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| Jervis Bay & beyond | | Print | |
| Sunday, 29 June 2008 | ||||
Finito for this bonito 49cm bonito, caught on Rapalla x-rap divebait Thankfully the weather did indeed hold up for the weekend and if I had the time spare, I would have gone out both days. I knew Saturday would be calmer, but decided to head out Sunday instead. Winds might just turn out to be a novelty I thought, and thus included a sail-kit in my gear. At first I was undecided on where to fish - the bay or basin. Then I figured that if I caught some more tailor now, I might as well rename this site to tailortown.com.au. So instead I made my way to Murrays boat ramp from where I would head out into Jervis Bay, through the heads and off shore. Wind was coming in at around 10 knots from the north east, which allowed me to sail nicely with a side wind all the way to the heads and beyond. I spent some of the way out tacking into the wind, with intentions to make the return trip a smooth downwind sail. The plan probably would have worked to, if only I wasn't distracted by the tell-tale omen of birds crashing the water on the north east end of Bowen Island. The closer to the action I got, the more excited I became. It wasn't just birds joining the party - there were a couple of seals in the mix as well. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that I wasn't the only one who's spotted the action. I was first on the scene, but other boats were closing in fast. In just a few minutes, they'd motor in and shut it all down. I managed about 5 or 6 casts before that happened. On the upside, those few casts returned 2 fish. The first being a reasonable tailor, which I quickly returned, figuring that there'd be bigger fish among the pack. A couple of casts later and I was onto something with a bit more grunt. As I fought it in to the kayak I found myself trying to guess what it was. Is it a snapper? No... no real headshakes... just veering hard left and right (besides, I wasn't expecting to catch a snapper here and now). Is it a kingy? No... not trying to break deep-diving world records. Is it a tuna of some kind? No... it's strong, but not that strong. Maybe its another tailor... wait... it is a tuna! Of the bonito variety, that is. Small for a typical tuna, large for a typical bonito. It's not quite the pelagic fish I was hoping for, but it is at least pelagic. And yes, I did catch it on the Rapala X-rap lure that I said would account for my next pelagic. All told I caught 6 fish today, including 2 pesky leatherjackets, which had - as usual - foul hooked themselves while harassing a deep-diving lure. There was also the tailor as well as a pike. I also managed to hook a small slimy mackerel, which I put back into the water as a live-bait. After 5 minutes it failed to produce, so with light failing I reeled it in, gently de-hooked it and returned it. As the sun fell below the horizon line I rigged up and set sail for the boat ramp.  Sailing home after a busy afternoon kayak fishing Today really reminded me of the theory that fish are generally no where near as hungry during the colder months. My sounder picked up hundreds of fish this afternoon but encouraging them to bite was rather difficult. I can only hope that these numbers still show up on the sounder when it warms up. If so, I'm looking at a rather productive summer season. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I saw another shark today... probably the biggest I've ever seen. It was hard to say because I only saw the front half of it rise out of the water, about 10 metres behind a nearby boat (about 20 metres from myself). I couldn't rightfully tell you what it was, but it was quite large. Possibly a mako, maybe a white, or could have been another species that grows to be larger than, say, a kayak. The guy in the boat saw it to and actually motored over to tell me about it. I did keep my eye on the water after that while in the area but I didn't see another hint of it. It was too large to be a dolphin and too small to be most species of whale. I didn't catch the fin, just the nose, head and neck (in that order). After that initial glimpse it was gone. Given how many hours I've put in in deep salty waters I'm still surprised I haven't seen more sharks than I have. What no longer surprises me is that the first sighting is almost always the last. I figure it was responding to a berley trail and as usual, didn't seem the least bit interested in myself.    
30-06-2008 11:03 good to see you hooking up...cape hillsborough is still failing to fire up...i'll have to try elsewhere cheers 30-06-2008 15:48 yeah mate, no ground breaking fish, but fish all the same. I can;t even remember the last time I went out and caught nothing, so I'm doing well I think. 01-07-2008 18:40 yeah you are...hooked uo 2 in 5 hours today.... first lost near yak 2nd took off with 1/3 of my reel before it shredded my leader.... great day to be out though just tomorrow to go with a 6am start...bbbrrrrr Only registered users can write comments. Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6 |
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