following morning. There was a chance that Loboloco would be turning up, so I couldn't miss the chance
of fishing with The Master.
Late in the afternoon I pedalled down to the beach and happened to meet Tas (VYAK) would was just packing
up after a very productive few hours on the water - a big bag of squid and a nice KGW. We discussed the
best squid jigs to use and I decided that if all else fails tomorrow, at least I should be able to snag
a few calamari.
Didn't wake up until 7:30am, so it was around 8:15am before I dragged the A.I. dow to the beach. Lobo
couldn't make it, so I was on my own. Conditions looked pretty good, with a light NW offshore breeze
and low swells predicted for offshore.
Nice conditions for a day on the water...
I followed the tide out and spend 30 minutes mucking around the old granite quarry, trying to catch a
squid or two - with no luck.
As I continued around the end of Cape Woolamai, I swapped the squid-jigs for 7" SPs and 15cm hard-bodies.
I had a good hit on the HB lure and pulled a 70cm pike to the boat, but if managed to shake itself free
as I was ****-farting around with the lip-grips.
There were only a few boats on the water, despite the near perfect conditions. Fisheries were also out
and about and it was good to see them checking some of the boats that were in close to the cliffs (I guess
the were diving for abalone or lobsters).
The license fees at work...
Close to the cliffs the wind and waves were surprisingly strong. I followed the shallow reefs close to
the cliff base, with the hope of enticing some salmon or even a kingie. But, sadly, my lures were mostly
left untouched, apart from a couple of minor hits from what were probably stinky pike.
Close-in - More suds than a washing-machine!
After 30 minutes of bouncing around in the inshore rough water, I turned south and headed offshore to
bounce some feather jigs off the bottom. The offshore wind made drifting tricky, as I forgot my drift-chute.
But I did managed three small flatties (27cm), all of which were returned to the water.
Around midday the wind dropped away to nothing, which made conditions even better. The swell was under 1m
and my guts were behaving themselves.
Another perfect day offshore...
Looking due-south - doesn't get much flatter...
I was joined by a couple of Shy Albatross, who were anything but shy. The were very keen on the 7" SP
that I had dangling from one of the rods, so I quickly put it away to avoid and unpleasantness!
With the birds being so close, I dragged the camera out and spent a good 15 minutes taking pics.
Despite the relatively calm conditions the kayak was still moving around quite a bit and getting
a steady shot was really tricky. 90% of the photos were way-off, but a few turned out pretty well.
Here are a few of the better ones.
Shy Albatross No.1...
This is albatross No.2 - my favourite shot...
A close-up of No.2...
After a few hours spent bottom-bouncing offshore, I followed the incoming tide back into Cleeland Bight.
I headed straight back towards the launch spot and had a massive hit on one of the lures, but whatever
it was managed to shake free before I could get it to the boat (so much for putting single hooks on lures!)
I tried drifting for squid, but the wind had picked up and there was quite a bit of floating weed, so I tied
up to one of the mooring buoys and tried my luck casting my squid jig. In about 5 minutes I had a modest calamari
in the yak, followed soon after by another. Another 5 minutes passed, then another took a liking to my jig.
After a 15 minute lull another (larger and angrier) squid grabbed the jig right at my feet yak and proceeded
to paint the lack in various shades of sticky-black. After another 10 minutes of fruitless casting I was getting
ready to pull the pin when I had the biggest grab of the day. After a decent tussle I hauled in the biggest
squid for the day, with a hood-length just under the magical 40cm mark.
The biggest squid of the day...
That was the signal to call it a day, so I parked-up on the beach, cleaned the catch and headed home.
My first decent bag of squid for many a year...
Not a bad session, plus some good photos and a decent amount of exercise...
Late that night I also went out for my first spottie-session for almost a year. Not a lot about, but did manage some
small gars, two good rock flatties and an unlucky cowanyoung. I also had two shots at a couple of very big KGW, but
unluckily I just winged them and the dashed into the weed.
Night-time low-tide haul...
