Subject: fishing today -- 05Oct10
From: sunshiner
Date: 5/10/2010 2:39 PM
Weather
Cloud cover: cloudless
Wind direction & speed: light SW
Sea state: pretty big swell, 2.3m
Participants: Pete, Kev
Just a quickie today as I'm a very busy guy.
0538hrs. Experienced MG launchers will readily appreciate that there's a bit of a sea running -- just take a look at the wave wetting of the beach.
All night last night the surf boomed at Sunshine Beach. I'd been down to MG the evening before and noted that it was tricky but doable. Pete had already launched when I arrived at 0530 and presumably was out there somewhere. It only takes a couple of minutes to set up the Stealth and by the time I was ready to launch I'd watched a couple of yak destroyers smash onto the end of the groyne. Clearly, timing the passage through the exit was the critical factor today.
A clean boarding and I was away, quickly getting soaked in the shorebreak when the first wave we encountered swept the yak from bow to stern. The Stealth tries to ride over the wave, but this only works if there's enough water to allow the stern to submerge as the yak pitches nose-up.
As I approached the exit a couple of nasty ones stood up but I pressed on (no choice, really) and we crested both waves to emerge damp but undamaged out the back, where I paddled a good 200m out before pausing to make sure I wasn't caught out.
Figuring that Pete was probably at Jew Shoal, and factoring in that I had only a couple of hours to spare, I decided to make that my destination. The paddle out was uneventful but I did notice that the kick from the swells was taking me up to 8kph occasionally and momentarily, even heading north and trolling a lure, as the surface water was sucked into the building swells.
Of Pete there was no sign and as he has no radio I didn't know whether he was at JS, and hidden from me by the swell, or elsewhere. It was lonely out there and it had a dead feeling, which was confirmed by the sonar which displayed no bait in the usual places. No birds, other than a lone, lost, gannet, no dolphins, no surface action, no turtles, no other boats. What I did notice was the first trichodesmium of the summer. This brownish surface algae, known as sea sawdust by ancient mariners, is a sure sign of warming water.
I hung around for about an hour trying SPs and trolling a deep running hard body but got no customers apart from a single brief strike on the HB. My thoughts turned to surfing so I paddled shoreward and before long could see heaps of board riders on the points where the waves were working in their special, Noosa, style. Soon, I joined them, albeit in my own space a little further out where I couldn't accidentally cripple one of them on an out-of-control stealth missile.
My surfing skills are rudimentary and unpractised for many years. Nevertheless the waves soon had the Stealth roaring along.
Going down the face of a wave, just off Little Cove (frame from movie).
Trouble was, I found I couldn't get off. I was hurtling toward the LC beach and didn't really want to go all the way in, but the wave and the boat wouldn't cooperate. In desperation I kicked the yak sideways with the paddle hoping to slow down enough to fall off the back of the wave. Well I fell off alright -- into the drink. As Stu warned me, this boat is not happy going sideways. So a valuable lesson learned and no harm done. Once a course has been set through the surf zone the aim is to keep the boat straight, by paddle and rudder and hit the beach the right way up.
Middle Groyne, my exit point, -- soon afterward. I knew that the tide was near low and hoped that the waves weren't breaking on the seaward side of the exit, but of course, they were. As usual, however, there were brief breaks of safe water between the CRUMPS. I chose my run time and asked a waiting board rider "How am I doing?" as I swept past him beachward paddling my arse off (also advised by Stu), not being game to look behind. "OK!" he said and with that I was through the crunch zone and sitting on a nice little roller heading straight for the beach at twice my usual speed. It was then that I noticed a couple of boardriders on the beach watching me intently, no doubt hoping that I'd go arse up. No way was a Noosa Yakker going to allow such an ignominious end. The wave took me right to the sand and there was Fong, one of our new Noosa Yakkers, board under his arm. "We do this all the time, mate!" I said.
So, no fish for me but some fun on such a magnificent Noosa Day. How'd you go, Pete? [see Pete's response below]
Kev
Red & white Stealth Supalite, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://www.noosayakkers.blogspot.com/
Email from Pete
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Subject:
Re: fishing today -- 05Oct10
From: Pete
Date: 5/10/2010 7:42 PM
Hi Kev and others,
I launched about 5am and headed for sr towing a hb. As you mentioned there was a 3 to 4 foot swell running.
I fished the bottom with pilchards for a couple of hours with a grand total of two grinners, but just as I was tying the hb back on one rod for the troll to js I hooked a sweetlip 47cm on my other rod.
This encouraged me to stay another hour with no results. 9.30 headed for js and fished for another couple of hours with the intention of waiting till the tide turned for hopefully an easier landing.
And yes I was very pleased with my landing,a straight run in between the sets.
Pete
P.S Tried to copy on a photo of my catch... too hard basket... it tasted good though
