Sunday

The storm passed and I woke around 4.00 am thinking the sun was coming up. In fact it was the moon – high above, in a very clear sky. It was a few days off full and so bright, that I did not need a torch to get the billy on and brew up some tea. After a few nights of instant noodles, I needed some protein, so it was time to stop looking for trophy fish and go and catch something to eat.

I started at dawn at Middle Rock. High tide would be at about 7.00 am and first light was about 5.00 am. It is just a few km north of my campsite at Wreck Rock, in Deepwater National Park. There are three main rocky outcrops with rubble, coral bommies and sandy patches in between. As the sky brightened only the tops of a few of the bommies and the big rocks were visible. I have had a few good Trevally from this spot on high water.

I was using the Shimano Catana Light rod again but put on a 16lb leader – just in case something big appeared. I loaded up with the GULP 3” Minnow in the Pearl Watermelon colour on a 1/8th 1 jighead. I cast out, as close as I could to the edge of the half-submerged bommy. I started a quick retrieve – there are too many rocks to let the soft plastic hang around in one spot. I had only jerked the rod tip a couple of times and then I had a fish. It was a nice Bream about 30cm long. A few more casts produced another. Then I caught a couple of tiny Moses Perch and finally a couple of smaller Bream.

The water was calm and glassy and crystal clear, despite the storm. At about 9.00 am I drove up to Flat Rock and waded out onto the partially submerged rock, to fish the rest of the run out tide. Flat Rock is great to fish on once you can stand safely on the rock itself. There are a couple of breaks in the rock that runs the length of the beach and these are good fish congregating areas.

I started at the south end where the front of the rock has an almost vertical edge, in some places. These are usually a good Bream spots as there is plenty of wash. Sure enough, as I wandered along the rock casting into no more than 1.5m of water, I caught about five more Bream, a handful of small Whiting, a tiny Bar Tailed Flathead, Butter Bream and lots of small Stripey Perch and Dart. All of the Bream were just about 30cm – so I kept the biggest three. I was impressed with the range of fish but disappointed by the size.

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I moved down to the southern end where the rock breaks down into a surf beach dotted with submerged bommies, but by about 11.00 am the northerly wind had come up again and the fish seemed to stop biting. I cleaned up the Bream in the rock pools and headed back to camp for some hammock time.