Shark Shoal and sand monster. 31Jan15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: NW to 5 knots, becoming calm later
Swell: 1.5m SE
Water temp: 27.2°C
Tides: 5:57 am : 1.73 H; 12:28 pm : 0.59 L; 6:01 pm : 1.31 H
Current: at Jew Shoal, no significant
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none seen in Laguna Bay but eyetag reported small bustups at north Sunshine Reef
Participants: jaro, gemini, aussie-stu, weeksie, cuddles, soren and friend andy, eyetag, sunshiner
Keen Angler Program: sharks not accepted!

Alarm set for 3:30am, woke at 2:45am. No point in going back to sleep. Accordingly, with a less than ten minute drive from home to launch point, I was early. But eyetag was still there before me, and what's more, he'd already left on a lonely journey to North Sunshine Reef.

One minute sped-up video of the drive from home to Middle Groyne, through the brightly lit Hastings Street.


The other guys started turning up, except cuddles (our newest member hoping to launch with us for the first time). As I later found out when I discovered him at Jew Shoal, cuddles didn't know the location of Middle Groyne and instead launched on the beach just east of the river mouth groyne. A challenging launch, he said!

As for our launch, it was easy. High tide, not much of a swell. Some of us dry-bummed it.

Eyetag responded to gemini's radio call and revealed he was just about to arrive at his chosen spot, an hour's paddle from Middle Groyne.

The rest of us opted for Jew Shoal, a place many of us know well.

Here's our star, just revealing itself as our home planet rotates. You can see that conditions were pretty nice, although the lack of cloud at this time of year is always an indicator that we'll be home early.

Some trolled with lures, others with baits. I was hoping again for a snapper or sweetlip and was rigged up accordingly.

NOTHING BUT SHARKS, small whalers! Except that eyetag picked up a few fish at north Sunshine as soon as he arrived (pic later).

I got three sharks, all taken on a single drifted ZMan soft plastic which survived all encounters. Here they are (frames from GoPro video):




So we decided to head in. It was getting hot anyway. And guess what? The sand monster was on the prowl back at Middle Groyne. Lower tide, you see!

There was some embarrassment, I must say, but the two oldest guys didn't end up with red faces.

One frame recorded by the GoPro, which had been running since the getgo, at 5:00am.

The beach return video, brand new and only 1:04.


Oh, and eyetag's fish:


A couple of potential new members engaged us in conversation on the beach. Greg and Vernon, hope we hear from you soon. Thanks for your company, Noosa Yakkers.

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

Additional video below showing the sand monster in action by Gemini.

A Spaniard, Sharks & Police - Aust Day 26Jan15

TR by Jimbo


Wind: 5k NW early, 0-5k E-SE after 0730
Swell: 1.2m ESE
Tides: Low 0.63m 0623; High 1.70m 1231
Current: None detected at Nth Sunshine/A-Bay Rf
Launch Point: Middle Groyne.
Conditions: Partly clowdy, uncomfortably warm on return paddle.
Participants: Eyetag, Pedro, Redwood, Scat(t)er, Soren, Tunny, Whalebait, Jimbo.

The email traffic for the previous couple of days suggested there would be at least "half a football team" planning to launch on an ideal Australia Day public holiday morning. However, a couple of late withdrawals resulted in eight NY arriving at Middle Groyne carpark at around 0415, except for earlybirds Pedro and Eyetag, who had already launched by this time.

The remaining six of us all launched soon after daylight and in practically "dry bum" conditions around 0445. After setting up and establishing radio contact (except for Whalebait who was radioless) we set out for our chosen destinations as follows:
Pedro and Eyetag: Lt Halls/Halls Rf areas
Redwood, Tunny and Soren: Jew Shoal
Scater, Whailbait and Jimbo: Nth Sunshine/A-Bay Rf areas.

There is actually not a lot to report, other than 1-2 sharks being caught by all NY at all of the above locations, except for me (and Whalebait?). I managed to bag a Spaniard and a snapper at Nt Sunshine Rf. The following is a summary of what happened as best as I could determine by radio discussion throughout the morning:
Eyetag had a double hookup fairly early, both being sharks, one of which he kept (I think). Pedro or Eyetag also landed a keeper sweetlip. Tunny hooked a large hammerhead shark and after a long battle of 45+ minutes on his light gear, decided wisely (and legally) to cut the brute free after wrestling it to within a few metres of his yak, when he realized it was nearly half the length of his kayak. Redwood and Soren also joined "the shark club" for the morning, Soren having to paddle from Jew Shoal to Hell's Gates and back for his membership. Scater, out at Nth Sunshine Rf somewhere, also hooked up to what he initially thought was a Spaniard, but after a reasonable tussle also (landed?) and released his shark club membership ticket. I can't report on Whalebait's success or otherwise as he was not in radio contact. I saw him in the A-Bay Rf area in the later part of the morning, and was still there when Scater and I decided to return to MG. Whalebait, perhaps you could add a comment to this report to tell us how you faired.

That leaves me. Since I was one of the last to set out from MG, and the other areas of Laguna Bay were being well covered by the other NY, I decided to head for Nth Sunshine and A-Bay Rf areas, also encouraged by recent newspaper reports of large numbers of spanish and spotty macs being taken at Sunshine Rf. Having rounded Fairy Pools (eastern end of Granite Bay) my plan was to troll east to one of my Nth Sunshine Rf marks about 2 km ENE of Hells Gates, then south and SW to A-Bay Rf, stopping to bottom bash at a couple of intermediate marks along the way.

My plan turned to success when my trolled line with a Sauri bait on a weighted four-gang hook, went off with a scream when I was still about a kilometer from my intended initial SR mark. After 2-3 initial and final runs my quarry came in pretty easily and was soon circling on less than 2m of line to the right side of my yak. On about the fifth circuit I sunk the gaff into the Spaniard's head and lifted him half out of the water where he conveniently lay fairly motionless while I removed the well embedded leading hook (only) from the underside of the gills. Then through his lower jaw with the large "safety pin" hook on my securing line and into the hatch ... job done! Whooo Hooo!!

I continued on trolling east to my intended NSR-3 mark, then south for a ~750m to my NSF-2 mark where I stopped for a couple of bottom bashing drifts. Not having had even a hint of a bite, I was about to move on when my cast line with a SP was taken, resulting in a keeper snapper ~40 cm. From here I trolled a further 1.2 km SW to A-Bay Rf noting a few surface splashes along the way from what I'm fairly sure would have been hunting pelagics, but I was never able to identify what type. At no time did I see any surface bust-ups or bird activity.

I did a 3-4 drifts around the A-Bay Rf mark for about another hour but the breeze had by now dropped out and there was no consistent direction in the drift.

About 0800 we received a call from sunshiner who was now at MG enjoying a swim and advised he was armed with all sorts of photographic equipment to record our surf zone returns and catches (if any). By this time it seemed that Pedro and Eyetag were aready well on their way back to MG.

So just after 0830 with everything seeming to have gone quiet, and the temperature starting to increase noticeably, I decided to start the ~5km paddle back to Middle Groyne. Messages with similar sentiments were starting to filter through from the other NY.

The remainder of this report can best be covered by a video and pics on the beach, all thanks to sunshiner.

1:45 video of beach returns etc


Redwood, scatter and soren in discussion.

111cm on the mat (our new Noosa Yakkers mats will be here soon).

My first Spaniard this summer season.

Tammy, a local lady, was eager to pose.

Beach crowd anxious to get into the picture.

Segway-mounted police beach patrol who jokingly suggested he might have to confiscate my Spaniard (see video for more of this) frame from GoPro video)

That's it guys ... a great way to spend Australia Day 2015.

Jimbo

Gibsoni's PB snapper. 25Jan15

TR by sunshiner with contribution by gibsoni at end


Wind: calm, changing to gentle SW later
Swell: 1.2m E
Water temp: 26.7°C
Tides: 5:19am 0.35 L; 11:42am 1.78 H
Current: at Jew Shoal, none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: none seen, but searching terns evident.
Participants: diesel, scottyD, stormin, panno, gibsoni, sunshiner
Keen Angler Program: One snapper frame possibly donated

There being little swell making it into Laguna Bay, the launch was easy, which was a relief for panno who spent some time standing at the water's edge reliving his pants-down experience at Middle Groyne a couple of years back. Nice to see you back on the water, Panno.

5:00am. Just after launch, Stealths lined up. In the background, stormin, panno, gibsoni (just removing his rods from the hatch). Glassy calm. GoPro video frame.

Diesel and scottyD had launched earlier and were out of sight by the time we four got underway. Jew Shoal was our target and the paddle out was as easy as it gets.

Another superb Laguna Bay sunrise, half way to Jew Shoal.

Highlights:

(1) Panno (no radio) hooked up big time on a trolled hard body about half way to Jew Shoal. He was using heavy gear but even so it took a long time to subdue the gigantic ray he'd hooked, probably accidentally as I'm not aware that our local rays attack hb lures.

(2) Stormin bagged a nice fat grassy, taken on drifted pillie (see pic later).

(3) Gibsoni (no radio) nailed a PB snapper on a trolled hb. The rest of us didn't know about this until we hit the beach. (see pics later)

Lowlights:

(1) On my SP, first cast, I got a nice hookup which took line off against the drag but was immediately bitten off. Possibly a mackerel.

The moment that I hooked up, captured by the GoPro (video). Note the bent rod and the fact that I had just picked up the radio to make a call.

(2) Diesel got monstered at least once by a Jew Shoal unstoppable.

(3) ScottyD, even though he trolled baits a kazillion clicks, got only one screaming hit which failed to properly hook up.

Anyway, here are some pics to liven the TR up.

Although it was not at all crowded out there, this guy, in his 3m plastic boat with 5hp outboard (backed up by oars he told me), managed to get too close to both diesel and me on separate occasions. Perhaps trying to check out our hot spots, which were not hot at all today. Frame from GoPro video.


Two views of gibsoni's very nice snapper.

The combined take home catch. Quiet day, eh?

Hope the guys who go tomorrow do better. But watch out for the crowds on your return to the beach. We nearly ran some down today.

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



Contribution by gibsoni

It's been many months since I've hit any north coast waters so was keen to get out whilst we stayed at Coolum this weekend.

Up at 3 to be ready for a launch at 5 (yup I'm slow). Nice to meet a few new guys in the carpark early (new to me). Had a clean launch on the bottom of the tide though a bit damp.

Met the crew setting up behind the sets and in true style I took longer than others to rig up, particularly as I was trying a new chin guard on gar with a bib. Seemed to work well easily.

Followed the blokes to Jew Shoal with no action and did lap after lap of the structure I could find. Finally towards the end of what I was going to call time I paddled over some steep structure I think, holding bait according to sounder, and off went my X-Rap on the 30lb spin setup. For the weight gear there was not much pull (hardly sporting) and no fast runs so wasn't sure what it was till finally color turns to shape and I see a lovely snapper heading boat side. A bit slow to lift it with gaff gently but dropped in the hull and that was that.

A take home point was how much difficulty I had getting my overhead line in during the fight. Wasn't an issue with a snapper but could have been with a mac.

Gents, thanks for the company and looking forward to the next time I can join you.

Iain.

Too hot...18Jan15

TR by DeeCee
Participants: DeeCee
Launch Site:  Baroon Pocket Launch Area
Conditions: Glassy...and HOT


Last minute decision to hit Baroon Pocket Dam this morning after a less than successful trip outside yesterday in the boat.

Arrived early and saw a couple of other yakkers getting ready, they didn't stick around long maybe an hour or so before pulling the pin.  Did the stifling heat get the better of them?

Launched and headed back to the same area I did well at last week.  Got a fish almost straight away a low 30's Bass on the deep diver.  Spent some time trolling and flicking lures in the area and this told me the fish seemed a bit fussier this week.

Slowly the numbers mounted as the heat rose, with most fish caught between 30 - 35cm, lost a couple of lures to harder hitting fish before this was landed.

Biggest fish of the day by far...pulled hard
Pulled the pin around 9.00am, 15 fish caught.  Was hard to leave as there was not another soul on the Dam and it looked glorious...like a mirror.  I just couldn't handle the heat after7 hrs out on the boat yesterday.

Cheers

DC

One strike, one fish. 18Jan15

TR by jaro

Participants: Diesel, jaro
Conditions: Partly cloudy to sunny, northerly winds 3 to 5 knots, neglible current at JS.

I arrived at MG car park at 4.00am to find Diesel ready to go. Exit was easy and soon we were off to SR trolling all the way. After getting as far as SB with no sign of action (birds, bustups or strikes) we decided to head for JS to do some bottom fishing.

By 8.00am with no action I informed Diesel I would be heading in at 8.30 and he agreed to do the same. At 8.20am, just as I was starting to pack up I had a big strike on my trailing floating pilchard line. On grabbing the rod I could tell it was a decent sized fish and informed Diesel who then proceeded to come over and take pictures of the fight (thanks Diesel).

I was trying to work out what it was, feeling it wasn't a mackerel or shark when it suddenly became visible… a nice cobia.

Just getting the cobia to the surface

It was duly gaffed and then quickly and humanely killed and stowed.

On later measuring the cobia came in at 85cm.

We then continued fishing for a short time longer with no further action and so headed back to shore uneventfully. Entry was done easily.

As you can see from the photos, it was another idyllic day out in paradise.

Jaro

Triple Header 10 + 11 + 12 Jan15

TR by DeeCee
Participants: DeeCee
Launch Site: Side of the Dam(s)
Conditions: Nil to light winds


EMD 10Jan15

Hit EMD early on Saturday morning, arriving around 5.00am to be greeted by a half full car park, busiest Saturday of the year so far!

Launched about 10 minutes later and headed west trolling 2 x 3m diving HB's heading for Spot X.

Arrived about 15 minutes later after a slow troll and immediately hooked up, a nice 30cm Bass.

1st Bass of the day
 Over the next two hours another 13 Bass were caught in the same area on the same lure casting and trolling, nothing of real size but all consistent 30cm + fish

Biggest of the day
 A glorious day on the water early and off before it got too hot

 
Baroon Pocket Dam 11Jan15

The same crew from the EMD Fish Stocking Group that attended the Sunday before had decided to have another go with a few additions thrown in for good measure.

I arrived around 5.45am and was second to arrived, Bruce being all ready to go, over the next 15 minutes others arrived until we were 10 in number.

We all launched around the same time with all of us going our own way, I decided to head over to the south side of the dam before heading towards the wall.

No hits on the way over but as soon as I got within striking distance of the edge I was on

1st Bass of the day

I caught 3 fish in quick succession before that lure was claimed by underwater structure.  It was brand new...I HATE that!

Changed over to my deep diving RMG Poltergeist and trolled/flicked around the exclusion zone in front of the dam for a while.

The day went in a similar vein to last week with the fish coming thick and fast, all good sized fish, mainly on the troll but some on the cast and even a few jigged up from the plentiful schools

Here are a few pics

Smallest Bass of the day



I was up to 17 fish in just over 1.5hrs when the reel screamed, screamed again and then once more before I'd even got a chance to turn the fish around, a great fight ensued with neither side giving an inch until I finally got on top of my adversary.  When I saw this fish come up beside the yak I knew I'd caught something special...

A STONKER! If you look closely you can see the length (under the tail)

I asked Steve if he could come over and take some pics

Couldn't get the smile off my face!

I ended up with 28 fish for the morning before pulling the pin around 10.00am due to the heat.  I think we ended up with over 150 Bass between us.  A 50cm (Steve B) & 49cm (Grant) were also caught and numerous other caught in the mid 40's, everyone getting amongst it.  Simon caught the most with 33 for the morning.

A quick chat at the launch point on return and off to enjoy the rest of the day....household chores!


Baroon Pocket Dam 12Jan 15

Had some spare time after having the car serviced today so headed back to Baroon Pocket for a fish.

Arrived around 3.30pm to not another soul on the Dam and very light winds with the occasional shower, setup the yak and was off 10 minutes later.

The afternoon was much the same as the last few visits with many fish hooked (probably twice as many as actually make it to the yak), lots landed and some great fights had.

First fish was on within a minute of leaving the launch area, I fished for just on 2.5 hours for 37 fish landed, some stonkers among them

First fish caught, within a minute of leaving the launch area
Then this beast made an appearance
Followed shortly after by this one
And 10 fish later this one
All fish were over 30cm with most being between 35cm - 40cm, with a couple of horses thrown in for good measure.

Pulled the pin just as the weather moved in around 5.45pm.

Well worth the trip!

Cheers

DC

Two Jacks and a Tunny - all on a Gold Bomber (09/01/15)

TR by tunny
Trip date: 9 January 2015
Participants: redwood and tunny
Launch Site:  Noosa River
Conditions Outgoing tide, Intermittent rain, wind SW less than 5 knots
Keen Angler Program: none

I left Twin Waters at 3 am with a clear sky, bright moon, stars shining and no sign of any clouds, and hence no rain jacket..  Redwood and I arrived at the Lions Park at 3.30 am and as we were about to unload there was a strong downpour.  This only lasted a few minutes and by 3.45 am we were trolling Gold bombers towards Woods Bay.  There were plenty of small bait fish but no signs of them being chased.  We headed out past Ricky's then turned towards the river mouth.

I had always had more success near Ricky's than in the river mouth so after 20 minutes I headed back leaving Redwood to fish the river mouth area. By now it was getting light and with intermittent rain came the beautiful rainbow
Sunrise as seen over redwoods Stealth
Rainbow over Woods Bay (photo by redwood)
From Ricky's I headed in the direction of the Sheraton paddling in a line about 15 m from the jetties along the river edge.  I repeated the route several times and was finally rewarded with the sound of a screaming reel.  I stowed the paddle, picked up the rod and found that the fish was heading straight towards a boat moored on the jetty.  I tightened the drag slightly to prevent the fish going under the jetty.  As I did so I was getting pulled towards the rocks on the bank.  I tried fighting the fish with one hand paddling with the other (as only eyetag can do!) and the next moment collided with the rocks which left a scratch on the bottom of the kayak.  Eventually I worked the fish out from under the jetty and it turned towards the middle of the bay. As it moved in that direction I place the rod back in the holder and paddled away from the rocks.  Now with more space to move I could focus on fighting the fish and a few minutes later I had a 57 cm Mangrove Jack on board.

Jack No.1 (photo by redwood)
While I was fighting the Jack, redwood was over in the mouth.  He landed and released a Tailor, and had also seen a big splash as a decent size fish took something near the surface.

redwoods tailor
Redwood checked the Noosa Yakkers records and found that my Jack was 2cm shy of eyetag's record. So redwood and I decided we needed to find this ones mother.  We headed back along the same line between Ricky's and the Sheraton and covered this route several times.  About 30 minutes later Jack no:2 struck. This time I acted quicker to prevent it heading under a jetty.  It too put up a good fight and a few minutes later joined its mate in the hatch.  At 55.5 cm it was almost as long, but quite a bit thinner - this may be due to what redwood found while gutting the fish, but I will come back to this later.

Two Jacks - photo by redwood (rigor mortis makes the big one look 60 cm but it was 57 cm)
Great fishing trip so far.  But now the fun ended.  As I was removing the treble from jack no 2 I managed to get one well embedded in my finger.  As I wanted to get back for Jack no 3 I pulled the hook as hard as the pain would allow but could not get it free.  So I cut off the bomber, and with the lure dangling from my finger did a one handed paddle back to the car park (just relieved this did not happen at JS or Halls!).  Redwood who was now back at Ricky's paddled back to give me moral support in the way of a photo:

Treble trouble for tunny
Redwood kindly loaded my kayak while I used my finger as an excuse to watch.  I then drove (fortunately automatic) to Noosa Hospital emergency where they gave me a nerve block injection, removed the hook, presented me with a tetanus injection and antibiotics and sent me on my way -  with the Bomber gift wrapped in a bag with the warning "BIOLOGICAL HAZARD"

At least they gave me my Bomber back
Now back to a possible reason why Jack no 2 was much thinner than Jack no 1 yet only 2 cm shorter.  With my hand out of action I decided I would not be able (or at least not in the mood) to fillet the fish so I donated them to redwood.  While he was cleaning Jack no 2 he found 3 hooks and a bunch of line inside the gills/throat area.  I guess this may have dampened the fish's appetite and explain its lower weight, although it seemed very healthy when caught and certainly put up a good fight.

Note:  I always type with 2 fingers but today I used just one.  See you next time.

Baroon Pocket 04Jan15

TR by DeeCee
Participants: DeeCee + others
Launch Site:  Maleny side of Dam
Conditions: Light to gusty
Keen Angler Program: None


A gathering was organised late on the Saturday night for 6.00am arrival at Baroon Pocket Dam, Maleny.  Six of us in the end getting ready at the waters edge for a fish for the inaugural Sharp Point Jig Heads Biggest Bass Comp.  Entry was paid and rules were simple, biggest Bass won.

I was surprised how much the water level had dropped since my last visit a couple of years ago, maybe Brisbane are making use of the pipeline...

We made our way across the Dam, trolling HB's, each of us taking a slightly different route using different lures with the end result to be fishing down around the dam wall.

Bruce was first to catch a fish, a 45cm Bass almost as soon as he set off, that was the mark to beat!  Pretty much all of us picked up 1 -3 fish on the way over.  I slow trolled around the edge trying to stay in around 5m of water...easier said than done with the dam in some place over 30m deep
Caught on the way over
 All of us aside from Brett ended trolling around just outside the exclusion zone adjacent the Dam wall.  Many fish were caught, almost all of them over 30cm with a few in the mid 40's...and very fat fish.

My biggest landed for the day

Another fatty


Was having too much fun catching fish to take many more photos

Brett won the day with a stonker at 47cm, caught over on the northern side of the Dam, he didn't have a long enough measuring device nor someone to take a picture so he did the bolt over to where we were fishing, stopping every now and then to drop the beast back in the water

Brett with his 47cm Bass
Simon from Sharp Point Jig Heads getting in on the action, most Bass caught for the day at 15
I hooked onto something big, got it near the boat but could not land it before it snapped me off...maybe a cod

This thing would not budge at one stage, leader knot was out of the water and that was as close as it got

The fish were coming in that thick and fast that we weren't bothering with too many photos.

After about 3.5hrs fishing we ended up with 60+ fish between us and it was time to go back to the ramp.

Some fishing stories while we were loading up and off we all went...coffee time!

Would like to that Simon from Sharp Point Jig Heads for organising and Steve, Bruce, Grant and Brett for making it such an enjoying morning

Cheers boys!

DC

Nice first trip for 2015. 01Jan15

TR by sunshiner


Wind: calm, changing to gentle E later
Swell: 1.2m E
Water temp: 27.8°C!
Current: at Jew Shoal, none detected
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Participants: sunshiner and son, Nick
Keen Angler Program: n/a

Nick, our son, and I, have fished a lot together, but not so much lately, mainly because he lives in Sydney. As with many families, our son is visiting us this Christmas/New Year, so the possibility arose that he and I could once again take a fishing trip together, this time in offshore kayaks. Stormin and the other guys were nailing the spotties on the last day of 2014 so we knew they were present, so we put in a special effort this morning to take a few early morning hours out of our busy family schedules. The weather co-operated, and the wind dropped away to very low levels from about 2:00am. This was fortunate, as we'd already loaded the yaks and gear and obtained the necessary leave passes.

The launch (a little before 0500) did not appear especially tricky, and I was confident that Nick, a competent and skilled surfer, could pick the lull. He did, riding my old, spare Supalite X and dry bummed it, going first, but I did not do so well as I timed my departure from the shelter of the groyne to coincide with the arrival of two very big waves which came, as usual, from nowhere. Never mind, no harm done, but Nick reckoned it was pretty spectacular from his viewpoint out the back as my Supalite X climbed first one, then the other, crashing back into the trough with a loud thump.

And so we headed for Jew Shoal trolling 120mm Halco Laser Pros. Nick had the shallow runner in Qantas colours, while mine ran deeper, and in a mullet pattern. We planned to make it a quick trip, out and back with a couple of laps of the more likely spots at the shoal. As an extra interest, I was trying out my new GoPro for the first time.

GoPro setup. I'd gone for a suction cup mount, to trial various locations. In the pic above I'd temporarily mounted it on the hatch cover to hopefully catch the action off to the flank. It worked fine.

On our arrival at Jew Shoal we were greeted by a graceful leap by a very large ray (possibly a devil ray, or an eagle ray), seen by both of us. This was the only initial action until the rising sun revealed lots of terns wheeling around and dipping off to the NW about one kilometre distant. Naturally we headed straight for them. No large bustups were visible, but the sheer number of terns and the occasional small surface commotion indicated the presence of predators. We both knew we were in with a strong chance.

Almost immediately we entered the bird action territory, Nick's Qantas HLP went off. He very soon boated his first spotty mac, commenting that it hadn't put up much of a fight.

Nick's first spotty mac

Once he'd tidied up this fish and checked his gear we looked around the horizon for the nearest bunch of working birds and headed off toward them. This time Nick got hit almost immediately, so I again pulled in my gear and got ready with the cameras.

Another spotty mac, this fish put up a more typical fast running fight but before long Nick had it in the fishbox.

Spotty mac #2

By the time we'd sorted this fish out the birds had disappeared. Just as well, really as we'd promised to be home early.

The return trip was uneventful, except that I cracked a nice ride on the Middle Groyne express, faithfully recorded by the GoPro (see accompanying video). Nick's wife and child (2 year old Seabass[tian]) were waiting on the beach to greet us on what had turned out to be a memorable family event.

Riding the Middle Groyne express (frame from GoPro 1280x720 video)

Three consecutive generations of the male line in the frame

On the mat, 83cm and 78cm

The fish on Nick's boat.

Video (1:40)


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