From: sunshiner
Date: 11/05/2010 4:06 PM
Weather
Cloud cover: 6/10
Wind direction & speed: calm
Sea state: 1.5m SE swell
For a change, I was at the MG carpark before Jaro this morning. But whalebait was there, as I expected, prepping his trusty Heritage yak embroidered with mackerel scales from recent trips. We chatted briefly with the subdued roar of the surf in the background before I wandered down in the half light to take a look. As I expected, there were no significant waves -- certainly nothing to dampen the ardour of a typical Noosa Yakker.
Jimbo rolled in to the carpark, then Jaro. Several other Noosa Yakkers were expected later (Stu, hollywood, at least) as it seemed possible that the spotty macs might still be around, despite the recent drop in air temperature resulting from the gradual movement of the earth in its orbit.
0602hrs. Whalebait's already launched. Jaro's about to. I have no idea what that projection is on top of the wall.
A couple of minutes later we were out there, Jimbo following close behind. A yacht was anchored in the shelter of the bay and Jimbo reckoned he knew the owners.
As soon as we were rigged up and ready we departed on our chosen paths, just as the sun rose, around 0615.
0615hrs. Our world was about to brighten up.
While I was admiring this Laguna Bay sunrise, Jaro paddled off toward the river mouth and jimbo opted to try to get a second breakfast at his friends' yacht, anchored a few hundred metres away. As my main mission today was getting fish pics I opted initially to tag along with Jaro and was just getting underway when I noticed he'd turned around and was now heading back toward the east. He explained that he thought the bait might get bottled up in the SE corner of the Bay and so would hang around that area for a while to see if the predators turned up as it presently seemed too early for them. I went along with this briefly but then headed toward Jew Shoal, some 3km NE as there was bugger all sign of any action close in. Meanwhile, whalebait had informed us by radio that he was tracking to the west through Little Hall's Reef and could see little significant action out there, although he did mention that he was dealing with a shark which had taken his trolled yellowtail as breakfast.
Conditions were superb with boat traffic very light and small swell. Before long I'd arrived at Jew Shoal, alone, and decided, as there was no sign of any surface action, that I'd try for an early season snapper so paddled to "Old Faithful" aka A3-01 to start a drift. On the way to this mark, on the western side of the Shoal, I could see whalebait paddling toward me from the west, having already travelled to Little Hall's Reef then set course for Jew Shoal. Having switched a soft plastic onto my casting outfit I laid out a couple of casts and on the second or third took a good strike right near the bottom of the soft plastic's trajectory, under the yak. I mentally called it for a decent snapper and was congratulating myself when there was a couple of head shakes and the line went slack. Bummer. Before I retrieved the line I knew I'd been bitten off, probably by a mackerel. Sure enough, the line was severed as neatly as if scissors had been used. That's twice recently this has happened to me so I might have to start using some heavy leader, even wire, on soft plastics early and late in the snapper season. Shortly after this I spotted Bill Watson, pioneering Noosa kayak fisho, trolling across the shoal. We exchanged waved greetings at a distance of about 70 metres -- he can't stop when trolling because his trolled baits would sink and possibly snag up in the shallow reefy waters.
Then the radio calls started to come in. Earlier I'd heard turtleboy announce that he was at MG in the company of a couple of other yakkers and then heard him say that there was a bit of fish action near the river mouth. Shortly after this he revealed that the yakkers in his company near the river mouth had boated several fish, presumably spotty macs. I could tell from the triumphalism in his voice that he had enjoyed some of this action. This info was invaluable to me and whalebait, fishless at Jew Shoal, and jimbo, likewise, somewhere near Little Hall's Reef. Whalebait and I joined company and set off for the river mouth area at 0800hrs, some 3.5km from the shoal, but with the sea behind us. Jimbo also was paddling in toward the action.
By 0840 whalebait and I had joined the others from Jew Shoal and jimbo was joining from the North. Turtleboy, hollywood and Stu were drifting in an area about 800m from the groyne and occasionally paddling over to take advantage of bust-ups, and getting the occasional fish, too. Just as I arrived, turtleboy, on his first trip out with us after an absence of several weeks, hooked up on another spotty. Mindful of my main mission today, I pulled out the camera.
Turtleboy hooked up (Frame from video)
0854hrs. Steve (turtleboy) with his third spottymac of the morning
On asking him where Jaro was (Jaro's radio is faulty and unable to transmit) turtleboy revealed that Jaro had already bagged out and had returned to the beach. All around were occasional bust-ups reminiscent of last Wednesday's carnage, in almost exactly the same area. And so it continued.
Whalebait gets his first for the morning (Frame from video)
Stu gets his 112th (just kidding) (Frame from video)
Hollywood puts the hurt on another (which escaped by spitting the hook at the last) (Frame from video)
So, as you can judge, things were hectic for a while, but were even more hectic before I got there. There were a couple of other yakkers joining in the fun who expressed an interest in becoming Noosa Yakkers (as Hookers). One was Des, a mate of hollywood and the other was Peter, a bloke I got talking to who recently bought his first yak, a new Hobie pedal model in blue. Harv, either of these might get in touch via the blog soon. As for Jimbo and I, we remained spottymac-less although I did get a good hookup only to have another fish apply its formidable dental bits to the line and shred it for a couple of metres. Lure gone, fish gone. Jim hooked a shark on his trolled bait.
The return to the beach was easy, with only Hollywood putting on a deliberate display of delicacy when dealing with a breaking wave. On the beach the usual fauna could be found.
A couple of typical specimens
A couple of typical specimens
A very satisfied turtleboy, who has been reunited with his mojo after a lengthy separation.
Almost forgot to mention that LeRoux paddled in after we'd all returned to the beach. He (without radio) had initially received Jaro's prediction (during a personal consultation) about where the fish might be found but paddled all the way to Teewah village then across to Granite Bay then back to MG for a NIL result. Hard luck mate. A VHF radio certainly would have put you in the loop.
Another great NY day. Thanks for coming along all and better luck next time, those who missed out.
--
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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