Yesterday I went for a run with Ward in his boat to fish the flats on Maggie Island. This was a new adventure for me, and I was keen to see how it was done. Ward is a purist fly fisher, and chasing Golden Trevalley on the flats is a bit of a favourite of his.
We headed off about 6am and immediately found that strong Northerly still blowing out the front of the harbor. So it was a bit of rough going getting to the island, but once in the protection of the bay it was almost glassed out. Ward eased the boat up onto the flats where we were floating in just inches of water. Almost immediately we began spotting the Goldens 'tailing' as they fed.
While Ward is pretty switched on with his fly fishing, I had no idea what to chuck at these fish! Considering the shallow depth I figured a good old DOA prawn might be as good as anything. And sure enough the very first fish I cast at turned on the lure and followed it in. The fish spooked as it neared the boat, but I was now confident enough I could get their attention.
We bottomed the boat on the shallows and Ward jumped out to track down some fish that where out of range. But I stated in the boat as I didn't have decent shoes and long pants. But it didn't take long and some fish began tailing within range. But each cast saw the lure land out of the sight of the fish.
As the tide came in a little the boat floated again and I was able to hunt down a few fish with the electric. Eventually I managed to get close to a fish and land the lure in the right spot. Smack, he hit the lure and took off. Only a small fish, he ran hard and performed well in the very shallow water. On the 8lb Stella 1000fe it was spectacularly fun. After a good tussle I grabe the fish by the tail and lifted him in. My first flats fish! There were a lot of tails sticking out of the water that morning that were considerable larger, I would love to have tangled with one of them on the light gear! But buy the time we unhooked this fish the tide had risen too far and the fish had moved off.
Definitely something I would like to do again. Thanks Ward!
