Keppel Islands advice

[longhairedwahoo]

Hi guys, Im heading up to camp and fish from Miall island end of next week departing from Rosslyn bay. Wind is looking good on the forecast (long range so taken with grain of salt) but the swell is looking like it will pick up while Im over there so Im worried about the trip back. I have no experience with the area though my understanding was that the cap/bunker group, swains and the keppels themselves provide a lot of protection from swell so wind is really the only worry. Just checking if this is the case because my boat is on the small side and I dont feel like getting stranded in 2-3m swell. 

Cheers, Jack

[ellicat]

I have no experience there either, however @benno573 may have some idea and I'm sure he'll chip in with something for you in the next day or so.

 

PS Welcome to AFO

[Ryannnnnnnn]

Was up there a few months ago. Once you get to the islands you are fine as the islands give great protection as they have some height to them. The wind was very average and I tried to go out a few times and had to turn about a 1km out of the marina. One the trips back was very sketchy in my 6.3m centre cabin so do be careful. it's a bit like Moreton bay in the sense that it's fairly shallow so the chop stands up. I found there wasn't many shallow sandbars which was nice.

I'm going to be back up there at the end of October - would have offered to follow you out and back in to make sure you were all sweet if I was there at the same time.

[longhairedwahoo]

Cheers for the advice @Ryannnnnnnn, would've thought a 6.3 cc could handle pretty much anything keppel bay could throw at it but i guess I might've underestimated it. Dont suppose you know of any good plan B fishing or camping options in the area? I'm driving up from Brissie so dont want the drive to be a complete waste if the bay is rough.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

24 minutes ago, longhairedwahoo said:

Cheers for the advice @Ryannnnnnnn, would've thought a 6.3 cc could handle pretty much anything keppel bay could throw at it but i guess I might've underestimated it. Dont suppose you know of any good plan B fishing or camping options in the area? I'm driving up from Brissie so dont want the drive to be a complete waste if the bay is rough.

Hey @longhairedwahoo

I've never been offshore in that area, but you could either go to Corio Bay (good chance at whiting, bream, grunter, cod, etc), or the Fitzroy River, which you'll have a shot at a barra or thready.

Cheers Hamish

[longhairedwahoo]

Cheers @AUS-BNE-FISHOI havent heard of Corio Bay but looks worth a trip north itself just from google maps. Admittedly I'm heading north to try get away from bream but at least it looks like nice camping and probably produces better than mud island anyways. Any advice on access to it or if theres anything important I should know about the area e.g. if its full of crocs would be massively appreciated?

cheers, Jack

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

12 minutes ago, longhairedwahoo said:

Cheers @AUS-BNE-FISHOI havent heard of Corio Bay but looks worth a trip north itself just from google maps. Admittedly I'm heading north to try get away from bream but at least it looks like nice camping and probably produces better than mud island anyways. Any advice on access to it or if theres anything important I should know about the area e.g. if its full of crocs would be massively appreciated?

cheers, Jack

Hey Jack

The Fitzroy has a large population of crocodiles, and many 3 metre plus ones are seen around the city (mind you, people still kayak and row in the Fitzroy). Corio Bay also has a population but I don't think it is as many. At both locations be croc smart.

Yeppoon does not have as many but they have been seeing them at Farnborough and Main Beach recently.

Cheers Hamish

[Ryannnnnnnn]

2 hours ago, longhairedwahoo said:

Cheers for the advice @Ryannnnnnnn, would've thought a 6.3 cc could handle pretty much anything keppel bay could throw at it but i guess I might've underestimated it. Dont suppose you know of any good plan B fishing or camping options in the area? I'm driving up from Brissie so dont want the drive to be a complete waste if the bay is rough.

Yeah I think it was the frequency and steepness of the chop that made it uncomfortable. Was losing light so I was trying to get back quickly + I had a concerned Mrs onboard which also added to it.

If you can't get out the the Keppels there's a island (or large rock) that might fish OK called bluff rock near the ramp. You'll see it on the right opposite a beach as you drive down to the boat ramp. Didn't fish there but it looked interesting. The water was pretty dirty until you got right out to the keppels where it was beautiful.

 

If it's blowing too hard definitely get up to byfield and have a nice lunch at the Ferns Hideaway Resort. Old mate there is one of the nicest blokes you'll meet and plays live music regularly. He'll be able to point you in some good direction for some spots, and he'll even let you take the kayaks up the creek if you have lunch or stay there. Up that way there's little creeks that would surely hold barra and there's corio bay https://www.wikifishingspots.com.au/corio-bay-fishing-spots-queensland/ which is meant to fish well. Upstream there's a cool boatramp called corbetts landing ( I think it used to be used as a dock to transport wood). It's a bit of a trek down a dirt road but from what I saw the system looked interesting.

 

South of Yeppoon you've got the causeway. I haven't fished it myself but I think it's hit and miss depending on the season.

 

Oh and all the greenzones in the bay are displayed in an app called 'Eye on the reef'

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

1 minute ago, Ryannnnnnnn said:

corbetts landing ( I think it used to be used as a dock to transport wood). It's a bit of a trek down a dirt road but from what I saw the system looked interesting.

 

South of Yeppoon you've got the causeway. I haven't fished it myself but I think it's hit and miss depending on the season

Corbetts Landing is where I launched into a creek in/near Corio Bay. The dirt road is very nice and has minimum bumps on it. There were a fair few pickers but some better fish in the mix too. Upstream from the ramp there is an exposed rock, which on high tide looks like a croc head.

I've seen flatties, jacks, barra, and whiting in the Causeway too. I wish I was in Yeppoon more to fish there. 

Cheers Hamish

[GregN70]

I live at yeppoon, and I find it very difficult to find any fish around there.

I've started to travel either North or South to fish, I seldom fish around Yeppoon anymore, its just not very good in my opinion.

As for the bay, no really swell. But like the others have said, it chops up, especially with an afternoon NE sea Breeze like we get in Spring, the closer you get to the coast the choppier it gets.

 

[longhairedwahoo]

Thanks guys, sounds like I should be good for the crossing just gotta be prepared to take it slow but nice to know if I chicken out theres always corio. Hopefully will come back with a solid trip report in a couple weeks.

[Ryannnnnnnn]

Looking forward to hearing about it

[longhairedwahoo]

Trip Report:

After the 9 hour drive we arrived at Rosslyn bay to the strong afternoon northerly you guys warned me about, loaded up the boat and started the punch out. As we left it seemed like every boat in the bay was returning and we were the only boat heading out. The odd laughs at us from the boats we passed did not help my confidence as we exited the marina. Very quickly we realised it was going to be a slow and wet trip (took about two hours in the end) and as i write this my tailbone is still in pain from sitting on an esky for the trip. Eventually we arrived at Miall and was greeted to a paradise that made it all worth it.

About an hour before dark the two of us suited up to go spearing to catch the nights dinner. After an hour of searching around without pulling a trigger we started to swim back to camp. Fortunantely on the way in I spotted a big gold spot cod (a first for me) hiding under a rock that trusted its camouflage just little too much and after a quick fight it was dinner. 

Checking the forecast that night and remembering how rough the trip over was we decided we had to cut the trip very short and leave the next morning so we didnt have to make the crossing in twice as strong winds as what we came over in. A quick shoredive in the morning produced a PB 60cm coral trout for me before we returned home in glassy conditions that my bruised rear welcomed.

All in all was somewhat a fail as we expected to stay for 4 nights and try trawl and dive for pelagics on the outer reefs but as a boatie I sure learnt a lot and two PB fish isn't a bad compromise either. Sucks for my buddy though who didn't get a single fish.

[AUS-BNE-FISHO]

Great report @longhairedwahoo. I always find it interesting to read about spear fishing as it is something so different to what I normally do. 

Those are some whopping fish. Shame you didn't get out for a trawl but it still seems like a lot of fun. I don't think there's any crocs out there but if you ever go closer in you may want to be a bit careful because they have seen a few crocs around the local Yeppoon beaches in recent times.

Cheers Hamish

[ellicat]

Shame it got cut short. Looks like a nice spot. Well done on those fish, they look tasty.

[Drop Bear]

Great fish mate. Glad you had a good time. Thanks for the report.