TR by sunshiner (pics by me)
Wind: 2 knot WSW at first, dropping off to near calm later
Swell: Almost none
Water temp: 22.8°C
Tides: Low 03:44am (0.13m); High 10:08am (1.85m)
Current: possible toward north at Jew Shoal
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: None
Participants: panno, diesel, jaro, sunshiner
My trip distance: 11.5km
Keen Angler Program: nothing today (wrong species)
Note: I have some GoPro footage from today which I may use to create one or two short vids for posting on our FB group page, and possibly a longer version which I'll post on YouTube later. This longer one, if created, I intend to be added to this TR as an embedded object added to the post later. Movie added to this post on 02Oct15 (down at the bottom).
Very low tide today (moon at minimum distance from earth for this year was on 28Sep, so the gravitational pull it's exerting right now is greater than usual), consequently our paddling distance to Jew Shoal was reduced but we had to walk further. Diesel suggested we stow our wheels on the end of the groyne as the long walk back to the lifeguard tower could thereby be avoided. Regular launchers at Middle Groyne will no doubt spot a couple of flaws in this tongue-in-cheek proposal.
All except panno, the youngster, launched in a tiny surf at around 5:00am, with the waning moon still bright in near cloudless conditions. Panno came along a little later and joined us at Jew Shoal.
Also joining us at the shoal was a momma whale and her feeding calf, right next to where diesel and I intended to fish. So we two substituted whale watching for fishing for some 15 minutes, making sure to not get so close that we disturbed them.
Momma! Big!
Once the whales had moved off, by silently slipping under the surface, leaving large swirls behind, diesel and I resumed fishing, just as panno arrived, announcing that he'd picked up a bonito on his trolled lure. This is the first bonito I've heard of from our gang for many months, so perhaps the warm water is bringing them in. Pic later.
Barely had we got settled into our drift fishing routine when I spotted that jaro, just to the north of me, had a rod bent like Robin Hood's bow. I queried him by radio and jaro confirmed that he was hooked up; "probably a bloody big shark". Diesel offered to take it off his hands and started paddling toward him so, having decided that the transfer of a large (but less than 1.5m, the max legal size for sharks) live shark between the two might provide some interesting movie footage, I paddled over to jaro also. Cobia are easily mistaken for sharks, especially when viewed from directly above and I was not surprised when jaro, just as I neared him exclaimed "No, it's a bloody big cobia!". So I was on the spot to video the final part of his capture of a very good cobia. You may recall that pedro got a cobia last week, same general location. Last year, starting in early November, we got a good run of cobia for about six weeks at Jew Shoal so perhaps these fish are the forerunners of more to come.
Jaro's very pleased. Taken on drifted pillie.
Panno was hitting the grassies, now, on SPs, a small keeper earlier then a really nice specimen. But I, also fishing with SPs could catch only a grinner and one undersized pearl perch. Diesel announced today that he'd caught his first fish ever on a SP, one of the little black-tipped cod which are common at Jew Shoal.
By about 08:30, in almost totally calm conditions, there was a general agreement to head back to Middle Groyne. The perfect beach conditions had attracted a huge holiday crowd who mobbed jaro when he pulled his cobia from his fish box. Possibly the beaches will be a little less crowded next week with most of the kids back at school.
The cobia went close enough to 110cm, just 5cm longer than pedro's, last week.
The combined catches of jaro and panno.
Looks like some nice fishing days coming up next week.
Two minute movie added on 02Oct15
Kev Long
Sunshiner
Author Kayak Fishing Manual for iPhone, iPad and Mac (click linked text to view)
Stealth Supalite X, yellow/orange
FREE iBook "Kayak Fishing Laguna Bay & Jew Shoal" for iPhone, iPad and Mac
Great shots guys! Looks like fun!
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