LuckyFil Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Did Weipa in August this year (usually May or June) . Very windy this time and water cooler than usual (26 instead of 29 degrees) and offshore water was quite cloudy at times - the locals put this down to the ongoing windy conditions whipping up a lot of chop and at times a fair swell coming up from the bottom of the gulf. I say all this as the fishing was pretty ordinary compared to what it can be. All previous reports had indicated the tuna were scarce so we hadn't expected to find any but luckily picked up a few, with one good session of them working the surface and we all landed a couple and losing others to pulled hooks or sharks - yes they're still around and in big numbers, possibly due to the shortage of tuna! The longtails were the usual size averaging 8-10kg and we'd all forgotten how hard and fast they pull - finished that session with big grins and lots of chatter about how much fun it was. Pera Rocks were holding queenies, some quite big, but not turned on so hard work to get them interested. Steve nabbed a nice one of around a meter and I picked up a smaller one. Plenty of small mackerel snipping our lures which was annoying. Denis managed a very nice spanish amongst the tuna school and extracted him from a large whaler on its heels. That fed us for several days and has to be one of the top table fish in my book. Due to the windy conditions and lumpy swell we couldn't get down to the Norman River but did have a few sessions in the creeks in Weipa Harbour, managing some queenies, fingermark, javelin fish (grunter) and even a couple of small barra. We fished the inshore reefs around Boyd Bay most evenings with one crew landing a nice bunch of fingermark and I picked up my PB tusk fish which went 60cm (and nudged the scales at 5kg. As usual it was a real tussle to extract him from the reef and the 80lb leader was shredded but held on long enough to get him in the net. Again a top quality table fish. Had a funny experience while reef fishing that could have ended up quite nasty. Denis was leaning over the gunnel removing the hook from a trevally when I heard a chop on the surface beside us. I looked over in time to see a mackerel leave the water heading straight at him. I yelled 'look out' and he jumped aside just as it landed in the boat between us. As you may know all mackerel have razor sharp teeth so we were dancing around the boat trying to avoid getting bitten. Who needs a rod and reel to catch fish! Included a few picks below. Cheers Fil 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyFil Posted August 19, 2018 Author Share Posted August 19, 2018 A few more pics, including a weird fish I think may be a Stargazer(?) 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam bros Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Sounds like an amazing trip I love the photos, weipa is certainly on the bucket list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scratchie Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Great report Phil. Such an amazing place and a great variety of fish. Have to agree with the table quality of Spanish mackerel. Right up the top on my books too! ? cheers scratchie!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackfish Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Excellent Phil, buggar about the wind though and the Tuskie is certainly a cracker. The funny looking fish is a Papuan Jawfish, funny thing I got one in May when I was up there and caught on a White Bucktail Jig. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Love that part of the country, quite envio?us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LuckyFil Posted August 19, 2018 Author Share Posted August 19, 2018 5 hours ago, Blackfish said: Excellent Phil, buggar about the wind though and the Tuskie is certainly a cracker. The funny looking fish is a Papuan Jawfish, funny thing I got one in May when I was up there and caught on a White Bucktail Jig. Thanks for that info I'll tell the other guys in the crew what it was. Interesting you caught one on the same style of jig I was using, which incidentally was very popular with many species up there - it was only small with a 1/6th head but everything had a crack at it. Did you also find the bluewater fishing was quiet? Other reports I've read from May /June also complained about the winds. Fil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
masterfisho7 Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Nice report and some great photos looks like you had a ball Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackfish Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 (edited) 10 hours ago, LuckyFil said: Thanks for that info I'll tell the other guys in the crew what it was. Interesting you caught one on the same style of jig I was using, which incidentally was very popular with many species up there - it was only small with a 1/6th head but everything had a crack at it. Did you also find the bluewater fishing was quiet? Other reports I've read from May /June also complained about the winds. Fil Yeah we had wind up there at that time and made it hard for us fishing the reefs, which we only did a couple of times. We got a few Trout, Fingermark, Tuskies, plus all the Reef sundries but no problem as we let most go. Virtually no surface action and only saw a couple of Northern Blues when moving the boat but we did make it up to the Norman one day. Oh and we never got one decent Mackerel couple of Tiny ones and a few snips offs. Edited August 19, 2018 by Blackfish 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big Neil Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 Great report and photos Phil. Crap weather seems to be impacting on quality fishing everywhere, with the odd exception. Cheers, bn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rock&Beach Posted August 25, 2018 Share Posted August 25, 2018 Great report mate some fine fishing had by the look of it. That queenie is a cracker. Cheers R&B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishinaddiction Posted September 3, 2018 Share Posted September 3, 2018 Great report, Loved the photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now