Weipa Trip - What To Take?

[Guest Big-Banana]

Hi all,

The big Weipa trip is in the works and I'd like to begin purchasing the outfits and tackle I'll need.

A mates already done it 3 or 4 times and has a good idea about what the go is, but I'd like to get as much input as I could!

Bear in mind the weight limits imposed by the airline and the requirement of 2 piece rods die to the 1.8m limit.

I think I'll go with 4 outfits, but I have NFI what.

1 overhead, 2 baitcasters and 1 spinning outfit seems a good balance and means everything is manageable.

I'll be targetting Barra, Jacks, Trevs, Maybe Tuna, Mackeral etc etc

I'll need to do this to a budget for once...

Calcutta 200b? Abu Baitcaster?

I'm thinking:

x 1 10kg baitcaster

x 1 15kg baitcaster

x 1 7-15kg spinning reel (2 spools)

x 1 15kg TLD30

I'll want to throw poppers, divers, plastics and do a bit of live baiting as my mates handy with a cast net.

Top 5 lures or must haves? Gold bombers?

Soft plastics worth a go? or take hardbodies/divers?

I'm getting excited already. Plan is to fly to cairns, fly to weipa and then hire a 4wd and a 5m poly for 7-10 days.

Any help will be much appreciated.

[Jewhunter]

G'day Anthony.

I did the Weipa trip last year & had a blast.

I also asked the same question here before I left.

We took a mountain of gear with us as we were on the houseboat. We didn't need alot of it.

You would need a 6-8kg baitcaster with possibly the calcutta or a curado loaded with 30lb braid for your creek fishing. Also a similar size spinning outfit with say a 4000 or 4500 size reel for spinning for queenies an mackeral & also for throwing plastics around the inshore bommies. As for the heavier gear we fished saltigas & loomis pro blues with jigging reels & 50lb braid through them. There's not alot you can't stop on them. A handheld gps with mapping of Weipa is a MUST if you want to fish the rivers & creeks. The sandbars are huge at low tide but barely covered at high. It's easy to run aground.

We fished heaps with plastics. Slick rigs & 5-7" jerkshads were the main ones we used & they accounted for heaps of fish.

As for hardbods I stuck with the gold bomber most of the time. One of the other boys brained them on a flat ratz. The old rattin spot, again in gold, got some nice golden trevs. Take a heap of poppers & metal slices as well. Don't forget some heavy wire traces. There are some huge spaniards up there!

We fished the channel markers alot & parked the houseboat on the left on the way out near the 3rd poles along a rocky bank. Just before the sandflats & creek entrance. Some top fish were caught along that bank on hardbods & softies.

Hope this helps mate. It's worth getting excited about!

Type "weipa" into the search button at the top of the page & you'll find some top info.

Cheers,

Grant.

[slinkymalinky]

G'day Banana... what Jewhunter suggested is spot on.

I did a week a little further up the cape recently. The outfit you'll use most is the spinning outfit with a 4000 size reel (loaded with 20lb braid), matched to a 6-8kg or 6-10kg 7' spin rod. This outfit will be perfect for throwing metals at tuna, soft plastics, chasing Queenies with poppers, sight casting on the flats, etc. You'll so a lot of casting so anything heavier won't be anything like as enjoyable to use.

The baitcaster is perfect for the creeks.

A heavy spin outfit loaded with 50lb is a lot lighter and a lot more versatile than the TLD option. I had a trusty old Shimano Speedmaster spin reel and it did the job well but it only got used maybe 2% of the time.

As well as the gear and terminals Jewhunter listed, don't worry about spare reel spools... just take a spare spool of braid for each in case (and it's very unlikely if you're in a boat and can chase fish) you get spooled. All my leaders in the creeks and spinning were 40lb fluorocarbon. For trolling and bottom fishing I upped it to 60lb. Metal slices... 90% of the time we fished with 40g Raiders but make sure the hooks are 3x strong.

Take along 3 or 4 Laser Pro 190s or similar sized Rapala Magnums (3m-6m deep running, but don't get super deep running models... the water is shallow a long way off shore) for trolling around reefs.

If you fly fish or have ever wanted to catch a fish on fly, take a 9wt rod with a clear intermediate (tropic grade) line.

Best advice is to keep it simple and fish lighter than you think. 90% of the gear I took never made it out of the bag.

Cheers, Slinky