Flinders 07/04/2013
Launching Bird of Prey (my new AI) from Flinders I sailed straight out into the ocean and made my way far enough south so that I could head west towards Cape Shank without passing through the marine park. I trolled two lures on the way out - a Rapala X-Rap down deep and a Subwalk on the surface. Just as the X-Rap was struck and grabbed the rod to engage I looked back to see the Subwalk get smacked. I quickly hauled in a reasonable sized barracouta and once released grabbed the other rod to find that the lure had been bitten clean off. Dammit, that one was meant for a kingy!
Bemm River round up
Just as the sun peaked it's brilliance over the horizon line shooting slivers of warming light across the land, a large congregation of dedicated kayak anglers readied their kayaks in preparation for the hunt at Bemm river waters edge. The fish stirred with discontent while a thick atmosphere of mojo steadily filled the air as competitors of the 3rd round of the Daiwa Hobie Kayak Series readied their yaks in preparation for the hunt at waters edge.
Rise of the next generation
With even more excitement and anticipation that I always carry into trips like our annual ventures into Fraser Island, today I took my son on his second kayak fishing trip, this time launching from Idiot Safety Beach. Launching early enough to avoid the masses of tinnies and jetskis, we sailed out to the north west to investigate the local reefs (to no avail) before turning back to the east in search of squid. The fish were clearly skittish today, so I determined our best chance of making sure Fynn would catch his first ever fish would be to use freshly caught squid. This involved teaching how to hook up the inkers, and then how to rig their tenticles onto a jighead for best effect.
Fraser Island expedition 2012
Despite what looked to be pretty good conditions, when the six of us launched from the beach at Urangan we weren't really sure if we'd make it all the way to Wathumba that day. While that was always our intention, we had a plan B and C worked out but fortunately we didn't have to fall back on them. It had been a very interesting day on the water - one that set the scene for most of the rest of the trip. Along the way I dropped a cracker of a fish, got chomped off by another, Holger had landed a nice trevally and Rhett hooked up to and subsequently dropped a marlin.
Nemesis kayak fishing, Jervis Bay
I was fortunate enough to have the pleasure of heading out on an AI kayak fishing trip with Geoff Williams in Jervis Bay today, the pair of us launching from Murray's beach ramp at around 6AM. It took longer than expected but eventually we both found ourselves with inked yaks and a squid each on board, with which we then took off towards Bowen Island in order to offer them to the fish gods. Snapper and Kingfish were our targets. One out of two aint bad.
Greenback breaker
St Georges Basin is home to a myriad of sought after species with bream and flathead the obvious family favourites. Personally, however, I'm much more interested in the greenback tailor that the basin is known for so when I hit the water today I sailed straight out to my greenback 'spot X' hoping that it was still every bit as productive as it use to be. Imagine my satisfaction when the rod buckled over just as soon as I sailed into said spot X. Taking a trolled shallow diving Rapala slashbait (olive colour) this fish hit hard enough to give away its species immediately. It wasn't easy to wipe the grin off my face as I wound it in, though I did let it go as soon as I'd landed it.
Hard yards, Clarence coast
Despite a turn in conditions for the better over the past couple of weeks it's been slim pickings fishing my haunts off the Clarence coast recently, unless red rock cod count (they don't). Thats not to say I haven't had a few heart-racing hook ups though because I have and yesterday's trip off Brooms Head was no different. Instead of losing the fish to a bust or bite off, however, this time I was defeated by the sheer size, weight, strength and will power of whatever it was that I'd hooked. While drifting along steadily and jigging a large bucktail jig something sucked it up and casually took off with it. A slow and enduring 45-minute ride ensued as it towed me towards the north.
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