Honeymoon road trip part 1, freshwater

[dirvin21]

As most of you know Amy and I got married in March and after 6 months of waiting our honeymoon finally arrived a 20 day road trip, from Port Macquarie to Cape Tribulation.

We set ourselves a bit of a fishing challenge... our honeymoon hitlist

The fishing didn't start until day 3, towards the end of a long drive, we had a tip from a very generous Rockhampton local who I know through an old fishing forum we found a small creek just south of Rocky.

We casted weedless plastics around and unexpectedly it didn't take long to get a hit

A small barra to start the trip, the long shot paid off, and unbelievably it happened again next cast

Albeit the smallest barra I've seen,

We continued casting with a few more hits from presumed small barra, we put loads of casts in hoping for a bigger fish ... finally got nailed on the drop and a much better barra cartwheeled out of the water, it put up a solid fight 

Measured 58cm and set the trip off on a high.

We had planned to fish Proserpine dam but the weather and bank access didn't work out on the way we took a backroad trying to catch a Saratoga no luck on the togas despite quite a bit of effort

, so we skipped a day of fishing with our next destination Tully gorge. After a quick camp set-up we got into the fishing. The river was stunning as ever

The fishing started a bit slow but with some persistent casting we started landind some fish

Sooty grunter

And Khaki grunter, we fished our way through the heat and vicious march flies for some nice fish before a refreshing swim and retiring yo camp.

We hit the river again the next morning for a good surface session on the khakis and sime more quality sooties

We walked into a new spot I wanted to show Amy

Scenic as I remember

The Tully is a beautiful river with great access definitely recommended it to anyone travelling north, the only draw back is the relentless march flies.

We moved onto Cairns for some comfy accommodation and an opportunity for a jungle perch, I'll save a long painful story but JPs are hard,

it took some serious ridiculously placed casts, wading and swearing I managed 2 tiny JPs

Despite the size they are beautiful looking fish.

After our stint in Cairns and an epic day fishing the reef (that's another report), we headed into the Daintree

Another beautiful place, even had a snorkel in one of the rainforest swimming holes, the amount of JPs and even a mangrove jack in the pool was amazing.

With some renewed enthusiasm for JP fishing we headed out early in the morning just wanting 1 decent JP, it took a few missed hook ups but finally

A respectable JP, I've wanted this fish for over 30 years, and not to be outdone 

Amy landed her first JP,  we walked down a track looking for a Jack, the jacks didn't comply but we had plenty of fun with the archerfish

heading back the car we got a bit upclose with a cassowary 

Fortunately he just wanted the fruit on the path so we took the long way back.

From the Daintree we headed inland to lake Tinaroo

We spent 2 days camped here trying fir a big barra

No barra but did manage a couple of "mouth almighty"

our travels headed inland unfortunately because of a large storm cell a few days before our fishing plans were not an option, but did manage a couple of small sooties on Fletcher Creek north of Charters Towers 

These turned out to be the last fish for the trip, we tried for Toga in a couple of spots on the way home with no luck, it didn't matter still an amazing adventure 

There's a YouTube video for the Tully section being edited

Cheers for reading

Dave

 

 

[Bluebenbomb]

Well done! Good to see you guys get out on a long trip and also catch a few new species. 👍

[Blackfish]

Great photos and report Dave. Looking forward to the next instalments.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Blackfish

[Rah]

What a honeymoon! Can't wait for the vid. 

Awesome write up and photos. Well done on the new species too! 

Cheers

Rah 

[Yowie]

Great Aussie scenery, with plenty of fish to show for the trip. Looks like a great time was had, except for the march flies (mongrels of things, and it is not yet March 🤣)

Steer clear of the cassowaries, unpredictable agro critters. I read yesterday that if you are in their territory, take some fruit with you. When they arc up, throw some fruit to them and they usually calm down and eat the fruit (don't know how good the info is, but the bloke was an 'expert' on their behaviour)

[masterfisho7]

Super report love all your photos 

[dirvin21]

1 hour ago, Yowie said:

 

Steer clear of the cassowaries, unpredictable agro critters. I read yesterday that if you are in their territory, take some fruit with you. When they arc up, throw some fruit to them and they usually calm down and eat the fruit (don't know how good the info is, but the bloke was an 'expert' on their behaviour)

I tried calling "chook  chook, chook" didn't help🤔

[Little_Flatty]

Just a fantastic holiday Dave and Amy. Some great fish there. I really like archer fish and jungle perch. Have seen both but never with a rod in hand. Beautiful fish.

[big Neil]

Fabulous report guys, on your trip of a lifetime, although I'm sure you will be having many more in the future. That's what life's all about...building up the memories to sustain you when you get old together. Looking forward to the video. Did you use a drone for some of the shots Dave?

bn

[Green Hornet]

Beautiful scenery and fishing guys.

Enjoy the rest of your adventure and look forward to your video and next report.

[dirvin21]

2 hours ago, big Neil said:

. Did you use a drone for some of the shots Dave?

bn

Yep, bought just before we went away

[Rebel]

Top report.

Can't beat the Australian Bush.

Great photos.

Well done both of you.

[mrsswordfisherman]

Great report @dirvin21 and Amy

So glad you finally have a wonderful lady to enjoy adventures with you.

[jordy]

Absolutely outstanding thanks for sharing and all the best for the rest of the journey.

[bessell1955]

What a great report!