Trip date: 13 May 2015
Participants: Eyetag, Pedro, Jimbo, Freeyakker, Redwood, PeeBee, Tunny
Launch Site: MG
Conditions: Wind SW less than 10 knots, Swell 0.8 metres
Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated
While most of us were lying in bed, dreaming of screaming reels and bending rods the really keen guys, Eyetag and Pedro were unpacking and ready to launch by 4 am. When the rest of us arrived at around 5.30 am Pedro's van, which was parked in the usual place gave us an indication he was already out. I looked for Eyetag's car expecting him to be there too, but it was not there. I found out later it had been recently squashed by a tree which must be Mother Nature's revenge for him catching so many tuna.
The launch was easy as the swell had dropped to less than a metre. Once out we turned on our radios to hear Eyetage talking to Pedro. They were up at Little Halls. Given that the recent catches had been at Little Halls, Halls Reef and beyond we decided to head there.
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| Perfect conditions for an easy launch (photo by Redwood) |
On the way to Little Halls there were no bust-ups or signs of birds but the activity increased once we arrived there. The bust-ups were sporadic and generally did not last long, but clearly contained Longtail so the paddling was continuous chasing bust-up after bust-up. Eyetag was the first to hook up. While paddling towards a bust-up and preparing to cast his 40 g Halco Twisty his trolled hardbody lure (he calls it a Pedro Special) was taken and after a good fight he had the first Longtail on board.
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| Eyetag with one of his two Longtails (Photo by Redwood) |
PeeBee then announced he had hooked up on what turned out to be a 60 cm shark. This was his first fish off a kayak (and I am sure the first of many!). Jimbo, who was the only yakker to opt for some bottom bashing was trailing a gang hooked bait behind his yak at Little Halls when this took off at speed and a while later he had his first Longtail on board. Freeyakker then got close to a bust-up and hooked a Mac Tuna while Redwood hooked up on a tuna that gave a good run, headed under the kayak and bust off.. The action continued as Pedro came on the radio to say Eyetag had hooked a second Longtail. This was close to the beach near Halls Reef.
The action died down a bit for an hour of so before Redwood hooked up again but lost the fish after a short fight. Freeyakker changed his lure to a deep diving Halco 160, and within 5 minutes had hooked a Longtail. Shortly after that I got close to a bust-up, cast my Halco Twisty 30g and on the first cast hooked a Mac Tuna. It has swallowed the Halco, would not have survived, so I decided to keep it for bait.
PeeBee and Jimbo headed back to the beach first, but with the bust-ups still occurring sporadically the rest of us stayed out until about 11 am before heading in The beach landing was easy with very little wave action.
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Eyetag with one of his Longtail (Photo by Sunshiner)
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| Freeyakker with his Longtail and Mac Tuna (Photo by Sunshiner) |
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| Jimbo with his Longtail |
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Future Noosa Yakkers learning how to hold a fish
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On returning to the beach we were welcomed by Sunshiner who had come down to find out what he had missed. I found about eight small baitfish in my yak. These must have been spat out by the Mac Tuna when I loaded it into the hatch. So although I did not get the biggest fish, I caught the most!! Back in the car park Pedro and Eyetag checked their GPS tracks to find they had each covered 32 Kilometres!!! That was in about 7 hours from 4 am to 11 am. It was a day with a lot of paddling and even those of us that started later must have done at least 20-25 km . It was good fun and hopefully the weather settles so we can do this again.
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