"Slower" Tides.....

The tides were on the neaping cycle recently when Rob and Dave fished with me and although fishing became a little tougher, the weather was absolutely magic and some great fishing moments were had. As you can see by the piuctures, some nice queenies made an appearance and were caught both on jigs and poppers. Some school sized spanish mackerel were fun on poppers and jigs and although the sharks were nothing short of fierce at times we did manage two triple headers (I couldn't help myself) of tuna on the way home on the last day in 15 frantic minutes .....

Releasing a metre long popper caught queenfish.
A nice queenie double...

Dave did well to land this mackerel on a light spin rod despite Rob's being taken by bull sharks on heavier gear.

Hot Fly Fishing for 2 Weeks

Well, the last 2 weeks has left 15 flyfishermen understanding why WEIPA HAS THE BEST SALTWATER FLY FISHERY IN THE COUNTRY. Where else are you going to beach fish for metre long queenfish or barra to 75cm, or get a triple header of mangrove jacks, and cast an innocent white clouser in among bait balls being creamed by countless tuna, sharks, and even the odd billfish...

(both sailfish and marlin were seen on the last day). I don't think there was much that wasn't caught or at least cast to in the last two weeks. OK no permit were caught, but on at least one occasion a crab fly was cast in their direction. The species count for each week was around the 40 mark and included some truly fantastic fish on fly.

Bait balls, I mean when the bait is so thick that the sharks even close their

eyes and still get a mouthful of sardines were seen most days, making hooking a tuna just a matter of dangling the fly from the rod tip!

A few mantas were still around, with some cobia in accompaniment and queenies and trevally.

Some nice barras were caught in the estuaries on surface flies (gurglers and poppers) and the usual flats species were present in the lower estuaries and beaches (blue salmon, Giant herring, golden trevally, queenies etc.)

Weipa has so many options open to be fly fished at the moment which highlights just how strong this fishery is.

We had a group of regular Japanese clients fish for just a couple of days - due to available flights from Japan, so much fishing was crammed into the two days and the guys weren't disappointed. Big barra and manta rays were the order so day 1 saw us up the river with some great top water barramundi action and about 40 barras caught between the two boats and that's just on surface lures!

The biggest went 93cm and made a great sound as it inhaled the lure. Day 2 was a little shorter as the guys had a plane to catch, but the mantas played the game and several bites form cobia and queenies and small trevally kept us busy. Along the beach a few big queenies kept everyone on their toes and goldies and blue salmon made up the numbers.

Bass & Bream vs BARRA!

I had a couple of young bass and bream tournament winners fish with me last week. While they are just crazy about bass and bream, I just couldn't help notice how they rated barra and the bycatch associated with barra fishing. Also keen to fly fish a little, the guys racked up a few

nice fish in 4 days.....

Barra fishing with top water lures and fly poppers is very visual and rewarding.

Cobia on fly off manta rays was one of the highlights.

Giant Herring were a welcome catch on fly, pull most bass backwards and jump like crazy!!

A cobia double header. Mick lost one while Joel was hooked up, got re rigged and caught another!
Joel was amazed by the northern bream - spots all over them, big teeth and pull any oyster rack model backward!