So you thought the Longtails had gone? 31 August 2015

TR by Tunny

Trip date: 31 August 2015

Participants: Diesel; Tunny

Launch Site:  MG

Conditions: Wind SSW less than 10 knots, High Tide 9 am, Drift at Little Halls to NE

Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated

We arrived at MG car park at 5.10 am and were ready to launch before 5.30 am.  The launch was easy although I was a bit complacent and managed to get sprayed.  We decided to head for Little Halls.  After hearing that a large fish had recently been caught on a deep diving lure, Diesel bought a Halco125 DD lure that dives to 5 metres.  He trolled this while I trolled my lucky Rapala X-Rap.

Diesel's new lure (now with some teeth marks)

At 5.45 am, within 500 metres of Middle Groyne Diesel's reel started to scream.  Line peeled off the Charter Special as the fish made aggressive runs.  Diesel tightened the drag and proceeded to get towed back towards MG.  He recorded his route on the GPS below:

Diesel's route as he fought the Longtail

During the battle Diesel thought he may have a shark, but as the fish started circling beneath the kayak it became clear he had a Tuna.  After 30 minutes at 6.15 am he gaffed the Longtail and placed it in the hatch.

Diesel's Longtail in the hatch

Diesel's first Longtail

We continued to Little Halls where I did several laps with my Rapala hoping for a repeat of the recent Jewie catch but to no avail.  Diesel switched to bottom bashing and landed a 36 cm Snapper on squid bait.  I then switched to soft plastics and caught (and released) a 35 cm Snapper and dropped a larger one that spat the hook.  Diesel had a couple of decent bites but did not catch any more fish.

We headed back to MG at around 10 am and were met by Sunshiner.  It was a fun morning out.  Good luck to those going tomorrow or Wednesday!

The Longtail went 107 cm, snapper 36 cm

In the background Diesel is negotiating with a surfer to hold his Tuna

Snapper saviour. 30Aug15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: 6-8 knot W at first, dropping off to near calm later
Swell: 1.2m SE
Water temp: 22.2°C
Tides: 8:06 am : 1.64 H; 2:11 pm : -0.02 L
Current: at Jew Shoal, W to E, about 2kph
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none
Participants: stormin, sunshiner
My trip distance: 15.2km
Keen Angler Program: One snapper frame donated

Movie link, added on 31Aug15

Granted, the weather looked dodgy. But stormin and I had been watching it closely for several days. MetEye was having a bet each way: the dividing line between light winds and crappy winds ran N-S just east of the bay. We knew we could get out and back OK, but didn't know how long we'd get to fish before the wind picked up. In the event, the wind dropped away to nothing where we were. And the sun eventually broke through the overcast. And we didn't get rained on at all.

Full of hope that lazybugger's report yesterday that Bray's Rock was crawling with snapper meant that Jew Shoal might be also, I launched first and decided to head for the shoal. Stormin opted to join me.

In recognition of tunny's beautiful jewie catch on Friday, I was trolling the biggest lure I had, almost submerging my stern with its drag. No dice! Perhaps it intimidated any fish that saw it. On arrival at the shoal with its crystal clear water I stowed the big lure and switched to my SP routine (surprise, surprise).

Stormin opted to target the grassies with bait. One of the great things about kayak fishing is that each can choose his own place to fish and own method. Even better with radios, as we have, as we can tell each other how we're going. Well, stormin was telling me. I wasn't letting on that I was catching nothing. That's not quite true; my drogue, which once caught a jelly blubber, today became the refuge for a two-spot crab which entered its cavernous shelter when I wasn't looking. Eventually it caught my eye and I decided to investigate the presence of a mysterious coloured object nestling up to the Bunnings logo.

Female, so not permitted to be kept at all. Yes, I briefly considered it as a live bait.

By now, stormin had a keeper grassie and had released at least one smaller specimen. My hopes soared when I hooked up only to quickly realise it was tiny. What's more, I couldn't identify it.

Possibly a butterfly-bream of some sort. Never seen one before. If you know what it is please enlighten me.

Stormin's got a second keeper grassie. I get a tiny bar-tailed flathead. Faith in my imitation prawn SP keeps me plugging away and helps Starlo and Bushy fund their retirement.

I've found that an eastward drift of about 500m starting at The Pinnacles takes the drifter over some interesting underwater terrain, often inhabited by clouds of small fish, visible on the sonar. After trying every other drift option in the previous three hours, I was back to this, one of my favourites. Stormin was nearby, cutting up the smaller of his two keepers (a fish I would have been proud of!) as he'd run out of bait. He saw it as a means of upgrading and sure enough, he did just that a while later, but just in time, my prawn look alike got hammered, in 22m, with a large cloud of bait visible on the sonar display. I knew straight away it was my snapper saviour as it had taken the SP on the drop and immediately pulled line off the spool in heading for the bottom.

This month of August has been paltry, fish wise, for me. So there was no way I was going to horse this fish in. I let it have its head and sure enough, within a couple of minutes it was heading for the surface much against its instincts.

My best fish of August 2015.

Close up, showing SP.

Stormin and I tried the same short drift a few more times without success, even though the cloud of baitfish was visible each time. Then we headed home in bright sunlight to crack the small friendly waves at the groyne.

SUP dog didn't seem too happy!

stormin storming home

My turn

Beach pics

On the mat. Snapper 56cm; grassies 37cm and 40cm.

Stormin with our boats

Thanks for reading.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPhone, iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
FREE iBook "Kayak Fishing Laguna Bay & Jew Shoal" for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Big Jew at Little Halls, 28 August 2015

TR by Tunny

Trip date: 28 August 2015

Participants: Tunny
Launch Site:  MG

Conditions: Wind variable less than 5 knots; High Tide 6.30 am; Intermittent rain

Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated

I loaded up last night as the forecasts were for little or no wind, but was hesitant on whether to go as rain was forecast for today.  Sunshiner had also loaded up and was planning to go on condition that the rain stopped.  I woke at 4.30 am to the sound of rain, but decided to head up to Noosa and go out if the rain eased.  On arrival I got a message from Sunshiner that as it was raining he was heading back to bed.  I decided to wait until sunrise before deciding whether to head out.  I spent about half an hour fishing off the rock wall in the river (without success) until the rain cleared, then headed out from Middle Groyne.

It was clearly raining on the horizon so I thought it best to stay in close in case the weather worsened and therefore headed for Little Halls.  I trolled a deep diving Rapala X-Rap Magnum across the river mouth then out to Little Halls.

Rapala lure

This lure dives to around 6 m, but probably a bit less behind a kayak.  I decided to troll a few circuits of Little Halls before switching to soft plastics. Just north of Little Halls the reel started screaming, I grabbed the rod and straight away realized it was a decent fish.  The initial run was only about 40 metres but strong and steady rather than the aggressive runs you get from a Tuna.  The fish turned and I was able to retrieve about 10 metres of line before the second powerful run.  The fish then headed down and I was worried I might get reefed.  As it stayed down and the movement was powerful but steady I started to wonder if it could be a shark.  Gradually I gained line and started moving the fish towards the kayak.  Worried that it might be a shark I got my knife in a position where I could cut the line quickly if needed.  But once the fish was about 10 metres from the kayak my heart rate doubled as I realized it was a big Jew. After a 25 minute battle the Jewfish was beside the kayak, gaffed and in the hatch

Jewfish tail sticking out the hatch

Once the Jewfish was in the hatch I could not pull him back out to retrieve my Rapala so I cut the line and attached a  Halco 120 lure.  I then trolled this around Little Halls and about 20 minutes later picked up a 35 cm Snapper which I released.

I stopped on Little Halls and jigged soft plastics for about 20 minutes without success, then headed back to MG trolling the Halco lure.  On arrival I contacted Sunshiner who kindly came down to measure the fish and take some photos.

Yes, that is a smile!

Photo by Sunshiner

Noosa Yakkers Record

The fish measured 121 cm and weighed 16.8 kg.  There was quite a bit of interest from people on the beach with one lady asking if I had caught it with the gaff, while another said her husband also caught a fish once.

On Facebook I put a picture of the tail, with a teaser asking Noosa Yakkers to guess the species, length and weight of the fish.  Stormin was closest (he guessed a Jewie of 115 cm)

Good luck to those going tomorrow!

Sunday in the bay. 23Aug15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: gentle W at first, then strengthening from the north later
Swell: 1.3m NE
Water temp: 20.6°C
Tides: 1:04 am : 1.20 H; 7:28 am : 0.48 L
Current: at Jew Shoal, SW to NE, about 2kph
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none, other than whales
Participants: stormin, jimbo, sunshiner
My trip distance: 11.6km
Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated today

A couple of possibly useful weather observations about today.

Firstly, MetEye was forecasting a stronger wind in the bay than we encountered. I was wondering whether to abort the trip on the basis of the wind forecast and the erratic Live Wind reported from Double Island Point. In the event, the Live Wind was reported as 10-15 knots from the north at Double Island Point but was actually non existent at Middle Groyne and Jew Shoal. I'm glad we went, but was prepared to come home if I'd found a stiff northerly blowing onto Main Beach. At 4:00am there was no wind at all at Sunshine Beach which is a good indicator of calm conditions in the bay.

Secondly, there was a good example today of how a change of direction in the swell can affect Middle Groyne. The swell was forecast to be from the NE but only 1.3m. I think what we found in the bay fits that accurately and I was prepared to take a bath as from previous experience any swell over 1m from NE round to north can kick up pretty seriously at Middle Groyne. To make things worse, we were launching close to low tide. It was quite challenging at launch and return, as my companions will verify. So, keep an eye on swell direction as well as height.

I knew that jimbo and stormin were both planning to come but I found myself alone on the beach at 05:30. My launch was OK, but I did get a soaking as the waves were piling relentlessly onto the launch point. By 06:15 I was approaching The Pinnacles when jimbo radioed that he and stormin were out the back after a very interesting launch. Jimbo, in his new Supalite for only his second trip, reckoned that his older boat would not have made it through the wave set he conquered. Stormin apparently took a swim but climbed back onto his Profisha and paddled out OK.

In the event, jimbo headed for Little Halls Reef and stormin for Jew Shoal. Meanwhile, at Jew Shoal, I was entirely alone and enjoying the tranquility, having deployed my first cast at 06:35. Did I say tranquility? A sonorous bellow alerted me. I heard it as well as felt it through my body, as if the sound was being picked up by my tiny craft and magnified, which it probably was, because it came from a nearby whale as it turned out. How nearby? Nearby enough to give me the willies! I nearly screwed my head off trying to find out where the whales (for there was more than one) were headed. Then I warned stormin who was unwittingly heading straight for them. He dodged them successfully, but later was upstaged by a whale which insisted on basking upside down at a spot he wanted to fish.

Fishing report: very quiet. But jimbo did get a keeper snapper on a SP, the first keeper for his new boat (no pic). Stormin tried towing a dead slimy mac for a while and got a big strike which cut through the bait just behind the treble.

As stormin says "We'll never know"

I include the following two pics just to show that I was actually trying, and to assist some Noosa Yakkers in identifying a couple of the Jew Shoal locals.

This is a yellowtail, useful as bait, live or dead, and sometimes very common, in big shoals, around our coastline. No legal limit.

Black-tip cod, very common at Jew Shoal. This is one of the largest specimens I've seen, and certainly the biggest I've caught. The legal size limit is 38cm but we've never recorded one at that size. I live in hope that we'll eventually get one.

Jimbo was the first to get back to Middle Groyne, with stormin and I not far behind him. Here, the sand monster was on the prowl. I watched jimbo choose the eastern side and hit the beach right way up. He called me on the radio and recommended that approach and I agreed with alacrity once I saw the western side close up. It was a boiling, roiling mess. The eastern side was much better and soon I too was on the beach, right way up. Stormin reckoned we should get the cameras ready, so I did. But stormin's impressive burst of speed threw sand in the sand monster's eye as he charged successfully through to hit the beach with a big smile on his face.

Stormin licks the sand monster.

So, a pleasant trip today and I'm looking forward to proving, eventually, that SPs can catch big snapper. Hopefully before the end of August, but I'd settle for a cobia.

Thanks for reading.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPhone, iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
FREE iBook "Kayak Fishing Laguna Bay & Jew Shoal" for iPhone, iPad and Mac

Wailing trailing outfit. 17Aug15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: gentle SW at first, then calm afterward
Swell: 1.2m SE
Water temp: 20.6°C
Tides: 3:30 am : 0.32 L; 9:30 am : 1.44 H
Current: none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none
Participants: eyetag, diesel, tunny, jimbo, sunshiner
My trip distance: 10.6km
Keen Angler Program: Two snapper frames

We're getting some lovely weather at the moment, but unfortunately not on weekends, although next weekend may come up trumps. Last Friday was superb and the forecast for today was also, although DIP had a 20knot SE blowing until midnight last night, when it suddenly dropped away, as forecast.

The earth's now moving into that part of its orbit that delivers us antipodeans our summer and longer days than in winter (in terms of daylight). That was noticeable this morning as we'd called for launch at 05:45, 15 minutes earlier than our regular mid winter launch time.

Eyetag had launched earlier still, but tunny, diesel and I were on the water by around 05:40. Jimbo, launching his new ride (Stealth Supalite, pic later) for the first time had opted for a slightly later launch.

During our routine radio checks straight after launch eyetag announced that he was heading for Sunshine Reef but the rest of us were happy to try Jew Shoal again.

And so the fishing at Jew Shoal started at about 06:30. Very soon diesel announced that he had a 44cm flathead (on bait) and then eyetag let us know that he'd picked up a nice grassy (on a half pillie, first cast) at A-Bay Reef. Note: both within 30 minutes of sunrise.

That was the signal for a shutdown. Dead quiet for a while, but then I had my SP taken about 07:30 and I was on the board (just) with a small snapper. During this time jimbo arrived, showing off his gleaming glass Supalite. Nice colour scheme too.

Beautiful boat on a beautiful morning.

I'd spent my first 30 minutes after arrival working a SP through the shallows and then accepted the breeze's invitation to just drift to the NE of The Pinnacles, where there's deeper water, which was where I got my first snapper mentioned above. There were quite a lot of "fish" showing on the sonar in this area so I decided that several drifts through were probably worth trying. My trailing outfit was deployed with a SP suspended at 10m depth, so around 8-12m off the bottom in this area. The trailing outfit hadn't produced anything much lately but it's little trouble to put out, won't snag, and is out of the way while I cast my SP around. Today, around 08:30, it went off, vigorously.

That woke me up!

The fish proved to be another snapper, not big but larger than the first, and very scrappy.

The SP is presently the same type as the one on my casting outfit, but I use a 1/2 ounce jighead on the trailing outfit to try to maintain depth. Works!

In the next hour after this, on the same drift line I had two other strikes on my cast SP and lost both jigheads and SPs. The first to a possible bite-off (maybe a school mackerel?) and the second to a leader knot or braid failure. Perhaps I should retie my leaders after every trip.

A SE breeze sprang up, eyetag announced that he was baling (still no more decent fish) and then jimbo, having run out of bait and patience and being keen to try his new yak out in the surf at Middle Groyne, let us know he was heading in to try out his rudder skills. The remaining three of us followed close behind.

At Middle Groyne jimbo and I frolicked in the tiny surf to the west of the wall for a while before joining diesel and tunny on the beach.

Jimbo surfing, keeping straight with the rudder.

Best fish of the day, by eyetag. Pic by eyetag.

Hopefully we'll get more opportunities to get out in the next week.

Thanks for reading.

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

A little pearler! 14Aug15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: gentle SW at first, then ~calm after about 9:00am
Swell: 1.m S
Water temp: 20.6°C
Tides: 7:45 am : 1.40 H; 1:44 pm : 0.21 L
Current: none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne (but other Noosa Yakkers launched at Moffat's Beach, Caloundra -- see our Facebook group post for info)
Surface action: none
Participants: sunshiner
My trip distance: 11km
Keen Angler Program: nothing donated

I'm pretty much where I want to be at this time of my life: few if any work commitments and maximum spare time for my favourite outdoor pursuit: getting out into the ocean on my beloved yak and trying (often in vain) to catch fish for the table. Of course, living in Noosa helps, as it costs me almost nothing in time or money to launch and paddle out. What I'm leading up to here is that it really doesn't matter to me if I don't catch fish every time ("Just as well!" I hear some of you say.). A decent fish every now and again is enough for me, and during the course of a year I get 'em. I'm sure some of you feel the same.

So to today. I spotted the possible weather opportunity a day or so ago, made sure I had no domestic commitments and launched a little later because the wind didn't drop to a reasonable level until around 6:00am (thanks, BOM, for MetEye). I arose from my warm bed at 06:30; that's a sleep-in by our usual standards.

As you can see, a daylight launch for a change. MetEye's forecast for the Noosa area was spot on, to the hour.

A couple of the local dolphins greeted me at launch, cavorting around the glassy inner bay. Crystal clear water. Cloudless sky. Magpie chortling in the distance. Who cares if the fish don't bite?

I can still do the paddle out to Jew Shoal in less than 40 minutes. Did it in about 35 today (assistance from a light SW, further out). Had the shoal all to myself most of the time.

First cast of my SP was 8:08am and by 9:08am I hadn't had a hit. A fair bit of bait showing on the sonar and my experimental banana prawn bait on the trailing outfit was gobbled up by pickers within minutes. I'm wondering how many prawns the prawn users go through in a session out here. The prawns are about 70c each which is not much cheaper than a soft plastic.

Pearl perch, about 25cm (released, legal min is 35cm). My only fish of the morning. Note the SP is reusable.

So I fished on for another two hours. Not even a grinner!

Paddled the 4km back in about 35 minutes in near glassy conditions and felt really good as I dragged my yak up the beach past the few holidaymakers and (elderly) leather skinned locals idly sunning themselves next to the groyne. They think they have it good but I know I have it better! Even without a take-home fish!

Thanks for reading.

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

Diamondfish! Jew Shoal 10Aug15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: gentle SW at first, then calm after about 9:00am
Swell: 1.3m SE
Water temp: 20.6°C
Tides: 4:40 am : 1.24 H; 10:48 am : 0.33 L
Current: none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none
Participants: diesel, jimbo, lazybugger, allan o’leary, sunshiner
My trip distance: 11km
Keen Angler Program: nothing donated

A totally clear sky today throughout our trip. Dead easy launch at around 0550, only just illuminated by the waning moon. Jew Shoal was our chosen location, initially and the first of us were out there fishing by 06:30.

A light SW breeze caused me to choose to start my first drift from the Old Faithful location on the extreme SW corner of the shoal. Today I deployed a banana prawn at 10m on my trailing outfit while I cast my usual SP around in search of the elusive snapper. Others were using SPs, microjigs (lazybugger and diesel) or bait on the bottom, the last of which tended to result in plenty of reef ooglies, particularly for diesel.

But no snapper, or decent sized grassies. Baitfish were there aplenty but nothing seemed to be feeding on the bounty. At one stage I retrieved my drogue to find that it had become a temporary home to a cloud of tiny (1 cm) prawns.

Diesel was the first to abandon the shoal, heading off to Halls Reef at about 0815. Then jimbo headed home at about 9:00am. The sea started to glass off.

As you can see, conditions were superb. That's lazybugger in his Profisha and my fish is a "butter bream" aka Diamondfish, Monodactylus argenteus. These are the small fish that usually school with their backs showing above the water in Jew Shoal's 7m shallows.

Lazybugger was picking off a few of the pike which hang around the shoal and he donated them to my future troll bait supply. Thanks Scott.

By around 10:15 the rest of us had left our destinations for Middle Groyne. Only Alan had brought a "keeper" home: a small snapper which was just legal.

So, the shoal and Halls Reef are still very quiet. Let's hope the coming new moon will create the spark which brings the fish in.

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

Windy but worth it Mon 03-Aug-2015

TR by eyetag

Wind: 15 knot N/NW then 5 knot N
Current: light S
Launch Point: Noosa North Shore
Participants: Eyetag, Pedro


I had a quick chat with Pedro on Sunday at his market stall and we thought there was a slight chance of fishing spot "X" as this was the best opportunity for the week. That evening we checked the usual weather sites and decided to go for it.
We caught the first barge across the river and headed up the beach, conditions weren't the best with a solid 15 knots of N/NW and around a metre of swell, but after the effort we had already put in we couldn't turn around so we prepared for launch. We both got out upright, although I was drenched from a shorey. Once we got clear of the back breakers we got set up. Pedro started bashing the bottom and I decided to troll a hard body as conditions were woeful and I wasn't feeling confident in the conditions. I had only travelled a short distance when I hooked up to what I thought was a Tailor but he managed to release himself. I took off again soon after I was solid to a nice fish and he also released himself 2-0 to the fish. The next fish was on a few minutes later and I landed this one. I hadn't heard from Pedro so I called him to give him the score and he said things were quiet bashing the bottom and he also had a livey out waiting eagerly for something to take it. The next 2 fish I hooked were both lost due to a split ring opening and hooks being straightened.

This happens due to bite pressure on both hooks as the line isn't strong enough to straighten split rings

Another lure change and soon after I landed number 2 with the score 5-2 and not in my favour, I gave Pedro an update and he thought it was time to troll a hard body, soon after this he had his first fish on board. We trolled for the next 2 hours waiting no more than 10 minutes between hook-ups, releasing a lot of nice fish cause our bags were full.

2 nice bags of quality eating fish

Now the wind had dropped off as did the bite, so we changed to bottom bashing, drifting for 300 metres and trolling back, Pedro got a couple of Squire on baits and a run on a livey which came back crushed, I caught 1 squire and had one screamer on the return run that busted me off after a 2 minute fight. Soon after this we headed back in both upright with grins from ear to ear.

Conditions had calmed considerably for our return

Moonshine fishing at Jew Shoal, 2 August 2015

TR by Tunny

Trip date: 2 August 2015

Participants: Redwood, Diesel, Tyler, ScottyD, Tunny

Launch Site:  MG

Conditions: Wind WNW less than 5 knots, low tide 3.20 am, swell less than 1 m.

Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated

Recent fishing trips that commenced after first light had produced donuts, so Redwood and I decided to leave earlier with the aim of being out at Jew Shoal well before first light.  As it was close to full moon and the sky was free of any cloud there was enough visibility to head out early.  So we arrived in the car park at 4 am and launched by 4.15 am.  The shore break was small and the launch easy.  I added an extra red flashing light to the top of one of my rods to give more visibility for any approaching boats but we never saw any boats on the way out there.  We trolled hard body lures out to Jew Shoal without any success.  On arrival at Jew Shoal, Redwood started fishing for bait fish in order to put out a live bait, while I started trolled a deep diving lure over the reef, then switched to soft plastics.

Moonlight shining on the water on arrival at Jew Shoal

Redwood found several patches of bait on his sounder but took over an hour before successfully catching a Yakka which he then put on as live bait.  I had no success in the first hour with either trolling or soft plastics. Then Diesel came on the radio to say he was on his way followed shortly by Tyler and ScottyD.  By the time the sun rose we still had no bites.  Diesel and Tyler joined us at Jew Shoal while ScottyD headed out past the headland.

Sunrise at Jew Shoal

Shortly after sunrise a Grassy Sweetlip took my soft plastic while jigging just above the reef.  It measured 33 cm.  A few minutes later my soft plastic got smashed by a much bigger fish which bit straight through the leader, so I switched over to using a short wire trace with my soft plastic.

Redwood was trolling his live Yakka when it got hit hard.  The fish had a short but very powerful run, followed by what felt like vigorous head shaking as it stayed beneath the kayak   This lasted for around 5 minutes before the line parted.  Some Cobia have been reported by boat fishermen recently so perhaps it was a big one of those?  Or possibly a shark?

Tyler was bottom bashing Jew Shoal and hooked some small reef fish, but nothing worth keeping.  ScottyD trolled dead baits around the headland, then on to Jew Shoal and following that onto Halls Reef.  He got three hits on the trolled baits.  Two hooked up but in both cases the hooks pulled.  The third fish crushed the slimy just behind the head (no clear teeth marks so could it have been a Cobia?)

So in summary we had five Noosa Yakkers fishing for around five hours each, and the only keeper was this:

Tunny's grassy looking a bit lonely on the mat.