Wilderness Island Day 2

Slept surprisingly well in the bunk as it was a rather windy night. Made my way to the main deck and everybody was already there! Seems that everybody else had started their day early! They were already getting their stuff on the kayaks.The winds were still too strong to head out to the open waters so it was decided that today we will be fishing in the creek systems at the northern part of the Island. Had my eggs and toast quickly and began setting up my own stuff. As I'm not familiar with the Outback, I opted to bring only 2 boxes of tackle and minimal stuff. Rigged all 4 of the rods and placed them in the rod holders. There was a total of 10 Hobie kayaks for this trip, 7 Pro Anglers, 2 Revo 13s and 1 Outback.

It was rather low tide when we set out and at some places, the water was less than 50cm. I had to remove the MirageDrive and use the paddles instead.

Hand paddling in shallow water

Once we were clear of the shallow rock shelf in front of the camp, then we began pedalling. We pedalled passed the rocky outcrop that I fished from yesterday and proceeded into the creek system.  I had rigged up a soft plastic paddle tail and began casting around some deep channel. After about 10mins of bottom bouncing, I felt a tug and there was a fish on. Nothing big but when I reeled it in, this fish looked like a lizard fish. It has a huge mouth but small body. (Researched and identified as Blotched Jawfish, Opistognathus latitabundus)

5mins later, I hooked up again. This time the fish felt heavier but it turns out it was the same species of fish, only bigger.

I then proceeded to pedal to the mangrove edges. Tried using the paddle tail lure but doesn't seem to work. So I switched to using my baitcaster (15lb braid) and put a smaller jig head with a wriggler tail soft plastic. This time, I was fishing a  very shallow area and managed to hook up a small Sand Whiting. I could feel a lot of bites but only managed to hook up a bigger specimen. I kept casting the wriggler plastic and hooked up again on another Sand Whiting.

Changed the jig to a shallow diving lure and began casting at the shallow area again. Twitch-twitch-pause, twitch-twitch-pause. Then I saw bow waves approaching the lure and bam! Fish ON! Soon I had another large Sand Whiting.

Twice I did the same retrieve sequence and both times, the fish smash the lure when it was paused!

They are fun on light tackle. 

The mangrove system is pretty much similar to the ones at Pulau Ubin but only teeming with sandflies and large flies! Thank God I was fully covered up like ninja!

Continued to explore the mangrove system and I spotted a mini channel. I cast into it and began twitching the lure back.  Saw a shadow come out of the mangroves and nailed my lure! I lifted the rod and began reeling but the hook pulled! Bloody hell!! Tried casting the same area again but it went quiet.

Spotted another eddy area in the mangroves and casted the lure in. I felt a hit but no hookup so I continued to twitch the lure. I could see about 4 fish  following the lure so I just stopped reeling. Felt the fish pick up the lure and I slowly reeled and strike. The fish was feisty and began to swim back into the mangrove but I managed to pedal the kayak into deeper water and got the fish under control. As it surfaced, I saw it had a pinkish hue on its body, which led me to think it was a Pink Snapper. But Pink Snappers don't inhabit these waters/region. Then I realized that it was a Bream, quite a big one too!

Releasing the Bream

At this time, Jim had arrived with the boat with our lunch.  Had lunch at the middle of the creek to avoid the sandflies. The tide was coming in so it brought me a bit deeper into the mangroves. Still armed with my brown shallow diving lure, I spotted a fishy-looking spot cast into it and something hit it hard! I tried to set the hook but it didn't stick. Damn! I tried casting into the same area again and this time the fish nailed the lure hard! I quickly set the hook and began fighting the fish. It was a feisty fish and I managed to reel it near and it was a nice Mangrove Jack, the fish I've been waiting for!! It was about table size and had beautiful deep red colors.

After releasing the fish, I drifted along the mangrove edge tossing my lure into every fishy-looking spot. I came upon the little 'drain' in the mangrove and I tossed my lure right in the middle of the 'drain'. One twitch and straight away my line became tight. I quickly wrestled the fish away from the roots and managed to land another Mangrove Jack! A bit bigger than the first one.

Continued to fish the same mangrove stretch. Had a few misses again and then I tossed the lure towards a small root stump. It went over the stump and I thought I'd better reel it back slowly as I didn't want to get snagged on the stump. One reel turn and the lure got hammered big time! It caught me by surprise and the fish peeled off line and got buried underneath a maze of mangrove roots. Damn it!!! I slowly moved my kayak to the mangrove root and tried to angle the fish out. I could see the leader and could feel the fish was still hooked. Then I saw the fish in amongst the roots. It was a Grouper! I used my hand paddle to try to 'part' the roots for the fish to come out and I could still feel the fish struggling at the end of the line. I finally moved the root off the bottom and pulled. Finally the fish came free and I quickly pedalled out into open water. It was a big Black-Spotted Grouper! I'm so happy I didn't lose the fish in the mangrove.

I had a look at the lure and saw one treble hook opened and another hook point missing. Looks like I have to retire this lure!

I saw some of the kayakers heading back so I decided to follow suit. It was a hard pedal back because the wind picked up again and now we were pedalling against the wind. We reached an area outside the mangrove and I could see some baitfish jumping around. I switched to the Rapala and cast into the baitfish area. I could see some fish zipping around as I was reeling back but no takers. Tried quite a few times and on the 5th attempt, I got a hit! I quickly reeled it in and then the fish jumped. The familiar shape of the bloody Todak came to view! I reeled it in and the lure was lodged in its mouth causing it to be opened wide! How the hell am I going to remove the lure? Should I lip grip the the todak? As I was figuring out, the fish jumped a few times right in front of me and got into the kayak just behind me! I quickly yanked the fella back into the water. I tried to grip the mouth a few times but the gob was too small for the lip gripper so I decided to just grab it behind the neck and hold on! Swam the fish beside me and I grabbed it just behind the head. Phew!

Decided to do some trolling on the way back to camp. As I was holding the trolling rod, suddenly I felt a take. The fish was peeling out some line and then I felt the line snap! Dang! Reeled back only to see that it was busted off at the braid mainline. The fish must've gone deep and cut me off at the rocks.

Reached back to camp and man was my backside hurting. I've not kayaked for a whole day before! Rested at the main deck while doing 'repairs' to my reels. Tied new leaders on those that were busted off as well as on those that were frayed. Then Scott told me that he's going to go fish at the South End of the Island where we disembarked when we reached Wilderness. I was game for that and I packed a few lures with me and off we went on the ATV.

When we reached there, the wind was blowing hard. So we elected to cast with the wind behind us. I rigged up a Yozuri Crystal Minnow and began casting. First few casts yielded nothing then Scott hooked up just 4m in front and I could see there was a school of fish there. I tossed my lure in and 2 cranks was all it took to hook up! As I didn't want my line to get crossed with Scott's, I moved around him and my fish was still zipping here and there. There were some rocks under us and I just held my rod tip high so that it won't bust me off. But alas, the fish did exactly that. Ping..... my line went slack. %@#^$*$^*&%! Got busted off at the braid and lost my lure and fish. Scott managed to bring his Queenfish up. I tied on another leader and put on a Rapala Clackin Rap. 5-6 casts later, a fish nailed the lure as I was reeling back. Gave me quite a fight on my Stradic Ci4 3000 reel. I didn't want a repeat of the bustoff so I moved closer to the rock edge and managed to bring the fella out. It was a Brassy Trevally. Feisty bugger!

Fishing at sunset.... Bliss!

The sun began to set and we made our way back to camp.
What a wonderful day fishing! Think I was not really prepared for light tackle fishing for Bream or Whiting. Even my jig heads were a bit too big for the purpose. Think I'll try to fit the tackle box into the front hatch tomorrow so that at least, I can change rigs with everything that I brought.
We shall see what tomorrow has in store.