Moonshine fishing at Jew Shoal, 2 August 2015

TR by Tunny
Trip date: 2 August 2015
Participants: Redwood, Diesel, Tyler, ScottyD, Tunny
Launch Site:  MG
Conditions: Wind WNW less than 5 knots, low tide 3.20 am, swell less than 1 m.
Keen Angler Program: Nothing donated

Recent fishing trips that commenced after first light had produced donuts, so Redwood and I decided to leave earlier with the aim of being out at Jew Shoal well before first light.  As it was close to full moon and the sky was free of any cloud there was enough visibility to head out early.  So we arrived in the car park at 4 am and launched by 4.15 am.  The shore break was small and the launch easy.  I added an extra red flashing light to the top of one of my rods to give more visibility for any approaching boats but we never saw any boats on the way out there.  We trolled hard body lures out to Jew Shoal without any success.  On arrival at Jew Shoal, Redwood started fishing for bait fish in order to put out a live bait, while I started trolled a deep diving lure over the reef, then switched to soft plastics.

Moonlight shining on the water on arrival at Jew Shoal
Redwood found several patches of bait on his sounder but took over an hour before successfully catching a Yakka which he then put on as live bait.  I had no success in the first hour with either trolling or soft plastics. Then Diesel came on the radio to say he was on his way followed shortly by Tyler and ScottyD.  By the time the sun rose we still had no bites.  Diesel and Tyler joined us at Jew Shoal while ScottyD headed out past the headland.

Sunrise at Jew Shoal
Shortly after sunrise a Grassy Sweetlip took my soft plastic while jigging just above the reef.  It measured 33 cm.  A few minutes later my soft plastic got smashed by a much bigger fish which bit straight through the leader, so I switched over to using a short wire trace with my soft plastic.

Redwood was trolling his live Yakka when it got hit hard.  The fish had a short but very powerful run, followed by what felt like vigorous head shaking as it stayed beneath the kayak   This lasted for around 5 minutes before the line parted.  Some Cobia have been reported by boat fishermen recently so perhaps it was a big one of those?  Or possibly a shark?

Tyler was bottom bashing Jew Shoal and hooked some small reef fish, but nothing worth keeping.  ScottyD trolled dead baits around the headland, then on to Jew Shoal and following that onto Halls Reef.  He got three hits on the trolled baits.  Two hooked up but in both cases the hooks pulled.  The third fish crushed the slimy just behind the head (no clear teeth marks so could it have been a Cobia?)

So in summary we had five Noosa Yakkers fishing for around five hours each, and the only keeper was this:

Tunny's grassy looking a bit lonely on the mat.

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