Fishing today, 18Feb14

TR by sunshiner

Wind: none, light northerly early
Swell: one metre E
Water temp: 26-27°C
Current: northerly at Middle Groyne
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: prowler1, tarzan, jaro, jimbo, weeksie, scater, sunshiner,
Keen Angler Program: ASFAIK nothing today

So a very brief TR today. Dead easy launch, which is a bit of a shame as scater had his new Pro Fisha 475 out for its first ocean paddle and would dearly have loved to try it out in a bit of a decent break.

Tarzan, obviously keen to seek compensation for a broken rod etc, with prowler1 and jimbo headed for Little Halls Reef/Halls Reef. The rest of us opted for Jew Shoal.

As usual, I was trolling a HLP. One kilometre or so from Middle Groyne it went off, not with a screaming run but the bent rod, occasional click as line was released, sort of hit. It was very similar to my recent capture of a school mackerel and guess what, it was a schoolie. It was foul-hooked in the belly right near the ventral fins and really got vigorous once it got to the yak. What's more, it was very lightly hooked. Nevertheless, the schoolie was around 70cm long and I decided I'd take it. Unfortunately, it was not to be. The fish was too light for the gaff which didn't penetrate properly. I wasn't totally disappointed when it bounced off the gaff and the hook pulled. It swam away strongly.

Shortly after arrival at Jew Shoal I witnessed the capture of a reasonable Spanish from a tinny which was trolling at around 6 knots or so, buzzing back and forth and around the Pinnacles.

Over at Halls Reef, prowler1 reported a few spasmodic very brief bustups but I saw no decent splashes around Jew Shoal. After weeksie drew my attention to possible action just south of the shoal I did see what looked like a school of bonito feeding on tiny baitfish accompanied by gentle discreet splashes, as they do. I haven't seen this bonito action this season so far so watchout for these little horizontally striped battlers as they make great Spaniard bait and are easily caught on small slugs.

Scater is a high-school teacher so had to pull the pin very early but the rest of us stuck it out for a while longer. The wind dropped right out and the sun was glary and the temperature climbing quickly so I pulled the pin around 7:30 and was back on the beach by 08:15. It seemed all the older guys had the same idea and we left young weeksie and even younger tarzan out there to cook. I wonder how they went?

No serious baitfish schools seen on the sonar today, and nothing on the surface. No flying fish or dolphins. Yes, one turtle. Well at least we got some exercise and a nice cool swim at the end.

Standing by for the arrival of more baitfish.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
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