Jew Shoal today. 25May14

TR by sunshiner

Wind: light SW throughout
Swell: about 1m E
Water temp: 23-24°C
Current: at Jew Shoal, easterly
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: jaro, jimbo, stormin, josh, sunshiner
Keen Angler Program: Zip

Glorious morning. We all launched at about the same time.

High tide. Occasional large sets breaking on the outer bank called for caution. Jaro, who has launched here safely hundreds of times, often in flaky conditions, today showed us another way of getting a wet bum at launch. Third to launch and with stormin and I watching from the beach, he was being particularly careful and hugging the rock wall, which had a bit of a surge around it. In fact he was so close to the wall that one surge lifted him and pushed his stern sideways, depositing the stern of the yak on a flat rock. As the water level dropped, he was left hanging there, with the bow floating and the stern clear of the water. This situation could not last long, as you'd guess and pretty soon Jaro was neck deep in the gutter, hanging on to his upturned yak which had now freed itself from the rock shelf. To his credit, jaro jumped back on and paddled out.

Just a reminder, secure everything at launch time. A gaff was lost today by one of our newest members when it was carried off due to taking on water during launch.

Another spectacular sunrise, today. Out the back, setting up.

Anyway, we all headed for Jew Shoal, encouraged by bunches of early rising terns heading east and starkly visible in the clear sky.

We fished it solidly for about two hours with baits and lures. The result: unimpressive. Josh brought home a keeper bream caught in the Jew Shoal shallows on bait. A couple of grinners and tiny cod were reported, but dead quiet, really. All the time we were out there shoals of small bonito were working their way through but nothing larger was visible. These could have been targetted but I don't think anyone bothered. The water was as clear as it gets, with the bottom visible in 7-8 metres in the shallow section.

Beautiful morning, but we started pulling the pin around 9:30am and paddled back more or less together to enjoy the small surf break now working just off the beach.

Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange

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