Fraser Flats Frustration

Heading into the flats

As promised in my previous post, A Little Taste of Hervey Bay I will share the short but frustrating story of what happened when Tri from Fraser Guided Fishing tried to give me the opportunity of casting at something on the beautiful sandflats of Fraser Isalnd. He had warned me that it was still a little early in the year, and that I shouldn't expect too much. I think he could sense that I really wanted to give sight fishing the flats on fly at least a shot while I was there though. I pulled the 10wt out, tied on a chartreuse over white clouser and over to the shallows we went. Slowly cruising along over the crystal clear flats it was disappointing to see absolutely no fish cruising. We covered a bit of water with me standing up on the front casting deck, line stripped and ready for a cast if an opportunity did present itself. 

"Ok, reel in and come back to the back of the boat. We'll head to one last spot and try and get you something decent before we head back in for the day" Tri said. Fair call I thought, seeing as it was getting late and there was clearly nothing there. It would be disappointing to resort to spin gear in deeper water again, but I also wasn't the only one on the boat to consider. I reeled up the slack, and stepped from the casting deck. I think I took maybe two steps toward the back of the boat when Tri yelled "There they are!!". At first I thought he was joking. "Right in front of us" he said. I turned, and there were three longtail tuna slowly cruising past in perfect fly casting range. I desperately tried to strip off enough line to cast as they swam past, but I only got half as much line out as I needed. Tri grabbed a spin rod and pelted out a cast ahead of them. One turned and hit but didn't hook up. Then they were gone. We had another look around but couldn't find them or any others, so gave up and headed to fish the one last deep spot. We didn't do any good there, but the thought of those tuna which Tri estimated to be about 12kg has me wanting to come back. Just a few seconds longer before reeling in and stepping off the casting deck and I may have had my first tuna, and a new species to add to my list of species on fly. 

I guess there is always next time. At his stage I am planning on heading back for a full week of serious fishing sometime in December.

Contact Tri for your own Fraser Island fishing experience tours@fraserguidedfishing.com.au


Check out his site www.fraserguidedfishing.com.au for more details