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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