Wind: Clear Skies 5-10 knots Northerly Breeze
Swell: low messy wind chop on a half metre swell
Current: not detected
Launch point: Laguna Bay Middle Groyne
Participants: Sunshiner, Lazybugger, Doctor Dog
05:07. Launch time. From left, sunshiner's Supalite X, lazybugger and his Evo 465, Doc Dog and his Supalite BFS.
We met in the carpark at Middle Groyne a little before 5.00 am; Sunshiner and Lazybugger had initially planned to launch from northern end of Sunshine beach but changed plans when early morning recce showed conditions too lumpy for a safe beach launch. Sunshiner made it through the small half tide shore break without any problem but Lazybugger had a technical issue with his paddle in the middle of the shore break and found himself back on the beach the wrong way up. Exit no 2 was uneventful for him and Doctor Dog did not time his exit as well as he should and wore a little white water on the way out the back.
Lazybugger and Doc Dog setting up just after launch. Pic by sunshiner.
Sunshiner lead the way towards Jew Shoal with Lazybugger interrupting progress just inside the shark nets to say he had hooked and landed a small shark which he released. The three of us punched out into the sloppy chop out to Jew Shoal with only a few terns cruising to all points of the compass not stopping to feed or harass any bait. No bust ups from predators just a few lazy jellyfish.
A procession of power boats were heading out to Sunshine reefs and beyond but no evidence of any fish being caught. One power boat was anchored up at Jew Shoal but did not seem to be producing anything and moved off back to the river mouth as soon as we turned up.
With the strength of the breeze now freshening to 10-12 knots conditions were not suitable to staying at Jew Shoal so we headed towards Halls as there seemed to be more bird activity that way. Sunshiner and Lazybugger were trolling HB lures and I had a Laser Pro HB and a large pilchard on a trolling rig (Easy Troll).
We paddled in a wide spread over to Little Halls and apart from Sunshiner spotting a flock of birds over a small and shy school of bonito there was no fish activity to speak of.
We gradually made our way back to MG with a few diversions to flocks of birds but no fish. We all returned to the beach right way up through a small full tide shore break with little surf.
Lazybugger returns to Middle Groyne. Pic by sunshiner
Doc Dog returns to Middle Groyne. Pic by sunshiner (frame from movie file)
Cheers, Doc Dog
Contribution by lazybugger
I arrived at the Doggie Beach car park not long after 4am. I went for a walk down the path to check out conditions, which wasn’t easy at it was still a bit too dark. On my way back I found Kev, who said it was a bit too messy to bother with a Doggie launch, so off to MG it was. I’ve got to admit I was a little relieved as dragging my yak up that steep path wasn’t something I was looking forward to.
Dr Dog met us shortly after our arrival in the carpark. Kev was first to launch and made it through fine. I thought I was ready but as soon as I put my paddle in the water I realised I’d stuffed up. I put the 2 piece paddle together back to front. I pulled it apart and put it together quickly but soon realised I didn’t get it right again as the blades weren’t hitting the water at the right angle and as a result power was down. I decided to go anyway and fix it after the break. That was a mistake. Unlike Kev who got a clear run, I had a couple of slightly larger waves break on me and they pushed me sideways. With paddle power reduced, I couldn’t get straight again by the time the 3rd or 4th wave came through and into the drink I went. Back to the beach. I fixed the paddle, drained the water out of the footwells and seat and made it out fine on the next attempt.
After setting up the rods it only took a 100m or so for the first run of the day. Unfortunately it was just a baby shark. After a bit of surgery he was released to terrorise the nudey beach. No photo, sorry, he didn’t look that exciting.
After that I had my second bit of drama as the drift while I was fiddling with shark meant I had to paddle over the shark nets. Sure enough my rudder got caught first time and then the second. I moved a bit further away from the big buoys and took things a bit faster rather then trying to glide over for the third attempt & had success.
I was a fair way behind the other two by this point. I wasn’t too far from Jew Shoal when Kev suggested a move to Little Halls as that’s where the birds were heading. Along the way I thought I’d check my pilly rig and realised that I’d turned too tight earlier and the Halco Laser Pro on the other rod was now caught in the rudder. Rather than risk going in the drink, as the way my luck was going that would have been the outcome if I tried untangling myself, I called Kev and asked him to fix it for me at Little Halls.
Little Halls certainly had a bit more action on the sounder but no luck was had by any of us. Kev cut the line and retrieved my Halco for me. The current was pretty fast though, due to the large high tide. Not sure that the few casts with SPs that I had got close to the bottom because of it.
Kev made the call to head back and I followed not far behind. Again no action on the troll although I did see a fish swimming on the surface go straight past the front of my yak. It looked like a reef fish with a dorsal fin along the length of its body and was mainly brown with black spots. Trigger fish sort of shaped I’d guess. At least I saw a fish.
All three of us made it in unscathed.
A few lessons learnt today. I might stop breaking down the paddle and just keep it as a one piece from now on. It fits in the car anyway.
Nice looking boat you got there Dr.Dog!
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