memories at Airlie Beach

[Lucky_Phill]

In the 80's I used to drag a 18ft Mustang to Airlie Beach, motor to the western beaches of Whitsunday Island, camping and fishing for a week. Seriously great fishing. Mainly lures.......... Nilsmaster Invincibles for those that remember them.

Those stories are for another time.

The other Thursday, I hooked up A.S.H ( 4.3 allycraft ) behind the new D-Max and headed to Airlie for a birthday event, because I can't go all that way without a boat

I forgot how blue the waters were and also no matter the wind, there are many options available.

I did two sneaky trips, first one was more a scouting mission, next day was a crack.

I am not joking..... after looking around, I ended up on the western side of South Molle island. First 5 casts, 5 fish.... Initially I was not going to keep fish, just a C & R expedition. But the fish got bigger and I could not miss.

At this point, I'll say I started with lures, but nudda for 15 minutes, and that is when I switched to bait... and the action was red hot.

I'll just put up a few photos of the first fishies, as it got quite action-a-fied after that. Put 9 fish in the esky. 1 hours fishing, job done, then did a fat lap of Daydream Island and mainland beaches.

cheers LP

[chris69]

Have they still got the toad racing up there Phil,it looks like you had some fun and the weather was good for you its can get a bit windy up there.

[bluefin59]

I had some great sessions out of Shute harbour and not far away on windy days , it’s a great place Airlie and we go there regularly whether it was with the bluefin or the caravan the last few years I always pick up some decent fish [emoji106][emoji106][emoji41]

[Lucky_Phill]

Have they still got the toad racing up there Phil,it looks like you had some fun and the weather was good for you its can get a bit windy up there.

short long story about the Toad races at Whitsunday Wanderers from years ago. Went there with sister and brother in the " off season ", and not many people about. I ended up buying all the Toads guaranteeing me the winners purse ( well, no loss, but no win ) and siblings bet on 1/2 the toads. Needless to say we came out on top. Also did the South Molle Friday night island cruise many times....wow.

Saturday nights were usually at Funnel Bay, drinking goon bags and playing guitars by the fire with every nationality ( back packers ) you could think of.

National Park camping was free.

I also remember a Spanish mack ended up on the pontoon at Bare Boat charters in shute harbour, think it was chasing baitfish, was banging around, old mate came out from his boat, picked it up.

The days of sitting on the rocks at the north end of Scrub-Hen beach, quaffing oysters off the rocks, then putting 'em on a hook and sending them out. bazinger !!!!!!!!!!

Too many other memories..........

cheers LP

[Volvo]

Mate ive got some great memories towing the 16ftr from Biloela back in the 80's . Boat full of Camping gear , Kids were Kids then and being able to drop off on most the Islands for a swim/snorkle and look about .
Great area and should do it again..

[docaster]

In the 80's I used to drag a 18ft Mustang to Airlie Beach, motor to the western beaches of Whitsunday Island, camping and fishing for a week. Seriously great fishing. Mainly lures.......... Nilsmaster Invincibles for those that remember them.

Those stories are for another time.

The other Thursday, I hooked up A.S.H ( 4.3 allycraft ) behind the new D-Max and headed to Airlie for a birthday event, because I can't go all that way without a boat

I forgot how blue the waters were and also no matter the wind, there are many options available.

I did two sneaky trips, first one was more a scouting mission, next day was a crack.

I am not joking..... after looking around, I ended up on the western side of South Molle island. First 5 casts, 5 fish.... Initially I was not going to keep fish, just a C & R expedition. But the fish got bigger and I could not miss.

At this point, I'll say I started with lures, but nudda for 15 minutes, and that is when I switched to bait... and the action was red hot.

I'll just put up a few photos of the first fishies, as it got quite action-a-fied after that. Put 9 fish in the esky. 1 hours fishing, job done, then did a fat lap of Daydream Island and mainland beaches.

cheers LP

What's the go with the "fence " on the pontoon? That's shute harbour isn't it?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[disorderly]

My most vivid memory of Airlie was in the late 90's going to visit Vic Hislops shark museum....pretty interesting seeing that he started with some pretty small boats for the size of the animals he was tackling...also saw the giant frozen Great white...

I heard he tried to sell the frozen sharks he had a few years ago after shutting his Hervey Bay place down but because of state government intervention ended up having to bury them instead...Not sure of the truth of it but its a shame if true although after nearly 30 years in a freezer they were probably getting a bit mangy anyways.....

[chris69]

My most vivid memory of Airlie was in the late 90's going to visit Vic Hislops shark museum....pretty interesting seeing that he started with some pretty small boats for the size of the animals he was tackling...also saw the giant frozen Great white...

I heard he tried to sell the frozen sharks he had a few years ago after shutting his Hervey Bay place down but because of state government intervention ended up having to bury them instead...Not sure of the truth of it but its a shame if true although after nearly 30 years in a freezer they were probably getting a bit mangy anyways.....

That would have been a good set of jaws in that thing to hang over the bar.

[Lucky_Phill]

What's the go with the "fence " on the pontoon? That's shute harbour isn't it?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Yes it is a fence... that pontoon does NOT float.... weird, but i suggest Cyclone proof. Well, it's more like just posts, you can step between them and they do have bollards on them to tie ya boat to.


cheers