LuckyFil

or maybe more than once if you can manage it

You also need to be aware these guys can be anywhere up there - you won't always see them

The ones harassing us near the beach were small about 1.2meters. On another occasion when in deeper water chasing tusk fish my son Pat retrieved a hooked fish as fast as possible , he just got it out of the water and we saw what had been stealing our other fish as it broke the surface - a big fella 8 foot plus (maybe bronze whaler) and he wasn't happy about missing Pat's fish!

Did I mention sharks are a problem An average sized tusk fish

Sorry about the doubling up on pics, hers some other ones

I'll start this post off with a dedication to @hookerbruce who passed away last year and whose posts on this forum years ago about his Weipa trips inspired me to go there every year since 2009 (excepting a couple due to covid restrictions). A smaller crew of four (usually six) went for a week ending yesterday on the Houseboat up there and used a couple of their 15 foot tenders as dories to fish from. We caught a good range of fish although the bluefin tuna that provide high speed action were absent again with few if any reports of them coming in. That said we caught spanish mackerel, some big queenfish, quite a few small/average sized Barra, mangrove jacks, blue (king) salmon, permit, javelin fish (locals call them grunter), numerous cod and a fork tail catfish which, unlike the Hawkesbury version, fight hard plus other odds and ends I can't remember. Looking at the pics you'd think it's crazy fishing, and we did have some great sessions especially in one of the creeks catching a great mix of fish on SPs and small hard body lures and another one off the beach at Red Cliffs on the salmon at dawn again on small plastics, but we also had several fishless outings, so it's best to be realistic if you ever go there that it isn't always easy and having a week gives you the chance to learn what's going on and what isn't biting. I've included a few pics

good sized blackies! Looks like Woy Woy wharf? They're getting them off Wagstaffe wharf as well if you want another local spot to try Fil

A great story - really enjoyed the part about the young fella who'd done all the netting on the first day then finally getting his chance at some big ones on day two. Beautiful scenery and pics and wow they are big trout!

As others have said - great scenery and camera work , loved the underwater shots!

That’s a good reddie to get in the harbour. Love your comment about record catches on a sabiki 😆 why do they have to pick the lightest rig you’ve got out!!

Now she can stop mentioning the one she caught when she was 7 months pregnant with our first born 36 years ago😄

Had a few hours with my wife on the water around Hardys Bay and Ettalong yesterday. I normally use lures up here as bait is usually destroyed by little pickers in the day time but today the SP and vibe didn't get a touch so we resorted to using the remaining cooked prawns from my recent drummer outing. I moved from the weed edges where I'd been lure fishing to a deeper hole for the last hour of the rising tide. My wife and I both threw out a prawn bait. I landed a small reddie about 28cm followed by a black bream around 25cm both returned. Wife was only half concentrating with her preferred method of hand-line fishing while she checked her phone. She was reminiscing about the days when we regularly caught big flathead in Pittwater from my Dad's old boat at his secret spot. Those were the days, and I said there weren't many big ones like that around now. Not five minutes went past and she calls out I've got something big on here. She was struggling to get it in as it was swimming under the boat and I leaned over and saw a huge flathead about 2 meters under us. It didn't like the look of the boat so took off. She kept the pressure on while letting it take as much line as it wanted as she was only using 15lb mono and a 2/0 hook so I was expecting a bite off any second. After lots of back and forth over ten minutes she got it close enough for me to net it. Lots of whooping as you'd expect. A quick measure revealed it was spot on 85cm long and over 20cm wide at the head - a very stocky healthy fish. I held it in the water for a minute to check she was ok and the gills were working and tail slowly beating straight away, so I released my thumb which she was biting down on pretty hard and she swam off in a flash, great to see and hopefully going to make lots more flatties for us in the future. So a simple prawn on a landline can still do the trick! I caught a couple more undersized flathead and a baby jewie about 40cm on the remaining prawns. So after a dead first hour we caught quite a few species in the last hour on prawns. While everything was too small, or in one case too big, to bring home it was a fun time in any case. Fil

I bought them too long ago to remember the details but they are at least 2X strong and I'd say number 1 or 1/O size possibly Mustad brand circle hooks. I normally use 1/O suicide in 2X strength, although the French pattern that Noel M mentioned is also popular with pig fishermen. You need the thicker hook for those times you get a bigger model as they can straighten or break a standard hook. You have to lock up your drag most times as they dive straight for the underside of ledges and will bury you if you give them an inch . So its a short conversation once you hook a drummer - fish the size I caught yesterday come in quick but I've caught a few over 50cm and then it gets interesting - you have to know your hooks are strong and your knots are good , even then it can end in tears, such is drummer fishing.

thanks Jenno, yes although not big fish they were well conditioned and fought hard for their size. Looking forward to tonight's dinner!

Kantong you must use fresh white bread, remove the crust and tear the centre into strips about 40mm wide , wrap one strip around the hook and put it into your fist and squeeze tight, really tight! I was using a small pea sinker but this bait once squeezed is quite heavy and can easily be cast far enough to reach the fish - they are always in close amongst the white water. It's surprising how long it lasts in the rough water. It's appealing to drummer but the pickers often leave it alone - bonus! Soak the crusts in water crush up and use that for burley Fil

The weather looked good for a drummer fish yesterday arvo - no rain, light wind and the swell had dropped (maybe a little too much). I hadn't fished for drummer in Sydney this year and had seen a few reports of them being caught so thought I'd have a go. As the swell was quite low I tried a couple of washes that are usually too rough or unsafe. I was getting lots of pickers on prawn so tried some white bread and that produced the first drummer of around 36cm. I kept fishing that spot for another 45 minutes but could only produce kelpies and wirrah with one possible drummer lost but I suspect it was another wirrah. Moved 20 meters along to another wash but kept snagging the bottom. It wasn't suitable for using a float given the small area and the way the wash was moving so I tried using a semi circle hook. I've had them in the tackle box for years but always been wary of missing hookups on fish so hadn't tried them till now. Turned out I didn't miss any hookups and stopped snagging the bottom even though I had to pull out of some rough stuff a few times. Scored another couple of drummer at this spot using cunje but they were well spaced out with long waits in between. So was pleased with the result for the afternoon as drummer are a favourite with my wife (and me). I didn't measure them but all fish were in the 35-40cm range.

Magnificent country to be fishing/walking through and wow some great results not just numbers but some big fish! You put in the planning and effort so good to see the fish cooperated. Any issues with snakes?

Great report and pics Ash. What a treat having the FAD almost to yourself and the dollies cooperating too! Good to hear some of Bruce's gear is getting an outing. I still have my Dad's hand made stainless scaler, almost afraid to use in case Iose it ha.

Just started a van trip up the north coast eventually ending up at Yeppoon and Longreach. First stop was an old favourite Hat Head. Plenty of tailor to be had spinning the rocks but most of the action seemed to be from boats who were scoring spanish, dollies a few spotted macks and the odd cobia. Luckily my brother Steve had his boat up here as well so I had an afternoon out on that. We tried trolling with skirted lures but no luck, apparently most fish are being caught on slow trolled bonito. We had some pillies so anchored up over a shallow reef and started burleying. I silver bream came in quite soon and plenty of other bites but we were using whole pillies which were being chewed out. I put my rod in the holder for a while to help Steve when he hooked a turtle (yes a turtle) while trying to remover the hooks without getting bitten. Eventually we succeeded and he swam off looking fine but not before my rod started screaming. After a struggle to get it out of the holder I realised this was a large fish although my first thought was shark, don't know why. There was a lot of gnarly reef under us and I was not getting any line back off this thing so I thought the other likelihood was getting cut off on the reef. But then it began tiring and I got a little line back then another few shorter runs and it went under the boat . I was surprised to see my leader appear as I didn't think I'd recovered that much line then this massive reddie surfaced beside the boat. That was when the blood pressure went up and I yelled for the net or gaff. Steve got him with his first shot and then we whooped it up as it came over the side. The fish coughed up a full octopus that was immediately used as bait and provided Steve with a nice sized grassy sweetlip. Forgot to get a pic of that unfortunately. I landed another small snapper about 38cm and that was about it as we finished the last of our bait and had to get back through the Hat Head creek while the tide was high enough. The snapper went 78cm and other guys at the boat ramp said it matched some they had seen earlier that were weighed at 7kg so we called it for the same. My pb by a long shot and a great start to the trip. Cheers Fil

Great report Neil and nice pics. Congratulations on the unusual catch not to mention a very respectable cod! Fil

Hoods i fish Weipa each year and we catch plenty of queenies. They love white clousers. We’ve found that up there the fish like most colours as long as they’re white ha! Fil

More good advice. I forgot to mention this as I do it without thinking. You can often tell that the fish is about to jump a they rise up in the water column and that's when you lay the rod over. It's also good technique to use with other fish that jump I.e. trout, and if you ever go to the tropics Barra and queenfish, who are are masters at the big jump and head shake which is often when you see your lure coming back at you minus the fish!

Don’t worry about your technique, salmon are known for throwing the hooks with their jumping and thrashing about. They have quite soft mouths so the hooks pull easily too. If you land half the salmon that you hook you’re doing okay. They are fun to catch, fight hard and do the aerial thing so I just enjoy that part half expecting to lose them. Some people remove the trebles and use single hooks to improve their catch rate. Fil

Great pic of the Dollie fresh out of the water!