Since mid 2007, members of Noosa Yakkers have been writing and illustrating kayak fishing Trip Reports and publishing them by whatever means available. This blog collects all of our early reports (sent out by email) plus the later TR published here on Blogger, and more recently, Monthly Summaries of the reports published on our Facebook Group.
TR by TurtleBoy
Conditions; Large swell and high wind in the bay
Sheltered conditions in Noosa River.
Dropping tide
Owie and I decided on the Friday night if the wind and swell were up then we would meet at Lions Park and paddle in the river at first light. Whalerider had a big week entertaining clients so he opted for a sleep in and declined our offer to join us. Shortly after launching it started to rain and I realised that he probably made the right call, but within 10 minutes the showers cleared and we had almost perfect conditions.
Towing HBL's we headed through Woods Bay and down towards the 3 ways off Ricky's where we saw a few bust ups. Not sure what they were, perhaps Trevally or Tailor. Unfortunately they weren't interested in either poppers nor vibes so after about 45 minutes we moved on towards the end of the new retaining wall and across to the frying pan area.
Owen anchored his kayak with a full deployment of burley bucket, set light line with a small hook and float and worked his soft plastic across the bottom with great success all on the run out tide.
Owie's catch included a nice size bream taken on the float and the 54cm flathead pictured below on SP.
Nice day for a paddle and dinner for the newbie. on ya "O"
TR by Pedro
Wind: SSW to S 10 to15 knots
Swell: 1m SE
Current: None detected
Launch Point: Middle Groyne
Participants: Pedro
I launched at 5.45am and had to be patient as it was low tide and the sand monster was awake. The swell was constant and with the waves breaking every 10 to 15 seconds so I positioned myself close to the sand bar and punched through white water for a good five minutes before picking a small lull and making it out the back first try.
I headed for Granite Bay to try my luck with garfish. With the overcast sky and SW wind it was bloody cold. With no gar caught after half an hour I packed up and headed for JS as around the corner towards SR it looked too windy. I copped a lovely shower of rain on the way and wished I'd brought my jacket. I was glad I came though as before my eyes an awesome rainbow appeared.
I thought to myself maybe my luck will change, and it wasn't long before I hooked up, and ten minutes later landed a nice gold spot cod.
I hung around for another half an hour landing a 45cm snapper before heading in. The tide was in, making the waves less powerful resulting in an upright landing.
TR by Jimbo
Wind: SSW-S 5-10 knots
Swell: 1.0 m Easterly
Current: minimal
Launch Point: Middle Groyne
Participants: Jimbo
Not a lot to report really.
I launched at MG just before 0630 and decided to head for Lt Halls/Halls area since the reports from Jew Sh for the previous two days were not encouraging.
I did a couple of drifts with cast prawn and trailing pilchard baits over Lt Halls en-route to Halls. There was a couple of nibbles and one encouraging hook up on the cast prawn but the fish spat the hook after about 10 secs.
At Halls I drift fished over four marks I have in that area for one reefie. At 1000 I pulled the pin and headed for home into a freshening southerly with a short stop at Lt Halls for one more try, but without a touch.
I arrived back at MG at 1130. Both launch and return conditions were a doddle, the latter at very low tide conditions.
So, a nice paddle after a break of about 10 weeks, but no fish. Similar to the previous two trip reports, there was no surface action, bird activity, dolphins, turtles or whales sighted. Chatter on the radio between the charter operators suggested they also had a lean day.
Despite the fact that the guys who went yesterday got no fish, today, being Saturday and better weather, attracted a few Noosa Yakkers, all locals. As acting Trip Coordinator (Jaro's off wrestling grizzlies in Alaska) I made the call for a 7:00am start, a little late for the others, as it turned out as I was last to launch and also had to scratch around to find a decent carpark for unloading.
Note there is no channel next to the groyne and the sandbank which has moved shoreward is visible in this pic if you look carefully.
Although there were some bigger waves coming through I dry bummed it today, and was soon out the back in glassy conditions. Ahead of me about 2-3 km out was a low bank of cloud extending from west to east and I guessed it probably would have been a bit foggy with a NW breeze at Jew Shoal.
A couple of quick radio calls established that most of the gang at least were at Jew Shoal and had landed nothing yet so I opted to head there also. Kayaking in Laguna Bay on such a winter's morning as today's is always pleasant and I relished getting out into the ocean again.
Jew Shoal was pretty quiet today, with no surface action, not even turtles, dolphins or whales visible. The drift was perfect but the fish were scarce. I understand that redwood had an encounter with at least one unstoppable (perhaps he'll tell us about it) but I, using lures only, didn't get a touch. Most of the others got at least one small snapper each, using various baits, and whalebait did best with three, although none caught exceeded 50cm. All fish seemed to come from the deeper water (20m+) at the eastern and NW edges. Even pedro managed only one barely size fish.
By 1030-ish those of us left had accumulated at the NW corner where whalebait had found some fish so I took the opportunity to take a pic.
From left: carter, gemini, whalebait, redwood
Shortly afterward we were all heading home, just as a SE breeze sprang up. All negotiated the break easily, but care was needed as some bigger waves were coming through and the tide was low.
Carter demonstrating a brace.
Gemini shows how to get a Tempo up onto the plane.
View from the Tempo.
Today was a showcase winter day in Noosa and a superb day to be out on the ocean. It was good to meet Matt Carter ("carter") today who had his first trip with us so welcome, Matt.
Pic and text contributions from other participants welcome, just comment below or send pics (cropped and downsized to 700px wide, please) to me. Alternatively, if you have the facility, post your contribution on the practice blog and tell me about it.
Kev
Track map from Gemini's GPS
Distance 16.1 km
Max Speed 12.4 km/hour
Avg Speed 2.6 km/hour
