Reef fishing

Lazy Silver Gull

A lot of my time on Hamilton Island was spent fishing around the various islands of the Whitsundays and also the Lindeman Island group just to the south. Unfortunately there were no catches of a lifetime but I did come away with a story of the one that got away.

Stripey Seaperch

Indonesian Snapper

Hussar

I don't know what it was that I hooked but the power was freakish as it stripped line from the reel even with the drag set as high as possible. As I clung on for dear life the skipper was getting excited about the "head shakes" coming from the fish at which point he threw the boat into gear and, like some scene from Jaws, we pursued the beast across the ocean. The fish knew exactly where it was going though and was soon heading deep into the reef where it managed to break us off. No idea what it was but that's what keeps you heading back for more.

Batfish

Coral Trout

Honeycomb Cod

Even with a lack of success trawling for Marlin and the other big sport fish, the reef fishing in tropical waters is always a lot of fun too. An impressive range of species were caught with only some of those being pictured here. Most catches were returned to the water but at the end of the day you always head back to shore with enough legal size fish for a good feed.

Grass Sweetlip

Grass Sweetlip a couple of hours later