Four fish, four species. Noosa River 16Nov12

TR by Richmond

Wind: Initially, 10-15knots NNW, then abating to no wind
Launch point: Munna Point
Participants:Richmond

I hit the water at 10pm last night, there was a stiff 15knot wind from the NNW. Not ideal. I didn't expect the wind to be that strong. Fortune favours the brave, and off I go, paddling 3/4's into the wind I was taking spray and splashes over the bow.

With no hits on my trolled minnow whilst paddling to the area I intended to fish and the wind making it extremely hard to fish the way I wanted, I decided to head off to the sound for a bit of wind protection.
I ended up at Weyba Creek. The mullet were everywhere, thick as. There were a few bustups from trevally now and then, but generally it was pretty quiet.
I couldn't buy a hit on the soft plastic so decided to troll a Cultiva deep diving minnow around Weyba Hole. After a few laps I had a bump and hooked up to a nice little Jewfish. After a short fight, measure and photo he was released to grow bigger.He was well undersize at 52cm.

With no more hits here and a lessening wind, I trolled my way back to my original spot. This was better, little to no wind and fish busting up.It was now about 1.30am, the tide was in it's prime and I was itching to catch a fish.

The trevally were into the prawns big time, popping up here and there. They weren't going berserk, but they were actively feeding. I cast my Gladiator Prawn into a boil and hooked up solid. I'd had a heap of touches and dropped fish already but this time the hookup was solid. After a short battle I boat a Bigeye Trevally that went just over 40cm.

I kept at it but I could not get another Trevally to inhale my plastic. I kept getting short takes, they'd grab the lure then let it go. Very frustrating as trevally can be at times.I continued casting the prawn plastic at surface boils. I let the plastic sink to the bottom, gave it a couple of twitches, bang! I was on. This time it felt like a much better fish.

He played up a bit, strong short runs, changes of direction, I didn't know what this fish was. To say I was happy when I landed it would be an understatement. A beautiful Mangrove Jack that measured just on 50cm. I'm glad I brought my bigger net. I paddled to a nearby sandbank, measured him and let him go.He was one lucky fish and I was one happy angler.

The tide was now slowing right down which in turn had an effect on the fish as well. The bustups were declining, the bait was no longer flicking on the surface. I gave it another half hour or so, then decided to troll for home. Halfway home I had a touch on the minnow and boated a small flattie in the low forties.

The night turned out pretty good in the end considering I was thinking of throwing in the towel early on when the wind was up. Persistance pays at times, that's for sure.