A feature on us in “Snagged – Western Australia’s Fishing Magazine” – December 2010 publication.

Wilderness Island on the eastern side of Exmouth Gulf is a great place for a visit because you can catch so many different types of fish that are right at your feet. This article is about one of my best trips to Wilderness Island.

The night before I was to fly back to Exmouth my Dad asks me to text my friends and see what they are doing for the last two days of the holidays.  Luckily they where doing nothing which was great because my Dad told me that we were going camping at Wilderness Island!

The next day I got packed quickly as I was so keen to get to the airport and back home. When I landed my Nana and Pop picked me up and took me straight home where Dad was waiting for me in the shed with my two friends Braden and Luke. They had already packed up the boat and were eagerly waiting for me to get ready, so I quickly unpacked my suitcase and packed my backpack for camping. It didn’t take long and I was ready so we hopped in the car and went off to the boat ramp to launch the boat. Conditions were fantastic with the water as flat as glass. It was a looking like a great day was just around the corner.

We went to look around some good fishing spots before we got to the island to see what was patrolling the reefs. We pulled up on a spot that was on the way to the island where Dad had caught some good fish before. It didn’t take long before we were catching big golden and brassy trevally which go really hard on light tackle.

Braden was using my 4 pound rod that he loves so much, I was using my normal 20 pound rod and Luke was using his 20 pound outfit sporting a hardcore Saltiga reel. Our trip was off to a great start with some good fish caught and released.

We had just pulled up the anchor to leave when we noticed some tuna busting up close to the boat. By the time Luke cast his soft plastic in the direction of the tuna it had seemed to have disappeared but just as Luke was about to lift the softy out of the water a 17 kg tuna smashed it and took off at warp speed. The reel was screaming as the tuna was moving so fast. He fought it for about ten minutes before getting it close to the boat but it stayed deep and did not want to come up. Luke struggled to drag it up close to the surface but it took one last big run which he wasn’t ready for causing him to almost go over the side and smashing his reel into the boat. When Luke got back to his feet the tuna finally was spent and having no more energy it came quietly back to the boat. It was a big tuna but it was that tired it would not swim away so we kept it, putting it in the esky. We continued on over to Wilderness Island.

When we arrived at the island we grabbed everything and carried it up to the camp. Dad started to cut up the tuna straight away so it was as fresh as possible for sushi entrée before a nice feed of sausages and steak.

After dinner we went down to the water with the rest of the tuna carcass to see if we could catch a shark. Because sometimes you can get big tiger sharks and hammerheads we used my big GT rod, set up with a wire trace and a big hook. I began by berleying up the water and then we sat back waiting for the sharks to do their part. We didn’t have to wait for long because it only took about 5 minutes before we had a shark on my rod. Braden had first turn with my rod, but it was only a small black tip reef shark which we quickly released. We went back up to the camp to drop off the big rod so we could have more fun on our small rods.

Braden had his line in the water first so I didn’t put mine out in case he hooked up quickly. Straightaway he was on. This shark was a bit bigger than the first one because it just kept on swimming. After Braden finally landed it we realised that he had caught a baby tiger shark as it had really cool stripes and distinctive shaped teeth. Braden dragged it up the beach then I jumped on it so we could get the hook out before letting it go. We caught a lot more sharks that night but it got a bit late, so we went back up to the camp and climbed into bed to be ready for the day ahead.

In the morning we had breakfast while deciding that we would go and try to catch a big queenfish. We jumped in the boat before heading to one of my dad’s favorite big queenie fishing spots. When we arrived you could see a lone queenfish swimming in the shallows chasing baitfish. We had a cast at it but it wasn’t interested in our lures and just swam off in the opposite direction which really sucked. Keeping our eyes open it was not long before we spotted another one, just a bit further ahead of the boat. We all feverishly chucked our lures at it but the same thing happened again – no interest whatsoever. Our luck didn’t get any better either. The fish just weren’t interested in playing, with another four refusals from big queenies before we decided to move and look elsewhere.

Unfortunately things didn’t get any better. We had one of the worst day’s fishing ever with only a small mangrove jack and small queenfish for our efforts. Deflated, we headed back to camp as it was starting to get late. When we got back my friends and I thought we would go for a walk to the rocky point of the island where the currents push past with the incoming and outgoing tide.

Finally our luck improved and we started to catch a few fish but I got my lure stuck on a rock so I climbed down the ledge to grab it. The rock that I stepped on crumbled under my weight and I fell onto the oyster covered rocks. When I picked myself up I noticed there was a lot of blood in the water. Then I looked at my hand and realized there was a big gash on my wrist.

Luke and Braden help me climb back up the rocks to head back to the camp which was a 1.5 km walk. Braden and Luke were a little spun out but I was fine because I just wrapped my wrist up in my T shirt and we started walking back. When we got back my Dad’s friend Jim, who owns Wilderness Island got a big container of disinfectant and put my hand in it. Jim gave my Dad a pin to get out all the small bits of dirt and shell but he didn’t want to hurt me so I had to do it myself. It didn’t hurt much anyway. The one time it did hurt was when my dad sat down next to me and said, “Nice job,” and patted me on the leg where I had a lot of small cuts but it was funny at the same time. Braden and Luke had gone for a walk while I was getting fixed up. They came back a little while later to tell me about how they had a great time catching whiting and mangrove jack on poppers which I wasn’t impressed about missing out on.

The next morning we got up, packed our stuff and then went for a quick fish in the mangrove creek behind the camp. Because it was low tide we could walk up the main creek where we caught a few Yellowfin bream before we noticed a small feeder creek, so we walk in to investigate. It turned out to be a big feeder creek but the mouth was blocked by some rocks so fish could not get out. We walked up it a bit for a look and could see heaps of big fish swimming around. We started casting our lures which were instantly smashed by good size jacks and cod which was amazing. After all that fun the fishing died down and the tide started to come in so we all walked back and had breakfast before packing up the boat to leave.

Once the boat was all packed up we left to go looking for queenfish again where we were the day before. On arriving we could see a really nice size queenfish slowing swimming along a shallow bank. Braden and Luke both cast towards it but it is Luke’s lure the fish turns onto and inhales, instantly hooking up. Another queenie comes out of nowhere and hits Braden’s lure but somehow he lost it. Meanwhile Luke’s fish was going off, jumping out of the water and cart-wheeling around all over the place before finally he lands a ripper over one metre. With smiles all-round, especially for Luke it was time to head home. What a great ending to a fantastic fishing trip.

With the school holidays starting soon, I’m sure we will be going camping again so you can read about that in the next magazine. Till then, get out there and have some fun fishing with your friends.

Michael Price