Trailing not failing, 05Nov12

TR by sunshiner

Wind: Southerly 5-10 knots
Swell: 1.5 metre southerly
Current: at Little Halls Reef, none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: sunshiner alone

Itching to get out for a paddle, I saw that the conditions this morning might be OK and put out the word late yesterday. Had a couple of nibbles but no one else showed. Monday-itis?

As it turned out, I had a clear run, with no work interruptions this morning so I was up early and away.

Launch time. Pretty as a picture, eh. Oh, yeah, it is a picture.

Two minutes to pull the rods etc out and set up the sounder and GPS and I was off. Out of the corner of my eye, right in the surf line to my left I spotted some quite large bait fish showering out. Obviously some predator was hanging right in close.

The Halco LP throbbed all the way to Little Halls Reef, unmolested, more’s the pity. Kept trolling a little further north and baitfish started to appear on the sounder. Looked good for a drift, so I set one up.

See what I mean? There were many large patches just like this, mainly hugging the bottom.

On my new boat I got a third flush mount rod holder fitted on the back deck with the intention of using it to hold a trailing outfit. I can easily stow three rigged rods inside the boat, so why not? This saves me re-rigging my trolling outfit as a trailing rig. It then stays idle but instantly ready for a troll whenever I'm drift fishing.

This trailing rod tactic has already proven viable as one of the snapper I got a few days back snaffled the trailed white Snapback rigged on a half ounce 3/0 jighead.

The drift was with the breeze, south to north, as expected, with the southerly swell wrapping around the headland and coming in at me from the east. A bit splashy, it was, but quite comfortable. I had the whole place to myself, except for two guys I could discern fishing off the beach just north of First Cutting.

The sounder ticked over, time marched on. Heaps of baitfish, no takers, on cast outfit or trailed, both of which were rigged with SPs and were down there, being dragged through the packed baitfish. Then suddenly the trailed outfit went off. Bewdy! A quick, vigorous fight and I had a keeper, big enough to make the main part of a meal for my bride and me.

It’s always good to get a keeper, even a small one, aboard. Note: SP rigged with wire in case of mackerel.

I didn’t have a lot of time today so shortly after this I headed gently toward Middle Groyne via a deviation closer inshore. Again the Qantas Halco did its thing, and all the way attracted no attention. I saw no bustups today and only a few terns so the predators still haven't shown up in numbers, close inshore at least. By 8:00 I was back on the beach chatting to a triathlete couple visiting from Sydney. Gotta love kayak fishing!

Kev