Wilderness Island is a place where you can truly get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and just enjoy yourself in the arms of Mother Nature. It's a place where you can shut out the digital world (if you want to), grab a good book to read with the sea breeze in your face or enjoy the calm seas right at your doorstep.
In my own personal opinion, the weather during the week I was there played a big part in my whole experience at the Island. The winds were rather strong at the beginning of the week but we had clear, blue skies. Mid-week, the wind died down and it became a little muggy and by the end of the week, the heavens opened and continued to rain for the next 3 days! I guessed the weather must've affected the fishing as well.
Some of the things I loved about this trip:
1. Got to experience a true camp-style fishing holiday.
2. Got to witness a spectacular sunset as well as a clear night with shimmering stars in the sky.
3. Some surprisingly good fishing just off the rocks at both the North and South end of the Island.
4. Great food cooked up by guest chef, Joel.
5. Kayaking on the Hobie Outback and seeing such beautiful and rugged landscape.
6. Getting my first big fish on a popper.
7. Fishing in the mangrove creek system where all sorts of fish were hooked up.
8. Having a hot salt water shower on the beach for the first time.
9. Meeting a great bunch of anglers that were very easy-going and fun.
10. Meeting Jim & Kim (the hosts), who were very gracious and ever-helpful in making sure we were comfortable.
Some of the things that I could have done without:
1. The bloody sandflies!! There's just no escaping them except covering yourself from head to toe and spraying insect repellent with DEET all over the other exposed parts. I even wore socks pulled over my pants!
2. The flies. There are just millions of them, buzzing all over and landing on you. Swatting them away is a futile effort.
3. The fishing was rather poor out at Burnside Island. I was expecting to catch like 10-20 fishes per day of fishing but instead I caught 5, 2 & 3 fishes respectively for the 3 days of fishing out at Burnside. The big fish that were caught by the other anglers were also few and far between. A whole lot of effort kayaking to the fishing spot but very little fish being caught. I must admit that maybe my fishing skills aren't that great but I thought the remoteness of the area would have healthy numbers of fish. I travelled quite a long distance for this trip but was really disappointed with the fishing. The weather could have played a part, I don't know. Some of the other anglers did mentioned that this trip was the poorest they've experienced since the last few years they've been here.
4. Having seen the Wilderness Island website and taken a brochure at Exmouth, I was also expecting to have fresh seafood like fish, mussels, mud crabs and such on the menu. Unfortunately, we had fish only on the last day as the main course and we didn't get to eat any mud crabs. What a shame!
Maybe I had set my expectations too high prior to this trip. The fishing could have been affected by various number of reasons, I don't know. But I leave the place with some good memories and met some great, new friends.
Friday, April 24, 2015
Wilderness Island maps
After getting back from Wilderness Island, I managed to look up the place on Google Earth and was able to measure up some distances when I went kayak fishing.
1.
The distance between Exmouth marina and Wilderness Island boat mooring is about 42km. Depending on the wind/sea conditions, it'll take about 70-90mins to cross the Gulf.
2.
The distance from the House to the boat mooring is about 1.3km.
3.
When we fished the mangrove creek system, we covered almost 12km in total for the day.
4.
The sand flats were so huge and I could make out the channel running out from the mangrove. I can imagine when there is a run-out tide, all the water flowing out through this little channel and the big fish waiting at the fringes, picking off any unsuspecting baitfish.
5.
It's about 2.3km from the House to the north end of Burnside Island. And the distance from the North to the South end of Burnside is about 2.5km.
6.
There are some broken bommies at the South end, which funnels the water out during the run-out tide. That's where we fished most of the time.
7.
North end bommies that are submerged during high tide and totally exposed during low tides.
8.
Trolling up and down between Burnside and Simpson Island produced the big Queenfish, Giant Herrings, Golden Trevallys, Giant Trevallys and Long-Tail Tuna. The distance in between is about 1km.
So on a typical day out fishing at Burnside Island, would require us to pedal about 10km plus how much trolling was done.
Back home in Singapore, the most I do is about 7km in a day. Definitely more than what I'm used to! Plus pedalling on a hard shell kayak is much easier than on an inflatable.
------ All maps are attributed to Google Earth and used with thanks. Google Earth is an anglers best friend when scouting out new places to fish!-------
1.
The distance between Exmouth marina and Wilderness Island boat mooring is about 42km. Depending on the wind/sea conditions, it'll take about 70-90mins to cross the Gulf.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
So on a typical day out fishing at Burnside Island, would require us to pedal about 10km plus how much trolling was done.
Back home in Singapore, the most I do is about 7km in a day. Definitely more than what I'm used to! Plus pedalling on a hard shell kayak is much easier than on an inflatable.
------ All maps are attributed to Google Earth and used with thanks. Google Earth is an anglers best friend when scouting out new places to fish!-------
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Back to reality
Woke up this morning and it was still raining! It has been raining non-stop for the last 2 days! And apparently, it hardly rains in Exmouth.
Packed up all my lures and fishing gear into the suitcase and got ready for check-out. Since Joel was so kind to give me a lift to the airport, I offered to buy him breakfast. So we went back into town for breakfast and I had to get some glue because the sole on my Keen sandals came off. We also popped into the tackle shop (all anglers can't resists!) and Steve was there. I was looking at the Halco Twisty lures and Steve advised me to get those in the 20-30g range, which would be perfect when targeting Spanish Mackerel. Bought 2 and hopefully they will work when I get the chance to try them out at Desaru or Rompin.
Checked out of the hotel and Joel dropped me off at the airport. Can't believe it's still raining!
Checked-in for the flight back to Perth. Adios Exmouth! Will I come back here again? Hmmmm.......
Packed up all my lures and fishing gear into the suitcase and got ready for check-out. Since Joel was so kind to give me a lift to the airport, I offered to buy him breakfast. So we went back into town for breakfast and I had to get some glue because the sole on my Keen sandals came off. We also popped into the tackle shop (all anglers can't resists!) and Steve was there. I was looking at the Halco Twisty lures and Steve advised me to get those in the 20-30g range, which would be perfect when targeting Spanish Mackerel. Bought 2 and hopefully they will work when I get the chance to try them out at Desaru or Rompin.
Checked out of the hotel and Joel dropped me off at the airport. Can't believe it's still raining!
Checked-in for the flight back to Perth. Adios Exmouth! Will I come back here again? Hmmmm.......
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Wilderness Island Day 7
Woke up in the morning to the sound of rain spattering on the roof. Looks like the rain didn't stop at all since last night. Packed up all my gear into my suitcase and brought it to the House. Used a large trash bag to wrap the suitcase as well as my camera bag as I'm expecting it to be a rough ride back to Exmouth! Since it was already raining and we were already wet, there was no point in wearing any raincoats.
Once everything was loaded onto the ATV, we began walking to the boat mooring. At the boat mooring, we began loading the kayaks onto the boat. Somehow, we managed to load 4 Pro Anglers on Jim's boat, and 6 kayaks (2 Revo13, 1 Outback, 3 PA's) on Steve's boat. Good thing was that most of the food and beer was gone! With everything secured, we pulled out of the boat mooring and began making our way back to Exmouth.
The rain became heavier during the loading and I opted to go in Steve's boat. We had the wind behind us but we were still getting wet from the rain, nonetheless! The journey took about 90mins because once we got away from the shelter of the Island, the swells just became bigger and winds stronger. It was a wet, bumpy ride back!
Once we got into Exmouth marina, the boats were put on a trailer and brought back to the yard. We began unloading the kayaks and all the fishing gears. The kayaks were then loaded either back on top of 4WD or trailers of the respective anglers.
We then proceeded for lunch before checking in into the Novotel Ningaloo Resort again. Bunked in with Joel again and had a nice, long, hot freshwater shower! Aaaaahhhhh.............that feels so gooood!!!!!
After the shower, I began cleaning up all my fishing gear. Washed off all the fishing rods and reels with freshwater, Rinsed all the lures, jigs, fish grips and tackle boxes. Good thing the hotel has a washer & dryer so in went all my stinky clothes for the last week.
There was going to be a dinner tonight, courtesy of Western Angler at the restaurant at Novotel. We had a good dinner as well as exchanging contacts for the new friends made on the trip. Scott also gave out some gifts as awards for each angler. I ended up with a brand new Shimano Stradic FJ 2500 reel and a Halco lure! Awesome!!
Once everything was loaded onto the ATV, we began walking to the boat mooring. At the boat mooring, we began loading the kayaks onto the boat. Somehow, we managed to load 4 Pro Anglers on Jim's boat, and 6 kayaks (2 Revo13, 1 Outback, 3 PA's) on Steve's boat. Good thing was that most of the food and beer was gone! With everything secured, we pulled out of the boat mooring and began making our way back to Exmouth.
The rain became heavier during the loading and I opted to go in Steve's boat. We had the wind behind us but we were still getting wet from the rain, nonetheless! The journey took about 90mins because once we got away from the shelter of the Island, the swells just became bigger and winds stronger. It was a wet, bumpy ride back!
Once we got into Exmouth marina, the boats were put on a trailer and brought back to the yard. We began unloading the kayaks and all the fishing gears. The kayaks were then loaded either back on top of 4WD or trailers of the respective anglers.
We then proceeded for lunch before checking in into the Novotel Ningaloo Resort again. Bunked in with Joel again and had a nice, long, hot freshwater shower! Aaaaahhhhh.............that feels so gooood!!!!!
After the shower, I began cleaning up all my fishing gear. Washed off all the fishing rods and reels with freshwater, Rinsed all the lures, jigs, fish grips and tackle boxes. Good thing the hotel has a washer & dryer so in went all my stinky clothes for the last week.
There was going to be a dinner tonight, courtesy of Western Angler at the restaurant at Novotel. We had a good dinner as well as exchanging contacts for the new friends made on the trip. Scott also gave out some gifts as awards for each angler. I ended up with a brand new Shimano Stradic FJ 2500 reel and a Halco lure! Awesome!!
After dinner, we said our goodbyes as most of the guys would be setting off at 4am for the drive back to Perth. Joel was setting off later so he offered to drop me off at the Learmonth airport on his way back to Perth.
Friday, April 17, 2015
Wilderness Island Day 6
Today is the last chance for me to catch some decent fish. So I got up early, had breakfast and was ready to head out. Skies were overcasts but there was no wind. Scott, sensing my disappointment yesterday, said I could go off by myself to Burnside if I want to. He gave me some tips to fish the north end of Burnside where there were some bommies in the area that hold some decent Queenfish.
So off I went at 7:30am, pedalling towards Burnside. The calm wind made the pedal to Burnside so much easier and in no time I reached the north end of Burnside.
I began casting a small popper near some bommies and on the 4th casts, the popper was smashed by a fish! Fish ON! Reeled the fish in and it was a nice Queenfish. Not very big but gave a good fight.
Pedalled back to the spot and began casting again. As I was popping the lure back, a big fish jumped at the lure but missed it, instead it caught a bit of the braid line and zoomed past me! I quickly reeled in line and with another leap, it untangled itself. That action got my heart racing! Further casts yielded nothing. I moved to another side of the bommie and began popping again. Again, I saw a few fish follow the popper back to the kayak but were not keen on taking it. So I slowed down my popping sequence. Pop-pop-long pause..... this time, the fish hit the lure when it was stationary! Fish ON! Reeled the fish in and it was another Brassy Trevally. The popper nicely lodged in its mouth!
Things quietened down after that so I proceeded to the south end of Burnside. Again, I cast lures of all types the whole day until after lunch and there were not takers.
Switched back to the baitcaster and rigged up a jighead with a red-tailed paddle tail. Bottom bouncing the jig got me a few bites but whenever I try to set the hook, I'd come up empty. Reeled back to check the soft plastic, and the red tail has been bitten off! Put on another paddle tail and same thing happen. Felt the nibbles and reeled back to find missing section of the tail. I lost about 5 soft plastics due to these nibbles and missing tails. I'm guessing there must be some fish with sharp teeth down there that has a fancy for the red tail section of the soft plastic.
Was on my 2nd last soft plastic when I felt a slight bump on the jighead. Didn't feel like the last few nibbles that I had and the line became slightly slack. I started to reel in a bit when suddenly the rod loaded up and I could feel a fish at the end of the line. Reeled and reeled and finally the fish surfaced. It was another Queenfish! Reeled him to the side of the kayak to take some underwater video. After I finished video-ing the fish, just as I was going to lift him out onto my kayak, the fish flapped around and the hook fell off! Fish swam away....... Luckily I had some video of him!
In the midst of the unexpected hookup, I apparently forgot to strike to set the hook into the fish. This was the reason the fish could throw the hook at the end of the fight. Oh well, at least he's on video!
Had a few more hits on the soft plastic but didn't get any proper hookups. Switched back to tossing stickbaits, poppers and lures. Cast until arms were aching! Saw a baitfish school just nearby and pedalled there quickly. Tossed poppers and stickbaits at the edge of the school but nothing seems interested. Drifted back to the bommies and cast out my Crystal Minnow once again. 3 reels and a fish jumped on the lure. I was caught unaware and was slow to reel. The fish dashed straight down into some rocks and had me snagged. I free-spooled the reel and waited. A minute later, I gave a yank and felt the fish free! Quickly reeled but the fish had me snagged again on some structure near the surface. I pulled and the braid snapped! Darn it! I could still see my white/red lure just under the surface and I quickly pedalled there only to find the fish swimming down into the depths, with my lure in tow...............
Tied a new Crystal Minnow on and began trolling again. Went up and down the stretch about 5 times again with no hits. The other anglers caught some small Barracuda, Queenfish, Groupers, Longtoms and other fish. Nothing big was biting today.
With that last bit of action and the skies turning grey, I began pedalling back. Light rain began just as I reached the north end of Burnside and the wind picked up. Seas became choppy and swells were forming. Made the channel crossing in real windy conditions and we were supposed to beach the kayaks at the boat mooring beach. Just so happens that when we reached the beach, it was low tide and we had to beach the kayaks and drag it about 30m up to and above the high tide line. This is so that we can put the kayaks back on the boat for transport back to Exmouth tomorrow. I could manage the Outback on my own because I didn't have much gear on it. But those Pro Angler kayaks were really heavy, especially if they were fully kitted with stuff and gear. Takes 2 persons to carry it up to the tide line!
I spotted some mini crabs at the sand flats where we were beaching the kayaks. They looked kinda cute with their purple backs and orange feet/claws.
Once we had all the kayaks beached, Jim arrived on the ATV to bring our fishing gear back to the House while we walked back. It was a tiring walk back, especially after a whole day of pedalling on the kayak.
Had a cold beer once we reached the House and I went for a shower. The rain became heavier just as I started showering. The rain just continued and we had to have our dinner indoors instead. A bloke named Steve, whom I found out later was the owner of the tackle shop I bought my lures from, came over to the Island on his boat to help with loading the kayaks for the trip back to Exmouth tomorrow. While we were at Burnside, he took Brett and his wife fishing at another location and they managed to catch a very big Snapper. John also contributed a few Mangrove Jacks he caught in the mangroves for dinner.
After dinner, it was time to see who won the 'privilege' of wearing the pink dress for topping the 'Wall of Shame'. I managed to gather 7 points (from losing lures) and the majority were in the 10-15 points range for things like breaking someone else's rod (10pts), breaking the MirageDrive (5pts), inflating your own PFD accidently (3pts), losing a fish grip with the fish attached (3pts), crossing someone's fishing line (1pt), breaking House rules (1pt). After tallying up the points, the 'winner' was Scott Coghlan! Lots of banter and the alcohol was flowing very freely! It was a hilarious night to end the fishing trip!
Lounged around after dinner hoping that the rain would stop but noooo....... it just continued! So had to head back to the cabin in the rain and dry off before sleeping.
The plan for tomorrow was to start early (as the weather forecast was predicting worse weather by afternoon), pack up all our stuff and have it ready for Jim to bring to the boat mooring using the ATV. Then we'll walk to the boat mooring to load the kayaks onto the 2 boats and head back to Exmouth.
So off I went at 7:30am, pedalling towards Burnside. The calm wind made the pedal to Burnside so much easier and in no time I reached the north end of Burnside.
I began casting a small popper near some bommies and on the 4th casts, the popper was smashed by a fish! Fish ON! Reeled the fish in and it was a nice Queenfish. Not very big but gave a good fight.
Pedalled back to the spot and began casting again. As I was popping the lure back, a big fish jumped at the lure but missed it, instead it caught a bit of the braid line and zoomed past me! I quickly reeled in line and with another leap, it untangled itself. That action got my heart racing! Further casts yielded nothing. I moved to another side of the bommie and began popping again. Again, I saw a few fish follow the popper back to the kayak but were not keen on taking it. So I slowed down my popping sequence. Pop-pop-long pause..... this time, the fish hit the lure when it was stationary! Fish ON! Reeled the fish in and it was another Brassy Trevally. The popper nicely lodged in its mouth!
Things quietened down after that so I proceeded to the south end of Burnside. Again, I cast lures of all types the whole day until after lunch and there were not takers.
Switched back to the baitcaster and rigged up a jighead with a red-tailed paddle tail. Bottom bouncing the jig got me a few bites but whenever I try to set the hook, I'd come up empty. Reeled back to check the soft plastic, and the red tail has been bitten off! Put on another paddle tail and same thing happen. Felt the nibbles and reeled back to find missing section of the tail. I lost about 5 soft plastics due to these nibbles and missing tails. I'm guessing there must be some fish with sharp teeth down there that has a fancy for the red tail section of the soft plastic.
Was on my 2nd last soft plastic when I felt a slight bump on the jighead. Didn't feel like the last few nibbles that I had and the line became slightly slack. I started to reel in a bit when suddenly the rod loaded up and I could feel a fish at the end of the line. Reeled and reeled and finally the fish surfaced. It was another Queenfish! Reeled him to the side of the kayak to take some underwater video. After I finished video-ing the fish, just as I was going to lift him out onto my kayak, the fish flapped around and the hook fell off! Fish swam away....... Luckily I had some video of him!
Some screen captures from the video
In the midst of the unexpected hookup, I apparently forgot to strike to set the hook into the fish. This was the reason the fish could throw the hook at the end of the fight. Oh well, at least he's on video!
Had a few more hits on the soft plastic but didn't get any proper hookups. Switched back to tossing stickbaits, poppers and lures. Cast until arms were aching! Saw a baitfish school just nearby and pedalled there quickly. Tossed poppers and stickbaits at the edge of the school but nothing seems interested. Drifted back to the bommies and cast out my Crystal Minnow once again. 3 reels and a fish jumped on the lure. I was caught unaware and was slow to reel. The fish dashed straight down into some rocks and had me snagged. I free-spooled the reel and waited. A minute later, I gave a yank and felt the fish free! Quickly reeled but the fish had me snagged again on some structure near the surface. I pulled and the braid snapped! Darn it! I could still see my white/red lure just under the surface and I quickly pedalled there only to find the fish swimming down into the depths, with my lure in tow...............
Tied a new Crystal Minnow on and began trolling again. Went up and down the stretch about 5 times again with no hits. The other anglers caught some small Barracuda, Queenfish, Groupers, Longtoms and other fish. Nothing big was biting today.
With that last bit of action and the skies turning grey, I began pedalling back. Light rain began just as I reached the north end of Burnside and the wind picked up. Seas became choppy and swells were forming. Made the channel crossing in real windy conditions and we were supposed to beach the kayaks at the boat mooring beach. Just so happens that when we reached the beach, it was low tide and we had to beach the kayaks and drag it about 30m up to and above the high tide line. This is so that we can put the kayaks back on the boat for transport back to Exmouth tomorrow. I could manage the Outback on my own because I didn't have much gear on it. But those Pro Angler kayaks were really heavy, especially if they were fully kitted with stuff and gear. Takes 2 persons to carry it up to the tide line!
I spotted some mini crabs at the sand flats where we were beaching the kayaks. They looked kinda cute with their purple backs and orange feet/claws.
Once we had all the kayaks beached, Jim arrived on the ATV to bring our fishing gear back to the House while we walked back. It was a tiring walk back, especially after a whole day of pedalling on the kayak.
Had a cold beer once we reached the House and I went for a shower. The rain became heavier just as I started showering. The rain just continued and we had to have our dinner indoors instead. A bloke named Steve, whom I found out later was the owner of the tackle shop I bought my lures from, came over to the Island on his boat to help with loading the kayaks for the trip back to Exmouth tomorrow. While we were at Burnside, he took Brett and his wife fishing at another location and they managed to catch a very big Snapper. John also contributed a few Mangrove Jacks he caught in the mangroves for dinner.
After dinner, it was time to see who won the 'privilege' of wearing the pink dress for topping the 'Wall of Shame'. I managed to gather 7 points (from losing lures) and the majority were in the 10-15 points range for things like breaking someone else's rod (10pts), breaking the MirageDrive (5pts), inflating your own PFD accidently (3pts), losing a fish grip with the fish attached (3pts), crossing someone's fishing line (1pt), breaking House rules (1pt). After tallying up the points, the 'winner' was Scott Coghlan! Lots of banter and the alcohol was flowing very freely! It was a hilarious night to end the fishing trip!
Lounged around after dinner hoping that the rain would stop but noooo....... it just continued! So had to head back to the cabin in the rain and dry off before sleeping.
The plan for tomorrow was to start early (as the weather forecast was predicting worse weather by afternoon), pack up all our stuff and have it ready for Jim to bring to the boat mooring using the ATV. Then we'll walk to the boat mooring to load the kayaks onto the 2 boats and head back to Exmouth.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Wilderness Island Day 5
Woke up at sunrise, 6:30am, without even needing the alarm. Funny how your body just wakes up when you're back to the bare basics of living...
Some pictures of the House before breakfast
This morning, the winds were still there but not as strong as yesterday. I managed to borrow a rod from Andy, which was a Storm Gomoku Erito jigging rod and paired it up with my Shimano Saros 2500. Some guys headed out at their own time and I was getting ready as well.
I launched and began pedalling to Burnside Island again. Conditions were still choppy, especially when passing through the channel. Reached the north end of Burnside and began casting. It was high tide now and I was casting into waters about 2m only. Still using the Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow, I used a reel-stop, reel-stop sequence. At one point, I could see some fish chasing the lure all the way back to the kayak! The fish are there, now have to tempt them to take the lure. Tried casting into the same area again and this time, BAM! A fish took the lure and ran. As I was in shallow water, I raised up my rod tip, trying to keep the fish from diving down to the bottom where it could bust me off. But after a short while, I managed to bring it next to the kayak. It was a nice Brassy Trevally!
Tried a few more cast into the same area but nothing was interested.
Pedalled to the south end of Burnside and began casting again. Changed lures, tried soft plastics, poppers, shallow divers...etc. Nothing seems to be working. What the hell is going on?
Brett was trolling nearby and he hooked up. Fish gave him quite a fight and when he had the fish beside the kayak, the fish decided to jump into the kayak, flapped around and jumped back into the water! In the end, he managed to get it into the kayak and it was a large Queenfish!
Just before lunch time, I decided to use a brown worm-like soft plastic rigged for weedless fishing. Bounced the soft plastic on the bottom and shortly thereafter, I got a hit. Wasn't a big fish and but the colors on the fish were just so striking! I think it's some sort of parrot fish or tuskfish, judging from the front teeth it has! Does look similar in body shape as the Eng Ko back home. (Researched and identified as Bluespotted Tuskfish, Choerodon cauteroma)
After lunch, I began trolling using different types of lures in the channel between Burnside and Simpson Island. I think I went up and down the channel about 5 times and not a single bite! The rest of the anglers were also having the same problem. Only the odd small Spanish Mackerel and Queenfish were caught. Turns out to be a rather poor day of fishing!
Pedalled back to the House feeling disappointed........... I think I must've covered close to 20km of pedalling today, with all that trolling. The knees are beginning to hurt, not to mention my bum!
Some pictures of the House before breakfast
Lounge
View from the lounge
Kitchen & indoor dining
Deck & partial outdoor dining
Outdoor seating, BBQ pit & oven
This morning, the winds were still there but not as strong as yesterday. I managed to borrow a rod from Andy, which was a Storm Gomoku Erito jigging rod and paired it up with my Shimano Saros 2500. Some guys headed out at their own time and I was getting ready as well.
I launched and began pedalling to Burnside Island again. Conditions were still choppy, especially when passing through the channel. Reached the north end of Burnside and began casting. It was high tide now and I was casting into waters about 2m only. Still using the Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow, I used a reel-stop, reel-stop sequence. At one point, I could see some fish chasing the lure all the way back to the kayak! The fish are there, now have to tempt them to take the lure. Tried casting into the same area again and this time, BAM! A fish took the lure and ran. As I was in shallow water, I raised up my rod tip, trying to keep the fish from diving down to the bottom where it could bust me off. But after a short while, I managed to bring it next to the kayak. It was a nice Brassy Trevally!
Tried a few more cast into the same area but nothing was interested.
Pedalled to the south end of Burnside and began casting again. Changed lures, tried soft plastics, poppers, shallow divers...etc. Nothing seems to be working. What the hell is going on?
Brett was trolling nearby and he hooked up. Fish gave him quite a fight and when he had the fish beside the kayak, the fish decided to jump into the kayak, flapped around and jumped back into the water! In the end, he managed to get it into the kayak and it was a large Queenfish!
Just before lunch time, I decided to use a brown worm-like soft plastic rigged for weedless fishing. Bounced the soft plastic on the bottom and shortly thereafter, I got a hit. Wasn't a big fish and but the colors on the fish were just so striking! I think it's some sort of parrot fish or tuskfish, judging from the front teeth it has! Does look similar in body shape as the Eng Ko back home. (Researched and identified as Bluespotted Tuskfish, Choerodon cauteroma)
After lunch, I began trolling using different types of lures in the channel between Burnside and Simpson Island. I think I went up and down the channel about 5 times and not a single bite! The rest of the anglers were also having the same problem. Only the odd small Spanish Mackerel and Queenfish were caught. Turns out to be a rather poor day of fishing!
Pedalled back to the House feeling disappointed........... I think I must've covered close to 20km of pedalling today, with all that trolling. The knees are beginning to hurt, not to mention my bum!
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Wilderness Island Day 4
Wilderness Island is totally eco-friendly. That goes for the toilets as well.
No flush, just a very deep, deep hole! Apparently, there are worms and other stuff that 'recycle' the waste below.
This morning the wind was still blowing but Scott said we would still go out but later. So after breakfast a few seasoned anglers set off to Burnside Island. The swells were still there and it took them quite a long time to reach the fishing grounds. We waited until about 9:30am before setting off.
Just as I was going to go down to the kayak, Duncan came up to the House holding a broken rod. I looked at it and it was my TCurve Revolution Tropical rod! He explained to me that when he was attempting to launch his kayak, somehow both our rods got entangled and mine broke off at the top section into 3 pieces. He apologised and promised to replace it for me at the end of the trip. Now I'm 1 rod down and had to make do with 3 rods out there today.
It was still quite choppy as we crossed the channel between Wilderness and Burnside Islands but I could manage it in the Outback. Been a long time since I pedalled in such conditions. Took us about 30mins to reach the north end of Burnside Island and the best fishing grounds were at the south end, which was another 20mins away. The seas were calmer once we were along the Island as it blocks the strong winds. So while pedalling to the south end, I fished at the edge of the rock walls using my Squidgie Red paddle tails on the Berkley Nomadic rod paired with Shimano Curado 201HG baitcaster. While bouncing the soft plastic in between weeds and rock, I got a hit. Up came a Spanish Flag.
There were so much weedbeds below that any heavy lure would just get stuck in the weeds. Keep getting tangled with weeds. Soon I lost my Squidgie soft plastic when it got snagged. I then changed to the Berkley Gulp Grub lure and tried to bottom hop the areas where it was less weed. I felt a tap and then something grabbed it. I quickly pulled it out, hoping that it won't dash in to the weed beds. I managed to bring the fella up and it was a small Grouper.
As the whole area was weedy, I decided to head straight to the south end.
As I reached there, I changed to my surface lures. I tied a popper to my TCurve Revolution rod and began popping. I cast into the rocks and also outside to open water. On one of my cast outside to open water, I popped back 4 times when I saw a fish grab the popper. Fish ON! I thought initially it was a Longtom because I thought I saw a slender fish body. But this fish didn't jump at all. It just went round my kayak and almost went into the weed beds. I quickly pedalled out more to open water before trying to reel the fish. It was giving quite a bend on my rod! After about 5mins, I saw color. It was a big Queenfish! Since it was so big, I couldn't use the lip grip on it so I just grabbed the fish by the tail and heaved it onto my lap. Woohoo!! Andy helped take some pictures for me while I took one with the fish on my lap. The width of the Hobie Outback is 84cm and this fish could be touching 100cm! It could be bigger than the one I caught on a kayak 4 years ago!
The best part was this Fire Tiger popper is a no-name popper that I bought close to 15 years ago and hasn't been used! And this is my first big fish on a popper! I must say the visual spectacle when the fish hit the popper was just exhilarating!
After the photos, the fish was released.
The rest of the anglers caught some real big Giant Herrings. I've never seen Giant Herring as big as this!
As the wind picked up after lunch, I changed my lure to the gold sinking stickbait that I bought at the tackle store in Exmouth and continued casting into and along the bommies. After a few casts, my lure was hit! Fish ON! As I was reeling it in, the fish jumped a few times and it had a long, slender body. Couldn't make out what it was until it was beside the kayak. A Wolf Herring!
I remember them having a nasty set of teeth so I was very careful in lip gripping the fish. Check out the fangs on it!
From the looks of the gashes on the body, I'm guessing a bigger fish might have fancied an easy meal when it was hooked.
Later in the afternoon, the skies became overcast but we continued fishing. Casting into the edge of a bommie, my lure got hit again. I quickly pedalled out into open water, dragging the fish with me. The fish was taking line in short bursts and after a short fight, it turned out to be a small Giant Trevally. Nice! It did give quite a fight on light tackle, I can't imagine what the bigger specimens would do!
Checked my lure and it seems the front treble was missing. I think somehow the GT must broken it off. So I changed my lure to a Yo-Zuri Crystal minnow and decided to try using my baitcaster setup.
After about 10 mins, I did a sloppy cast and the baitcaster overran! Reel became one giant bee-hoon! Aaaarrrghhh! I tried to untangle the whole thing but with the wind blowing and kayak rocking, I wasn't getting any progress. So I ditched the baitcaster and tried using the Okuma rod. But the rod was too heavy to do any casting or popping. So I'm left with using my remaining TCurve Tropical rod. So I pedalled over to Andy and asked him if he had a spare rod I could use. He passed me a set that was already rigged with a soft plastic to use. Unfortunately, the bite quietened down a bit after that.
Swapped to my TCurve again and while trolling, I noticed something might have caught onto the lure. There was quite a lot of weed floating around so I thought it might have got caught on the lure. I reeled back only to find a fish attached to the lure. It looks like a sort of wrasse but the fish was as long as the lure! Greedy little fish!
Released the fish and began the journey back to the House. The wind was behind us now, so the pedal back wasn't that bad.
Made it back and decided to have a shower at sunset. The 'naturally'-constructed bathroom, equipped with a shower with hot sea water! Unique!
I'm quite happy with the fishing today. I caught my first big fish on a popper and had many smaller fish in between. Too bad about the broken rod and hopefully I can borrow someone's fishing rod to use tomorrow. Tonight, I'll have to untangle that giant bee-hoon mess that I made on the baitcaster! Hopefully, tomorrow's fishing will be even better.
No flush, just a very deep, deep hole! Apparently, there are worms and other stuff that 'recycle' the waste below.
The view when you're doing your 'stuff'!
This morning the wind was still blowing but Scott said we would still go out but later. So after breakfast a few seasoned anglers set off to Burnside Island. The swells were still there and it took them quite a long time to reach the fishing grounds. We waited until about 9:30am before setting off.
Just as I was going to go down to the kayak, Duncan came up to the House holding a broken rod. I looked at it and it was my TCurve Revolution Tropical rod! He explained to me that when he was attempting to launch his kayak, somehow both our rods got entangled and mine broke off at the top section into 3 pieces. He apologised and promised to replace it for me at the end of the trip. Now I'm 1 rod down and had to make do with 3 rods out there today.
It was still quite choppy as we crossed the channel between Wilderness and Burnside Islands but I could manage it in the Outback. Been a long time since I pedalled in such conditions. Took us about 30mins to reach the north end of Burnside Island and the best fishing grounds were at the south end, which was another 20mins away. The seas were calmer once we were along the Island as it blocks the strong winds. So while pedalling to the south end, I fished at the edge of the rock walls using my Squidgie Red paddle tails on the Berkley Nomadic rod paired with Shimano Curado 201HG baitcaster. While bouncing the soft plastic in between weeds and rock, I got a hit. Up came a Spanish Flag.
There were so much weedbeds below that any heavy lure would just get stuck in the weeds. Keep getting tangled with weeds. Soon I lost my Squidgie soft plastic when it got snagged. I then changed to the Berkley Gulp Grub lure and tried to bottom hop the areas where it was less weed. I felt a tap and then something grabbed it. I quickly pulled it out, hoping that it won't dash in to the weed beds. I managed to bring the fella up and it was a small Grouper.
As the whole area was weedy, I decided to head straight to the south end.
As I reached there, I changed to my surface lures. I tied a popper to my TCurve Revolution rod and began popping. I cast into the rocks and also outside to open water. On one of my cast outside to open water, I popped back 4 times when I saw a fish grab the popper. Fish ON! I thought initially it was a Longtom because I thought I saw a slender fish body. But this fish didn't jump at all. It just went round my kayak and almost went into the weed beds. I quickly pedalled out more to open water before trying to reel the fish. It was giving quite a bend on my rod! After about 5mins, I saw color. It was a big Queenfish! Since it was so big, I couldn't use the lip grip on it so I just grabbed the fish by the tail and heaved it onto my lap. Woohoo!! Andy helped take some pictures for me while I took one with the fish on my lap. The width of the Hobie Outback is 84cm and this fish could be touching 100cm! It could be bigger than the one I caught on a kayak 4 years ago!
The best part was this Fire Tiger popper is a no-name popper that I bought close to 15 years ago and hasn't been used! And this is my first big fish on a popper! I must say the visual spectacle when the fish hit the popper was just exhilarating!
After the photos, the fish was released.
The rest of the anglers caught some real big Giant Herrings. I've never seen Giant Herring as big as this!
As the wind picked up after lunch, I changed my lure to the gold sinking stickbait that I bought at the tackle store in Exmouth and continued casting into and along the bommies. After a few casts, my lure was hit! Fish ON! As I was reeling it in, the fish jumped a few times and it had a long, slender body. Couldn't make out what it was until it was beside the kayak. A Wolf Herring!
I remember them having a nasty set of teeth so I was very careful in lip gripping the fish. Check out the fangs on it!
From the looks of the gashes on the body, I'm guessing a bigger fish might have fancied an easy meal when it was hooked.
Later in the afternoon, the skies became overcast but we continued fishing. Casting into the edge of a bommie, my lure got hit again. I quickly pedalled out into open water, dragging the fish with me. The fish was taking line in short bursts and after a short fight, it turned out to be a small Giant Trevally. Nice! It did give quite a fight on light tackle, I can't imagine what the bigger specimens would do!
Checked my lure and it seems the front treble was missing. I think somehow the GT must broken it off. So I changed my lure to a Yo-Zuri Crystal minnow and decided to try using my baitcaster setup.
After about 10 mins, I did a sloppy cast and the baitcaster overran! Reel became one giant bee-hoon! Aaaarrrghhh! I tried to untangle the whole thing but with the wind blowing and kayak rocking, I wasn't getting any progress. So I ditched the baitcaster and tried using the Okuma rod. But the rod was too heavy to do any casting or popping. So I'm left with using my remaining TCurve Tropical rod. So I pedalled over to Andy and asked him if he had a spare rod I could use. He passed me a set that was already rigged with a soft plastic to use. Unfortunately, the bite quietened down a bit after that.
Swapped to my TCurve again and while trolling, I noticed something might have caught onto the lure. There was quite a lot of weed floating around so I thought it might have got caught on the lure. I reeled back only to find a fish attached to the lure. It looks like a sort of wrasse but the fish was as long as the lure! Greedy little fish!
Released the fish and began the journey back to the House. The wind was behind us now, so the pedal back wasn't that bad.
Made it back and decided to have a shower at sunset. The 'naturally'-constructed bathroom, equipped with a shower with hot sea water! Unique!
I'm quite happy with the fishing today. I caught my first big fish on a popper and had many smaller fish in between. Too bad about the broken rod and hopefully I can borrow someone's fishing rod to use tomorrow. Tonight, I'll have to untangle that giant bee-hoon mess that I made on the baitcaster! Hopefully, tomorrow's fishing will be even better.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Wilderness Island Day 3
The wind was blowing harder this morning and the waters were brownish. So it was decided that we can't go out on the kayak in these conditions.
So an alternative plan was hatched which was to go fishing for Whiting for dinner. It was going to be a competition between 2 teams and I was in the same team as Scott. The rules were; only fish above 25cm can be kept and the the team with the most fish wins and also the angler with the biggest Whiting. Was advised by Andy to use light line and leader. So I had him tie for me a 10lb leader on 15lb braid. I didn't have any lure for targeting Whiting so John kindly gave me a red-head mini popper to try.
So off we went after breakfast. The first team headed off to the north end of the camp to fish while we went further to a mangrove creek that leads out to a large sand flat. We were standing in calf-deep water and began casting.
Since this was the first time I'm fishing for Whiting using a popper, I worked the mini popper with short, sharp bursts. A few casts later, I had a take but the fish dropped off. Darn it! I cast into the same area where I got the hit and true enough, another fish climbed all over the popper. Fish ON! Reeled the fish in and it was a nice Whiting. Measured the fella and it was only 22cm. Released the fish and tried again.
I could actually see some of the Whiting following the lure with every 'pop' but they were shy to take it. Then I noticed that whenever I paused at the end of the 'pop', there were some fish that was attacking the popper. One did whack the popper during this pause and he was hooked up. Quickly reeled it in and it measured 26cm! Yay, a keeper!
In amongst the Whiting were some Bream. I did catch a nice-sized Bream on the poppers as well.
Continued casting until lunch time and managed to catch a total of 9 Whiting of which only 1 was a keeper. The rest were in the 22-24cm range. Our team managed to catch only 7 fish above 25cm, with the biggest at 28cm. We walked over to their team to see their catch. They caught a total of 23 fishes! Most were around 25-26cm with the biggest also at 28cm.
So the other team won and their prize was that the losing team had to serve them drinks for the whole night!
Came back and had lunch at the House. Chilled for a while and the wind was still blowing. So some of us decided to go down the South End ledges to fish. I tried fishing on the way there at the rock ledges but didn't get anything. When I reached the spot, I began casting a Rapala XRap. At first, nothing seem to be interested. I could see some fish swimming around in front of me. Then Glenn hooked up on his fly rod. He shouted he got a Queenfish and I quickly cast around the spot where he hooked up. A few cranks of the reel and it was my turn to get hooked up. Fish ON! Remembering what happened yesterday, I reeled fast and controlled the fish so that it won't go bust me off again. Finally managed to bring the fish onto the rocks for a photo. It was a Queenfish and was foul-hooked.
After that catch, the action quietened down. I moved to the another spot and changed my lure to a soft plastic with a red tail. I casted out and began slowly reeling back. Just as I stopped reeling near a rock, I felt a tap. I felt a second tap and I quickly strike. Started reeling in and I could see that the fish was a Mangrove Jack but just as I was going to lift the fella out, he darted powerfully and the soft plastic came off! Oh no, lost the fish again! Frustrating! The rest of session yielded nothing else so we headed off back to camp.
Got to witness a spectacular sunset. Just as the sun drops below the horizon, beautiful golden colors appear! Breathtaking!!
The Whitings were cleaned and filleted and cooked as an appetiser. They do taste delicious with just some butter and lemon. During dinner and throughout the night, we served drinks to the winning team (and boy do they drink!) and there was a lot of banter and kidding going around. This group of anglers are really funny!
Hopefully the wind will die down and we get to go to the "big fish" spot. Fingers crossed!
So an alternative plan was hatched which was to go fishing for Whiting for dinner. It was going to be a competition between 2 teams and I was in the same team as Scott. The rules were; only fish above 25cm can be kept and the the team with the most fish wins and also the angler with the biggest Whiting. Was advised by Andy to use light line and leader. So I had him tie for me a 10lb leader on 15lb braid. I didn't have any lure for targeting Whiting so John kindly gave me a red-head mini popper to try.
So off we went after breakfast. The first team headed off to the north end of the camp to fish while we went further to a mangrove creek that leads out to a large sand flat. We were standing in calf-deep water and began casting.
Fishing in shallow water for Whiting and Bream. Awesome experience!
I could actually see some of the Whiting following the lure with every 'pop' but they were shy to take it. Then I noticed that whenever I paused at the end of the 'pop', there were some fish that was attacking the popper. One did whack the popper during this pause and he was hooked up. Quickly reeled it in and it measured 26cm! Yay, a keeper!
In amongst the Whiting were some Bream. I did catch a nice-sized Bream on the poppers as well.
Continued casting until lunch time and managed to catch a total of 9 Whiting of which only 1 was a keeper. The rest were in the 22-24cm range. Our team managed to catch only 7 fish above 25cm, with the biggest at 28cm. We walked over to their team to see their catch. They caught a total of 23 fishes! Most were around 25-26cm with the biggest also at 28cm.
So the other team won and their prize was that the losing team had to serve them drinks for the whole night!
Came back and had lunch at the House. Chilled for a while and the wind was still blowing. So some of us decided to go down the South End ledges to fish. I tried fishing on the way there at the rock ledges but didn't get anything. When I reached the spot, I began casting a Rapala XRap. At first, nothing seem to be interested. I could see some fish swimming around in front of me. Then Glenn hooked up on his fly rod. He shouted he got a Queenfish and I quickly cast around the spot where he hooked up. A few cranks of the reel and it was my turn to get hooked up. Fish ON! Remembering what happened yesterday, I reeled fast and controlled the fish so that it won't go bust me off again. Finally managed to bring the fish onto the rocks for a photo. It was a Queenfish and was foul-hooked.
After that catch, the action quietened down. I moved to the another spot and changed my lure to a soft plastic with a red tail. I casted out and began slowly reeling back. Just as I stopped reeling near a rock, I felt a tap. I felt a second tap and I quickly strike. Started reeling in and I could see that the fish was a Mangrove Jack but just as I was going to lift the fella out, he darted powerfully and the soft plastic came off! Oh no, lost the fish again! Frustrating! The rest of session yielded nothing else so we headed off back to camp.
Got to witness a spectacular sunset. Just as the sun drops below the horizon, beautiful golden colors appear! Breathtaking!!
The Whitings were cleaned and filleted and cooked as an appetiser. They do taste delicious with just some butter and lemon. During dinner and throughout the night, we served drinks to the winning team (and boy do they drink!) and there was a lot of banter and kidding going around. This group of anglers are really funny!
Hopefully the wind will die down and we get to go to the "big fish" spot. Fingers crossed!
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