Wind: SW, starting at 2 knots, building to 5knots
Water: Murky in close but much cleaner at Jew Shoal
Swell: low NE
Current: not recorded
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: pedro, sunshiner
The forecast wind was ideal for kayaks today but it seems the murky inshore water deterred all but pedro and me. So we met in the carpark around 0500, and agreed that the launch would be doable, albeit with the small risk of a wet bum.
Shortly afterward we had our yaks on the beach, with the clear sky allowing sufficient light to see that our immediate adversary, the surf, was quite subdued today.
05:26. Pedro, dressed for the occasion.
The water did not look inviting. On most launch occasions it’s clear but today it held a brown tinge and, especially near the groyne, large amounts of vegetable matter swirled in the current, making the water even murkier. We were not optimistic about finding fish but hopeful that out further better water conditions might be found. Little did we know that our hopes would be answered in spades.
Launch was easy. I followed paddling-pedro closely and we both held briefly in the hole at the end of the wall while allowing a couple of larger waves to pass under us. “Dry bums!”, we yelled as we got out without taking a drop of water aboard.
Jew Shoal was our intended destination as we reasoned that it was more likely to be clear than the Halls reefs, given that the dirty water coming out of the river often travels straight up the coast. Shortly after 05:30 we were off, pedro pedalling and I paddling. Both of us trolled at least one lure; my choice was one only: my trusty Halco LP on my trusty trolling outfit.
05:47. Nice sea conditions, eh?
The lack of visible terns reinforced the feeling that perhaps this was going to be a fishless day, but we pressed on and in just over 30 minutes we were on the shoal. Still no birds. No wild life at all, really.
Individual plans came into action now, although they were influenced by a massive strike on a trolled lure for pedro as he swung over the pinnacles. Although the fish self released, at least we knew that there was something unseen down there. And even though the light levels were still low, we could tell that the water was clearer here than closer in.
I don't know what pedro's plans were but I opted to retrieve my Halco and switch to my 6kg casting outfit and SP in the hope of nailing a snapper. There were still no signs of pelagic predators, but sometimes they don't get active until an hour or so after sunrise, so there was hope yet. In the meantime I thought I’d just target the snapper, or anything, really.
Drogue deployed, I laid out my first cast. It plopped down about 25 metres away, down wind. As usual, I allowed the 1/8 ounce jighead to sink slowly, impeded only by drag from the braid. We were in about 20 metres depth, so this slow sink can take a while.
Snapper! I thought, as the jig was clobbered about 30 seconds after hitting the water. It did indeed feel like a snapper, at first, but the next move had me reappraising my assessment. The fish went straight to the south, at high speed, and down deep. I was only fishing 6kg so couldn’t do much about it. The yak was being towed, but the fish was going much faster. Ten minutes into the fight I knew I was undergunned, I was just starting to get line back onto the depleted spool and the fish still had lots of fight.
06:35. I'd switched the camera to movie and started to record what was happening. (Frame from movie)
At last I was getting line back and I knew the fish was fairly close, as I saw a large swirl about 20m away as it came up to the surface briefly before charging off again. The drag on my 3500 Stradic was starting to judder under the strain after around 30 minutes and I wasn’t surprised when the knot to the jighead failed shortly afterward. Reflecting on the event, I'm pretty sure I hooked a pretty big tuna, possibly a longtail, as I’ve done before while fishing for snapper with SPs.
Anyway, pedro delivered his commiserations by radio, together with a message that while I'd been dealing with my fish (or the other way around, perhaps), he'd bagged a nice snapper, taken on a trolled garfish.
It was now about 06:45, just over an hour since sunrise. A switch was thrown somewhere as suddenly there were several flocks of terns visible and white splashes underneath them. Pedro, by radio, drew my attention to action near him while I was tying a new jighead on. I looked around to find that I had two bustups within a couple of hundred metres of me! Off comes the jighead, on goes the slug! This process took a couple of minutes but I was soon ready, only to find that the bustups were now further away (situation normal!). Figuring that I may as well have an extra chance, I put out my trolling outfit while keeping my casting outfit close to hand and began paddling toward the nearest and bestest bustup. Note that there were no other boats around. I had this all to myself and pedro had similar bustups all to himself also, within a few hundred metres.
(frame from movie)
This was the one I chose. I managed to get close enough to fire off a cast, thinking “This’ll be a sure thing!”. I retrieved through the edge of the bustup, and was disappointed to see my lure emerge unscathed on my side of the bustup. Then I heard a low growl, just like that emitted by my trolling outfit’s drag. Glancing over my right shoulder while still retrieving the cast slug, I could see the trolling rod take on a glorious bend, just before the trolling reel started to scream. Putting down my casting outfit, slug still 20 metres or so away, I grabbed the trolling rod and confirmed that there was something substantial on the end. What to do now? Knowing that to leave the casting outfit hanging in the water is to invite calamity, I shoved the trolling outfit back into its rod holder and picked up the casting outfit. By now the trolling rod had a spectacular bend and line was being grudgingly given by the reel, and worse, the yak had an alarming tilt to starboard, as that was the side the fish had chosen to run to. Leaning to port to counteract the yak’s roll, I retrieved the slug successfully and stowed the casting outfit before once again picking up the trolling outfit to take the fight to the fish. Whew! All under control.
I was pretty sure I had a tuna on, and this time I was not undergunned, fishing with 10kg mono and a short rod with overhead reel. Lots of pulling power! The fight was vigorous but only five minutes or so, and soon I saw a yellowfin tuna with my lure in its mouth sweep past under the yak. The last time I’d seen a yellowfin on my line was several years ago, and the fish spat the lure right at the side of the yak. I played this one carefully, and turned on chest cam for some video.
It tired pretty quickly and before long I had the gaff in the tough skin above the head, and then dragged him aboard. My first yellowfin on the yak! Quite a few of us Noosa Yakkers have achieved this in the last few months.
07:15. Huge pectoral fin, view from starboard side
07:15. View from above
Video 1min 53 secs, taken with chest cam, of key parts of the above event
While dealing with this fish there were several bustups nearby; the churning of the water could be plainly heard, sometimes behind us. Knowing that pedro would soon hookup also, I paddled toward him in the hope of getting some more pics. Incidentally, he’d already plucked a striped tuna from one of these bustups and had stowed it as a Noosa Yakkers Record claim and as bait for the future.
Pedro didn't disappoint me. Just as I got to him he chucked a slug into a massive bustup and immediately hooked up. “This is only a littly,” he said, then watched in surprise as line was stripped from his new reel in a powerful run. Having now decided that this fish wasn't so small, he played it out and soon had in his lap a second potential Noosa Yakkers Record fish.
07:55. Pedro fights his “littly”
08:01. That's a pretty big mac tuna, well worthy of the Record, and pretty hard to beat, I reckon.
Video, just over 1 minute of pedro catching the tuna. Live commentary.
Watching pedro in action I must comment that he has his act together for exploiting bustup situations. The Mirage drive is ideal for this sort of fishing; he can charge toward the fish with his casting rod in hand, firing off a cast while still pedalling vigorously. While taking the above pics there were bustups right nearby, so I thought “Maybe I can beat pedro’s new record, and besides my casting outfit hasn't caught a fish today” (but it had been thoroughly worked over with the first cast fish). So I sauntered over to the next bustup and sent the slug on a serious mission. Pow, scream, gurgle (this last the sound made as water passes under the towed hull). Good fish...
Not quite as good as pedro’s however, probably 10cm smaller, but my reel’s drag system was almost smoking...
08:24. My mac tuna. Released, to swim away strongly after regurgitating much of its recent meals into my fishbox.
About now pedro reported that he also had boated and released another mac tuna. So there was plenty of action, as you can probably tell.
Pedro turned his back on the feeding frenzies to do a bit of drift fishing but I was keen to head back to the beach because I had commitments at home. Having got no action in the 15 minute drift fishing he opted to head back with me. And so we paddled/pedalled back together. The inbound surf transit was easy and when we pulled up on the beach we were met by beejay, in his office clothes, and also a wedding party, plus the usual several people curious about the boats and the fish.
Beach pics
Three species of tuna plus a nice snapper
pedro’s snapper
pedro’s mac tuna, 82cm (record claim)
my yellowfin tuna, 79cm
pedro’s striped tuna, 57cm, (record claim)
No suitable fish holder volunteer could be found down on the beach but there was some potential among the bridal party (the bride refused!) which had decided that the road up from the beach and the washpoint were ideal places to gather and take photos.
One of the bridesmaids galloped over excitedly exclaiming that she "loves fishing". So she was press-ganged into holding the yellowfin.
bridesmaid, hungry
Pedro took a chunk of yellowfin, with my compliments, from the tail of the fish and immediately he, beejay, I and the bridesmaid tried slices raw, on the spot. They were delicious and hopefully we can get some great meals out of this fish. Any cooking recipes for fresh YFT appreciated although it does seem great raw.
Another great day. Thanks for coming along pedro, and for catching fish for the camera.
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