Matt Klara | Sunday, 31 July 2016
I had the good fortune to be able to visit Australia for the first time in 2015.
Now, I realize that spending a couple of weeks divided between three cities on opposite end of a continent doesn’t constitute a thorough exploration. It bugs me when people judge the whole of the USA by visiting only New York City, or only Wyoming. But, I feel like I saw and experienced enough to warrant the regular daydreams I have about going back. I can now say that I have legitimate friends there, and that alone is a reason to return. If it only it wasn’t so dang far away from Montana.
There is no way I can describe even a tiny fraction of the trip on the FP. Maybe a series is in order. But for now I will just remember one evening that I spent on the Exmouth Gulf, where I wandered for a couple of miles on foot from my hostel. The water was rather turbid thanks to a cyclone that passed through a couple weeks prior. That’s my luck though. Not much was happening that evening, save a stunning sunset. I was just about to give in to the thoughts of an ice cold beer back at the hostel, when a swirl on the surface caught my eye about 50 meters down the beach. I quickened my pace, and stripped of a bit more line, fired the crease fly out, and began chugging it home. It didn’t get past five pops before a GT absolutely smashed it. Now, I’m not talking about your typical GT that destroys gear and cuts flylines off in the backing. This one was a baby – 2 pounds at most. But it was still savage, and beautiful, and Australian… and it made my evening.
Flipping through the photos a few months later I noticed an interesting similarity between the shape of the GT and the shape of OZ. Coincidence???
Take Care and Fish On,
Matt