Fishing In Weipa

[TobyW]

Gday all,

Im heading up to Weipa in September and Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what gear to take.

Im on a 7 day charter fishing for everything in the Area - Esturies,Bluewater, Reef etc, wherever the action is,So I'd like to keep my options open, but without taking everything

The Airlines Limit the amount of Luggage you can take so need to keep it to a minimum.

Cheers

Toby

[slinkymalinky]

G'day Toby,

I've fished the area just North of Weipa and I'd suggest you think about taking 3 outfits.

1. and by far the most useful:

A 'medium' spinning outfit... rod about 7', 4-8kg with a 4000 high quality reel loaded with 20lb braid.

This outfit is the one you'll use the most for casting lures at longtail tuna, mackerel, queenfish, trevally on the flats, barra, casting plastics, live baiting up in the estuaries, etc. The reason for the best quality reel you can get your hands on is that many of the fish you'll connect with are big and faaaaast. A week of catching long tail tuna will damage lesser quality reels (we came home after a week using mid-range reels... one had a broken reel foot... use metal body reels, not graphite... one had to be completely rebuilt... new bearings, new worm gear, new drag washers.

2.

Medium baitcaster outfit... rod about 6', 4-8kg and baitcaster loadedwith 30lb braid. You won't be able to fish heavy enough drag to need the 30lb but the extra abrasion resistance is useful. This will be your 'creek' weapon for bashing the snags chasing barra, jacks, cod etc in the estuaries and creeks. A baitcaster is a much more accurate casting outfit (IMHO) for this kind of fishing.

3.

Heavier outift.... rod about 6-7' 8-15kg, tough spin reel in the 8000-12000 size range (eg Baitrunner 6500, Penn 750, etc) or a medium overhead (eg. Daiwa Saltist, Shimano Charter Special, TLD 15). Load this outfit with 50lb braid. This outfit will be for trolling for species like mackerel & bottom bashing the reefs. Needs to be tough because you'll encounter some brutal fish and particularly on the reefs there are plenty of sharks around who'll make a meal of your fish if you take too long getting them up.

The only other outfits you might consider as extras are a 9-10wt fly rod and a 2-4kg light spin outfit (for 'stunt' fishing).

Cheers, Slinky

[TobyW]

Thanks Slinky,

How did you go getting your gear up there? Did you fly into Weipa, and if so find that they were strict with the Baggage allowance?

I'm Told that sunstar have a limit of 1 x Bag thats 3 dimensions dont exceed 140cm @ 20Kg..So'I'm currently looking into sending gear up in advance via road or general Air.

ALso, What would you reccomend in terms of tackle, plastics, etc - I plan to pick up all my lead locally

appreciate your advice

Cheers - Toby

[slinkymalinky]

We fished with a charter operator and flew into Sesia up near the tip... fished down the coast as far as the Jackson River.

Our charter operator had negotiated some slightly more lenient baggage allowances but we still had a 25kg all up, nothing over 7' limit... and it was strictly enforced.

I took 2 piece rods in a single rod tube, kept my tackle to only what I really needed (and left any sinkers behind... I got them up there on the charter). Clothing was only a few pairs of jocks, 3 sets of Columbia shirts/pants (that weigh almost nothing) a light jumper and a spray jacket.

All my tackle went into lightweight tackle containers. I even packed my gear in a really light sports bag rather than suitcase.

I found that even though I cut right back on my tackle I still took 3 times more lures than I needed and overestimated a lot of the rest too.

Don't know if you're going out on your own or with a charter but the charter guys will usually let you know what to take.

Cheers, Slinky

[TobyW]

We fished with a charter operator and flew into Sesia up near the tip... fished down the coast as far as the Jackson River.

Our charter operator had negotiated some slightly more lenient baggage allowances but we still had a 25kg all up, nothing over 7' limit... and it was strictly enforced.

I took 2 piece rods in a single rod tube, kept my tackle to only what I really needed (and left any sinkers behind... I got them up there on the charter). Clothing was only a few pairs of jocks, 3 sets of Columbia shirts/pants (that weigh almost nothing) a light jumper and a spray jacket.

All my tackle went into lightweight tackle containers. I even packed my gear in a really light sports bag rather than suitcase.

I found that even though I cut right back on my tackle I still took 3 times more lures than I needed and overestimated a lot of the rest too.

Don't know if you're going out on your own or with a charter but the charter guys will usually let you know what to take.

Cheers, Slinky

Yeh I'm out on a charter and theyve given me the list of stuff to bring and not... Never hurts to get a few other opinions though.. Ive decided that Changes of clothes will be the lowest priority - 1 x CHange and a spray jacket should cover it, as long as a croc doesnt westle me for my shorts I should be fine..

Thanks Again mate

Cheers

9weeks to go!

[GregL]

Columbia clothing the only way to go up there!

Most of the other brands are a little to heavy once the sun is up.

Personally I would take 3 shirts 2 pants and wash your outfit at the end of the day and rotate them. Use the 3rd shirt as your arvo top. Nothing worse than going out for the arvo session up the creek with crusty fish slime all over the front of your shirt. The bugs are going to have a party all over you! Remember fish are usually bigger, your going to want photos so your going to get a shed load of slime on you daily!

Make sure you take a jumper and also a good spray jacket.

It's very cool at night and first thing in the mornings plus you need a spray jacket if your fishing out of dories as it is very wet as soon as the wind gets up usually by mid morning when moving from spot to spot. You also don't want to be caught out in a tropical storm with no protection, it's amazing how cold it still gets up there.

Don't forget your BUSHMANS, SUNSCREEN, spare hat and I usually take spare sunnies. Last 2 trips I have had to go the spare set to......

Some operators have rules, no sunnies on, no fishing!

They just don't want to have to dig a lure out of your eye ball and It's a freaking long way to the nearest hospital.

Rods, slinkys list is just right.

We use med spin (6kg flick stick) for 75% of fishing as we usually throw lures most of the time. Have a heavy (50lb braid) to do your trolling and bottom bashing and a baitcaster if your going to do a fair bit of creek work. Last 2 trips I haven't taken it as I just use the med spin stick as I run 20lb braid on it.

Take a box of 7/0's for bait fishing the reefs.

Sinkers are usually supplied by opperator.

leaders in the 20,30 for creeks, 40-60lb for out the front.

BIG pliers! with fish like Cuda and Mackerals you need a pair of BIG LONG pliers. You don't want hands anywhere near there teeth!

These are just some of the stuff I can think of now that I couldn't live without while there, if I think of more I'll add.

Greg

[justinp]

Gday Toby, I recently took a trip to Melville island, I will tell you about my experience, the group I went with consisted of non-fishos, mainly family and because of that I decided not to take any of my gear, did not really want to be the only one having to lug the stuff all the way there, (mistake). Many reasons why, when you buy a new rod and reel, you spend a little while getting used to it, now if you are fishing creeks for Barra, you really dont want to spend the initial hour getting comfortable using it, ie: finding your range, accccuracy, best lure weight ect, so it is important that you take your own rod and reel with you, also if you are going to be taking a baitcaster, make sure you are competent at using it, some of the creek terrain you will most likely fish will require super accurate casts, trust me its the difference between fish and no fish, if you feel that the baitcaster is not your go then perhaps take a 4-6kilo spinstick with a quality 3000 sized spinreel loaded with 20pnd, we fished hardbodies 95% of the time and I really wish that Id taken some big plastics with me, Barra fishing is so tide dependant with the low being prime as it flushes them out the litttle feeder creeks, on the high I felt at the time a big plastic rigged snagless sunk right down into the snags may have been more productive, thats just my opinion, its not as inportant when out on the reef to take your own gear as most of it will probably be bottom bashing or maybe trolling, depends on the guide, but again I wished Id taken my own, things such as leader, hooks, ect IMO are not really necessary unless you really like to be self sufficient, so if I had to make a list of whet I would take next time here goes, quality baitcaster rod 4-6 kilo and a quality reel to suit, big range of larger plastics, 4-9inch, assorted jigheads, 1/8 and up, between 5-10 well known large hardbodies with quality trebles, camera, sufficient uv clothing, sunscreen, bushmans, hat, polarised sunnies, stubby cooler, gloves, pliers, braid scissors, comfortable footwear, and if luggage weight permitted I would also take the other two outfits previously mentioned by Greg and Slinky, and if you are not really proficient at baitcasting then get in the backyard and practice, practice, practice, cheers Justin.

[Steve07]

Hey Toby,

Mate awesome place to go up there,i have been a couple of times & you will catch a good variety of fish

& usually plenty of them,just depends on the time of year you go.

When you come over this week i will show you exactly what gear you will need to take & the lures that

work the best,depending on the fish you target,whether it's barra,trevally,queenfish,mackerel or longtail

bluefin tuna just to name a few.

cheers mate

Steve

[TobyW]

thanks All for your replies and advice, Much appreciated

Justin, Picked up Baitcaster couple of weeks ago, Spooled it twice allready and have been casting in local park since.... I'm turning into a fan of the BC, but as you say got plenty of "wax on, wax off"ahead of me still.

Cheers