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