As low cloud and rain attacked all of Victoria we stood on the Tarmac of Melbourne's Moorabbin airport in a frantic rush to load our luggage into the light aircraft.

For months we had anticipated this trip to Flinders Island, firstly a flight over some of Victoria's most spectacular coastline including the world famous Wilsons Prom and secondly fishing aboard James Luddington's charter boat"Straight Lady" and Lee Cox’s charter boat “Vanora”.

Well as with all things in life not all goes to plan. In the flight from Moorabbin to Flinders Island we encountered what only could be described as white out conditions, so much for the photo opportunities.

On arrival at Flinders Island we were greeted by sixty knot south westerly winds and constant sheets of rain, with a top temperature for the day of 13 degrees it was hard to believe it was summer. This was our Christmas break up and it was starting to look like the only fish that we were going to see were going to be those frozen Birds Eye models!

Once we unloaded the plane between the rain squalls, I picked up the hire car and we were soon loaded up and headed straight for the White mark pub. At the pub we cleansed our souls with a few ales as the wind continued to try and blow every last dog off their chains. With souls cleansed and lunch consumed the time came to leave the pub regarded as one of Australia's most remote and its fine characters and settle into our accommodation.

Our accommodation was Lady Barron Cottages at Lady Barron. We had no sooner lit the fire and settled down with a Varity of beverages when James Luddington arrived. Clad in the typical southern fisherman's attire of knee length boots and a woollen jumper he provided a ray of sunshine to a very cold dull day. James informed us that it didn't matter how much the wind blew or it rained we would go fishing in the morning.   James told us that we could expect to catch some quality flathead and gummy shark. Well we were all chopping at the bit to put a bit of quality flake into the fish bin.

As morning dawned we awoke to the sound squalls lashing Flinders Island's Lady Barron harbour with vengeance. Yet even with screaming hangovers we were not going to be beaten by the forties no matter how hard they roared. We kitted ourselves up for the long day ahead with a hearty cooked breakfast and a few mugs of coffee.

By the time the clock ticked over to 07:30 we were steaming through Franklin Sound bound for the Chappell Islands. The ride was quite mild till we were no longer in the lee of Cape Barren Island. The stretch of water between Cape Barren Island and the Chappell Island group was exposed fully to the gale force south westerly. Straight Lady made easy work of the choppy conditions. It would have been a fare assessment to say that the boat handled the conditions infinitely better than the majority of the occupants.

After nearly two hours of pounding through squall after squall we reached our first destination. We began our fishing on the lee side of Mount Chappell Island made famous for its Tiger snakes. The wind was still blowing in excess of 30 Knots, The boats drift was fast yet we were soon catching good numbers of Flathead. Then near the end of out first drift my rod bowed heavily to a bigger fish. The fight was unmistakable, it was a Gummy Shark. After five minutes a nice Gummy was boated. The spotted electric blue flanks of this beautiful specimen were perfectly camouflaged against the grey granite of Flinders Island's Strzelecki Peaks.

As the day wore on the fishing slowed yet we were still catching the odd Gummy Shark. The weather was still protesting or presence. The tops of the surrounding mountains remained densely covered in strata Cumulus cloud and the water in the straights and channels was churning like a washing machine but undeterred we fished on. The fresh salty air cleansed our bodies of the previous night’s shenanigans. We were all catching fish despite the weather. The end of the day saw us with a very healthy bag of freshly filleted fish. There are no better eating fish than fresh flinders Island flathead or gummy shark. Our mouths watered at the prospect of frying a few fillets for dinner.

As the day drew to an end we steamed back to the harbour. The sun was setting and another squall lashed Lady Barron as we moored back at the wharf. We were wind blow and tired but after warm showers and a feed of fresh fish we were all ready for the following day.

The following morning we were all hustle and bustle as we readied ourselves for another days fishing. Then we noticed something was amiss. One of our crew was missing.

We found him in bed motionless. Only the odd grunt and groan indicated life. Apparently the previous night was just a little bit too big. This was his excuse anyway. We believe that he was a little bit gun shy. Yesterday he was a little on the pale side and spent quite a bit of time in the cabin wishing that he would just die. Sea sickness is no laughing matter, it’s horrible. As a tip always have a couple of ginger tablets prior to such trips. This helps alleviate such occurrences and makes ones day more enjoyable.

 It was no real surprise to discover that today we would be one down in the final innings. We tried to talk him around but there was no quarter given on the subject. The car was going to provide his entertainment for the day.

So there we were one down and the challenge ahead of us. The chips were down, could we pull through? Or would we be beaten by the elements?

Arrival down the wharf was heralded with blue skies. Unfortunately the wind was still very strong. Today we would be solely fishing for gummies.

Gummy shark fishing is very unpredictable at the best of time and today was going to prove to be no different. We fished the most reliable water first but we had very little to show for our efforts. We moved frequently to locate the fish.  As the day progressed we all caught quality fish. The gummies weren’t huge but they were very respectable. Our best fishing was had on slack water when the gummies must move to survive.

 As the day drew to a close the wind slowly abated to around fifteen knots and we even got a glimpse of the sun. As the temperature rose to above fifteen degrees we all reflected on our time aboard Straight Lady. Tomorrow we were sampling Flinders Island’s beach fishing options and then we were out to the Continental Shelf aboard Lee Cox’s boat Vanora.

We had had a fantastic day and the fish box was well and truly full of fresh Flake.

Beach fishing on Flinders Island is mainly based around flathead, salmon and gummy shark fishing. Today we would be mainly chasing Flathead and Salmon. At seven am there was a knock on the door. It was our guide Chris Rhodes. After we finished our breakfast and packed our esky Chris took us to our fist location. We were fishing near Camerons Inlet, the wind was on our backs and the Salmon were hungry. In a little over a couple of hours we had caught and released over one hundred salmon. Amongst the salmon were a few nice big Flathead and the odd trevelly as well as more than a few eagle rays. Most of the time all six of us were connected to fish, but in the end the stingrays and Eagle rays forced our hand and we had to move.  From Camerons Inlet we travelled the entire length of the Island to North East River. There are many fishing options when fishing North East River, you can spin or bait fish the rocks for Salmon and Flathead or you can fish the tidal flats for Salmon, Flathead, Flounder and Trevally. We were going to do both. We fished the rocks on the top of the outgoing tide and fished the flats on the tail end of the run out.

The fishing off the rocks was exceptional; every cast would see you land a Trevally or a salmon. This was no exception even when spinning. Everybody was catching a multitude of fish. All this action soon got the attention of a local seal who thought our second hand fish were just perfect for his dinner. This was quite amusing for a while till this big bull seal realized that he could get an easier feed if he sat right up on the top of the rock with us. Hungry, irate and barking like a junk yard dog this smelly monster then decided to reclaim his rocky point sending six terrified blokes scurrying over and down the rocks in a desperate attempt to escape the wrath of the seal king. The seals actions were quite justified as we were in his territory. Early last decade hundreds of thousands of Southern Fur Seals were killed by the “Straight Men” as a means of trade and income. Only now are small populations returning to Flinders Island. This big fella had decided to try and start to even up the ledger a little.

After such an encounter lunch was required. We lit a fire and had a great BBQ of Lamb chops, sausages, and fresh fish. After a hearty feed it was time to move down the river and fish the sand flats. While we were fishing for flathead Chris was going to snorkel and spear us some flounder. The fishing on the flats was dynamite. Most casts saw us pull in a salmon, Trevally or a large flathead. The action unfortunately once again attracted Eagle rays. These monster Eagle rays were great fun but once you’ve caught four or five they are just a pain in the bum. As the stingrays increased in numbers we decided to retire for the day and head back to our accommodation in Lady Barron. What a day ! Flinders Island has got to be one of the best surf fishing places on the planet. We were exhausted and a nice quite night was in order as tomorrow was our big day out on the continental shelf fishing for striped trumpeter.

Striped Trumpeter are regarded by many as on of the Countries best table fish. We were all very eager to test this theory.

We were greeted at the Lady Barron Wharf by a light breeze and a low base of stratus cloud. The weather was perfect. The trip out was a long one. The Continental Shelf is between thirty and forty miles off the East coast of Flinders Island. The trip out was amazing. For the first hour we passed pod after pod of dolphins. They were putting on a grand show leaping, flipping and rolling out of the water; with the backdrop of a bright red sunrise this was truly an unforgettable sight.

After a little over two hours steaming we had reached our first stop. We were fishing in well over one hundred meters of water and using sinkers over one pound in weight. It was amazing how distinct the fish’s bites could be felt using the braided line, you could easily tell the difference between dragging across rocks and an inquiry by a fish. The lines took around three minutes to reach the bottom and over seven to bring up with a fish attached.

The fishing was a little slow but that’s understandable. These waters are not that well explored by charter boats and the Trumpeter are very much dependant on high concentrations of bait fish on the bottom. This usually occurs around reef panicles but this is very much dependant on the temperature of the water and the mood of the bait fish.  Many of these reef panicles are well known by the Cray Fishing boats and pots are regularly set in these areas as they are also prime Crayfish locations. The down side to this fact is that the Striped Trumpeter is a by catch of Cray fishing and it’s not hard for a whole school of Trumpeter to be wiped out with the setting of a couple of Cray pots.

Our day on the shelf saw the bait fish sitting in the mid range of the water table for most of the time. When the bait did reach the bottom the fishing was great with double headers occasionally for a lucky angler. The fight of the Trumpeter is very similar to that of a Snapper. They have a very distinctive head shake and pull quite hard. They are a fun fish to catch averaging around three kilos and growing to over fifteen kilos they are well worth the long haul out to the Shelf.

The table qualities of the Striped Trumpeter lived well up to expectations. They some what in my opinion tasted like an Atlantic Salmon.

We Had a fantastic time on the Shelf aboard Vanora. Lee is not only a top captain who worked hard to put us on to the fish but was great company. Believe me that helps when your stuck on a boat with somebody and your forty miles offshore.

As with all good things this trip had come to an end and as we steamed back to port we all started to discuss our next adventure to Flinders Island.

 Fact File:

Flinders Island is located twenty kilometres off the north east tip of Tasmania. Flinders Island is the largest of the Furneaux group of islands. The Furneaux group of islands lie in the eastern quadrant of Bass Straight separating Victoria From Tasmania.

Flinders Island is approximately 29 kilometres wide and sixty four kilometres long.

The average minimum temperature in winter is six degrees and the average maximum temperature in summer is just over twenty two degrees. In the summer months it is not uncommon for the temperature to reach the mid thirties.

The winds are predominantly form the west and can blow for several days at a time, especially during late winter and early spring. 

Flinders Island is surely a fisherman’s paradise. The weather can be a little fickle at times but when you’re fishing around the fortieth degree latitude that is to be expected, it’s not called the “Roaring Forties” for nothing.

TRACKAIR sourced all of our accommodation and car hire as well as all fishing and aircraft charters.

Scuba Dive Flinders Island

Flinders Island is a divers paradise. Shipwrecks, Reef Dives, Scenic Dives, Drift Dives, Crayfish & Abalone Diving, Photography, Naturalist and Research Dives are all in abundance with little or no commercial pressures. Water temperature is around 20C in summer with excellent visibility (12 - 20 meters) and Depths ranging to 35+ meters Up to 15 meters on most dives this is true adventure diving. Diving at Flinders Island is year round though mid November too late March is particularly good.

Our guide Mike Nichols (NASDS Master Dive Instructor) has over 30 years diving experience, excellent local knowledge and plans dives to meet individual's requirements. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the ride as Mike takes you around the Furneaux Group aboard his fully equipped 13 meter purpose built steel dive vessel ' Bass Pyramid '.

Flinders Island Fishing Tours