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 

A Little Taste of Hervey Bay

Urangan Pier

My visit to Hervey Bay a few weeks ago with my friend Matt didn't involve a lot of fishing. After all, I had planned three weeks of serious fishing in Exmouth almost immediately after. Unfortunately the Exmouth trip had to be cancelled, and so the little bit of fishing in Hervey Bay is all I have to report on. Basically Matt and I fished Urangan Pier at night on one occasion. I managed to christen my new Shimano Stella 6000HG SWB with a little pike caught on a Squidgy soft pastic. I didn't even bother to pull the camera from the bag for that one. Matt pulled a few baitfish and pike too, and I soon got a little flathead, again on the Squidgy. The weather was magnificent, and it was just nice being on the water despite not using a fly rod.

We booked a day out around Fraser Island with Tri from Fraser Guided Fishing for the final day of our trip. It was a magnificent day too, though the fishing was tough. Lots of small trevally and various reef fish down deep on Z-Man soft plastics. A handful of really nice fish were still landed, which is testament to Tri's hard work. And yes, I managed to pull the fly rod out for a bit later in the day too - I will save what happened there for my next post - but for now, lets just say it was one of the most painfully frustrating experiences of my fly fishing career! For now I will leave you with some images from the trip.

Urangan Pier at night, looking back at the foreshore

A full moon, and beautifully calm conditions

Not even close to a  challenge for the tackle used, but this little flathead was the first decent species landed for the trip

A dawn start with Tri on our final day, as a whale goes about it's business

A long run from an unseen fish...............finally something decent!

Almost in the net!

After a little more work, Matt finally has his first "real" fish in the net!

And here it is, a neat little yellowfin tuna on light tackle and a Z-Man soft plastic fished deep

Matt also managed this beautiful coral trout

When things went quiet, Tri had a flick with us and managed this snapper which measured just under 80cm

Apart from the coral trout, all fish were released

The whales move right in close to the island!

No words needed here really!

A couple of mating turtles drifting by. The wildlife here is incredible!

Magnificent ending to the day with a few big humpback whales

If you are interested in fishing around Fraser Island, I would definitely recommend Tri. He knows his stuff, worked very hard, and was a lot of fun to share a day on the water with. Check out his site www.fraserguidedfishing.com.au for details. 
He can be contacted via email tours@fraserguidedfishing.com.au

A Little Taste of Hervey Bay

Urangan Pier

My visit to Hervey Bay a few weeks ago with my friend Matt didn't involve a lot of fishing. After all, I had planned three weeks of serious fishing in Exmouth almost immediately after. Unfortunately the Exmouth trip had to be cancelled, and so the little bit of fishing in Hervey Bay is all I have to report on. Basically Matt and I fished Urangan Pier at night on one occasion. I managed to christen my new Shimano Stella 6000HG SWB with a little pike caught on a Squidgy soft pastic. I didn't even bother to pull the camera from the bag for that one. Matt pulled a few baitfish and pike too, and I soon got a little flathead, again on the Squidgy. The weather was magnificent, and it was just nice being on the water despite not using a fly rod.

We booked a day out around Fraser Island with Tri from Fraser Guided Fishing for the final day of our trip. It was a magnificent day too, though the fishing was tough. Lots of small trevally and various reef fish down deep on Z-Man soft plastics. A handful of really nice fish were still landed, which is testament to Tri's hard work. And yes, I managed to pull the fly rod out for a bit later in the day too - I will save what happened there for my next post - but for now, lets just say it was one of the most painfully frustrating experiences of my fly fishing career! For now I will leave you with some images from the trip.

Urangan Pier at night, looking back at the foreshore

A full moon, and beautifully calm conditions

Not even close to a  challenge for the tackle used, but this little flathead was the first decent species landed for the trip

A dawn start with Tri on our final day, as a whale goes about it's business

A long run from an unseen fish...............finally something decent!

Almost in the net!

After a little more work, Matt finally has his first "real" fish in the net!

And here it is, a neat little yellowfin tuna on light tackle and a Z-Man soft plastic fished deep

Matt also managed this beautiful coral trout

When things went quiet, Tri had a flick with us and managed this snapper which measured just under 80cm

Apart from the coral trout, all fish were released

The whales move right in close to the island!

No words needed here really!

A couple of mating turtles drifting by. The wildlife here is incredible!

Magnificent ending to the day with a few big humpback whales

If you are interested in fishing around Fraser Island, I would definitely recommend Tri. He knows his stuff, worked very hard, and was a lot of fun to share a day on the water with. Check out his site www.fraserguidedfishing.com.au for details. 
He can be contacted via email tours@fraserguidedfishing.com.au