We took off from Brisbane the minute lockdown was lifted, the goal was to get on the fish but really we were just looking forward to a few days away from the house!
Lockdown finished at 6pm, so it was a late camp setup, reckon we eased into our first beers around 10pm. Couldn’t have just one though and we set about formulating a plan of attack for the morning over a few brews… sunrise fish!
Unfortunately the sunrise fishing was terrible! I should clarify.. the weather was fantastic.. We just couldn’t find the fish. I managed to hook something just slightly larger than my hook, but this was the only sign of life!
Licking our wounds, we returned to camp a little deflated, but still happy to be out of the house. We spent the rest of the morning finishing the camp setup and even shot into town to pick up some bait.
A new plan was forming… Teewah beach. The afternoon was spent drinking beer, checking tides and boasting about the monster dart and whiting we’d be catching tomorrow! We did try an evening fish, but results were just as discouraging as the mornings effort.. Inskip Point was a wasteland, devoid of life.
Day 2 and we were off to Teewah. A quick trip around the town of Rainbow beach, onto the beach and onward to Leisha track. We got about 1km down the beach before a gutter distracted us. 30 minutes later, we should have just kept driving!
We eventually rounded Leisha track and headed south toward Teewah.
We had heard about some decent whiting being caught down near the camping zones, so we were headed toward the southern end of those.. desperate for a credible catch.
Driving along and a rather plain, boring, average little hole appeared in the surf.. Sick of driving we decided, this was the spot. Even if we had to sit here ALL day, we were going to catch something decent.
Awnings were out, rods were off the roof and before you could say “What the hell kind of crap gutter is this”, bait was in the water.
It didn’t take long and I was on! I wasn’t even prepared for it.. I was busy heckling the others when my rod bent and I realised I had not set my drag…. as the fish and line headed for the horizon, I snapped back to reality and quickly wound up the reel.. It was a dart.. this much I knew. That head shake is immediately recognisable.
The fight was on.
It didn’t take long for victory.. I was hungry for this one. The Dart was swept up onto the beach, and was quickly in my possession. Not a bad size.. which if I had packed the ruler, I would have been able to confirm (Thats a whole other story!). Luckily i have a 30cm mark on my tackle box.. Easily legal and the first fillets we’ll be having for dinner.
The flood gates opened and the fish started flowing.. The camera was put down and we enjoyed a few good hours of landing Dart and Whiting.
Feeling much better about our fishing abilities, we departed back to Inskip, trying to beat the sunset back to camp.
All up we managed a half dozen Whiting and 2 good sized Dart.. which were very very tasty indeed!
