QLD 12/5 Moffats trying for tuna

[imnotoriginal]

After a great deal of encouragement from Greg and Paul I gave the tuna a try this morning from Moffats. The weather was absolutely perfect, which suited someone completely unused to surf launching such as as myself. It was lucky, as my form turned out to be sketchy but no harm was done. The were heaps of other kayaks out there and very few boats which made for a a very nice change from what I am used to. I saw a large black tipped fin on the way out which was interesting and once the sun started to peak over the horizon the tuna were there in numbers.

I initially chased the schools and birds which was fantastic exercise but wasn't initially very fruitful. After about a hour of chasing I finally had a take on a cast soft plastic and my spool was soon diminishing at a rapid rate. 40 seconds of adrenalin later and 3/4 of m line was out and slack, the tuna had found structure and taken my plastic and leader home with him.

As the sun rose the tuna came to the surface less often and for shorter periods. Some of the other fellas had been successful but after a couple of fruitless hours I decided to head in. I managed to land the yak without capsizing so I took that as my victory for the day. It was awesome to hook into a tuna, I hope to finish the job next time. Some photos below, I will let the more successful anglers share their stories.
Joel

[bigalex]

I was out there too, but hung around until 1pm. Paulo and Grant picked up several long tails between them, and I think Grant had a total of nine hook-ups by 1pm. Unfortunately no tuna for me. I gave up on the LTs at about 11 and headed for Brays where I picked up a 41cm snapper, 3 big dart and a big-eye trevally on my estuary gear. It was a brilliant day on the water and I am seriously considering going back tomorrow morning. Grant said that most of his hook ups were on 3 inch clear soft plastics. Paulo kindly gave me a fillet of his 16kg LT. Cheers mate. My wife made tuna sushi on rice with lime juice for dinner. Delicious.
Cheers
Alex

[Bogey]

Great to see you out there Joel.
It was as good as it gets as far as weather, swell and action goes.
Hope you enjoyed it and we'll see more of you - there are plenty of other good reasons to be there apart from tuna.
You'll remember those 40 seconds for a while I bet.
Cheers
Mark

[Lazybugger]

Don't worry Joel i m sure you'll get one on board soon especially if we have more days like today.

It was certainly a packed carpark this morning and a much easier launch. I was trolling the same halo crazy deep that had bought me sucess over the last month for about half n hour before i got my first strike. It lasted about two seconds and then stopped. I wound in my line to find then the lucky lure gone and the 27lb knotable wire bitten through. Pedro, shark or KGW who knows!

I rigged up again with a 2m diving halco and started paddling again. Stopped to have a chat with Paul (pwr62) who told me he'd picked up a very nice sweetie. Conversation didn't get too far though before we were interupted by my screaming reel. Although it was a good fight as always with these longtails this one didn't take too long. Paul was a bit surprised at how quickly i called him over to take a pic - of course the LT then proceeded to keep his tail deep in the water so i couldn't trab him. Eventually i got him on board so Paul could get the pic before release.



After that the birds were still diving sporadically and there were small bustups. I hung around the area out from moffats headland for awhile before heading to brays. After few fruitless diversions i trolled inside brays for no result before changing over to plastics. Picked up a 41cm Squire and. Golden trev of similar size from this period as well as a number of bustups and snags.

Decided to start making my way back after 11 and had a chat to a few yakers along the way. The lt's at this point were at the most active of the day i think with larger bustups that lasted longer. I watched hoit hookup and lose one and then do it again while i chatted to Paulo.

I left paulo with the intention of going straight to shore as i had things to do in the arvo. Of course i left the lures out and just off the headland in 5m of water i hooked up to another LT. I decided to keep this one and gave it to mum for mothers day. There was a bit of WTF on her face when i arrived at the door with a meter long LT. (sorry no photo's i was in a hurry and kept putting it off till i forgot alogether).

It was a magic day on the water, wish they could all be this good.

[kayakone]

Scott is the longtail king.

For the moment.

Trevor

[paulsod]

Bad luck on the fish Joel, but if the weather stays good for a few weeks you should pick one up.

Nice one Scott, you got those Tunas sussed out mate.

Cheers
Paul