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

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!