Wind: up to 5 knot W
Swell: less than 1m SE
Water temp: 24.4°C
Tides: High 01:14am (1.28m); Low 06:59am (0.63m)
Current: None detected at Jew Shoal
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: None seen
Participants: diesel, fatyak, jimbo, sunshiner
My trip distance: 14km
Redmap: No sightings
Keen Angler Program: No donations today, as far as I know.
As many of you know, I've been away from Noosa for around ten days. That's bad enough, but I had to leave my yak behind too, so I was itching to get out for a paddle today even though I only arrived home late yesterday afternoon.
As doc dog has pointed out in his FB post today, it was a beautiful night, with nary a cloud, and moonless at 4:00am, when diesel and I were the only users of the Middle Groyne carpark. We scuttled down to the beach with our yaks where we found a tiny splashing shorey and glassy seas close in to the beach.
On going back to his car to retrieve a forgotten frozen pike, diesel found that fatyak had arrived so we then knew that there would be three of us at least.
Despite sunrise being 40 minutes off, there was adequate ambient light for launching and soon we were out the back setting up our gear and pointing our nav devices at Jew Shoal, four clicks away over the northern horizon. We paddled off into a gentle swell curving into the bay and, as we got further out, a building breeze from the west.
In due course fatyak called up for his radio check and confirmed that he also would be heading for Jew Shoal.
At Jew Shoal the breeze was around five knots and steady from the west, giving a brisk drift toward the east. I chose to start looking for baitfish at the SW corner of the shoal, paddling and trolling along with one eye on the sonar, then eventually turning to run with the breeze toward one of my eastern marks. Bugger all fish on the sonar, so eventually I chose to heave-to north of The Pinnacles where I popped out my drogue and deployed my two drift fishing weapons. Hooked up on the second cast with my prawn look-alike SP.
In case there's anyone out there who hasn't caught one, this is a grinner, toothy critter quite capable of biting through light monofilament. They love everything. Unfortunately their only redeeming feature from a fisho's point of view is that they can be converted to bait.
About now jimbo called up for a radio check. So now there were four of us in the bay. He opted to head for Little Halls Reef/Halls Reef when he was told by diesel we had yet to get anything worthwhile.
Fatyak turned up, to my surprise aboard a ProFisha. Last time I'd seen him he was in a Prowler laden with sweeties and snapper.
Fatyak in his new ride. Pic taken a week or so ago by diesel in Laguna Bay.
We fished on, all of us at Jew Shoal using mainly SPs and catching mainly nothing much except reef ooglies and the odd tantalizing bump or run hinting of the occasional presence of good fish. Diesel is honing his SP skills and was having some success with them today, including one good run which was almost certainly a decent snapper (hook pulled out before sighting) and this near-keeper.
Close, but no cigar. We rarely get keeper pearl perch at Jew Shoal and in fact we have yet to establish a record for this species, whose min legal size is 35cm. Pic by diesel.
I got one hookup which resulted in disappointment and the addition of a snapper tooth to my growing collection. As diesel quipped, I only have 63 teeth to go to have enough for a necklace.
Jimbo, at Halls Reef, reported a run on his drifting pillie, but no hookup. Then later let us know that he had a 40cm snapper next to the yak but lost it when the hook dislodged before he could get it aboard.
And so our enthusiasm proved incapable of overcoming the problem, no decent fish, or no decent fish biting. Fatyak opted to head for Halls Reef, paddling off into the easing westerly and shortly afterward diesel and I pulled the pin, hoping as usual that the troll home might shift our doughnuts to a later trip. No such luck. But at least the sand monster was absent. Annoyingly there were plenty of fish holders available and diesel actually considered lining them up to practice the skills which will surely be needed by them very soon when the pelagics visit our waters on their annual holiday.
By the time we hit the beach jimbo was already half way home from Halls, fishless and down a kilo of prawns. Fatyak was still out there, intent on doing his utmost to put a big snapper in his ProFisha. And it wouldn't shock me if he did. Let us know how you went, fatyak.
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
In addition to sunshiners report- I fished Halls/ Little Halls until around 11am, by that the sun was well and truly beating down. Things were pretty quiet for soft plastics fishing with only a grinner, leatherjacket and undersized coral trout to show. I then trolled hardship bodies back to middle groin with no takers. Hope to get out again in the next week, and as sunshiner mentioned it would be great to get a big snapper in the hatch!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Scott aka Fatyak