Summary, March 2016

March 2016 Summary

This TR is a monthly brief summary of fishing trip information which has been posted on our Facebook Group page or elsewhere and not posted on this blog. Noosa Yakkers Facebook Group

Water temp at end of month: 27.2°C
Weather conditions: Very windy from early in the month until 19Mar, when we got a break, then ideal conditions from 23Mar onward.

19Mar16 (first calm day in about five weeks)
gemini, stormin, tunny hit the bay.

stormin bagged two nice grassies, 42 and 48cm

redgreg went out from Doggie Beach and busted the Spaniard record
See TR on this blog.

23Mar16
Email from pedro received 23Mar16:

For those going tomorrow:
I took a mate out to JS today for his first trip, we ended up with three snapper 50 to 55 cm, one spangled emperor, one spotty, one cobia 80cm.
Good Luck
Cheers
Pedro

24Mar16
See TR on this blog

25Mar16
diesel, stormin, redwood and jonny launched at Middle Groyne

Stormin bagged the first longtail of the season

26Mar16

Gemini, holidaying at Rainbow Beach, took a bath

26Mar16
A crowd launched from Middle Groyne
scottyB, redwood, tunny, jaro, Mentos Man (visitor), beejay, stormin, imax, thorny, noel, Matt Baker, sunshiner

One of two small keeper snapper landed using SPs by sunshiner

27Mar16
jimbo and son Simon, microbe, the hoff, and weeksie hit the bay and nearby

The hoff nailed a grassy

28Mar16
stormin, irish luck and thorny headed out

irish luck and thorny each nailed his first longtail

29Mar16
diesel, jaro, tunny, bluedog, sunshiner headed out to Little Halls Reef and Halls Reef

jaro and diesel got a longtail each, while bluedog got his first Spaniard

wet but happy bluedog

31Mar16
Participants: Pedro, crofty + 1, diesel, jimbo, jaro, redwood, tunny, sunshiner, and, a late mention, scottyD, who bravely launched from Doggie Beach.

A big paddle for those (all but two) who went to Little Halls Reef and Halls Reef. My trip was 19km for zilch but lots of great scenery and some exciting close encounters (see vid below). Longtails and other pelagics busting out. Several fish hooked at Halls Reef but nothing of consequence brought home, although we haven't yet heard from pedro (last seen heading for Sunshine Reef). ScottyD bagged a Spaniard and a big spotty mac.

Two minute vid (a big screen will let you see the jumping fish better):


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

Doctor Dogs Double Island Adventure March 25 & 26 2016

Trip Report Friday 25 Saturday 26 March 2016
TR by doctordog
Solo trip report from Paradise Beach north side Double Island Point for 25 th & 26 th March .
Wind: SE 5-15 knots ( stronger on 25 th than 26th)
Swell: 1.5 m Easterly
Current: variable light northerly
Launch point: Paradise Beach , Double Island Point
Participants: DoctorDog

Staying at Huxley cottage at Double Island Point Lighthouse gave me the opportunity to trial a north side launch to access the bommies for snapper around the headland and the open water for the pelagics known to haunt these waters.
With the cottages being some 75 m above sea level it is an easy trundle to get the yak down the 500 m sandy track to the beach on the sheltered northside. The swell wraps around the headland making for an interesting but not dangerous launch provided the swell is not too big. Timing is everything.

Once out beyond the break I rigged up troll a Halco Laser Pro 120 HB for the easy paddle out to the line from the lighthouse to Wolf Rock. This was virgin territory for me to paddle a kayak but I had surfed and visited this area for many years prior to launching a yak based adventure. On my recce paddle the day before I tried out radio coverage , GPS and my sounder as well as testing my left shoulder damaged in the surf 3 days prior. Radio coverage is patchy but adequate - the sounder worked perfectly - but GPS marks were not finding the reef due to operator error and the damaged shoulder was complaining but largely being ignored due to the intruiging possibilities being offered.

Jane joined me on the water on day 2
Close in to the headland where the bommie lies the reflected waves make conditions somewhat uncomfortable with waves breaking across the deck at times.
The reflected chop rising at right angles to the swell lines and carrying with them a few blue bottles ready to sting the bare thighs of the underdressed paddler. On day one blue bottles were painful but by day 2 when Jane joined me for an exploratory paddle most of the blueys had gone.

On both days when I could see fish on the sounder I would get bites. A few interesting small “ooglies” including footballer cod , wire netting cod and sweep but equally frequently the distinctive hard bites and fast head shaking runs of snapper.
On both days I struggled to find where the fish where holding on the structure but once I found them the bites came thick and fast. The really craggy country was good for bites but snags were notable here ending in lost terminal tackle as well.












On Day one the average size of fish was greater with Snapper of 40 50 and 55 cm.


On day two 4 fish between 36 and 46 cm were boated. On Day 2 I left them biting after two notable incidents — one where I was “bricked” by a hard running reef dweller in the craggy country. Then my trailing SP outfit of Nuclear Chicken SP 100 mm on 20 lb braid on a Loomis rod fitted with a Calcutta 3000 went off at a great rate of knots wrapping my drogue with the line after 150 metres had been stripped in quick time. I ended up with an overrun snagging on the level wind leading to a bite off at the hook.
Time to take my injured shoulder back to the beach for a rest.
Return to the beach was uneventful but required a patient wait for the right lull and a quick sprint to the beach between the sets.
At a later date I will detail my trolley rig I have adapted to haul the kayak back up to the cottage 75 m above sea level without ruining my back and shoulders.
Clearly DIP is a challenging place to fish although under the right conditions and with a little planning patience and a touch of fortitude the results are worth the effort.
Tight lines,
DoctorDog
PS Light house cottages are available for working holidays for members of Noosa Parks Association - all members of the public are welcome to join. An annual ballot is held for members wishing to stay for a week and willing to do the required courses and perform the 2 hrs work each day.
http://www.noosaparks.org.au/index.php?page=double-island-point

Another whopper Spanish, plus other stuff. 24Mar16


TR by sunshiner


Wind: Light southerly
Swell: 1.6m easterly
Water temp: 28.3°C
Tides: Low 02:22am (0.43m); High 08:30am (1.85m)
Current: n/a
Launch point: Middle Groyne
Surface action: occasional bustups, east of Jew Shoal
Participants: tunny, weeksie, sunshiner
My trip distance: 12.5km
Redmap: No sightings provided
Keen Angler Program: At least one snapper frame today.

At last the wind's dropping. MetEye was in slight disagreement with Seabreeze yesterday, showing winds lighter than 10 knots up to 10am. Tunny was the first to spot the opportunity and emailed his intention to go today, before the Easter rush. Only weeksie and I put our hands up to go too, but pedro had group-emailed the info that he'd done pretty well at Jew Shoal on Wednesday.

At 4:00am the wind was certainly down, but I could hear rain pattering on the roof. At 5:00am the three of us were in the Middle Groyne carpark and by about 5:15am we were on the beach, where the swell and rising tide were conspiring to try to thwart our launch attempt. Tunny, going first, got totally soaked at least once but punched through. I, second, had a narrow escape, being rescued by a rush of adrenalin and my SupaliteX as its nose rose to meet the challenge of a very high and steep face which, as usual, came out of nowhere. I was very relieved as we flopped down into the relatively quiet water behind as the wave broke with a roar immediately after my passage. Weeksie was cool.

The passage to Jew Shoal was quick as the small breeze was behind us and the sea pretty calm.

Snapper was my target species today, but I was in a bit of a quandary as flocks of terns, indicating possible pelagics (pedro had reported catching a spotty mac yesterday) could be seen gathering to the east. In any case my snapper plan was soon interrupted when weeksie radioed that he was hooked up (trolling a slimy mac). This hookup and subsequent Noosa sleigh ride took him close to where I was drift fishing and as he passed me I promised that I'd come over with the camera if he had anything decent on. Anything decent! Before long weeksie was letting me know that he had a whopper Spaniard up near the yak, so I fulfilled my promise and paddled over. It was a whopper alright. Weeksie had no real alternative but to lift the fish's head with the gaff and slide the fish straight into the hatch.

When I got there he spent some time manoeuvering the fish so that I could get a live on-water pic.

That white stuff around weeksie's nose is sweat froth or maybe sunscreen.

Barely had we got the job done than tunny came up on the Icom to say that he was hooked up, possibly to a longtail. He'd cast a slug (like a boy scout, he's always prepared) into a nearby tuna bust up and hooked up immediately. He was nearby so I paddled over to do the photo thing for him, too. After a decent tussle he discovered that he had a pretty big mac tuna on. The tuna was bleeding so heavily that he decided to take it for bait (this species is regarded as poor eating).

Tunny with the second fish of the morning.

With this sorted, I resolved to go back to my snapper fishing, even though occasional large splashes and baitfish showers indicated the presence of pelagic predators.

It took a while, but at last my SP was grabbed by a snapper. The third and smallest fish of the morning was mine.

It's worth remarking that this was the third or fourth snapper I've caught on this exact same SP, which is panel-beaten with superglue as necessary (but at home, not on the yak).

The wind was starting to get up, from the south, promising a likely slow slog home. Weeksie had his fish, so announced that he was heading in. I had my fish too and didn't want to miss the beach-goer response when weeksie dragged his monster out of the yak, so I decided to head in too. Tunny reckoned he'd hang on for another half hour to see if he could improve his score. I'd been paddling south for maybe five minutes when tunny came up on the Icom and let us know he'd bagged a snapper bigger than mine, caught on SP. I was not in a position to easily get an on-water photo of this fish, but tunny was also soon heading for Middle Groyne. See you on the beach, guys!

The presence of a few board riders close in at the western side of Middle Groyne is always an indicator of a potentially tricky beach return. Also an indicator is the spray flung skywards and high when big waves smashed into the groyne rocks. Both of these indicators were present.

OK, I took a bath, as did tunny. Both of us were run down by waves which were already carrying a board rider. My excuse is that I was distracted by the board rider as I thought we'd collide.

This wave became really steep in the next second, the bow nose-dived and the stern went sideways. No harm done, everything stowed. Video later, maybe.

Beach pics

141cm Spaniard. A PB for weeksie.

Loretta volunteered.

I wouldn't normally include a smeary image like this in the TR but this is the only pic I have of tunny's beautiful 72cm snapper. The combined catch.

Weeksie reckons his new yak now has mojo.

I wonder how the rest of the Easter weekend will go?

Thanks for reading and thanks to my companions today for coming along.

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

Redgreg's huge Spanish. 19Mar16

TR by redgreg


Hi all, I'm redgreg and here's my first trip report for Noosa Yakkers, with some editing help from sunshiner.

On Saturday 19Mar16 at 5am I, with a group of very motivated yakkers (Bones, Walawala, Bigkev, Cav, freeyaker, Reedy) paddled out from Doggie Beach. The day was hot -- hot with birds working over bait fish that were getting eaten from below and hot as in 30°C.

My plan that day was ready. One km off the beach I found bait on the screen. Down goes the jig and up come five pike. I get three into the yak as two of them bit off the hooks.

The next part of the plan was to paddle around with a 300mm live pike with a 4x strong stinger on 44lb wire in its back, looking for Spanish mackerel. This last part of the plan was set.

So for five hours that live bait went all over Sunshine Reef. The boys were all over the reef plus there were 15 stink boats. Half of the stinkies were continually on the move, going from bust-up to bust-up and not a bent rod that I could see.

By 10 am all the birds had moved on. I decided to try one more mark in 20m of water then go off home. I had the bait 15m down with some lead on the end of a 6m leader hanging off a rubber band. On my way up the face of the reef from 32m of water the TLD told me that something was looking at my little friend! By the time I had the rod in my butt holder in my lap, with the reel drag as tight as I dared, the line was half gone from the spool. So by the time she turned me around the TLD that had started with say 350m of 20lb mono was emptying fast. That was about the same time as I saw two guys in a big boat out to the right. They stayed away but they told me later they saw the hit and then had the show of their lives.

I called it for a shark for the first 20 minutes then she came up half way 10m down. It was magic because I had my line coming back and we were going 2kph out to sea. By the time I saw her in about 15 minutes she had calmed down. Not me, I wet myself.

This Spanish mackerel was moving us fast, locked in close to the yak with line up high, gaff in hand. "Here goes…", remember the boaties are having a side show. As I was manoeuvering the gaff around her big head to get a clear shot, the handle of the gaff hit her and she got upset and ran away. (I gave a gaff away to a mackerel last year.) She came back after ten minutes; same place hard in to my yak. This time I put the gaff under her head and up hard.

Oh dear, here goes, I am kilometres off shore and those two guys in a stink boat thinking how funny it was. I then said "Now what?" 32kg (70lb) of fish longer than me. She went into the hull on the fourth try.

With that I gave the guys in the boat the two live baits and made I way back to Doggie Beach, arriving at about the same time as most of my mates.

Beach pics…




Thanks for reading, RedGreg.