Huge Spaniard, 17Jan10

From: "kevin long"
Subject: fishing today -- 17Jan10 -- NY record Spaniard
Date: Sunday, 17 January 2010 3:12 PM

A 0500 start again, in conditions which were perfect squared.

The yakkers' parking area is starting to look like a camping ground. Never mind, we did our best to remind the campers, at 0430am, that they shouldn't be there. Obviously the Sunshine Coast Regional Council is doing nothing to police its own parking rules.

I arrived at about 0430 to find Brian (aka paddleparra, or is it parapaddler?) prepping his yak and Graham, slightly edgy on this his first foray with Noosa Yakkers, just about rigged and ready to go. Jim rolled in followed by whalebait then Jaro.

After yesterday's frustrating session in which we could see big fish but not induce them to take our offerings, our hopes weren't high of greater success today but at least we had top conditions with little or no wind forecast and very small swell.

0501hrs. Graham (L-Plater) with whalebait, ready to launch. Jaro is half way along the launch channel.

0504hrs. From front, paddleparra (perhaps it should be pedalpara) and his Hobie, jimbo, whalebait

I closely followed Graham on this his first surf launch which was fine. Well done, mate. We set up out the back and then Graham accepted my offer of a tour of the western side of Laguna Bay. Off we went, toward the river mouth, casting now and again when we came across bonito bustups. After a few minutes I recognized Stu in his camo Prowler Elite paddling strongly toward us from the launch area. He joined us before we got to the river mouth, as did Jaro. We four paused for a while checking for signs of mackerel activity before moving on toward the river mouth.

0539hrs. Stu and Jaro drifting and watchfully waiting off Main Beach. Great conditions, eh?

0540hrs. Graham, afloat off Main Beach, gets his first view of Noosa from the sea.

By now the other Noosa Yakkers were well scattered across the Bay. Those with radios could monitor who was where and whether any action was being encountered. Things were quiet, so I suggested to Graham that he might like to pedal the 2+km to Little Hall's Reef while I paddled it. He agreed and we set off, through the open ocean. Part way into this journey my trolling outfit (Penn 320GTi overhead reel, cheap boat rod, Halco Laser lure as favoured recently by Jaro) ratchet went off with a loud buzz. I reached around and picked it up and could feel the weight of what I judged to be a 2-3kg mackerel for a few seconds then the pressure went off. The hooks had pulled free. Bugger, it would have been nice for Graham to be present to see a reasonable fish caught from a kayak. Little did I know that later he would have this experience in spades.

We reached LH Reef and there was clearly no action around there so headed inshore where again finding no action we turned toward the river mouth area where increasing numbers of power boats could be seen congregating, perhaps because there were fish present. On reaching the western side of the river mouth we could see whalebait among numerous power boats big and small and a mass of fluttering and diving terns. The source of action here appeared to be small bait balls being harassed by small predators, perhaps school mackerel, bonito or long toms.

We hung around here for around 30 minutes, just casting occasionally and chatting, waiting for the spotties to hopefully arrive. At the end of this time I offered to show Graham the eastern side of the bay so we set off in that general direction, trolling as we went. A few minutes after we set off, at about 0730, with Graham travelling alongside me a few metres away, my trolling outfit howled. I picked up the rod and noted that the spool was spinning furiously against the drag and water was spraying off the spinning spool due to centrifugal force. This was some strike! I was fishing 11.3kg Trilene monofilament without leader, the main line tied directly to a tiny swivel on the front end of home made wire trace about 25cm long. This wire trace was wired directly to the tow point of the lure and as I'd done the wiring myself, I knew it was good. So, I had plenty in my favour.

The run stopped and the fish seemed to simply hold position and for a fleeting moment I thought perhaps I'd foul hooked a big ray. Then it took off again and the fight had me calling it for a shark, many of which had recently been caught on hard body lures. After about five minutes I had regained enough self control that I put out a radio message to Noosa Yakkers that I was hooked up to something big. For about ten minutes I was towed around, quite quickly at times, the water gurgling along under the keel as the fish tried its best to get away. Stu was paddling along behind me with his phone camera in action. At last I started to get line back onto the spool, even after I'd backed off the drag a little to ease stress on the single knot which was connecting me with the fish and which had been under pressure for 15 minutes. I was impressed with the force with which this fish had been pulling me around but clearly, after about 15 minutes, I was starting to win.

Stu was about ten metres away when I first saw the fish, about 5 metres down. A huge Spaniard! But it was now exhausted. I could see that the lure was entirely inside its scissor-like jaws so I knew it was well hooked. And I knew that the wire trace was sound. I applied pressure and the Spaniard planed up to the surface beside the yak. Shit! It was enormous!

Stu captures the moment when the Spaniard planed up to the surface. Note that the yak is still being towed. Thanks for the photo, Stu.

For a fraction of a second I toyed with the idea of using the lip gripper to boat her but then quickly decided to gaff him. The fish was on the wrong side of the yak for a right handed gaffer, as I am. So a left handed shot was necessary. The first gaff shot hit him solidly in the left shoulder, just behind the head. The fish barely responded -- it was knackered. I started to haul her aboard.

Stu does it again with his phone cam. Half of the fish is still under water.

I dragged her across my lap, taking care to keep those fiercesome jaws clear of the family jewels, still valuable to me even if they are a little tarnished with age. I then swivelled the fish around so its head would go into the footwell, the safest (only?) place for such a fish in the Espri.

Got her aboard at last. Thanks for the priceless photos, Stu.

For several minutes I held it securely by the tail with the head jammed into the footwell until I was quite sure that it wasn't going to suddenly leap out like a coiled spring. Then it was on with the tail rope which I always carry on the yak.

Clearly this was the end of my fishing for the day. Hell, I barely had space to paddle and was very glad that I was less than 1km from Middle Groyne. I'd told all kayakers who were on radio that I'd nailed a decent Spaniard and several came over for a look. I then announced that I was going in to the beach. Part way there, after achieving a relatively comfortable paddling style with the Spaniard's aft section tucked under my right arm, I encountered Jaro who offered to take some more, on water, pics with his camera.

We rafted up the two yaks, starboard sides facing each other and Jaro took several pics. Thanks, mate. Note that the lure is visible inside the jaws of the fish.

I'm very glad that there was hardly any swell today as it allowed me to take a small chance and proceed straight in to the beach without my usual disciplined stowing and tidying up procedure. Besides, I would have had to drop the Spaniard over the side (on the tail rope) in order to access the hatch in which I normally stow my gear.

Bill Barnett hit the beach a couple of minutes after me. He'd caught his first fish from the yak -- a legal sized school mackerel.

0822hrs. Bill with his schoolie on his 40th wedding anniversary. It's amazing he got permission to go fishing...

Then Tony Walmsley paddled in to the beach. I didn't even know he was out there. Nice to see you Tony.

Bill offered to take a pic of the Spaniard on the beach...

0826hrs. Seated on the rear deck of my Espri.

Jaro then came in and, as the Spaniard was too long for the measure mat, he loaned me his ruler to complement the measure mat and we agreed that the fish was 1.49m long.

Then a bikini-clad young lady came over to see what all the fuss was about. When asked, she agreed with alacrity to be photographed holding the fish.

Top day in Noosa... Check out the shadow

Our scales weren't big enough so I took the fish to Davo's where it went a neat 17kg.

While this report doesn't dwell on the experiences today of the other Noosa Yakkers present, I encourage them to add their own reports. I don't know for sure whether anyone other than Bill and I caught fish, but we'd all certainly like to know if you did.

I'm off to Bass Strait for a couple of weeks come Wednesday to sail the eastern island chain down to and around Flinders Island. See you all when I get back, and leave some fish for me please.

Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://noosayakers.blogspot.com

Bonito plague, 16Jan10

Date: Saturday, 16 January 2010 1:38 PM

We're starting a bit later these days -- 0500 instead of 0415. I arrived at the MG carpark about 0445 to find Andy, setting up his Prowler Elite, and a lot of cars/vans in which people are still camping. My usual spot was again taken up by that same van but I noticed that Ian's Subaru was in its usual #1 place. Jaro arrived while I was down checking the surf, which I assessed was not likely to bother us.

Before long we were trundling our yaks down to the launch point. I hung back to take the usual launch pic, this time of Andy.

0501hrs. Andy in the foreground, Jaro, difficult to spot behind Andy, in the background.

Launch was easy and uneventful. Our plan today was to target mackerel so we were set up to troll HB lures and cast slugs. The breeze was light from the east with a tiny easterly swell so conditions were perfect.

Jaro being ready to paddle first, he announced that he would head toward the river mouth. It was my intention to follow him but as soon as I was ready to go a decent mackerel, either spotty or schoolie, launched itself clear of the water nearby, beautifully silhouetted against the early morning sky. This made me decide to hang about in the MG area for a while. Once Jaro heard this, by radio, he agreed and turned through 180∞ to join Andy and me. Although we thoroughly prospected the area we didn't raise any mackerel so after 20 minutes or so we decided to head for the river mouth/LH reef precinct, the scene of much previous mackerel activity.

Travelling along this track we came across numerous scenes of hectic feeding by what turned out (as we expected) to be small bonito.

0530hrs. A typical bonito feeding frenzy (note: no large splashes). Still from video.

The bonito were keen on our HB lures which were not much smaller than the bonito themselves. I caught two while trolling my Halco Laser between the bust ups such as is portrayed in the above image.

0544hrs. Bonito typical of those in plague proportions in Laguna Bay today and recently. No size or bag limit. All of us caught several.

Having seen no more sign of mackerel (but they HAD to be around) we jointly decided to head for LH Reef to see what we could find there. No mackerel there, either, and a huge flock of terns further inshore helping a pack of bonito demolish another hapless school of baitfish. So we eventually turned back toward the river mouth where we found, predictably, another large patch of bonito accompanied by terns. But here we met up with turtleboy (Steve) whom we knew was likely to be there as he'd informed us by radio that he'd launched. It was also here that my three yakking companions all witnessed a spectacular and graceful leap through the air by a Spanish mackerel, probably as the result of a fast pursuit of a bonito. Jaro at the time estimated the fish had cleared the water by a good 20 feet (~6.5m) vertically. Having seen this sort of behaviour elsewhere by Spanish mackerel I have no reason to doubt Jaro's height estimate. The things you see when kayak fishing!

We spent quite a while plugging away in the area near the river mouth but still could catch only bonito. Andy, however, reported a strong hookup the impact of which found a weak spot in an old wire trace he was using.

Eventually our patience dwindled and so we meandered individually back toward the inner bay and MG area. It was here that Steve radioed to me to come and take a look at the shark net as there was something ensnared. Here I found that at least four juvenile manta rays (real manta rays, plankton eaters, harmless to humans, with a long "horn" either side of its wide scooping mouth) had been killed by the net. Each of the rays was about one metre wide and they must have been travelling in close company for they were all tightly clustered in a short length of the net. [manta ray]

Near the net I encountered another two kayak fishers whom I'd not met before. The one I spoke to was named Connor and the other guy was his brother. Connor told me that a mackerel attack had just taken place nearby and as we chatted I could see some whirling and fluttering terns behind him with occasional individual splashes not typical of attacks by bonito. I let Jaro and turtleboy know by radio and we all paddled over to partake in the action.

0850hrs. A few hundred metres NE of Middle Groyne, which can be seen on the left of the image.

In this relatively small area schools of baitfish were being herded into baitballs by mackerel which then, when the time was right, launched individual charges into the baitball showering baitfish about and causing great interest among the kayakers (now seven of us as we'd been joined by Ian on his return from Sunshine Reef). The fish were extremely difficult to tempt, however and among the seven of us only about three mackerel were boated. The one I caught was a school mackerel, around 55cm long which I returned to the water to hopefully grow up a little.

At one stage I found myself floating atop a mound of baitfish densely packed around the kayak. Mackerel up to about a metre long could be plainly seen patrolling the perimeter, gradually tightening the noose. This was no place for me to be when the action started as all of the other yakkers would start tossing lures into the melee so I departed quickly.

Nor were mackerel the only predators present. I cast my slug into one feeding frenzy only to catch this little guy:

0936hrs. A very slender and hyperactive oceanic longtom, about 40cm long.

The upshot of this last hour or so was that we all had a bit of action and saw some spectacular assaults by mackerel, but no Noosa Yakker brought any fish home other than bonito, collected to be used as trolled dead baits. The action took place mainly within 300m of the beach and east of Middle Groyne.

We hit the beach around 10am, having no trouble whatsoever with the tiny swell encountered.

An interesting morning... Hopefully we'll get out again tomorrow and crack the mackerel code. As Jaro said, there's so much natural food around that it's difficult to tempt the predators to take anything else.

Thanks for coming along guys and thanks for organising, Jaro. See some of you tomorrow...

Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://noosayakers.blogspot.com

Many yakkers, few fish, 13Jan10

From: "kevin long"
Subject: fishing today -- 13jan10
Date: Wednesday, 13 January 2010 1:25 PM

What a crowd we had today! And such glorious weather. Plenty of fish, but most of them tiny.

I woke really early and couldn't get back to sleep so consequently I was almost the first in the carpark. Jimbo had arrived already and there were a couple of unfamiliar guys (Ian and Frank?, friends of Mal G) setting up their Hobies. Graham Feeney had turned up as an observer. I could see him in my headlights beam as I swung into Ian's usual spot because my usual spot was occupied again by that same battered Toyota van whose occupants have been "camping" there for a couple of weeks.

The surf was potentially tricky but doable so I headed back to the Zook to find that the dynamic duo (Steven and Charles) had turned up, as promised. Now there were 6 yakkers there and it was barely 0430 and still dark. Then Mal G turned up just as I was trundling my yak down to the beach. 7!

The dynamic duo were first to launch in their double yak, in the semi darkness, followed by Jim. I opted to wait on the beach for Jaro and meanwhile Kev and Keith, two AKFF guys from Brisbane showed up, each with a Viking ProFish. That's 9 yakkers! Jaro wasn't expected on the beach until 0500 so I took a pic of some of the assembly as the light slowly improved:

0452hrs. From left: Graham, Frank (?), BigKev, Mal G, and Ian.

All others present had successfully launched by the time Jaro arrived. He launched immediately and I took the customary launch conditions pic.

0457hrs. Keith launching, Jaro about to launch, followed by me, as soon as I stow the camera.

Launch was easier than I'd anticipated although I had to climb a couple of steeper waves near the exit. It was a bit crowded out the back compared with the usual situation, and even more crowded when Doctor Dog turned up, muttering "So this is what the world is like at 5am!". Then a familiar yak could be seen paddling out toward the flotilla -- it was whalebait, who'd scored a leave pass even though he was in the midst of packing his household for a removal. So we now numbered 12 afloat in 11 kayaks.

No one knew where the dynamic duo had gone. Jimbo was reporting by radio that he'd already reconnoitred the eastern part of the bay and was now turning toward the river mouth. The Hobie flotilla and Jaro headed for the river mouth area, Big Kev and Keith headed straight out into the middle of the bay while Doctor Dog, whalebait and I opted to head for a large patch of birds which could be seen on the NE horizon, off Boiling Pot.

The white line represents my approximate track over the next couple of hours, starting at MG and going in an anti-clockwise direction.

The huge number of birds off the Boiling Pot turned out to be working a patch of baitfish which seemed to be intent, as Doc Dog proposed, on eating even smaller baitfish. There was no visual sign of large predators and so I headed for Little Halls Reef. Part way toward LH Reef I was informed by radio that Jaro's trusty Halco Laser had scored a school mackerel and that Jimbo had hooked up a shark on his Spaniard Special (aka Shark Special).

Then turtleboy came up on the radio, announcing that he'd just launched accompanied by two other yakkers whom he'd encountered in the carpark. These two later turned out to be Jay and Wayne, the latter out with us for the first time in his Viking Nemo. This made 15 yakkers out there!

Approaching LH Reef I could see far fewer indications of the presence of predators than on recent trips, but the baitfish were there, being hammered by occasional squadrons of small bonito or mac tuna. I was trolling continuously and stopping occasionally to cast where I could see action but couldn't raise a strike.

By 7am I was heading back toward the river mouth area, Jaro trolling parallel with me about 150m away. He yelled out and reached for his trolling outfit and then gave me the only reasonable opportunity today to get an on-water photo of a fish.

0710hrs. Jaro with school mackerel. A tough call for the camera, facing a very bright background. The flash helped a little.

By 0730 I was off Middle Groyne and couldn't resist chasing one last patch of birds. Unfortunately they were the same as every other patch I'd encountered that day -- unaccompained by large predators. And so I opted to head in, but not before bumping into one more yakker whom I didn't recognize at first.

0803hrs. Wild Bill Barnett floats fishless off Main Beach.

So Bill made 16 participants -- a record for Noosa Yakkers I think. With that I headed for the beach just behind Bill, and found that Keith and the dynamic duo had already returned.

I hung around on the beach while one by one the flotilla members paddled or pedalled in. BigKev had a nice school mackerel which I photographed on his measure mat.

0910hrs. BigKevs' judgement was that this is a school mackerel, not a spotty. At the time I agreed with him because the pectoral fin didn't have the characteristic scoop shape of the spotty. But now I'm not so sure, especially as I didn't take a close look at the lateral line path. Either way, it's legal.

Just before the last few guys (Jaro, jimbo, doc dog, turtleboy) came in Doc Dog announced by radio that the spotties had shown up, just off the MG beach. This delayed returns but had the benefit of producing one spotty mac for the combined take-home catch (pic later).

All but one of the returning yakkers had an uneventful ride back to the sand. We specialise in frightening old ladies (she's one of our fans, too!). The yak came in to the beach right way up while its operator took a warm bath.

Jimbo's shark, just under 1m.

Doctor dog's spotty mac.

Jaro's two school mackerel.

It was a beautiful day out there. Thanks all for coming along. And please don't hesitate to put in your two-bob's worth if you can flesh out the report.

Thanks for organising, Jaro. Can we fit in another soon (Sunday?)?

Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://noosayakers.blogspot.com

Spaniard, spotties, shark, 11Jan10

From: "Jaro Cerny"
Subject: Fishing Report 11/01/2010
Date: Monday, 11 January 2010 2:11 PM

Hi Yakkers,

Steve, Stu and I arrived at MG at 4.30am. Ian Tagg's car was there so we knew he was already on the water. We could see that getting out was going to take extremely good timing or we would risk getting very wet. I have to say I was amazed that we all got out unscathed.

The conditions were very good and were not a reflection of what seabreeze had predicted or what was happening at DIP. We were soon on our way to LHR with me trolling a spaniard special using a slimy mackerel. No birds were seen at this time. We arrived at LHR without any action and met Ian there. He reported he had caught a spaniard of about 90cm on his spaniard special. We trolled around LHR to no avail and then slowly inched our way back toward MG and closer inshore. I was with Ian when I suddenly had a massive strike and as I went to get my rod out of the rod holder and feeling the full force of the fish's run, it suddenly went slack. Bugger!!! It had taken my spaniard special lock, stock and barrel. Ian then loaned his spare.

Steve and Stu had reported some strikes inshore but no hook ups when Dr Dog announced he was now on the scene (I think it was about 7.15am) and that there was bird activity by the shark nets. Soon thereafter told us he had bagged a spotty. This was enough for us and we all headed back to MG against the SE wind which had picked up a little but was still ok. By this time Hollywood Harry also arrived on the scene and Dr Dog had bagged his second.

Soon we were all (except Stu) in Laguna Bay chasing the birds and the fish... with the end result in Dr Dog getting 2 more spotties for a total of 4. Ian getting 2 spotties for a total of 3 fish. Steve, Harry and yours truly remained fishless.

Getting to shore also required great timing and as far as I know all made it unscathed. Kevin, you missed a great chance to get videos of professional yakkers showing how it is done getting in and out of the surf.

Stu later reported that he had trolled along the North Shore and had his new $18.00 large gold bomber taken lock, stock and barrel. He then cast a slug in front of MG where there was bird activity and hooked up with his first cast. After a short struggle he landed and bagged a good sized shark which he intends to eat for dinner tonight. He sent me a photo which is shown below. Well done Stu.

Thanks for coming guys. Well done Mark, Ian and Stu. Better luck next time to Steve, Harry and me!!!

Tuesday looks to be about the same conditions as today but I will not be going. I will be going on Wednesday when conditions should be better but will confirm as per usual tomorrow afternoon. I will be arriving at MG at 5.00am as there was no activity before 5.30am.

Jaro
Noosa Yakkers Coordinator
Viking Pro Fish 45
Call Sign Jaro
http://noosayakers.blogspot.com

Spaniard and spotties 6Jan2010

From: "kevin long"

Subject: fishing today -- 06jan10 -- long hard paddle but great result

Date: Wednesday, 6 January 2010 1:49 PM

Today was one of those days when my low expectations were overturned.

I awoke at 0355, five minutes before the alarm would have gone off. Before going to check Seabreeze I turned the alarm off, unlike a recent occasion when it went off noisily, as it should, while I was unable, for very good reasons, to intervene until Mary was well and truly awake. Won't make that mistake again. Anyway, to my surprise, the wind had dropped in approximate agreement with Seabreeze's prediction 12 hours ago so NY next trip was on.

0425 in the MG carpark I found Jaro and whalebait pretty much ready to launch but I visited the beach to peer through the gloom to see if I was likely to get a wet bum this time -- not likely. I dashed back to the Zook and started to final prep my integrated fishing weapon/exercise machine. Meanwhile Jaro and whalebait were off to the beach and launching.

Launch was easy but if I had them, I would have turned the headlights on -- it was so dark due to the heavy overcast to the east. There was insufficient light to take a reasonable launch pic but don't fret, there are some decent substitutes coming up.

By the time I'd tied knots in the semi-darkness, out the back, J & W had departed for the eastern part of Laguna Bay and Jimbo had called up saying he was about to launch. Off I went, trolling one of my favourite lures, following J&W, noting that Jimbo wasn't far behind me, but somewhat closer to shore. The SE breeze was noticeable even in here, which made me speculate that the breeze out wide might turn the northern bay into a choppy mess. So not far from the Boiling Pot I opted to turn for LH Reef, some 3km to the west, informing my companions of this decision by radio. They in turn relayed info that they were encountering some diving, fluttering terns so I had some misgivings about my plan but stuck with it anyway.

Half way across Laguna Bay, having still heard no radio calls about captures from the other NYs out there, I saw Noosa Hill become enshrouded in cloud and mist, a good sign that rain was heading my way.

0529hrs. Looking SE from the middle of Laguna Bay. Rain is on its way.

About now Doctor dog called up, announcing that he was ready to launch with Paul, another kayak fisher he'd encountered in the carpark. After hearing reports from both the team out east and me, he opted to head toward my destination, LH Reef. A good decision, as it turned out.

As I approached LH Reef from the east the breeze was quite stiff, a good ten knots, with whitecaps appearing from time to time. At the Reef itself I broadcast a NY report which was pessimistic, quoting no sign of fish and few birds. This would have been about 0600, I think. Similar reports emanated from Jew Shoal, where the main body of NY were hunting. Thirty minutes later, just hanging around LH Reef trolling and ready to cast, I came across Paul, whom I know from previous fishing trips out in LB. We agreed that things were pretty quiet and I turned away to head closer inshore where some birds were starting to put in an appearance when a small bust-up occurred within casting distance. I was ready and fired off a (first) cast into the area where several splashes and swirls indicated feeding fish. I cranked the reel handle and immediately felt and saw a strike on my white slug lure. Then my wet hand slipped off the reel handle and the line went slack. Bummer. But all was not lost. I cranked harder and found that the fish was still connected. Accompanied by that beautiful howl that reels uniquely generate, the reel gave line to the fish as it frantically headed in the away direction. I knew from the fight that this was almost certainly a spotty mac and within a few minutes this was confirmed as the fish came up to have a close look at its adversary, then shot off again. Soon the fight was all gone from the spotty and I tail lifted him into the boat -- my first) fish for 2010!

0637hrs. Spotty mac hits the deck!

Shortly after this doctor dog called up and announced that he also had a spotty mac aboard after dropping one earlier. He was closer inshore than I and, looking in that direction, I could discern lots of birds wheeling and diving between him and me. I reported this activity to the other NYs at Jew Shoal and they opted at that time to start heading toward us, still about 45 minutes paddle time away from them, although whalebait had decided earlier that LH Reef was a better proposition and was already half way to us.

Suddenly there were birds everywhere and power boats seemingly materialising from thin air. The spotty macs and tuna were sporadically charging through small bait schools. But the action at individual bust-ups was brief. Still, people were catching fish, some of them, who were on on charter boats, for the first time, by all appearances. Around now whalebait arrived to join us and doctor dog announced that another spotty had hit his deck. "Bugger! Bugger!" came over the radio, obviously from fishless and frustrated Jaro, still about 30 minutes away.

I continued to cruise around looking for casting opportunities, taking care not to get to involved with the armada of power boats criss-crossing the active area. Around 0715, just as Jaro and Jimbo arrived, I'd decided that I'd better head toward home as the breeze wasn't letting up at all and the journey back was head-on into it, at least 3.7km of chop, probably 45 minutes at least. Anytime I stopped paddling I was moving away from the launch point at about 1.5kph.

I saw Jimbo with a bent rod and went over in the hope of a photo opportunity (I'm always looking for good pics), only to find he had boated an undersize spotty mac which had to be returned to the water without delay. Doctor dog was nearby and apparently drifting, in my path home but as I approached I saw that he had a substantial fish cradled in his lap. I was delighted to find he had a beautiful Spaniard, a fitting subject for the camera if ever there were one.

0753hrs. Mark's (aka doctor dog) best kayak caught Spaniard. He'd cast that lure hanging from its mouth into a small bust-up and come up trumps. Maybe he'll give us a separate, blow-by-blow, technical account later?

Doc dog and I spent quite a while getting photos (thanks, Mark) and were consequently blown back along our track about 500m before we started out once more toward MG. Around now, Hollywood, having finished outrigger paddle training around 0730 and launched for a fishing session, joined us. He'd caught a school mackerel (aka doggie mackerel) on his way out so was on the board already. Doc dog and I continued doggedly toward MG, a pretty hard slog through the chop. As we left them, Jaro, Jimbo, whalebait and Hollywood were closing in on another feeding frenzy.

Gradually the distance to MG as indicated by my GPS dwindled until at last it was less than 1km. The breeze slackened as we approached the shelter of the land so that gave us some respite. As we got to MG, Paul joined us from the east and we three hit the nearly empty beach within a few minutes of each other.

0902hrs. Doctor dog's Spaniard. 1.22m.

Doctor dog's two spotty macs (he'd released another as undersize)

My spotty mac, the runt of the litter

Paul, not a NY member, had caught two spotties about the same size as DD's. Then the other NYs started to arrive at the beach...

Whalebait's first ever spotty mac.

Hollywood arrives at Middle Groyne. Note NY sticker on his bow; Hollywood arranged to have them made. Thanks, mate.

The Sticker Company of Geelong provided the stickers. Great service, great price.

0930hrs. All safely back. Doc dog has already left the fish measure and photography point.

What the spotties were eating... fish about 30-40cm long.

Top: Hollywood's school mackerel. Bottom: Jaro's spotty mac

An unexpectedly better day than we hoped for. Everyone caught at least one fish and doc dog won't forget it for quite a while. Thanks for coming along, guys.

Kev

Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle

VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner

http://noosayakers.blogspot.com

Addendum from doctor dog

Kevin as always wrote a great report and took some special photo's of our adventure on Wednesday 6.1.10 and as requested I should fill in a few details as to my captures on the day.

I'm not good at those very early starts so it was myself and Paul in the second or third wave of paddlers at around 5.30 am as we made our way towards LHR( Little Hall's Reef).

The early fishermen had gone to the outer bays and as they had no luck out there and Jew Shoal I decided to prospect along the shore line towards Halls Knob before heading seaward to the reef.

I was trolling a new Magnum Rapala in a blue colour pattern that has been successful for me in the past and keeping an eye out for "Birds & Bustups" where pelagics are feeding on bait from underneath the schools.

Not far north of the river-mouth I encountered my first feeding schools and stopped padddling to cast a metal slug of about 50 gms.

I am using a new Shimano one piece rod coupled with a Penn 850SS reel loaded with 10 kg Platinum mono. I tie a double of about 1.5-2 m and tie the slug straight to the double ---- no swivel no trace no wire--- .The slug is a Kmart silver fish--- from about 5-6 years ago when they were on special for about $1.00 each .

I have beefed up the split rings and trebles to something more heavy duty - these lures have been very successful for me over the past few years-- at 50 gms they are a bit big when the fish are feeding on small "glassies" but now that the bait is getting a little bigger ( 30-40 mm) not cm this lure seems to be working better. At that weight it is much easier to get a good distance with a cast as well.

With the wind behind me it was easy to get close to the schools and get a good cast and retrieve going.

At least until that bloody jet ski turned up. That craft really seemed to put the fish down very quickly.

Fortunately the jetski moved on and after a few minutes the fish started feeding again and I was able to hook up to my first Spottie of the morning.

In my excitement I was too hasty once I had him along side and he was able to throw the hooks before I got organised with gaff and towel.

I hooked another spottie shortly after of around 70 cm and was able to get a gaff into this fish and subdue him with a towel get him bled before stowing in the forward hatch.

Mr Jetski came back with more boats and the school dived again so I drifted and paddled towards LHR where I found another school of feeding fish. The mackerel seem to have a distinctive feeding pattern setting them apart from the tuna and bonito where the feeding fish often leap clear of the water it is more usual for the mackerel to scythe through the surface of the water without their bodies really becoming visible or leaving the water.

I shortly after hooked and landed my best spottie of the day and then proceeded to paddle back towards Middle Groyne as with the southerly breeze it was going to be a slog back home.

Jaro Jimbo and Whalebait had joined Sunshine and I at this stage after prospecting further east to no avail.

Jaro was a short distance to my right and in front when there were a couple of substantial but short lived boils just seward of our path . I whistled my loudest to him to get his attention without reverting to radio and after putting in a short burst of paddling was able to stow my blade and begin a couple of casts at this fairly inconsequential and so far "birdless bustup".

I had a fairly solid bump to my first cast and an enthusiastic follow to within a few metres of the yak as I retrieved. Jaro was excited to receive similar treatment to his cast. My second cast was nailed within a few cranks of the reel. I thought I had lost the fish before the fight had begun . No he was swimming towards me --- I was determined to set the hooks properly as I had felt the weight of this fish at the start so I cranked harder and put in a couple of vigorous pump and winds . The fish felt the hooks properly now and took off towards Granite bay at blistering speed . With the moderate drag I had set -- I was losing line at an alarming rate but as the fish initially was pulling on the quarter my yak was offering a lot of resistance --- as the bow came round to the fishes direction of escape my boat speed picked up but fortunately the rate of line loss slowed.

The fish slowed and I was able to retrieve about half of the lost line before he took off on the second and then third of his dashes for freedom.

When I first saw the fishes tail I was worried I had a shark --- that impression turned out to be an optical illusion as my quarry then turned sideways and gave me a "flash" of his broad silvery side-- no shark this one.

The first three torrid runs were followed by several progressively weaker efforts before the Spaniard came to the port side of my yak. I burried my gaff into something vital and soft just behind his left pectoral fin and he barely moved. I was taking no chances with a fish of this size so I left the gaff in him and covered his head and the lure with my towel.

I was slowly and carefully able to reach down to the tail and put on a tail rope while he lay along side my yak but with head swathed in towel and still pressed with the gaff onto the port gunwhale . Once secured with the tail rope I could retrieve the lure which by now was hanging by only one strand of the double.

Kev came and took a swag of photo's. I was feeling very pleased with myself and paddled home-ward dragging a sweet little bonito on a "easy troll XOS special".. NO touches all the way back to MG but I had enough fish anyway.

I was really stoked to get a spaniard of this size especially on a cast slug. He measured 122cm and weighed 10 kg.

Thanks Noosa Yakkers for the company and doing the early research out to the bays and JS you saved me a lot of paddling.

Cheers,

Doctor D

Spaniard for eyetag, 03Jan10

From: "kevin long"
Subject: fishing today -- 03jan10
Date: Sunday, 3 January 2010 10:56 AM

Don't get excited guys, nothing much to report, but we did get out.

Jimbo, Stu and I all arrived at MG carpark between 0415 and 0430. Ian's Subie was there already in its standard spot -- clearly he'd launched somewhat earlier.

This being my first launch for 2010 I marked it by doing something dumb. I launched first and found myself near the exit waiting for an apparently endless set of breakers about 2-3 feet high to pass through. The biggest one of this set got me just as I was foolishly dead in the water, instead of powering ahead. Going backwards in a yak was never one of my strong suits and shortly I found myself standing waist deep in the surf next to my upside down Espri. Jim passed by on his way out, chortling to himself as I righted the yak and jumped back in the saddle for another go, this time successful. Stu joined us out the back shortly afterward.

Once ready we set out for Jew Shoal which, even at this early hour, was accumulating the holiday fishing set in boats from 12 feet to 12 metres. Just at the southern edge of JS I saw Stu, not far away to the east, stop trolling and start reeling, his rod tip bent over. Hoping for a photo I paddled over, just in time to see Stu's rod straighten and his jaw drop. The fish was gone. Teeth marks on his Gold Bomber lure indicated that a probable Spaniard had escaped the dinner table. That's fishing, Stu. It's early days yet and if the weather's kind to us you should have another go at a Spaniard soon.

At JS I came across Ian paddling gently, towing a slimy mackerel on a Spaniard Special. He'd had one strike on his bait, but had no fish in the boat when we parted shortly afterward. One large game boat/cruiser near me landed a reasonable spotty, or perhaps a doggie mack, but I saw no others take fish.

Hall's Reef, some 3.7km west, seemed a better option to me so I headed that way, leaving the Christmas crowd behind. There was an easterly current so the journey toward Hall's took longer than I normally would expect and when I was still about 1km out the northerly breeze started to freshen so, knowing that a strong northerly was due sometime today, I decided to change heading for Little Hall's Reef, to the south and closer to home. With the breeze now behind me, I cruised effortlessly toward LH Reef, coming across occasional isolated feeding events, unfortunately none of them initiated by spotties or Spaniards. Although I cast slugs into all of these and was continuing to troll a hard bodied lure, I couldn't raise a scale.

As the breeze increased in strength I turned for MG, still trolling, and landed there safely at just after 8am to find that Stu had beaten me by 10 minutes. He'd caught nothing except a couple of mac tuna. This trip qualified him for his Noosa Yakkers stickers which I duly presented in the car park.

By the time Stu and I had washed and racked our yaks Jimbo was approaching the beach so down we went to find that he also had caught nothing at all, but at least his Noosa Yakkers stickers, freshly applied to the shiny part of his Espri bows last night, were looking brand new, thus vouching for the quality of the glue.

I don't know how Ian went but I hope he lets us know.

::::::::::
Later, from Ian

Hi All, The Spaniard I got went 1050mm and he was quite a fat fish for the length, I got him very close to the Pinnacle on JS. After stowing him and rebaiting I'd paddled back across the Pin and had another strike but the fish missed the hooks. Nothing else happened on Jew Shoal until I turned too sharp, my rig got a little close to the bottom and I caught a Red Scorpion Cod. I carefully released him and headed wide of LHR then turned and while crossing LHR I had a strike and failed to hook up after a screaming run that took at least 150m of line in about 15 seconds. I was using a Spaniard Special with Slimy Mackerel for every strike. The fish seemed deep as I was paddling very slowly with about 50-70 m of line out the back.

::::::::::::::

Thanks for going guys. Over to you Jaro for the next NY outing (possibly midweek?)

Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://noosayakers.blogspot.com

Laguna Bay quiet, 02Jan10

From: "Jaro Cerny"
Subject: Fishing Report ... 02/01/2010
Date: Saturday, 2 January 2010 11:18 AM

Hi Yakkers,

Jim and I fronted up to MG about 4.15am and were greeted by a very low tide and some nasty waves. However, with great skill and dexterity (and a little luck) we both got through unscathed but a little wet.

We proceeded towards LHR and came across a lot of bird and fish activity but casting into the schools, which we later determined to be bonitos and mac tuna, was fruitless. So we trolled out to LHR where we tried everything to no avail except for me catching 4 or 5 bonitos.

We decided to go to the National Park and then home which we did as we had no success. The tide was now very high so coming to shore was done quite easily. We landed about 9.15am to be greeted by Josie who was having a peaceful time out of the sun.

Turtleboy Steve had come later and called us with the same problem as before... we could hear him but he could not hear us. We never met up with Steve but he did email us re the communication problem later and intimated that he had not caught any fish.

Jaro
Noosa Yakkers Coordinator
Viking Pro Fish 45
Call Sign Jaro
http://noosayakers.blogspot.com