More West Aussie Salt Adventures

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Over 150 flies tied in 3 boxes including a few swap flies, multiple leader set up, fly rods in the range from light 8wt's to a large 12wt all made the journey to the northern Exmouth Gulf where we all settled in after a quick flight to our canal house which would be called home for the next week.

Day 1, a quick run from the boat ramp over to the islands in the gulf for some early morning shots at Permit and Queenfish. I quickly realized just how hard these Permit are to catch, in limited visibility by the time you have spotted the fish it has also seen you unless occupied head down feeding, keeping a low profile and adjusting the cast from extreme double haul to just a wisp of the fly rod was key to not spooking them. Rotating with my buddy Mat, we again and again failed in our attempts, a few shots were looking so good but it was either rejection or us sending the fish packing. Set the hook on a very large GT which came out of the mangroves to inspect the boat, quickly ran straight back into the tangle of roots and bricked me on the 8wt in a very quick knuckle dusting fashion, no chance at all as it was a large fish pushing 20lb in skinny water. A lot of litte 'rat' Trevally and Queenfish kept us occupied while cruising the flats and mangroves, eyes pealed for Permit.

 

west side

 

gulf side permit food

 

rock wall and mangrove

 

rat queenfish

 

baby gt

 

Just about to leave to the next flat as the tide had turned and was now emptying when we saw in the distance a bait ball being harassed by birds and what appeared to be a mix of Lontail Tuna, GT's, and all sorts of predators. Once we arrived the guide decided to throw out a hookless popper 'just to see what is here'. 7m from the boat a 30lb spanish mackerel launched flying intent to kill the popper at warp speed straight towards my leg, i was half deciding to try and catch the very large fish in mid air but luckily i moved so fast to avoid being thrown into the ocean by a missile with teeth going mach 3, the mackerel bounced and skidded across the front deck where i was and landed a further 4m away back into the sea! Leaving a black skid mark across the deck, Holy Crap! Insanity! What a crazy fish, and dangerous! What the!!! These things are insane!

 

baitball action

 

 

Time to set up the 40lb butt, 15lb igfa leader and 40lb fluoro shock tippets mixed with hand tied EP minnows and clousers into the mess, it was quickly revealed to us just what was happening a large school of smaller shark mackerel were obliterating the bait, every cast being swarmed by these fun little speedsters which were quite sporting on the light 8wt set-ups, they had a habit of turning a fly into a bare hook or even chasing down and biting off leader knots. Managed to pull out a few larger Queenfish which gave excellent aerial displays, long runs, and hard fights. One of the larger Queenfish got hammered by a bronze whaler right at the boat as we were netting it, a few marks on the fish but it still released quite fine! A rather scary moment for both us and the fish.

 

baby macks!

 

nice queenfish

 

shark attack!

 

fun gt's!

 

Soon what appeared to be a herd or 'mob' of Brassy Trevally in the 40lb range sped through the bait in a tight school of around 7 fish, a long cast to them and a double handed strip at top speed had one engulf the fly and the battle begun, one which would go on for a good 15 minutes, the 8wt straining at a low angle to lift the fish, long slow and powerful runs, tail throbbing, slugging it out, backing squeeling at the tight drag setting and 15lb class, very short pump and wind, more runs. Just as it looked like i had actually managed to keep the coffee table sized slab from the reef the leader wore through! Nooooo! My heart sunk, i missed my shot. Missed shots were now going to be common, we needed to step up our game as anglers if we were going to get a pig on light gear.

 

mangroves

 

Day 2, In very much the same fashion as day one we headed to the mangroves and flats on a rising tide to see what was heading into the tangled mess and what was going to be feeding on the flats, Mat standing up front with his crab fly, me on the back with my EP minnows. Not too long we spotted a horse of a permit, perfectly placed face down on the flat busy with his business of feeding on whatever critters he could find, Mat placed a perfect cast and led the fish brilliantly, me thinking that we must be getting better at this and not be sucking as much as once thought. No, the fish completely ignored the crab as it settled 2ft away from the fish twitching away, one more cast and it spooked and took off, more shots at smaller Permit yielded similar results, frustrating and difficult! Not a total loss on the flats, I managed to tame a small GT away from it's mangrove lair by putting as much pressure as i could with the little 8wt and light tippet, once again little rats kept the action going enough to keep us occupied and quite happy.

 

As the tide ripped out of the flats once again the baitball appeared, being ripped to shreds by the small Shark Mackerel keeping us busy as every cast yielded a fish, scrappy fights with quick very fast runs, no larger predators appeared and i was against the guide throwing in a hookless popper fearing i may need full body armor or at least a helmet.

 

Later in the day Mat said he would like a shot at Longtail Tuna on the fly, so after the action we went on the search in the middle of the Gulf hunting for bird action and feeding fish, it did not take long, finding a shoal and bait being pushed to the surface by actively feeding Lontail. Now these are a difficult fish, as the boat approaches they stop feeding and go deep so very long casts of 100ft + are required with a quick shooting head. Mat managed this and hooked up on his nice Longtail on the 9wt nrx bending nicely, and doing the job easily breaking the Tuna from his circle pattern. Success! Just as it was landed i saw the 'mob' again, fast moving group of this time Golden Trevally in the 40lb range, 6 to 7 fish in a tight pack. I layed the cast out and led the fish perfectly, double handed stripping as fast as my hands could one of these yellow beasts came and just wolfed my EP minnow like an industrial sized vacuum cleaner. Now the fight was on, clear the decks and settle in for a long slugging battle with the 8wt once again straining against the very large Trevally. 5 minutes into the battle i suddenly remembered i saw a small wind knot in my section of 15lb class before casting, using the 15lb i was thinking i may have been a bit silly or even ridiculous as the fish worked closer and closer to the reef, he knew where his home was and once again after a quick 10 minute tussle i was bricked! Damn! I missed my big fish again! Damn! No more 15lb and sea tables.

 

mat's tuna

 

 

Day 3, and the last day for me on the boat. The weather had picked up and was gusting up to 20 knots in the afternoon which also meant some large seas, cloud cover made visibility a challenge and the flats yielded very little, boat positioning was a challenge so we decided to try for a few Mangrove Jacks close to shore sheltered before it all picked up, my purple EP brush clouser type fly did the damage and I extracted around 9 little Mangrove Jacks from their homes, quite a fun fish and somewhat reminding me of fishing for smallmouth bass! Pretty markings and a striking blue slash on their cheeks, an awesome set of teeth which they were not afraid to use, no lipping the fish. These things would purposely try to bite you. A few small Queenfish eating our flies once again provided fun light tackle sport. Interestingly the Mangrove Jacks at around 6lb move out into deep reef water to spend the rest of their lives and no longer become a fly target often caught by anglers bottom bouncing.

 

jack close up

 

cute fish

 

Wind picking up so we made a quick stop at a shoal, and launched out our flies, me this time armed with a stout 30lb fluoro leader, enough to stop one of those beasts i had my eyes on. A few nice little baby GT's landed, excited at the double handed strip techniques but no 'mob'. By now the seas were getting a bit large and we decided to call it, somewhat bittersweet as i had unfinished business but also very happy with the amount of smaller fish landed, sore arms, slightly sunburnt this wonderful fly fishery will never be forgotten! I will get that 40lb plus fish!...One day.

 

one of our fine dinners we cooked

 

shrimp boat

 

As a side note each day we kept an ear on the radio as the game fishing boats were out in full force at the 200m deep trench trolling the spreads, the entire time there were zero fish raised. We did have the 12wt armed for small 'Rat Black Marlin' in the 100lb range, these fish provided to be elusive but the opportunity does exist and quite possibly would be reality for a fly angler. Sailfish are also a common target on the fly in these parts, and if you want a real challenge, Permit. I now have decided i need a lot of work being a saltwater fly angler judging by just how many errors i made, a demanding sport requiring very very quick casts, accuracy, and great eyes. 100% sight fishing, a thrill with real surprises and possibility of some real beasts. I would rate Exmouth as one of the top saltwater fly destinations, be prepared for 40C+ temperatures! So much nature in overdrive, whales, whalesharks, dugongs all seen and going about their daily routines. Now thinking i could do with another few days on the boat, trusty 8wt in tow escaping the snow and cold! Get that cast going, minimal false casting, make sure u can also lay out 100ft and can double handed strip along with accuracy and patience. Big thanks to our guide at fly fishing frontiers!

 

 

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

cool... Your part of the world is one of the few spots I'd like to visit... For those medium GT'S i'd want nothing less than a 10wt with a 20lb tippet and a 60lb shock tippet (or bite tippet...). Even with that setup you're going to be under-gunned for a big GT. I have one regular fly angler that's lucky enough to fish world wide twenty days a year with guides and takes my Tarpon Snakes to places like the Seychelles and Madagascar to wade fish in places where the big GT's come roaring up onto the flats. What little I know of them is based on his accounts.

 

Still it's a hoot to tangle with a lot more fish than your gear was meant for... Cheers and keep posting you reports.

[agn54 0]

Awesome report Jam! Looks like a beautiful place to be

[ditz2 0]

Thanks for the great report. It must be a exciting to be able to experiance such fishing.

[Piker20 0]

Great fish, great report.

[flywhiteguy 0]

that sounds awesome would love to try that some day

[Peterjay 0]

Great report Mike - thanks for sharing. To say I'm jealous would be a gross understatement.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

cool... Your part of the world is one of the few spots I'd like to visit... For those medium GT'S i'd want nothing less than a 10wt with a 20lb tippet and a 60lb shock tippet (or bite tippet...). Even with that setup you're going to be under-gunned for a big GT. I have one regular fly angler that's lucky enough to fish world wide twenty days a year with guides and takes my Tarpon Snakes to places like the Seychelles and Madagascar to wade fish in places where the big GT's come roaring up onto the flats. What little I know of them is based on his accounts.

 

Still it's a hoot to tangle with a lot more fish than your gear was meant for... Cheers and keep posting you reports.

 

I tend to agree with the minimum of a 10wt for the smaller fish, the big numbers you would need a 12wt at least, i mean to stop them running into cover. Quite an inquisitive fish, we had a group of 5 or so come out to examine the boat on the flats.

 

Excellent part of the world, and these days what you see is mostly fly anglers instead of bottom bouncing to fill the freezer which is great!

 

I didn't see one or get a shot as we mostly hung on the gulf side but these things are quite common too

 

 

A few ww2 relics around and a large navy base is still in operation along with raaf sharing the civilian airport.

 

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

to cool stuff bro I always wanted to visit the down under

[JSzymczyk 0]

I need to hit the lottery, or I should have been much more choosy about who my parents were.

[Chefben4 0]

This made for a great read on a Monday morning at the office! Very detailed and excellent report Jam'! Now its time for us to plan a trip on my side of the world!

 

Its cool to fish quite unique to me (and probably a lot of us on here). They all have interesting characteristics and seem like a blast to catch. The queenfish has some gnarly looking small teeth. I wouldn't want to put my hands near them.

[Woodinfliezz 0]

wow man lucky im kinda jealous

[edknuthjr 0]

Looks like you had a great time. Beautiful pics. Someday I hope.

[FlyFishin'Jam 0]

Thanks everyone! Back in Canada now and boy do i miss it, really sinks in just how incredible a place it really is for the fly rod. There are a few groups of die hard fanatics who are very talented with the saltwater stuff, one guy on another boat had done 4 countries before landing his first nice sized Permit, another guy was just wandering the beach and saw a telltale flash, casting to it and landing a thumping 17lb Permit first go. One group off memory scored 27 species on fly. Next time for those GT's and big reef donkey sized trevally i am going to go armed with heavier gear first up. The rat sized stuff could keep you busy all day too. Oh it is a hard life!

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

now that your back where toilets flush the right way we have to figure out sometime to get together and fish for some pretty chrome and gold