SR snapper, 13Sep09

From: "kevin long"
Subject: fishing today -- 13Sep09
Date: Sunday, 13 September 2009 4:37 PM

How good is that kayak fishing weather? By next Saturday I plan to be knackered...

We knew about this yesterday so Brian, Jaro and I were at Middle Groyne at oh dark thirty this morning, intent on hunting for our favourite prey, fish.

Brian negotiating the tricky little break at the mouth of the channel, 0545 this morning.

In order to successfully get through without getting VERY wet it was necessary this morning (low tide), to hold in the deeper water just behind and to the right of Brian in the pic above. This tactic allows the paddler to dart out and through the opening as soon as a lull is judged to have arrived. We all transited safely and pretty dryly and soon were out the back, setting up. The agreed target was Sunshine Reef (yes, again). I took my time this morning as I rationalised that I'd fish the closest bit of Sunshine Reef I knew of -- the place where I'd nailed the sweetlip a couple of days ago.

So we travelled independently but in touch by VHF radio. I noted, on arrival at my chosen spot at around 0655, that I was all alone. Jaro and Brian were out of sight to the east somewhere. Shortly after I arrived a very fine aluminium fishing boat carrying three punters inside and the painted word "SHIMANO" on the stern roared up and hove to nearby. The skipper asked for directions to Sunshine Reef. I briefly explained that they were on it and that they could go many kilometres north, east and south and still be on it. I also asked them if they were watching their sonar. "Flat bottom!" the skipper yelled and slammed the throttle lever forward, roaring off to the east. At the speed he was travelling the bottom could scarcely display on his sonar as anything but flat, especially given the unradical depth variations typical of Sunshine Reef. At paddling speed, the depth variations are readily seen on sonar. In fact, I'd just deliberately moved, in 100m horizontally, from water 30m deep to water 27m deep -- the shallower water being a sure sign out here of reef.

I cast my first soft plastic just before 7am. By 9.30am I, alone of the three kayak fishers, was still fishless. Brian called in first and reported a nice snapper, then sometime later Jaro announced that he also had a snapper. But I was reluctant to move on, mainly because there were signs of bait fish on the sonar and also because I wanted to get to know this bit of reef which had last week yielded to me my best ever sweetlip.

Sometime just after 9.30am I had a hookup which felt like a sweetlip and in fact, it was, about 45cm long -- a very nice keeper. It floated languidly after a tiring battle, not 2m from the yak. I reached for the gaff as I started to draw him toward me to deliver the coup de grace. It was not to be, however, as suddenly the hook pulled free, just out of gaff range. For a couple of seconds the sweetie lolled on the surface then he collected his minimal wits, flexed his body and slowly swam away back to his home. Fair enough!! But I HAD been fishing for over two and a half hours without a touch!

But there was nothing for it but to continue fishing, after all, perhaps they were coming on the bite. I cast again, retrieved gently over a period of a couple of minutes, then cast again. While my lure sinks gently, I usually keep an eye on the slack line leading from my rod tip into the water. I was doing so when the line suddenly started to become non-slack, in fact quite tight. This was some 20 seconds after my offering had commenced its descent in the 27m deep water. This was a typical snapper "take". I imagine that the fish is cruising around, probably near the bottom, and has a great view above and a good, not quite so great, view below. Anything silhouetted against the bright surface, especially if moving gently, must attract their attention. The instinct to attack the falling object has allowed the species to survive and thrive for millenia but every now and again, these days, the object is a deliberate ploy by a human hunter to catch food, namely snapper. And so it proved in this instance. In seconds the line was pouring off my reel against the lightly set drag as my offering had successfully found a pointhold in the fish's mouth. After a couple of minutes I was 90% sure this was a snapper.

Above, still from chest-cam video taken during the later part of the snapper tussle. Noosa Head in the background.

And the longer the fight went on the more I concluded that the fish was better than the average snapper we usually capture around these parts and the more concerned I became that the fish might escape. So I backed off the drag a little. Good move. This had the effect of wearing the fish out so that before much longer my snapper was under control and clearly visible several metres below the yak as, all fight now gone from him, I gently brought him to the gaff. With a successful gaffing I was on the board at last and soon announced to my companions that I had a 55cm (an underestimate as it later turned out) snapper in the yak.

0955hrs. Vanquished and tethered snapper.

The hunter's lure which led to the snapper's demise

Above: Great white hunter, Jaro, offshore from Sunshine Beach in his Profish

By 11am I'd had no more action and, other than a small finny scad capture by Brian, neither had my companions. So we agreed that at 1130 we'd head for home. By 11am the breeze had dropped off and the air temperature was beginning to rise to the uncomfortable level. So noon found us half way home, paddling along in perfect conditions. Brian arrived and ran the surf zone first. I managed to pick a lull in the procession of waves and had a smooth ride up to the beach, as did Jaro, a few minutes later in his Profish. The Sunday beach crowd was quite large and curious so we all spent some time answering the usual questions, signing autographs and being photographed by people visiting from far away and strange places, such as Tasmania ;-).

On the beach. Crowds had not yet arrived.

My snapper on the mat. 60cm.

Brian's take home catch. The skinny fish is a finny scad, a comparatively rare catch

Jaro caught and kept a snapper which measured 40cm but he'd prepared it for the table before I could photograph it.

For those interested, here's the tether system. I carry five of the S/S clips. Once secured in the fish's jaw, they are threaded on to the keeper rope (the blue cord). Presuming the keeper rope is secured to the yak and the clip doesn’t release, captured fish cannot escape or be lost overboard.

Now to get the yak ready for tomorrow. Anyone coming?

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

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