Coongul Creek , Fraser Island [Archive] - Ausfish fishing Australia, Australian Angling Forums

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Canoedle

28-10-2006, 08:17 PM

Hi guys, I'm back, well, the fishing wasn't as exciting as I'd hoped, largely due to high winds from the north, but this did allow me to spend most of my time during the high water times exploring what is a stunning waterway. the run up to the island was extremely easy and left us with high expectations for the following few days, mackeral and tuna schools busting the surface of incredibly calm seas all the way up to our camp locations, Coongul Creek. We arrived at the creek mouth an hour and a half before high tide and picked our way up the weaving channel to a nice open spot amongst the casuarinas.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06025Medium.jpg

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We set up camp, and after a short visit from the fisheries boys, I was keen to get some paddling in, and a few fish. the water was so clear that it was often difficult to guage the depth of the water and fish were clearly visible darting off for cover as I approached.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06033Medium.jpg

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Fishing was quite difficult, but I managed a few small flatties and nudges from a few bream too. As I went further up the creek, I came across a deep hole in which the water was stained dark with tanin. As my 4" squidgie fish dropped into the depths a small estuary cod grabbed it. I also hooked a few small trumpeter (bait theives) and a small whiting, so all up, the first day was not bad with 5 species landed, but I couldn't bring myself to sacrifice any of these fish from such a beautiful location, much to the dismay of my camp mates who only landed two small keeper bream all session.

Another day, another brilliant view.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06042Medium.jpg

The creek at low tide

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06045Medium.jpg

The local duck family

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06052Medium.jpg

Awesome sunset with moon setting above it

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06058Medium.jpg

With the rising winds we canned plans to go outside chasing some reef species and so I packed all my gear on the kayak and headed off in search of fresh water.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06059Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06060Medium.jpg

The creek was very narrow and involved ducking under low branches on numerous ocasions. I stopped to stow some gear below deck and spotted a few small fish dart behind a tree root, then as I was busy stowing my gear, out they came, half a dozen small mangrove jacks, very curious little fellas. :D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06063Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06067Medium.jpg

The creek runs parallel to the beach for a lot of the time, but this location showed just how close to the beach it is, in these two photos I didn't move, just turned 180 from beach to creek.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06070Medium.jpg

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More scenery

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06077Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06080Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06081Medium.jpg

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The end of the line

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06089Medium.jpg

Heading back to the salt

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06091Medium.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06096Medium.jpg

I spied a few nice breambos lurking around a series of shallow tanin stained pools and stopped to flick a plastic, this was amazing as the water was actually very clear on the fringes of the holes and I watched the bream toying with my plastic and it was an excellent learning experience to see how they reacted to my twitches. at one stage I had 3 bream and a flattie fighting over my gulp.
One of the 3 bream I caught in this spot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06101Medium.jpg

Dingos tracks had been evident, but this was the only time we spotted one, he wandered accross the creek after sunning himself on the far bank for a while, very healthy looking animal, and didn't seem vaguely interested in our presence.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06112Medium.jpg

This is my mate Mark's Dad, Doug who is 71, he was very interested in my kayak and it didn't take much to get him in the seat. He loved it.
:D

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v186/NakedGun/HBFraser06127Medium.jpg

Anyway, that's about all I have to say, accept, if you get a chance to visit this part of the world, do it, awesome scenery, and on the right day, the fishing would be incredible. While the fishing was not what we had hoped for, we all came away very happy chappys just to have had the opportunity to experience the beauty of Fraser Island.

manchild

28-10-2006, 08:24 PM

What a wonderful place ,truly gods country :)Thanks for sharing with us ,the pictures were made my day :)
George

mat_anderson04

28-10-2006, 08:28 PM

very good report, and nice pics. shame about all the winds

were-trout

28-10-2006, 08:41 PM

Great pics, love the little Mangrove Jack school ..

straddie

28-10-2006, 08:57 PM

Heya Canoedle

Great report and pics. When you have stuff like that to look at you don't mind if the fishing is a little quiet. Hard to guage but that second jack looks like he might have a little size about him, did you have a cast or two at them?

cdenyer

28-10-2006, 10:37 PM

Canoedle, that was great reading, and I just loved all those pictures too. Well done.

Chris

Fishin_Dan

28-10-2006, 11:15 PM

Adamy

28-10-2006, 11:26 PM

Nice pics, Magical country - thanks for sharing!!

Adam

Canoedle

29-10-2006, 03:45 AM

Thanks guys,

Straddie, I had to put the rods away as there were too many tree branches to duck under and reeds everywhere getting caught in my rods, but really these fish were only about 10 to 15cms at the most and it was just great to see them. I also spotted some MUCH larger models down in the salt and had a few casts at them, but they werent keen on plastic in the middle of the day aparently. I would have liked to get up there at night, but with very little moon it was bloody dark and I didn't want to go on my own lol. :-[

Canoedle

29-10-2006, 03:52 AM

Nice Karl, nice!

Looks like you found out how to insert pics through html ;D

Some beautiful pics there mate. Shame you couldn't stay longer hey... I've got about 35 days of leave due, and works hounding me to take it, so we might have to get the yak & canoe on the cruiser for a bash soon...

Dan, I think I 'worked out' how to use html about 4 years ago now, thanks for noticing though. :P
Let me know where and when you want to go for a bash and I'll do my best to be there. ;)

freddyfish

29-10-2006, 05:33 AM

Great pics and report.

Makes one feel like packing up and heading off today!

Brad

lippa

29-10-2006, 07:53 AM

karl, give up fishing mate, and take up photography! pics are unreal!!! i'm crap at both, so i'm going to get another beer!!!!

cheers

lippa

Canoedle

29-10-2006, 10:05 AM

;D Good onya Lippa

Big_unit

29-10-2006, 10:45 AM

Awesome report, Ive caught some of most best and most unique species in that area. Great photography.

A mate who pilots the Heli tours tells me that he has recently seen a medium sized shark hanging around Coongul Crk, glad you didnt meet up with him ( the shark that is ).

;) ;) :)

Cheers
James

bidkev

29-10-2006, 11:21 AM

Nice report and pics Karl. Can't wait to get up there in Dec.

kev

richieboy

29-10-2006, 12:45 PM

chicken

29-10-2006, 12:56 PM

Great reading and top pics.

Canoedle

29-10-2006, 01:03 PM

Excellent report with some stunning pics . You certainly are right about it looking very fishy. Must have felt like you were a world away.
Makes me also keen to get a yak and get a bit more mobile. Might get in contact with ya at a later date to quiz ya a bit on some of the yaks availble. Cheers.
Richie
Hey Richie, the kayak is the only way you could get to see many of the locations in these pics, I doubt my old canoe could have made it up there. Happy to discuss available options anytime, send us a PM and I'll get back to ya. ;)

zach

29-10-2006, 01:23 PM

nice pics mate the water looks so clear in the first few pics and nice lil breambo
cheers
zach

cuzzamundi

29-10-2006, 05:53 PM

TIM-DONSELAAR

29-10-2006, 10:50 PM

G'day Karl love the report mate and the pics are stunning [smiley=thumbsup.gif] [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

cheers tim :D

RobGoesFish

30-10-2006, 12:37 AM

So many photos... Makes me want to pack my bags and go there tomorrrow.

Canoedle

30-10-2006, 07:09 AM

gdat canoodle,
fantastic pics there mate! i love that island. never been to that creek though. just a question - how far out is the channel from the mainland there? is it very snaggy territory? thanks heaps mate.
cuzza
cuzza, from what I have seen, there are two 'channels' off the beach there, both with over 10m of water and the first would be less than 100m from the beach. I have been told that there are some coffee rock shelves and good rocky drop offs along both channels if you have the patience to sound them out and good fish holding in them too. Coongul is about 16Kms NNE of the Urangan boat harbour and a pretty easy run on a moderately rough day.

GBC

30-10-2006, 07:49 AM

Canoedle

30-10-2006, 07:49 PM

You'd be talking about maringa bommie-

Secret spots 102 (creek), and 256 (maringa) - goooooone :'(

Just notice this post first thing on a monday morning - think I'll need anti-depressants to get thru the week now - I'm Homesick.

Great photos by the way.

Sorry GBC, it was kinda like going home for me too as I did half my high school in Hervey Bay and have often returned to Fraser since. (best/only reason to go to Hervey Bay if you ask me) Wish I was still up there sucking on a beer and waiting for the tide to come in.

cuzzamundi

31-10-2006, 06:37 PM

thanks for the info mate.

cuzza

Hampo

31-10-2006, 08:44 PM

Beautiful part of the world, spent some time there as a kid. Good to see it is just as nice and you enjoyed yourself

marty+jojo

31-10-2006, 09:10 PM

great report and awesome pics. I am well and truly jealous.
cheers mate
Marty.

For_Steve

31-10-2006, 09:20 PM

Great report and photos. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Isn't it great to get away.

Regards, Brad.

Canoedle

31-10-2006, 09:40 PM

Cheers, guys :)

Grunters4

01-11-2006, 10:48 AM

Great story and pics Canoedle :) :) :). I feel badly homesick now now though (work in Sydney and grew up in Hervey Bay). Miss-spent most of my youth camping, fishing and drinking on Fraser Island (Coongul, Awinya, Moon and Whatumba Creeks). Fantastic places and your photographs did Coongul justice. Some of those Mangrove Jack do get truly huge (though very hard to catch!!). My brother returned from a trip to Coongul around a month ago and they got some reasonable flathead, and the macks were biting just out the front of the campsite strip.

Great story ;)

Cruiser93

01-11-2006, 11:24 AM

Canoedle.......
What can I say "WOW" a picture tells a thousand words .....
Excellent stuff , top pictures ............ Mal

GBC

02-11-2006, 08:17 AM

Grew up in the bay too.
Missed high school there - got packed off to boarding school, but went back. Olds still there - Sounds like there are a few people around here with H.B. connections.

porl

02-11-2006, 10:29 AM

Fantastic post, made my morning.

geoff72

02-11-2006, 01:13 PM

awesome storey and pics, so good i just rang and told the beastmaster(wife) about it and she wants to have a look tonight, hope she says lets go.
great stuff again.

Shooter

02-11-2006, 06:01 PM

Awesome post and great pictures. Hang up the rods and start writing articles, you have a natural talent for it. Can’t wait for you next trip.

Canoedle

02-11-2006, 06:41 PM

Awesome post and great pictures. Hang up the rods and start writing articles, you have a natural talent for it. Can[ch8217]t wait for you next trip.
Thanks for the compliment Shooter, I've always loved writing, it's a 'one of these days' kinda thing. ::)