Thevenard Island

[Richard H]

Hi Guys

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has fished (shore only) Thevenard Island in the Mackerel group off Onslow. They talk about good fishing on the flats but is it so . . . . .?

Cheers

Richard H

[Spencer King]

Only fished the flats once in the week I had there due to fishing out of the boat, nice looking flats right out the front of the accommodation but very quite the day we fished it. I am sure there are plenty of land based fish caught on the island.

[DNYE]

I used to work on TVI years ago, there are plenty of fish there but it is far better from a boat to be honest, as you have more access to some of the shallow water structure that is too deep to wade, as well as access to the deeper water structure.

In terms of flats fishing I found the best spot was on the western tip of the island where there is a sand spit that extends out that can be walked on a low tide, its about a 6km walk to get there from the accommodation so you might as well fish the whole way there along the beach, otherwise you can walk down the runway and take the bush track at the end. There's also access to some deeper areas around the western point as you walk northbound that can hold some good fish.

On the northeastern side there is a lot of rocky reefy ground (in front of where the big oil tanks are or were as I think its all been decommissioned up there now), I used to walk this ground at night on low tide and catch crayfish by hand by torchlight, there are plenty of stonefish in this area so please wear proper footwear! I never really saw many fish in there on low tide other than small sharks, mangrove jacks and tuskfish type things. That being said I never got to check it out during the day because I was working, it would be well worth a look I reckon.

There are plenty of pelagics like trevally and queenfish all around the island, I have seen GTs over 1m rounding up baitfish in the shallows and caught spanish mackeral and big mangrove jacks off the service jetty. On the northwestish side there is extensive sandy bottom with the odd bommy of structure, almost all of these have a resident coral trout however it is probably too deep to wade out there unfortunately.

Up in that area you have a better than average chance of landing some really good fish from shore if you put in the time, don't be afraid to burley up to bring the fish in from the deeper structure, just be aware that the sharks will likely follow as there are plenty of them up there.

Make sure you take your snorkelling gear, the coral reefs off Thevenard are some of the best I've ever seen and if you bring some gloves and are quick enough you can grab painted crays from under the coral ledges by hand.

Best of luck mate, I'm sure you'll have a great time up there. It really is a magic spot when the weather is nice. You can easily walk around the island in a day so i'm sure you'll have it sussed in no time.

[peter birch]

They use to have tinnies for hire,should still do.

[Richard H]

Thanks for response guys especially DNYE for the detailed description. I will post a report if I make the trip.

Richard H

[Dave Bailey]

Great advice Dave

[Adam]

My only other suggestion is chuck in some squid jigs as they were prolific and tasty from the jetty.

Adam