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| Townsville: West Point | | Print | |
| Friday, 16 November 2007 | ||||||||||||||||
The perfect washing machine Low-tide washing machine, 30 knot winds
So I unloaded the yak and started preparing for what I knew was going to be an interesting trip. Today turned out to be a comedy of errors that some probably wouldn't admit to. But here it is, warts 'n all. At 6:30AM winds were blowing in from the south at about 20 knots, which isn't a good sign at that hour. My target was west point of Magnetic island and I figured it would be protected from the southerlies pretty well. Getting there was interesting though - 5km of paddling against waves crashing in from the side, many of which broke right on cue. It was a lot of fun though, so I pushed on regardless and an hour later I'd reached the relative safety of west point.  Protected by southerlies from west point Go west young man, they said... big fish there mate. Specifically, Cobia, mackeral and shark are the key species here and that's precisely what I'd rigged to catch. Except, of course, that I'd left the bait at home, meaning I was left to troll and cast lures instead. I'd also forgotten my cap, so my face was burnt by the time I got there. I have to admit - West Point does indeed look very fishy, approachable only by boat. Upon reaching the spot I was certain a landed fish wouldn't be far away. I started by trolling a gold bomber on one rod (too shallow for deep divers) and casting a large soft plastic lure (11cm pilchard type) at the rocky outcrops to my right. I did this for almost the entire length of the northern side of maggie island and then half way back again. Eventually I gave up on that (without a touch) and decided to head north out towards a small island, trolling the entire time. Surely I'd catch something here, wouldn't I?  27.8km round trip As I left the relative protection of west point - which just happened to coincide with low tide, waves rolled in from both sides, east and west. Where they met (I seemed to be the nexus point) it became like being in a washing machine, which made it difficult to adjust for balance. The phenomenon eased as I got further away and soon after I'd reached a small island about 4km from west point. Even here I couldn't manage a bite. One quick circuit and it was time to head back. As soon as I went to do so the reality hit me - those southerlies were now blowing at at least 25 knots, gusting to 30 and were coupled with incoming chop that was hitting head on. These were the conditions that I had to endure for the 12km paddle for the return trip. Had I been in any other kayak than the Adventure, the 2 hour return trip might have been more like 3. It was during the return trip that I had an experience that outshone any previous shark encounter I'd yet had and it occurred in the most unforeseeable circumstances I could imagine. I was using my beloved red-headed deep diver lure and I got the impression it was catching weed, so I decided to reel it in to check. Sure enough, it was covered in the stuff. So I lifted it just clear of the water and started peeling it off. Right as I did so I noticed a large brownish coloured shape move in swiftly underneath it and I was able to identify it as a hammerhead shark. It stalled for a moment, wondering where the weed-coated lure had gone. And it's hammer shaped head was about 10 - 15 cm way from my hand, looking left and right for something to bite onto. I won't lie about it - it did give me a fright. The shark was about 2 meters in length, and only feet away from the kayak, it was an awesome site. Instinct made me rip the hand away of course but then I laughed harder than I had for ages. It was all over in a few seconds though - there was no chance for a photo shoot. I was pleased I got to see it though - it's the first hamerhead I've seen in the wild. Not much more to report really, save for the fact that I lost my trusty GPS to Davey Jones locker, in what can only be described as the second most dumb thing I did that day (after going kayaking in those conditions). If it weren't for my confidence in the Adventure, I would not have attempted this trip. Lost GPS aside, I'm glad I did, because now I know what the kayak can really do. As close as I must have come to it, I still haven't discovered the limits to it's potential. But I will. Oh yes, I will!
   
11-01-2008 14:06 Good report on the trip. The island you mentioned about 4k from west point is called bay rock. Bad luck on both the fishing and your GPS.  However good luck with the Hammer Head  11-01-2008 15:33 That was good luck mate - 6 inches worth of luck, because thats how close I came to getting my hand shredded :-) Only registered users can write comments. Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6 |
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