Stormin the snapper whisperer. 28Dec13

TR by sunshiner

Wind: Calm all morning
Swell: 1.0m ESE
Water temp: 25°C to 26°C
Current: at Jew Shoal and A-Bay Reef, none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: stormin, gemini, corie, weeksie, eyetag, jaro, sunshiner

Doc Dog reported on our FB page that they'd caught zip yesterday. I noted that he said they'd launched around 5:00am and wondered if that was why they missed out. Recently, launches around 4:00am have produced some of the Spaniard results so last night I was in bed especially early to make sure that I got my favourite carpark and I was on the water by around 4:00.

Eyetag reckoned he was going to launch "early", which usually means within a couple of hours of midnight. But today he was sorely embarrassed to turn up last in the carpark with the unlikely story that he'd forgotten to set his alarm. Getting old, eyetag?

Launching started just after 4:00, with the moon a sickle which had risen about three hours earlier and thus was about 45° elevation. Just enough light and top of the tide too. And no swell reaching Middle Groyne and no wind. Does the launch get easier than this? No.

Eyetag arrives to launch a bit late.

Most of us were heading for Jew Shoal with eyetag opting for the longer paddle out to SR. Imagining that there was a tiny breeze from the south, jaro erected his sail as he and I plodded along together, our boats slicing through the water and the super dense, high-humidity air.

Fortunately, the cloud cover gradually increased as the sun approached then cleared the horizon. This made the pleasant conditions even better. It was almost like a lake, except that a steady swell was rolling in from the east.

It being holiday time, Jew Shoal was crowded. At one stage I counted 15 stink boats, all mixed up with our kayaks. And nearly everyone was trolling, hoping for a Spaniard.

Gemini drew our attention to a bustup on the NE edge of the shoal, and sure enough, for about 30 seconds I could see pretty big splashes as predators carved up a school of baitfish. Speaking of baitfish, there were a lot fewer there today than a week ago, I thought. Anyway, gemini reckoned he saw a guy in a stinky catch a longtail just near that bustup. I just continued trolling, keeping a slug handy just in case. When I spotted another stinky operator with a severely bent rod I paddled close enough so I could see the result and then helped confirm that the fish he boated was a yellowfin tuna, close to but less than a metre long. He told me he'd also picked up a Spaniard, both on lures.

Ah well, there were fish around. But not for me.

The Noosa Yakkers crew at Jew Shoal started to thin out as word came from eyetag that there were some birds working at Sunshine. Eventually most of us finished up out there especially after eyetag announced that he'd just boated a spotty mac which he'd plucked from a bustup using a slug. Travelling the considerable distances involved was pretty easy as still there was no wind and no chop, and it was still cloudy, so not as hot as under a cloudless sky.

At one stage gemini, jaro, stormin, corie and I rendezvoused at our A-Bay Reef mark, showing the value of recording such locations on our GPS devices. Here stormin opted to try for snapper, with immediate success using pilchards. Once he had three in his bag I joined him, hoping to share in his success but my SPs were ignored. After being bricked by two possible coral trout hits he eventually picked up his fourth snapper and was thus bagged out. Together we headed home, at the tail end of the long string of Noosa Yakkers heading from SR or Jew Shoal to Middle Groyne.

Sorry, no beach pics as eyetag's spotty mac was deemed inadequate by the several available fish holders who now won't pose with fish less than a metre long.

So stormin won the day, I reckon. First time he'd bagged out, and he did it in about one hour's fishing time, at A-Bay Reef. Incidentally, between when I turned on my GPS after launch and when I shut it down 200m out just before hitting the beach I clocked up 19.9km.

Something interesting seen today, by me. A lone black swan, flying low to the water just north of Jew Shoal, heading straight toward the Teewah area. No, it wasn't a cormorant.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
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