hookerbruce Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Been touring thru North Qld trying a bit of fishing at different waterways we come to. Most times just have a half hour fish at lunchtime or in the afternoon after setting up camp. All the rivers have crocs in them just to make walking the banks a little more interesting. Fished the Albert river at Burketown came up with a nice grunter plenty of bream and archer fish on bait and lures, but no barra. Liechardt River falls came up with a good sootie grunter on bait. Karumba had three half day trips hoping for a barra or king salmon. Don't think I have ever seen so many boat trailers at ramps everyday 90% are collapsible and used by caravaners who carry the boats on the roof and then use the trailer when they arrive in Karumba. About 150 to 200 trailers at Karumba Point ramp and the same number using the town ramp. First day went across the river and worked a couple good looking creeks and a very long stretch of mangrove river bank for one hit from an unknown fish. Second day headed north along the gulf shoreline lurecasting and trolling a long stretch of rocky shore and mangroves again nil result. Third day we went up the Norman River to the area where the powerlines cross the river chasing grunter and jewel. A big southerly change came thru the night before which made the 20klm run up the river bumpy with the wind howling against the strong incoming tide. There were only a dozen tralers at the ramps as too windy but last day so we went. Only ended up catching catfish and undersize jew. We did go and fish for ordinary fish while there and managed a couple of meals of good bream. Next place I came to water was Mount Surprise fished in Elizabeth Creek caught what I think might be Kharki Grunter kept 3 for a meal and they cooked up beautiful. Kalpower Crossing was a lunchtime stop fished along the bank of I think The Normanby River, caught the usual archer fish and actually caught an undersize barra, hopefully only the first for the trip. Wenlock River at the Portland Roads crossing was a night stop near a really good lilly covered billabong. Couldn't raise any fish in the billabong so walked along the river casting small lures and came up with a couple of jungle perch (only 20cm) and a couple of other fish I haven't identified yet. Finally in Weipa had a short session in the Mission River resulted in throwback barra for me and a legal for my brother in law. Next day fished the andoom River for some good bream, big catfish and a couple of not legal barra. Third day went out the river and fished our way down the coast. It is always productive and this time a good golden trev , a couple of bream close to 40cm, various smaller reef fish, small mackerael (up to 70 cm) but no queenies. Had a troll over some shallow reef 3 m deep after about 15min hooked up to what I thought was the bottom or a submarine 15lb braid was ripping off my 2500 reel and thought I didn't have a chance. But everything held together the 40lb trace was shredded and one half of the braid double had broken away. Landed my best ever goldspot cod with my lure well down its throat. The position of the lure made a successful release impracticle so decided this fish would be perfect for our dinners. About 30 mins later we were lurecasting with small softplastics and my brother in law had a similar battle and landed another cod the same size, this was only hooked in the corner of the mouth and was released. Had a successful day. Did another short session in the mission river but only resulted in 3 undersize barra. Sorry about all the reports coming in one report but have trouble getting service and time. It has cooled down here tonight down to about 19 deg after a pleasant daytime temp of 29. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 Wish I was up there , One day I hope to take my boat from cairns to Weipa. There was a documentary called Call of the wild, Tell you what after watching that I want to do the same thing except new Gunnie. LOVE the top end. Thanks for your report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wizza Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 great report.i have a nephew in wyndham kununurra who could give you local info if you are in the vicinity.cheers wizza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Good work. A few fish there, and a few good feeds, better than Port Hacking of late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sydneyfisher12 Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 That sounds like a awesome fishing trip you had that cod looks massive and I'm sure it would of put up a great fight and tasted even better Sounds like the place I want to be Cheers sydneyfisher12 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookerbruce Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 Good work. A few fish there, and a few good feeds, better than Port Hacking of late. The Weipa water temp is down a bit at the moment up here only 24 so making the estuary fishing a bit slow. Water has a bit of colour to it which helps. There are heaps of bream in the creeks and rivers and a few muddies got a big one on a live mullet the other day cooked up nice. Heading down the coast for a week to chase the offshore fish hope the weather co=operates Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookerbruce Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 That sounds like a awesome fishing trip you had that cod looks massive and I'm sure it would of put up a great fight and tasted even better Sounds like the place I want to be Cheers sydneyfisher12 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk This is not a fishing trip I am on. It is a touring holiday with my wife( as I keep telling her). The cod did put up a very good fight, the largest cod I've caught. I can't help it if nearly everywhere we go there is water. After Weipa we head to Seisia then back down to Cooktown. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yowie Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 The Weipa water temp is down a bit at the moment up here only 24 so making the estuary fishing a bit slow. Water has a bit of colour to it which helps. There are heaps of bream in the creeks and rivers and a few muddies got a big one on a live mullet the other day cooked up nice. Heading down the coast for a week to chase the offshore fish hope the weather co=operates Bruce Wanda Beach is around 18 degrees, inside the Port feels a bit colder when I was pumping a few nippers last week. Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thefisherman6784 Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Great job mate Sounds like an eventful trip with heaps of fish to Must of been heaps of fun with that cod Bad luck on not getting that big barra but there's always next time Well done Cheers thefisherman6784 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookerbruce Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 Just been down the river casting lures for 40 min. Still no big barra but managed a small one and a longtom. Will try again tomorrow. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Howes Posted July 20, 2014 Share Posted July 20, 2014 Bruce, Enjoy the sunshine, and the wonderful fishing locations. We have been having a lean time with the blackfish since these horrible westerlies and southerlies have been blowing. The Georges River is a clear as a bell and the fish are scarce. I tried down at Como today at your favourite spot with four fish lucky to be legal. The river needs some heavy rain to colour and flush the breeders from the upper reaches. Howsy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookerbruce Posted July 20, 2014 Author Share Posted July 20, 2014 The cast net is working well catching a few mullet and things. I did manage a dozen blackies over 3 trips in may before I left. Thanks Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyFil Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Great report Bruce, so does this mean you didn't do the houseboat in Weipa this year? I was there in early June and it was quite cool and rainy the first coupe of days - very weird for Weipa. Had a go at the Mission River bridge for the first time. Saw more crocs than the past 6 years so be careful! Caught a few threadies under the bridge at night and one of the crew got smoked by a large GT on a pylon. Also heaps of bull sharks around the bridge! Sounds like a great trip - even though it's not meant to be a fishing trip.... Cheers Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryder Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Some good looking fish you've caught. I'd love to check out that part of the country. I especially like the. " This is not a fishing trip...." Haha Great report Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookerbruce Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Just got off the house boat today. Had reasonable weather and all on board caught at least a couple of good fish. The mackerel were very good managed 6 or 7 good ones in one morning, kept two for the trip There were a lot more grey macks. than we usually catch. Sharks as usual were a problem. We fished from Redcliffs to Thud point mainly with one trip to Norman Creek. I still didn't manage a legal barra. 5 of 14 barra caught by others were legal we kept 3, largest 83cm. I managed macks, queemies ,various trevallies, fingermark, jacks,bream,blue salmon and an assoertment of other species. A few photos from the trip. I caught the queenie, blue salmon and the grey mack. In a couple of days we head for the wenlock and then on to Siesia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyFil Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Good to see you had a productive week on the houseboat - especially with the Mackeral! Nice cobia by the way. Did you get all the barra in the Norman? Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hookerbruce Posted July 31, 2014 Author Share Posted July 31, 2014 Some in the Norman and the rest off scattered rocks along the beaches. Fished in the Wenlock near Moreton Telegraph station one small barra followed the lure in and a very large barra just wasn't interested. River is very sandy and shallow had to walk a far way to find some snags in a hole. Just been casting a lure from the beach at Seisia for one lost fish. Will keep on fishing our way north. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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