wendy and I camped the north shore Christmas day and boxing day. Christmas day was spent setting up camp and relaxing while looking at the 1.5m to 2m waves and contemplating if it was possible to launch and land.

I woke from a snooze and looked out over the water to see a small flock of birds working directly out from camp. This was the deciding factor to have a go. I decided to take Wendy's prowler packed light and was impressed with it's performance in punching over three foot of white water and after the third or fourth time I started to feel confident that I would actually make it out. Once out the back, the birds had gone so I rigged for trolling, a couple of hours later and no hits I packed down for the landing. I managed to pick a gap in the waves and made it in unscathed.

On Boxing day we headed to the western side of DIP as the waves on the open beach were still pretty big. The launch was easy and we headed around the headland and back again trolling. By this stage Wendy was ready to go in and I wanted a bit longer so we parted company (I'm glad she now has a radio). I concentrated my trolling around the bommie just off the headland as I have caught good snapper there nearly every time. On about the third lap my Spaniard special with gar did the trick and I landed a 75cm snapper. After trolling the area another twenty minutes I headed in.


Christmas Day


DIP west at high tide




Launch point DIP west


DIP Headland





Equals previous record.

Happy New Year and
See you on the water
Pedro


Additional Video of Pedro taking on the surf tee wah beach




Video, Narrative and Prowler kayak courtesy of Wendy.

Xmas day, 25Dec12

TR by Eyetag
Xmas Day 2012

Participants - Wal, Weeksy, Corie, Carter and Eyetag.

Wal, Weeksy, Corie, and Carter from Sydney all went to JS trolling Hard bodies. I trolled a small Watson's Leaping Bonito. We fished from 4.30am until about 8.00am. Nothing was caught.

There were lots of birds and the odd small bust up. Conditions were good, but the launch was not so easy and timing was crucial if you wanted to stay dry. Everyone got out alright. Weeksy had a swim on the way in. I only took one photo. I thought Weeksy was o.k on this one so I put the camera down then over he went.



Photo of Weeksy, courtesy of Eyetag

Eyetag

Manscaped, 23Dec12

TR by Manscaped with additional contribution from Imax

Hello Yakkers,

I went out this morning with a mate using my old Supalite. We launched just before 4.30am with the wind being almost non existent. Two other guys arrived with AIs before we launched. I think they went out later, down near first point. The waves were standing up at the end of the groyne but the launch was still easy enough. I took 6 or so waves over the front of the evo during the launch and my mate got turned around but we both got out without coming off.

After getting out we were planning on heading up halls way but after seeing a few birds heading JS way we changed plans. We trolled both pillies and hb's to JS and around the area. Saw a bit of bird activity that looked promising but it was very sporadic. It was quiet so we then went off to Little Halls finding similar bird activity to the other side of the bay but still no action.

We arrived back at the beach some time after 9am and picked the lull. I went in on the back of a set and thought I was home but got caught by a small wave that pushed me off in the shallows. My mate made it in unscathed but had arms and legs going everywhere trying to stay upright.

Going to try get some crabs tomorrow morning but might head out early on Christmas day for a few hours.

Manscaped


Contribution from Imax

Corie and NY's, the two AI's were my uncle and myself. We decided the groyne was just a little too dumpy for the Hobies so went and launched down in cowards corner. I picked a gap alright and got out the back only to watch my uncle get flipped over backwards on the fully rigged AI. I did a trip back in to go and help him right his rig back over as this isn't an easy task with 4m of sail and two outriggers in the break zone. We got it back over only to find he had lost his rod and reel. If anyone finds a baitcast rod and reel on main beach he would be very grateful.

After this drama I smashed my way out through the break again coping a big dumper on the head which would have soaked me if I wasn't already wet. From here we sailed out in the direction of the birds as well and I'm guessing ended up around JS. We chased the birds for a while sailing parrallel to the headland. On the third run I hooked up and landed a smallish Yellow Fin Tuna. This was our only fish for the day and we had an easy trip back into shore.

I'm looking at heading out again Christmas morning so hopefully will catch a few of you then. If not Merry Christmas to all.



Regards
Dan (Imax)