Since mid 2007, members of Noosa Yakkers have been writing and illustrating kayak fishing Trip Reports and publishing them by whatever means available. This blog collects all of our early reports (sent out by email) plus the later TR published here on Blogger, and more recently, Monthly Summaries of the reports published on our Facebook Group.
Conditions: Wind W to SW less than 10 knots, swinging to Northerly later. Low tide 10 am
Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated
Jaro, Diesel, PeeBee and I launched before 6 am. It was a very easy launch and pleasant paddle over to Jew Shoal with just enough offshore wind for Jaro to use his sail. We trolled a mix of lures and baits with Diesel trolling both a hard body lure and weighted pilchard, while I trolled a Halco 120. There was no surface action, very few birds and no fish caught on the way out there.
Sunrise over Jew Shoal with Diesel in the distance
On arrival at Jew Shoal we all switched to bottom bashing, Diesel and Jaro with bait and PeeBee and I with soft plastics. Several small reef fish were caught including two Pearl Perch, one by Diesel while I got the other, both just missing the size limit. Jaro reported some small catches but no keepers.
An undersized Pearl Perch before being released
Stormin arrived at MG after a night shift in the plastics factory and radioed to announce that he was heading over to join us at Jew Shoal. A few minutes later we received an excited call from him that he had seen a whale just near the shark nets. As the rest of us had seen nothing, Diesel and I concluded Stormin had probably inhaled plastic fumes while and work, and was hallucinating. Stormin made it out to Jew Shoal and reported a second sighting. Again Diesel and I saw nothing which reinforced our conclusion regarding the plastic. But after Stormin's fourth sighting we also spotted the whale - the first for us this season.
At around 9 am I noticed BeeBee's rod doubled over so paddled in his direction. He had hooked something big and was being towed in a southerly direction. Diesel also paddled over to watch the action, with both of us staying far enough away to allow him to fight the fish. After about 20 minutes a large ray jumped out the water. I only got a brief glimpse but it was black on top with a white belly. Diesel reckons it was a Manta Ray but I am really not sure as I did not get a good view. It was probably at least 1.5 metres across. PeeBee's battle continued with the ray having a few powerful runs that stripped most of his line from the reel. Eventually he had the ray beneath the kayak At this stage I suggested to PeeBee that he cut the line rather than try and get the ray into the kayak as we did not want to name a road after him. So he set the ray free. This is the biggest fish PeeBee has ever hooked and it certainly put up a good fight.
PeeBee fighting the ray
We continued bottom bashing and Stormin caught two Grassies, one of which was around 40cm. I hooked a few more reef fish then caught a very small bonito on a trolled lure.
Small bonito
Jaro and PeeBee headed back home at around 10 am with the rest of us following an hour later. The beach landing was easy. Overall a fund day out! And condolences to Sunshiner who missed the trip due to a flat car battery.
Two TR in one, plus an interesting piece of footage at the end.
(1)
TR by diesel
Wind: 0 to 5kts SE
Swell: Approximately 1 mtr
Water temp: 19.4
Tides: low 0430hrs High 1017hrs
Current: Non detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: Very little
Participants: Sunshiner, Redwood, Tunny, Gibsoni, Doc Dog, jaro, Stormin, eyetag, diesel
My trip distance: 13 km
Keen Angler Program: One frame donated.
As is normal for winter, we planned to be at Middle Groyne at 0530 hrs for a 0600 hrs launch. As trip coordinator I figured I would arrive early at 0510 and meet the yakkers as they arrived. How wrong you can be!
Gibsoni was waiting with his yak off the roof of the car and near ready to go. He was spending a couple of days at Coolum and hoped to fish with us while there, so we checked out the conditions on the beach then went back to the car park to set up.
We had zero wind and and monster waves of point 3 of a metre, and very little swell. There were occasional sets of waves in the half metre plus range. Piece of cake!
The rest of the yakkers arrived so we unloaded and set up then moved down to the beach to launch.
I launched and made my way out the back and was followed closely by sunshiner, tunny, gibsoni, all making a reasonably dry entry.
The target was Jew Shoal, as the local fishing reports were telling us that snapper were on the bite all over the reef.
As we made our way out to our favorite secret spots we had radio checks from redwood, stormin and jaro who had just arrived and were about to launch. Tunny and I made good time and arrived just on sunrise. The sunrise was the high point of the day as the clouds then covered most most of the sky and a wind with a real chill in it blew in from the south west.
Tunny sets up for the day.
I was bottom bashing with squid and pilchard chunks, sunshiner with soft plastics, tunny, stormin and redwood had a mix of plastics, live and dead baits. I pulled five fish in the first hour but the trouble was they were all under size. Where are the big ones! Doc dog called in the first keeper for the day at around 0730, a 50cm Snapper, so things were really looking up. My first keeper arrived in the form of a Grass Sweetlip, coming in at 39 cm at just after 0800hrs.
My first and only fish for the day.
Redwood called in informing us he had boated a Sweetlip and then stormin as well, so the spread of fish was pretty much all over the shoal.
At this stage sunshiner, tunny and jaro were still fishless.
About now I had a huge hit and run on my bottom bashing rig and the line flew off the spool at an alarming rate. The reel had about 120 metres on the spool and when the Jew Shoal nasty broke me off there was very little of it left. Lucky the water depth is such that I could still bottom bash for the rest of the trip with what I had left on the reel even though I could see through the line to the spool when I hit bottom.
All the line that was left on the spool. Note that the black shape behind the reel is my bootie, not the Great White from Sunshine Beach coming through.
After bagging out on Grinners, jaro called it quits. Doc dog figured he had a enough fish for a meal and also headed in. So by 0930 three of the crew had called it a day and headed for the Middle Groyne, both with and without fish.
Slowly the exodus continued and most of the remaining were heading back to the groyne by 1000hrs.
Sunshiner and I were about 1.5 km from shore when I spotted a Gannet ahead of us. I called sunshiner and asked if it was the gannet from last Wednesday back for a return match.
I laughed, he didn't.
The gannet then took flight, only to fold its wings and do a diving attack on my red and white (Qantas) HBL. Fortunately it missed and only tangled its wing in the line.
The release was simple and pain free.
Sunshiner was now laughing!
Everyone made it safely back to the groyne and through the surf break (.3 mtr) then the fish were pulled out of yaks for the post trip happy snaps.
Eyetag who had launched at 0430 arrived back on the beach just after us, and showed the results of a good day on north Sunshine Reef. He picked up Sweetlips, Squire, Venus Tusk Fish and a Maori Cod.
The catch of the day, note the Venus Tusk Fish and the Maori Cod.
Redwood had a great day with two Sweetlips which he caught on soft plastics, a first for him. The party then broke up vowing to do it all again this week if the weather holds.
Conditions: Light wind from S/SE, low swell, bit of cloud about
Keen Angler Program: None
The MG car park was alive with yakkers by the time I rolled in at 5.45 and we all quickly readied and hit the water. The launch was as easy as it gets and once out of the surf zone everyone decided to head to Jew Shoal as that's where the action had been over the past week.
As I was heading past the nets I heard Gibsoni's drag going off and turned around to see a heavily bent rod. As Gibsoni didn't have a radio I couldn't find out if he was onto a fish or the nets. Let us know in the comments below Gibsoni.
Half way out to the shoal I saw clouds of bait fish on the sounder so I decided to drop my bait fish jig to see what I could get and up came a whole bunch of small mullet. Tunny and I had decided to do what we usually do and copy the best fishos around and we thought it was time to get in on the live bait action seeing as how Pedro was smashing things recently including records. Our devilish plan was to fill our leg-wells with sea water (not difficult to do in an evo; the launch normally takes care of that with the nose punching through the waves) and store the lives in there. I dropped 4 baby mullet in the leg-well and continued to JS. By the time I got there the mullet were not in good shape and I realised that the leg-well live bait idea was dead. Never mind; plenty more where those came from as the shoal was teeming with bait fish and they couldn't seem to get enough of the live bait jig.
Live bait jigging - I'm not sure what this is but suspect it might be a small Pike.
It was around 6.30am and yakkers and a number of stinkies were dotted all over the shoal. Along with trying out the live bait thing, I was also determined to catch something on a soft plastic. I have been trying for years and never succeeded, besides one small pinkie during the Adder Rock comp. Today was the day! I'd been into BCF the previous day and with guidance from Tunny and Sunshiner's recent catches went about selecting my ammo; 4" Zman StreakZ Curly TailZ in a dark, light and two-tone combined with 1/4oz 4/0 jig head. As taught to me by Sunshiner, I lobbed the brown SP as far as I could cast it into the direction I was drifting so that the jig would come back toward me in an arc. Sunshiner had said that he often found the strike was very soon after the jig hit the water, or when the jig was perpendicular and directly below. I saw the line floating toward me and then just as it was directly below me, bang, I was on to something good and managed to wrestle up a nice Sweetlip which went 48cm on the mat. Seems that old saying that persistence pays off is true.
For anyone interested, this is what the Sweetie coughed up.
Doc Dog who had been fishing nearby suddenly picked up sticks and started paddling SE and a short time later he announced that he'd boated a good size snapper. In his excitement he called it 60 but as he mentioned over the radio, it was possible fish might shrink by the time he got back to the beach and indeed this proved true as it came in officially at 50cm. The snapper was taken on a trailing pillie.
Diesel and Stormin were also getting some action - see Diesel's report for more info.
And as for Jaro, well he just couldn't get the grin off his face, ah no, sorry, he just couldn't get the grinners off his hook. He said that if there was a record for grinners he would have certainly smashed it. It was so big he thought he had a shark on; three foot he mentioned to me.
At some point my trailing Pike livie was smashed. The drag went hard twice and then nothing; the braid had been cut through well above the leader, so maybe something with teeth or something sharp managed to swim in such a way that it cut through the line.
I jigged for some more and managed to pull up pinkies and this cod which I released.
Cod caught and released on live bait jog
It was now getting late in the morning and I was feeling rather poorly from all the live bait jigging, just a bit too much close work for me, but still I didn't get sick, so I feel I've really managed to overcome the terrible sea sickness I used to have a few years ago; this all without any drugs. Another case of persistence paying off perhaps. Sunshiner and Diesel announced they were heading back which just left Tunny and me. I was going to have one last drift and call it quits. Half way through the drift I bumped into Tunny and while we were having a chat my dropping SP jig was taken again by something decent and again taken as it was directly below me. Another Sweetlip, this one a few cm smaller than the last one.
46cm sweetlip - pic by Tunny
Tunny and I trolled our livies back to the beach without any action and I managed to release my Pike, which seemed to swim away ok.
Soft plastics rock.
As it turns out Eyetag was also out on the water, but further out on North Sunshine. He picked up a couple of nice Sweeties and also a Maori Cod, which as I understand, have rarely been caught at legal size before by NY as legal specimens are usually found at reefs that we're unable to get to (at least those of us who think 8km offshore is a bit too far). Well done Eyetag.
Another good day out on Laguna Bay.
Redwood
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(3)
Interesting footage captured at Sunshine Reef, same day, by local fisho Brian Martell
Wind: 5-8 knots over the course of the morning
Launch point: Lake MacDonald, Strawberry Patch
Participants: Gemini
It's been a while since my last trip report, so even after a night of terrible sleep I leapt out of bed ready for action early this morning with a smile. I had erred on the side of caution and opted for the fresh today, even though it looked reasonable for offshore action. I'll get to that next week...
I arrived and unloaded at Lake MacDonald before dawn in the mild chill. It was still fairly muddy at the launch site, so I was doing well not to slip over in my thongs before I even made it to the water. Once launched though, I was presented with this view for my troubles.
The going was slow for a while, and there was little surface activity. I was using my R2S baby vibe today, so if they were hungry I knew old faithful wouldn't let me down. After a couple of bumps I was finally hooked up, and the fish gave me a fun fight. After boating him I found he had swallowed the lure deep, which is probably why he was so upset. Removing the trebles proved interesting, and he shed some claret in the process. He swam off though, so I can only hope he survived. No decent pic of this fella (just the capture), as I was pressed for time getting him back into the water.
The next 3 were pretty quick to take the lure after the sun rose, but only one was of a decent size.
I cast my way around to the Palm Farm with no further success. It was a beauty of a day, and I could have easily anchored up and snoozed for a while on the water. Without any further strikes though, I made my way back.
I had just made my way past Toga Bay, cruising through the lilies in close to shore, when I had another taker. He was a good fish, and decided to take a brief run on my drag before cooperating.
He was no record breaker, but I had hoped he would be a personal best. After a quick sit on the Noosa Yakkers brag mat, he was proven to still be shy by a couple of centimetres. Bugger.
That was it for the fish, but I did spy a murder of crows being set upon by a sea eagle who seemed to be rather upset with them being so close to her nest. I suspect they are feeling a little worse for wear at the moment. Do NOT mess with eagles.
Wind: S up to about 5 knots (as forecast by SeaBreeze)
Swell: 1.5m ENE
Water temp: 22.2°C
Tides: 1:35 am : 0.45 L; 7:06 am : 1.42 H
Current: none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none
Participants: pedro, diesel, sunshiner
My trip distance: 11km Keen Angler Program: I donated 2 snapper frames
Today was the only day since last Thursday that the wind had dropped below 15 knots during daylight. The retirees' motto is "Get 'em while you can" so diesel and I fronted again today, accompanied by pedro, who, while not retired, will fish every chance he gets.
Pedro must be getting old as he hung back waiting on the beach with we two older farts, all of us trying to get a handle on the confusing set pattern smashing into the groyne. The fact that we could hardly see the waves (moon had set, and cloudy, and little sign of the rising sun) made us doubly cautious. Normally pedro just shuts his eyes and paddles his pedal boat out, hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Perhaps he's had a bad experience recently.
Eventually the oldest of us showed the way, and I dry bummed it to boot. My companions joined me soon afterward, damp but not disheartened.
According to pedro, the news from Davo's was that the snapper were on at Jew Shoal. This diesel and I already knew from last week. So that made three of us for Jew Shoal. Gonna be crowded out there!
We had it all to ourselves. A couple of stinkies braved the bar during our outward passage but didn't come anywhere near us, disappearing into the distance at best possible speed in the not-inconsiderable swell.
Diesel's sunrise and general conditions pic. Wind was around five knots max from the south.
Soon we were deployed on the shoal, pedro jigging for livies (successfully) at the southern edge, diesel bashing the bottom with baits around The Pinnacles and I starting my drift in the SE corner with my cast SP and trailing outfit.
After some 15 minutes of no-talk on the radio, diesel came up and asked me what was going on. At that time none of us had anything to report but within a couple of minutes after that I was on.
It's always nice to get on the board. A 40cm snap which took a liking to my SP.
As soon as I announced this fish by radio, pedro responded to confirm that he'd also just boated a sweetie.
The wind gradually eased and conditions were perfect, if not better. I hooked up again on the SP but the hook pulled (no tooth this time!). Then I was on again, the cast SP continuing to do the damage.
Just a keeper, but very welcome.
On the sonar there were many large accumulations of bait, probably yakkas, as that's what pedro had caught as live bait. In the air, numerous gannets wheeled around blamming into the clear blue water whenever they saw, or fancied they saw, a potential meal.
Just as diesel and I were leaving the shoal for home pedro radioed that he'd boated another sweetie which, once hooked, had been eaten and then disgorged by a probable large cod (evidence: sudden huge weight on the line then the appearance of the scale-less sweetie; ask pedro and see his contribution at the end of this TR).
As usual, we trolled home. Half way back my shallow-running trolled HLP went off with a decidedly lazy growl. I quickly radioed to diesel who was about three hundred metres to the east and then swung around to look after the "fish". Uh, oh! An angry gannet was flopping on the water behind me. This has happened to me before, quite a long time ago, so perhaps I should change to a deeper running lure until summer (when the gannets disappear).
Gannet hooked? Bring to port side of yak (this for right handers). Grab gannet gently but firmly, using left hand, around neck just below head and never allow its head to get within pecking distance of your face/eyes. Drag gannet onto the yak. With right hand access pliers and knife as required and then free the hook/s from the bird (this one was hooked in the soft flesh under the lower jaw and also in the right wing). Once hook is freed, make sure there's no line entangling the bird and then release it gently by just dropping it onto the water surface.
Picking up the gannet (pic by diesel)
Using the pliers (you're in trouble if you don't have any). GoPro video frame.
Checking there's no line entangling the bird before release. GoPro video frame.
This excitement over, we continued our journey. Cue the sand monster.
The surf wasn't big, but there was lots of it. I decided to try for a ride and screwed up. Wet bum. Video available.
But hey what a great morning. Clearly the snapper are there. So hone your SP skills and go get 'em!
Just heard from pedro:
~~~~~~~~
Hi Kev,
I stayed out till 12.30 landing the snapper on (second trip old) whole pilchard about 11.30, one other snapper 35cm not in pic.
No other news except a giant toad followed my livey in and bit me off very cleanly.
Notice the scales missing on the bottom grassy, had the cod on for a couple of minutes and managed to get it off the bottom before it spat the bait (hook fully engulfed by the grassy) so was playing the cod on the sweetlip's spines.
Cheers
Pete
~~~~~~~~~
Kev Long Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
Wind: S to SW up to about 5 knots (as forecast by MetEye)
Swell: 1.2m SE
Water temp: 22.8°C
Tides: 1:54 am : 1.43 H; 8:39 am : 0.54 L
Current: none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: at least one longtail seen jumping at Jew Shoal
Participants: pedro, diesel, peebee, tunny, jimbo, sunshiner
My trip distance: 11.5km Keen Angler Program: I donated a snapper frame
Relying on MetEye's wind forecast, several of us headed out today. Good decision! If anything the winds were a little lighter than I expected at Jew Shoal, so thanks very much BOM for providing this extra insight into our local weather.
To my surprise, on this chilly morning, pedro hadn't yet launched when I arrived at Middle Groyne around 05:40. Diesel was there too and the three of us were soon down on the beach, ready to launch. "Dry Bum!" was the call from each of us as diesel and I launched in semi darkness, paddling towards pedro's light as he'd launched just ahead of us. Pedro had opted to go for Little Halls Reef/Halls Reef while diesel and I reckoned Jew Shoal might be worth a shot.
Beautiful morning. Sun still 30 minutes or so from the horizon. Heavy clouds to the east showed the presence of offshore showers, while we had clear sky over head.
I took my time paddling out, being entertained by some dolphins half way and noted that I was fishing on the shoal by 0645. The water seemed beautifully clear, despite the stirring up of the big blow we've had over the last week or so.
It didn't take long. My radio chirped with diesel's announcement that he had a snapper on board. Bewdy! This also heartened our second lot of three yakkers (peebee, tunny, jimbo), who had just launched together about ten minutes earlier and were enroute to their chosen fishing areas. Jimbo to Jew Shoal, tunny and peebee to Little Halls Reef.
Diesel's pic of the first fish of the day, taken on bait.
A little while later diesel announced that he had another snapper aboard and jimbo responded immediately letting us know that he too had just boated a snapper which had taken a banana prawn on his first cast on arrival at Jew Shoal. As you can imagine, I was feeling a bit left out, but decided to stick with the technique which usually works for me rather than switch to bait.
As we've noticed before, the snapper seemed to go off the bite at js about an hour after sunrise, as my two companions caught no more today. But I got a bit of action…
Firstly, when relocating the 500m or so after my first drift, my trolled HLP went off. I have caught, and seen others catch, pretty big snapper on trolled hard body lures around Jew Shoal and suspected that this was what had nailed my lure. I was just putting more pressure on when the hooks pulled free.
Then, a little more than an hour into my casting/trailing session I lost my jighead in a puzzling incident involving the ocean floor and maybe some weakened braid. A change of SP pattern was necessary as I had no more left of the type I'd just lost so I put on an old favourite, a dark coloured 4 inch PowerBait. Note that I'd been diligently fishing the previous SP for around an hour, today, for no action. First cast with the new SP I hooked up (coincidence?). Not big, but I called it for a decent snapper and was relishing the tussle when the pressure suddenly went off. A few curses here! When I retrieved the jighead and SP I noticed that there was something impaled on the hook.
A snapper canine tooth with root was impaled on the hook. Presumably the hook had embedded in the root area. So now I'm into snapper dentistry. And I've kept the tooth.
So I was still fishless (but not toothless). But now comes the reward. I'd just clocked up two hours drift fishing when my SP was comprehensively nailed in a typical snapper take. As usual, line poured off the spool and my heart rate went up to dangerous levels, as I really love to catch snapper and would be even grumpier than normal if I failed to boat this fish.
But I did boat it. (Cropped frame from GoPro video)
Safely in the fishbox.
Movie of the capture (1:36)
Whew! While this was going on I had become aware through radio chatter that pedro was again strutting his stuff over near Halls Reef somewhere. It seemed that he'd boated another big longtail after a long battle (see pedro's pics at the end of this TR). Peebee had been forced early to retire for the day due to sea sickness and tunny also had nailed a snapper over at Little Halls Reef. Jimbo and diesel, nearby to me, had reported no more action.
So the remainder of us, except pedro, who was now harassing the grassies at Halls Reef, decided to head for home.
The combined catch (pedro excepted, see below). Tunny, jimbo and I caught one snapper each, while diesel caught two.
The boys at the wash point
Info from pedro:
"Hi Kev
Made the Yeeha zone, fish went 24kg at davo’s
Caught on live yakker 8/0 circle hook drifting L Halls, 40min to boat.
Cheers
Pete"
In the Yeehah! zone. Only the second fish to do so at this stage.
Stonker of a longtail. Well done, Pete.
Looks like we might be in for a great winter.
Kev Long Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
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
Wind: S to SE less than 5 knots (as forecast by MetEye)
Swell: 1.6m SE
Water temp: 23.3°C
Tides: 3:15 am : 0.42 L; 8:53 am : 1.45 H
Current: none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: some mac tuna and longtail activity
Participants: diesel, tunny, jimbo, sunshiner
My trip distance: 10.5km
Keen Angler Program: I donated a snapper frame
Let's get this clear right from the start: before today I'd had seven (yes seven) offshore yak fishing trips in a row without bringing a fish back to the beach. To say that I was getting anxious is an understatement. What was I doing wrong? As it turned out, nothing. It's just that the fish weren't present or active, I presume, because I used exactly the same techniques today and in the same location as previously and today I caught fish. I hope this points to the possibility that our usual fishing spots are coming back to their former condition.
Yesterday pedro told us all that he'd had a great day in Laguna Bay. His catch of two snapper interested me most (even though I was awed by the massive longtail he'd boated), because the snapper is one of my favourite fish, and one I hadn't caught this whole calendar year. Seldom if ever in my kayak fishing career have I not caught a snapper for five months.
So snapper were on my mind when I accepted diesel's invitation yesterday to join him at daybreak for another expedition into the bay. Jimbo and tunny also accepted, so that meant four of us to brave the cold.
And it WAS cold, until we hit the water, as the air at sea level was warmed by the much warmer ocean.
6:00am, just after diesel and I started paddling north for Jew Shoal. Note that the moon is full. Many locals say that fish can't be caught when the moon is full. Myth busted, again!
Jimbo launched a little later and also opted to head for Jew Shoal. Tunny was later still and opted for Little Halls Reef.
A light southerly breeze helped us all the way to Jew Shoal, and I'd put my first cast out (SP) at 6:29am, starting a drift from the southern edge of the shoal to take advantage of the breeze. Soon, diesel, fishing with mac tuna chunks, started to tell me by radio that he was catching various reef ooglies. Then jimbo arrived, armed with big prawns, and very quickly let us know that he'd nailed a nice fat grassie. Then diesel was also in on the act with a 48cm flathead, a fairly rare offshore catch in Noosa in my experience. Me? Nothing. Not even a touch. I had my trailing outfit rigged with a 4 inch white SP and hanging about 10-12m down; my casting outfit was rigged with my usual one-eighth ounce jighead and a 3 inch Z-man SP. Still, this system had worked in the past, so…
The GoPro caught it all. Whack! I was instantly shaken out of my torpor. The drag of my casting outfit (6kg braid) was set properly and line was pouring off the spool. I knew that this fish was almost certainly a snapper. It ran straight, deep and strongly. This was a fish I really needed. After a time the run stopped and I started to retrieve line, slowly but deliberately. A minute or so elapsed and then I could see the pale shimmer below. The shimmer became clearer and the beautiful detailed pattern of colours of a snapper were revealed. Bewdy!
The second gaff shot found a firm grip (cropped frame from GoPro video).
My first snapper for 2015!
That felt better. I now knew that my system worked and that snapper were present. I was very glad I'd got out of bed at 5:00am on this cold morning.
Jimbo by now had boated a second grassie, on prawn. The next bit of action I had was about an hour later, when my cast SP was taken by something which was obviously not a snapper.
Coach-whip trevally (regarded as "unusual" by Ern Grant). This is only the second specimen I've caught at Jew Shoal. A possible Noosa Yakkers record claim as it is not previously recorded in our list of species.
About now jimbo reported another grassie, again on prawn. And tunny had reported in, also.
The action slowed after about 08:30 and we at Jew Shoal opted to head for home, in near glassy conditions, just before 10:00am. Tunny had reported by radio that he'd caught a 40cm snapper at Little Halls Reef and was probably going to head for Halls Reef before coming back in a couple of hours after us.
Some beach pics:
Combined catch.
Three amigos (tunny still out there)
Trekker from Toulouse, visiting Noosa. "I nairver saw men fishing from ze kayaks before!"
Movie of the morning's activities
A great morning. You should have been there, Jaro!
Kev Long Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
