Fishing in the Whitsundays

A very early start today, Richard, our skipper, picked us up at 6.30am! Picked up one other chap, Tony, from his hotel and then set off for the bay. The light was lovely as we reached the boat slip...

And even nicer as we set off...

As the sea was still rough today, the plan was to fish in the river estuary, where it would be calmer. However, the first task of the day was to drop the crab pots. Richard loaded 4 pots with bait and dropped them into the shallow water around the estuary. The water was sometimes so shallow that he had to get out and push the boat along! 

We then had a hour or so fishing in a calm bay while we were waiting for the tide to come in so that we  get to our main fishing ground. Here Andy was fisherman of the day, landing his first ever salmon!

Time then to move on to the estuary. I was a bit apprehensive as Richard said he had seen crocodiles in the area! Soon forgot about that though as the fishing began in earnest. Not much luck for Tony or me but we did see a turtle swim by. Andy had catch of the day again, managing to land this barramundi...

I don't know who looks more nervous, Andy or the fish! We reckon that it weighed around 7kg, but as Richard had already caught a smaller on, we let this one go. He's a lucky fish though as we were told that a fish that size could fetch about $100.

Our final task of the day was to collect in the crab pots. 2 pots were empty, but there were 3 mud crabs in the other 2 pots. One crab was a female, which had to be put back, but that still left 2 good size males to share between us. So it was mud crab, blue salmon, barramundi and estuary cod for tea, with chips of course.

What a good day!

Expecting a cyclone off the Queensland coast in the next couple of days. Watch this space. It is possible that the road to Cairns may be flooded so plans may need revision.