Bit of a delayed report but here we go,

After a long wait since booking the trip finally rolled around, and with the scare of a “cyclone” we were given the instructions to come a day early or risk not getting on the island for a few days. The way into steep we didn’t know what to expect as none of us had been before, everyone was a little nervous as all the traffic was headed away from steep and all the cars were stopping us and saying that everyone was being kicked out due to the weather. Luckily we ignored all the chatter knowing that Kieran had asked us to come a day early so we could get on the island.

Once the 5 minute barge was over the adventure began, as we were racing time to get to Urchin Point before dark as we had no idea on what kind of track was ahead of us. We met a few FW members coming off the island who said it was about 4hrs to Urchin Pt. In the end it was only about 3 hours and the track was pretty cruisy with the odd bump and rock, nothing boggy which was surprising.

With the swell up from the storm we go into urchin point at about 6pm and were met with perfect left point break right in front of the shack, the next few days we explored a few fishing spots to throw placcys as the swell made some of the cliffs a bit difficult, the “cyclone” never showed up. Turtle bay was a nice spot with plenty of spango’s, red throat, spanish flag, cod baldies and parrotfish among many others with bust ups of tuna and mackies about 100-200m off the beach. We ended up going for a few sessions here but the hill was a mission with all the fishing and spearing gear.

The block was a good platform to fish however we didn’t manage to land anything in the couple of sessions we tried it but did see a couple free jumping sail fish about 200m from the cliff, few hook-ups here and there but nothing flashy. After a few days we sussed a few other spots one we called “snapper holes” (it had another name but this was more appropriate). Plenty of good sized snapper came from here as well as a big spango. Another spot close by became our spinning spot as the wind was in a good direction and it handled the five of us spinning (although there were some complications!). The “cliff spinning” style of fishing was new to all but 1 of us so we had some learning curves along with the cliff gaffing.. Plenty of hook-ups with a triple hook up we thought we were bound to land one, unfortunately for the three of us the only guy on the cliff who wasn’t hooked up wanted in on the action and eventually resulted in the 3 of us losing fish to the bottom of the cliff and he was the only one to land a nice Spanish mack. Later in the session there was a also a tuna landed. After numerous hook ups to mackies, tuna and gold spot trevally we only managed to land one gold spot.

We didn’t fish at Urchin Pt itself much with only one session resulting in a couple of baldies caught. We speared here a few times seeing countless baldies and parrot fish that were massive and the boys managed a few nice shots. With the swell down a little bit we took the boards off the roof and decided to go for a paddle, instantly regretting not going out the first days when it was pumping. Some nice waves still coming through and we were able to suss the reef, they don’t call it Urchin Pt for no reason so negotiating the way in and out of the key hole was crucial. Anyone thinking of going and wondering if to take boards –yes you will regret it if there is waves.

Overall the trip was great, I do have to mention the flies though as they were fark’d. Fly net essential and worn pretty much at all times in the day unless on a windy cliff. Mossies not too bad with only a half hour period of hectic bites at sundown on the cliffs, not at the shack. The shack was epic, somewhere to store shit and hang out in the day to watch the surf etc, genny made nights better with the lights.

Great trip and both the Hilux and the Ranger had no dramas as pretty stock cars (besides the springs on both being flattened from the load). Few photos, multiple cameras makes it hard to get all the photos off everyone and so does swimming with your phone so we lost few nice flicks.

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