From: sunshiner
Date: 17/08/2011 2:24 PM
Weather
Cloud cover: 5/10
Wind direction & speed: southerly ~5knots
Sea state: low swell
If applicable (often at NSR): no current
Participants: jimbo, justin, sunshiner
Despite reports of few if any fish from the local area by pedro and richmond over the last couple of days, we resolved today to take advantage of the forecast light winds, a rare event in recent times. Possibly because it was a public holiday in Brisbane, Justin Mabey, the newest Noosa Yakker and Brisbane resident, opted to come along also.
Launch time, 0627. Nice conditions. Justin on left.
Although there was no danger of being smashed by the waves we were reluctant to get wet and all successfully picked the lull and got out with dry bums.
As soon as Justin was ready to paddle he and I left for Jew Shoal, some 3.5km away, leaving Jimbo to complete his preparations and follow along behind. As usual, once past the shark net we deployed our hard body lures because you never know what might be lurking in the bay. We'd been trolling about five minutes when the radio blared. Jimbo was announcing that he was hooked up, just after leaving the shark net, and 400m or so behind us. Interested in getting some pics I immediately turned through 180 degrees and started to head back toward Jim, whose rod I could see was still in action, sporting a decent bend. When I was about 200m away Jimbo announced by radio that he had a shark on. Not being particularly interested in shark pics I again turned through 180 degrees and headed back toward the now confused Justin (he has no radio) only to have Jimbo announce that he'd made a mistake and he now thought he had a cobia. OK, this was more like it, so I again turned back toward Jimbo, arriving just as he was gaffing the fish.
0659, Jimbo's first ever cobia. Note in the pic below the prominent shark-like pectoral fins.
This is a decent fish and Jimbo showed how versatile his Espri is by promptly stowing the fish in his custom made fishbox.
The capture of this cobia is interesting in that it is at least the fourth to be taken by NYs close to the shark nets in recent years. All of the cobia were taken early in the morning, near the start of a fishing trip, and three of the four were taken on deep running hard bodied lures. Later, on examining the stomach contents of this fish we found a red spot crab, a small crayfish-like animal and a long skinny fish resembling a grinner. Clearly, an early morning troll near the shark net and over the rubbly ground near National Park may be worthwhile as cobia probably feed over sandy bottoms where they find stingrays and crabs. Note that the three previous cobia taken were recorded in the summer months.
With all this excitement over we resumed our journey to Jew Shoal. On arrival we found good conditions, a southerly breeze and clean, deep-blue water. But no fish activity. Except this wire netting cod which took a liking to my SP and was released ...
Wire netting cod, min legal length believed to be 38cm
By 0930, with no more fish action, Jimbo and I headed for the beach, leaving Justin to keep trying a little longer.
Justin, left behind, in his Stealth Supalite X
MG beach has heaps of sand on it presently and the channel we used to use to sneak in to and out from the beach is now gone. The result is that waves, albeit usually small, are now breaking right across the beach and so good timing of re-entry is even more important. I paddled in and was picked up by a mid-sized wave which the Stealth handled well, giving me a fast ride right in to the sand. Jimbo's entry was text book perfect and beautifully timed between waves. Perhaps the fact that I had the movie camera running helped.
When Jimbo pulled the cobia out of the Espri a crowd of holidaymakers sauntered over, oohing and ahhing as usual.
Just on a metre long
A lady from Perth, WA volunteered to hold the fish for a photo.
So a good day for Jimbo but the snapper are clearly not on at JS at the moment. Never mind, there are possibly a few good days coming up. Hope to see you out there soon, NYs.
Kev
Red & white Stealth Supalite, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://www.noosayakkers.blogspot.com/
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