close call, 26Feb11

Subject: Fishing today -- 26Feb11
From: sunshiner
Date: 26/02/2011 3:00 PM

Weather
Cloud cover: very little cloud
Wind direction & speed: light southerly going to flat calm later
Sea state: low swell

Participants: eyetag, paddlepara, jaro, sunshiner

I wasn't expecting Brian (paddlepara) but there he was in the carpark unpacking most of his AI (no mast, only one outrigger) when I arrived. Eyetag's car was in its usual spot (he'd already launched) and shortly another vehicle pulled up with a yak I didn't recognize. This turned out to be a local guy named Logan who'd recently returned from nearly a year in Japan. He has a yellow Viking Tempo and is a keen yak fisho so please keep an eye out for him, yakkers.

With Jaro's arrival at about 0455 and a virtually windless morning, we were set to launch and soon Jaro, paddlepara and I were out the back, unpacking our gear. Radio checks over, we headed for Jew Shoal with a plan to take things as they came, depending on what we found.

Half way out to the shoal the first thing that was noticeable was the huge number of terns airborne. But, unusually, they were heading back toward the rivermouth, so possibly they'd spent the night rafted up together offshore somewhere. Soon we started to see occasional splashes as tuna got stuck into the baitfish as the steadily increasing light level allowed them to see their prey easily. We three were trolling our favourite hardbodies but had attracted nothing by the time we got close to the shoal. Still the tuna were erupting and a couple of times we got close enough to see that they were almost certainly chubby little mac tuna -- but surely there might be some more interesting predators hanging around also? This is what kept us interested.

By now we'd made radio contact with eyetag who was trolling baits around at Sunshine Reef. He'd had no action either, despite having had at least an hour's less sleep that the rest of us. Pretty soon we three were distributed over a wide area around JS, all trolling and, whenever the opportunity arose, casting a slug at the brief bustups sometimes encountered within casting range. Still no action.

I decided to head for Granite Bay as I could see terns fluttering down that way and so headed pretty much straight for Dolphin Point, at the western end of Granite Bay. On the way I noticed one power boat heading out toward Sunshine Reef, and noting that the sun was likely in its skipper's eyes, I slowed right down to give the guy plenty of space. Once I was sure he was clear I resumed my track toward the south.

When only about 300m from Dolphin Point I belatedly noticed another power boat heading my way when I was just completing a circling manoeuvre, having turned through 360 degrees to port in the process of trying to locate myself nearer to a school of baitfish. I didn't spot him until the distance between us was much less than I'd like. I could see it was a large Shark-cat or similar and he was travelling fast toward the east, despite the oncoming swell and the sun in his eyes. I'd just finished my 360 degree manoeuvre and was now headed south again. It seemed that within a very short time he and I were on a collision course. Possibly he'd changed course slightly but very soon I was looking straight through between his twin hulls as he came over the swells and I think at that time I started paddling faster and even briefly held up my paddle and waved it. To my horror, the bugger kept coming. He didn't see me at all and swept past at speed to the north of me (ie behind me) with barely the length of my kayak between us. I yelled loudly as it went past and several passengers on the charter fishing boat (for that's what it was) saw the whites of my eyes.

At first I thought he'd cut off my brand new Halco Laser Pro that I'd been trolling but it turned out that the lure itself was still to the east of me so that was saved. To his credit, the skipper hove-to and then came back to see if I was OK and offer his apologies. I accepted his apology but hope that he keeps in mind that if you can't see, for any reason, you have no business travelling fast on the open ocean. It was a narrow escape for both of us, as he would have been culpable if he'd run me down and I might have been killed. It's noteworthy that my kayak at the time offered the largest possible visual target -- ie a 4.3 m wide, brightly coloured object, passing directly across his front from his left to his right. See pic below. I thought that describing this event may prove useful to other yakkers. For your sake, please be ultra careful in that transit corridor and at all times when you encounter power boats travelling at speed. Never assume that they've seen you.


Shortly after this event, Jaro announced that he was hooked up to the north of Granite Bay and then, very soon after that, that he'd been busted off. Then I encountered at Fairy Pools a middle aged guy (youngster) on a ski with outrigger. We chatted briefly and he told me that he'd noticed lots of terns fluttering close inshore just around the corner in A-Bay. So I headed for Hell's Gates and rounded the corner into A-Bay where, sure enough, there were some terns active. I failed to raise any interest from fish there either, so headed back around Hell's Gates, noticing that paddlepara had also headed out there to A-Bay to take a look.

Jaro hooked up again, same area. This time the hooks dislodged and he got his lure back but no fish. Paddling conditions being now superb, as a result of slackening wind, I opted to head for the middle of Laguna Bay where I found some terns fluttering over what looked like a bait ball pushed together by spotty macs. The situation looked identical to the various spotty mac events encountered in the past, with the attacking fish leaving large swirls and slashes on the surface in a very small area but with no fish actually leaping out of the water. I thought I was in with a great chance here but only managed a couple of casts before this opportunity quickly dissipated. By now I'd been joined by Jaro and eyetag (who'd been updated by radio) and the three of us spent nearly an hour or so trying to chase down schools of tuna while gradually getting closer to Middle Groyne.

For the first time in ages, eyetag, Jaro and I beached our yaks with not one fish among us. Paddlepara scored a duck also. It's a particularly lean day when eyetag doesn't get a fish. Oh and I should mention that one of us had a bit of adventure in coming back through the low tide break but enough said.

One thing that may be of interest to those intending to go out over the next couple of days is that my sounder revealed a couple of large dense schools of baitfish in 8m of water within 500m of Middle Groyne. No fishy predators were bothering these fish but there'll be carnage when the predators do find them.

Thanks for organizing, Jaro and thanks for your company, all. Maybe we'll have a better trip tomorrow.

Kev
Red & white Stealth Supalite, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
http://www.noosayakkers.blogspot.com/

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