Weipa – Smash, Bam, Pow

[Nicnat]

Rodhogger (9yr old son) and I haven’t posted for quite some time as we’re doing very little local fishing instead saving up for 1 or 2 trips to Weipa each year. After last year’s big effort the Return Trip occurred in mid March. Avoiding TC Ului on the way north, this time we were joined by fellow Raider Zen, my FIL, and 3 other mates on our DIY houseboat experience. A houseboat, 3 tenders, 7 guys and 7 days of fishing – Here’s how it went down …

Day 1 – Arrived on the afternoon flight and headed straight for Woolies to stock up on supplies. After checking in with the Houseboat guys we couldn’t resist an early evening explore around the main wharf at Evans Landing. Windy and messy conditions but Tarpon were chopping all around the western end of the wharf. Zen managed to hook one on a SP but no chance in being able to lift it up onto the wharf and broke off. Left them biting and headed off to bed with visions of scaly critters

Day 2 – Jumped on the houseboat nice and early and we had also arranged a guide for the day. Half the crew jumped on the guide’s boat and headed south to Pera (30km away) and the rest of us headed off in the houseboat in the same direction. The guys with the guide found Tuna busting up everywhere between Boyds and Pera and had a blast on metals with losses of gear very high. The Northern Bluefin were averaging just under a metre and if they didn’t bust you off the sharks took their fair share as well. Towards lunchtime the houseboat finally made it to Boyds Bay and we swapped crews with the guide. The Tuna had finally slowed down a little so tactics were changed to bait fishing the reefs as well as trolling mega deep divers across them. This brought in a steady procession of Coral Trout, Emperors, Cod, Tuskfish, etc.

Lure losses were once again very high with 50lb braid and 100lb traces no match for several of the big beasties encountered. Fights were often very short, sharp and brutal with drags screaming before the inevitable limp line.

That afternoon/evening with everyone tired we were entertained by 3 big lemon sharks at the back of the houseboat as well as a resident grouper. We had a couple of baits out as well and Zen managed to hook something BIG which lead him around the boat several times before busting him off big time.

Day 3 – Woke up to a beautiful calm morning with slight offshore breeze and headed off once again in search of the Tuna schools.

The previous days choppier conditions seemed to have been preferred by the Tuna as we only saw a few splashes here and there, however lots of birds circling indicated they were still about. So the metals were put away and we began trolling large Halcos and Rapalas and were rewarded with a hit every 5-10 minutes. The average size of the fish also seemed to have increased and serious stopping power was required. A highlight was one very solid fish hitting the lure, then screaming off 100mtrs of line against 10kg of drag only to have a 3 mtr shark jump half out of the water to monster the poor Tuna. We spent a more leisurely afternoon exploring a couple of beaches and then fishing a reef in close. Rodhogger (RH) had a couple of brief but intense encounters with what we believe were GTs but once again the fish came out on top. A few other reef fish followed before we made our way back to the houseboat to feed our friendly lemon sharks again.

Day 4 – We had plans to stay down the coast a bit longer but a text message during the night announced my SIL had gone into labour back in Sydney 3 weeks early and the FIL was very anxious. With no reception or other means of communication we decided to head back to town early and made the trip back to Weipa. After finally being able to make a few phone calls and sorting out that everything was OK back home we ended up anchoring the houseboat just downstream from the Mission Bridge in the early afternoon and took off to explore the bridge. This is when we started getting smashed up seriously. One of the tenders decided to tie up under the bridge on the slack water and chase the Jews that we have encountered there previously. 2 hours later it was Jews 10 – Us 0. The boys were fishing large 5 and 7 inch Jerk Shads and other assorted SPs and 30 & 50lb braid was no match for concrete pylons. You would just need to jig them underneath the bridge and wait for the fun.

Day 5 – The day started off with a 4.30am emergency wake-up call by one of the crew as he was doubling over in major pain (later diagnosed as kidney stones). A quick call to the proprietor of the houseboats and a 5am boat trip up river to meet him at the local boat ramp and our crew member was off to hospital. Always fun trying to navigate an unfamiliar river in the dark with no markers, a dolphin torch and not much else. We were promised a call from the hospital later in the morning so headed off fishing again to pass some time. Once again our destination was the bridge as we could see big splashes nearby. With all the stuffing around we got there a little late as the splashes had disappeared by then but pulled out some poppers and were rewarded with some follows. RH finally managed to hook up to a decent Queenfish a couple of metres from the boat just as he was about to lift it out of the water. This Queenie hit it’s afterburners and performed 10-15 jumps with no more than 10 mtrs of line out. The reason for this quickly became apparent when a 2 mtr shark crashed the poor Queenie right next to the boat and took off with half the fish. RH and I were both shaking after that encounter

That afternoon we took a couple of different options with half the crew heading up one of the local rivers chasing barra and the other staying on the houseboat waiting on news from the hospital. The guys in the river spent a heap of time casting at every likely snag for just 1 decent Threadfin Salmon, which was a first for us in Weipa. On the houseboat we decided to use the Queenies from our morning encounter for shark bait and put a couple out on wire traces. We only waited for 5 minutes before the drag took off and RH picked up the rod. We let him run for a little to get the big bait down and then RH set the hook. To set the scene, RH had a couple of epic battles last year when he was only 8 yrs old and the sharks is what he enjoys most up at Weipa, so he was ready for more with his little TLD15 spooled with 600mtr of 50lb braid. As soon as he struck, drag just kept peeling off the reel and I knew he was onto a good one. To cut the story short, after 30 minutes of pumping, winding, giving line, heaving, grunting, sweating and struggling hard I was asked to take over. Another 20 minutes and 3 more rod swaps and we had jointly gotten the big bitie within 10 metres of the boat but he wouldn’t budge any more. We were both knackered by this stage and I just wanted it over with so went for broke and got the 100lb trace on the reel before locking down and lifting the bugger to the boat. We got him to the surface once to see a 2-2.5 mtr whaler with a wicked smile before he decided to submerge again and when we decided to cut him off. We sat down after this for an hour recovering.

A short time later our missing crewman rang from hospital advising the kidney stone had been passed and he needed a ride back on board. Now that’s the spirit! That afternoon we also encountered a very large leather handbag drifting down the main river. We has seen several smaller models sunning themselves on the mud bank but this one was close to the size of the tenders (5mtr) and stuck it’s head up as we motored past before disappearing from sight

Day 6 – After the brief Queenie encounter the morning prior we decided to hit the bridge again nice and early this time. We tied up underneath again and RH had a big follow on his first cast. The Queenies were back! For the next 2-3 hours RH and I managed to hook around 20 fish, had 3 times that many follow and smash the lures without hooking up, land a total of only 3 fish and lost many many many poppers. The only way these fish would hit the lures would be if you threw the popper upstream of the bridge and then worked it back towards it. As soon as it hit the shadow line of the bridge they would smash the popper. The problem was that they were hitting them so hard the poppers would often fly off and if you hooked them, there were concrete pylons within 5 mtrs of either side of the fish. We ended up rigging a quick release rope so we could motor off as soon as we hooked one but as they were all big fish around 1 mtr in length we got smashes more often than not. At one stage we both had double hook ups with RH’s fish taking him through the pylons and jumping repeatedly 2 pylons further up. This was one of the most intense fishing experiences I have ever had and left us shaking after ever hookup.

The afternoon was once again spent chasing sharks and between landing a couple of smaller 1-1.5mtr models we again got smashed up big time by some large toothy critters.

3 of the guys also headed off chasing Barra with live bait and managed a good specimen whilst also tangling with a large seasnake that scoffed a live mullet and then managed to disgorge the hook and drop into the boat. The subsequent commotion trying to avoid the angry little bugger also ended up with a tackle box being upended and adding to the mayhem with the snake finally taking out it’s anger by biting the fuel line repeatedly before being flicked back into the water. The boys were already being made rather nervous by a 1.5mtr croc that had been sitting on the bank a mere 50 mtrs away for the past hour

That night RH invented the Snake Invader game – The flood light on the back of the houseboat attracted numerous creatures especially seasnakes. They would come up, check out the boat and disappear again. RH would use the salt water pump at the rear of the boat the spray the snakes when they appeared. Rather than frighten the snakes, getting splashed with a spray of water seemed to get them more excited and stay up longer with more and more appearing. The aim of the game being to shoot as many of the snakes when they appeared before they disappeared again. The things you do to keep amused …

Day 7 – Our last day started off overcast and windy. The weather had been kind to us so far but this was about to change. We once again hit the bridge early to temp some more Queenies. They were there alright but rather reluctant this day to grab the poppers. Many more follows but fewer hook ups. We did however have 2 highlights – the first was when RH got smashed up again by a BIG Queenie that once again went for the pylons in the process losing his favourite Halco Rooster popper. A call from RH 5 minutes and we watched as our popper reappeared and we retrieved it right next to the boat. The second was when a Queenie followed my popper right to the boat and peeled off as I lifted it out of the water. A split second later as the Queenie was still eyeing off my popper a HUGE grouper comes up from the depths and smashes the Queenie right next to the boat with water everywhere. A truly unique experience.

That afternoon our fishing plans went out the window as the winds picked up and a big storm came through although it did have the benefit of giving us all a good wash. By that stage we were all rather tired anyway and sat down to our last dinner in peace with the prospect of heading off the next morning to take back the houseboat and catch our flights home.

All in all it was another huge week with many more bust offs than fish in the boats but we all had a ball trying. I'm sure I missed many highlights and Zen may have some extra photos to add. I can tell you though that RH is still grinning from ear to ear and next year is already booked!

Nicnat & Rodhogger

[austral]

excellent reading, looks like a ripper of a trip..

[screech]

top trip and read!! sounds like a wild expereince!

[g.t.]

Awesome read . Sounds like you had a wicked trip. I'd love to do it myself someday... If the ever gives me a leave pass that is!

[Jewhunter]

Great report mate!

How good is Weipa?!

I love the DIY houseboat trip. It opens up so many options & feeding sharks off the back deck is a treat.

Well done on exploring the area a bit further south & finding the tuna schools & reefies.

Glad to see Rodhogger is still showing you how it's done. Some things will never change!

Cheers,

Grant.

[dogtooth]

Great report on Weipa , Im sure you and Rodhogger had a great time catching all those fish , makes you feel spoilt once you come back....

Cheers Dogtooth.... John....

[robeebee]

great report mate

love the pic's

[Basil D]

half your luck boys

[crashlee]

Great Holiday, Great report good reading.

Cheers

[Captin]

Fantastic write up. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your experience.

Reading reports like that make you want to book a trip interstate with the mates and go with the flow.

[Pumped - Up]

Great report mate

Cheers

Lee

[baldy]

Great report

[mikeh191]

Top read and pictures Nicnat, im sure everyone thats reads this post will want to go there.

Cheers Mike

[Langa]

Excellent report and pics.

[Smitty]

Thanks for a great read Nicnat !!! You lucky buggers, sound like you had an AWSOME time. That sure is some quality time with your young bloke.

Cheers,

Smitty...

[hookerbruce]

Hi Rob

Wondered how you got on with the cyclones,I was going to give you a ring this week to find out. Might still.

Good report particularly for anyone who has been up there and suffered the lure losses and knows how frantic

fishing around the bait schools is. I can very easily visulize the scene.

I know how hard it is to write a concise report on a week in Weipa so much happens even on a quiet day.

Just starting to organise for my next trip up there, two weeks at the end of Sept on the boat, then a week in April next year with an option for the following week with a mate on his charter.

Did you get any spanairds or cobia ?

Bruce

[Nicnat]

Hi Bruce

No Cobia or Spaniards although we lost a few big Rapalas to some fast toothy critters - 100lb leader came back cut clean so these may have been Spanish. However one of the guys managed to hook and land a shark that took a liking to a big trolled Rapala so who knows what you will land up in Weipa! A few more pics attached for you

Rob

[Woosha]

So pumped - I am due to be in Weipa from Monday - and this is just the appetite whetting I needed!

Bring it on!!!

Except for the Sea Snake part...I HATE SNAKES!