“Red sky in morning sailors take warning” is a deep-rooted saying that means storms and rain is coming. It may be old but in my experience its 100% true. That’s why as I worked on my blog this morning on the upper deck, I was a bit concerned for today’s weather.
Funny thing, we moved last night about four hours south to escape approaching storms. We’re now about half way back down the Wessels Islands chain here in Australia to a spot called the “cut” or the “gap”. It’s where you can pass through the chain from the west to the east. Once the red sky faded into white layers of clouds I got up to look around at our new location. When I looked down to see how the clarity of the water was, I jumped for a second when my eyes hit the back of a large shark. But it’s a harmless tawny nurse shark. What’s cool is that if you look closely, you can see smaller fish with him. These are baby golden trevally. They have a unique relationship.
I was back with Neuman and guide Peter today. We left the Wildcard from a nice calm bay and headed north up the west side of the chain. Peter mentioned it was going to get rough when we left the comfort of our protected bay.
Peter was correct. It was downright ugly where big ocean waves broke and the wind escalated. But Peter said there was another bay 20 minutes up the coast that had some Anak permit on occasion. Peter knows that’s the only permit species I need to complete the permit slam. Suddenly a little beating in a boat didn’t seem like a big deal.
We got there in a downpour and the bay wasn’t as protected as we hoped. We stuck it out for a good hour but visibility was even worse than yesterday. Big waves bashing the beach created a lot of murk. The only fish we could occasionally see were sharks hunting right along the beach in a foot of water. We had to give up and head all the way back to the boat, get more gas for the skiff and then venture over to the east side of the Wessels where it was protected from the big west wind and waves.
But we didn’t make it all the way back to the boat before taking on the rough seas with fly rods in hand once more. We ran into diving birds right as we got back to the mouth of the gap. I asked Peter if it was worth a stop and he said if we can handle the waves, there could be some big fish. Neuman hucked one of his bright pink musky ties on a floating line and wham! He hooked something big. His 12-weight looked like a toothpick!
There’s been a lot of new things for Neuman this week being it’s his first true saltwater fly fishing experience. This time Neuman experienced the hardest pulling fish of his life. Mike usually smiles all the time, but this was serious business. He had a fish so big it absolutely manhandled him and his hefty rod for a good five minutes. Peter, myself and our helper Cory couldn’t wait to get a glimpse.
It turns out it was a monster queenfish. And look at the forked tail on this. The more forked the stronger the fish. Australia is famous for giant queenies and it was great to see one on the end of Neuman’s line. Luckily, we were fishing straight 40lb Fluoro and when we got the fish near Peter line guided him close enough for a tail grab.
There’s no doubt there were sharks around at a spot like this which is why we rushed the landing. Then Neuman took the Yeti and posed for some excellent pics. Big fish like this aren’t easy to hold – let alone in a rocking boat.
After we released Mikes beautiful fish we made more casts and I hooked up and lost one fish. That was it. After another hour we completed our drive to the Wildcard, gassed up, celebrated Neuman’s fish with a beer and continued through the gap to the east side of the Wessels.
The boat ride from west Wessel Islands to east was more like going to a completely different place. We went from beach and low land scrub to towering rocky cliffs. It reminded me more of being in Ireland at the Cliffs of Moher. The features of the landscape were absolutely stunning.
We must have driven for an hour before making the true east side. We turned north and the landscape started adding in narrow bays with tiny beaches. It was still drizzly and cloudy but it was beautiful even without the sun. I had Peter drop me off at a beach so I could look back out at our boat as Neuman fished.
There were lots of fish around also. We started with a double up of golden trevally tossing Clousers. That was fun. Then Neuman caught a fish that’s eluded me. Granny caught one on the West Cape with me last October. This is the grass emperor. One of many emperor species.
It didn’t seem possible but as we fished the shoreline got prettier and prettier. Peter guided us along a cliff that had hundreds of mini waterfalls. Likely the water was from heavy rain earlier but it was a sight to behold. To think we were saltwater fly fishing in the tropics while viewing this was staggering.
We caught a bunch of the usuals as we prowled the rocks. Lots of small grouper species, coral trout and tuskfish. Mike got his new personal best. This looks like the blue tuskfish but its big and does have some interesting colors. It may be the grass.
After an hour in the rocks we flats fished. We found numerous blue bastards but like yesterday, they either spooked or had severe lockjaw. We found some permit also and they too were acting weird. Like with any fish, there are times when they just aren’t hungry. We changed it up and took Neuman on his first dredge – something I very much enjoy doing in the Seychelles. This is when you grab your 12-weight, the fastest sinking line (Scientific Anglers Sonar Titan Pelagic 500 gr), put on 4 ft of 60lb Fluoro, tie on a size 4/0 Clouser and send it down.
Let’s just say our dredging didn’t go well. There are times dredging when every fish you hook is too big to handle. I’ve managed numerous fish from the scary depths and I usually do well. Not today. I got schooled twice as did Mike. The only fish we landed was this yellowspotted trevally, known locally as the gold dot trevally (Carangoides fulvoguttatus). The bummer is that I’ve never caught a yellowspotted trevally and this one can’t be added to my list because he was snagged in the side.
It’s easy to mix the yellowspotted with the yellow dot trevally, also known as the island trevally (Carangoides orthogrammus). This is a shallower water species and I’ve caught them on the flats in the Seychelles and St. Brandons Atoll.
While the flats favorites didn’t cooperate today, Neuman and I once again shifted gears for opportunities and had an insane fun day. Watching Neuman’s face when this morning’s lunker queenfish turned his 12-weight to butter will be in my memory bank forever. Watching him brace himself when getting destroyed by a deep water leviathan during a dredge was priceless. Today was absolutely fantastic. What’s not fantastic, is that Peter seems to have what Jeff Smith had when he got here. And, most of the Wildcard staff came down sick today as well.
There were some nice fish caught today and lost. Mike Lodge got a beast of a brassy trevally and Steve and Therese got overhauled by a blue bastard. Steve also landed this gorgeous golden trevally.
The staff took care of us tonight despite being all sick as a dog. We all feel so bad but they say it happens all the time. It makes sense, different people flying in several times a season. But it’s still a bummer. Tonight was freshly caught deepwater snapper. It was delicious!