mako1 Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Headed out of Austinmer on the yak today chasing snapper. First fish for the day was a nice salmon that took one of my trolled lures. I continued trolling and had a double hook up. One of the fish was a bonito while the other was a nice 52cm snapper. I continued trolling but only picked up a few pike. I anchored up on the spot and started a burley trail and cast out the floaters. The current was up a bit and was running to the south so I had to drop my burley down deeper otherwise it would have ended up off Wollongong. There were heaps of mackerel around and it was hard to get a bait past them. I managed to get two keeper snapper and a trevally and I also kept a few of the mackerel to salt down for future bait. Things went quiet after a while and I didn’t lose a bait for about 15mins, not even to a mackerel. I soon found out why. I could see a shape coming towards the kayak and as it got closer I could see it was some type of shark. It came around the kayak two times and I tried to feed it some pilchards so I could get a good picture of it but it didn’t like the shark shield and it left. I thought I was filming it with my camera but I pressed the wrong button so the camera was only taking stills. Here are a couple of pics. Could it be a juvenile tiger shark? The fish didn’t come back on the bite so I moved to another spot closer in. First bait was taken by a nice 40cm snapper and then the mackerel and barracouta moved in. I couldn’t get a bait passed them so I changed baits and started using large pieces of mackerel. I missed two nice fish but I finally hooked up and it was another nice snapper. I didn’t get any more snapper hits but I did get one small kingfish, which went back and a leatherjacket. It was top day out on the water with beautiful weather and some fish to take home as a bonus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOE^MOE Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 looks like you had a great day on the water and a couple of nice snapper there as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leatherjacket Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Sounds like a top day and it looked like glass out their! Gotta luv days like that on the Yak! Cheers, AC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheap charlie Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Hey mako, Another quality snapper tripping lures behind your yak. You are the man. What sort of investment for a shark shield? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Day's Fishin Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Nice catch Mako. Those shark shields do actually work? How far from the source do they repell? Regards Jeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stippy Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Love your work Mako, I tried around Wollongong Harbour for a donut on Saturday... looks like I should have stayed local. Cheers, Adam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeusfaber Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Great Snapper and cool pics of the shark too. Any idea on the species of shark?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squidboy Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Ubelievable!!! Great pics and fantastic fish! Going to head out again for that magical snapper next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pongrass18ft Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Headed out of Austinmer on the yak today chasing snapper. First fish for the day was a nice salmon that took one of my trolled lures. I continued trolling and had a double hook up. One of the fish was a bonito while the other was a nice 52cm snapper. I continued trolling but only picked up a few pike. I anchored up on the spot and started a burley trail and cast out the floaters. The current was up a bit and was running to the south so I had to drop my burley down deeper otherwise it would have ended up off Wollongong. There were heaps of mackerel around and it was hard to get a bait past them. I managed to get two keeper snapper and a trevally and I also kept a few of the mackerel to salt down for future bait. Things went quiet after a while and I didn’t lose a bait for about 15mins, not even to a mackerel. I soon found out why. I could see a shape coming towards the kayak and as it got closer I could see it was some type of shark. It came around the kayak two times and I tried to feed it some pilchards so I could get a good picture of it but it didn’t like the shark shield and it left. I thought I was filming it with my camera but I pressed the wrong button so the camera was only taking stills. Here are a couple of pics. Could it be a juvenile tiger shark? The fish didn’t come back on the bite so I moved to another spot closer in. First bait was taken by a nice 40cm snapper and then the mackerel and barracouta moved in. I couldn’t get a bait passed them so I changed baits and started using large pieces of mackerel. I missed two nice fish but I finally hooked up and it was another nice snapper. I didn’t get any more snapper hits but I did get one small kingfish, which went back and a leatherjacket. It was top day out on the water with beautiful weather and some fish to take home as a bonus. Nice catch , i would of shit my undies with the shark up that close Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musty Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 I always love you offshore kayak reports! Definetly on my TO DO list starting this summer. I need to practice rolling the yak and getting back in before i start heading that far out. Great fish and pics once again Mako Musty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mako1 Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Hey mako, Another quality snapper tripping lures behind your yak. You are the man. What sort of investment for a shark shield? I paid $695 about two years ago. Nice catch Mako. Those shark shields do actually work? How far from the source do they repell? Regards Jeff They do work. The shield repelled this shark and I tested it out on whaler shark last year and I'm sure it has repelled sharks that I didn't even know were there. Considering I was using pilchards as burley and the shark never came back I think it did a good job. The exclusion zone is a 3-5m radius from the centre of the antenna according to the manufacturer. Love your work Mako, I tried around Wollongong Harbour for a donut on Saturday... looks like I should have stayed local. Cheers, Adam. I find that the fishing can be tough off Wollongong harbour when the weather is good, Austinmer can be a better option on clamer days as there are a lot more spots there that can hold fish. Great Snapper and cool pics of the shark too. Any idea on the species of shark?? I have had a good look on the net and I think that the shark was a broadnose sevengill shark. It had a brown colour on the top and white underneath. It had white spots all over its back and had no large dorsal fin, only a smaller one towards the rear of the shark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taloyoak Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 MAKO- as always you rock!, I always really look forward to your yak reports, and good pics. Thanks! Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil D Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 wasnt the water calm as a lake, amazing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodgey Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 Another great report Andrew. A great feed of fish for the family. Very interesting to read your comments regarding the shark shield. Being that close to them, I would be wanting all the protection I could get! Out of curiosity, is your camera a GoPro? Cheers Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arpie Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 well done, Mako - good on you for having that shark shield!! A must, I reckon, if you fish offshore! I know some folk who would probably use it in the estuaries too, their fear of them are so great! Roberta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mako1 Posted August 6, 2011 Author Share Posted August 6, 2011 Another great report Andrew. A great feed of fish for the family. Very interesting to read your comments regarding the shark shield. Being that close to them, I would be wanting all the protection I could get! Out of curiosity, is your camera a GoPro? Cheers Ian Yes it's a GoPro. I use the GoPro mainly for filming but I accidently switched from video to automatic camera so instead of a video of the shark I just got some stills. The first pic of the snapper is a still taken off a short video I took with the GoPro. The last two shots are taken with an Olympus camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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