Australian Flying to Fishing (A different AFF)

[E Shirley]

Some people are Frequent Flyers because they're FIFO and some because their employer sends them from city to city.

Mr ES is a frequent flyer to get to the best fishing spots. He's not inclined to write his fishing trip reports, but I'm happy to do that for him, if anyone here is interested.

I'll start with Lord Howe Island in 2019 and then perhaps Cairns, Cardwell, Cooktown, Bamaga (Seisia), Home Valley Station, Shady Camp, Daly River, Weipa (including a live aboard), Tasmania and Seattle. And please, please add your own, I know someone who will appreciate that!

I reeled in an awful lot of plastic bags in Tai'O and we've observed good fish being landed at the Bedok Jetty in Singapore. However, neither Hong Kong nor Singapore qualifies as a fishing destination, just a day excursion because we were there.

Fishing Lord Howe Island requires a special blend of dedication and luck.

Mr ES diligently watching for the combination of Reward Seats and affordable accommodation. And then luck that on the days that we're there the weather allows him to get offshore on a fishing charter.



But it's worth every moment of the effort.

 

[love_the_life]

This promises to be an interesting read. Thanks ES.

 

[kookaburra75]

I've never had the patience to go fishing, but I'm always up for a trip report.

 

[Hvr]

This promises to be an interesting read. Thanks ES.

Indeed, it's always good to read a TR with a hook.
And the OP might even find a few chums.

 

[drron]

Love fishing even though I am usually the world's worst fisherman. every now and then though I get lucky. looking forward to the adventures.

 

[Pushka]

I love fishing and I can actually catch them! But we dont have to fly. Walk out the garage doors for a bit or drive to Port Broughton. Best fishing and crabbing ever!

 

[E Shirley]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this. The small matter of having an SCC successfully (and surprisingly painlessly) removed from the bridge of my nose made wearing reading glasses a little uncomfortable for a few weeks. I guess it makes sense to start with Lord Howe Island.

LORD HOWE ISLAND

If you’re thinking about visiting LDH it’s worth having a look at the Lord Howe Island Board website lhib.nsw.gov.au – to get an update on what is happening.

UNESCO lists Lord Howe Island as a World Heritage Site of Global Natural Significance, and the community that lives there takes the care and maintenance of the island very seriously.

It’s a small island with a short runway and that restricts the aircraft that can land there.

The number of tourists on the island is not allowed to exceed 400. The resident population is almost that size and they work together and even with limited resources they provide dining and tour options for visitors.

It’s very remote and sparsely populated location must be part of the reason for the very good fish stocks.



We like the Somerset Apartments, they’re simple, and reasonably handy to a shop and restaurant.


Mr ES enjoyed two days of excellent fishing in August 2018. That year he flew over on Wednesday, fished on Thursday and Friday and I planned to meet him on Saturday…I boarded the flight from Brisbane on Saturday morning, the flight departed on time, but about halfway there the captain was told to turn back to Brisbane. An aircraft that had flown to LDH earlier in the day had a technical problem and couldn’t return to Sydney. The people that should have been on that flight would have to remain on the island and because of the population quota, we could not arrive.

Mr ES returned in September 2019 and I travelled with him. Our flights arrived and departed without incident, but the sea swell was too high for off-shore fishing on the four days that we were there.

We attempted to return in May 2023 but all flights to and fro were cancelled for most of that week.

For the Non-Fisho (me) Lord Howe Island is a safe and peaceful location, where I feel at ease while Mr ES is out fishing.

For the Fisho, if you can get out on the water the fishing is excellent. But there’s nothing ‘set and forget’ about getting there.

 

[E Shirley]

BALANGGARRA (HOME VALLEY STATION)

Yes, Home Valley Station is a cattle station, not a fishing lodge.

We visited HV8 ten years ago, so some of this might be out of date. We will be interested to hear if anyone has an update.

The station is located off the Gibb River Road in the Kimberley. We flew from Brisbane to Darwin and then from Darwin to Kununurra and the station provided transport by 4WD from there. At that time most of the Gibb River Road was unsealed. Our very pleasant and most competent driver stopped to take a photograph of us standing in front of the iconic Gibb River Road sign, and the iconic river crossing.



We visited in May when the weather was warm. The journey from Kununurra is dusty and bumpy. When I arrived at the station my pale blue top was now blue with an ocre pattern on my shoulder from the dust coming in the car window, the sign of a newbie.

In 2013 our accommodation was described as ‘Grass Castles’, I see that they’re now called ‘Riverside Suites’ – that’s a better description as there was nothing grass or castle about the accommodation. They were beautifully clean and comfortable cabins alongside the river. One afternoon I watched a log float down the river and turn sideways towards me, and then I noticed two eyes and as it got closer, and I could see that it was a little freshwater crocodile. It decided to carry on down the river and I managed to grab my camera before it was gone.



So how do you go fishing on a cattle station? Some people stay at the River Camp and there are good fishing spots around there. But this was our 25th wedding anniversary so how could I say no when Mr ES found that a heli fishing tour was available.

Well, there should be some sort of reward for 25 years and looking at the video that Mr ES had on his camera, I’d say that was it. The Robinson R66 landed on remote riverbanks and being close to the end of the wet season the fishing was excellent.






One of the other anglers had an excellent day!

For the Non-fisho, it’s a bit remote for wandering the (very lovely) tracks on your own, so either book a group tour or quite limited.

Other things you can do if you can’t get on the water - 7/10 Dusty’s Bar and Grill meant that every evening was entertaining. We met some lovely people. The location is remote so expect that service and quality can vary.

 

[E Shirley]

SEATTLE

I booked flights to Seattle after reading an AFF post about the Boeing Factory and Future of Flight museum. Mr ES booked his flights later after reading about Salmon fishing in the Puget Sound.

We visited in August 2017, so this is also out of date, we flew Fiji Airways BNE-NAN-LAX, at that time it was the cheapest available J flight. The short BNE-NAN flight was aboard a Fiji Airways 737 that has QF Domestic style J recliner seats in 2-2 configuration. The NAN-LAX flight was a Fiji Airways A330 with J fully flat sleeper seats in 2-2-2 configuration. The service focused on simple and efficient comfort. We felt like we were being carefully looked after by a caring family. It seemed that one cabin attendant focused on clearing plates as passengers finished their meals, and that’s something that I do appreciate. They didn’t take a plate too soon or leave you looking at an empty plate, just arriving at the right time. That left the other attendants to focus on delivering other courses or drinks, including the signature Fiji Airways Spiced Rum coughtail. I notice on the Fiji Airways website that the service is now A330 BNE-NAN and A350 NAN-LAX.

We stayed overnight at the Courtyard by Marriott and in the morning walked along South Sepulveda Blvd watching the aircraft flying in. Along this road is the Flight Path Walk of Fame. It’s an easy walk from the hotel and it’s good to ‘stretch our legs’ after a long flight.



Later in the day we flew AA “F” LAX to SEA, this isn’t anything like Emirates A380 F and it costs a lot less. Sometimes we choose J for the comfort, sometimes we choose F for the experience, but this time we chose F for the Status Credits so we were not disappointed.

There’s lots more about this journey, but this post is about fishing, so skipping the Boeing Factory and the Future of Flight museum. Mr ES had booked a fishing charter. This time I’m joining him as a tourist (non-fisho sightseeing). We had great day, Mr ES caught some nice sized Salmon, the weather was warm and sunny and then lightly raining and then sunny again, just as you expect Seattle to be.


You need a fishing guide who knows the area for this sort of fishing.

For the Non-Fisho (me), this was the best of all fishing trips and the only thing that stops us from going back is the enormous amount of ocean between Brisbane and Seattle.

And other things to do, that requires a whole post of its own.