TR by sunshiner, with contribution by tunny at the end.
Wind: 2-3 knot W at first, dropping off to near calm later
Swell: 1m SE
Water temp: 21.7°C
Tides: 4:23 am : 0.08 L; 10:34 am : 1.70 H
Current: non detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none
Participants: peebee, jaro, tunny, sunshiner
My trip distance: 15.2km
Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated today
There are few if any greater pleasures than the simple act of paddling (or pedalling) your kayak out into Laguna Bay on a perfect morning. The sun is yet to show but is not far from the glowing horizon, the sky is completely clear and punctuated by the brighter objects in view, the waning moon is providing supplementary illumination. There's no wind, the sea is glassy with a tiny swell, and Noosa, directly behind, is yet to awake to its usual low-key holiday bustle. That's what we had today. Fan-bloody-tastic.
Tunny wondering if he'll dry-bum it. He did.
See what I mean? Glorious!
Jaro reckoned he was a bit blasé today, telling me he nearly got a saltwater bath on the way out. A couple of minutes to set up, and we're away. Today we'd decided to try Little Halls Reef and, if necessary, Halls Reef. This because of the recent action in that area. Besides, tunny had "jewie" written all over his preparations but I reminded him that such amazing fish as he got last Friday tend to come along rarely.
I'd fallen back on my usual HLP as a trolling lure today, the shallow diver, 120mm, pilchard pattern with the blue back which practically glows in low light conditions. Tunny was out in front, jaro still setting up, peebee yet to even arrive (You need to be there earlier, Pete.).
There's little point in having a GoPro unless it's running when the action begins. And you never know when the action is likely to start, so, best solution, have it running continuously. Mine was running, having been turned on immediately before I put the HLP out. The recorded footage shows that I paddled for less than one minute after deploying the lure before it was taken.
The strike
Now, diesel had hooked up a longtail in almost the same place/same time on Monday. There's a pattern emerging here. Maybe the predators are hunting in the bay at night. Anyway, a fair bit of string got pulled off before I'd assumed the fighting attitude. By the way the fish was pulling me around I knew it had some weight and power and then I felt the high-frequency vibration typical of a tuna. Within a few minutes I saw in the half light that I had on a larger than usual mac tuna. What's more the lure was jammed across its jaw, with both hooks embedded. The only reasonable solution was to gaff the fish, which I did.
Jaro came over to find out the cause of the commotion.
Movie of the mac tuna capture
I was present over three years ago when pedro established the NY record of 82cm for mackerel tuna. This fish now in my hatch seemed that it might be big enough to knock off that record. Certainly it seemed the biggest mac tuna I'd ever seen.
By the time I'd tidied up, tunny was getting close to Little Halls Reef. Jaro and I travelled to that reef in close company and there the three of us started fishing, all clustering around the standard Noosa Yakkers mark for Little Halls Reef, where those of us who had sonar could see a large cloud of baitfish almost on the mark. This looked promising, but all our efforts to bag a fish there came to nothing. It seemed there were no predators harassing the bait.
Peebee radioed in and let us know he was on his way to join us. Jaro soon tired of the lack of action and headed off to Halls Reef, some 2km further north, to soak his baits there. This was a good move for jaro, as he reported within 30 minutes of his departure that he'd bagged a beautiful fat grassy. This and jaro's subsequent report that he was getting "heaps of bites" finally convinced tunny and me that we should also try Halls Reef. You guessed it -- as soon as we got there, the action slowed to a stop.
So around 09:30 jaro, peebee and I left for Middle Groyne and home. We paddled in perfect conditions, although I suspect that jaro would have liked a brisk northerly to inflate his sail and make the five km trip a little easier.
Beach pics
My mac tuna. A potential new record for Noosa Yakkers.
Jaro's very nice grassy, taken on prawn bait.
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Contribution by tunny
I jigged soft plastics for about 20 minutes after you left without any success. I then headed from Halls Reef towards the beach and trolled a Halco 120 back to MG keeping quite close inshore. I had no bites but went past a large patch of what seemed like surface fish action (no visible fish but swirling water). About 800 metres north of the river mouth and 50 metres from this fish action I saw what at first appeared to be dolphin fins. But I soon realised it was two large sharks either feeding on something on the surface or fighting (or as Jaro suggested possibly mating). The action only lasted about 30 seconds then they disappeared. Although the sighting was very brief I could clearly see two tail fins and two dorsal fins and guess the sharks were about 2.5-3 metres long. Even though they disappeared quickly I changed route to avoid going through the area they were last seen.
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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
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