From: sunshiner
Date: 5/05/2010 4:42 PM
Weather
Cloud cover:, 0/10
Wind direction & speed: calm
Sea state: 2m swell from east
An exceptional day. Read on...
For three months, Jaro, one of the stalwarts of Noosa Yakkers and one of its elders, has been out of action due to compulsory inactivity following a hip replacement. But today was the day. He had his doctor's clearance to go. Several days ago we'd identified today as being good for yak fishing so Jaro and I were well organised, despite having been to a curry feast the night before with many of our friends. To add even more spice to our evening last night was the trip report from Stu, another hard core Noosa Yakker, that he'd bagged out on spotted mackerel (spotties, to us) yesterday, all within one kilometre of our standard beach launch point. Others had picked up on this info so it was no surprise when Jaro and I arrived in the carpark at 0540 to find Andy (andypaddles) rigging up and the parked cars of whalebait and eyetag indicating that they were already out there, even though it was still pretty dark. Also expected, later, were Stu and hollywood.
There was a bit of a wave running and low tide made the launch quite exciting, with some extra large sets occasionally mixed in with the medium sized waves generated by the 2m easterly swell.
0605hrs. Jaro gets ready for his first launch in three months
Jaro and andy hit the water first and were soon outside, past the break, after holding for a while in the channel while awaiting the passage of a couple of bigger waves. I followed, managing to get through while taking only one small wave over the bow. Very refreshing after last night's curry dinner.
What a magnificent morning! Just where the sun was rising a small cumulus cloud provided old sol with a gilt-edged mask but all around the rest of the sky was clear. While setting up our gear ready for the fray, we three rode the swell, waters smooth due to the lack of wind. Already terns could be seen wheeling and diving to the north, only a few hundred metres away. This looked great. I radioed whalebait and eyetag and was told that they were in the vicinity of Little Hall's Reef, some 3.5 km away. They had had no action so far but there were some promising "bust ups" in their vicinity. I told them about the few terns near us and promised to keep them posted.
Jaro was ready first of course so off he went to the north. About 5 minutes later andy and I were ready and by this time, the terns were making their presence even more obvious, although there were no large splashes from predators at this stage. Andy set off trolling a Predatek hard bodied lure and I followed a hundred or so metres behind trolling my favourite Halco Laser Pro, now heavily scratched due to previous encounters with mackerel.
Within five minutes of our departure I noticed that Andy had stopped paddling and appeared to be fighting a fish. As I got a little closer I could clearly see the bend in his trolling outfit. I knew this might be his first ever spotty mac so called him on the radio to tell him I was on the way over to take a photo or two. In order to do this it is smart to retrieve any trolled lures so I immediately picked up my trolling outfit to do just this. I was surprised to find that there was some unusual "heaviness" on this line but the reason very soon revealed itself. Presumably I'd picked up the rod just as a spotty mackerel struck and it was swimming more or less in my direction. Soon the penny dropped and the spotty mac took off like a... well, a spotty mac, with a typical powerful run.
0630hrs. The spotty mac rolls on the surface just before the gaff was used. (still from video)
My spotty mac
With this fish dealt with I paddled the few metres over to the now beaming Andy to admire and photograph his first ever spotty Mac.
0635hrs. Fresh mackerel on the menu in Pomona tonight.
I passed on the catch info by radio to our companions and about now the water started to erupt all around as spotty macs began to ball up the bait schools and carve them up accompanied by fluttering and diving terns and (from nowhere, apparently) several cormorants which were right in there with the spotties, getting at least their fair share of the spoils. Jaro arrived back into the area shortly after with a trolled spotty also and then Stu could be seen paddling out from Middle Groyne. After 10 minutes more neither Jaro nor I had been able to land any more fish as our offerings had been ignored by the spotties or we'd lost lures due to bite-offs, even though we were both using wire.
All around us, spotty macs were lunging at the bait fish leaving huge surface boils or white splashes which stood out starkly against the deep blue of the sea and sparkling with the silvery bodies of the small fish they were breakfasting on. I'd passed on this info to whalebait and eyetag and was assured by them that they were heading back our way, pronto. The action continued like this until we decided to give it away. Perhaps it's better to tell the story with some pics (which I spent much of my time engaged in, shooting movie and stills):
0653hrs. Just a sample of what was happening. That's the stern of my yak in the bottom left corner. A spotty mac is charging through baitfish less than a metre away, the bait showering out in an attempt to avoid being eaten. (still from video)
0705hrs. Jaro's gaff -- a spotty mac apparently doomed. (still from video)
0708hrs. The baitfish were so thickly packed that several times we found them impaled on the hooks of our slugs.
0711hrs. Andy bags his second spotty, this time on a cast slug. (still from video)
0716hrs. Stu's hooked up to yet another spotty. (still from video)
0726hrs. Jaro gaffs another. (still from video)
0729hrs. Stu, hooked up again, hams it up for the camera. (still from video)
0754hrs. Whalebait brings one to gaff. (still from video)
0812hrs. Eyetag gets one, too. (still from video)
0815hrs. Eyetag without hat.
0852hrs. Whalebait lines the gaff up on another. (still from video)
0854hrs. One of eyetag's fish near the yak. (still from video)
0854hrs. Eyetag's got him. (still from video)
0918hrs. Jaro's hooked up again. (still from video)
0924hrs. Not bad for a bloke who's been out of action for three months.
0935hrs. This is typical of the surface strikes we were witnessing. Note the baitfish showering out.
0938hrs. Whalebait hooked this one on a cast Halco Laser Pro (he'd run out of slugs). (still from video)
Sometime during this melee Doug McDougall, another Noosa Yakker whom I hadn't seen for a while paddled over to say hello. It was great to see him again out there. He nonchalantly announced that he had a bag limit so was going in. By now, many of us had either bagged out or were out of ammo or both so it was time to go in. Hollywood opted to stay out for a while but the rest of us meandered over to the preparation area off our launch point. Eyetag, having bagged out, went in earlier than most. His radio call once he was safely on the beach warned us that the waves were standing right up now. This really put the icing on the cake. Not only had we experienced a memorable morning's fishing but we now were going to have the privilege of getting smashed on the way back in.
It was with great apprehension that I watched several large waves smash against the end of the groyne while I was packing my gear away. In anticipation that I might be in for a swim I put an extra tiedown on my rods just to make sure they didn't come adrift if the yak went end over end. Just to make things worse, there was a bunch of people, including eyetag, watching to see whether I could cut the mustard. Quite suddenly I saw a chance and went for it. Half way in, however, I was run down by a medium sized wave. As I'd hoped it would, it had broken before it got to me for I was now on top of a shallow bank. My standard procedure of digging the paddle in on the starboard side was employed just as it got to me and with great relief I realised that I'd manage to stabilise the yak on the broken wave, going in at 45 degrees to the beach. Whew!
Close behind me was whalebait but I had enough time to grab the camera and wade back out onto the shallow bank to perhaps capture some useful surf-return video. Whalebait did almost the same thing as I did... Jaro picked a gap with perfection and cruised home.
1001hrs. Whalebait stabilised on a broken wave which had run him down, resulting in a right-way-up arrival. (still from video)
A lady on the beach agreed to pose with a couple of our fish.
And we got a group photo with some of the catch...
From left: Jaro, sunshiner, whalebait, eyetag, Stu. Happy Noosa Yakkers.
Thanks for coming along guys, and macks. Another great morning. I'll work on the spotty mac video over the next couple of days.
VIDEO
Get the beer and chips and sit back and enjoy. Make sure you have speakers and your hearing aids are in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PIGVYYnAl0
Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://www.noosayakkers.blogspot.com/
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