# Pumpkin Island, Central Queensland, Keppel Group



## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

Over the New Year myself and the family were lucky enough to spend 4 nights at Pumpkin Island, a small privately owned island just north of Great Keppel Island. ThereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s five cabins available for rent and a small camping area and although you have to be fully self reliant thereÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s power, solar hot water, limited rain water supply, a septic system and gas kitchen facilities so it is hardly roughing it.

The original plan was for my brother and I to catch the public ferry to Great Keppel and paddle the 10 or so kilometres across to PumpkinÃ¢â‚¬Â¦but with the wind forecast at 20 knots we jumped on the private ferry, saved ourselves 10 clicks of paddling and were fishing within an hour of arriving.

Now my brother and I arenÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t renowned for our consistent results while yak fishing and had been suffering a bit of a drought on the ole fish front Ã¢â‚¬â€œ so it was bloody nice when Dale got blown away into the coral by a mystery fish and I pulled a nice Stripey up on the troll a whole 100m and 2 minutes into our first trip. From then on all the trips are a bit of a blur, the ability to wander the 20 metres from your beer on the verandah down to the yaks at the water edge and be trolling away in fishy country in a matter of minutes meant spontaneous trips were the norm. After a couple of exploratory trips however they settled into a usual pattern. Troll a Berkley Frenzy firestick minnow along the sandy patches beside the reef and always have the metal slug ready to fire at the fish working the surface. Dropping mid-tide was the best Ã¢â‚¬â€œ high resulted in too much water over the reef with the bait dispersed and low saw the lure supply in the tackle box steadily dropping due to the shallow reef. Highlights were:

The Ã¢â‚¬Å"Trout KillerÃ¢â‚¬


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## Squidder (Sep 2, 2005)

That spot looks wicked Scotty, great report and pics. I especially liked the one of the coral trout sitting on your lap - amazing blue spots


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## Davey G (Jan 15, 2006)

awesome stuff scottyb. what a way to spend a few days, and some great fish too. however it sounds like big bro needs to catch up to little bro on the fiah catchin' skills

I'm very jealous!

(ps if its any consolation, the winds been blowing steadily here in Sydney over the last few weeks too)


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## Fishing Man (Oct 4, 2006)

what an unreal spot, 
thats a great trip guys,

how much is it to hire the cabins out?,


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## beefs (Jan 30, 2006)

Fishing Man said:


> what an unreal spot,
> thats a great trip guys,
> 
> how much is it to hire the cabins out?,


It is a great spot Fishingman, just relax and fish - even in crappy weather.

For a family the cabins might be a bit pricey but for a group of mates you can split the tab between it's not too bad. $240 a night for up to 4 people, extra people $35 a head (how many more you can fit depends on which cabin...generally it's only two more). Camping is $15 a night per head, there's some water at the site and a table and chairs. Private ferry is $265 one way unless there's more than one group in which case we paid $50 a head - it's a 12m dive boat though so you can fit a lot of gear on...we had our two yaks on there.


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## YakAtak (Mar 13, 2006)

Awesome stuff Trav, what a great spot.


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## Dodge (Oct 12, 2005)

What a great spot to visit Trav, and the trout was a ripper mate


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## PoddyMullet (Aug 29, 2005)

What a winner of a trip scottybeefs...what a magic spot. A great variety in ya fishing work :!:


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## troppo (Feb 1, 2006)

Scotty Beefs, congratulations. You were not only paddling in an awesome area but caught some awesome fish.

I love ya pic with the queenfish. I have not caught one for years (actually, its decades!) but I remember them as a top fun sportfish. Wow, and ya caught a GT and trout and . . . heaps. Bloody brilliant. Good on ya.


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