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Yeppoon: Findlays reef

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Sunday, 07 October 2007

It's raining Tuna

That tuna is the Godzilla's bitch

Launch:	- 7:30 AM
Landed:	- 10.00 AM
Tide:	- 6:30 PM, Low
Weather:	- Hot, 28 °C, calm
Caught:	- Bluefin Tuna, Wirefence cod, Cobia
Method:	- Trolling soft plastic lures, live baiting

As mentioned in the previous trip report, upon landing through the surf I was greeted by some curious and enthusiastic onlookers. From their perch on the small hill above the beach they could see the large Tuna I brought in with me and came down to investigate. Not only they kind enough to take some photos of me and the catch, they also weighed the fish, helped me drag the yak up the beach and then even offered me a drink. Because they are keen fishermen the conversation flowed pretty freely and before long I knew a fair bit more about where the best spots might be for kayak fishing. They also invited me out to go fishing with them today, including allowing me to take my kayak aboard the boat.

This was a fantastic opportunity I wasn't about to pass up, because among other reasons, it was a chance to get ferried out to a reef that I otherwise simply couldn't get without enduring a very long paddle out first. And given the size of the fish out there, one wouldn't want to fish these waters fatigued. So after powering out about 20km a few bait fish were raised on jigs and my kayak was gently slid out into the deep blue (actually, at 14 or so metres, it wasn't so deep, but it was very blue water).

My ambition today was to land a cobia and the best way to do this, I was told, was to send down a live bait. So that's exactly what I did. Upon seeing bait fish being chomped a short while after I paddled over (a couple of hundred meters) to investigate. The livie was still kicking around out behind me (on the Godzilla rod) but I decided to cast a large pillie-sized soft plastic as the panicked bait fish. Just as I was starting to think nothing would come of it, the Godzilla bent over and line started peeling off fast. I was on to something nice and large once again - not quite as strong as yesterday's fish, but not far behind it.

Just another day at the office

I was able to control the fish reasonably easily, being towed a good deal of the time (in circles) and peddling towards it slowly whenever the fish made a hard run. Once again, the Godzilla was in charge and at no stage did it feel like I might lose the fish. When it got within 10 metres I was able to identify it as another bluefin tuna. A bit smaller than the last one, but still worthy of the title. It took about 20 minutes to bring it onboard. Thankfully, with a support boat nearby I had a much easier time of dealing with it, without the need to store it on the kayak. This also meant bleeding it immediately was a much safer proposition.

Easier to deal with than yesterday's catch

I had a short rest for a little while and then decided to try again. This time, however, I wanted to put the Nitro Viper to the test and handed the Godzilla to the guys on the boat. I was soon onto another a fish - a relative minnow by comparison - being a wirefence cod (caught on that pillie soft plastic). It was returned immediately and soon after my attention was again turned to another school of bait fish being attacked by a larger species. I paddled over and cast the lure in several times but they continued to move quite quickly and I was too lazy to put on a chase.

A short while later I returned close by to the boat where the skipper (Derel) had managed to hook up to a cobia. He called me over and passed me his rod. I think he was just as interested to see how I'd go bringing in a cobia on a kayak as I was. I didn't like the look of the rod, however (a Shimano Squidgy 6'6 graphite bream special) and as I was fighting the fish, inquired about it's rating. The line was questionable to, but the rod didn't feel up to the task at all. I was right. About 5 minutes into the fight, it snapped at the mid-section. From there I had to try and fight it with the but, and this was putting terrible strain on the reel. It was straining the line a hell of a lot as well and eventually it gave way. Dammit!

Findlays reef cobia being released

Having just broke the skipper's rod I decided to call it a day and headed back to the boat. Once aboard more bites came, all from big fish. Two were definitely cobia, another more likely to be a large spanish mackeral. It felt kind of weird to fish from a power boat again (something I hadn't done for a while) and proved to be quite challenging. Because the boat was anchored, as the fish moved around the boat we were forced to play a sort of musical chairs, passing the bent rods on to whoever was in the best position to deal with it at the time.

We lost the mackeral with me taking the shift. The spool almost ran out of line and with about only 15 meters left on it, I winded the drag to try and slow it down. I knew it was risky, but I didn't want to lose both the fish and the line. As it happened, I only lost the fish. I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to pull in a 20kg cobia soon after, however, so that almost made up for it. Although not as powerful as the tuna, these cobia are awesome in size as they are in strength. I can't wait to reel one in on the kayak.

After this we packed it in to head back to land. The skipper took a detour to Keppel island along the way, where we hopped out for a quick look around. The waters really are pristine around here, abundant in snorkeling and kayaking opportunities. I'll be coming back to this place for sure.

There's more than one way to skin a cat

My hosts, Derel Wust & crew, overlooking Corio Bay from the shores of Keppel Island

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Comments (3)

07-10-2007 18:40

Well done fella...

Hey there Josh,
I have been away from the internet for a few months now. So I'm looking forward to reading about the fish that you have caught.

First article was good. Sounds like a great day. Well done on the big Cobia.