GLORIOUS BASTARDS

Glorious Bastards

A J O U R N E Y T O T H E M I D D L E O F NOWHERE, WITH A BUNCH OF LEGENDS

WORDS & PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAAN PRETORIUS

There are so many things that contribute to making a trip extra special and unique. For one, I am drawn to places that haven’t seen a lot of fishing pressure, places that are hard to access and that only the die-hards get to see. It’s the language barriers and the cultural differences that excite. Best of all is to share these experiences with good friends. All these things put together make a trip memorable and unforgettable. As you have noticed I haven’t even mentioned anything about fish, well in this case my friends, there were fish, of different shapes and sizes…. many of them.

This adventure started with a simple text message from a good dude Joshua Hutchins, who is an Australian friend in the fly-fishing industry. It was a simple message asking me if I’d be interested in forming part of a group to go and explore an island chain better known as “The Wessels.” This island chain is situated roughly 80 nautical miles northeast of the Northern Territory of Australia. The island group lies within the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve and the islands have caves decorated with Aboriginal art, unpopulated beaches, endless flats and potentially fish that haven’t seen flies before.

Before asking any more details, I replied with a simple text “absolutely.” As the conversation kept growing and Josh announced the team, I was even more excited. It was Jako Lucas, Keith Rose-Innes, Jason Laverty, Josh Hutchins, myself and an epic crew to take on this adventure.

The idea of this trip was to go and explore the potential of this fishery and see if it would be commercially viable to start doing more trips up there with the focus on fly fishing and conservation. We were also planning on having camera gear with us to film this journey. In order for us to even set foot on this land, we would firstly ask the permission from one of the Aboriginal tribal leaders to set foot on his land, which in itself was a cool experience.

Months became weeks, weeks became days and we were soon on our way to the land Down Under to meet up with the rest of the crew. For most of us it was the first time to visit Australia and excitement was an understatement. Even though we all spoke English, for the most part we could hardly ever understand what the Aussies were saying. There has always been great banter between the Aussies and South Africans and there was no shortage of that during this trip too. After a lengthy travel schedule, we made it to Gove where we would board the beautiful Phoenix One Mother ship. She would be home for us for the next week. I have been on a couple of mother ships and this one takes the cake for sure.

The afternoon was spent getting all our gear set up, not only fly fishing gear but also camera equipment. We had an impressive arsenal of gear to make ready and the excitement was all over the place. After a “mean feed” at the local restaurant in the marina, we were all

ready for bed and to start the crossing to the Islands.

At sunrise it was great to wake up to calm seas and the sight of a small island chain in the distance, we were less than two hours away from hopefully casting our flies at some willing fish. After a delicious breakfast, we were all fired up and ready to roll. We split up into three groups and off we went. On arrival at the first flat, before even getting wet, we were welcomed by the ever-beautiful sight of an Indo Pacific Permit swimming right by, as if to say, welcome. Well, let’s just say after that it was hard to grab the camera instead of the fly rod. The great thing with a group like this, is that we all knew what needed to be done in order for us to nail the film, but also have our fair share of rod time. The balance was great, and I do honestly love filming almost just as much as casting a fly.

This time round, I was the lucky one with rod in hand, we all got our boots on and started wading off in the direction of some tailing Golden Trevally. The sight of golden tips of tails flashing at us in the morning golden glow, was a pretty spectacular sight. It didn’t take long before our first hookup, a beautiful Golden Trevally. Not a bad way to get the skunk off. Not long after we had our first shot at a Blue Bastard, a fish that was high on everyone’s bucket list. One of those fish that almost everyone looks forward to pursuing when going to Australia. Hence the name, they are bastards. We definitely underrated them to a large extent; they are super finicky, super strong and just bastards in all aspects really. Challenge accepted. I was lucky enough to get my first Bastard to hand on day one. These Bastards on the other hand threw Keith curve balls, busted leaders, chafed fly line in coral heads, you name it.

Apart from the Bastards, the Permit also sparked everyone’s interest, they always do. If they don’t spark your interest, then we are probably not friends. Well, after our first day we were nothing short of blown away by not only the fishing, but the remoteness, the pristine environment and the endless flats to fish. We had shots at some amazing fish, and we capitalized on most. We were over the moon to get a couple of Blue Bastards and Permit to hand, enough reason for the cold beers to go down much faster when we reached our mother ship. Sharing stories of the day’s events is always a part of the excitement. For me, one of the highlights was when Jako casted a popper to a saltwater

crocodile thinking it was a rather large shark. We have a saying as South Africans that when it moves, it sees a fly. Well, Jako took that saying to the next level.

These trips are by no means a holiday, we have to work extra hard to get all the content we need in order to make a film. That also means making sure the camera gear is always charged, the lenses are clean, the drones are updated etc. Then there is dumping and processing all the content of each day, it’s not difficult to run out of time at the end of each day. In saying all that, we were in bed pretty early on day one, a much needed rest for sure.

We fell into a pretty solid routine for the coming days and the best thing about this fishery was that there were so many flats to choose from. Every day felt fresh and exciting and revealed another treasure. By the end of day two, everyone had caught their Blue Bastards, not to mention many other firsts such as Queenfish and then also the Trachinotus Anak, which is part of the Per

mit family. The Anak was definitely high on my bucket list and on day two I managed my first one, stoked was an understatement. On this day, we got three Permit to hand, nothing short of a spectacular day. Unlike most other flats destinations where Bonefish are the bread and butter, here at the Wessels it’s Blue Bastards and Permit that become the go to. Then there was also the ever-elusive Tusk fish. They could have easily been part of the Bastard family, so much so that we never ended up landing one during our week. We saw some, hooked some, well I think you get the picture. All in all, I think the trip was a massive success and I cannot wait to get back out there in the near future. For those who have seen the film, it’s clear that amongst all the hard work to get it done, we had a ton of fun and the banter was never ending. The crew of the Phoenix One, managed by Waterline Charters, was nothing short of spectacular; they nailed all aspects of this trip and made it an extra memorable experience.

As someone who makes a living from the fly fishing industry, it’s always exciting to see that there are still relatively untouched fisheries out there. There are fisheries that have not seen human pressure, fisheries that are clean and pristine.

It’s experiences like these that make me want to fight even harder to try and protect the ocean and make sure these fisheries stay the way they are.