DB Reef snapper, 11Oct11

Wind: light, variable
Swell: low N
Current: none
Launch point: Doggie Beach
Participants: richmond, pedro, jag-one, turtleboy, jimbo, sunshiner

I understand that richmond launched from MG, but the rest of launched from Doggie Beach, at varying times. In any case I was the last to launch as a result of a very late night the night before.

Launch conditions at DB were exceptional, the sort of rare conditions not to be missed if you can make it. Shimmering glass-clear water tumbling in tiny waves onto a pale yellow sand beach with a backdrop of a blue sky -- fantastic.

By the time I launched at around 0830 (around three hours later than the others) I learned by radio that pedro and jag-one had each bagged one snapper but jimbo and turtleboy had nil returns.

Rather than paddle the full distance of 1.5km to the mark at which pedro, turtleboy and jag-one were fishing (jimbo was fishing in the north sunshine area, while richmond, I think, was fishing JS), I opted to try one of my closer marks first. Clearly the fishing was not in the sensational category out further so why not try closer in before heading out wide?

Despite the proliferation of life near the bottom, I couldn’t attract any attention from large fish so headed out wide after getting two soft plastic baits chopped to pieces by creatures with small mouths and sharp jaws.

By now pedro had headed even further out so only jag-one and turtleboy were left on this mark, Doggie Beach Reef.

On the way I came across several turtles just basking in the sun. They must have been sleepy because I got close to a couple before they detected me and, with a small splash, went for the bottom.

Jag-one fishes and paddles from the stern seat of a double kayak. This works for him, even through some quite challenging surf breaks. You can always recognize him and his boat from a distance at sea because the combination looks like the profile of an oil tanker, with a long, long, front section and superstructure prominent at the stern.

I’d arrived at this location at about 0930 and jag-one, who’d had no further action since boating a snapper when he first arrived very early on, mentioned that his GPS was telling him that the best fishing times for today were between 0930 and 1130. Therefore the action might start soon. I was sceptical about this prediction but deployed my usual soft plastic bait anyway. At 0945 my SP was taken vigorously while it was hanging practically motionless under the yak, close to the bottom in 26m depth. While this wasn’t a big snapper, it was a keeper and very welcome as fresh fish for the table at home.

This gave us some hope but my companions couldn’t get a hit, and nor could I, until an hour later when my SP was seized at about 18m as it was dropping.

Meanwhile, pedro had been radioing reports of occasional catches elsewhere on the reef, interestingly, after 0930. My score of two, albeit small, snapper, both on SP, was being clobbered by his bait fishing technique, especially after he started using pieces of fresh bonito, one of several he’d caught on pilchard bait, down deep.

As usual at this time of the year on the Sunshine Coast and in tropical waters world-wide, there was quite a lot of trichodesmium adrift. This is a form of cyanobacteria, and not, as some commonly believe, “coral spawn”.

My kayak was drifting at right angles to the tiny northerly breeze and this caused the floating trichodesmium to accumulate in layers on the downwind side of the kayak.

By now we were thinking of heading in. Jimbo had already left, fishless except for a small mac tuna, and turtleboy had decided to also head for the beach via the close-in mark I’d tried earlier on. One last cast produced a handsome maori cod, unfortunately (for me) less than minimum legal size, which is 45cm.

Turtleboy was safely on the beach by the time jag-one and I pulled the pin and so helped guide us to the best beach landing spot. I think today’s return to Doggie Beach is the easiest I’ve had. Pedro was not far behind us and we paddlers watched with interest as he brought his pedal yak safely through the small break.

Pedro had a varied catch which included three snapper, three sweetlip, a tusk fish and a couple of bonito about 30cm long.

This was a beautiful day to be out on the ocean in a kayak. I didn’t earlier mention the whales, which were a significant part of the scenery today. One in particular put on a fine display of tail slapping just to the north of us while we fished Doggie Beach Reef.

Comments welcome from all, especially those out fishing today. Richmond, how’d you go?

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Location:Sunshine Reef