The very first cast of the very first day scored a nice fingermark the instant Andrew
put the reel into gear he was solidly connected, not a bad way to start the trip.
One of the fingermark caught this past weekA significant change in the tropical seasons I spoke about in previous reports occurred this trip. The change
in earnest from the South East trade flow to the variable winds of the doldrums and the afternoon sea breezes
caused by the heated land mass sucking the air in off the cooler sea. One of natures way of protecting itself
during the tropical summer is to have the big low tides in the cooler nights rather than during the days save
all the creatures that dry out with the low burning up in the hot sun. An interesting side note to this is the
fact that the corals of the Great Barrier Reef secrete a slime that has a natural UV protection filter when they
are exposed during extreme spring tide lows the of the winter days.
The mornings this week were magnificent for fishing offshore with the calm variable breeze while the afternoons we
were relegated to the estuaries, mangroves and fresh water reaches of the rivers as the 15 to 20 knot westerly breeze make
the blue water uncomfortable and the flats unviable to fish.
It seemed the normal flats dwellers were not happy out in the wave action either and decided that being tucked
behind the sand spit out of the swell with us was the place to be. Trolling, casting plugs, plastics or flys in
the anchorage with the mother ship proved very successful in the afternoons with most all the Trevally species,
Queen fish, Permit and others being caught in a most civilized manner in the calm waters.
Any one reading these reports to find out about the weather especially temperature of the various months might be interested to know
that the night of the 25th of November was the first time we needed to run the air conditioning overnight.
Mr. P, Indo Pacific Permit, Snub nose dart, Oyster crackers what ever you want to call, or even
argue about what they should be called were also caught this week. The scientific name Tracanotus blochi, is
the only name worth arguing and if the Atlantic Permit is Tracanotus falcatus and Tracanotus blochi is
the Pacific specie then it also is a Permit... but who is fool enough to argue colloquial names of this adversary that
has fly rodders the world over tearing their hair out.
It's one thing to not catch fish for what ever reason but to not catch them when they are right under your nose, often,
and in large numbers as is often the case is a special form of frustration. Then, to have guys come back to the
boat all smiles, stories and digital photos of "weird looking bull nosed fish that fight three times harder than GT's"
that they caught trolling the river mouth, really rubs salt into the wound makes the fly rodders want to trade their expensive
'silly sticks' in for a Calcutta 200 a baitcasting rod and Tilsan lure.
Blue salmon once again provided endless sport for us all. You could fish for them from the skiffs or from the beach as
schools of between 20 and 50 cruised up and down the coast an easy fly cast from the shore. Fishing from the boats right
up agenised the beach one morning a long thin school of these Salmon only 3 or 4 fish wide streamed past us in a continuous
procession that lasted for more than 20 minutes with my guys plucking the fish out with there 'bongo flies' as fast as they
could land one, get it off and get another cast in as the school just kept coming past oblivious to us only 30 feet away.
Left, is what to look for and right is what you can catch.A few Mantas were found in less than 12 feet of clear water, every one had Cobia and Goldens in company, some Cobes and Goldens were
landed and some wore not. This is really exciting fishing, seeing the big rays first, approaching with fly rods ready looking for any
thing in company, even if you don't see anything you make the cast, as if by magic a large Cobia or Golden Trevalley materialises out of
nowhere and engulfs your fly.
Some thumping big GT's as well as Spanish and Grey Mackeral, Goldens, Queenies and all manner of demersal reef dwellers like Gold spot
cod, Coral trout, Fingermark and Nannygui were caught trolling lures over the inshore rubble patches. I do not represent any tackle manufactures
and every stick and stich of tackle used by us is either bought and paid for by us or recommended to our clients to be bought for use on these
trips. I like it this way because I am under no obligation to recommend any thing and what we do recommend is what is, or works best. One such
item is the Halco150, 5 metre Scorpion. (not the125 or 3m or 8m) Don't come on one of these trips with out some of these, the best blue water lure
we have ever used, it's stable in the water and gets down to trigger strikes from bottom dwellers.
In the rivers some good Jacks were found on fly lure and bait, Barras were seen in some numbers bur refused to eat any thing we threw at them
and consequently only a few were caught, next week they will probably be snapping their heads off.
That's it for this week team, one more trip down the West coast with old mate Rex Hunt and his film crew and an exploratory trip to
the outer Great Barrier Reef with repeat clients and guests after that. Both trips will be reported here and then it is the end of our
2003 season. 2004 kicks off on March 10 and a report will be up around the 20th. GREG
