# Qld. Longtails! and Spaniards! Noosa Yakkers, 14Feb14



## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

When I got down to the beach around 04:30 (an hour before sunrise), thinking I'd be the first as there was still some preparation activity in the carpark, I was surprised to see several others assembled there ready to launch. Then someone told me that tarzan had already launched, about 15 minutes earlier, just before the moon set. In the end there were nine of us out there today.

The launch was ridiculously easy and before long the beach loafers were heading out in the darkness. Tunny, prowler1 and I headed for Little Halls Reef/Halls Reef while the others decided they'd try their luck at Jew Shoal. Stormin called up when we were abeam of Little Halls Reef and told us he was following us out to Halls Reef as he'd managed to get a substitute for the last two hours of his all night shift at work.

Superb conditions, but no sign of activity on our front, until we got closer to Halls Reef where tarzan could be seen with a severely bent rod.









How much punishment can that slug chucker take?

Anyway, I hove to near him to offer my assistance and get some pics, especially as he said he had a longtail on. I couldn't help but notice, however, that there were some issues here. Tarzan filled me in on the details. He'd been paddling happily along trolling two outfits when a bustup of longtails happened right in front of him. His slug chucker was available so he chucked a slug, cranked fast, hooked up big time and the fish went where you hoped it wouldn't go: around the two trolling outfits. That explained the bird's nest I could see whenever he managed to retrieve enough line to (briefly) get the leader knot out of the water. Tarzan was valiantly trying to gain the upper hand with a helluva lot stacked against him. But at least it wasn't blowing 15 knots in a two metre swell.

Things were about to get worse. He was doing really well, I thought, just staying connected but then there was a loud bang as his slug chucker got much shorter instantly. Amazingly, the braid hadn't broken and he was still connected, but now the piece of rod in his hands had only one runner, which was not designed to take the sort of downward pressure being applied. Worse, the pieces (for there were two) of rod not in his hand were still on his line, sliding up and down.









Rod in three pieces, three lines involved and still connected.

At this stage tarzan decided to go for broke, heaving and cranking to try to get the leader up so he could grab it. The one remaining runner seemed to me to be distorting under the pressure. I noticed he was wearing gloves so at least he had that in his favour. Tarzan has nailed some big longtails in the past so he's no novice at this game. Next thing, he's got the leader in his hand, which has also got a HLP from one of the other outfits tangled in it. I winced at the possibilities but admired his efforts to stay in control of his rampaging opponent. He was making steady progress when the hook pulled or the leader broke. Nice try, tarzan.

While this was going on longtails were busting out not far away. Tunny was chasing them but the bustups were so brief and so widely separated that he couldn't get a decent slug chuck at them. After leaving tarzan to sort out his problems I joined in, trolling and occasionally getting almost close enough to the splashes and the leaping longtails, but never really getting the chance to have a whack at them. It was like one of those Whack-a-Mole games: no sooner was I ready to whack than the mole disappeared.

About now stormin came up on the radio nonchalantly announcing that he'd just hatched a Spaniard, taken on Lazybugger's pillie rig which he'd made himself. Over at Jew Shoal, as aussie-stu told us by radio, geetrain had also boated a Spaniard.









Here's geetrain's nice Jew Shoal fish, pictured on the beach later. 1.34m, 16kg. Caught on a trolled garfish. Biggest among Noosa Yakkers this season, but a long way short of our record.

Stormin and I met up a little later, close to the Halls Reef mark.









Stormin's second ever Spaniard, and the first to be accommodated in his recently acquired Stealth.









Oh and here's new Noosa Yakker Jim (prowler1), who told me he'd just been busted by a hoodlum when trolling a white SP on his bream outfit. Sounds like a longtail attack to me and I think Jim was a little under-gunned.

By now the longtail surface action, such as it was, had fizzled out. We kept trying for a while, especially when Stormin caught another Spaniard, 2cm undersize, released in good condition. Just before 08:00 I decided to head for the beach, 5km away, and enjoyed the paddle in perfect conditions with a tiny following northerly.

On the beach was clappo who'd been at Jew Shoal then Little Halls Reef, and I could see from out the back that he had a decent fish because beach strollers were deviating to his yak and staring and pointing at something arrayed on his stern. Some tiny waves made for a perfect opportunity to get an easy ride in and I took it.









Clappo with our first longtail taken in the 2013/14 season. Caught on a trolled jumbo pillie, while on the way back to Middle Groyne from Little Halls Reef. Length: just under a metre.

I hung around for a little while and took to the water for a dip, with the camera, when stormin and tunny returned to the beach.









Stormin's starting to get the hang of his Supalite. Picking up a small shorey and hammering in to the beach.









Tunny, as usual with a big smile on his face whenever he's on his yak.

A very enjoyable morning, and now the wind's getting up again, but only for the weekend!

Thanks for reading AKFFers. Tight lines.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Told you the fish would be about with me bailing out! Well done all.


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## carnster (May 27, 2008)

Fun times boys well done.


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## ben123 (Jan 24, 2012)

Why oh why must work always get in the way of fishing 

Nice work guys, hopefully the weather changes for the better this weekend from its current forecast


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## brolans (Aug 9, 2012)

Great work fellas&#8230;. nice to see the supalite into the action  How are you finding it storming? ;-)


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## carnster (May 27, 2008)

16kg = Big dog contender?


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## Wrassemagnet (Oct 17, 2007)

Fun times eh?
Tarzan, I feel ya bro, I feel ya.


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## hoit (Aug 29, 2005)

Nice report Kev. Keep them coming. I'm just counting down the days until Caloundra...


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## paulo (Nov 1, 2007)

Another top Noosa day Kev and crew. Very nearly made the journey up myself this morning.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

Good one Noosars.


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## Outbacker73 (Mar 8, 2012)

brolans said:


> Great work fellas&#8230;. nice to see the supalite into the action  How are you finding it storming? ;-)


Great yak and loving it I just wish I got more time using it


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## Beekeeper (Aug 20, 2011)

Could there be rod-relatives in AKFF?

Jim Wrassemagnet and Tarzan looked pretty much alike with their broken rods! :lol:

Ugly-sticks are good! eh, Trev!

Jimbo

PS... Some nice fish fellers... Gdonya!

J


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## paulsod (Dec 28, 2008)

Always a pleaure reading your reports Kev.
Well done to the Fish catchers especially geetrains' Spanish.

Went Moffats that day. Trolled a Slimey for Mackerel and a Halco for Tuna.
Only one bite, 2 short bursts with a gap between them and bitten/broke off, after the 2nd run.That was on the 44lb wire, Slimey rig.
Saw Bird activity out wide for a very brief period when I launched. Funny thing was, Birds past me going South, then back North and once again back South. 
If they couldn't find the fish, what chance had I. :lol: 
A lot of brown stuff floating on top of the water and also what looked like small round broken off Coral. Plus what look like Coral eggs suspended in the water.
Since the Full Moon was on Saturday, I say that was what it was.

The Northerly picked up at 8.45am down Moffats.

Cheers
Paul


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## RhubarbTheYeti (Oct 28, 2013)

paulsod said:


> A lot of brown stuff floating on top of the water and also what looked like small round broken off Coral. Plus what look like Coral eggs suspended in the water.
> Since the Full Moon was on Saturday, I say that was what it was.


Could the brown stuff and small round coral be debris from the Indonesian volcano? Dunno if the prevailing winds would lob it in your direction. The round coral like blobs sound a bit like it could be volcanic pumice.


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

paulsod said:


> A lot of brown stuff floating on top of the water and also what looked like small round broken off Coral. Plus what look like Coral eggs suspended in the water.
> Since the Full Moon was on Saturday, I say that was what it was.
> The Northerly picked up at 8.45am down Moffats.
> Cheers
> Paul


G'day Paul

Yeah, I didn't get a hit on Friday although my heart rate definitely went up a couple of times when longtails were briefly smashing the bait nearby.

The brown scum on the water is trichodesmium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trichodesmium

Tricho is often seen in our waters during between November and April, when the water's warmest. It doesn't appear to affect the fish as I've seen big bustups near and in it on many occasions. You may hear it called coral spawn, which it definitely isn't.

As for the floating lumps, they are pieces of pumice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumice which have been floating in the ocean long enough to acquire a coating of living material, including goose-necked barnacles. There's been a lot of pumice floating around here for the last few months and I see it's also arrived in Sydney, causing attention down there for they rarely see it. It's likely been a standard feature of our region for eons, and as evidence I cite the naming of one of our local popular waterways, the Pumicestone Passage.

As for the egg like things, I have no inkling but I do know that coral spawning on the east coast of Australia occurs in November. What are also around now are a lot of big jellies, possibly medusa. If you stop and take a close look at one you'll usually see heaps of tiny and beautifully patterned fish swimming around in its tentacles.

Glad you enjoyed reading the post and thanks for your input.

Kev


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## Paulos (Nov 7, 2012)

Nice to see the long tails showing up! Let's hope they come in numbers soon.

I think you'll find the latest round of pumice is from an underwater volcano off nz..


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## paulsod (Dec 28, 2008)

Thanks for the reply Kev.I thought the Brown stuff was some sort of Algae. 
Read it on the forum previously, but couldn't remember the name..
Damn if I knew it was Pumice I would have grab some, maybe next time. It did have algae and stuff growing on it.
The eggs things were white, round and about 5-8mm wide. 
Cheers
Paul


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## MrX (Feb 7, 2008)

Great report, as usual, Kev.

Glad to see the boys got in to them, but shame you didn't get to whack a mole yourself.


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