WA: Tuned up at the Bay

[Daveyak]

When I looked outside this morning I saw that the weather forecasters were wrong again, so sign of the rain of which they warned on the radio. So I quickly threw my kayak & gear onto the ute and headed for another session at Two Peoples Bay, about 30 kms east of town.

I launched a bit before 9:00am & paddled across to South Point where I found Pete, another Albany kayak fisher who's recently been fishing the bay a bit, on his Hobie PA. He'd had a few strikes but no hook-ups while trolling around the rocks & out around Drunken Sailor bombie. I did a few circuits of that area with my Smilin' Jack's lures out but, other than a few small herring, nothing big & hungry showed any interest.

I then paddled south to the rocks leading out to Point Gardner & trolled just back out of the back wash off the rocks. This section had been productive for me in previous years so I was hoping for action of some sort, salmon or even more tuna. I stopped and watched three seals lolling in the waves right up against the rocks & contemplated turning back, thinking that with some big predators like them around the fish might be scarce.

Once I decided to continue along that stretch I had only paddled about 30 metres when my medium weight rig started howling as line was being stripped from the reel. I reckoned on taking my chances with having the other line still out and luckily it didn't cause too many problems as I fought a fish that took off on some good runs before I was able to get it close. Once under the kayak I could see it was a solid little stripey (skipjack) tuna, being followed by a couple of good sized salmon, which were the only salmon seen this morning.



Once I'd got it aboard, killed, bagged and stowed in the front hatch, I continued out towards the end of the point. I always like to at least get to where I can see Coffin Island around the corner before turning back and did just that again. Only about 25 metres into the return leg my heavier rig took off. This time I got the other line in while this fish was on its initial run. Another good battle and I had a bigger version of a stripey stashed aboard.

I kept my lures out of the water for the into-the-wind paddle back towards Little Beach & South Point as I reckoned my fridge was going to well stocked with the two I had. Once past Little Beach I cast out my smaller lure for the paddle back to where Pete was trolling around the South Point rocks, picking up a few smallish herring that I returned to grow bigger. There was quite a lot of baitfish activity in close but nothing appeared to be chasing 'em. I trolled through and cast into a few boils of mulies (pillies) & herring to no avail.

Pete had still had no luck finding something big & hungry enough to bother his lures so we both headed for the beach. We were packed up & heading for home by 12:30, with me being very satisfied with my few hours on the water & looking forward to some sashimi meals. The tuna measured at 71cm and 67 cm.

[kayakone]

Brilliant Dave.

What a beautiful part of Oz you are yak fishing in - looks like a slice of heaven. No doubt those stripeys are typical tuna as far as powerful runs, and hopefully good chewing too.

Cheers
Trevor

[Zed]

Skippies are tasty and go like a bullet. Good job on those. I've never been in a kayak in a place I could catch them, but have caught plenty from boats. First time I ever ate them a Japanese fellow on the boat had one cubed up fresh and he made a huge batch of poke for the boat. It was some of the best "raw fish salad" I've ever had. Most of the "chunk light tuna" in cans is skipjack, or at least here in the States.

Thanks for the report!

[Dodge]

Dave a couple of nice stripeys and would have been fun to land on the yak mate.

In game fishing days they were our first target to get a fillet for fresh bait, and remember them as good fun when landing and great on the hook later.

[Junglefisher]

Great stuff.
That would to be about as flat / calm as I've ever seen that part of the world.

[Bertros]

Your catches just seem to continue surpassing the last one Dave. Two incredible fish there. Well done!

[SharkNett]

Would love to get a stripey from the yak. only person i know of that gets them regularly over here goes out around 2k's to find the schools.
Never eaten one. Used to get plenty from the boat but were either cubed for snapper or bridled for marlin.

[Daveyak]

Brilliant Dave.
What a beautiful part of Oz you are yak fishing in - looks like a slice of heaven. No doubt those stripeys are typical tuna as far as powerful runs, and hopefully good chewing too.

Yeah Trevor, bloody good fun with some strong runs. They're not a usual catch along this stretch of coast but the Leeuwin Current was strong this year so the water down here is warmer for later than normal. Tea tonight was some smoke Aus Salmon for entree followed by tuna sashimi with seasoned sushi rice accompanied by a local 2009 Sauv Blanc. Ahhh, life's tough sometimes.

Skippies are tasty and go like a bullet. Good job on those. I've never been in a kayak in a place I could catch them, but have caught plenty from boats. First time I ever ate them a Japanese fellow on the boat had one cubed up fresh and he made a huge batch of poke for the boat. It was some of the best "raw fish salad" I've ever had. Most of the "chunk light tuna" in cans is skipjack, or at least here in the States.

Hey Zed, what is this 'poke' of which you speak? Now that I've got a fridge full of tuna I'm interested in different ways of preparing it.
There was a fish canning industry in this town some years ago & I believe these tuna were often caught for that purpose.

Dave a couple of nice stripeys and would have been fun to land on the yak mate.

They sure are. Almost the most fun I've had catching any fish, can only dream of what they'd (any tuna) be like when bigger

Great stuff.
That would to be about as flat / calm as I've ever seen that part of the world.

Craig, you saw the region at the wrong time of the year, conditions down here are often quite benign during winter months, seems like it's either stormy or calm at this time of year. One extreme to the other, it's blowing & raining here today.

Your catches just seem to continue surpassing the last one Dave. Two incredible fish there. Well done!

Yep, I'm somewhat pleased to have got through a phase of fishless trips. Even with some good fish recently I'm still on about a 50% successful trip rate, I just gotta keep telling myself that you have to be on the water to have a chance.

Would love to get a stripey from the yak. only person i know of that gets them regularly over here goes out around 2k's to find the schools.
Never eaten one. Used to get plenty from the boat but were either cubed for snapper or bridled for marlin.

People here have been telling me that they're only good for bait, but that's what I was told about bonito too and I love them on the plate now. It just needs a bit of experimenting & thought about the best way to cook/prepare the fish. There are very few fish I would throw back as not worth eating.

[SharkNett]

Dave,

I totally agree with you and I am sure there must be a way to prepare them. Used to think slimey mackeral were bait only but along with live squid, if they don't get eaten by something bigger, come off the hook and go onto the bbq. Susepct the stripies would benefit greatly from being well bled asap which, considering the amount of blood in them may be a bit dicey on the yak. Probably more so around your way.

Rob

[Daveyak]

Yeah, tuna are real bleeders when you get aboard, often without even cutting 'em to bleed. I was leaving a fair blood trail through my scuppers after I caught one of those two on Friday, but some consolation that I had my shark shield operating.

I going to try and find a heavy duty bag (a big dry bag?) that I can pop 'em into so can bleed the fish out & keep it contained for just one blood dump into the water. (& then paddle away ). When filleting I trimmed out all the dark red blood meat, I still ended up with 5kg of bagged fillets in the fridge.

[Zed]

Here's wiki's description of poke:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poke_%28Hawaii%29

I can't say if the man I mentioned had the same seaweed and nuts, but it was a very fresh and light dish, that would be tasty with fried wontons as a dipper. I tasted the soy and the wasabi and the sesame oil, plus there was a little heat from the chile. He brought a bento box along with all the ingredients and just whipped it up in the galley once he got the skippy.
He was a star for the trip.

[Daveyak]

Thanks Zed. I'd never heard the term before, I'll look into it.

[Bertros]

Two others i've got on file that are delicious. Tried the marlin one with kingfish and it absolutely rocked, but the Tuna variant is the favourite for bonito catches. I also use the pickled ginger that you can get in a jar in the Japanese seciton of the supermarket and it gives a very tsaty zing.
http://gourmettraveller.com.au/marlin_a ... d_rice.htm

[keza]

Great catch Dave.
They are also very yummy bottled in olive oil.