With our run up to Cape Trib and back complete, the next big activity of the trip was an overnight adventure out to Fitzroy Island. This required paying to park the car for 2 days, a ferry to and from the island, as well as one night at the campground since there's no free camping allowed on the island. The boat ride to the island was pretty beautiful and the employees took the time to point out a historical fort as well as the large aboriginal community of Yarrabah along the coast.
The views and fishing from the island exceeded expectations but the campground most certainly did not! The $40/night was steep but we expected little based on the reviews and figured we were better off than staying at the only other accommodation, an expensive resort. Thankfully, we weren't here to spend time at the campground!
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| Fitzroy Island |
After getting our tent set up, we soon made the hike over to Nudey Beach, where a friend from Instagram recommended I start fishing. The beach was full of other tourists, but thankfully I had the large rocks to the side all to myself. The numerous rocks and reef structures in the water made the fishing very difficult, and it took some time getting used to. Eventually, I figured out how to drop my rig into specific holes between boulders to avoid becoming snagged repeatedly. There would be no long casts here! In fact, I only found about 2 sq ft of fishable area, but thankfully they held fish! All the fish were caught on the same three-way rig tipped with cutbait, as there was a limit of one hook per line in the area.
I won't go into detail for each catch since they were all caught about the same way, but I will say the fish here were especially beautiful. In particular, the Harlequin Tuskfish and Orangestriped Triggerfish really blew us away with their stunning colours. These were reef fish like I had never seen before, not even in Florida!
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| Bigeye Snapper (L. lutjanus) |
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| Bluespotted Grouper (C. argus) |
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| Blacktail Grubfish (P. queenslandica) |
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| Floral Maori Wrasse (C. chlorourus) |
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| Harlequin Tuskfish (C. fasciatus) |
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| Orangstriped Triggerfish (B. undulatus) |
We spent most of the day soaking up the sun at the fishing spot, only returning to our campsite after being thoroughly sunburned. We had some snacks and Alex relaxed but it wasn't long before I started getting bored and wanting to make a cast. I caved and decided to make a cast from the beach near our site as we waited for the sun to set. The bites were instant, as they often are in saltwater, but I kept pulling up the same fish. They all had a dark blotch on their sides but actually turned out to be two new species: Blackspot Snapper and Thumbprint Emperor!
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| Blackspot Snapper (L. fulviflamma) |
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| Thumbprint Emperor (L. harak) |
My friend who had given me the spot from earlier in the day also suggested casting some bait out for sharks, apparently the bite was supposed to be instantaneous! Apparently, I am not a very good shark fisherman because I ended the night with a few takes and 0 sharks.
An incoming thunderstorm pushed us off the water and we returned to our tent for the night, only waking up to make our ferry ride back to the mainland the next morning. It was good stay overall, in a beautiful area with plenty of beautiful fish, I only wish the facilities were nicer given the expensive cost.
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