Wind: W, starting at 5 knots, swinging to NW, 8 knots
Swell: SE, 1.5 metres
Current: at Jew Shoal, none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: daveyG, imax, baptism (Adrian Tan), kahuna, sunshiner, pedro and family
Breezier today than yesterday mid-day and from the west, but still sparklingly sunny with clear water. Kahuna and I met in the carpark at Middle Groyne and were ready to launch at 07:20 but hung about to see if there were any other starters (there weren’t) for the 7:30 announced launch time.
Kahuna gets his leg over.
As soon as we were out past the ferocious break I pulled out the radio from its cosy and dry storage and called imax, whom I knew to be out there because I recognized his vehicle in the carpark. He responded immediately and revealed that he, daveyG and baptism (Adrian’s AKFF name) were out at Jew Shoal but that no fish had been boated.
Kahuna and I headed for the western side of the shoal on the basis that the westerly wind would push us on a drift from west to east. This assessment proved accurate once we started to drift, some 40 minutes later.
The shoal was busy, with three or four stinkies, and the Noosa Yakkers flotilla which comprised imax's pedal and sail craft (AI), baptism's pedal and paddle craft (Revo), and three paddle craft constructed respectively from fibreglass, thermo plastic, and polyethylene. Quite a variety.
Despite my best attempts to put people onto fish, the latter just weren’t cooperating today, duplicating jaro’s experience from yesterday. Nor were there any bustups visible, at least not while I was there.
As if to demonstrate that the fish we sought probably were not present in sufficient quantity, I did catch a lone grassy, undersize, which I returned after a quick pic.
Handsome little guy, eh?
Baptism's wife loves crabs so he carries crab pots around on his Revo. Without knowing this, I watched him and wondered why every now and again, he'd leave a tethered white float out there and return to it from time to time. I rationalised that it was probably to do with navigation and assessing drift, as I used to do that myself in pre-GPS days, marking interesting places using a float. A subsequent discussion with him out there revealed his great interest in Scylla serrata, the mud crab. His pot deployed on Jew Shoal was an attempt to find out if there were crabs of any sort there. His results: negative, today.
This result was not surprising, as there seemed bugger all alive out there, except more of the jelly blubber (Catostylus mosaicus) which have recently been reported in large numbers in Moreton Bay.
Jelly blubber. Pic courtesy Wikipedia.
Just after daveyG pulled the pin and headed in, we were visited by two double kayaks. Aboard these craft were pedro and Wendy and pedro's daughter Brianna and her partner Dave, all out for a jaunt on the Bay. Yes, they were trolling but only one rod per boat. We chatted briefly and then they headed off in the direction of Hells Gates.
Soon after this excitement the wind started to pick up a bit and, coincidentally, I decided that two hours of fishing without action was enough and I was going in, too. By now, imax had also headed for the beach, so my departure left kahuna and baptism out there.
Sloppy conditions with the increased NW breeze made my trip back slower than normal and by the time I’d arrived at the beach the double kayaks just mentioned were also coming in. Putting the camera in movie mode I headed out on foot in the shallow water almost to the end of the groyne, where there was a small wave breaking.
Pedro and Wendy. Pic from movie frame.
Dave and Brianna take successful action to avoid hitting the wall. Pic from movie frame.
Just before I departed the car park for home I had the opportunity to find out from baptism and kahuna that they’d come in fishless, too. Baptism reckoned he was now going to launch in the Noosa River upstream in a quest to take a muddie home.
And that was it for today. Dave, we owe you two stickers. I’ll drop them in sometime in the next few days. Thanks for coming along guys.
Kev
Hi Kev,
ReplyDeleteBrianna and the rest of us had a nice day, thanks.
Pedro