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Capt Craig (Stikezone)
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Username: Stikezone
Post Number: 1
Registered: 6-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - 2:08 pm: | |
Weipa Fishing Report
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au May, 2006.
May’s fishing started off great with Barramundi, King & Blue Salmon biting well in the river’s while out the front Tuna where smashing into the baits schools better then every. On the beach small Queenfish, Barramundi & Blue Salmon were on the bite.
Weather:
Not sure what’s happening with the weather these days it seems to me that it’s becoming more unpredictable each year. Onshore Westerly winds are wet season winds from December to March in April, rarely but possible but not in May, well I was wrong again. Towards the end of the second week in May we had a strong Southwesterly blow. His generated a big onshore swell cutting out the out beaches & off shore fishing for about two weeks, not good!
Fishing:
On the Beach
While the water was good in early May we got out on the beaches to sight cast small clousers to the many schools of small Queenfish most where feeding on the small jelly prawns. We found a few lone Barramundi in the 4 to 6 kg range good size fish but not in the numbers that we would normally see on the beaches. I am sure this had something to do with up & coming bad weather. Barramundi are along the beaches to feed on the huge amount of bait fish unlike the other fish spieces we find on the beaches the Barramundi won’t go out to sea to feed so in extended times of onshore swells these fish would have to make their way back into the rivers to feed. So maybe not many Barra on the beach means the weather going to turn bad? Around some of the rocky headland we would find Blue Salmon & small Giant Herring larger clousers & Deceivers worked well.
Blue Water
Tuna where in good numbers feeding on the vast amount bait schools.
We found that sinking flies & jigs under the feeding Tuna would produce Trevally & Spanish Mackerel. These fish would be driving the bait schools to the surface as well picking up the scraps of half eaten baitfish that drift to the bottom. Out on fairway beacon big Queenfish and GT’s where smashing the surface. Poppers on heavy spin gear covered the water well to get strikes for these huge fish. To catch these fish on fly, I would cast a hookless popper as a teaser to attract fish into casting range. Then fly fishers would cast flashy profiles on shooting heads to the cranky fish.
Rivers
May’s lower tides expose some of best gutter fishing you will see anywhere. Barramundi & King Salmon sitting on the gutter mouths at the end of the run out tide feasting on the prawns & mullet as they are flushed out of the drying creeks. Flies worked better then lures as we could match the small prawn size with white clousers. On the first of the run in tide we would look for mangrove snags in mouths of creeks. For good numbers of barramundi and as the month went on the Mangrove Jacks started to show up in numbers.
Looking for more fishing stories on Weipa? Visit our local fishing forums. http://forums.strikezonesportsfish.com.au/
Sea ya in the “Strikezone”
Craig Jenkins.
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craig jenkins (Strikezone)
New member
Username: Strikezone
Post Number: 4
Registered: 2-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, June 25, 2006 - 12:59 am: | |
Weipa Fishing Report
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au April, 2006
Barra, Bait balls & big Queenfish. April was an exciting start to the charter season. The weather was against us but the fishing was great.
Weather:
With a visit from a category 3 cyclone the second week of April you could say the weather was less then perfect. Thinking back over the years the last cyclone we had in April was over ten years ago. So it is possible, but rare.
Fishing:
There was still a big swell breaking on the beaches for the first two weeks of April this made the water murky and unfishable. So most fishing was taken part in the rivers. Barramundi had been a bit quiet on the neaping tides but as the tides increased the Barra’s started to bite and bite they did. I had a couple of lure fisher men from Brisbane that got stuck into Barramundi up the Mission River, most where taken on hard body lures and when the tide started to slow for the turn the guys switched to soft plastic for a few extra fish in the slower moving water at the end of the day we had landed 46 fish ranging in size from 50 to 75 cm.
As the swell decreased later in the month it allowed us to venture out along the coast. Good bait schools where found on some of the closest reefs attracting Spanish Mackerel, Queenfish & Tuna. I had a group of three guys that had a great session on big Queenfish with double & triple hook ups for most of the session. We used heavy spin tackle for the metre long Queenfish, lures included poppers, hard bodies & lead headed Jigs. On a couple of really flat days we ventured right out to sea in search of drifting logs, these are washed out of the rivers during the wet season they float around at sea (a real boating hazard if your traveling at night) for us they where fish markers. We found Triple Tails, Dolphin Fish and other Pelagic’s hanging around them. Tripletails are aggressive feeders and had no problems eating whatever we threw at them, including Soft Plastic’s & on fly, Clousers where gobbled up like there was no tomorrow.
On The fly once the swell had cleared the beaches where back in the game. Queenfish where on the jelly prawns schools as they made their way along the coast small white clousers worked well for a jelly prawn imitations. We found Barramundi, Blue Salmon and the odd Giant Herring in some of the gutters and rocky out crops on the beach, flies included White Thing & Clousers. Sinking 4-inch flashy profiles on shooting heads in berley trails along the reef edges accounted for large Queenfish & Spanish Mackerel. We also caught a Rainbow Runner using this method, Rainbow Runner are a found on the East Coast of Australia normally caught on the Great Barrier Reef and this is the first one we have caught in Weipa. The same angler managed to catch one of the biggest Long Tail Tuna’s that I have ever seen in Weipa. The Tuna was caught while sinking a fly under a bait ball. Most other Tuna where caught by casting flies into Tuna schools feeding on the surface. Flies include white clousers, surf candies & flashy’s profiles attached to shoot heads on 10 & 12 wt rods delivering fast and accurate cast into the Tuna schools.
Was busy tying flies during April I have managed to add a few new recipes to our site & the forum.
Looking for more fishing stories on Weipa? Visit our local fishing forums. http://forums.strikezonesportsfish.com.au/
Weipa Barramundi,
[IMG]http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g60/Strikezone_2006/IMG_0582.jpg[/IMG]
Sea ya in the “Strikezone”
Craig Jenkins.
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craig jenkins (Strikezone)
New member
Username: Strikezone
Post Number: 3
Registered: 2-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 8:27 pm: | |
Weipa Fishing Report
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au March, 2006
March was a quiet month for me fishing wise. I was on a family vacation for 3 weeks down on Queensland’s Gold Coast. Now I have no problem wading in croc & shark infested waters or chasing a wild boar though the Cape York bush lands but put me on a Gold Coast roller coaster next to my 10 year old and I’ll break out in a cold sweat. Much to the amusement to my 10 year old I must add.
Weather:
The weather had turned bad with a strong Northwesterly winds causing a large swell in Albatross bay.
Fishing:
Because of the large swell fishing was restricted to the river systems for most of the month. All fishing reports where pretty patchy. A couple of local fly fishers went out, to catch 16 good size Barramundi, only to go out the following day with similar conditions and not turn a scale. Barramundi where more regular of a night, up at the Mission River bridge was one of the best spots. Most Barramundi where caught on soft plastic’s. Finger Mark & Grunter where also biting, the creek mouths where the best locations. April sees the start of my 2006 charter season; I’m looking forward to bringing you an insight to my fishing season as it unfolds.
Looking for forums on fishing Northern Australia? We’re looking for members. http://forums.strikezonesportsfish.com.au/
Sea ya in the “Strikezone”
Craig Jenkins. |
craig jenkins (Strikezone)
New member
Username: Strikezone
Post Number: 2
Registered: 2-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 26, 2006 - 6:35 pm: | |
Weipa Fishing Report
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au
February, 2006
Barramundi, Queenfish & Fingermark where on the bite during February, we had missed out on the wet season rain for the month and it seamed like the fish where taking advantage of the great weather!
Weather:
February is normally known as the wettest time of the year here in Weipa. Not this year however the only rain we received was with passing storms, we had missed out on the badly needed rain for the month. Great sunny days, low southeast to northeast winds.
Fishing:
On the beach, jelly prawns are making their migration along the beaches and up into the rivers. Jelly prawns attacted a lot of attention, as there are not many spieces that don’t love to feed on these tiny prawns. Giant Manta Rays feast on the schools of prawns a few hundred metres off shore, they put on quite a show while herding the prawns into ever tighten schools, then with mouth open wide swim through the prawn soup filtering the water with their gills.
Schools of Barramundi, Blue Salmon, Queenfish & Giant Herring would terrorize the prawns schools once they hit the shoreline. A fly rod is the perfect tool to target these fish, however so called matching the hatch is not easy, the prawns are only 2.5 cm or 1 inch in length and almost invisible with two tiny black dots for eyes and two minute red wishers. A small all white clouses is a good substitute and will work most of time. The best method is to get the fly in front of the fish, the more times the fish sees your fly the better chance of a take. This is not an easy task when the fish are in a feeding frenzy, they are swimming fast, constantly changing direction and surrounded by their favorite food. The jelly prawns are great and will come in waves over the next few months.
There is a dark cloud that follows this silver lining and that’s the box jellyfish. The Boxy as it’s locally known, is with out a doubt the most deadliest sea creacher that graces our shores. Their almost transparent box shaped heads trails about 16 tentacles, covered in millions of stinging cells. The jellyfish range in size up to head of 20 centimeters across which is the biggest I have seen in our waters. A jellyfish this size would have no problems killing an adult. It’s not the time for wading and in some places along the beaches the jelly fish where so numerous it would be impossible to cast with-out your line landing on one, needless to say the fish where pretty safe in these areas. The good thing is they are only around for a short time and will be gone by the end of March the start of my guiding season.
I managed to get out to the reef twice during the month, to do some jigging. We found a few good schools of Fingermark, they where eager to eat the 1 ounce lead head jigs, tied with white fire tail a few strands of flashabou on a 5/0 hook. I like to use my 6-12 lb imx G.loomis, 203a Daiwa millionaire reel with 14lb fire line, a typical Barramundi out-fit. We found one patch of reef where we jigged up 18 fish ranging in size up to 8 lbs in a session.
On both days we came across schools of feeding Queenfish casting slightly smaller jigs into the feed frenzy connected us up to 6 to 8 lb fish. Queenfish surface feeding like this are great to take on fly, small surf candies match the hardy heads baitfish well. Queenfish can even be taken by letting the fly slowly sink like a dead baitfish.
I am looking forward to the huge bait balls that will be coming in to the bay during March, April & May. Queenfish, Tuna, Mackerel, Cobia & Trevally are a few of the spieces that will wreak havoc on the bait schools. Stay tuned for all up and coming action that.
I’ll keep you posted”.
River fishing:
Casting hard body lures up on the shallow mangrove flats worked well for barramundi, an hour each side of the high tide was the most productive. Using buoyant shallow diving lures are best, cast up against the mangrove letting the lure settle on the water for a few seconds before starting your retrieve, giving the Barramundi time to scene the lure. Being an ambush feeder Barramundi will sneak up behind the lure and when it moves it’s inhaled. Another good method it to let the lure float up to the surface between twitches. When the lure is twitched use a sharp 6-inch motion this will make a small splash on the surface before diving and then wind up the slack while the lure floats up to the surface again then repeat. By adjusting you lure bib by heating and increasing the angle of the bib to almost 90 degrees to the lure you can use this method to make the lure pop on the surface “a real Boof-bait”.
Sea ya in the “Strikezone”
Craig Jenkins. |
craig jenkins (Strikezone)
New member
Username: Strikezone
Post Number: 1
Registered: 2-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 06, 2006 - 2:43 pm: | |
Weipa Fishing Report
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au
January, 2006
Weather: Typical wet season weather, sunny one minute then pouring with rain the next.
Wind has been switching around from Southeast to Northwest 5 - 25 knots.
January is a quite time here in Weipa most days are spent in doors out of the rain and the wind. A good opportunity to catch up on all that paperwork that comes with running a small business. Setting up and planning for the year ahead, organizing the trips for the year, etc…
An exciting thing that I have been working on this month is planning our new web site to which this report will be attached. My new web designer Stuart Tremain from idfk web developments, came highly recommended and I can see why. Stuart brings new and exciting ideas and improvements to the site. The new site will include fly recipes, guest book; new fishing reports, photo gallery and much more, the site will be constantly upgraded and improved. We would like to receive input, ideas that will make the site more interesting, if you have a fly recipe, a story or information that you would like to see on the site e-mail me the details and if its relative, it will be added to the site.
I have managed to sneak out a couple of times during the month, fishing with my family mostly, we have been heading out on early mornings. Fishing a place called Westminster, about 20 minute trip south of Weipa. I have a few rocks marked in 8 metres of water a good place for reef spieces like Finger Mark, these fish are closely related to the Mangrove Jacks in shape and pulling power. We have caught Finger Mark up to 15kgs, can you imagine how hard a 15 kg Jack would pull? They swim in large schools going from reef to reef looking for bait fish, this is the reason why they hard to find sometimes.
When a school is found its normally actions stations as long as the fish think there is food in the area they will hang around. A good trick is to keep a hooked fish in the water, while that fish is thrashing around, the other fish will stay close; berley can have the same affect. The best way I have found to locate these fish is by trolling extra deep diving lures, I always have other rods rigged with lead head jigs. Once a hooked fish gets close to the boat drop down the jigs normally the other fish will be all over them and then a great fishing session begins. There are only a few lures that I have found that get down to 8 metres although there are quite a lot that claim too. Halco Crazy Deeps are one of my favorite for this. Although trolling is my least favorite way to catch fish it is an affective way to cover a lot of water in a short time, which can be the difference between lots of fish and no fish. We slowed down as we approached the spot with all the rods rigged and ready to go, we dropped over the lures. It wasn’t long before we come up to the rocks my wife Nicole and son Johnny where holding a rod each. The lures tapped the rocks as they were towed across them. Nicole’s reel started screaming, these aren’t small out fits Penn 15 kg power sticks & spin fishers 850’s with 30 lb fire line. A few seconds later Johnny’s rod was bent over backwards two good fish definitely Finger Mark, excellent we where on to them, I thought to my self. This end-up as a very brief encounter with both fish making it back to the rocks, the 70 lb leaders cut like cotton. Thirty dollars in lures, gone in a few minutes, “great”. I quickly grabbed the other rods, we dropped the jig’s to the bottom lifted them off the bottom half a metre and then began jigging. The boat slowly drifted away from the rocks without a bite, we had blowen our chance. We drifted over the spot a few more times with no luck at all; it was plain to see these fish had hightailed it. I had a few more rocks marked on the GPS a few hundred metres away so we headed off to try them. We motored off to the next set of rocks; we decided to try the jigs again. Dropping them down to the bottom then up a few turns of the reels handle and then bounce the rod tip. My daughter Jaymie was the first to hook up, a good solid fish, heading to the surface and fast. The fish broke the surface a big Queenfish jumped into the air trying desperately to dislodge the jig. The Queenfish kept Jaymie on her toes for the next 15 minutes, we landed the fish for a couple of quick photo’s then released.
Johnny was next to hook-up the fish was fighting hard to make it back to the bottom which it did, bricked him. I got Johnny to release the pressure, sometime the fish just swim free of the structure which it did,” sometime you win”. Johnny quickly loaded the rod again and got the fish off the bottom, before long he had a nice Coral Trout on the surface. “Yum baked Trout”, we landed the fish and were going to get a few photos of the Trout before dispatching it. Johnny held the fish up for a shot, I got one photo then ask him to move for another, then the fish seemed to get a look at freedom and with a flick of it’s tail the fish come free of Johnathan’s grip bounced on the gunal, then into the water “and some times you lose”.
I am not sure if the Trout tipped off the other fish but it was the last one we had caught there. We decided to give trolling another chance so I tied on two more lures and we trolled off heading towards home. About fifteen minutes later Johnny hooked up again to another solid fish, I kept the boat going forward slowly to see if we could get another bite on the other lure. This didn’t work; I knocked the motor out of gear and instructed Nicole wind-in quickly. Her lure was just about in when she had a strike, the reel drag was singing again. Johnny’s fish had worked its way free and Nicole had just turned her fish for the first time. Nicole was locked in a to a tug of war for twenty-five minutes until we got the first glimpse of colour, a big Giant Trevally. It was about another ten minutes until the fish was up on the surface. I was keen for some more photos, but Nicole’s arms had turned to jelly after the fight so we decided to release the fish in the water.
By this time a strom in the distance was brewing up a few lighting bolts. Although the storm was along way away I was feeling a bit like a floating conductor and decided to head for home early, plenty on time to defrost some steak.
Tight Lines
Craig Jenkins |
suthan
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 18, 2003 - 8:45 am: | |
Subject: parotfish
My parot fish is about to lay eggs, how do i set my tank? (only pair in a tank 4ft long & 2ft wide) |
Craig Jenkins
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 8:52 am: | |
Subject: May Fishing Report 2002
Weipa fishing Report, May 2002.
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au
Weather: 15 to 25 knots Southeasterly winds. Clear sunny days.
Fishing: As usual April and May is two of the best fishing months for the year, no change this year. Down the coast we found a huge bait school about the size of a football field, situated approximately a half a mile off shore. This was spectacular to say the least watching huge Tiger and Whaler Sharks crashing into the bait school as we casted into the school ourselves. Blue Salmon, Giant Herring, Queenfish, Golden Trevally, Tarpon, Grey and Spanish Mackerel and the odd Tuna well this was fishing Heaven. The Bait schools stayed around for 3 weeks and a few clients where able to experience this spectacular event before they disappeared.
Giant Manta Rays also showed up this month, feeding on the schools of jelly prawns that formed along the beaches this time of the year. Over 12 feet across they are magnificent and graceful creatures, watching them glide through the water herding the prawns into ever tightening schools then busting through the middle of the school mouth open wide. Usually the Rays have Golden Trevally and Cobia following them, these fish seem to follow the Rays knowing that they are on the trail of the sweet small prawns a delicacy of most fish around here. Both Goldens and Cobia won’t pass up a well-presented fly or jig however they will not venture to far away from the safety of the Rays.
Out wide and around the shipping pylons for Tuna sometimes in massive schools, anglers normally catching as many as they want or as they can handle.
Sight casting to big Golden Trevally cruising just below the surface out and around the pylons these fish where looking for crabs hiding in and around the floating weed, clousers on floating lines worked best fish up to 8kgs.
Some nice King Salmon where caught in the rivers some fish over a meter, great fighters at this size. Barramundi at the bottom of the tide, gutter mouths and snags producing good numbers of fish.
Tight Lines, Craig Jenkins.
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Craig Jenkins
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 8:51 am: | |
Subject: April Fishing Report 2002
Weipa fishing Report, March/ April 2002.
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au
Weather: 10 to 15 knots Southeasterly winds with afternoon sea breeze.
Fishing: Wet season what wet season? Northern Cape York missed out on its share of rain again this year. The rain didn’t start until mid January and was finished by early March. Unfortunately we stopped fishing mid November and because of late start to the wet season November and December had some of the best fishing I’d ever seen. Hot summer days, building up to the wet and. high water temperature had the fish on the bite.
2002 seem to start off strange, the weather cycle a month or so early because of the poor wet season? I’m not to sure. Bait schools started showing up early March something I’d never seen before, Tuna and Spanish mackerel followed the bait schools.
Schools of Barra and Blue salmon out on the coastal beaches and rocky headlands eating flies and lures. Huge schools of big Queenfish out on the shallow reefs finding the schools by trolling hookless poppers around the reef this was the best way to cover a lot of water. Once the fish hit the teasers we would stop the boat and cast flies, lures, jigs whatever hit the water would be fair game, most Queenfish where a meter plus in size.
A group of three clients had a ball, when they where constantly hooked up for at least 45minites. I’d flattened out the barbs on the lead head jigs to allow quick hook removal but what was happening was the Queenfish would work the hook free while jumping. Because of the amount of fish in the water almost instantly another fish would grab the jig. The anglers where always hooked up to fresh fish, we eventually decided to leave the school still biting to give the guys aching arms and shoulder a well-needed rest.
Jigging the deep water bombies worked well for big Finger Mark, heavy Jig rods with 50 pound braid for these fish, hook up and hang on.
Good numbers of Mangrove Jacks showing up in the Rivers casting right up to the mangrove snags the biggest Jacks always taking the best cover. Sinking lures and clousers worked best allowing them to sink down along beside the structure then retrieving from the bottom. This technique would also pick up Finger Mark, Gold Spot Cod and the odd Queensland Groper.
Tight lines, Craig Jenkins.
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Craig Jenkins
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 22, 2002 - 8:49 am: | |
Subject: October Fishing report
Weipa fishing Report, October.
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au
Weather: Primarily 10 to 15 Knot Southeasterly winds with occasional afternoon sea breeze.
Fishing: Rivers were a little quieter than expected this month, it seemed that most of the fish had headed out on to the beach in preparation for the up coming breeding season. As we get closer to the wet season the tides move into higher than normal high tides. This is the time to get up on the shallow river flats that are normally out of bounds. Floating fly lines with surface flies or 3-D patterns that would push water, like wise shallow diving and surface lures casting over hidden gutters where Barramundi wait in ambush. Once the lure or fly is over the gutter you slow down your retrieve or even stop, normally a hungry fish will glide up to your artificial bait and stop an inch away, a small twitch and watch as it’s inhaled in a golden flash. Taking Barra in clear shallow water is a great way to catch these magnificent fish. Once hooked the shallow water drives them up into the air for aerobatics display across the flats.
When the conditions were right the Barramundi would go-off, out on the beaches and headlands, good numbers of fish with the biggest up to 16kgs.
When these fish decided to feed the water would come alive with them, with a strike if not a fish every cast. Flies or lures everything would get nailed. Feeding sessions would be short however and as quick as them came on they would turn off. Barbless hooks would make removal of the hook quick, allowing the angler to get back into the water and on to another fish, making the most of the short sessions.
While targeting Queenfish in the harbour we spotted a huge school of mullet being chased up onto the edge of a sandbar. We quickly changed our tackle over to heavy spin rods loaded with big poppers, I beached the boat on the bar and we ran over to where the fish where crashing into the bait school, it wasn’t long before both clients where hooked up to solid Giant Trevally. Land based hook up and both fish heading for the channel without a sign of slowing, I went back to get the boat, knowing that the rate of line was coming of the rods it wouldn’t be long before we would be spooled. The guys managed to get in the boat without a hitch and we slowly motored out, with the freedom of the boat it wasn’t long before both fish where under control and we landed two 15 kg fish. While the guys regained their strength I headed back to the bar to find the GT’s had moved on but a school of Golden Trevally moved up on the sandbar flats, probably following the fresh sent from the bait fish slaughter that had just taken place. We changed back to the lighter tackle and lead headed jigs. The fish ranged in size from 1 to 3 kg still a lot of fun on the right tackle.
Tight Lines, Craig Jenkins.
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Craig Jenkins
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 20, 2001 - 6:30 am: | |
Subject: July Fishing Report
Weipa Fishing Report, July.
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au
Weather: Primarily 15 to 20 knots Southeast winds.
Fishing: Fishing this month has been dominated by two, week long trips away on a mother ship. Travelling up to 120 miles north of Weipa to fish remote rivers and beaches. Our friends at World Wide Anglers had arranged a film crew to capture all the action for Japanese television.
Trip got of to a great start with a 12kg Long Tail Tuna caught on fly not far from the mother ship. As we followed the coast North we spotted a school of baitfish showering hard up against the beach. We pulled up on the beach to see Barramundi and Blue Salmon chopping up the bait schools. It wasn’t long before the fly rod was bent and the Barra’s tail was walking across the water. Only 30 minutes run North of the Wenlock is the Scardon River, mass of sandbars guard the Scardon River mouth. Deep channels weave their way across the flats. As we motored up one of the channels a school of permit where spooked by the boat and swam up on the shallow flats. We knew that after the fish had been spooked we wouldn’t have a change of taking one so we continued up the River. Just in side the River mouth was two gutters that I had fished on previous occasions, they where known Barra producers.
The Barramundi where there, but not in the numbers I expected though, we caught six and missed as many strikes. By this time it was lunch we planned to rendezvous with the mother ship a mile North of the Scardon River, as we motored out of the Scardon we spotted fish splashing in the distance. Stopping the engine up wind we drifted onto the feeding fish. Big Queenfish some up to a meter in length, one of the north’s most spectacular sportsfish. A couple of Queenies later our bellies were really starting to rumble, lucky the mother ship was only five minutes away. After lunch we headed on our second leg of the journey. The Jackson River was only half an hour North, we had plenty of time so we decided to see what was going on along this new stretch of beach. Motoring close into the beach we passed many gutters all with Herons feeding on baitfish, a positive sign for good fishing. We picked one of the gutters out and went and parked the boat on the beach, walking back to the gutter we could see fish moving in the shallows. Again Barramundi most where 2 to 3 kg but fish up to 8 kg were spotted. The beach seen us out for the rest of the day and we arrived in the Jackson late that afternoon. The mother ship moored in the Jackson for the next three days it was a perfect base with most of the fishing only 15 minutes away. We fished the surrounding beaches, salt-water estuary and the fresh water reaches of the Jackson River. Catching manly Barra, Jacks, Finger Mark, and Tarpon also had a few shots at Saratoga but were unable to land one.
The last day of the charter we woke up in Boyd’s Bay, 20 miles south of Weipa. The mother ship had traveled though out the night to get us there. I woke up early to see one of the cameramen casting a jig from the mother ship he was catching small Trevally from the back deck. I wanted to go for an early run to look for a Tuna for burly later that day and sensed he was the only one awake I asked if he would like to come. He was keen so we headed to a reef close by. The reef was quite so we started to have some random casts with lead headed jigs, after about four casts I hooked up to something pulling off lots of line of my heavy spin rod. It broke the water a nice size Tuna, I instructed the fellow to cast in the direction of my Tuna maybe there would be more. He must have landed his jig right in the middle of a school for an instant hook up. It wasn’t long before we had four Tuna on the floor of the boat and that’s all we would need. We arrived back at the mother ship just in time for breakfast. After breakfast we headed south to a favorite spot for GT’s (Giant trevally) We anchored up and started to burly with the fresh Tuna at the same time I worked a hookless popper over the reef. My flyfisher was using a 6-inch long flashy profile fly before long he was hooked up but not what we where after, a 6kg Cobia was brought to the boat. He would of had another 20 cast until he was hooked up again this time it was more promising, the fish screamed off the shallows and dived down off the reef edge. I dropped the anchor line buoy and took chase about 25 minutes later a 25kg GT was glided to the boat.
The second trip on the mother ship where both fly and lure fishers. The beach fishing had slowed down but the River fishing had fired up.
We couldn’t find a Queensfish in the Jackson River with the film crew but on this trip it was hard to get away from them, it’s amazing how the fishing can change in just a few days. Barramundi and Jacks where also biting well.
For the seven-day trip we caught 42 different species including Saratoga and a Permit on lure, that’s right a Permit on lure a six inch long flruo Killalure.
Around town the Barra fishing has been better then expected with captures of 30 to 40 Barra in a day being the best. Out on the reefs good numbers of Finger Mark some up to 10 kg. Pylons producing large Queenfish, Trevally and Spanish Mackerel.
Tight Lines, Craig.
Weipa Fishing Report, July.
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au
Weather: Primarily 15 to 20 knots Southeast winds.
Fishing: Fishing this month has been dominated by two, week long trips away on a mother ship. Travelling up to 120 miles north of Weipa to fish remote rivers and beaches. Our friends at World Wide Anglers had arranged a film crew to capture all the action for Japanese television.
Trip got of to a great start with a 12kg Long Tail Tuna caught on fly not far from the mother ship. As we followed the coast North we spotted a school of baitfish showering hard up against the beach. We pulled up on the beach to see Barramundi and Blue Salmon chopping up the bait schools. It wasn’t long before the fly rod was bent and the Barra’s tail was walking across the water. Only 30 minutes run North of the Wenlock is the Scardon River, mass of sandbars guard the Scardon River mouth. Deep channels weave their way across the flats. As we motored up one of the channels a school of permit where spooked by the boat and swam up on the shallow flats. We knew that after the fish had been spooked we wouldn’t have a change of taking one so we continued up the River. Just in side the River mouth was two gutters that I had fished on previous occasions, they where known Barra producers.
The Barramundi where there, but not in the numbers I expected though, we caught six and missed as many strikes. By this time it was lunch we planned to rendezvous with the mother ship a mile North of the Scardon River, as we motored out of the Scardon we spotted fish splashing in the distance. Stopping the engine up wind we drifted onto the feeding fish. Big Queenfish some up to a meter in length, one of the north’s most spectacular sportsfish. A couple of Queenies later our bellies were really starting to rumble, lucky the mother ship was only five minutes away. After lunch we headed on our second leg of the journey. The Jackson River was only half an hour North, we had plenty of time so we decided to see what was going on along this new stretch of beach. Motoring close into the beach we passed many gutters all with Herons feeding on baitfish, a positive sign for good fishing. We picked one of the gutters out and went and parked the boat on the beach, walking back to the gutter we could see fish moving in the shallows. Again Barramundi most where 2 to 3 kg but fish up to 8 kg were spotted. The beach seen us out for the rest of the day and we arrived in the Jackson late that afternoon. The mother ship moored in the Jackson for the next three days it was a perfect base with most of the fishing only 15 minutes away. We fished the surrounding beaches, salt-water estuary and the fresh water reaches of the Jackson River. Catching manly Barra, Jacks, Finger Mark, and Tarpon also had a few shots at Saratoga but were unable to land one.
The last day of the charter we woke up in Boyd’s Bay, 20 miles south of Weipa. The mother ship had traveled though out the night to get us there. I woke up early to see one of the cameramen casting a jig from the mother ship he was catching small Trevally from the back deck. I wanted to go for an early run to look for a Tuna for burly later that day and sensed he was the only one awake I asked if he would like to come. He was keen so we headed to a reef close by. The reef was quite so we started to have some random casts with lead headed jigs, after about four casts I hooked up to something pulling off lots of line of my heavy spin rod. It broke the water a nice size Tuna, I instructed the fellow to cast in the direction of my Tuna maybe there would be more. He must have landed his jig right in the middle of a school for an instant hook up. It wasn’t long before we had four Tuna on the floor of the boat and that’s all we would need. We arrived back at the mother ship just in time for breakfast. After breakfast we headed south to a favorite spot for GT’s (Giant trevally) We anchored up and started to burly with the fresh Tuna at the same time I worked a hookless popper over the reef. My flyfisher was using a 6-inch long flashy profile fly before long he was hooked up but not what we where after, a 6kg Cobia was brought to the boat. He would of had another 20 cast until he was hooked up again this time it was more promising, the fish screamed off the shallows and dived down off the reef edge. I dropped the anchor line buoy and took chase about 25 minutes later a 25kg GT was glided to the boat.
The second trip on the mother ship where both fly and lure fishers. The beach fishing had slowed down but the River fishing had fired up.
We couldn’t find a Queensfish in the Jackson River with the film crew but on this trip it was hard to get away from them, it’s amazing how the fishing can change in just a few days. Barramundi and Jacks where also biting well.
For the seven-day trip we caught 42 different species including Saratoga and a Permit on lure, that’s right a Permit on lure a six inch long flruo Killalure.
Around town the Barra fishing has been better then expected with captures of 30 to 40 Barra in a day being the best. Out on the reefs good numbers of Finger Mark some up to 10 kg. Pylons producing large Queenfish, Trevally and Spanish Mackerel.
Tight Lines, Craig.
Weipa Fishing Report, July.
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au
Weather: Primarily 15 to 20 knots Southeast winds.
Fishing: Fishing this month has been dominated by two, week long trips away on a mother ship. Travelling up to 120 miles north of Weipa to fish remote rivers and beaches. Our friends at World Wide Anglers had arranged a film crew to capture all the action for Japanese television.
Trip got of to a great start with a 12kg Long Tail Tuna caught on fly not far from the mother ship. As we followed the coast North we spotted a school of baitfish showering hard up against the beach. We pulled up on the beach to see Barramundi and Blue Salmon chopping up the bait schools. It wasn’t long before the fly rod was bent and the Barra’s tail was walking across the water. Only 30 minutes run North of the Wenlock is the Scardon River, mass of sandbars guard the Scardon River mouth. Deep channels weave their way across the flats. As we motored up one of the channels a school of permit where spooked by the boat and swam up on the shallow flats. We knew that after the fish had been spooked we wouldn’t have a change of taking one so we continued up the River. Just in side the River mouth was two gutters that I had fished on previous occasions, they where known Barra producers.
The Barramundi where there, but not in the numbers I expected though, we caught six and missed as many strikes. By this time it was lunch we planned to rendezvous with the mother ship a mile North of the Scardon River, as we motored out of the Scardon we spotted fish splashing in the distance. Stopping the engine up wind we drifted onto the feeding fish. Big Queenfish some up to a meter in length, one of the north’s most spectacular sportsfish. A couple of Queenies later our bellies were really starting to rumble, lucky the mother ship was only five minutes away. After lunch we headed on our second leg of the journey. The Jackson River was only half an hour North, we had plenty of time so we decided to see what was going on along this new stretch of beach. Motoring close into the beach we passed many gutters all with Herons feeding on baitfish, a positive sign for good fishing. We picked one of the gutters out and went and parked the boat on the beach, walking back to the gutter we could see fish moving in the shallows. Again Barramundi most where 2 to 3 kg but fish up to 8 kg were spotted. The beach seen us out for the rest of the day and we arrived in the Jackson late that afternoon. The mother ship moored in the Jackson for the next three days it was a perfect base with most of the fishing only 15 minutes away. We fished the surrounding beaches, salt-water estuary and the fresh water reaches of the Jackson River. Catching manly Barra, Jacks, Finger Mark, and Tarpon also had a few shots at Saratoga but were unable to land one.
The last day of the charter we woke up in Boyd’s Bay, 20 miles south of Weipa. The mother ship had traveled though out the night to get us there. I woke up early to see one of the cameramen casting a jig from the mother ship he was catching small Trevally from the back deck. I wanted to go for an early run to look for a Tuna for burly later that day and sensed he was the only one awake I asked if he would like to come. He was keen so we headed to a reef close by. The reef was quite so we started to have some random casts with lead headed jigs, after about four casts I hooked up to something pulling off lots of line of my heavy spin rod. It broke the water a nice size Tuna, I instructed the fellow to cast in the direction of my Tuna maybe there would be more. He must have landed his jig right in the middle of a school for an instant hook up. It wasn’t long before we had four Tuna on the floor of the boat and that’s all we would need. We arrived back at the mother ship just in time for breakfast. After breakfast we headed south to a favorite spot for GT’s (Giant trevally) We anchored up and started to burly with the fresh Tuna at the same time I worked a hookless popper over the reef. My flyfisher was using a 6-inch long flashy profile fly before long he was hooked up but not what we where after, a 6kg Cobia was brought to the boat. He would of had another 20 cast until he was hooked up again this time it was more promising, the fish screamed off the shallows and dived down off the reef edge. I dropped the anchor line buoy and took chase about 25 minutes later a 25kg GT was glided to the boat.
The second trip on the mother ship where both fly and lure fishers. The beach fishing had slowed down but the River fishing had fired up.
We couldn’t find a Queensfish in the Jackson River with the film crew but on this trip it was hard to get away from them, it’s amazing how the fishing can change in just a few days. Barramundi and Jacks where also biting well.
For the seven-day trip we caught 42 different species including Saratoga and a Permit on lure, that’s right a Permit on lure a six inch long flruo Killalure.
Around town the Barra fishing has been better then expected with captures of 30 to 40 Barra in a day being the best. Out on the reefs good numbers of Finger Mark some up to 10 kg. Pylons producing large Queenfish, Trevally and Spanish Mackerel.
Tight Lines, Craig.
|
Craig Jenkins
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 01, 2001 - 7:02 am: | |
Subject: June Fishing Report
WEATHER: Primarily 15 to 20 knots with some days as low as 10 knots up to 25 knots Southeast winds.
FISHING: Rivers have still produced good numbers of Barramundi along with Mangrove Jacks this month. King Salmon numbers have slightly tapered off. The best fishing has been at the bottom of the run out tide, fishing gutters and snags. The cooling water temperature has driven crocodiles out of the water and up on the mud bars to sun bake. This time of the year crocodiles are slow and are reluctant to go back into the cool water, a good time to get some great photo's.
Off shore Southeasterly winds has made great fly fishing from the beaches, Goldens, Queenfish and Dart are showing up in big numbers and all are keen to eat. The rocky headlands are producing numbers of Barramundi most are around 50cm in size. The smaller Barra's take cover close to rocks, most are visual strikes right at your feet. What these fish lack in size they make up in enthusiasm to play ball.
Long Tail Tuna are showing up down the coast and out on the harbor pylons again bruising fly fishers knuckles with drag spinng out of control. One of the bigger Tuna for the month managed to turn a 12wt two piece fly rod into a five piece travel rod. The fish was eventually landed with the broken rod. Lucky the fly rod is covered by a life time warranty to be claimed when the angler gets back to Japan. Although Tuna have been rounding up small baitfish they have been eager to take poppers and this has made for some exciting high speed popper spinning.
The harbor pylons turned it on this month producing three types of Trevally, Tealeaf, Goldens and Giant Trevally. Most where caught close to the bottom on fast sinking fly lines with big flashy profile flies and jigs. Hooked fish where often followed by other school members which accounted for many double hook ups.
Big Queenfish along with Goldens where still up on the flats and sandbars, fishing was exciting, with fish being caught one after another. Most times schools of fish would swim right up to the anchored boat.
TIGHT LINES
CRAIG |
Craig Jenkins
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 08, 2001 - 7:14 am: | |
Subject: May Fishing Report
WEATHER: Primarily 10 to 15 knots South Eastly Winds (off shore) and bright sunny days. Winds increased to a unseaonial 20 knots in the last week of May.
FISHING: Geart fishing in the local rivers early in the month, fishing the shallow flats on the high tides and the creek gutters as the tides dropped out. Using both flies and lures catching good numbers of Barramundi along with King Salmon and Mangrove Jacks. Most Barra taken where small in size from 4 to 6 pound however we did manage to land two 20 pound fish, the King Salmon where all good size fish from 12 to 16 pound. While chasing big Mangrove Jacks up in The Embly River a client hooked up and landed a 12 pound Queensland Groper after explaning to the angler that this was a uncommon catch, he ended up landing three more (smaller in size). Very unusual, just hope they havn't eaten all the Jack's. Finger Mark where also on the bite, jigging lead headed jigs on the bottom in creek mouths and deep holes, proved to be unresitable for these fish.
Sight casting along the beaches to schools of Blue Salmon and Queenfish had fly reel drag systems working over time, not ot mention a few bruised knuckles. A client hooked up to a 8 pound salmon that seemed to be pulling harder then the few he had previously caught, little did we know that the predator had become pray and saw now being chased down by a huge Barracuda. The Barracuda eventully got his way and in a huge boil the angler was left fighting half a Salmon.
Big schools of Golden Trevally where feeding up on the flats, when feeding in large schools Golden's will take just about any think put in front of them. Clousers and weighted bend backs are favorite for a good hook up rate.. Giant herring where also cruising the shallows not in big numbers like the pervious month, most hook ups where short lived after spectacular aerobatics displays.
Long tail Tuna have been found down the coast feeding on large bait balls. Just make sure your drag isn't set to loose before attemping to cast your fly into a frenzed school other you can all sorts of problems, as one angler found out.
Large Queenfish ( 14 to 20 pound) where also found down the coast earlier in the month these fish where taking jigs, lures and flies, As the month went on we fond more of these great sportsfish in the harbor, only a few minuets boat ride from the ramp. |
Craig Jenkins
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 06, 2001 - 7:18 am: | |
Subject: April Fishing Report STRIKEZONE SPORTSFISH
WEIPA FISHING REPORT
APRIL
Weather: Straight out of an extended wet season into our winter 15 knots South eastly winds.
Fishing: Just like the weather the fishing has been quite patchy, fishing with a couple of regular clients from Sydney we picked up twenty five Barramundi ranging in size from fifty five to eighty five centimeters from one snag. Not to see another fish for the next two hours, a couple of days later we landed twelve big King Salmon casting deep diving lures into a deep hole up the Mission River. April has seen the first of the lower daily tides, which are always good Barra tides. A recent trip up to the upper reachers of the Wenlock River saw a couple of Singapore Fly fishermen into Barra, Saratoga & Sooties. Along the beaches schools of Barra and Blue Salmon are starting to move, also frequent catches of Tripletail. Bait schools are moving in onto our shallow reef these schools are closely followed by Grey & Spanish Mackerel and Long Tail Tuna. Two fellows from Japan had an unbelievable session with the Long Tail Tuna on fly after being completely exhausted, from landing fourteen of them. One fellow decided to have a last cast into a bait school for his fly to be swallowed by a twenty five kg GT, forty five minutes later the fish was landed, now that's torture.
Good numbers of Giant Herring are showing up on a Harbor sand bar, all are around a meter in length, these are highflying sportsfish and eager fly eaters.
A first for Weipa two milkfish taken on fly, a challenge that's taken years to crack, but it looks like we have finally done it. Hopefully many more to come. Spotted a school of juvenile permit while up on the flats. A change of fly from weed pattern to a small crazy charley and as soon as the fly hit the water it was surrounded by hungry permit almost fighting over the fly, to bad their bigger brothers aren't so eager eaters.
Tight Lines
Craig Jenkins |
Dave Donald
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2001 - 7:46 am: | |
Subject: Weipa Fishing Report
WEIPA FISHING REPORT
Week Ending: 11 May 2001
Weather: Light south east winds all week, absolutely perfect fishing conditions.
Fishing Methods: Fly fishing only.
Species Landed: Barramundi, mangrove jack, fingermark, queenfish (2 species), giant trevally, tea leaf trevally, golden trevally, bludger trevally, longtail tuna, stripey, coral trout, black cod, parrotfish, tomato cod, flathead, swallowtail dart (18 species). Also sighted rays, dolphin, turtles, sea snakes, sharks, cobia.
Crocodiles Spotted: Nil
Report: My two clients this week were on their honeymoon, a FLY FISHING honeymoon! Now that's a brilliant way to start a marriage! The fishing gods decided to give Nick & Miri a present of perfect fishing weather, and we went from there. First morning, we found longtail tuna in hoardes, accompanied by schools of trevally, heaps of sharks and the occasional big queenfish and cobia. Something like 20 longtails to 20 pound and 12 trevally to 10 pound were landed before lunch - there was hardly a time when there wasn't a bent rod, and sometimes 3 (I had a few casts, as well!). That afternoon, we found some big barra in a very receptive mood but the rocks were too close and all we did was lose a swag of flies. Day 2 started with a double hook-up on longtails for the honeymooners with their very first cast! They had decided that the tuna were too good an opportunity to pass up, in spite of sore shoulders from the day before. Another 20 or so were boated with interludes from the ever present hard slogging GT's. We would thrash the water with our flies to get the trevally's attention then they would grab a fly as soon as it was presented. Occasionally, in the mayhem, a tuna would beat the trevally to the fly! We finished that afternoon with a hot bite of small queenfish and barra at a favourite location. Tuna'd out ofter 2 days of hectic action, we looked for some different fishing on day 3, finding plenty of trevally, small queenfish and assorted reef species around the shallow reefs. Unable to resist another shot at the tuna/GT's after lunch, we spent a couple of enjoyable hours getting our 'fix' before rounding off the afternoon at queenfish alley. The final couple of days saw our focus turn to barramundi, landing nearly 60, plus mangrove jack, fingermark, dart, flathead, and some hard fighting golden trevally to 10 pound. The barra were a bit lethargic on the final day - we could see them in the shallows but they were relucatant to eat convential patterns. I suggested a change to small poppers and the scenario immediately changed! We caught barra non stop with some amazing surface strikes during the next 3 hours. Some barra even leapt fully out of the water to eat the fly on the way down, a feeding pattern I've never witnessed before.
Yeah! What a week! It doesn't come much better than this, and my honeymooners will no doubt remember this event for a very long time!
Captain Dave Donald, Dave Donald SPORTFISHING |
Dave Donald
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, March 16, 2001 - 9:25 pm: | |
Subject: Weipa Fishing report
WEIPA FISHING REPORT
Week Ending: 16 March 2001
Weather: Light south east to north east winds in mornings, storms and showers some afternoons. Great fishing weather
Fishing Methods: Live baiting, lure casting.
Species Landed: Barramundi, mangrove jack, fingermark, gold spot estuary cod, king threadfin salmon, blue threadfin salmon, queenfish, giant trevally, tea leaf trevally, cale cale trevally, golden trevally, giant herring, grunter, longtail tuna, narrow barred spanish mackerel, broad barred spanish mackerel, parotfish, pikey bream, pacific barracuda, triple tail, catfish, sharks (23 species). Also sighted manta rays, dolphin, turtles, dugong, box jellyfish.
Crocodiles Spotted: Nil
Report: My first charter for the 2001 season proved that Weipa is already up and firing! Highlights of the week included some hectic sessions on big barra casting lures from oyster rocks. On the most memorable afternoon, my clients lost 3 lures and landed about 25 barra to 85cms, and jumped off a couple of larger fish. There were also a couple of blue salmon to 4 kilos mixed up with the barras. Returned to the spot on Friday arvo with visiting fishing journo and good mate, Warren Steptoe, and although the fishing was slow compared to earlier visits (10 fish landed), Wazza managed a beautiful 97cm (24 pound) barra that ran him all over the ocean (thankfully wide of the rocks) before being subdued. Other great sessions included a couple of mornings spent chasing longtail tuna. Best morning saw around 15 tuna to 17 pound landed which kept my 2 clients working very hard. However, Steve had to work extra hard when a 35 pound Giant Trevally came along, leaving him with very sore arms - and a smile you couldn't jump over. Other sessions included 34 trevally to 8 pound on jigs in about 2 hours, some hysterical action on high jumping giant herring (ladyfish) to 7 pound, and successfully live baiting a couple of 15 pound king salmon. A HUGE week, What a great way to get the season underway!
Captain (Barra)Dave Donald, Dave Donald SPORTFISHING |
Captain Dave Donald
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, March 10, 2001 - 10:54 pm: | |
Subject: Weipa Fishing Report
WEIPA FISHING REPORT
Week Ending: 10 March 2001
Weather: Sunny with light south east to north west winds at either end of the week but the monsoon trough made an appearance mid week and in 24 hours managed to dump the heaviest rain of the wet season, about 9 inches or 180mls. Currently, the weather is mild, the north west swell in the Gulf has almost disappeared, winds are light with an occasional afternoon storm. The wet season looks almost done!
Fishing Methods: Live baiting, lure casting.
Species Landed: Barramundi, fingermark, gold spot estuary cod, king threadfin salmon, queenfish, giant trevally, tea leaf trevally, cale cale trevally, giant herring, grunter, black jewfish, catfish, sharks.
Report: Quite a bit of fresh water coming down the estuaries since the rain and this has slowed the fishing somewhat. The wet season grunter run, however, is in full swing with plenty of 5 to 8 pound specimens being taken on prawn and fish fillet bait off the Evans Landing Wharf, Gonbung Point beach, Red Beach, wide of Rocky Point and on the beach near the Mission Bridge. Some afternoons after school finishes, it has been shoulder to shoulder on the wharf now that word is out. A few big king salmon have been moving in the shallows in the Hey, Mission and Pine Rivers with fish to 8 kilos being taken. Barramundi have been quiet with small numbers being landed at the Mission Bridge at night, off Red beach and at the Rocky Point ramp. My wife, Denise and I went out for a pre season (first clients arrive this Sunday) fish late in the week and found the river very quiet. Moving down to the Embley River mouth, we found heaps of fish interested in lead head jigs, racking up an impresive list of species while putting a couple of grunter in the icebox for dinner. Our tally included 3 species of trevally, queenfish, giant herring and black jewfish as well as some excellent grunter to 7 pounds.
Captain Dave Donald, Dave Donald SPORTFISHING |
Dave Donald
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 24, 2001 - 3:48 am: | |
Subject: Weipa, Gulf of Carpentaria 2001
WEIPA FISHING REPORT
Week Ending: 23 February 2001
Weather: Mostly light to moderate south east to north west winds with a 1 metre north west swell in the Gulf. Plenty of rain earlier in the week moderating to afternoon and evening showers from Wednesday to Friday.
Fishing Methods: Live baiting, lure casting.
Species Landed: Barramundi, fingermark, gold spot estuary cod, black spot estuary cod, king threadfin salmon, queenfish, giant trevally, grunter, flathead, catfish, sharks.
Report: Heavy rain over last weekend had a lot of fresh water coming down the rivers earlier in the week prompting a couple of casting sessions for barra at the Mission River bridge. In spite of a healthy outflow, barramundi action was uncharacteristically slow with many casts between fish. Most of the barra taken early in the week were undersized but size and numbers improved as the tides nearded the new moon. Quite a number of king salmon were also landed along with estuary cod, grunter and flathead. Catch of the week went to local sportfisher Alex Murray who landed a massive 150cm barramundi from the Rocky Point boat ramp on Tuesday afternoon. The huge barra took about 20 minutes to land on a single handed baitcast outfit and was quickly released after a couple of photos. It was estimated to weigh around 27 kilos (60 pound) and is one of the largest barra ever landed in the Weipa area. A family day out late in the week with wife Denise produced a big king salmon and a couple of good grunter for the table. We also landed barra, queenfish, sharks and trevally. The grunter, including another 3 which were released, and a heap of small trevally were landed in 30 mins using lead head jigs in the river mouth. With only 2 weeks to go before my first charter of the season, I'll be getting out regularly to sus out the local scene if weather permits.
Captain Dave Donald |
Captain Dave Donald
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 21, 2000 - 9:22 pm: | |
Subject: Weipa Christmas Fishing Report
WEIPA FISHING REPORT
Week Ending: 22 December 2000
Weather: Mostly 10 to 20 knot north westerly monsoon winds with a few heavy showers, moderating on Thursday/Friday.
Fishing Methods: Lure casting, live baiting, fly casting.
Species Landed: Barramundi, mangrove jack, fingermark, giant trevally, golden trevally, brassy trevally, queenfish, gold spot estuary cod, king threadfin salmon, barracuda, giant herring, grunter, black jew, pikey bream, catfish, shark (16 species). Sighted dolphin, turtles, sea snakes, box jellyfish.
Crocodiles Sighted: Nil
Report: The north westerlies have stirred up the Gulf's shallow inshore waters and this has dirtied the beaches and lower reaches of the rivers - not exactly ideal fishing conditions! However, a couple of mornings spent on the water chasing some fillets for the larder combined with a spell of fly casting found quite a number of fish ready for a tussle. Fly casting with big Deceivers raised some barra and king salmon plus a few small queenfish along the mangrove edges on the run in tide. Once the tide apprached high, a switch to live and fresh fillet bait found barramundi, fingermark, mangrove jack, pikey bream, grunter, king salmon and catfish on the bite. We released a couple of large barra, one landed on a live garfish, the other, estimated at 90cm, hooked on a gar fillet fished mid stream (as a 'grunter' bait!). Both barra were released in the water. A big king salmon provided the morning's highlight, runnning almost into the mangrove roots for starters, then round the boat a couple of times before coming aboard. Next morning, at a favourite spot, we found the fingermark on the chew and ice brined half a dozen around the 5 pound mark for the table. Right on the turn of the tide, I hooked something large on a 1oz Banana jig (with green tail) and ended up 10 minutes later releasing a nice jewfish of 25 pound. Another one of 22 pound followed the first a couple of casts later, a great end to an action packed couple of hours. The Donald's have a couple of family friends from Cairns joining us over the Christmas break so the schedule calls for plenty of fish meals (including queenfish sashimi, smoked mackerel and trevally numus), fresh mud crabs and some cast netted banana prawns - that's for starters! Let's hope, up here in paradise, the monsoon is not too active and/or stays far enough north or south not to be a nuisance. A Merry Christmas to everyone, hope the beer and champers stay cold and the tucker tastes great!
Captain Dave, Denise & Melanie Donald, Dave Donald SPORTFISHING |
Dave Donald
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 10, 2000 - 7:30 pm: | |
Subject: Weipa Fishing Report
WEIPA FISHING REPORT
Week Ending: 8 December 2000
Weather: Mainly overcast with some light to heavy showers, light to moderate south east winds turning north west later in week. Monsoon trough in vacinity.
Fishing Methods: Lure casting and trolling, live baiting, fly casting.
Species Landed: Barramundi, mangrove jack, fingermark, giant trevally, golden trevally, brassy trevally, tea leaf trevally, queenfish, gold spot estuary cod, Queensland groper, doggie mackerel, barracuda, giant herring, grunter, catfish, shark (16 species). Sighted manta rays, dolphin, turtles, large sharks, sea snakes, box jellyfish.
Crocodiles Sighted: Nil.
Report: Bananas aren't ever allowed on my boat! I'm sure most anglers will be well aware of the curse attributed to carrying the yellow fruit on fishing trips. Some years back, I speculated in a magazine article on whether the carrying of banana products, namely banana cake, could invoke the 'curse'. However, in that instance, just in case, we decided to devour the cake before commencing fishing - with what seemed like a favourable result.
Last Sunday, I enjoyed an 'end of season' boys fishing morning with local SUNFISH president Lance Jarrett and fisheries inspector, Peter McCulkin. Peter and I are both firm believers in the effectiveness of lead head jigs, but no so (at that stage) Lance. We started the morning at one of our favourite Weipa harbour leads but instead of the usual 10 pound plus GT's, all we could land were a couple of tiny models. Peter and I immediately directed our vitriol to 'Jonah Jarrett' - he was the obvious cause of our unusually bad fishing. The situation continued for a couple of hours during which time Lance kept accumulating more and more verbal excretia! Then, Peter unveiled his morning smoko - a slab of wife Julia's freshly baked BANANA cake!! The real cause of our lack of action was suddenly revealed, so we decided to follow my previous example and eat the cake - quickly!
We then decided to try another channel marker, Peter spotted some hovering birds on the way, and we arrived at a scene from fishermans heaven. The water was boiling with queenies, trevally and school sharks feeding on pods of golden bait fish. While P & L jigged, I broke out the fly rod. We landed queenies to 22 pound, trevally to 14 pound and sharks to 18 pound (Jonah J. landed most of the sharks!) I managed a 9kg queenie then popped a much larger fish after a 150 yard run, a couple of 10 pound trevally after the smaller fish beat the 45 pound models swimming nearby to the fly, then a great fingermark of 9 pound. The golden bait fish ended up being regurgitated all over the boat by the landed fish revealing themselves as juvenile forked tail catfish! Very unusual! We left the fish biting as I had a plane to catch but it certainly proved that once banana cake is under the influence of stomach acid, the 'curse' is lifted!
One of the other interesting catches of the week was a 25 pound Queensland groper. This fish proved to be the 'unluckiest' groper in the Gulf! It grabbed a live mullet then proceeded to swim 30 yards of line through a large fallen mangrove. "You'll never get that fish out of there!" was my assessment but somehow the lucky angler achieved the impossible and ended up with a very unusual and special capture. The beautifully marked groper was released unharmed.
Best wishes and tight lines, Captain Dave Donald, Dave Donald SPORTFISHING |
Captain Dave Donald
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, November 25, 2000 - 12:06 pm: | |
Subject: Weipa Fishing Report Week Ending 24 Nov 2000
WEIPA FISHING REPORT
Week Ending: 24 November 2000
Weather: Mostly light winds, very humid, storms and showers in afternoons with seas breezes.
Fishing Methods: Lure casting and trolling, live baiting, fly casting.
Species Landed: Barramundi, fingermark, giant trevally, golden trevally, brassy trevally, tea leaf trevally, queenfish, gold spot estuary cod, wire netting cod, giant threadfin salmon, black jewfish, narrow barred spanish mackerel, doggie mackerel, barracuda, coral trout, parrot fish, stripey, giant herring, grunter, catfish, shark (21 species). Sighted manta rays, dolphin, turtles, large sharks, sea snakes, box jellyfish.
Crocodiles Sighted: Nil
Report: Highlight of the week was the capture of a 35 pound black jewfish on a lure! The big black jew was hooked on one of our home made lead head jigs, a 1oz banana jig dressed with green and pink firetail. It was hooked in about 30 feet of water in Nominade Creek, the other arm of the Pine River, and took approximately 15 minutes to land on a baitcast outfit. A simultaneous hook-up on live bait, which fought in a similar pattern to the landed fish was unfortunately lost after about 10 minutes. A couple of days later, another great capture was made using a similar lure. After hooking and losing a heap of acrobatic giant herring, one huge specimen finally stayed attached, stripping over 200 yards of line in a couple of very speedy runs. We gave chase as the line on the baitcaster was getting very low and finally netted the largest giant herring I've ever seen, weighing 19 pound - an exceptional catch, possibly the largest GH taken on a rod and reel! Lead head jigs, Raiders and lead slugs accounted for a number of brilliant sessions on queenfish to 12 pound, giant, golden and brassy trevally to 10 pound, plus barracuda, mackerel, cod and grunter with up to 50 fish being landed and released in a couple of hours of very hot action. Quite often, with 3 clients in the boat and the captain having a jiggle as well, we were all hooked-up simultaneously. There was a bit of crossing and uncrossing lines going on, I can tell you! Big king salmon again featured in the catches with some hot runners getting the upper hand courtesy of mangrove roots. We managed to boat some of the whiskeries to 18 pound. The beaches have been fishing well on the big tides with some good patches of barra along with golden trevally, giant herring, barracuda and queenfish. The deeper river holes on the tide turns have also worked well with live bait producing some great fingermark to 8 pound plus cod, queenfish, catfish and sharks. If you read between the lines, you'll soon work out that the queenies have been everywhere!
Best wishes and tight lines, Captain Dave Donald, Dave Donald Sportfishing |
Captain Dave Donald, Dave Donald SPORTFISHING
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 13, 2000 - 8:58 pm: | |
Subject: Weipa Fishing Report Week Ending 10 Nov 2000
Week Ending: 10 November 2000
Weather: Mostly light winds with afternoon sea breezes - again, just about perfect!
Fishing Methods: Lure casting and trolling, live baiting, fly casting.
Species Landed: Barramundi, mangrove jack, fingermark, giant trevally, golden trevally, tea leaf trevally, queenfish, gold spot estuary cod, wire netting cod, giant threadfin salmon, black jewfish, narrow barred spanish mackerel, doggie mackerel, barracuda, coral trout, parrot fish, stripey, giant herring, grunter, catfish, shark (21 species). Sighted dugong, manta rays, dolphin, turtles, large sharks, sea snakes, box jellyfish.
Crocodiles Sighted: Nil
Report: My 2 clients were into a hot bite of fingermark and estuary cod using live mullet bait when one of them decided to use the largest in the bucket. The tide was just turning so I was quick to point out that it was prime time for a black jew and "big bait, big fish"! When line started peeling off the reel about a minute later, it seemed that my prediction had come true. It took about 10 minutes to get the 30 pound jewie into the net - and the smile on the anglers face was still there 2 days later! Yes, it's been another top week of action including some excellent barra activity both in the rivers and along the beaches. All the barra were tagged with the largest fish going 88cm, about 14 pound. Some were landed on a couple of deep diving 'bass' lures more suited to impoundments but the ever reliable Bombers still landed their share. Mangrove jack and a big blue salmon also turned up during the barra lure casting sessions. Jigging in the shipping channel was also very productive with trevally to 10 pound, grunter to 8 pound plus mackerel, barracuda and giant herring landed. Our encounters with the herring sometimes bordered on Keystone Cops stuff with multiple strikes from fish to 11 pound which ran like trains before getting airborne and throwing the hooks, time after time. There was quite a bit of ducking and weaving as 30 grams of lead head jig would come flying back at the unlucky anglers! Our score was something like 40 herring strikes for a single fish boated, not a very impressive tally. Another giant herring was landed while fly fishing the beach along with barra and queenfish. November can produce some of the best sight fishing opportunities of the year. Watch this space!!
Captain Dave Donald, Dave Donald SPORTFISHING
DDSPORTFISH@bigpond.com, www.users.bigpond.com/DDSPORTFISH.
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