Recently a young guy named Matt Palmer from the Sunshine Coast Qld joined me for a day out in Hervey Bay. Conditions were near perfect with a slight SE blowing in the early hours of the morning that did not get above about 10-15knots all day.He opened the day by catching a Giant Trevally that we estimated to be 2 kilos (4.5lbs) and the fishing just got better from there on.The first session of the day was spent throwing soft plastics jigs and we caught mackerel, trevally and a big Queenfish of around 6kilo+. We did this while waiting for the tide to rise enough to enable us to get up on the flats.






Matt managed to get a Mac Tuna (bonito) of around 3-4 kilo mark on fly and he then had a shot at some Longtail Tuna but unfortunatley he did not hook up. Then we had a nice Grey Mackerel of around 6-8 kilo fall victim to a well presented surf candy. It gave a great account of its speed and power before being boated, photographed and released to fight another day.(ed's note thats a lucky fish most would doink it on the head and throw it in the box).The tide was now perfect for fishing the flats. Just as the boat glided up onto the first shallows we could see the tails of some Golden Trevally. This really blew Matt away watching those big tails waving in the air as they pumped the sand bottom with their big blubbery mouths. With electric motor stealth we moved in for the shot. The first few casts were rejected but then Matt made a cast that put the fly well out in front of the fish. This allowed the fish to swim towards the fly. With a few small strips of the line the Golden caught sight of the fly's movement and did not hesitate to eat it. Matt landed his first sight cast Golden Trevally of approximately 8 kilo. He backed it up with another fish of around the same size latter in the day. Matt also lost another fish boatside which was a minor dissapointment. Matt was stoked to not only catch his first sight cast Fraser Flats Golden but to be able to to see them tailing on his first visit was icing on big fat cake.






EDITOR'S NOTE: Paul Dolan is a guide at Hervey Bay in Queensland, Australia. His operation covers the flats and reefs of the protected western side of Fraser Island. Fraser is a listed World Heritage refuge area and is the largest sand Island in the world. Paul also fishes some very well stocked dams for Australian Bass,saratoga and Barramundi. Paul can be contacted at his web site Fraser Coast Sportfishing or if you in the USA you can contact me at info@gofishaustralia.com or ph 415 785 2899