STIG & SON - DAY THREE

Day 3 on the Harbour - Father and Son

Again hitched the boat to the ute before dawn, we were on the water just as the sun was rising

Straight to Weed Reef - however there was a heap of chop
The wind was blowing in the opposite direction to yesterday and the water was much dirtier than yesterday

We got there at the top of tide this time with only the very tips of the tips of the mangroves showing
Almost missed the reef because of this

The fish were there at the same place but not in the numbers of yesterday considerably so - though we still caught 10 or so trevally and queenfish
Whenever his spin rod was bent and his reel was screaming
                   - Brad repeatedly kept saying "Why doesn't everyone do this!"

Due to the very very low tide at midday, we then decided to try another spot before finishing up early.
Kaitlyn Bay was the next location - again it had queenfish working the dirty tide line and the baitfish hiding in it   - but quite sporadic needing a lot of blind hopeful casting

We caught a couple queenfish here, then with time short we revisited East Point hoping for the larger queenfish there yesterday
But no big queenfish, no nothing actually! so back to boat ramp

What did find near the sand bar off Cullen Bay was thousands and thousands of Fringe Finned Trevally with a hundred or so birds hovering over them. The Fringe Finned Trevally while busting the surface and keen to take the flies we were casting  were no bigger than 20cm. Fun but not.

We caught a few more queenfish outside Kaitlyn Bay back on way back but kept going after a few fish hit the net
So with a few fish in the esky for dinner - we headed back to ramp to ensure we didn't get trapped by low tide lowest tide of the year I was told - 0.2m.

Dinah ramp

East Arm Ramp

One more day of fishing before the son heads back south
Its been a great time for us both - hopefully tomorrow the fish are more cooperative

ORR-SOME NEW CALEDONIA.

 

Glad to hear the Bynoe Sheepstation Stakes went well despite the weather, sorry we couldn’t be here to participate. 

Had a great time in New Caledonia though, stayed away from Noumea except for a day right at the end to check out the markets, aquarium etc.

Camped in the Mozzie-Dome every night up north, right on the beach most days, loved it.

Caught fish for “le mange” while touring around, best was a Goldie about 60cm off the oyster rocks that required a bit of brute force to secure!

Distinctive vertical bars on those South Pacific Goldies- Nice!

The others included “Aiguiellette” or black-barred garfish, which are huge for a gar, remain airborne for 90% of the fight on fly, and are delicious!

Also red-throated snapper-thingies, jungle perch (2 species) and small trevors, all on fly, supplemented our protein intake.

As to the “raison d’être” for the adventure, I intended to start with a couple of days bone-fishing at Boat-pass early in the trip, staying in the campground at Gite de Poingam. 

What a fabulous place!

Rebecca on the beach at “le lagon”, Relais de Poingam.  Our campsite is just behind the row of trees.

Rebecca at the entrance to the “Gite”.

Sign at campground says it all!

Unfortunately the run-in tide was in the afternoon and the south-easterlies were insane, with fast-moving cu-nim overcast conditions every afternoon.

A rare moment of sunshine but the wind was insane!

Even so, saw a ripper bone about 12 lbs swim past within 4 to 5 metres in shin-deep water.

Had a shot at the departing fish, not ideal, but it had already seen me clearly and was very suspicious, although it didn’t actually spook.

Saw a couple of smaller ones, maybe (!), hard to be sure with whitecaps across the flats and no sun!

Eventually got one to take, but it was swimming fast towards me and the hook-set was rubbish.  It took off at high speed but dropped the fly after a few seconds.

So.... we went touring down the east coast, sight-seeing, swimming, snorkelling etc, pretty-much just relaxing. 

It was a holiday after all!

Spectacular coastline scenery just north of Hienghène.

Looking down on the northern reef lagoons just off the east coast of Grande Terre.

Returning over the top to the west coast about half way down the island a week later, we headed north for Boat-pass once again.

Inshore reef lagoon at Plage de Poé on the west coast.  Wave-break on the reef in the distance.

That brought us back to Poingam closer to the neaps when the run-in tide on the flats was in the early morning and the weather hopefully sunny with light winds.

Wishful thinking! 

The wind was still pretty extreme, although there were occasional breaks in that huge plume of cloud that streams off the northern end of the island and I did get a few nice photos of the flats and fringing reef.

Looking back across the eastern edge of the flats at the northern tip of Grande Terre.

Looking north-west across the Boat-pass flats towards Isle Baaba.

It seemed to have made little difference to the fishing however, and I didn’t see a single bonefish during the morning tides.

There were plenty of big mullet and a few GTs moving over the flats to keep me interested, and a couple of small sharks to keep me on my toes.

…but I had nothing to lose so soldiered on each afternoon regardless.

Finally hooked this big bugger late on the second day while casting at fleeting shadows in a shallow sea-grass drain on the run-out tide.

That’s after a solid 4 1/2 days bone-fishing in total!

Check out this big New Caledonia Boat-pass bone!  Not bad for a first-ever bonefish.

Holy sh!t those things go! Now I know what all the fuss is about! 

Even with 300 metres of backing on the 9-weight I was getting rather worried on the initial run - and that’s stepping into it with 20lb tippet and a 1/0 Gamakatsu SL12 tie!

When I finally got the flyline back on the reel, that fish did two full circles around me and took off again! It was quite a while before I had the leader in hand.

Couldn’t land the thing by myself out on the flats (found out Boga-grips don’t work on bonefish!) so decided to swim it all the way back to the beach (around 300 metres!) for Rebecca to get a photo.

Of course that gave it a ‘second wind’, and it almost did me in the mangroves!

At just under 70cm fork length (couldn’t weigh it at the time), the on-line length/weight charts put it at 10.5 to 11 lbs.  Top stuff! Still grinning like a fool...

Had only two more days before the return flight so rather than keep fishing I cut it away and bolted for Noumea early next morning to give Rebecca a day back in civilization.

Bloody tourists! Rebecca being disarmed by a Megalodon at the Noumea Aquarium.

Didn’t get a chance to chase up any Rusa deer hunting unfortunately. 

Had the bonefish cooperated earlier I would have spent a bit of time trying to tee something up but that will have to wait till next time.

There will be a next time!

Cheers all

Tony & Rebecca

 

STIG & SON - DAY TWO

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Day Two of Father and son

Day two of our father and son holidays started before dawn.
By sun up we were halfway to Weed Reef
The early morning sky over the city was all sorts of purple and blue hues, with a full moon setting as we headed towards Weed Reef - all making it an awesome sight.

Behind us the reddest of suns was getting higher in the sky,
                (sorry no photo - been quite slack with the camera lately)

The water was calm as I have seen it in a while  - which made the trip a lot faster than Monday's outing. And easier to see fish action from further distances.

On arrival the high tide had covered all but the very tips of the mangroves that precariously grow on the sand and gravels bars of Weed Reef.

The tide was already racing out of the harbour and we were encouraged by an occasional slash or boil down current of the mangrove trees - a clear indication that the baitfish were hugging the trees for safety but being forced to leave that safety by the raging and falling tide

I mentioned to my son that the predators would be shortly patrolling the gravel bar at the edge of the reef. He then spied some birds (already learning - look for the birds to find the fish!) working the area I mentioned. So we drifted over with the current and the electric motor

We anchored near the last few trees before the gravel bar. As soon we get there the birds were working hard over the top of some very aggressive queenfish and trevally (brassies?)

Brad was getting a fish a cast and thoroughly enjoying his time on the water. At times his fly would only just hit the water and it would be ravaged. Rarely would he get a full retrieve in without a hit or take of the fly.

For a while I wasn't getting as many fish as my son, rather I was totally enjoying my son's excitement at all the fish bursting the surface around us and for two hours we caught fish after fish with his huge grin causing me to grin even more.

Brad commented that using a fly with a sinker rather than a soft plastic was far better in catch rates but also that he would have used maybe a pack or more of tails instead of the couple of flies he was using that had far better durability.

When we got home my wife got mad at me for not filming any of the action - but you just had to keep casting with all those fish all around the boat. (head cam off line at the moment due mount issue).

We keep a few fish to feed a few friends who heard of our exploits on Monday - but today's action and catch rates were crazy - easily 20+ fish each in that first session of 2.5 hours at Weed Reef.  

We left the fish biting for newer waters - heading towards Mandorah but nothing of note to occupy ourselves
We crossed over the harbour towards Lee Point (old faithful) but Brad saw more birds near East Point. The queenfish here were much larger (50-65cm) and full of fight in the strong tidal flow.

We caught 10 or so each before continuing to Lee Point - but NOTHING for a change at Lee Point
The tide was almost bottomed out too, so we heading back into the harbour.

We thought about going to the West Arm creeks but the heat of the day had zapped us. Then the wind came on hard down the harbour along with white tipped waves.
But the tide was too low to get the boat out. So we tried a few more places (all wind blown and no fish). We did spend an hour casting a sand bank south of Channel Island that look quite promising but only saw small rays.

Heading out again tomorrow - Brad very keen for Weed Reef action again. Need to be back in by 11am or the later low tide will force us to be out till late arvo.

Until then - Tight lines and fast fish

the NT Swoffer (and Son - well for another 3 days before he flies back to Newcastle, NSW)


  This is the down current edge looking back over Weed Reef. Note the ultra smooth up current side of gravel bar. That edge line between the smooth and rough water was were the fish were feeding.

All you had to do was put a fly along this edge and fish went nuts!  It was far better if they were already crashing the surface and the baitfish near it and you got the fly close to them

STIG & SON

20151026 - First day of Long Service Leave

Courtesy of The Stig 

My son arrived 10 minutes early on Friday night
So great to give him a huge hug after not seeing him for a while

Last time I saw him he was a teenager, now he is grown man in both spirit and body
Mostly the Huge arms and chest from starting his building apprenticeship since I last saw him
But the biggest change was the beard he had grown - adding quite a very mature look. Though the smirky grin he had every time he was hooked up with a screaming reel as the fish took line reminded me of the boy from a few years ago.

Monday morning we were itching to wet a line. The itch saw us up early and on the water as the sun poked its head above the horizon

Straight out to Lee Point but the water out to it was quite choppy and a swell that made the ride a little slow.

We found fish near the reef of Lee Point again  = a mixture of queenfish and grey mackerel
Using a fly (silicone surf candy) and a small ball sinker on a spin outfit, Bradley caught a few queenfish.

While I caught a mixture of species SWOFFING - using small white clousers and silicone surf candies

But the action was hot and cold. So we heading back up the harbour, we changed direction half way into harbour towards Mandorah. Near a yellow beacon Brad spied some birds and on moving closer we found lots of birds with the occasional slash and splash. 

We pulled a few fish from the roaming packs, I lost at least five nice queenies, each in a different way - crazy fun.

We headed back to the city side of the harbour but the wind was in an unfavourable direction for a lot of the places I normally fish    

Added also that the tide had bottomed out - options were limited for my knowledge of the harbour anyway (wasn't too keen to chase barra up middle or west arm creeks in heat - sad to see that old man softness coming out again!)

We hung around some birds working Kaitlyn Bay catching a couple more queenies along the drop-off of the mud bank that was now Kaitlyn Bay. At the point just outside of Cullen Bay we were again targeting the queenies when a vast area of nervous water came towards us.

A quick cast and I came up tight after one short sharp strip of the fly line. It was a nice golden brilliant in its hues and about 40cm in length.

But the fish that swam beside it as it fought against the tight fly line - had to be its great grandmother. It had to be three times the depth of body and that again long. I might have cast too soon and picked up the point guard rather than the big giant centre (sorry for the basketball metaphors but I used to play a lot of basketball)

Not only that but they were just the forerunners for the rest of the school of fish that began to swim under the boat. majority of them were huge fish. Would have been a few thousand fish that I saw swimming, and that was only the ones that went under the boat while I fought my little golden trevally. They were travelling fast and by the time I got my goldie to the net we couldn't find them again.

A good start to several days fishing - so we were home by 1pm to clean the couple of fish we had kept.

Tuesday was a lay day due to the job list the wife disappointingly had gave me. 

Wednesday will see us up the creeks of west arm due to very low tide at midday not allowing us to get the boat out - however firstly some pelagics around Lee Point to get the arms warmed up.

THE BYNOE AQUARIUM

The Stig has put out his second piece of the Sheep Station Stakes, click THE STIG to see his report

We are just back from a few days down on Bynoe for the good tides, we did not really expect too much because it has not been the easiest of years with the wind and dirty water.   But late October has always been kind to us and it didn't disappoint. 

 I am probably going to waffle on a bit about the paradise we live in up here, to use a Pete Davies quote,   "On the Great Northern Pond".  I mean Lord Jim got into the Barra last weekend, and now this weekend we all killed a pig, so to speak.

As I was saying we did not expect too much, and I had tied up a heap of new flies to try.  Most of the flies were our standard clousers, but if you have a look at a lot of the photos being posted by lure fishers on line when a barra has been caught, the lure is usually a green top with yellow and orange in it.  So I made up a couple that colour too on 4/0 hooks and about four inches (100mm) long.   I also made ups some with a blue top yellow bottom and red bib like the blue nilsmasters and spearheads that used to work for us years ago.  Made up some gold bombers too, because the barra seemed to be more interested in them if they were down deep.  These two were Cathies 'best' selection.

Tied these in various sizes, on No. 1, 2/0 and 4/0 hooks just white EP fibre with a DNA 'sea foam'line in the centre
the EP fibre becomes translucent in the water and doesn't seem to scare jumpy fish, leave the nose a bit longer for macs, but had to tie short wire traces on out there .

This again is EP fibre green top and white bottom, with a pearl DNA centre.  Had these in clouser style as well but this one was the best and is the only survivor of half a dozen similar.  It is on a Mustad C70SD 2/0.  Used thin Loon UV glue to finish the head and believe it or not, the eyes stayed on most of them.

This is all that is left of these 'strange'ones, the top and bottom one are a bit large, but they were totally swallowed by Fingermark and Jack, to the extent it was difficult to get the out of the fish.  

 There were some good fish out there, but on the first day the only good barra we saw was one about 80cm, and it was the only big one all day.  But....there were heaps of small barra who loved the fly above in green and white.  Its great when you can 'complain' about fish, but the small barra did become a pain when we were trying to get into the threadies.

The first of many..but who is complaining

 Just on threadies, we saw one out there that had to be 120cm, it was huge.  I know they get bigger and have seen Peter Morse with a 150cm, but this was the biggest we had seen live, and it was  monster.   Could not get it to take a thing, although it did follow a black, red and gold bird fur thing, but would not take it.

....and another

..they just kept coming

The normal size threadies were around out there, about 65cm to 70cm, and around is probably the best word for them, because they were like wagons circling, going around and around in every increasing circles but could not be coaxed onto a fly, but that was mainly because of the small barra.  We were using the green/white flies and dropping them just in from of the threadies, letting them sink so they had to go over them, but the small barra would dart out of the rocks and take the fly.  One must have been really hungry because it became airborne to take the fly as it hit the water in front of the threadies.

There were schools of these small barra in patches with schools of black bream which we had first mistaken them for, but as soon as they started to feed the barra just took over from the bream. Speaking to Graeme the Grey out there, the bigger barra came on on the second low just on dusk.

Cathie was having a ball.....so then she wanted 'more' and bigger fish, that's a lot of pressure on the poor old skipper.

Crystal clear water with fish all around

Well we did get amongst the fish, we were in crystal clear water and it was alive with macs and queenies, all around the 60cm mark with some getting to around 70cm, and some bigger ones were lurking around.  But it was the other fish that were exciting.

A typical Queenie

One of the 'other' fish were tarpon, they were mixed in with the feeding Macs and Queenies, but they were only 40cm or so, until Cathie hooked a big one.   It was at least 80cm but could have been bigger, it left the water on three occasions and on the last I thought it was going to come into the boat.  I have seen a lot of shots from the US where their Atlantic Tarpon, a cousin of ours, but much bigger, is often photographed leaping clear of the water with their gills flared.  Well this fish did the same, and although it spat the hook on the third leap it was incredible to watch.

 I have seen fish of that size caught up here, and have seen some that would have been a metre in the Blue Holes, but this one was spectacular in the crystal clear water.

Another of the other fish were the wolf herring.  The didn't seem to be in the schools with the Macs. Queenies and Tarpon, but they would come up in schools chasing the bait, or either something was chasing them.  If you got a small clear fly near them, you could have pulled in dozens.  As it was I think Cathie alone got over sixty fish (60) that day.

A very slimy wolf herring

Released the rest of them outside the boat for domestic peace

Cathie has another herring on, and in the background
you can see the turbulence on the water where the schools were on the shallows.

Now the most outstanding of the other fish was the small schools of Permit (Snub nosed Dart) about 70cm) that were feeding along the sand in the shallows.  Cathie had me following them everywhere, but we couldn't get a proper cast to them, so she 'commanded' that I put her on the beach and she would catch one there.    Well!!! I don't know if you have seen the film 'Running down the Man' which is about running down the beach to catch Rooster Fish, but Cathie's time on the sand could have been an episode for that.   She was running up and down the beach pointing at the fish, would cast, then off again.   I got tired just watching.

Finally she hooked a fish, the screams of joy could be heard in Perth I'm sure.  Then with all my advice being yelled to her (none of which she took any notice whatsoever of) she looked like pulling the fish in as gently as possible.   In the meantime I had got the underwater camera ready for one of those great underwater shots of the Permit, like Jono Shales from Exmouth Fly Fishing takes. I  took the boat in and beached it, but by that time Cathie had the fish in.  It was, "another @!*#@ Queenie," which must be one of the exotic types?.  Isn't it great when you can whinge about catching fish!!

We did not see the Permit anymore until the next day when we saw only three of them, but they were skittish and we never got a cast to them.  We have caught different dart before but never one of these.
Here is some of the action...

"I'm on", was the call...

Yes it was a  ??????Queenie.

Lord Jim and Graeme the Grey with two of his mates joined up in the fishing, and what a ball we all had....

Lord Jim was "Woo Hoo"ing with all the fish around

Pulling in another with Graeme the Grey

Graeme took Cathie for a blast on the Hewes...she is a bit of a poseur 

Just on the flies....we pretty well ran out of all of the EP white with sea foam flies, because even though we put on short wire traces, some bigger fish, like monster Barracuda and Macs etc. kept chopping us off.   We loop to loop connect our class tippet of 8kg to the 15kg that is tied to the fly
line and the Macs we attacking the loop to loop connection as well.  Back to the tying bench, with a good glass of red, not that I need much more red, because I think we nearly drank our wonderful hosts at Sand Palms out of it.

Yellow Waters the place to be.

Decided to take a trip out to Yellow Waters for the weekend. Arrived about 10pm and set camp at Mardugal camp ground, no problem with the neighbors as I was the only one there!!

First light Saturday morning saw me launching the boat at Home Billabong. Water level was very low with a steep launch ramp that has been given a top dress of rocks to assist traction. 4WD a must, slow and easy equals no problems.

Slow and easy the way to go.

Within metres of the ramp the first Barra was spotted and sightings continued for the duration of my time on the water. Super clear water gave rise to super spooky fish, turning away from the fly in the water, taking flight at any splash or fly line in the air. Frustrating, no, just a challenge. A change of fly to a synthetic fibre that goes translucent in the water solved one issue, casting improvement and thought about the cast assisted with the other issues. Result was 5 legal Barra in the boat and a very enjoyable morning.

  

One of many.

For years we all have known that Salvinia has had a presence in Home Billabong, I can report that it is there with a vengeance and I do have serious concerns for the future of this waterway. I would really like to know if parks have any action plan to control and stop its spread. Look at the impact on 4 Mile Hole in one year!!

It's there with a vengeance.

After a civilized cold foaming draft beer at the lodge at lunchtime it was time to hit Yellow Waters for the afternoon. After 5 hours on the water the tally was 26 Barra boated, smallest being 52cms, largest being 74cms, all sight casted to!! Due to the water being dirty in the lower reaches from cruise boat operations I headed upstream where the water was crystal, heaps of fish either cruising or tucked up in the snags. Again flighty fish but good presentation reaps rewards. My reward was a bag limit of fish for neighbours and people at work!

Another one.

5 families having fish for dinner tomorrow.

On the water at first light Sunday led to a repeat performance in both Yellow and Home Billabongs with all fish landed being above legal limit.

Good weekend, good fishing, great fun in a great location. How lucky are we?? Trust me I think that Million Dollar Barra is lurking in them waters. Give it a go!!

Jon and Jack ask me I know where the birds are!

Remember; “you’ll never never know, if you never never go! Get out there and fish.

Tight lines

Jim Churchley