Fraser Island Expedition '10 diary

Author: josh

Category: Expeditions

Created on Thursday, 25 November 2010 21:34

Written by Josh

The following article is a direct transcription from hand-written diary notes taken each night throughout our Fraser Island kayak fishing expedition. 

Day 1
Carl, Holger Paul and I arrived at the marina at Urangan at around 10:00AM and after packing our kayaks with ultra-light camping gear, heavy-duty fishing gear, photography and video equipment, solar panels, batteries, safety equipment and a 7-day supply of food and water we were finally ready to launch an hour and a half later. Once last minute checks were done we filed out of the marina and out into the bay where we aimed towards Moon point and set sail into a fresh easterly breeze. It wasn't long before we'd became 2 groups of 2, Carl buddying with Paulo, Holger with me. We took a finer tack, aiming towards the southern side of Moon Point, whereas the other guys went out wider. Ours seemed to be the better route because although Carl and Paul reported rough conditions, Holger and I had smooth sailing all the way and we got there sooner. Overall it was as good as we could have hoped for, save for the lack of fish caught. We did troll lures more of the way and we did get some bites - me losing an entire lure in the process, so there's fish around at least. We've just got to start catching the buggars. The further north we go, the more buggars we'll find. 

We still hadn't hooked up solid by the time we landed on the beach, some 6km nth of Moon point. Slim pickings for the entire day really. Fine by me because I'm confident we'll be eating fish most if not all other nights anyway, and I'd brought along pre-cooked de-hydrated spag bol and now was a good time to use it. Aside from beef jerky (of which we have plenty) this will likely be our last blast of red meat for a week. I think the spag went down pretty well. 

We're all a lot better prepared for the trip this year, more 'Fraser Island' ready in a lot of ways. We've all streamlined our payloads, changed the way we've rigged our kayaks and updated a lot of gear. Interestingly, we are all using new tents. We all found something that bothered us about what we used last year. For me it was the effort going in to set up and pack down, and how much time that cost. Speaking of time saving, Holger has his gear storage/packing solution down pat - he was unpacked and tent set up in no time tonight. And his new tent is awesome. 

Day 2

We awoke on our patch of beech to fairly stiff northerlies today, which is precisely the direction we wanted to be moving in. We did push into the north but we didn't get very far. As it turns out we sailed about 15km on the water and all told only made 6km headway. This is a royal pain in the proverbial really, because we were hoping to be at Wathumba creek by tonight. This is probably going to impact how far north we manage to get because by virtue of losing a day's progress, there's a good chance we'll otherwise run out of time trying. Fingers crossed for more favourable winds tomorrow. 

We sailed with broad tacks for the most part, at other times zig-zagging left or right to move with slight shifts in wind direction, which were frequent. I wasn't game to troll with any more than one lure at a time today. And failed to hook up doing so. I was using a Qantas coloured (red head, white body) CD Magnum today and a blue one yesterday. Blue was the hot colour last year... maybe not this year. I'll tie on another colour tomorrow - one I haven't tried before. I like the look of the 'Red Sardine' colour. Think I'll give that a shot.

It was quiet on the fishing front for all of us again today, though Paulo did catch the first notable species - a spotty mackerel, undersize and released. Carl picked one up a short while later, legal, but probably only just. It made for a nice feed though - Carl knows how to cook fish, which is why he's the designated camp chef. We're camped at the mouth of a small creek and this spot looks rather interesting. I did comment on how fishy the entrance looked when we got here and sure enough Paulo extracted a flathead from it in pretty quick fashion. Holger and I had a few casts, but I just couldn't get into it. Kayak fishing has spoiled me. 

While sitting on the beach here we have seen some interesting sights though. Large fish patrolling just outside the creek mouth, rays and sharks as well. Of most interest - and Carl and Holger missed this unfortunately - Paul and I witnessed a fairly large shark (at least 3.5 metres I'd say) attack something on the beach in spectacular fashion. It reminded me of some footage I've seen of killer whales attacking seals in Sth America, almost beaching themselves in the process. Thats what this shark looked like. We're not sure what it's prey was, but we did see a rather panicked looking sting ray scurrying away in as shallow-a-depth as possible. This would be a pretty hairy place to let your kids go swimming. And you'd only let your dog go swimming around here if you didn't want it to come back. 

Day 3
Conditions were looking pretty good this morning... good for fishing anyway. Not much wind though, but with only 22km seperating us from Wathumba, we could have easily pedaled there if we had to. We didn't, though we did end up pedalling at least half the distance. It was a bit of an effort getting here and we're all looking a bit worn out. Typical day 3 kind of stuff. At least the fishing took a far more interesting turn today, with some nice big fish caught.

Both Carl and I caught a great big golden trevally each today. I managed 2 good fish, though one was a fair bit bigger than the other (even if it didn't feel like it while bringing it in). All of them caught while trolling at speeds of around 5km an hour. The Rapala Red Sardine accounted for both of my catches. I think I might just stick with this lure for the moment. I only have one with me though, so I've attached it with a wire trace, which is probably a wise move anyway - no doubt there will be more mackerel, and we know there are sharks about. All of the trevally were returned - the chef doesn't like eating golden trevally, and if he doesn't like it, then I don't want him cooking it for me. In the absense of edible fish, Holger stepped up to the plate to cook a falafel and cous cous dish for us that went down a treat. 

These fish are the first I've fought with my new off shore reels, both of them Salina 2, both of them the newer fast-retrieve versions. I'm pretty impressed at how easily they handled the trevally, which is to say with no problems at all. I'm impressed with their line capacity as well, and really like the long range in the drag. And as H pointed out, they match the colour of my yak! 

Up until now we've had it fairly good on the insect front, but here at Wathumba, they're killer. Sand flies especially, and I'm being destroyed by them. Repellent helps, but the air is just thick with them. And I'm already breaking out with spots all over me. Thank god I brought neoprene ankle wraps to protect my most insect-attracting body part (as well as to shade my ankles, which are otherwise exposed when I wear barefoot shoes). Carl is already wishing he had a pair to wear with his barefoots to. 

There's more dingos here to. Speaking of dingos, I made the unfortunate mistake of leaving some snacks in the rear pocket on the back of my kayak seat overnight. A dingo tried his best to tear that pack off and very nearly succeeded. it tore a whole in the bag and 2 of the straps connected to it. Fortunately this did no damage to the GoPro cams sitting inside, but it did damage the bag and even worse, my seat. I was able to remedy a fix after landing today, but not without traversing 22km of water with no back support. Ouch.