Subject: fishing today -- 17dec09 -- more mackerel
Date: Thursday, 17 December 2009 2:12 PM
On arrival at the MG carpark at 0420 I found Jaro, Profish already offloaded, almost ready to trundle. I wasn't expecting any other starters as today the fishing was planned to be strictly inside the Bay, and the forecast breeze would have made conditions less than perfect further out at our usual reef locations.
Waves could be heard breaking against the groyne so I went down to take a look at the launch site before offloading the Espri. A couple of minutes' viewing satisfied me that launching would need care, but was not dangerous.
Jaro dashed off and by the time I had my yak at the junction between the access road and the beach, he was ready to launch. Off he went and I watched him carefully pick his way out through the break before powering off into clear waters. Here's the customary pre-launch view:
0438hrs. Jaro's already out there. The guys on the groyne had just arisen from their sandy sleeping spot nearby and seemed bent on exploring the beach like people who'd never seen the sea before.
Launch was fine, but, as always, care is needed.
0442hrs. Emerging from the shelter of the groyne (chest cam pic from movie).
Jaro and I both headed initially toward Boiling Pot and before long his reports started to come in by radio. Jaro was trolling his favourite mackerel lure and was once more demonstrating that it has some appeal, as opposed to my chosen trolling lures which didn't receive much interest. Never mind, I still have several more to try before I get desperate and buy one like his. It seemed that every few minutes he would announce a hookup. I think he hooked eight fish today, five were boated and, of those, three finished up as keepers (pics later), one was returned as undersize and the other, a bonito, was given to me for bait. You'll see Mr Bonito's photo later which demonstrated how he finished up.
I hooked, boated and released one mac tuna which took my cast slug when I retrieved it rapidly through a bust up.
0552hrs. Mackerel tuna about to be released. The blue coiled leash is attached to my pliers which are grasping the hook (chest cam pic from movie)
I made one foray toward the west where flocks of terns fluttered excitedly over schools of glassies which were being thrashed and carved up by bonito and mac tuna, but by nothing bigger apparently. It seemed to Jaro and me that the action dropped away after about 0700, but we plugged on till about 0800 anyway. Doctor dog and his son, Will, joined us after an hour or so and at one stage I'm pretty sure that the dynamic duo launched and paddled over toward the river mouth.
Having cadged the bonito from Jaro, I put it on a Spaniard Special as a very fresh bait and towed it around for about 30 minutes before pull the pin time. When it came time to return to the beach, I retrieved this bait/lure combo only to find that some sharp-toothed critter had managed to neatly and severely modify the bait:
0803hrs. I don't know when the damage occurred -- didn't hear or feel a thing.
Jaro and I opted to return to the beach at about the same time, as he had sufficient fish and I'd had enough -- three hours' continuous paddling, albeit at low speed, without significant action. So I lined up at MG, turned on chest cam, picked a nice small set and cruised in to the beach only to be overtaken and rolled by a quite large wave very close to the beach, much to my surprise. This experience just goes to demonstrate that caution is always needed if you want your gear to survive, even in the smallest swell.
0816hrs. Almost at right angles and going over (chest cam pic from movie). The next frame is underwater.
No damage was done, or gear lost, but it was embarrassing. I hauled myself up on the beach, tidied up, then chatted to Agnes, a dear old lady beach goer and keen fisho whose husband recently died. She's always interested in what we yakkers get up to and asks knowledgeable questions about our catch and techniques. Meantime Jaro arrived "out the back". I was tempted to tell him by radio about the shore break but then I thought about the movie possibilities so I let fate run its course, seriously thinking that, as usual, he'd have no problem.
In Jaro came, stroking strongly, as normal. About 10 metres from the beach he appeared totally relaxed then all of a sudden his facial expression changed as he realised he might be about to take a swim, albeit in knee deep water. Exactly the same thing happened to him as to me.
0831hrs. What happens when you roll in shallow water (pic from movie). Imagine the results if your gear wasn't stowed and rods with reels mounted were still vertical in the rod holders. Yes, I've got the video.
VIDEO
Even the shore break can get you (featuring Jaro and me getting pummelled at MG today)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVlW8ZIpUQs
Again, as we're prepared for this sort of thing, there was no damage or losses. Jaro's fish were securely stashed in his excellent button down fishbox and his rods, reels and electronics were stowed inside his centre hatch. We just turned the yak the right way up and dragged it up the beach where Jaro exclaimed "Bugger" several times, with increasing emphasis.
Time to examine Jaro's take-home catch:
From top: spotted mackerel, spotted mackerel, Queensland school mackerel. Note the different shape of the pectoral fin [that's the one immediately behind the operculum (alright, gill cover)] and the different path of the lateral line between the two species. Often the school mackerel has many dark spots like the spotted mackerel, but they often fade after death. These two species have different legal take sizes and bag limits so please make sure you memorise the limits as many of these will be caught in the next few months. If in doubt, make your minimum size 60cm and your bag limit 5, that way it doesn't matter if they're spotties or schoolies or a combination of both.
After we'd washed our yaks Mark and Will came in (both without being rolled, I believe) and reported that they'd boated no fish but had fun chasing tuna and bonito.
Thanks for organising, Jaro, and nice catch once more. You're the mackerel champ at the moment. But look out, there are a few yakkers interested in taking the crown from you.
Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://noosayakers.blogspot.com
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