From:sam boulden
Date: 7/02/2011 11:23 AM
I arrived at Middle Groyne later than I had intended after having to give myself a good talking to in order to get out of bed. I ended up pulling in at around 4:40 with Dan midway through preparations on his AI and Pedro long gone. After Dan and I exchanged greetings I set about throwing my gear together and getting down to the beach double quick. It was a beautiful morning and launch conditions were perfect, no need to pick the sets, just glide on out with a dry bum.
My intention was to wait out the back for Dan to join me but when I had finished rigging up he was still nowhere to be seen. Apparently the downside to the AI is an extended setup though apparently this becomes more streamlined with experience. Resigning myself to a solo voyage out I headed towards the national park with the aim of trolling along the headlands towards Hell’s Gates before looping around to Jew shoal to meet up with Dan and Pete. This plan of attack seemed to have paid dividends as my Laser Pro was hammered not far past the shark nets but after a spirited fight a small whaler appeared yakside and was shaken loose.
I continued trolling without incident out to the end of the heads where I met up with an American bloke in a red Mission Catch. I believe this is the Hawaiian Kev and I had met a few months previous at Jew Shoal. He said he'’d been out at JS since before first light (he even beat Pete out!) with no success. He continued trolling in the direction of Sunshine Beach while I stuck to my game plan and turned for open water.
About 200m on the water came to life with tuna launching clear of the surface in pursuit of baitfish no more than 30m off my bow. As calmly as I could I unleashed my slug casting outfit and fired off a cast into the middle of the melee. I was rewarded with an immediate hookup and searing run which emptied half my spool of 20lb braid. As I was contemplating how to retrieve my trolled lure while maintaining pressure on the fish, he turned and ran back at the yak. I was able to counter this and he then took off on another drag screaming run. Whether the first double back had loosened the hook I don’t know but when he tried this gambit once more he was able to throw the lure. By now the school was long gone and with the feeling it might be one of those days, I headed out to meet up with Dan and Pete who were holding a mini Hobie convention on the edge of Jew Shoal. Pete reported very little action for the morning and I changed over to soft plastics to try my luck.
There was plenty of bait about and a fairly slow drift which should have translated into perfect bottom bashing conditions but the fish weren’t playing the game. I finally got a very strong hookup on the plastic, having drifted away from the pinnacles into about 20m of water. Unfortunately this proved to be another small whaler which, though hooked in the corner of the mouth, managed to abrade the 20lb fluoro leader yakside.
As I was rerigging I looked across to where Pete was drifting and noticed some surface activity and birds in his vicinity. There had been scattered surface action around all morning but this was far more concentrated and prolonged. I decided to chase the school but they were too quick for me and after a few hundred metres I gave up and got back to plastic fishing. This of course was the cue for the tuna to reappear, this time moving towards me. I paddled into position and fired off another cast and was again rewarded with a hookup, though this time the fish continued towards me after the strike and was seemingly oblivious to its predicament.
About 20m from the yak he finally woke up and decided to head for NZ. After about 10 minutes of back and forth he was doing the customary tuna circle underneath me and I freed the gaff in readiness. Upon seeing me he took off on a final searing run before coming alongside completely spent. He didn’'t even flinch as I drove the gaff into his shoulder and hoisted him aboard, my first ever Yellowfin tuna! (incidently this was also the first ever fish on this outfit, my first keeper as a Noosa Yakker and the first fish I’'ve ever gaffed!). Well and truly satisfied and significantly further east than I wanted to be, I decided to call it a day and head in.
The shore break was practically non-existent and I was tempted to not bother de-rigging but in the end thought better of it. I met Dan on the beach who reported two sharks for the day. He’'d done it tough with stuff all breeze about and sadly had to rely on people power like the rest of us poor bugger! He was nice enough to take a picture of the fish for me but unfortunately no bathing beauties were about to join the fun.
As this was my 5th trip out from Noosa it was a great way to break the duck and the maguro sashimi will taste extra sweet tonight!
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