Tag Archives: fishing at Wreck Rock

1770 – Wreck Rock and Deepwater Creek – 8 November 2011

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Saturday

It was my last day in 1770 for a while. I decided to fish the afternoon low tide at Wreck Rock. It was full moon so the water would get quite shallow around the rocks. There was a fairly light north easterly wind and not much swell.

I arrived at about 3.00 pm and rigged up with a 16lb fluorocarbon leader and 3 “ GULP Minnow on a 1/6th ounce, 1/0 hook jighead. This produced a small dart on the first cast and almost a fish a cast thereafter, for the next 30 minutes. I gradually moved along the rocks and it was usually the first cast, in a new location that produced the bigger dart. I soon had a few worth keeping.

By about 3.30 pm I had almost arrived at the end of the rocks. I had now swapped to a Zman 4” Jerkshad in the Shiner colour. A cast it out, about 5 metres directly in front of the rocks and the lure fluttered towards the bottom. I set the hook on another dart. Dart fight hard and love to turn sideways like trevally, but this one was positively hyperactive. I pulled it clear of the water and then released it. The next cast produced another dart, a little smaller but equally frantic. Then I saw why the fish were so spooked. I long, slow moving grey shape swam along the base of the rocks. It looked about 1.5 metres long and had clear black markings on its fin – so I presume it was a black tipped reef shark. This probably explains numerous bite offs I have had around these rocks.

The dart kept coming but as the tide turned in I caught a few small trevally – including  a strange looking bumpnose trevally. As the tide started to run in at about 5.00 pm,  I decided to swap locations.

Shark infested waters
Worth eating one this size
Another good size dart
Hungry trevally
Freshwater at Deepwater Creek
Catfish

I drove down to Deepwater Creek to fish through dusk. I thought the big tide and full moon might create some good conditions. I arrived about 5.30 pm and fished through the dusk with poppers and small soft plastics on a 10lb fluorocarbon leader. I tried both the freshwater and saltwater sections. I was surprised to get a catfish from the salt water side. It grabbed a GULP Swimmow soft plastic in the Peppered Prawn colour, presented on a 1/16th, size 1 jighead. Meanwhile as the sun dropped below the horizon something swiped at the popper on the freshwater side. On the saltwater side, in the pitch dark, I could hear plenty of surface slurps and bust ups. The moon was not up yet and as I dragged the popper slowly across the surface, it was getting bumped and nudged all the way through the retrieve. Finally I hooked something and it pulled quite hard. I turned the headlamp on to reveal a small mullet. There was a big school of them cruising round.

I gave up for the night and marked this spot down for a future visit. Once again, I would like to recommend Gavin and Kim of 1770 Beach Accommodation. I stayed at Loka Santi which are very smart apartments, but they have accommodation to rent at every budget level and can offer some really great rates – visit their website for more information  www.1770beachaccommodation.com.au

 

 

 

 

 

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1770 – Wreck Rock & Deepwater Creek – 5 November 2014

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Wednesday

Lunchtime

I had a lie in on Friday morning and waited to fish the lunchtime low tide at Wreck Rock Beach. I drove down into Deepwater National Park at about 10.00 am. The skies were clear and the forecast strong north easterly wind had not materialised. I rock hopped out, about half way along the peninsula and cast out a  GULP 3” Minnow soft plastic, in the Lime Tiger colour. I was fishing with 10lb fluorocarbon leader and a 1/8th ounce, 1/0 sized hook jighead. The first taker was a small moses perch, who was hiding close to the rocks. I caught a few of these, (none big enough to keep) then moved a little further along.

I cast out in front of the rocks, into the gaps between the bommies. I soon found some more moses perch and then some small dart. I moved around the rocks and swapped through a few different coloured soft plastics. The brighter colours in the three inch size soft plastic minnows – particularly those with some speckle in the colour, seemed to catch the best fish and the dart gradually got bigger. But I could not find any significant fish at Wreck Rock and by about 3.30 pm, the incoming tide pushed me off my fishing perch.

Kite

Early evening

I dried off, pulled on some long pants and drove back down to Deepwater Creek. I arrived just after 4.00 pm and rigged up with another small DUO Poco Poco surface popper. I cast out into the fresh water section. I jerked the popper slowly back towards me. There were a couple of swipes behind it, but I did not hook up.

I moved back to the saltwater section and re-rigged with a GULP 3 “ Minnow on a 1/16th ounce, size 2 hook jighead. Tarpon have quite small hard mouths so I hoped the smaller hook gauge might slide home more easily. This did the trick and after a number of hits and dropped fish I finally hooked a good one. They fight so hard and leap around all over the place – they are just great fun to catch. I landed three but hooked up to about ten as the sun dropped and the cicadas started to produce a deafening hum, the action got faster and hotter and then slowly died down.

By about 6.45 pm it was dark and quiet. I tried a few casts with a popper and then gave up.

 

Tarpon Salty water tarpon

1770 – The headlands , beaches and Round Hill Creek – 8 September 2013

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Thursday to Sunday

Unfortunately, there is not much to report from the remaining days I had at 1770. The south-easterly blow persisted, so I was pretty much limited to fishing the rocks on the northern side of the 1770 headland and the creeks. The high seas stirred up the water and so it was soon fairly murky.

I drove into Eurimbula National Park and fished the creeks. I fished lighter and lighter, until I finally found a few whiting and small bream. I also went back down to Baffle Creek and failed to catch anything. I tried Wreck Rock and Flat Rock beaches, but the water was just too stirred up and the wind was still howling.

As you will see from previous trip reports, you often have to work hard for your dinner here, but this was a disaster. I gave up on Sunday and drove back inland to do a bit of work and see if I could catch something other than catfish, in the inland waterways.

Picked up a Stalker at Flat Rock beach
Stalker 1
Stalker 2
Stalker 3
Flat Rock beach – Deepwater NP
Flat Rock beach – Deepwater NP
Too much wind and swell

1770 – Deepwater National Park – Wreck Rock – 11 August 2012

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Saturday

The wind was still threatening 25 Knots south westerly but I went for a dawn fish to see if I could find the Flathead again, at Wreck Rock. Clear skies made for an amazing sunrise and I waded through the shallows and out on to the same rocks where I had encountered the big mother Flathead, a few days earlier. I went for the same set up with a 15lb fluorocarbon leader, 1/6th 1/0 jighead and a GULP 3” Minnow in the Rainbow colour. The tide was a few hours further advanced so there was a little more water over the area and it was crystal clear. The south westerly was ruffling the surface bit it had not yet really picked pace.

I had no luck in the same location so I moved about 5 metres to the south and cast out into the open water beside another big bommie. I was leaving plenty of time for the lure to sink before I started the retrieve. There was a quite a bit of swell and the wind was catching the line, both of these factors would slow the jighead sink rate, quite considerably. I decided to count slowly to ten each time I cast before starting the retrieve. I still had no interest. It was now around 7.45 am and the wind was picking up again.

I swapped to a bigger soft plastic, the GULP Jerkshad in the Cajun Chicken colour – black and pink. The tactic worked and I soon had a fish on. It came up to the surface and shook its head angrily, but after a couple of runs I had it safely in the keeper pool – it was about 45cm long.

In the next twenty minutes, I caught another two fish, about the same size and dropped another. Then things went quiet, so I moved again and swapped to a GULP Jerkshad in the Satay Chicken colour – yellow and pumpkinseed. This produced results and I caught two more, both about 45 cm and one smaller one.

Wreck Rock sunrise
Good gutters to the south of Wreck Rock
An unhappy fish – Wreck Rock
Clear water – nice fish
It was the bigger Jerkshad that tempted this one
Satay Chicken flavour for this one
The fish were in the channels and drains
Three in the live well

By around 10.00am the tide had turned in and the wind was making it too difficult (and cold) to fish. I cleaned the three fish that I decided to keep and kept an eye out for raiders as I did so. I always prefer to clean the fish in the saltwater; they definitely taste better this way.

I was glad to have found the fish again and it looked like Flathead were going to be the staple catch this week. I then went back to my cabin for a shower and a hot coffee. I had seen no evidence of big bait schools around. There were no Tuna or Tailor passing through. There were no birds working or big surface bust ups, perhaps the cold winds had blown them away?

Deepwater National Park, Wreck Rock & Flat Rock – 12 October 2011

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Tuesday & Wednesday

I continued to fish the beaches and rocks of Deepwater National Park, just south of Agnes Waters, but the weather was quite changeable. I tended to catch a few fish early in the morning when there was a light south-easterly and then things would go quiet in the afternoon as the wind turned round to a northerly.

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I fished the morning high tide at Flat Rock on Tuesday. The rock was covered and I cast from the beach at its inner edge. The Stripeys were sitting under the edge and relentlessly attacked the GULP 3” Pearl Watermelon Minnow. Every now and then I would find a patch of Bream and I caught about four keeper size fish, but none were bigger than 30 cm. There were also a few Whiting. A school of something was moving up and down feeding a hundred meters beyond the rock and the birds where dive-bombing.

At low tide on Wednesday I walked out over the oyster covered rocks at the southern tip of Wreck Rock bay. I have been monstered in this spot on several occasions and also seen the Tuna come in close enough to cast at. The overhangs at the base of the rocks hide plenty of resident fish. I decided to try something new and rigged a GULP 7” Sandworm in the Blood colour, on a 1/6th 2/0 jighead. I lost a couple to the small Dart and Butter Bream and then bang! I was hooked up to a better fish. It headed straight down into the rocks and fortunately I had some 16lb leader on. I pulled it out and landed it with the aid of the wash. It was the best Stripey of the week at about 35cm. This is about as big as they get inshore. I cast out again in the same spot and caught a few smaller ones. I carried on fishing around these rocks for about another hour as the water ran out to low tide. As I was retrieving a cast, in close to the rocks, I felt a thump and then zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It was a very hard hit by a decent fish, but suddenly the line went slack and it was gone. I retrieved a mashed soft plastic sand worm. It must have changed its mind.

It had not been a spectacular week of fishing, I had fed myself, enjoyed the surroundings and caught plenty of fish. But I had seen evidence of some monsters lurking and witnessed a few big hook ups. As always, there was just enough to convince me that I need to get back up here soon!