Fussy Fish, 20Jan13

TR by Gemini
Participants:  Lazybugger, Jaro, Gemini, Corie, Dano, Panno, Salty, BigKev, Redwood, Dave (Friend of Redwood)
Launch Site: MG
Conditions: ENE 6-8 knots, strengthening later in the morning

Well at least the carpark was full of eager souls this morning. I can't say the same for the fish in the bay...

We launched at around 4:45AM in dribs and drabs, scattering ourselves across the bay in small groups. Jaro and myself followed Corie out towards Halls, although Corie had opted to head out wide while I was a little further in towards the shore. As we passed LH the birds seemed to have no idea what was going on. They were scattered and seemed to be aimlessly searching. Not far past LH Corie advised us of surface action further out in his his direction.

Jaro and I turned to follow a large flock of birds busily diving into a fairly large boil. We tracked it out wide and managed to arrive before it dissipated, but only meters from casting distance some fool in a stinky raced into the boil and that was the end of that.

The boils then started to appear all around us, but nothing would take our slugs (or trolled lines). That coupled with the same stinky racing around like crazy made for an interesting time. Corie checked in with us and advised that the boils in his area were small mac tuna. Bummer.

The boats arrived in numbers then, positioning themselves out towards Halls reef. The boils continued to appear sporadically, but still nothing could be enticed to chew a tasty metal slug. At this stage I had a snack break and took some footage of the medusa which seemed to be everywhere. A banded sea snake also made an appearance a few meters away from me (something I wasn't overly pleased about).

Jaro then moved north of Halls with Corie who was reporting more bustups in his area. At this stage somebody over the radio reported a keeper snapper taken (BigKev perhaps?), but otherwise no other captures reported at that stage. I opted to try my luck back in towards shore for no other reason than it couldn't be any worse...stranger things have happened (but didn't).

On my way back in Jaro kept me updated with his adventures. Further out he encountered boils containing small yellowfin tuna, one of which a stinky landed in his presence. Unfortunately he couldn't replicate the same feat using almost every lure in his kit. The fish did not seem overly friendly today.

On the return trip to MG I narrowly avoided a wipeout against the wall much to the delight of onlookers. The wave took me by complete surprise, but somehow I managed to stay upright. See the video below (in HD where available).



Once on the beach I was informed that Dano had caught a keeper sweetlip, and Redwood had caught a leatherjacket; the only other fish for the day.


Distance 14.7 km
Max Speed 8.7 km/hour
Avg Speed 3.2 km/hour