# A rip snorter in Laguna Bay, Noosa, now with description



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Pics 1000 pixels wide (to fit fish in  ). Please adjust window width accordingly.
Two mates and I went out today into Laguna Bay. We launched at 0515 and I was back on the beach at 0730, having paddled 8km, with this beauty.









_This is how it looked from my point of view just after capture. The gaff can still be seen in the head, and the lure can be seen protruding from the jaws whose teeth would easily take off a finger if you carelessly put it in there._

A nice bikini-clad lady on the beach agreed to take my pic with my camera just after landing.









_0728hrs, Immediately after landing. Note that the tail rope is still on the fish and is attached to the yak which is out of the pic_









_On the measure mat (too small again). He went just under 1.3m -- probably 12-13kg._

Another great couple of hours in the ocean on a yak.

Hope you enjoyed, AKFFers.

Text as requested by Occy, plus a couple more pics, added 22Jan:

0420 yesterday morning. I was at home in the kitchen having just eaten my weetbix -- breakfast of champions, don't you know. It was still dark outside, I was just putting on sunscreen to keep my youthful looks when I heard the rain start. Bugger, I thought will the others show up?

We expected four starters, Steve, Jaro, Jim and I, but only three of us fronted. Turned out later that Steve, at 54 the youngster of our group, had actually put his alarm on for 4.00pm. They're tricky devices these electronic alarms! Anyway, there we three were at the car park with just enough light to see that the surf zone transit would be interesting. We demurred for a while then thought what the hell, doesn't look too bad once you get through. Jim, usually a regular with our little group, was going offshore for the first time in several months after recovering from a push bike race prang which left him with a badly broken collarbone and seven broken ribs. He opted to go on the east side of the groyne and Jaro and I headed for the western side.

All three of us got out without difficulty. Certainly Jaro and I were surprised at how easy our transit was. Jim joined us "out the back'" a few minutes later and Jaro welcomed him back to yak fishing with a welcome radio call - very apt, I thought.

By 0534, I was off, setting course for Jew Shoal, some 3.5km distant in the ocean haze to the north. Jaro followed a couple of minutes later and Jim a few minutes after him. The going was OK if a little up and down, as you'd expect, and the breeze was quite finicky, sometimes coming from the west and sometimes from the north. I'd opted to troll a single lure, one which had been on many journeys with me and had hooked an array of pelagics and was now on its third set of hooks. My casting rod was in the rod holder, rigged up with a slug ready to cast to schools of feeding pelagics we happened upon.

By 0600 I was about 500m south of one of my marks at Jew Shoal and heading toward it when I noticed a huge flock of birds on the horizon, perhaps 1 km away. They were bunched very tightly, low on the water and were wheeling around as if they were caught in a whirlwind. I brought this to Jaro's attention, by radio, then pushed on toward the feeding frenzy. By this time the breeze had increased and was coming from the north so we were punching right into it. Jaro was about 100-150m behind and to my left when suddenly my trolling reel, an ancient ABU10000C which I've owned since the 1970s, screamed as line was stripped from the spool in a powerful run. As soon as I picked up the rod I could tell that this fish had a bit of weight in it. This impression was confirmed with another powerful run, toward the west, as Jaro paddled past me about 50m away, also west of me. At that time I didn't know that Jaro was trolling two outfits but I soon found out because my fish had taken my lure and attached line right across, and under, the path of Jaro's two lures -- he'd travelled past me a minute or so after I'd first hooked up. My heart sank as I put pressure on the fish and found first one, then the second of Jaro's lures running up my line, which was still taut and connected to the strong running fish. Fortunately Jaro slowed and then stopped which made it easier for me to disengage his lures, but he did end up with a bit of a tangle -- always a risk when trolling two lures, I reckon. Thanks for stopping mate, and sorry that my action may have contributed to your line tangle. Anyway back to my fish, which was still full of fight. After several more minutes I got a look at him as he swept under the yak in the clear blue water and powered off again on another strong run. Cripes -- a bloody great Spaniard!

Shortly the fish was tiring, as you would be if you'd been towing me around in my yak, which he had been. For some reason, the best fish always seem to come into gaffing position on my left side, which is not my best for decisively and accurately placing the gaff. This one was no different. He circled on the left side of the yak, thrusting along with that huge powerful tail but eventually I left-hand gaffed him and briefly held his head out of the water to an admiring gasp from Jaro, who was close enough to see the action. It was only when I held him on the gaff that I realised that this was a more substantial fish than any other I'd recently caught. And when I started to drag his body over the side of the yak and into the footwell I realised that this fish would not be an easy fit. My first action was to get his head, with lure firmly clamped between its fiercesome jaws, down to between my feet (glad I wear dive boottees) while I manoeuvred the tail to under my chin. This accomplished, I turned my attention to tail roping the monster, all the time coping with muscular flexing of that magnificent body (the fish's, not mine) as the fish objected to the strange environment in which it found itself. My tail rope secured, I opted to just hold my prize in position while it gradually faded from this life. This took some time, during which I also tidied up a bit -- you know, untangling things, getting the gaff back into its secure storage location, and getting the rod back into its holder on the back deck, taking a photo with one hand.

After ten minutes or so I judged that the mackerel I'd caught was no longer in the land of the living and thus safe to handle a little less carefully. With some difficulty in the choppy, rolling, conditions I manoeuvred the fish through 180 degrees into a head to stern direction and, opening the fish box door on my left side, started pushing him in, head first. I'm gonna need a bigger yak, I thought, when he was half way in. Eventually the pointy nose of the fish came up hard against the stern end of the fish box. Shit, there was still 30cm of fish or so to go! I'd earlier decided that, even though there were probably heaps of more fish around, there was no point in continuing to fish and therefore I jury-rigged a new, bigger tie-down for the fish box lid (to secure the fish better in the event of a roll-over coming through the surf) and packed up my gear for the return to the beach.

My journey back was uneventful and in quite pleasant conditions with a following sea and northerly breeze and overcast. And within about 40 minutes I was doing battle with the surf monster on the western side of the groyne, to come up trumps with a nice wave which took me right in to the beach. Yee Ha!

I took great pleasure in dragging the spaniard from the fish box while several early beach goers stood around with lower jaws dragging on the sand. A nice bikini-clad lady on the beach agreed to take my pic with my camera just after landing.

And a couple more pics...









_The spaniard in the Espri cockpit (afterwards  )_


















_Taking him home in my Sierra..._


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## zipper (Feb 27, 2008)

what a great catch, congrats


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## bazzoo (Oct 17, 2006)

What a stunner , by gee you are really getting amongst them lately if its not snapper its spanyards , beautiful fish , i bet the fight was a long one complete with tow i would think , well done


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## Cuda (Sep 18, 2006)

That's it, I'm moving to the Sunshine Coast - can't handle these incessant 20 knot plus winds & 3 metre swells every day any more :twisted: 
Another fine catch there Sunshiner


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

Nice work Sunshiner.

I am back at work now after returning home from Noosa on Saturday. I had high hopes of being able to head out into the bay during my week up there but it just wasn't to be with those King tides and heavy seas. The shore dump on the beach just never really let up enough to justify a trip out...maybe next time.

Kev


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## mcbigg (Jul 14, 2007)

Niiiiiiice!

What did ya catch him on?


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## joejoe (Sep 28, 2008)

Well done sunshiner,you are catching awesome fish up there keep it up .joe


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## PhilC (Oct 10, 2008)

WOW!


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## JD (Jul 2, 2006)

Very nice, you've got it to good up on the coast. ;-)


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

so so the weyba creek bream, sunshine beach sweetlip /snapper, or laguna bay spanish macks pull harder?

not bad for an old fart. ;-) :lol: 8)


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## Biggles (Jan 6, 2008)

Lovely fish Sunshiner.

Al


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## dunebuggy (Dec 21, 2008)

Awesome catch Sunshiner. I will have to try this......yak fishing in the ocean when I get the nerve up. lol. Not to mention the fitness level.


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## tobes (Jul 8, 2008)

big congrats love the suzuki shot :lol:


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

mcbigg said:


> Niiiiiiice!
> 
> What did ya catch him on?


G'day mcbigg

I was trolling this at about 5kph


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Davey G said:


> so so the weyba creek bream, sunshine beach sweetlip /snapper, or laguna bay spanish macks pull harder?
> 
> not bad for an old fart. ;-) :lol: 8)


G'day Davey

How come you didn't ask about the cobia :? ?

The spaniard wins.

Your compliment accepted -- thank you. When are you moving up here -- we need some younger old farts?


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## DougOut (Dec 31, 2006)

good onya Kev ....gotta be happy with that ( insert a snarl of jealousy here) :shock: 
Top fish'n Mate 8) 
just one thing :twisted: 
where on earth is "your" photo of the bikini babe/zzzz ;-)
can't recall .... did I say I was jealous  :twisted:


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## Shabadoo (Jan 4, 2009)

Wow! :shock: 
You guys are living the dream up there.
Did you get a photo of the bikini-clad babe?


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## ArWeTherYet (Mar 25, 2007)

That's a damn fine fish mate, congratulations.


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

Another top capture, onya Kev


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

sunshiner said:


> G'day Davey
> 
> How come you didn't ask about the cobia :? ?


Ahhhh yep, didn't want to give you a big head....



sunshiner said:


> When are you moving up here -- we need some younger old farts?


By years end...and I fit into that 'young old fart' category perfectly.. 8)


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## madkeenfisher (Jul 24, 2008)

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

NICE! Great effort KEV. I JUST KEEP TELLING MYSELF ONE DAY I"LL BE INTHE RIGHT PLACE AND THE RIGHT TIME AND NAIL ONE OF THOSE AWESOME LOOKING FISH. I was just up there 2 weeks ago during the king tides and with the shore break and gail force winds we couldn't get out. Maybe the next AKFF meet and greet day could be held up around Luguna bay. We might end up with some awesome captures with 20 odd kayaks in laguna bay at one time.   . NOT A BAD IDEA REALLY!!!

MAD


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Nice one Kev.. another cracker fish


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## Fishpod (Oct 11, 2006)

Great stuff there Kev. Congratulations   

Awesome fish.

Well Done.


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Gatesy said:


> I wanna be an old fart as well :shock:


You said it but I think the key is "retired" old fart. 
mmmmmm..... retired....mmmmm


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## Ironsides (Jul 10, 2006)

The Legend grows, as does the status of the humble Espri.
Wow, Fantastic and all that stuff.

Great stuff

Well done

Ian


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## azzaroo (Aug 17, 2007)

well done on catching my dream fish :lol: :lol:


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

Not bad for two hours effort, Sunshiner.

If I figure out how to adjust the window width, do I get a peek at the photographer?


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## reverend1 (Oct 10, 2008)

Big Fishy


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## spooled1 (Sep 16, 2005)

Great effort Kev - You should post that lure on ebay ;-)


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## Dipseadiver (Jan 18, 2009)

Haulin mate!.....Lovely big old kipper..oh what it must be like to be able to wear shorts in the sunshine 8)


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## polylureosis (Jul 24, 2006)

Great fish.

Yummy steaks tonight.


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## Safa (Aug 4, 2006)

What a slab mate ,congrats ...........still hoping for a solid fish like that this season!


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

----

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## DrJed (Sep 13, 2007)

That is an unreal fish bud - great work.

Steve


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## yakattack (Jan 12, 2008)

Good effort from the yak well done


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## johns (Apr 16, 2008)

Great Fish Big congrat.  
Fish of a lifetime


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## Wattie (Apr 30, 2007)

Well done Sunny ;-)


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## Nativeman (Sep 6, 2005)

Well Done Kev

A sensational catch 

Cheers


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## kanganoe (Apr 30, 2008)

Love this time of year when you blokes start getting those clunkers. Inspirational stuff.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

occy said:


> Well done Kev. You were obviously too buggered to talk, so you let the pictures do the talking. :shock: Very smart mate. ;-) When things settle down please do fill us in on how you caught it, how it fought, and how you cooked it.
> 
> By the way, was she a yummy mummy or nubile nymph? :lol: :lol:


G'day Paul

Have now added text. She was a yummy mummy who couldn't resist telling me about her Dad who used to take his home made wooden surfski out and fish from that, quite a few years ago.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Thanks guys for all of your comments. It's been a while since I nailed a decent Spaniard and I really enjoyed the challenge of dealing with this guy, some 32 years after my first, off Magnetic Island in a 12 foot tinny. In those days I never would have thought it possible to deal with a good sized spaniard safely in a tiny plastic kayak, but there you go.

Tight lines

Kev


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## Billybob (Aug 29, 2005)

Congratulations Kev.

I know you've been trying hard for the last couple of years to land a Spaniard on your kayak so you must be over the moon to have finally succeeded.

Well done.


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## mattayogi (Feb 11, 2007)

Yet again a very good account of your encounter, Sunshiner! That's some fish - there's something about them, hey?

And I love that pic of the tail hanging out the back of the car 

Matt


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## noosatocoffs (Apr 5, 2007)

nice spaniard there..

so you outdoing the old bugger billy bob yet?


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Billybob said:


> Congratulations Kev. I know you've been trying hard for the last couple of years to land a Spaniard on your kayak so you must be over the moon to have finally succeeded. Well done.


Thanks Bill -- and thanks for getting me started (albeit indirectly) on yak fishing a few years ago. Oh and see the next quote... Hope I'm right re age?



noosatocoffs said:


> nice spaniard there.. so you outdoing the old bugger billy bob yet?


No, but he had a start on me in yak fishing. And anyway, from my point of view he's a youngster -- hell, he's not even 60 8) !


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## noosatocoffs (Apr 5, 2007)

sure but had a hard life..looks a lot older


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## Biggera Yakker (Jan 25, 2007)

Yep, that's a fish I'd be very happy with!
Well done mate!


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## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

Gday Kev, rarely post on here these days but always love to see one of you reports. Another top catch, when I go yak fishin down the coast again I hope we can catch up. Trav


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