hookerbruce

Hi All I've just been finishing last few details for my annual trip to Weipa and while talking to the houseboat people they said they have had a few cancellations and have a boat available from 4th to 23 rd june. Boat holds up to ten people we find if we have 6 or 7 we can have a good trip which costs about $1300 each (for 9 nights) plus airfares plus a couple of meals at the pub plus your alcohol, plus your own fishing tackle. We have a full crew for our trip in May but if someone wants to organise their own trip I can give you a copy of food lists, gear etc. We usually fly into Weipa a couple of days before the hire, pick up a twin cab ute at the airport and stay in cabins at the campground. Hire a couple of runabouts to fish the river for the two days, buy all the food and supplies, then get on the houseboat for 6 nights and take along a couple of dinghies. This is a self drive self catered trip you have to find your own fish. If you were to go out with the Hunter Boys on they're boats here everything is done for you. In Weipa you have to do it all yourself. If you Goggle houseboats and weipa you should be able to find website with all the info about prices,accomodation etc WARNING THE FISH DON'T JUST JUMP ON YOUR LINES YOU STILL HAVE TO FISH STRUCTURE OR BAIT SCHOOLS EVEN IN WEIPA.

Hi Dan Heading out tomorrow from Sylvania waters and was going to hit the port hacking fad. After reading your report I won't go looking for it I'll just head for the Botany bay fads. Did you come across any fish traps at all. Any one else fish the fads today or yesterday. Hookerbruce

Could get very messy hanging them over the side on a rope with the blood draining up in Weipa. The sharks are still trying to eat the longtails when you have them in the boat. We always keep a couple for an afternoon snack when we get back to yhe boat. Bruce

Hi Kit Usually catch them near the rocks at the western end of Jibbon Beach then second choice is the marker post you mentioned. Haven't had to go to Shark Island for quite a while. Also the wreck off marley had oodles of slimey on it yesterday, from the bottom to the top. Bruce

Hi All Left Water St ramp this morning at 7. Straight to bait ground plenty yellow tail and a few slimey. Not a good start, when bait is easy fish usually aren't. Travelled out to Jibbon bomie found good show of bait on a small peak in 10 m of water and dropped the anchor. Started berly while the boat swung back and the rat kings just appeared. Over next hour we landed and released 25 to 30. ranged in size from 40cm to 64.6 cm. Not a single legal size fish. I even got my flyrod out and caught my first ever king on fly on a white clouser. Next stop was Marley where we couldn't raise a fish, so moved out to the wreck where a couple of drifts produced a reasonable flathead, numerous undersize reddies, slimeys and 5 jackets of 45-50 cm. The livies dissappeared from the lines, eaten by jackets! Next stop was Wattemola this produced a couple of oversized salmon for release and a couple of tailor about 1 kg for the table fresh. But no kings. Had another quick fish near the Bommie on the way back to the ramp to release another 4 rat kings. A pleasant day on the water for a feed but no record breakers. Probably should have gone and chased dollies but kings are too tempting. Bruce

The wide fad off Port Hacking was underwater with the current today, with just the very top making a very short appearence above water every now and then. Bruce

Hi Penguin YEP fished west side with run out tide, then watts reef slack water, then east side with run in tide. droping unweighted baits at the back of the boat on 2 kg outfits and feeding it out produced the few keepers we managed. Had a half hearted run on a live yackka which killed the bait but left no teeth marks, call it for a small king or salmon Thanks for the reply and will try again probably monday arvo. Hookerbruce

Spot A didn't produce yesterday afternoon. Put out a good berley trail. Fished with live yakkas, dead squid, cutlefish and big green prawns peeled and unpeeled. Fished other side of oil wharf as well when the tide changed. Total catch 1 flathead, 1 black bream, one nice jacket and a couple trevors. Then fished under Tom Uglys bridge till about 9 pm without a bite.

Hi Ben Fished there last weekend in the wind and rain we kept about 20 flathead 40cm up. The best was a 59cm model taken down near the entrance. Start fishing at the red marker post about 200metres east of the trawler wharf and fish around any structure (rocks,weed beds dropoffs) along the south side of the river towards the ocean. Tide didn't seem important. Concentrate in approx 1/2 to 1 metre of water. The bream were very quite only 6 caught, best 37 cm. Good Luck Hookerbruce

The weather today was too good, so lunchtime put the boat in and headed out. drifted for 3 hrs between Jibbon Bomie and Marley pt depths of 20 to 40 meters chasing blue spot sand flathead. Might be worth a try in deeper water. First drop a throwback and a 42cm fish. Thought this is looking good. 2 hours and 25 throwbacks later another 42cm flathead. Another 1/2 hr couple of seargent bakers and a few more throwbacks called it quits. Both keepers were caught in 25 meters of water. Sea conditions were great with a slight current to the south. Talking to the fisheries voluteer at the ramp he said today was the first day in a month he'd had anything to record. 1 boat today had 12 sand flathead and a couple of jackets (so there were fish somewhere), then another 4 boats had 4 just legal flathead between them. At least the boat got a run, and I got out there in nice weather for a change. Hookerbruce

Another option would be to contact one of the ANSA clubs www.ansansw.com.au/Contacts.html This will give you a list of clubs and contact details in new south wales You may find a lot of raiders are members of ansa (Australian National Sportsfishing Association) already I've noticed a few familiar boats and names. Hookerbruce

We fished the rocks on the other side of the island a few years ago did a lot of walking had a great time with blue fish,kingfish,sharks and even silver drumer on lures. One session we were fishing for some of the local reef sharks off the rocks when something tried to eat one of the sharks at our feet. the shark was only about 2ft6 long but the kingfish trying to eat it was over 6 ft. we were only fishing two kilo outfits at the time for the sharks. quickly changed to a 10kg outfit but didn't see the big king again. lord howe landbased is top spot but have to be prepared to do a lot of walking. All this talk about lord howe got me thinking I might have to try and get there next year as well as weipa. So many great spots so little ......money / holidays / permission from someone ...Ah well hookerbruce

Had big plans for this friday out to the Peak and 12 mile chasing kings and other monsters of the deep. Weather forcaste early in the week had us change to plan B. Chase flathead and other bottom bashing fish in Bate Bay off Cronulla. Weather forcaste on thurs had us change to plan C chase blackfish in Georges River. The change that came thru yesterday afternoon had us draw up plan D, STAY IN BED Got out of bed this morning and it wasn't to bad, windy, cold and light rain. Quick phone call considering the weather better than thurs night and the trip was on plan C that was. The light rain rased off as we got near the river which was a good sign. wasn't as bad as it looked at least that's what we kept telling each other. My cap blew off for the second time at 9:00 so on with the beanie, the cold wind was cutting thru my jumper at 9:30 so on with the jacket. There were just enough downs to keep us interested till 10:30 when the wind and cold won the battle. managed 6 keepers and a dozen throwbacks in 2 1/2 hrs not bad not good. Still glad we went. My advice don't plan to go fishing every second fri when I have my rostered day off. Keep hooking Hookerbruce

The only place I could find out of the rain was under capt cook bridge. There are better places to fish but the weather was not co-operating. Hookerbruce

My son and I couldn't waste a rostered day off today so went out blackfishing. We managed to avoid the heavy rain and were kept warm by plenty of downs and a steady flow of fish. Fished Georges river with green weed from the bait shop, started fishing at 830 and stopped at 1030 and left them biting. They were a smaller run of fish than a couple of weeks ago but there were plenty. Ended up keeping 7 fish around 30cm and returned more than twice as many smaller fish to the water. Didn't see anyone else out fishing and my wife says we're mad for going out. Fresh blackfish fillets for tea. Still hooking Hookerbruce

Going to break out the thermals and try the area around Tom Ugly's early on friday morning first of run in tide so I'll post a report. Need the warm gear because the only place we find fish is in the wind.The fish seem to move, don't know if the wind concentrates floating weed against the shore or not. Fishfinder bait & tackle had weed the other week, if your looking for weed try them or other bait shops. keep on hooking Hookerbruce

Last week the blackfish seemed a bit quite in Georges today they were back in style. Found some fresh weed in the Parra river at the back of Homebush this meant I could berley for a change. Started fishing at 8:30 this morning and in the shade that breeze was cold. First drift hooked up on a good fish that done me on a rock, might have to move up to 3kg line. Last of the runout tide produced blackies you didn't need to measure best at 36 cm. Once the tide changed a lot of smaller fish came round, kept the interest going. Fished through till 11:30 kept 9 fish 30-36 cm caught and released another 20 fish 25-30 cm. Last winter I found the fish a bit slow hope they keep on biting this year. Keep on Hooking Bruce

Hi Windu Last thurs we fished for blackfish in the Georges and found them very quite for a change. We don't have enough weed to make up berley either so have to keep trying every rock,post etc looking for them. Finally had some success right on the bottom of the tide but only ended with 3 keepers from about 8 bites from nearly four hours fishing. If the wind is okay going to try them again on friday earlyish to get the runout tide. Are you landbased or fishing from a boat? Good luck Bruce

Had a couple of hours to spare on wed- made couple of phone calls-found a crew. Put the boat in at 1pm and went out off Cronulla bottom bouncing. Found big schools of big slimies near the bommie. Only managed two good squid about 3/4 kg that tried to eat the slimies. Went out and drifted in about 40 metres for flathead we ended up keeping about 35 jackets threw back about a doz little ones. They cost about 10 sinkers and 20 hooks. Caught and released 6 small sand flathead don't know how they got to the bait before the jackets. Good thing jackets taste good, so do the squid. Saw a couple of penguins in Port Hacking but no whales. Still better than finnishing the painting at home. back at the ramp with boat out of the water by 4pm. Still hooking Bruce

Hi squidman About two years ago the dog got in the my water feature and chewed up the pump which I never fixed. Started throwing the leftover weed in the pond, after a few trips something started to grow. So now have my own private greenweed supply in the backyard. Even though it is freshwater the weed is very tough and the fish don't seem to mind. Been using it for about a year now. There is no chance of the pump being replaced now. Hookerbruce

The plan was to bottom bounce off Cronulla on fri for flathead and jackets but the weather forcaste changed our minds. The weather was good early and we were off the water before the wind came up. We grabbed a handful of green weed and went in the Georges river and caught blackfish instead. Fished from 8:30 till 1100 am total catch 11 fish 4 released kept 7, best was 36cm. My son outfished me again him 4 me 3. We were both done by a bigger fish, which is the first time in quite a while. I tried my son's new graphite blackfish rod, it was nice and light. Today I bought one almost the same. If you're desperate to fish, a sheltered bit of rocky shoreline on the Georges is probably worth a try. No photos as they were only a normal mornings catch Keep Hooking Bruce

Hi Catchy Charters at South West Rocks Best two boats seem to be Brian drives Gunrunner for south west rocks fishing charters Is a smaller boat but Brian is good fisherman and usually gets fish. Gets a lot of cobia when they're around Ray usually drives Sea Urchin for Mark I've fished with Ray many times and he really tries hard to find the fish. Both boats take individuals (charge the same price)and if booked out will refer you to someone else. Google the names and you can find them good hooking Bruce

Hi Grant This is a brief idea of what we do up in Weipa. Usually travel up a couple of days before we get on the boat and stay in a cabin at the campground. Hire a twin-cab ute carries five and all the gear and has a towbar. Hire a couple of tinnies either from Weipa houseboats, if available' or the campground and fish the local rivers. Usually target barras, jacks and whatever else co-operates. We usually go north in july so the cooler weather slows the fishing a little. Fish where the small drains come off the sand flats at low tide, the best barra fishing appears to be beginning of the run in tide at the mouths of small creeks. Our best barra was a 95cm model. If the lures aren't working try using some live bait or even dead baits. Cast at anything in the water even little twigs as the fish seem to hang near them waiting for a feed. If you go down in lure size there is some very good light line fishing for bream and other critters around the snags. When we get on the houseboat we usually head down the coast to Red Cliffs (weather permitting) for the first night about 3hr run the dinghies travel and fish on the way down. A fantastic area to spend the night with high red cliffs to protect you from the S.E. winds. In on the beach fish back towards Weipa around the rocks for barra and other mixed fish. Fairly shallow in places so surface lures even small poppers seem to work. If you head south along the beach you come to a large expanse of hard reef. Fish over the top of it at high tide for coral trout, long tom,trevally and GTs (our best went 12Kgs). Fish across the outside edge of the hard reef as the tide drops for all the trevallies and some macks. If you head out to sea from Red Cliffs come across submerged continuation of the reef for about 2 kms. The mackerael and pelagics sit and ambush the bait fish schools as they go around the outside of the reef. My best morning there was seven macks to 15kgs and a dozen other assorted fish in a couple of hours. You can troll large diver type lures lazerpros or cast and jig metal slices in bait schools. Be warned the sharks usually take half the fish. The edges of this section reef are good if you want to do some bait fishing last year we had fingermark to 65 cm,coral trout,gold spot cod,emperor and lots of other mixed reef fish. water is about 6-7m ask steve for a reef pick for the dinghies so you can get the anchor up easier. Where you anchor up for the night there is a steady stream of smaller trevally to be caught plus we usually get blue salmon,sometimes squid but nearly always the biggest catfish in the world and do they go hard on light gear. Usually anchor in about 3m of water if low tide 5m if high. I'll continue with more of this rubbish If you like. Bruce

Hi Grant I'll be getting off the house boat on april 22nd. We fly up to Weipa on the 11th of April. This will be my 5th year on the house boat. Are you on tillitoo or tillimay ? What do you want to know ? I can give you a list of the gear and tackle I take up, gets adjusted each year based on previous years. One year I lost 3kg of lures and gear in a week and that didn't include sinkers. Anything you want to know I'll try to help. Also there is a phone on the boat so you can call the boat the from the 15th April and we can give you an on water report. Has anyone had any recent reports from Weipa. keep on Hooking Bruce

No one has mentioned the humble garfish, fileted and deboned it is a real challenger for whiting. Other fish in approx order coral trout mangrove jack finger mark long tom yes long tom saltwater barra cobia spanish mackerael and best of all I'll be catching them all in two weeks time.