In other words perfect for kayak fishing.
Participants: Ian (Eye Tag), Jim (Jimbo), Matt (Gemini), Brian (Whalebait), John C and Jaro. Hope I haven't missed anyone.
We all arrived at the car park in time for a 5.00am launch and it was great to see Whalebait back with us again. It was low tide and there were dumpers just beyond the groyne and yours truly timed it perfectly to be flattened and rolled by a big dumper much to the amusement of those on shore. But I quickly righted the yak, climbed aboard like a frightened cat and paddled out without any further mishap but I had to spend time to dry out a lot of gear so I was the last to leave MG. All the others made it out safely.
Jim set off for JS while the rest of us went to SR. I got out to the extreme northern end of SR and came upon diving birds and a bust up. Hooked up with my first cast and after a short fight the tuna snapped the line.... drag too tight? In the meantime the others had hook ups off A Bay landing stripy tunas while Whalebait landed a yellowfin tuna after a good fight. Jim was having a quiet time of it at JS.
Everyone was chasing the birds and the bust ups with varying degrees of success. I caught a 55 cm stripy tuna and was told by Eye Tag that they were in the mac tuna class as far as eating was concerned so I let it go.
We all ended up together except for Jim about 2 kms out to sea off Fairy Pools. By this time Jim decided to head our way.
We were chasing the bust ups and Eye Tag and John had hook ups. John landed a yellowfin and Ian another stripy (caught 4 in all).
At this time I took the opportunity to take some photos.
Whalebait with his yellowfin
John with his yellowfin
Ian's photos of one of his stripy tuna and John, very pleased with himself with hookup
We all spent our time chasing the bust ups without any real success and by this time the chases required a lot of vigourous paddling so all of us were starting to feel exhausted and so decided to head for home.
Jim at this time had been off A Bay bottom fishing without success and he too decided to head for home and finally caught a 40 cm snapper trolling a Halco laser pro somewhere near Granite Bay.
I had ventured further south than the others on the way home when a bust up occurred in front of me and on my second cast I hooked up. It sure was a fighter, making many runs. Finally I got it close enough to see it was a good sized yellowfin. I eventually got it to the yak when it decided to make one more dive for the depths. After a total of 15 to 20 minutes I was finally able to gaff it and bring it on board.
And here it is, my first yellowfin.
We all arrived at MG around the same time, about 9.30am and as it was now high tide, coming ashore was a breeze for all of us.
It turned out that my yellowfin was the longest (70 cm) by just a small margin. Is this a noosa yakker record?
The 70cm yellowfin
Well it was a great day out with many of us having a lot of fun catching and fighting the different tunas and Jim getting a feed of snapper.
Jaro
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Email And photo from possible new member, Jonathon
Hello,
I launched yesterday morning with the boys from middle groyne and went out chasing the tuna schools. Firstly I'd like to say a massive thankyou to everyone who launched yesterday for making me feel very welcome. It was quite a surprise to turn up and be mentored at the launch and encouraged whilst out on the water. I'm used to fishing alone and it was a very pleasant feeling to feel welcome as a complete stranger. I had a couple of photos taken by Jaro and Ian and was wondering if my email address could be passed on to them so that they could forward them through. Jim also suggested that I get on the mailing list so that I get regular updates as to what is going on. If anyone is interested here's a pic of the tuna I got.
Regards, Jonathon
For a more detailed report from Jonathon see his AKFF post here
Nice work guys! I'm think I'm going to have to suck it up and come out with you all soon!
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