Kayak fishing in the Maroochy River - Fun with plastics

The 3 m waves and 10knot winds made a beach launch and offshore fish not really an option again this weekend. Plan B; I met up with another kayaker; Dan and hit the Maroochy river @ 8:30am from near swan boat hire. The plan was to get some livies and try for some flathead or a jew since they have been on the chew lately. For the life of use we could not find any bait and when we did they were too deep. We trolled around a bit and flicked a few plastics and got a few hits. I picked up a 50cm flathead around swan boat hire on a gulp pumpkin seed, t-tail on a 1/12 jig head; a wonderful way to christen the new Stradic Ci4 2500.

50cm Flatty

We then trolled to the cod hole to fish the change of high tide, as soon as I arrived I picked up a small trevally on the plastic.

Small trevally

Then several minutes later a nice big bream @ 33cm on the plastic again.

33cm Bream

The tide changed the the fish shut down, Dan and I trolled around to no avail. I worked one of the edges of the cod hole following some shapes just of the bottom and picked up this fat bream. Despite him trying to fertilize my kayak I had enough fish in the bag and let him go.

Fat bream

We spotted some birds working near swan boat hire and we paddled over but by the time we go there the bait, tailor and birds were nowhere to be found.

The keepers.

Dinner.

Unfortunately Dan did not get onto anything this time, sorry bud.

Cheers
Dan

Kayak fishing with my dog Ollie

Winds were up this weekend and didn't head offshore, instead I thought i'd do some light trolling around Maroochy river with my red kelpie, Ollie.

She didn't last too long and was quickly distracted by birds, wanting to jump off and chase them so I returned her back to the dry shore. I trolled around for a few hours, I hooked up a nice bream and a a few small fish which went back in the drink. No monsters today.

Ollie took about 2 hours to devour her new toy when we got home, she is getting pretty efficient at it these days.

Cheers
Dan

Kings Beach to Bray Rock Snapper on Trolled Lure

I braved the forecast 10knot winds early and launched from Kings @ around 6am to try and get that big snapper with my name on it.

I trolled to bray rock, I got 2 pike about 5 min in which managed to tangle themselves up well good and had to re-rig of of the lines but it was good to see my first attempt at trolling a blade seemed to be working.

Pike on Blade

I got to Bray rock and the wind and chop was making it a rough, wet and cold ride. Shortly after reaching the rock both rods buckled over, I felt both and wound the overhead with the halco laser pro on. Landed a nice big snapper, all of 62cm and 8cm over my pb. I went to wind in the blade but it was attached to the reef and not coming back

62cm Snapper

Me and the Snapper

On the new brag mat


The rest of the morning involved peddling up wind, setting the drogue, flicking plastics, nothing, try this again. I must admit the new drogue worked really well but unfortunately the fish didn't come to the party. I saw what I thought was a bustup 100m away and peddled as fast as I could but on closer inspection found 5 or so dolphins doing a few tricks. I caught a small sweetlip on the way back.

Sweetlip

Cheers
Dan

Maroochy River Giant Trevally

The winds were up this morning as predicted so I didn't get offshore today, decided to have a go at cast netting bait from the kayak in the maroochy river. I launched at picnic point and headed for chambers island It took me some time to find some bait fish on the sounder and on my 4th attempt I hauled in a full net of bait fish, a bit bigger in size than I am used to. I trolled a hard body lure and a weighted livey around chambers and hooked up a small gt on the lure, but it unhooked itself next to the kayak before I could net it.

It was then quiet so I headed to the cod hole, nothing there but many boats. Headed back and around chambers Island my livey rod buckled over and took off. It had an unstoppable run so I set the rod down and wound in the other rod. By the time I got back to the rod it had about 150m on me and was still going, at this point I thought it might be a ray but could feel distinct kicks and was confused. I caught up to it after 5 min and got my first glance at a big GT... but it wasn't done yet, another big run and I was getting nervous about my 6lb fc leader holding so I backed off the drag and gave it another 5 min before I got it yakside and netted. It measured in 54cm, not bad for an estuary on 6lb outfit.

Giant Trevally 54cm

Giant Trevally 54cm

I checked my leader and I was right, nearly worn through and was very lucky to land this fish. I did hesitate in keeping it after it gave me such a valiant fight but as I had caught nothing else I kept it for dinner.

Smile for the camera

I threw on another livey and headed for home, I got 500 meters and I noticed some hits on the livey and wound it in, 3 times something had a go. I got the bait fish beside the kayak and found a small and ambitious flathead trying to take a fish half it's size, I let it keep trying beside the kayak and eventually it managed to hook itself.

Aggressive little flatty

Released it and headed home. I had stuck a ruler sticker to the paddle but found it really hard to measure and photograph the fish well. I cooked it up for the misses; crumbed with crispy smashed potato and salad. It tasted much nicer than I expected, very nice actually and i'm glad i kept it.


Cheers
Dan

Kings Beach to Bray Rock Snapper and Longtail Tuna

After not being able to launch at Kings the day before I was keen to try again. The surf looked much better. Met up with some fellow kayakers and launched at around 6:30am. The beach launch went well until I realized that I had forgot to take the wheels out... I swore a lot as I had stayed pretty dry and now I had to do it all over again and get much wetter. I trolled out to Bray rock, and around a bit without a touch.

Beautiful Morning

There were half a dozen other kayaks and boats out there. Tried some plastics and the 4" nuclear chicken got some action, 3 hookups but all spitting it. Tried a hook on the jig and landed a 35cm squire on the 6lb outfit which was fun, let him go. I then landed a pike?

Pike?

Squire

It was quiet the rest of the day until I got my plastic too close to a long tail tuna, the 2500 symetre screamed and after 2min and 2 runs I had lost half my line, i tightened the drag; well below the 6lb breaking strain but no soon having done this the line went slack, the braid had cut my leader. My friend was nearby and kindly showed me how to do a proper double uni knot for next time.


There were alot of longtail tuna about today but the only hookups I heard about was mine and another yakker how also hooked up on a blade using 4lb braid, needless to say that didn't end well.

Broke the rudder pin on the way back in but I needed to order a spare one anyway, I realized today I need to rethink my rod/reel combination.

Dan

Maroochy River Flathead on Hardbody Lures

I wanted another snapper session offshore this weekend with the good weather predicted so I headed to Kings Beach Saturday morning. The water looked real nice but the surf break looked a challenge and as nobody else showed I headed to the Maroochy river for a quick troll. Launched at picnic point and it was very busy on the water. I tried trolling around chambers island with nothing but a small hit. Netted some livies and tried the cod hole with no avail. Trolled back to chambers island and tried some livies from my DIY bait tube. I was rewared with 4 flathead within 15min.

flathead #1

flathead #2

flathead #3

flathead #4

Happy with the results I headed home.

Dan

Kings Beach to Bray Rock Snapper

I arrived at Kings Beach, Caloundra at 5:30am in complete darkness and near freezing conditions. I had only worn board shorts and was feeling the cold. The conditions looked perfect for snapper, plenty of chop and the recent cold weather should have them up and feeding. I had a work bbq that afternoon and was hoping to catch a snapper to throw on the grill.

Sunrise peddling to bray rock

I launched the Hobie Outback at around 6:15am with some fellow kayakers that had turned up. I was a bit nervous about my second beach launch; my first beach launch saw me getting wet and humiliated. I was much more prepared this time and stowed my rods in my DIY rod storage setup and DIY rod leashes. I dropped the rudder down, pulled the wheels out, waited for a break in the surf and pulled the kayak out past the breaking waves before getting in and peddling off. Despite getting a little wet from the waves it was a very good launch.

I rigged up and trolled some Halco 150s Laser Pro's to Bray Rock; about 2.5kms. Both my new kayaker friend both reached Bray rock at the same time and both hooked up, I lost mine shortly after after it spat the hook. Where as my friend landed a 63cm snapper. I then trolled the laser pro and a RMG deep diver around this area for an hour or so and produced 3 snapper, the largest coming in 54cm. I tried throwing some 4" plastics around on my light gear but nothing was interested.

47cm Squire

Small Squire released

Fish Kept

I peddled back at 9:30am very happy with my results, especially with these being my first snapper. The surf landing was also good, I played it safe and jumped out before the breaking waves, waiting for a break before pulling the kayak ashore.

Dan

Hobie Twist and Stow Rudder Issue

In my last trip out through Mooloolaba mouth I had some issues with my twist and stow jumbo sailing rudder. When ever I was peddling fast, going against strong current or going over a big wave the kayak would start turning to the left. I could turn the rudder control freely but turning it all the way left would result in me going straight and turning all the way left would result in me doing very tight circles. As it only happens in potentially dangerous conditions I could not stop, climb over the back and have a look on the Hobie Outback to see what was happening.

I tried replicating the issue by using a towel to apply pressure on the rudder while I tried to turn the rudder but did not find any slippage. I then inspected the rudder pin buy pulling it out but found it to be straight so put it back in again. Feeling a little dumbfounded I just played around with the twist and stow part of the rudder, stowing and deploying. I then realized the recently installed Jumbo sailing rudder does not lock firmly down into place and with light pressure to the rudder, lifts up and starts to turn.

It seemed that when ever there was pressure to the back of the rudder it would lift up and begin to twist, resulting in the outback to start turning left. To fix this I tightened up the cable that pulls the rudder down into place by removing the screw, pulling the cable tight and putting the screw back in. It took a few tries to get the right pressure and ended up doing the tightening while the rudder was stowed.

A test in strong currents found the problem fixed! This was a relief as it was something that I did not find much information on the net and was running out of ideas to fix.

Dan

Maroochy River

Trip # 11

I left the kayak on the roof in case forecasts were wrong and we had some good weather, and boy did we, light breeze and sunny skies.
Launched @ swan boat hire around 9:00am. Decided to see which worked better today, my favorite lure - a Tilsan Pink Minnow vs soft plastic - a pink snapback worm. I would slow troll the lure in the holder and add some action to the soft plastic tolling as i held it.

The first fish went to the Lure - a 38cm flathead.


Another on the lure - a small bream.


And again on the lure - a small flathead


Again on the lure - a small flathead


And another on the lure - a small flathead... where are the big ones today?


At this point I bumped into another kayaker who was having his first fish on his brand new viking and looking right at home.

After a quick chat we went for a troll together and shortly after the lure goes off and I land a 46cm flathead; thats a bit better.


At this point it's obvious the lure is much more effective so I get rid of the soft plastic. I was kinda hoping my new friend could get onto his first fish and I could snap a good picture of him losing his virginity. Just as I think that his rod buckles over, drag screaming... must be something big.


It wasn't too long after this shot that we realised it was a snag, to make matters worse the lure could not be retrieved. We re-rig and head off again trolling.

I get another small flathead.


My new friend headed of to take his family for a spin in the yak and I decided to fish some livies back with the current, while I was drifting along re-rigging my livey rod the floating lure takes off, 6lb braid peeling off the spool. After a 5 min fight in the shallow water I land a nice 36cm grunter.


Lost all my livies with no hookups but on the way back to the car I picked up another small flathead on the lure.

All these little flathead around is a great sign and good times to tweak out what works well and what doesn't.

Dan

Mooloolaba Hairtail

Trip #10

Well the plan was to try around point Cartwright for some snapper on soft plastics and troll for long tail tuna, launched at dawn from the Moololaba boat ramp and made my way towards the mouth but was greeted by some big swell and a stiff westerly. I got through some big waves which gave me a rush of adrenaline before my rudder started playing up. Played it safe and paddled it back into the harbor to try and fix it. Couldn't figure out what was happening, tested and was fine in the harbor so I mustered up the courage and had another go. Got through some big swell close to peaking, I thought if I got into some deeper water the swell would drop. It didn't and the westerly had me drifting fast away from land so I played it safe and paddled back to the safety of the harbor.

I trolled my favorite Tilsan pink lure back to the boat ramp hoping for a flathead, I got some weird tap tap hits and then the rod bent over. To my surprise pulled up a 1m long hairtail beside the hobie outback, having no net at the time made landing it hard. Ended up flicking it onto the front hatch of the outback and introducing it to the negotiator (my shortened baseball bat). I have never heard of hairtail being caught on lures, let alone in the daytime catching 2, it was a rare treat and something i'll probably not experience again.

Hairtail foul hooked on tilsan lure and 6lb fluro!

Sorry bout the photos, the flash and waterproof cast don't work well together.

Trolled the pink Tilsan for a bit more, it got a few knocks and went a bit heavy and thought it must be fouled. Wound it in to find a nice little flathead, being early in the morning I let him go.

Flathead on Tilsan lure

Trolled back over the hairtail spot and got another hairtail this time it nearly had swallowed the lure, trolled over the spot again and lost the lure to one i did a few passes back over hopping to find it floating but no such luck. Tried a 3" lime tiger soft plastic and it too found the same fate on my 10lb leader. I changed to 30lb, but then the local land fishers had seen my good fortune and moved in on the spot preventing me from trolling it. No big loss, good luck to them, I had enough fish.

I am marinating the hairtail in soy and ginger now for a fry up a bit later, will be nice to try something new.

Dan

Maroochy River Flathead Fun with Friends

Trip #8

This weekend I had the please of my best man to be coming up to visit for the weekend. He was pretty keen to go for a fish so we hired a 'deluxe' kayak, a very unstable kayak with 1 rod holder. The hire kayak was no Hobie Outback but swan boat hire were great and gave us a very good deal. The plan was to meet our better halves on chambers island and all have a bit of a paddle around and some light fishing.

I cast netted some livies and rigged my mates kayak up for the short trip to Chambers island. I did not put one on as I had gave him my rigged rod and had to rig another. 5 min into the trip and thoroughly enjoying watching him nearly tip over several times his rod buckles over. I had to give him credit, he did a good job fighting what he thought was a snag, then a stingray when it took off but it wasn't until he had it beside the kayak he saw the 63cm fathead. It proved to hard to land it by himself so I netted it for him and then headed to the picnic spot the girls had setup.

A photo of the catch taken by my mates wife.

Eager to top my mates catch and stop the gloating we headed of again, not long later I'm onto a good fish. It took the livey on my alvey reel on a baitcaster rod. It was a very clumsy effort but managed to get a similar sized flathead beside the kayak before it broke my leader, damn. Fished for another 2 hours without a touch.

To rub salt in the wounds he mentioned it to swan boat hire who asked if they could record and take photos of him for their website, facebook page and channel 7 news on Thursday. I forgot to take my waterproof case for my iphone today, of all days so do not have any photos of us in action.

Being a nice bloke I did filet and cook it up for him, the new cooler bag worked a treat and the beer battered flathead and chips was one of the best.

For desert I had a chocolate donut, very fitting.

Dan

My Hobie Outback current fishing setup, offshore / estuary

Her is some pics of my current setup.

Overall setup 1

Overall setup 2

And in the centre hatch.

Hobie centre hatch box kitted out with the essentials.

2 Plano boxes (lures and soft plastics) tethered with snap straps.

A backpack with extra water, fish finder head unit, anchor and towel.

I also crafted a baseball bat into fish donker i named the 'negotiator' and an old gimble type thing I found and put on a belt to save the family jewels.

An old nads protector and the 'negotiator'

All packed up.

And it all packs down to this. (minus the rods)