Sunshine Coast Pelagic December 2018

Brown Booby

We departed Mooloolaba Marina at 6.30am on Wednesday December 12, 2018 under clear skies, negotiating a gentle swell as we headed east. The trip had been postponed due to rough weather from Sunday December 9. We saw a few Wedge-tailed Shearwaters and a Flesh-footed Shearwater on the way out. A small flock of Common Terns flew by as well as a Sooty Tern in relatively shallow water before we reached the shelf at 9am. We began laying a berley trail in 340 metres, 32 nautical miles offshore: 26.38.127S; 153.43.577E.

Common Tern

We drifted slowly in a south-westerly direction, trialling our latest berley mix of diced chicken skins, some fish offcuts that had been smashed up pretty thoroughly, and an abundance of tuna oil. We had a good slick with floating berley all day, but birds were few and far between. The forecast easterly of 10-15 knots did not materialise; instead we had barely a breeze the whole time we were out wide, the wind picking up a little on the way back in.

Tahiti Petrel

We had the odd Tahiti Petrel checking us out and a smattering of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters along with the odd Flesh-footed Shearwater, a single Short-tailed Shearwater and a couple of Sooty Terns. We also had a nice if somewhat distant pod of feeding Short-finned Pilot Whales. We turned around at 12.30pm to allow a bit of time to search closer to shore.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater

Short-tailed Shearwater

We threw out a bit more berley on the Barwon Banks and stopped at a couple of spots closer in. A Brown Booby flew by and small numbers of Common Tern, Little Tern and White-winged Tern were seen, along with a couple more Short-tailed Shearwaters.

White-winged Tern

PARTICIPANTS: Paul Beer (skipper), Cory Spring (deckhand), Greg Roberts (organiser), Margie Baker, Louis Backstrom, Tony Baker, Sarah Bevis, Rob Collins,  Phil Cross,  Michael Daley, Robin Duff,  Richard Fuller, Geoff Glare, Simon Husher, Mary Hynes, Bob James, Rob Kernot, Elliot Leach, James Martin, Sean Nolan, Tina Rider, Carolyn Scott, Jamie Walker.

BIRDS: Total (Max at one Time)

Tahiti Petrel 10 (2)

Wedge-tailed Shearwater 70 (15)

Flesh-footed Shearwater 4 (1)

Short-tailed Shearwater 3 (1)

Brown Booby 1

Crested Tern 120 (40)

Little Tern 2 (2)

White-winged Tern 6 (4)

Common Tern 25 (8)
Sooty Tern 5 (2)

Short-finned Pilot Whale 8 (3)