Fishing Weipa & The Awesome Rivers At Cape York

[Steve07]

Hi again raiders,

Just continuing on the reports from our recent trip to weipa in cape york,this is the final part of my report

which is about fishing the awesome Wenlock,Jackson & Scardon river systems of the region in search of the

mighty barra & other lure eating species of hard fighting fish.

This was to be the last trip into the area before the 2007 barramundi season closure of north queensland on

october the 4th.

The best way to describe the barra fishing on this trip,it was pretty hard work.It involved casting,casting &

more casting,to every possible looking snag,sunken tree,rockwall or drain we came across.There is no trolling done here as it doesn't seem to work in these shallow river systems,its all lure casting,lots of it & you

absolutely have to be very accurate at it or the barra wont even move from its snag to have a look at your

lure.The lure must land right underneath a tree branch or right beside a likely looking snag time after time,

then you might make 4 casts at exactly the same spot until all of a sudden a barra slams your lure hard.

I have to say i caught alot more tree branches & snags than i did barra,but it happened to all 6 of us,you

have to be on the money with every cast at every spot to catch the barra.The best & most accurate at casting catch the most barra.

The last half of the runout tide is the best time to target the barra in these rivers,they are in a more aggressive mood when feeding,& are easier to catch plus you get alot more of them concentrated in one

spot.I remember one morning on the trip,4 of us fishing in two tinnys close to a half sunken tree branch

caught 15 barra in that spot within 25min, every fish caught casting a lure right underneath that single

branch.

Mostly the tackle used here are small baitcasters,on 7ft extra fast tapered graphite rods,that are light enough

to cast all day but have some stick when trying to hold a solid barra,mangrove jack,trevally or estuary cod

from busting you up on a snag.Personally though i used my trusted threadline gear,a stradic 2500 & daiwa

procaster z graphite spin rod,as i am very accurate with it & find it more comfortable for myself,it saves on

the birdsnest's i get with baitcasters & also i can cast at snags alot further away,& into the wind more easily.

15 to 20lb braid is normally used with 2 metres of 30lb flurocarbon mono leader,again connected straight onto the braid with my trusted albright knot,i then attach the lure directly onto the end of the 30lb leader,no

swivel needed,just a loop knot to give your lure more action when retrieved.

This trip though the tides didnt help us much,so we found the barra to be alot harder to find,we got around

70 to 80 barra between the 6 of us for the trip,but there were many,many casts made to get them,and can you

believe it, not one was bigger than 58cm which means we didnt catch not one barra that was the legal 60cm.

We were going to release them all anyway but its suprising how small the barra were,as on previous trips

they are generally around the 65cm mark on average,but we got plenty of other species in the rivers which

included some really nice mangrove jacks,estuary cod,threadfin,tarpon,queenys & trevally.

There is only one lure i reckon that consistantly produces every time up here,that is the halco gold bomber

15A,i swear by them & all species of fish will take a bomber in there river's.Also the bombers with red or

black stripes worked well,and as always the small nilsmaster invincibles especially in fluro orange/yellow,

produced alot of barra strikes.

On occassions the rivers had schools of trevally & queenfish chasing small baitfish with the runout tide which

were always great fun to catch especially when we trolled small poppers around the schools,it was unreal

seeing queenys chasing & smashing them in front of our eye's.

So all up in our 10 days on cape york we ended up with 28 species of fish captured,with probably the

highlight being great surface action we encounted offshore with big schools of solid longtail tuna,mackerel,

queenfish & trevally.The awesome fishing in the clear, shallow sand flats & beaches along the cape chasing

schools of golden,giant & diamond trevally,plus herring,queenys,blue threadfin salmon & small mackerel

sightcasting with soft plastics & small chrome metals will be fishing i wont forget to easy.

With a top bunch of close mates,plenty of great food & a few cold beer's,pick the right time to go & its a trip

that all serious fisho's must do at least once,its an awesome place to catch fish.

cheers,

steve

Edited November 5, 2007 by nexus

[marlin1962]

Well done steve.another great report and some good fish aswell.

It would be a great experiance to be there with good mates and cold beer,

and catching so many good fish.

well done again.

cheers marty.

[greenfish]

Another great report steve,some nice fish caught once again & great photo's.

Your 3 reports have been very entertaining to read with lots of good tips &

info on the tackle used.Makes you just want to go there,well done!

thankyou,

greenfish

[greenfish]

Hi steve

Just inquiring about a charter trip up to cape york like you guys just returned from,do you recommend

"THE ECLIPSE" as the best & most affordable boat to go on,and does it take a maximum of 6 people or

more, also when do you think is the best time to go ,as we are thinking about a trip for next year.

thanks;

greenfish

[Steve07]

Hi steve

Just inquiring about a charter trip up to cape york like you guys just returned from,do you recommend

"THE ECLIPSE" as the best & most affordable boat to go on,and does it take a maximum of 6 people or

more, also when do you think is the best time to go ,as we are thinking about a trip for next year.

thanks;

greenfish

Hi greenfish,

THE ECLIPSE is a great charter to go on fishing the weipa/cape york region,have been on there a few times

& always catch plenty of fish,plus have a great time aboard the 55ft vessel,which is pretty comfortable &

fully equipped for the maximum of 6 people which can charter it at any one time.Its the most affordable too!

August,september & october are probably the best 3 months to be there if you are chasing plenty of

surface feeding game species such as northern bluefin,mack tuna,spotted & spanish mackerel,trevally &

big queenfish.the beach & shallow flats fishing is excellent as well at this time.But the barramundi are not

the best to target,they are pretty hard work,with lots of very accurate casting required to catch them.

The barra fishing is at its best after the wet season,april & may the prime time.

I HAVE SENT YOU A P.M. WITH A FEW MORE DETAILS.

thanks;

steve