Crofty's Sweetlip, 21Jan13

TR by Crofty
Wind: Clear Skies 10 knots Easterly Breeze
Swell: Half metre swell
Current: slight northerly
Launch point: Laguna Bay Middle Groyne
Participants: Pedro, Crofty, Dan King (unsure call sign)

After a fitful sleep in the car at Sunshine Beach, I dragged my rear down to Middle Groyne to set up. Pedro pulled up as I was getting out of the car and Dan pulled in shortly after. Note to self – sleeping in the car makes me more disorganised. It took me twice as long to set up, and the time advantage I’d gained by arriving the night before was swiftly lost. Leaving the beach was uneventful with little swell to contend with. I waited behind the breakers for Dan as he had no GPS and we were setting forth to Halls Reef together. As it turned out, I dislodged my battery cable with the rudder when I put it down and needed assistance to fix it up. An uneventful trip north, saw us arriving over Little Halls as the sun was cresting the horizon. Loads of bait was apparent on the sounder but little in the way of predators. We continued northward to Halls where we caught up with Pedro. Birds were working to the East but quickly returned to a searching pattern as we attempted to approach. Dan and I made the decision to stop chasing pelagics and set up a drift line for reefies.

I was fishing a lightly weighted Woolworth’s prawn with an open bail arm and tossing a plastic ahead. The first prawn in the water saw line flicking off the reel and I had difficulty removing the rod from the holder as it bucked and danced. No strong head bumps told me it wasn’t a snapper but something I enjoy more. Grassy emperor and a good one at that. I initially called it for high 50’s but later measuring it onshore saw it come in at 54cm. A few low 30’s snapper were released on the prawns but the plastic wasn’t being touched today. Dan was having the same problem. He was fishing plastics only and unfortunately didn’t get a touch. I’ve been there before and learnt this lesson. It can be really frustrating fishing the same water as the bloke beside you and not hooking up. Prawns will always accompany me in Noosa waters now. It can mean the difference between a fishy and fishless day.

After a while, the birds seemed to be working in close to shore and Pedro was off stalking the flocks. I decided to join him as the fishing wasn’t red hot anyway. Dan headed for home at this stage and I took off up the beach after the birds and Pedro. Some 3km later, I caught up with Pedro who was still fishless. A quick hello, and I decided that it wasn’t really happening here either with the birds seemingly vanished from the sky. So back I trundled towards Halls for a last ditch attempt before home. Halfway there, the water erupted with three long tails that looked more like beer kegs. Easy 15kg fish, which disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

There was more activity on Halls now on the change of tide with more bait and birds flitting here and there. I set up a drift and picked up another 44cm grassy to add to the spoils. I missed another one as I faffed about with a muesli bar and caught and released another couple of undersized snapper. Not to worry, I had a feed now.

Home time. I started making my way back towards the groyne. After passing Little Halls and having a quick chat to Pedro via radio to ascertain he was still fishless. Right in front of me, a school of tuna launched skyward. I fired off cast and couldn’t have timed it better if I tried. The slug landed square in the middle of the table sized white water and was snaffled before I cranked the handle. Unfortunately, after 10 sec of the reel singing, the line went slack. I don’t think I’d hooked up but it had merely been holding the lure in its mouth. Probably a good thing as I’d thrown my 6lb silly string at it and it would have taken forever to pull it up. No more excitement for the day from me as I head in to pack up. An aborted attempt at landing as I swung the bum of the revo through 180deg by accident, then a perfect landing even managing to surf a little runner to the beach. For those of you who have never ridden a revo, you’ll have no idea of how difficult that actually is!

Last I heard of Pedro, he was still out wide chasing the tuna. Perhaps he has a more exciting report?

Crofty

A few words below from Dan when he emailed me the photo.



Photo courtesy of Dan

Contribution by KingDan


Attached is the best photo of your 50cm+ sweetlip.  I hope your persistence paid off and you added to your catch. I had an uneventful peddle back however this was the first trip for a long while without the sail and my legs were feeling it by the time I back. I did encounter one bust up, 100m in front and saw some tell tail signs of spotties slashing at bait however a tinny beat me there and the finicky fish fled before they could get close enough for a cast and could get a look in.

Thanks for the tour of Little Halls and Halls.

Cheers
Dan