[troppo]

Pelican Is is 4.5 kms out to sea from Emu Park (C.Qld) and Scotty Beefs has made several trips out there, but not me. With beaut weather (10 -15 km/hr SE winds & sunny) I decided to do the trip in my teeny weeny yak and drag a lure around.

Left the ramp at 6 am and made my longest water crossing ever in about 1 1/4 hrs. That's slow but there seemed an aweful lot of uphill paddling! The bay was fine and behind the island was flat, but there was a bit of chop in between. Still, nothing near the limit of the yak or my stomach. Huge tide, 4 m difference, made the water murky.

There is a tiny campsite (room for 2 small tents, maybe 3) on the only flat area on the island. After a quick explore and pics, I trolled around the island. Heaps of stinkboats, especially on the eastern side as good deep water here and mackeral were supposed to be about. The water was much rougher on this side and with bounce back from the cliffs and hidden shoals, I had to be very careful. I hoped if a fish hit that it would take me away from the rocks as sometimes when going around the stinkboats, I had to go in close to the rocks.

Caught a wolf herring in quiet water and released it (1 minute to unhook fish, 5 minutes to unhook net!). Caught it on my ancient blue Nilsmaster which I catch fish on almost every outing. Tried some other lures but nothing. After paddling across to a nearby island and landing for a minute or two, I headed home. With the wind and waves, it only took 50 minutes for the return trip.

Great morning out, my personal best with an open water crossing and I will definately go back there.

 

[troppo]

Here are more pics. [edit: I checked using Google Earth how far I am likely to have gone - 14 km. So, a nice paddle.]

 

[fishinswing]

Great report and excellent photos. Sounds like an excellent paddle covering quite a few kilometres and getting lucky with some fish. Luck was on your side to have the weather in your favour. What a top spot to camp and be on the spot to catch some big mackeral on sunrise. Top stuff troppo.

 

[troppo]

Your first open water crossing! Isn't that a blast? Congratulations.

I remember the first time I sailed out of sight of land - a combination of excitement and dread.

I was looking forward to the paddle, but I had some anxiety, specially since after only about 10 min paddle, I ran into the worst set of waves for the trip out and I wondered how much worse it would get. But it got better. Coming back had a few bigger waves, but that was fun doing a quick surf.

 

[Peril]

Great report Troppo. Good to see you on the water and exploring

 

[paffoh]

Nice work mate, sounds like an awesome experience
Id be crapping myself unless it was a 25ft yak man, 4.5kms out is futher than we go out in our stinkboat!

Well done,

 

[troppo]

Id be crapping myself unless it was a 25ft yak man, 4.5kms out is futher than we go out in our stinkboat!

Paffoh, why do you think I landed on the island for a few minutes?

Because the famous Scotty Beefs had already done it multiple times, I thought little ole me should be at least able to try it.

 

[hairymick]

onya Troppo, Great report & pics - an excellent adventure - Well done mate

 

[Daveyak]

Troppo, it's great when conditions allow making a crossing like that, especially one you've been looking at & thinking about for a while. These little SOTs really are such capable craft, I guess their biggest limitation is the fitness & determination of the paddler/pedaller

A bit of fish action is the cream on the cake on days like that.

 

[Jack]

Thanks for the report Troppo! You are making me homesick, I just love Emu Park and all those islands around that area.
Great Pics
Thanks again

 

[yakfly]

Great report and pics troppo
murphys rules strike again,after 5 weeks out in the coalfields i fly out of Rocky with a 10 knot easterly blowing down at yeppoon and arrive back on Bribie to see a half metre swell under the bridge and 30 -35 knot winds.Looks like ill have to pack up and head back north for my 3 week break

 

[troppo]

Jack: Have you done much yakking around Emu Park?

Yakfly: Sometimes the winds seem to blow for ever, then there are days which are made for yakking on the ocean, they are so blue and quiet. Today, at lunch time, I went outside the office, away from the aircon, and stood in the sun for a moment before my 20 minutes was up. The sky was that hot summer's type of blue, not too hot but dry. The breeze was hardly a whisper. The type of day just perfect for being out on the water just taking it easy away from the maddening crowd.

While there are benefits to the work I am now doing (like consisent work), when I was running my own business, I would try to slip away on days like today for a few quiet hrs paddling.

 

[fishtales]

Well done Troppo, it's a nice part of the world up that way.

Chris

 

[beefs]

Woohoo - nice work Troppo! That first time the island just doesnt seem to be getting any bloody closer does it! It's a good paddle though, just a shame when the fish won't co-operate once you get over there...would be a good spot to investigate with a sounder I reckon. I usually fish on the other side of the island that you have taken a photo of while up on top of Pelican.

Will have to make a fishing trip out of it next time i'm down rocky and have spare time and the weather is co-operating and you have time off as well - hmmm, a lot of variables there... :?

Trust the ole faithful Wolf Herring to liven up a slow fishing trip :wink:

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[troppo]

Redphoenix, I had a look at ya link. What is the ocean like in that area? Big swells, choppy, protected?

 

[Dodge]

Troppo good to see the Nomad getting a good workout on your adventure.

By the way the other forum Nomad seems to be in limbo at present not on the water at all in recent weeks

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[troppo]

Redphoenix, sounds very do-able. Coupla things I found from my trip which may help with your planning. Going out was slower than my normal speed on the river where I built up the kms I could do. Coming back from the island even though I was stuffed was equal my fastest time on the river when I was fresh. It was because on the ocean the prevailing wind and waves are a big help coming in. So coming in was not as much a drama as I thought given the energy it took to paddle out. Also, both going out and coming in is not side on to the waves like when paddling along the coast, so no dramas with big waves trying to roll the yak.

The island will have a 'shadow' where the waves are calmer and in my case I noticed it starting quite some distance from the island. Made the last km easier to paddle.

From your pic of the islands, it definately looks like being a great place to visit as well as a challenge. Beaut goal to work towards. Good on ya.