Yakabout - Urangan - Fraser Island

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Urangan - Fraser Island

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Saturday, 24 November 2007

Note to self: Always remember to check your batteries

10km down - 20 or so to go

I won't even bother taking my usual fishing report format for this write up because this particular trip turned into more of an eco tour than a fishing trip. And even if I did catch fish - which I didn't - I wouldn't have been able to catch them on film anyway, because after just one photo (pictured) my camera informed me that the battery was now dead. I only have myself to blame for that because I have 2 spares, both of which i failed to carry out with me.

It was a fairly ambitious trip this day, accounting for 12km to Fraser Island (just south of Moon Point) and about another 3 - 4 km upsteam in one of the creeks and all the way back again. I stopped off at a large sand bar a few km out from the island which is where I snapped the photo above (and promptly informed of my battery demise) and then continued on. I really was very confident of hooking up one in the creeks, but the trip across should have served as an omen. Not even a touch all the way across (I was hoping for a mack tuna, perhaps a coral trout over one of the reefs) and nor a bite once in the creek. Admittedly, I was very surprised about this.

Even more surprising was that on the way across I didn't see anything else of interest - not a turtle, dolphin, dugong or whale. It just seemed dead. So as I set off to make my way back, there I was asking myself why I'd even bothered. It's a long way to go for no bites and there and then I started wishing I'd gone to Gatakers Bay instead. Soon after I was about to start wishing that I'd decided to go there even more.

I was only about 2km away from the Urangan pier on the return voyage when I saw my first real signs of life. Some Indo Pacific Humpback whales turned up and unlike my last few encounters with them, they seemed oblivious to my presence. So I got in amongst them and watched them for a bit and while I was doing so I noticed something interesting on the horison. Humpback whales, that from my calculation, must have been only a km or two off out of Gatakers Bay. They don't usually show up there and I thought it was ironic they decided to do so on a day that I did not.

Instinct instructed me to start paddling toward them but soon after starting I realised the futility of it. They were within paddling distance (I'd guess 8 - 10km away), but I'd just covered almost 30km already. Nor did I have the means to photograph them if I reached them. And there was no guarantee they'd still be there if and when I got there. So instead of pishing on I pulled up stumps and headed back to the pier, from where I launched.
It all served as a timely reminder to check all of my gear - batteries and all - before even embarking on such an ambitious trip. All told I think I covered almost 35km this day, peddling all the way out and paddling almost all the way back. I'm a little tired today as a result, which is probably why I decided to sit out the 'prefish' at the Sunstate Hobie Bass Bash event in Cooroy, which is set to kick into full swing tomorrow. More on that in my next post.