Subject: fishing this afternoon -- 26jul09
Date: Sunday, 26 July 2009 7:11 PM
I had a leisurely brekky with Mary, fully expecting that the morning wind would not die down. But as the morning wore on, I couldn't help but notice the tree tops near home and their unmistakeable evidence that the breeze was dropping out. I went to the Seabreeze website and noticed that the breeze was still brisk at DI Point but was negligible at Cape Moreton, further south. Hope was now building that I might get a yakking trip this arvo as the weather normally develops from the south. The coastwatch surf cams website was having a technical problem with their Main Beach camera but I went for the river mouth camera which showed no swell and a sparkling sea barely ruffled by the breeze. It was about then (1122am) that I decided to go on the judgement that the breeze would likely drop out and so sent a quick email out to Noosa Yakkers. By 1145 I was out of the house and trundling in my Sierra toward Hastings Street, which, as usual on a sunny Sunday morning was busy. Carparking was the next problem to be solved. Fortunately I bagged one down near the river side of the Spit, a full one minute's walk distant from where we normally park, but heck, I was lucky to score a park straight off so there's no point in complaining.
1206pm. Ready to launch. A film/camera crew was just packing up to the left of where the yak is parked.
You can see how nice it was but the sunshine was about to be blanked off for the afternoon as the cloud mass visible in the pic was about to interrupt the arriving warming rays of sunlight. The breeze was light and variable in close and very soon I was off toward Jew Shoal, having decided initially to target the northern side as I expected a northerly breeze to kick in.
By 1300 I was in place near A3 02, not far from a huge cruiser whose skipper seemed to be having difficulty working out where to fish. Also out there fishing were several 4m to 5m outboard powered craft and a 40 foot sailing catamaran. None of these craft seemed to be boating fish, fairly normal for the casual Sunday fishos as far as I can tell.
My first drift across my chosen piece of reef was interrupted by the huge cruiser anchoring right in my drift line causing me to have to move several times. I'd had no hits on the first or second drifts over this area near A3 02 in 20m of water so started to think about alternatives. The breeze out there initially was consistently from the ESE and my drift was straight toward the NW at a very reasonable speed, perhaps slightly faster than I'd like but pretty good anyway. At about 1330 I decided to move into shallower water which was more suited to the drift speed so headed for The Pinnacles and started a drift from there.
The first action I got was at 1345...
1347. Black tipped cod. Undersize and pretty but it was nice to know that something was active down there.
I was fishing in my usual style with a trailing rig baited with a 1/4 ounce jig and 4 inch Powerbait and a cast outfit (casting down wind, allowing the 1/8oz jig and plastic bait to fall gently to the bottom around 18-20m below). The drift continued and before long I got a decent hit on the cast jig and had just settled in to fight the fish when the line went slack. Just as this happened, the trailing rig went off then it too went slack. I marked the spot on the GPS then reeled in first one, then the other outfit to find both jigheads gone and the line showing no sign of bottom abrasion. Neither of the breaks had been at the knot so the logical conclusion was that I'd encountered a roaming school of something with very sharp teeth (possibly tailor). I rerigged and put them both out again, noting that the bottom hereabouts went quite quickly from 15m or so to 20m.
A little further along the depth was consistently 20m so I opted to turn back and redrift through the spot I'd just marked. The distance back was only 200m or so and I could see my previous track quite plainly on the GPS. The drift restarted, I had no action until very close to where I'd had the previous hits when the trailing outfit howled briefly as line peeled off against the drag then stopped. I reeled it in. All was intact -- well at least I hadn't lost another jighead. Clearly there was something happening around this spot so I continued the drift for a while, partly out of curiosity as to the topography of the reef in that area (I don't think I've fished that part of the reef much in the past) then turned back once more into the wind to my previous start point to drift it again. This time, approaching The Spot the trailing rig howled and the rod bent over satisfyingly. I picked it up and felt the weight of a decent fish. Just then, the skipper of the huge cruiser which I spoke of earlier decided it was time to go home. His path to home passed quite close to where I was fighting my fish, clearly obvious by the bend in the rod and the fact that the yak was being towed off the normal drift track. This apparently went unnoticed by the owner of the gin palace as he opened up the throttle and departed in a roar for the Noosa River mouth, passing about 30m to the west of me. Perhaps he was just pissed off that he and his crew had caught nothing (which they hadn't as I'd been watching them all this time) and here was this guy in a tupperware boat clearly hooked up to something decent. Anyway, his wake caused me a few anxious moments but the Espri is pretty stable so we weathered these steep little waves and then returned to the fight.
It took a few minutes to get on top of the fish which I thought may be a snapper but wouldn't have been surprised to find something else on the end of the line. Eventually it gave up the fight and lay floating submissively next to the yak - a very nice snapper, my best this season so far. I inserted the gaff into the gills, lifted it into the yak and held it down with one foot while getting the tether out.
1440hrs. My best snapper of the season so far lies vanquished in the footwell. Yee ha!
I'd previously decided that I'd start heading home around 3.00pm and I was tempted to stay longer as the wind was now dying away completely. It was still quite overcast however, and I had a nice fish so I decided that I'd leave soon and did so around 1515hrs, with 3.8km to go to get back to the beach.
1509hrs. Looking NW toward the Cooloola sand hills just before I decided to leave.
The trip back was easy and although there was a small wave or two at MG, it was easily dodged. I took a photo of the fish on the beach...
1609hrs. 65cm snapper. Note the huge knob on its head. It was a female fish by the way.
Just about the only other person on the now darkening beach, an elderly lady from Toowoomba, offered to take my pic with my camera. What could I say?
Sorry you weren't there guys. Wednesday's looking good.
Kev
Red & Yellow Espri, black paddle
VHF channel 09 or 22 (if alone), Call Sign: sunshiner
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