Interesting weather. 18Jun15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: S to SE less than 5 knots (as forecast by MetEye)
Swell: 1.6m ENE
Water temp: 22.8°C
Tides: 3:22 am : 0.42 L; 9:02 am : 1.39 H
Current: none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none seen
Participants: pedro, sunshiner
My trip distance: 10.5km
Keen Angler Program: Nothing today from me

This is more a weather report, or rather a weather forecasting report, than a fishing trip report because it contains some info which may be useful to all offshore kayak fishers.

But first to the trip itself, briefly.

The weather for an offshore kayak fishing trip has been crap this last ten days or so, and several of us were watching anxiously to see if the slight chance offered by Seabreeze (and others) for today would actually pay off. At 6:30am today, having examined the various options I decided that I'd go despite not having made my usual preparations the previous night. By 07:30 I was on the beach at Middle Groyne checking the situation. It was good to go so I doubled back to the zook to unload my yak.

Pedro, I noticed, was already occupying my preferred space in the car park. Probably he was already at Jew Shoal. The swell was definitely up a bit (see graph later) but nothing that couldn't be managed with a bit of patience and care.

Launch time. As you can see, it was a bit boisterous.

Safely out the back, I radioed pedro who confirmed that he was at the shoal and had already bagged a flathead and sweetlip as well as releasing a shark. Forty minutes or so later I joined pedro and started my usual drift routine. Conditions were ideal, with a light SW-S breeze, clear sky, clean water and no other boats. I started my drift fish at 08:45 and that's about when the fish stopped biting, although it wasn't a hot bite in the first place (new moon). I only got one hit on my SPs in two hours or so, and this was the fish I brought home as a bait for the future.

Yellow-tail pike.

Pedro was also catching nothing else despite having a live bait out and other juicy dead baits wafting around. As often at Jew Shoal, it looks like you need to be there before sunrise to maximise your chance of fish.

Anyway, pedro decided to head for north Sunshine Reef and I hung around until about 11:45 before pulling the pin. I was safely back on the beach at 12:35. Perhaps pedro will fill us in on how he finished up.

Now, for those interested, let's take a look at the weather forecasting situation for today.

This is how Seabreeze interpreted the wind forecast. At Noosa, the wind was actually far less than forecast on this graph, which is for the whole of the Sunshine Coast. If I'd relied on this graph only, I probably wouldn't have bothered going.

The MetEye forecast display. Although this screen shot was obtained late and thus doesn't show the earlier forecasts (one every three hours), all of the earlier ones for today which I saw at 6:15am were very similar to this, with light winds in the Noosa area all day. These forecasts are what I relied on when I made my decision to go, and they proved to be spot on.

My only reservation about today was the launch conditions. In the above graph, Seabreeze forecast that the swell would be from the ENE at around 1.5m. From previous experience we have observed that any swell over one metre from the N round to the E will penetrate Laguna Bay and potentially cause havoc at Middle Groyne (as will unusually large swells from the SE). The amount of havoc depends not only on swell direction but also on swell height and tide state. From my observations today, Seabreeze correctly forecast the swell as there was potential for taking a ducking at both launch and return. Yes, I got through without a swim.

Since I discovered that its service had been extended to Noosa, I have been using MetEye for wind forecasting and have found it to be excellent, especially when used in conjunction with the live wind reading from Double Island Point (see below). For swell forecasts, I will continue to rely on Seabreeze until something better comes along.

Today's Seabreeze graph of the actual wind recorded at DIP, whose anemometer is located in clear, unobstructed air atop the headland, albeit 50km from Noosa. As such, it remains a significant indicator of what the open water wind speed and direction may be in Laguna Bay.

Hope you found the above observations useful.

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