Fraser Island- Reef with a bit of Beach

[Reefmaster]

Howdy all
After given the opportunity to be a fishing guide for some good blokes during this years Fraser Island fishing comp I was once again given another opportunity that I just couldn’t refuse . A couple of the same lads were heading up around the 1st of Sept to set up camp at waddy and get a good spot before the school holiday period began. They were only staying a few days to set up and hopefully get a quick fish in before heading home and returning in a couple of weeks time for their holiday. I spoke with Chris a couple of months before hand saying I was going to take the family up and he suggested I use the his camp site and if I wanted the boat was on offer as well . Well the one-week holiday with the family quickly blew out and become one week of fishing in the boat and then the following week with the family taking it easy. I rounded the old man up who is always keen as mustard and Foxy (dfox) was another ready for a Fraser fish as well. We left on the Sunday morning and the conditions looked reasonable as we drive up along Fraser. We thought the lads might already be out fishing and if they were back early enough we would sneak out just before dark but it turned out it had blew hard all weekend and they given up on the weather. The boat was fueled up and ready to go and Chris said go for life so that’s what we did . We waited for the tide to come in a little as there really wasn’t much of a gutter to launch in but by the time we were ready it was deep enough and we headed out to fish some close in areas before dark. We arrived at the first area and pulled a Large Mouth Nannygai but the cobia were thick as hell so the decision was made to head a little wider in hope of finding a few Reds. On arrival we found the current was roaring making it very hard to drift a sharp ledge, which was holding a good show of fish. You really only had a split second to get the bait in the strike zone so with the boys fishing I drove the boat to keep them there a little longer which quickly paid off with a Red and a nice Red Throat. Next drop resulted in another Red but the fishing was tough with such a strong current so we headed back in close but the cobia drove us crazy > so we made another move a fairway south down the Island where the current was even stronger and the wind had picked up from the ENE and made anchoring almost impossible as the prongs kept straightening and resulted in dragging the anchor all night long which made for a very long night with only a few fish going in the esky including a nice Pearlie.

The next morning we headed out wide to try fish the current but the fishing was super slow so we just kept working our way North picking up the odd reefie before we decided to head off the shelf and chase some pearlies on the winches. The next few hours produced plenty of pearlies with the odd good one among them but the current made it hard work so we headed in. Tuesday morning we decided this would be the day to head north of waddy and fish up towards the shoals which none of us had done before. We started of pretty wide and pulled some nice coronation Trout, Parrot, Hussar, Maori Cod, Red Throat and a couple of big Blue Maori Cod . The current was still running hard making it hard to fish pinnacles and ledges but we continued to work our way north finding some unreal looking country all along the way which produced the odd fish here and there but we lost a lot of gear trying to fish some large pinnacles in the strong current >. We ended up about 50km North of Waddy among the shoals and found a little bit of ground in 45m of water, which produced Hussar, Amberjack and heaps of Maori Cod. From there we headed wide along the shelf checking areas of interest I had marked out pulling the odd fish here and there but it was hard yakka. By now a 15-20 knot Southerly had picked up with rain and we slogged our way back to Waddy Point . It was good to head North up to the shoals and we couldn’t believe the amount of good ground all the way up there which is great Coronation Trout and Cod grounds. The way we summed that area up is Shark and snag country and not really good for Reds but its still good to get a good variety.

The Wednesday was looking like our last day of reasonable weather and we headed out from waddy and worked our way south in close fishing every area we possibly could. We found plenty of new ground with one spot holding lots of bait, which produced a Black Marlin on a floater first drop which made for some good photos . He was hooked well with the ganged hooks and after we removed them soon had him back in the water and swimming away. The next few drops produced Grinners so we soon got out of there . We found some new ground, which produced a legal red, good Pearlies and other assorted reefies before we thought we would have one last crack at some reds out wider . We arrived to find the current had slowed up a lot and we fished different areas trying to locate some reds. We persisted and finally started pulling a few good reds in different areas with Foxy finally hooking a good one on his heavy gear. A few more areas close by produced a few more reds and we run out of time and headed in before dark .

Thursday was blowing its butt off so we headed down the beach at waddy about 8am and fished away from the crowds with only one other car close by and we got stuck into the tailor one after another . It didn’t take long before we ended up 42 Tailor with most at a reasonable size . That was the type of tailor fishing I like and didn’t mind getting wet for . We didn’t have tailor gear either but it didn’t matter as most of the fish were in real close and almost at your feet on the shallows . After that we lazed about and headed home Friday Afternoon. We had a great trip although the fish were not easy to come by and we really put a big effort in to get what we did. We covered 600km on the water in 3 days and used 400ltrs of fuel, which shows the effort we made to find the fish but it was well worth it . For you beach guys there is plenty of tailor around with either side of Tailor exclusion zones holding good numbers. The day we left the tailor had gone off the chew around waddy but not far south from Indian Head they had some big catches. The weed starts just past the maheno and continues all the way down to the bottom of the island. > > The lower you go down the island the ticker it is . I must thank Foxy and others for jinxing me before the trip as I had one of my worst trips ever as all the quality fish avoided my line > but I didn’t mind as long as others were getting them. I just opted to be the full time skipper, cook and photographer . Thanks a heap to Chris and the lads for letting us use your campsite and lending us your boat for the week . I will be heading back up Monday or Tuesday afternoon with the family for another week weather depending.

All the good pics have been kept for BnB but I’m sure there’s enough here to keep everyone happy.

Foxy has many more to add as well.

Regards Greg

[Reefmaster]

Average Large Mouth Nannygai

[Reefmaster]

Nice Pearly

[Reefmaster]

Parrot- Chris we took this pic for you

[Reefmaster]

Blue Moari Cod

[Reefmaster]

Little Coronation Trout

[Reefmaster]

Good Pearlie off the shelf

[Reefmaster]

Nice Red

[Reefmaster]

Beautiful Coral Cod

[Reefmaster]

Man these Coronation are great fish

[Reefmaster]

Another good Pearlie taken on the closer grounds

[F1SH_BOY]

niceeeeeeee

[Reefmaster]

Box full of Pearls

[Reefmaster]

The Marlin fun

[Reefmaster]

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