Sweeties and big strikes. 23Sep12

TR by sunshiner

Wind: Very light westerly
Swell: small north westerly
Current: at Halls Reef, none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: Danu Church, isobar, ben, beejay, jamiedee, mick drahm (bomber), ryan gear, louis lowrens (simba), gemini, stormin, jaro, tarzan and cousin Sam, kahuna, sunshiner, whalebait (16, incl two visitors)

Having awoken naturally at 4:15am today I grabbed the iPad without getting out of bed to check the weather. First thing I see is an email from richmond sent a few minutes earlier saying the wind's too strong and he’s off back to bed. On checking Seabreeze's live weather for Double Island Point I must say I was in agreement with him. The NW wind up there was gusting to over 20 knots, and this is a wind that really makes a mess of Laguna Bay. Still, I'd had a good night's sleep and so I resolved to at least go down to the launch point at the agreed time (05:15) to say hello to several of the new guys that I knew were lined up for today’s trip, even if the trip had to be aborted.

Then, just before I had to decide whether or not to have brekky before I went down to Middle Groyne, I checked again. Bloody hell, there’s a green arrow there now! Maybe the trip’s still a goer.

DIP anemometer graph today. Note the first green arrow at about 4:45.

Down at Middle Groyne at 05:15 there were cars and yaks everywhere, it seemed. We were expecting about a dozen starters but it seemed there were already almost that many in the carpark. Tim, our newest applicant, also was there, inspecting kayaks and the associated gear with great interest as he still has to decide which yak for him. There were several guys I'd heard of but hadn’t met and I'll introduce some of them later.

More importantly there was no wind, although there was a small surf break out at the end of the groyne, so the trip was definitely a goer. As soon as they were ready the various yakkers left for the beach, some intending to head for Little Halls Reef or Halls Reef, while others were keener to go to Jew Shoal.

Louis (simba) and I were the last of this first group to leave the beach so I took a pic of him on this, his first surf launch. Although, in truth, it wasn’t a serious surf launch.

Simba readying his Hobie Adventure Island. Stormin is in the channel heading out.

Launch was dead easy and I dry bummed it and joined the gang of four or five setting up out the back. This gang was intent on following jaro and others who had left maybe ten minutes earlier headed for Little Halls Reef. So soon simba, bomber (aka mick), beejay and I were pedalling/paddling toward that reef, only 3.5km distant.

Beejay and bomber get acquainted on the way to Little Halls Reef.

Part way to the reef gemini, ahead of us, came up on the radio and reported large fish crashing through the surface at Little Halls Reef. This put a little urgency into our efforts to get there but by the time we arrived there was no sign of action. The sea was flat with just the gentlest of NW breezes and the sky was overcast so I then opted to head for Halls Reef, another 2km further north, to see what we could find there.

Nothing, at first. Drift conditions were ideal so I set up a drift from NW of my HR mark onto the mark. Jaro was also out there and together we drifted various paths and together we caught nothing. Beejay was using bait and a special rig he’d made up himself and was catching plenty of little reefies which kept him amused and us interested, mainly because we figured we were in with a chance.

During this time, as opportunity permitted while paddling about, I managed to get a few pics of our new members.

Bomber (Mick) a local police officer. Guess his professional speciality.

My very next drift started about 10 minutes after I took the above pic. I could see baitfish and structure on the sounder (about 18m depth) and had cast out my usual SP and let it sink slowly until it was vertically under the yak. Whack! It was taken. Straightaway I called it for a grassy and almost straightaway it reefed me. It must be rugged territory just there for this fish had found its way into a crevice or cave which meant that we’d come to a stalemate. I couldn’t get line back and it couldn’t or wouldn’t move. Bugger! One thing worth trying when this happens is to remove all pressure from the fish. So I opened the bail arm and let the 6kg braid hang slack for about 30 seconds. On taking up the slack I was delighted to find that the fish had left its hidey hole and was now in clear water. It was only a matter of keeping pressure on and gradually it came to the surface. A nice grassy, very welcome in our household, on the plate.

My first grassy for quite a while. Not from want of trying!

Being in touch with the guys at Jew Shoal, we knew that they were getting some action there but had nothing in the fishbox as yet.

After this fish was boated we started to notice more kayaks on the southern horizon, headed our way. Isobar and Ben cruised past, high speed trolling, while tarzan with a couple of mates also put in an appearance. At one stage I could see eleven kayaks at Halls Reef, and only two stinkboats.

Simba (Louis), on his first trip with us.

Mindful of the fact that I was about an hour’s paddle away from Middle Groyne, I opted to head for home about 09:15, trolling all the way back. Simba and bomber decided to head back with me and so we started out, with 5.4 kilometres to go, but a gentle breeze up our tails and on a flat sea.

Shortly after we left, jaro's jubilant voice came up on the radio describing the capture of a keeper grassy. It's been a while jaro, so you deserve it.

One third of the way into this journey I heard a breathless stormin on the radio. Already aware that he’d gone back down to Little Halls Reef after initially fishing at Halls Reef with us, I couldn’t understand what he was saying and thought he was in some sort of trouble so sought clarification. First gemini and then kahuna, both of whom were near stormin, now told me that he was hooked up to a fast running fish, not far from the beach near First Cutting. This was stormin's first big strike on a lure and he later described how he'd been nearly spooled before the lure pulled as he desperately increased the drag. Hard luck, stormin. Kahuna had been totally quiet up to now, and in fact I didn't even know he was out with us. But a few minutes after stormin's breathless call and disappointment, kahuna, in the same general area, announced that he was now hooked up to stormin's fish. This fish now escaped as a result of a tangle caused, in part I understand, by having a second lure out at the same time. Perhaps kahuna and stormin can fill in some detail by way of comment on this post.

As for me and my companions, we cruised back to Middle Groyne without action to arrive there at the same time as tarzan and sam. The surf break was still tricky even though there was more water over the sandbank than earlier. Carlton who hadn't fished today, was waiting on the beach with his iPhone and got a couple of pics of interest.

Stormin takes a close look at the rock wall on the way in. Pic by carlton.

Someone took an impromptu bath. Pic by carlton.

On the beach tarzan revealed he also had caught a grassy, this time on a shallow-running Halco LP, SE of Little Halls Reef! His fish was a little bigger than mine, as can be seen in this <img src=""/>.

Two nice grassies, tarzan's at top, and mine.

Before I left for home I hung around for the return of whalebait, from JS and jaro and beejay, who had sailed for the last couple of km on their journey from HR. Whalebait had a small snapper and jaro a grassy, a little smaller than mine. Beejay had caught plenty of fish, but no keepers.

I don't know how others went so we'd appreciate an update via comment on this post. Isobar, jamiedee, danu, how did you go?

Thanks for coming along guys and welcome to Noosa Yakkers for those who recently joined.

Sunshiner



Additional media provided by Gemini:

GPS Track

Distance 15.8 km
Max Speed 7.2 km/hour
Avg Speed 3.1 km/hour


Gemini has a little swim...