Neuman and I fished together again today here in the Wessel Islands of Australia. I’ll start mixing up the angler’s rotation tomorrow. I needed one more day of watching Mike enjoy his first flats fishing experiences. Everything he sees and every fish he catches puts such a massive smile on his face I simply don’t want to miss it.
We fished with the youngest of the Wildcard guide staff, Peter Johnston. Peter is a mere 19 but grew up on an island off the coast of north Australia. He was excellent and has a set of eyes on him that spot fish far ahead of the boat, even during the difficult light situation we experienced late today.
The sunny morning started with a bang. Neuman insisted I take the bow first. I wasn’t ready for it but his excuse was that he got his blue bastard on his final cast last night and he wanted to blind cast with some of his fancy Clousers he tied out the back. Well, sending his fly randomly from the rear worked out pretty good for him. On his first cast, while stretching out his line, he hooked and landed his first golden trevally.
While I got an excellent permit shot but to no avail, Neuman continued to work his Clouser. Peter eased us along some truly stunning shoreline. The rocks are layered in a strange way and supposedly its some of the oldest rock on the planet. Mike landed his casts methodically in all the nooks and crannies. Soon he went tight again.
While his golden trevally put up a fight, it stayed within range of the fly line. This fish of Mikes acted as if shot out of a cannon and screamed line off his reel and into the backing. Mikes smile faded to a look of surprise. It was a queenfish and they are known for giving anglers a whipping. Even when they don’t seem big enough to fight as hard as they do!
I continued in the bow though I wanted to grab a Clouser and play around. I had two shots at permit. The first, an excellent shot, the second I didn’t even see the fish. Meanwhile Neuman was launching cast after cast and he went tight again. He spotted this fish on his own and it ran down his Clouser like it was famished. This is the diamond trevally, also known as the Indian threadfish.
As we approached the noon hour the weather was changing fast. The wind kicked up and we could see storms on the horizon. Our ability to locate fish became difficult and although Peter spotted a few, he suggested heading for a channel where the tide would be dropping fast and we could blind cast. He described it as a river and expected to find GT’s and brassy trevally. There was a GT right when we got there that did his best to help Neuman catch him – literally devouring his fly three times. We won’t get into it but the ole “trout set” got Mike again.
Next Neuman got a follow from two huge queenfish. Queenies are notorious for slashing side to side at a fly but never putting their lips on it. But that was it. I put my 9-weight permit rod down and grabbed my 10-weight already rigged with a popper. On my first cast one of the massive queenfish exploded on my topwater.
A list of crazy madness happened next. First the oversized queenfish leaped and bolted upstream in the tidal river. I tell you; this current is raging so this was the equivalence of an Atlantic salmon charging upstream. Then the queen got tired and surged back down. I got slacked so bad I thought I lost the queen. I literally started stripping in my slack. The last thing I wanted was a pile of loose line on the deck but it was my only choice. Then lo and behold, the fish was still on. I stripped nearly to my leader when I went tight as the fish passed under our boat. Off my loose line went. Literally hissing as it exited. This time screaming over a rock reef and back into the tidal river. Only this surge had the angry fish going downstream.
I miraculously cleared my line again and when the queen hit the reel it was at a velocity not known to 99.99999% of all fly reels on earth. My pretty blue Bauer SLT, which had the drag cranked in the first place, got jolted so hard my Winston nearly left my hand. Luckily, I held on and then the second worst thing that could happen, happened. My spool spun out of my reel and hit the deck bouncing wildly!
Peter has quick hands and literally grabbed the spool on the first bounce before my backing was a backlashed mess. Just as fortunate, seconds before, Peter threw the boat in gear to chase. Our fourth miracle of the fight was that now we were keeping up with the fish so we had time to put the spool back in my reel. It was a precarious 45 second event but as I often say, “miracles do happen in fly fishing”.
After surviving the spool issue, which I caused myself by loosening it for a photo earlier and not retightening it so one could read the “Bauer” label, I felt confident I was going to win the battle. At one time the queeny was easily 100 yards in my backing. Now I was reeling my line back on. I could feel the queenfish tiring. That’s when the first six foot teenager bronze whaler shark appeared. “Oh no!” Peter and I shouted at the same time.
I couldn’t let the carnage happen. I was fishing straight 60lb leader so I reeled and heaved with all my might. I asked Peter if he wanted me to break the fish off and he said no. He thought if I kept reeling, we’d be fine. But just as I got the queen to the boat side and as Peter was reaching for it, two sharks exploded on the queen. In a matter of a second, a puff of blood, scales and flesh filled the water, the queenfish was taken.
Sharks get a bad reputation and this is why. Ten minutes before, this mighty queenfish was boss, now the beautiful predator was history. A true heartbreaker for me. I am responsible. Mentally it hurts. Instead of jumping right back into the fishing, I drank a beer and thought about how I could have got the fish in faster. Then I rerigged with wire. The next shark I see on the flats is getting caught.
I retook the bow. My shark rig was ready but in my hand was my 9-weight Air 2 Max. I took off the crab and put on a shrimp pattern and made blind casts. The light for spotting fish continued to be poor. The best thing to do here is to cast at all structure you see from rocks to weeds to coral. I picked up some odd fish such as the grass tuskfish, blue tuskfish, Spanish flag and this beautiful barcheek coral trout.
A most unusual catch occurred throwing blindly. I got a light tap and thinking it was my fly catching on bottom I lifted my rod tip to raise my fly. There was a little guy kicking. Most anglers probably would have roll casted him off. I had to see what it was and was happy to see it was a gorgeous fish. I recognized it as a type of goby and we confirmed this tonight and narrowed it down to the pink-speckled shrimpgoby (Cryptocentrus melanopus). A tiny one but a new species for my list.
I was on a roll with my shrimp but after the fly was refused by a blue bastard, I put my crab back on. Just in time. We were literally giving up on sight fishing altogether when I spotted a glimmer of a shinny fish near a rock. I dropped my crab close and the fish made a beeline. All hell broke loose as a hefty blackspot tuskfish grabbed and made a 9-weight-crackling pull for the coral. I held on tight and took my chances. If I let the fish run, I’d break off in the coral for sure. If I held on tight, I could shatter my rod or snap my leader. Luckily, these fish can only pull like this for a minute and it was I who withstood. A new personal best blackspot tuskie!
The blackspot tuskie is one of the premier gamefish of the north Australian flats. I caught smaller one’s last year in the West Cape. They are special with their incredible colors and interesting look. Mike and I caught more small interesting fish to end the day but no more of the well-known. This cute guy is the blue spotted rockcod (Cephalopholis cyanostigma). I’m pretty sure it’s the same fish we call the peacock grouper in the Red Sea and Seychelles which means not a new species for me. But I’ll research it when I get home.
Every day is a great one in the north of Australia. Especially when you’re skipping out on the cold and snow back in the USA. While Jeff Smith missed yet another day as he’s still sick, Mike Lodge chased permit. No luck. Steve and Therese on the other hand, smashed it again. Today they caught a full variety of fish that included Steve landing a queenfish like the one I lost and the first blue bastard for Therese. Congrats to both for incredible catches!
We enjoyed another nice evening on the bow of the Wildcard for about 45 minutes with fresh fish and chips as the appetizers. All the time the Wildcard was traveling north as we are making a move to new waters. Eventually the clouds that threatened all afternoon hit us with rain and wind. The boat is a bit rocky now as I hit the sack. Were still traveling. We shall see what tomorrow brings. Whatever it is, I’m certain we’ll find our way to the flats and some fish will be caught!