From: sunshiner
Date: 3/03/2011 1:42 PM
Weather
Cloud cover: about 4/10, concentrated to the east
Wind direction & speed: very light SW, then northerly
Sea state: low swell
current: Sunshine Reef, about 1kph toward the south
Participants: jimbo, sunshiner, bigkev, hollywood, maverick, paddlepara
Every now and again we get the possible opportunity to launch from Sunshine Beach (Doggie Beach -- DB). Even in favourable forecast conditions it can be touch and go, with the shorebreak being as tricky to pick as the beach worms which live there.
Arriving earlier than planned at the DB carpark (04:55) I still found that I was the the third yakker to arrive. Jimbo and bigkev had already parked and were presumably down at the beach, checking out the launch situation. Sure enough, there they were on the otherwise deserted beach in the gradually improving light levels, watching and timing the sets and staring down the shore break. It seemed doable with care to me and shortly we agreed we'd give it a go.
Some fifteen minutes later I got the camera out as jimbo readied himself at our chosen launch point:
0518hrs. Jimbo waiting for the right moment to board.
At this beach in good conditions you have at least 100m to travel before you're out of the break zone and you're in it from the moment you board your yak. I've several times been clobbered by a wave here immediately on boarding so bear that in mind if you intend to launch at DB. The 100m journey through the break zone takes at least a minute if you have a good run -- so count on longer.
Jimbo and bigkev launched and a few seconds later so did I, possibly a bit too close to jimbo. I saw jimbo get hit by a pretty big wave and knocked sideways into my path so I backed off, getting a bath in the process, then manoeuvred around behind jimbo intending to go to his left and look for clear water there (fat chance). The execution of the plan was going OK until I was caught at slightly less than ninety degrees to the next broken wave. The bow, being first to encounter the wave, whipped around to face north and the whole yak was suddenly side-on to the waves. Fortunately, I've been side-on in the surf many times in my Espri, usually coming in, and I found myself instinctively leaning into the broken wave with the paddle pushing down. A few seconds later I was back on the beach having travelled the 15m or so the right way up, but sideways, except for the last couple of metres when we ran out of depth and the skeg struck bottom and we rolled. I did a quick visual check of the yak -- nothing loose, or damaged, dragged it back out and jumped back on to make a relatively easy exit, joining bigkev out the back. "Gets the heart rate up, doesn't it?" said Kev. I barely had enough breath to agree.
While paddling out into the safe zone I glanced back a couple of times to see if I could see jimbo, but couldn't. Once in the safe zone I removed my radio from its dry bag and called him. He replied, explaining that he'd aborted the launch attempt, having received an elbow injury and damaged some gear. This is something to bear in mind, I think, especially for those less experienced in the surf -- there is no point in being gung-ho and ending up badly knocked about. If you don't feel fully confident in a surf launch situation, don't launch. It's OK to abort.
So bigkev and I paddled out to one of our closest reef fishing marks (1.5km out from the beach) where I put down a large flashy jig in the hope of nailing a sweetlip. A few minutes later it went off -- to a beautiful snapper about 60cm. Back he went to his reefie home.
Shortly we were joined by hollywood and maverick, both of whom had also had interesting launches at Doggie Beach. During the next couple of hours we were also joined by paddleparra in his main-hull-only Adventure Island who had pedalled all the way round to Sunshine Beach after launching at MG. Then bigkev radioed that he'd caught a spotty mac to the north so maverick and hollywood and I decided to investigate that area. Shortly we found some flocks of terns working over occasional bust-ups of fish just out from Alexandria Bay. Despite some great opportunities to present my lure to them, however, I couldn't get a hit and decided around 8:00am that I'd head for the beach. I might add at this time that, for various reasons, the only yakker I had radio communication with was bigkev.
As I paddled back toward Doggie Beach I came across a bust up of tuna and had one last cast. The Halco slug was taken and within a few seconds after a couple of powerful runs I suffered a bust off. On rechecking the drag I found it was a little tighter than I would normally use. Don't know how that happened, as I check my drag frequently.
Off Doggie Beach now, I chose to land at about the same location as we'd launched. By now the swell was slightly bigger and the tide was lower so the wave profile was different than at launch time. My chosen path was through an obvious channel about 20m wide with board riders exploiting the waves breaking on shallower banks on either side. Occasional larger sets were coming through so I waited until a set of four quite big waves went through before starting my run. I must admit to feeling some trepidation every time I come in at Doggie Beach (a good thing perhaps) but all went smoothly and in the last 30m I was run down by a wave which broke almost immediately it caught up with me. The Supalite handled this beautifully and we accelerated as it caught the wave, spray shooting out either side of the bow. Although I was ready to steer with the rudder this wasn't necessary as it maintained a straight track throughout, but perhaps my minimal paddling helped. In what seemed an instant we were on the beach the right way up. Whew!
That's all from me, yakkers. Hopefully other participants will add any items of interest -- particularly any lessons learned from the surf launch and landing today. Hopefully your injury isn't serious, Jimbo. [See bigkev's email below]
Thanks for coming along guys -- looks like a windy few days coming up so no offshore fishing likely until that blows over.
Kev
Red & white Stealth Supalite, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://www.noosayakkers.blogspot.com/
Email from bigkev
:::::::::::
Subject: RE: fishing today -- 03Mar11
From: "Kevin Crawford"
Date: 3/03/2011 9:49 PM
I made a last minute decision to make the trip to Noosa from the Northern Suburbs of Brisbane based on the fact that I know I have a couple of very busy weeks of work to look forward to and this combination of good weather and new moon should not be wasted when the pelagics are supposed to be around.
I left home at 3.30am and arrived at DB carpark at a bit before 5 to find Jimbo already keen to go. So we checked out the launch and I was more than happy to tackle these conditions and give it a red hot crack. Shortly after the other Kev (Long/Sunshiner) joined us and also agreed that we should launch so we made our way back up the hill and rigged our rides and hit the beach for the second time, this time with intent.
During the launch I took a bit of white water over the bow and got absolutely soaked by the shore break but managed to keep the nose of the yak facing forward and eventually made it out the back. I probably paddled a great deal further than required in this initial frenzy but I am never sure how far is ‘far enough’ when a surf break is involved. Sunshiner made it out behind me and told stories of white water carnage which were later confirmed by Jimbo over the radio as he had not managed to find a safe path through.
Kev, as ever, the gracious host showed me a mark that he frequents as this was my first trip to Sunshine reef, and I had no real idea where I was going as I had decided to fish without a sounder today and concentrate on pelagics without the distractions. I duly marked the area that Kev suggested and then moved on trolling a weighted & stinger hook rigged slimy on a squid skirt on one rod and a Laser Pro on the other in a random pattern around the reef area in the hope of pelagics.
As noted in Kev'’s report the first confirmed hookup of the morning was a solid snapper by him which is unfortunately on the endangered species list this month and was subsequently returned. I continued heading north trolling two outfits until I came across my first patch of birds working. It was at this point the LP was given a rest and a 20g halco twisty was substituted and thrust forth into a small group of feeding fish and diving terns. Half a dozen turns of the reel handle resulted in a solid hookup and a nice spotty mack. Unfortunately this was the only mack for the morning but with numerous patches of tuna working the water we all kept busy chasing these schools to no avail.
After spending way too many more hours with Stu chasing these evil toona fish as they taunted us by letting us get close to be just out of casting range time and time again we eventually gave it away and headed in around 11-ish where I got rolled in the last three metres of the shore break and Stu made it through unscathed.
I have attached pic taken by a tanned local (Stu) of a pastey white brissie boy holding a sleek sunny coast speed machine for your viewing pleasure in the hope of seeing much more favourable images of tanned Noosa locals holding bigger meaner fish in the near future.
Cheers all and I will see you next time the stars, planets, moon and weather systems align.
Kev
(not the Long one…, the BIG one.)
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