Wind: West, light for entire trip
Water quality: Poor due to run off from recent heavy rain. Murky from beach out to ocean side of Jew Shoal, SR water also green tinged.
Swell: low E
Current: not assessed
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: (8) pedro, richmond, eyetag, jaro, whalebait, kodaz, yakfinn, sunshiner. Carlton fronted but withdrew before launching due to illness.
With Jaro’s timely warning that the carpark would probably be unavailable after 05:00 today, the gang started to assemble very early. I arrived at about 04:25 and even then, richmond, pedro and whalebait had already launched, by the brightness of the moon, still three hours from setting. The remainder of us gradually got organized and down to the beach to launch, through a tide just starting to rise and with the opportunity to suffer a wet bum if the small break was mistimed.
After launch I tasted the water to find it brackish (not a good sign, it’s best if very salty), then waited about five minutes for the light to gradually improve before moving out into the open water which by now had several power boats roaring through on their path from the river mouth toward the east. Then I headed directly toward Jew Shoal, instead of Sunshine Reef, where all previous launchers were headed.
05:42. The clouds on the horizon reminded me of a view of the highrise Gold Coast horizon from a long way to sea.
Shortly I noticed that yakfinn, who, with kodaz had launched after me, was gradually catching me and coming up on my starboard side. From then for the next hour or more we prowled Jew Shoal together.
As we approached the shoal I noticed that the water was still murky but that there were a few terns hanging about and occasionally dipping to the surface for an opportunistic snack. This gave us some hope that some bustups might occur a little later. Reports from our mates at or near Sunshine Reef were that there were some birds out there, also, but no-one had reported any surface activity.
Well at Jew Shoal, we started to get a few small and short-lived bustups and some of those travelling surface flurries which indicate a dense shoal of small predators eating tiny prey. Yakfinn and I meandered around these indicators, both trolling a larger lure and ready with a slug. At one stage I got a single opportunity only to get a cast away but I could see that the predators were tiny and didn't attract one anyway. Yakfinn was darting around much more quickly than I do these days and eventually got a hookup on one of the surface flurries. I moved in for a photo only to discover he still had a trolling line out, and Murphy’s law being what it is, the braid line and its floating lure were right in my path, and soon were entangled in my rudder. That took a while to sort out then I got the chance to take the pic.
07:04. Yakfinn scores the first fish today.
It soon became apparent from radio traffic that our chums out to the east were getting no action. Indeed, so slow were things out there that they were starting to talk about coming in to Jew Shoal to have a go at the miserable little bustups we were chasing with no further success.
Eventually we compromised and all converged on the area north of Hell’s Gates where fluttering terns and occasional small bustups were more regular than at Jew Shoal, and closer for the fish-deprived guys coming from Sunshine Reef. Jaro and Kodaz both reported capture and release of tiny mac tuna presumably similar to yakfinn’s and there was even talk of catching a few for future whole baits.
By around 07:30 I was heading toward Middle Groyne, slow paddling and trolling on the flat sea, having become convinced that the murky waters would not produce today. Gradually, the others all reached the same conclusion and started to follow me in.
Laguna Bay today was a hive of activity, not from fish, but from humans. The closer I got to Middle Groyne the more humans I could see. Main Beach had been transformed by colour as various temporary structures (tents, etc) had been erected since our departure in the dark this morning. Some of these were associated with the Noosa Festival of Surfing and others, near Middle Groyne, were in support of a festival of paddling, as dozens of outrigger canoes, each crewed by six sweating galley slaves, propelled themselves around the bay accompanied by loud grunts of exhortation and whip cracks.
So heavy was the traffic, in fact, that I had to heave-to to allow a procession of these colourful craft to pass before I could approach my de-rigging location off the groyne. At least two Noosa Yakkers, hollywood and stretch, are staunch devotees of this energetic pastime and in fact hollywood had already contacted me by radio from the beach asking me how the fishing had been and giving me a rundown on the break at the groyne.
08:40. Waiting for the traffic to pass before approaching the groyne.
They’re a nice bunch of people, these paddlers, tough and whip scarred, too, so I didn’t begrudge them the temporary use of our beach. Landing space was a little tight but I found a crack between the wall and a beached powered inflatable which was tightly pulled up next to an outrigger canoe for which stretch was the whip cracker. Here I, then richmond, kodaz and yakfinn, in quick sequence, beached our craft, each dragging his boat up the beach to make room for the next. It was crowded house, today, but fun anyway.
Just one more pic of interest.
Richmond spotted this outsized yak trolley and immediately suggested that Noosa Yakkers get one for carrying our fish back up from the beach!
Thanks for coming along guys. There were some big trip distances logged on various GPS devices today. Great exercise, lovely weather, fun crowds on the beach; all that was missing was the fish.
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