Subject: fishing today -- 12nov09
Date: Thursday, 12 November 2009 4:06 PM
. Sharks, sharks, sharks . a nice feed for Jaro . our first legal sized pearl perch .
Depending on the early morning wind situation, five of us had indicated an interest in a yakking trip this morning: jaro, jimbo, whalebait, doctor dog and I. On checking seabreeze at 4am today I saw that the wind had dropped overnight and was likely to be OK so I was soon performing final preparations and into the yak-topped Sierra.
At 0435 I pulled into the carpark to find that Jaro and whalebait had already unloaded their yaks and were presumably on the beach. Sure enough, there they were, ready to launch. I waved, they acknowledged and a few minutes later I was also on the beach, recently deserted by my companions who were now 'out the back' rigging up.
0452hrs. Launch time for me -- the tracks of two other yaks and yakkers in the sand.
Presumably Jaro and whalebait had managed their launches without trauma but I followed my usual practice of watching the break for a couple of minutes before launching. Even after launch I decided to hold back in the waiting area near the end of the groyne, backpaddling and manoeuvering as a couple of larger, steeper waves flung themselves against the northern point of the wall.
0454hrs. Holding in the waiting area near the end of the wall while a couple of biggies go through (still from chestcam video).
Soon the way was clear and I powered through the exit with scarcely a drop of water entering the cockpit. Off on another Noosa yak-fishing adventure!
I trolled a small Rapala HB all of the way to Sunshine Reef without a touch and noticed that there were no terns out hunting. Jaro was a long way ahead, out of sight while whalebait was just visible about 400m away. After clearing Hells Gates the ocean weather situation was revealed to consist of a small easterly swell accompanied by a 5-10 knot easterly breeze. Whalebait and I chose the same destination (the usual close-in section of the reef) while Jaro seemed to have chosen a spot a little further north. Just as I was arriving at my mark at around 0605 I saw whalebait's rod load up on his first cast and watched him boat a small but keeper sweetlip which he immediately and magnanimously tossed back. First cast! Might be a good day!
Shortly after arrival the breeze abated slightly and swung to be more from the south, thus changing our drift from an E->W to a S->N. Whalebait radioed that he'd just lost a suspected cobia after a solid tussle -- the 15kg leader having been bitten through. Subsequent events caused whalebait to reconsider the cobia ID...
A yell from Jaro, who had now moved to be near whalebait and me, caught our attention. His very bent rod indicated a substantial hookup. Whalebait, closer to Jaro than I, was relaying by radio to me the progress of the fight. A shark -- to Jaro's disappointment. Then before he could deal with that hookup completely, his other rod went off. Jaro spent the next ten minutes or so tidying up after what turned out to be two encounters with sharks, one of which had taken his soft plastic.
Jimbo arrived, having launched later than we had, and shortly afterward I could see his rod loaded up. This was getting monotonous! Sure enough, it was another shark. Jimbo opted to keep this one (remember: bag limit 1, no larger than 1.5m). About now, near the end of a drift and still operating in a strike-free zone, I spotted a huge jellyfish suspended about 1m down, very close to the yak. I took a few pics, of which this is the best.
0711hrs. Note the cloud of fish hanging next to this amazing colony of the deep.
Now the last of our group, doctor dog, arrived, having called us on his way out. And just after he paddled past me I got my first strike -- on my cast soft plastic rig. This felt like a snapper but almost immediately I was bitten off. Possibly a shark? One jighead and soft plastic down -- bummer!
Having arrived at what I judged to be the end of my drift, I paddled back up the line of drifting yakkers, of whom jimbo was the last. As often happens to me, just as I was approaching jimbo his rod took a severe bend as he fought what he reckoned was another shark, again on a cast SP.
I got ready with the camera and hung around jimbo, hoping for some useful shots.
0727hrs. Jimbo deftly lifts the shark into the yak ... (still from video).
... before dehooking and releasing it.
I started a new drift, not far from where jimbo had hooked up. My trailing outfit was deployed down deep with one of my seriously old and heavy jigheads plus a snapback SP. And my casting outfit (1/2oz jighead with Squidgy SP) was drifting down toward the bottom. A tortured scream from the trailing outfit got my attention. Transferring the casting outfit from my right to my left hand, I reached back with my right hand, grasped the violently bucking rod and wrestled it from its holder. Just as I did this I felt the casting outfit come under heavy pressure, straight down, and line poured from the spool. Oh, shit, not another double hookup -- and this time on sharks, probably.
I opted to battle the shark on the casting outfit first. Having successfully fought it to a standstill, even though the line was intertwined with the line on the other outfit (also with a shark on), I managed to lose my second jighead and SP for the morning when the light line wore through due to abrasion on the shark's rough-skinned body. Some swearing here! I then picked up the trailing outfit and soon had that shark alongside also. I didn't want to keep either of these sharks so was trying to get them aboard the boat so that I could dehook them. This second one woudn't cooperate either...
0740hrs. The second shark, my jighead and SP clearly visible.
There was a wire trace on this jighead so I new I had a good chance of recovering my gear and letting the shark go with just a small wound in its jaw. Oops! I picked up the main line close to the wire. The shark then, with one powerful thrust of its sinuous body, busted me off. Down another jighead (one of my favourites, too) plus a snapback SP!
It was about now that I recalled that I really don't like fishing for sharks. I would never target them although I've sometimes hooked them while fishing for more desirable species, like Spanish mackerel, for instance. Meanwhile, all around, radio reports were coming in from yakkers that they were hooked up to more sharks. Later we worked out that we'd hooked about a dozen sharks, of which three were kept.
By 0800 I was ready for home but I didn't actually leave until about 0830, when I announced my intentions over the radio. Jaro responded that he was going to try to dodge the sharks by fishing further out in deeper water. Mentally, I wished him luck but I sincerely thought that the sharks would have the entire area covered.
15 minutes into my paddle back the radio blared. It's Jaro -- reckons he's caught a really nice snapper on an SP. The "well-dones" flow back to him. I keep paddling toward Main Beach, now 45 minutes away. a few minutes later it's Jaro again, asking me to help ID a fish which he thinks resembles a pearl perch, of which we've both caught several undersize specimens. He describes the big eyes and the mouth. Sounds like a pearl perch to me, I offer, and pass on the size limit (35cm). He verifies that it's about 40cm so stows it in the fish box. I keep paddling...
Another five minutes go by. "Wow", I've just caught a good sized sweetlip", Jaro announces. Some expletives at my location!! No point in turning back now, I'm almost back. This has happened before with Jaro and me, about a year ago.
Soon I'm hove to off Main Beach getting ready for what might be an interesting surf zone transit. But what's this? A jetskier is coming over to me, and the rider is wearing some sort of police uniform. The friendly cop chats about my trip today, I explain about the sharks at Sunshine Reef and that, as occasionally happens, I have no fish aboard. He commiserates with me and turns away toward the open sea and my yakking companions, just leaving Sunshine Reef. I know all the fish they have are legal but let them know by radio about the jetski patrol anyway.
My surf transit was uneventful although I noted that the waves were markedly more tricky than when I last went through, a few hours ago. Beanie was there on the beach to verify that my unspectacular landing was one out of the text book. Noting that my companions were around 30 minutes away I washed and racked my yak and returned to the groyne with my camera and measure mat just in time for their arrival.
Whalebait buries the nose, but keeps it straight. Uses leg on shallow section to interrupt excessive yaw. Stays dry.
Jimbo surfs twice. Keeps legs inside. Stays dry. (Video shows it all well)
Jaro, very fast and digging deep. Makes it look easy. Stays dry.
Doctor dog being run down by a wave. DD -- I'll show you the video -- private viewing preferred?
Fish on the measure mat:
Jaro pic #1.
Jaro pic #2. Sweetlip (top) and pearl perch (a legal specimen at last -- well done Jaro).
Jimbo's (top) and whalebait's
Thanks for organising, Jaro, and for coming along, yakkers. See some of you tonight -- I'll bring the camera so you can see the raw videos if you wish.
Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://noosayakers.blogspot.com
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