Not since mid January have we seen such good boating weather as we had last weekend, and it couldn’t have been more timely. It was a busy one around the bay with the Moreton Bay Game Fishing Club hosting their annual tournament based out of the club land adjacent to the Tangalooma Wrecks.
The other big event was the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron’s Myora Cup based out of the club’s Canaipa premises.
I also took advantage of the conditions and the opportunity to catch up with a few mates onboard my little Salt Shaker III. Saturday was one of those great days with the wind backing off late morning and turning east in the afternoon, providing near glass out conditions. With the radio skeds from the tournament reporting very little activity on the marlin fishing front, I opted to do some spinning under Cape Moreton and found plenty of trevally on offer, and some chopper tailor along the back of the surf break at Yellow Patch. Of course with the big swell still running you had to keep your wits about you and watch out for the set waves when in close!
The marlin fishing for the tournament anglers was tough going. Some of the fleet opted to fished heavy tackle wide on the continental shelf for larger blue marlin and I think there was only one or two fish tagged. On the light tackle grounds in the shallower waters of the ‘trench’ again only a few smaller black marlin were tagged and a couple of sailfish also. Dr. Terry Russell, his daughter Anna Markey and crewman Daniel took out Champion Boat with two blacks and a nice Longtail Tuna.
Down the southern end of the bay, the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron’s Myora Cup was in full swing. This is an annual event and attracts a large number of power boaters testing their navigational skills for points in the various divisions. Of course it’s all about the navigation, but the raft ups in the evening are famous and usually result in some sore heads on Sunday morning. This years Traditional Displacement Class was won by Simon McGuire in his beautifully restored Nell C.
Hughie (the weather god) certainly turned it on for us last weekend with the 25 knot SE dropping Friday afternoon and then another 30 knot SE blasting through at 4pm Sunday. This weekend is looking pretty good also at this stage so get out there and enjoy – but a word of caution, there are still a few logs and plastic bags particularly in the eastern bag from the recent rain events. I actually saw a 10 foot long sleeper plank which wouldn’t be nice on the props!!
