Shark Shoal and sand monster. 31Jan15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: NW to 5 knots, becoming calm later
Swell: 1.5m SE
Water temp: 27.2°C
Tides: 5:57 am : 1.73 H; 12:28 pm : 0.59 L; 6:01 pm : 1.31 H
Current: at Jew Shoal, no significant
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none seen in Laguna Bay but eyetag reported small bustups at north Sunshine Reef
Participants: jaro, gemini, aussie-stu, weeksie, cuddles, soren and friend andy, eyetag, sunshiner
Keen Angler Program: sharks not accepted!

Alarm set for 3:30am, woke at 2:45am. No point in going back to sleep. Accordingly, with a less than ten minute drive from home to launch point, I was early. But eyetag was still there before me, and what's more, he'd already left on a lonely journey to North Sunshine Reef.

One minute sped-up video of the drive from home to Middle Groyne, through the brightly lit Hastings Street.

The other guys started turning up, except cuddles (our newest member hoping to launch with us for the first time). As I later found out when I discovered him at Jew Shoal, cuddles didn't know the location of Middle Groyne and instead launched on the beach just east of the river mouth groyne. A challenging launch, he said!

As for our launch, it was easy. High tide, not much of a swell. Some of us dry-bummed it.

Eyetag responded to gemini's radio call and revealed he was just about to arrive at his chosen spot, an hour's paddle from Middle Groyne.

The rest of us opted for Jew Shoal, a place many of us know well.

Here's our star, just revealing itself as our home planet rotates. You can see that conditions were pretty nice, although the lack of cloud at this time of year is always an indicator that we'll be home early.

Some trolled with lures, others with baits. I was hoping again for a snapper or sweetlip and was rigged up accordingly.

NOTHING BUT SHARKS, small whalers! Except that eyetag picked up a few fish at north Sunshine as soon as he arrived (pic later).

I got three sharks, all taken on a single drifted ZMan soft plastic which survived all encounters. Here they are (frames from GoPro video):

So we decided to head in. It was getting hot anyway. And guess what? The sand monster was on the prowl back at Middle Groyne. Lower tide, you see!

There was some embarrassment, I must say, but the two oldest guys didn't end up with red faces.

One frame recorded by the GoPro, which had been running since the getgo, at 5:00am.

The beach return video, brand new and only 1:04.

Oh, and eyetag's fish:

A couple of potential new members engaged us in conversation on the beach. Greg and Vernon, hope we hear from you soon. Thanks for your company, Noosa Yakkers.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange

Additional video below showing the sand monster in action by Gemini.