Tour De North Shore, 04Sep12

TR by Turtleboy
Wind: calm
Swell: not much
Current: at Halls and LH Reef, none
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Overall Conditions: perfectly glassy

Participants: Pedro, Kahuna, Turtleboy

I was unloading my kayak when Kahuna pulled into the car park at our agreed time of 7am. Pedro's van was already in its usual spot as he had launched much earlier under a moonlit sky. We had a very uneventful dry bum launch as Kahuna announced that it was going to be an Olympic day, and it was !

We quickly rigged up and placed a call to Pedro.



Photo above of a reflective Kahuna rigging up his new Ultralite. Noosa Main Beach in the background.

Pedro was at Little Halls reef and advised that he already had a Longtail on board so we set our course for LHR in absolutely beautiful, calm and glassy blue water. With such smooth conditions, and being able chat whilst to paddling side by side, we made our destination in no time at all.

Photo below of Pedro in his trusty Hobie with the Noosa North Shore as background.



Photo below of Pedro and Kahuna with the tip of the Noosa National Park in the background.



After having a few soft plastics bitten off, and with Pedro and Kahuna catching small sharks, Pedro suggested we head up to Halls reef and try live bait. Upon arrival, I hooked up a spare yakker that Pedro had and let it loose off my trailing line. Within 15 minutes my old Shimano Speedmaster reel started to scream and I was on. At this stage I was unaware of what I had hooked but I knew it was big as I was being dragged initially at 6.4 kph further north. In the interim, Kahuna announced that he needed to head in, and luckily for me, Pedro trawled along behind, anxious as I was to see what I had hooked.

One hour later, and approximately 2.5 kilometres from the hook up point, I finally saw the silver flash of a Longtail Tuna. After about 10 minutes of shallower circling he finally gave up the fight and came to the side of the kayak. Having a Tuna each onboard, Pedro and I decided it was time to start out on the long paddle home.

Finally, we made it through the small surf zone and onto the beach at around noon.

Photo's below. Apologies for the fog on the lens as most of my gear took a bit of a dunking on the way home, but that's a story for another day !



Pedro



Turtleboy

Finally, thanks to Rob for joining me on the paddle up and to Pedro for hanging in with me on my tour de north shore. Much appreciated mate. I don't have the details on Pedro's fish (later advised by Pedro to be 1060) and mine above (and below) went 1220 for 19.5 kgs as measured and weighed by the staff at Davo's.


Photo courtesy of Billy Bob Watson as taken at Davo's Fishing Tackle Shop, Noosaville. Thanks Bill.

For me, it certainly was an Olympic day.

TurtleBoy