Doc Dog breaks drought. 31Aug13

Noosa Yakkers Trip Report 31.August 2013
Weather --Calm seas swell less than half metre
Wind North West 10 knots
Paddlers- Sunshiner, Cybertech, Doctor Dog, Stormin, Bomber,DC
When I arrived at the DB carpark at a little after 5.15 Cybertech was already there so we strolled down the newly landscaped path to the beach to check out the swell and gutter formation. Cybertech had recently launched here from straight in front of the creek . That looked like a perfectly doable option for today so we returned to the carpark to load up ready for the launch.
The crew arrived en masse and quickly unloaded and headed to the beach. Being my disorganised self I was the last to hit the beach with Sunshiner heading out first rapidly followed by the rest of the crew. My transit to beyond the break was relatively untroubled as was the rest of the Yakkers launch.
We headed East towards the sunrise.

Sunrise as we rigged up just beyond the break
The five other yakkers headed east to other marks but with the rising North West breeze I chose to head north to Lion Rock and Paradise Cave. I have caught Snapper and Brown Maori there previously from power boats so I thought it would be good to spread the prospect of the fishing group.
Shortly after starting to paddle north trailing a soft plastic the bend in the rod indicated I had hooked or fouled something as there was not enough pull to activate the drag and or rachet. I had hooked and managed to land the 37 cm Australian Bonito- ( sorry no picture)
I released the Bonito healthy and it swam away vigorously in the blink of an eye.
Paddling along the 15 m depth line to the north I came across a good show of bait and some larger fish so I stopped and flicked my small light rig with a Jelly Prawn . It had not long sunk to about 10 meters when it was claimed in no uncertain manner. I have not often used such light gear offshore and enjoyed the clean fighting tussle with the head shaking typical of a snapper. After a short enthusiastic fight I was pleased to see the pink silvery flash as the 40 cm snapper slid onto my lap.
My fish drought is broken.

I reported the capture to the rest of the Yakker Crew and Sunshiner came over to join me for a few drifts under the lee of the headland.
I had no further hits and by 9.30 some of the crew were heading in so after a few more unproductive drifts over heavy bait shows around Lion Rock I call it a day as well. In spite of trolling soft plastics and bait I had no significant touches other than the first strike and hook up.

There were lots of dolphins and even the occasional turtle but no whales today
Some of us had a little trouble with the sand monster on the way back to the beach but no real harm done.




My drought-breaking little snapper.
Thanks for coming Noosa Yakkers I had a great day hopefully the fish will come out to play next time.
Cheers,
Doctor Dog