Hi All, below is last Sundays pelagic report for Southport, changed from
Saturday due to extreme weather.
Location: Southport, Queensland
Date: 16/10/2011
Vessel: 37 ft Steber monohull, M.V. Grinner
Crew: Craig Newton (skipper)
Pax: Paul Walbridge (leader & organiser), Jon Norling, Jim O*Shea,
Rebecca Ryan, Peter Ryan, Glen Pacey, Russell Lamb, Brian Coates, Chris
Wiley, Tim Lenz, Andrew Sutherland, Marion Roper, Kay McLennan, Stuart
Pickering
Weather conditions: A ridge that developed along the east Queensland
coast had moved through by Sunday morning bringing calm conditions.
Light SW wind early, rising to 7-8 knots from the SE by late morning.
Visibility excellent with mainly cloud free skies, maximum air temp. 27*
C, barometer 1016 hPa.
Sea conditions: Calm seas on a slight swell on leaving the Seaway and
pretty much staying that way for the rest of the day with the swell
rising to about 1.5 metres at most out wide. Sea surface temps. 21.6* C
close in shore, rising to 23.1* C at the Shelf-break and 24.1* C at the
widest point. EAC running at 2.7 knots at the widest drift point.
Summary:
Left the Southport Seaway at 0613 hrs and with the favourable
conditions initially headed for Jim*s Mountain ENE of Southport. On
nearing the Shelf-break heard reports on the radio of schools of
Yellowfin Tuna along with Blue Marlin and numbers of accompanying birds
slightly to the south at the Rivieras, so headed instead for there, 28
nm ENE of the Seaway. Crossed the Shelf-break at approx. 0830 hrs and
reached the final drift point at 0900 hrs. Drifted south for the next 3
hours before heading for home at 1215 hrs, arriving back at the Seaway
at 1515 hrs. Total duration of trip, 9 hrs 2 mins.
The local trawler fleet are in shut down mode at the moment (closed
season) so little activity on leaving the Seaway, with nothing more than
a couple of Silver Gulls, Crested Terns and a lone Pied Cormorant. Very
little sighted crossing the Shelf, although the first Flesh-footed
Shearwater of the Spring appeared astern just a few miles offshore,
about a month later than usual. On throwing the shark liver berley bag
over the stern before the Shelf-break another Flesh-footed appeared
along with the first Providence Petrels of the day.
On reaching the Riviera grounds at 0900 hrs there was a fair bit of
game-fishing charter activity with good numbers of Wedge-tailed
Shearwaters, Crested Terns and a lone Sooty Tern. It wasn*t long -
0910 hrs * before the first Wilson*s Storm-Petrels began to arrive
in the slick, followed by more Providence Petrels and at 0945 hrs by the
first Black-bellied Storm-Petrels. With the very light winds it was
taking some time for the scent of the shark liver to carry any distance
but the current was certainly spreading it wide. More Providence Petrels
and the two Storm-Petrel species continued to arrive until at 1027 hours
the first returning Tahiti Petrels of the Spring appeared
That was to be it for the next couple of hours, with more Wilson*s
and Black-bellied Storm-Petrels, Wedge-tailed Shearwaters, Providence
and Tahiti Petrels arriving on the scene, mainly from a northerly
direction, given the prevailing wind direction. With nothing new turning
up we headed for home at 1215 hrs with little extra noted save for a
lone Flesh-footed Shearwater back on the Shelf. Just outside the Seaway
a mother Hump-back Whale and year old calf put on quite a show for the
punters for half an hour just to top the pleasant day off.
Species
Wilson*s Storm-Petrel * 68 (9)
Black-bellied Storm-Petrel * 11 (3)
Wedge-tailed Shearwater * 121 (60)
Flesh-footed Shearwater * 5 (1)
Tahiti Petrel * 9 (3)
Providence Petrel * 37 (15)
Pied Cormorant * 1
Sooty Tern * 1
Crested Tern * 31 (20)
Silver Gull * 2
The next pelagic is on 19th November with several spots still up for
grabs, contact Paul Walbridge on;
PH: (H) 07 3256 4124 (W) 07 3139 4584 E-Mail:
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