Paradise Found By Luke Galea

I pen this article at the back end of what has been the best weather window I can ever remember. There was not a breath of wind and well below 5 knots each day but it was more about the eight or nine consecutive days of this. Not at any stage did it blow up periodically through the day around a tide change or anything of the sort. It was actually hard to differentiate on the horizon where the water ended and the sky began. 

The views from Brampton are beautiful.

The water was absolutely glassed out, skies were clear, boat ramps were chocka’s and a hell of a lot of people took advantage of this. Tinnies could have gone to New Zealand if they had the fuel capacity.

In all seriousness though, it did give plenty of us with smaller boats the opportunity to venture further and wider than we usually would. The problem is for us in Mackay is that we are too spoilt for choice. Whilst I haven’t yet ventured to the reef in my tinny (closest proper reef is over 52miles off Mackay), there is also excellent fishing around the shipping channel, wrecks and countless inshore islands. Options are endless.

Mackay’s inshore islands are absolutely magnificent. So many of my family and friends watch Survivor on TV or that new show Million Dollar Island and think to themselves “man that place is paradise”. I’ve got a newsflash for you. If you take the time to get out on the water and explore, you will see that the stunning natural beauty of Mackay’s inshore islands will rival these places. Stunning vegetation down to the waterline, rocky cliffs, turquoise blue water so clear that it is like you are in an aquarium and beautiful reefy growth. The islands beaches are plentiful, pristine and you could quite easily pull your tinny up on the sand and have the place to yourself for the entire day. Camping out on these beaches is a viable option. You just need to ensure you have a couple of sand anchors and a means of recharging your boats batteries.

On this particular day, I had decided to go explore Brampton Island, located adjacent Carlisle Island, some 30km north of Mackay. The glass out conditions and the mere 30km journey was an absolute breeze for my 440 Renegade which I have found to be the perfect boat for me. Perfect for fishing and crabbing the creeks, fishing the dams and not too small that I can’t go offshore popping or jigging on a good day. And when I say offshore, the furthest I have pushed my little tub is 42 nautical miles where my brother and I bagged out on nannygai in 2hours! There is a video on that trip on my YouTube channel, Luke’s Fishin’ Mission so make sure you check that out! It was an insane little session.

This coral trout was taken on the 110mm atomic slim-twitcher. Trout were my target, and we did get two, just no solid ones.

I had never actually been to Brampton Island and I was super keen to check it out. Brampton Island actually featured a booming resort in the early 90’s. Day trip boats use to run out of Mackay and there was also (and still is) an air strip on there as well. We did pull the tinny up on the beach and had a quick look around. There are heaps of dilapidated buildings and structures still evident on the island and it was such a shame to see them go to rack and ruin. It was so easy to see how popular this place would have been back in the day as the views were simply stunning. Like some of the Whitsunday Islands (South Molle for one), I have heard that cyclones caused a bunch of structural damage and then the investors didn’t put the money back in. I really don’t know how this can be left to occur and I feel that the Government should ensure some accountability to make sure these are fixed up again. They are real blemishes upon our island paradises.

Well enough about that already, it’s time to talk a little fishing. With the weather being as amazing as it was, it offered a great opportunity to get my young mate Lukey and his mum Katie out for the day. Now Lukey is certainly a very keen fisherman but doesn’t get a lot of opportunity to fish unless invited out by someone, and I just knew Katie would simply appreciate just chilling and being out on the water. I commenced by casting out 5 inch Atomic Fat Grubs and letting them sink naturally down amongst the coral formations. I had it matched to a 1/8oz or 1/6oz jighead with a 3/0 hook. The beauty about these curl grub plastics is that the oversize tail wafts around tantalisingly on the drop without the angler having to even impart much action. I had this matched up to an 8-16lb Atomic Arrowz rod, 4000 spin reel, 20lb braid and 30lb leader.

It took a little while to get the first bite of the morning but it turned out to be a pretty good one. My rod buckled over and some good drag was being pulled. It turned out to be a really nice grassy sweetlip which put up an excellent account for itself in the shallows. As the sun rose up higher in the sky and water became easier to see through, the bites were more forth-coming. The next couple of hours saw dozens of fish from dozens of species but an undeniable lack of size.

Have you ever seen a prettier little fish than this juvenile red. From this, it is hard to fathom that they turn into giants.

I decided to pull up the spot-locked electric motor and cruise over to the bank across the northern side. Upon arrival, it was immediately apparent that the water looked deeper and more promising. We gave the plastics a break and decided to give the 110mm atomic slim-twitchers a swim. They are a long, thin hardbody with an incredible action and very slow float on the pause. I have had some great success on these lures lately on the barramundi and mangrove jacks in the creeks (yep I’ve got videos of these too) and thought they could go quite well amongst the reef flats for a coral trout. We caught a bunch more fish on these lures including cod, stripeys, blueys and we did in fact get a couple of coral trout, although undersize.

We only brought a few fish home but at the end of the day it was just so good to be out there exploring a new part of Mackay and in such glamorous conditions. Young Lukey could not stop saying how impressed he was with the Atomic slim-twitchers and that he had never caught so many fish in one session on lures before which for me, was reward in itself. To check out the YouTube video from this day, search Lure Fishing Brampton Island Reef Flats on Light Gear – YouTube or simply scan the accompanying QR Code.

Cheers!