Fish's Fly & Sportfishing

A New Beginning

2010-03-12T09:57:00.004+10:00

Hi everyone
Well the new updated website is finally up and running.
It is all very exciting, and it has been a lot of work for Adam and Chris from "Volume Media" to get it all designed and working but it is finally all go for the new season.
So to all of you that have this address in your favourites to keep up with the news, now you will need to change to www.weipaflyfish.com.au then click on news and it will take you to our new blog that is built in to the site.
You can also register to comment on the blog postings and to receive periodical newsletters specials etc.
So check it out now and see what you think about the new look! www.weipaflyfish.com.au

AS of today there will be no further postings on this blogger site for further blog postings go to www.weipaflyfish.com.au/news

Cheers Fish

End of another year!

2009-12-03T08:52:00.009+10:00

Seems like only yesterday that I was writing this for last year?

2009 was considering, a pretty good year for us even with the so called GFC we still worked almost as much as the previous year and that was with me having all of July off to do my U.S. trip.

Although this year proved to be a little down on some of the pelagic species like tuna and big queenies there was still plenty of fish to catch and most clients seemed to enjoy their experience here in Weipa. Next years bookings have already exceeded expectations with very little space left in the early part of the year.

Lee has finished with us at the end of Oct and has decided not to be returning next year!

We wish Lee all the best for the future and with whatever endeavours he may persue.

As we already had quite a few bookings for 4 boats Justin Duggen from Sydney will be working with us over May and possibly a few other weeks during 2010.

Justin guides on Sydney harbour and is an accredited fly casting instructor and a great guy so hopefully we will all get some benifit from his knowledge & skills

Jason(Owey) and I worked right to the end of the season finishing on the 27th Nov.

Notso had to get a bit of a blue water fix opting to work a couple of weeks with Jim Dalling on "Reel Chase" out of Cairns where one of his clients caught a 1100lb Black marlin on about the second day, looks like Notso still hasn't lost his touch!.

SHIMANO Australia will be one of our major sponsors next year and we look forward to working with them.

So for now it is all maintenance and jobs around the house for a few months.

Longtail has been stripped down and motor removed for some modifications.

I am fitting more rod holders, more rod storage and a 80lb thrust 24v Minnkota electric to the bow, which should make the boat more verstile and a add some stealth on the flats.

Should be awesome for next season!

Thank you to our sponsors for for their generosity in 2009 - Gillies, Sage, Rio, Fin's & Shimano, we look forward to 2010

I will try to show you some pics of the wet season over the coming weeks so stay tuned, in the mean time to all of our valued clients and friends from myself, Owy and Notso, Sue and Kristy we hope you have a wonderful and Happy Xmas and New year! See you in 2010

Things hotting up in Sept/Oct

2009-10-22T13:59:00.009+10:00

The fishing has been getting better and better when the weather leaves us alone!

From the estuary to the blue water the fishing has been pretty damn good as these pics will attest.

James Norris fished with us in Oct with his dad and had caught a few threadies and mangrove jacks when along came this monster, a barra of 114cm.

The barra was handled very gently quickly measured and photographed and released with the utmost care as these big fish can sometimes not breed due to undue stress. Most breeding barra will spawn on the moon in Nov/Dec.

Even on the blue water we have been seeing plenty of sails and little black marlin and even getting quite a few bites on our teaser poppers. So far however none of the fly fishermen have had a big fly ready to throw at them.

Heres a couple of pics of a 20kg sail captured and released by Jun Nagamori and his mate Steve. Steve actually fought the fish on a skipping bait rigged by Notso.

A lot of fun and excitement was had by all!

Last few months

2009-10-08T16:47:00.013+10:00

I know that I am always saying I will keep up with the blog and don't!

I should!

We have been busy however and even the boys have been a little slack also but getting the job done is important also.

Anyhow here is a couple of pics to squiz at in the meantime and we will see if we can get some stuff happening and catch up as soon as we all get some time to regroup.

Check out this Arakun sunset!

The milkies are still coming as Gary Boehmer found out when this one followed the fly almost to the rod tip before eating it with gusto and keeping him busy for almost 45 minutes.

The milky was 16lb and was Gary's first.

Peter( Windy) Wilson with a nice little aussie tarpon, pity the don't grow big like their cousins?

Even the boss gets the odd fish

Kristy Philliskirk's shot of an all too familiar sight these days a good queenfish being chased by the ever present bull shark.

Keep watching we will get some more good pics posted real soon promise!

flyfishing holygrails

2009-07-30T12:43:00.002+10:00

just a few more snaps from the past couple of weeks of the targets we've been chaseing on fly,with young Thomas Cooper scoring a great double to add to his growing spieces list on fly,a milkfish and permit!!!!!..and Steve scoring a crackin BB and his first milky!!!!

and one of the two milkies Pete landed!!!

The latest from Mexico

2009-07-18T07:31:00.004+10:00

Unfortunately my tarpon fishing is over!

I have fished the last 3 days here in Holbox island Mexico
Day 1 had two bites from Tarpon and boated 1 about 120lb. This one of 120lb took about an hour to land.

Day 2 had one bite and boated tarpon about 70lb Day 3 last day of tarpon fishing “for some time” and back to reality, had 4 bites missed two didn’t hook up, jumped 1 off about 70lb and hooked another about 90 – 100lb and had him on for about 10 minutes and pulled the hook on the 5th jump.

I have one day fly fishing for bonefish and permit in Cozumel and then back to OZ.

Florida/Bahamas/Mexico holiday

2009-07-10T04:12:00.008+10:00

Just thought I would give you a quick update on my fishing holiday to Florida and the Bahamas etc. At present Sue and I are in Abaco in the Bahamas which is fabulous however the bonefishing has been a little tough, but the water is unbeleivably clear and you can swim in it!

The house we are staying at is right on the beach and 30meters from the patio to the gin clear water.

One of the 75lb Tarpon

Tough eh?

Tarpon fishing was successful as my dream was to catch a tarpon sight fished on fly of over 100lb which was acheived on second day in the Keys with fish of 125lb which ate the pissant 50mm fly almost off the rod tip, you could hear my arsehole snap shut from 100 yards away.

The tally for the Florida leg was

Fished 5 days in total, 2 in the everglades, and 3 in the Keys.
Day 1… 1 tarpon of 45lb
Day 2 …2 tarpon 45 & 50lb.
Day 3 …first day in the keys 0
Day 4 …2 tarpon 125lb and 75lb
Day 5 …2 tarpon 75lb and 90lb
In total 7 tarpon pretty good fishing for end of season.

Haven't had time to assess al my pics but here are a few to drool over for the moment.

90LbTarpon jumping

Talk soon

Fish

The last tarpon caught in the Keys 90lb

An Interesting Month...

2009-06-28T21:16:00.005+10:00

Due to work and other commitments, I've slackened off a little on the blogging side of things. Fishing on the whole has been quite good, although there have been some quiet days, but the best thing this year has been the weather. A few weeks ago I had a memorable day offshore catching a few mackerel and couple of tuna and raising at least 7 sailfish (hooking a few, jumping a few off and 1 eaten by sharks boatside). Definately a little more homework needs to be done there.......

As yet we have hardly had a winter so the water is still fairly warm in the rivers, helping the barra fishing along nicely. Memorable fish lately were include this 63cm fish on fly for Paul Ellis from Tassie and a nice 92cm fish on a livie from a low tide drain. Crikey there has been a lot of 80 - 95cm fish this year!!

The hot topic at the moment is milkies on fly. Pictured here is Ian Cole, fly fishing guide from NZ with his first of 3 landed from 5 hooked and a few more bites on weed flies.
Jason and Lee had a day off just a couple of days ago and managed 1 each from 6 hooked. My last 2 days fly fishing saw more fish on the beaches than ever with blue skies and little wind. We even had tuna in 5 feet of water on the flats, hundreds, no, thousands of blue salmon and some nice queenies and plenty of blue bastards to take a shot at. My guys found it difficult concentrating on a feeding BB when 50 blue salmon would cross their path, followed by a couple of barras or a nice queenie or a school of 100 5 lb tarpon.......

a few more pics

2009-06-28T21:05:00.004+10:00

hey all its been a while (very very slack i know but been flat out)so here are a few random shots from some great times had out on the water...

2009-06-28T20:46:00.008+10:00

The Milky Puzzle

2009-06-25T13:15:00.013+10:00

What a week!

With all the crew flat out we have had a sensational fly fishing week.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words so I have added a few for you to drool over.

The baitballs were incredible with Gt's to 70lbs crashing the poor defenseless anchovies, manta's with cobia's all over them and the odd blue bastard makes for an exciting day.

Then the next day catching 3 permit from 3 boats, and over the next few day's hooking 8 milkies and landing 3. Would you even hint that we are starting to work out the puzzle?

Anyway it has been happening to say the least!

I am sure that my guides will also have plenty of pics to show you also.

There are still a few places left in Sept/Oct if anyone is interested? don't be slow you won't know if you don't go!

"Slower" Tides.....

2009-05-25T09:29:00.003+10:00

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

2009-05-18T05:29:00.002+10:00

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.

2009-05-08T19:54:00.002+10:00

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!

2009-05-06T21:05:00.005+10:00

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!

Great estuary fishing.......

2009-04-24T11:07:00.004+10:00

Last week, Gerald Cooper, a Weipa regular shouted Grandson Michael a 16th birthday fishing trip here. Michael took to casting lures like a fish to water (pardon the pun) and had a ball catching all sorts of estuary species. The largest fish of the week was a group effort Queensland Groper measuring 147cm and weighing more than I want to deal with again!! Gerald backed up the following day with a smaller specimen, 100cm neat on his own from a mud drain. Mornings were spent on the high tide flats swatting sand flies and hoping not to catch another blue salmon - crikey they are thick in the creeks at the moment! The afternoons saw us fishing an assortment of drains which at times were a mess of blue salmon, queenies and barra as the bait fish swam the daily gauntlet. A single day was spent down the coast searching for mythical tuna - we got a shot and it fell off, but the beaches made up for it with a couple of mantas and lots of blue salmon (for something different) and a relaxing lunch in the shade of she oaks on the beach. While the pelagic scene has been slow, it shows why Weipa is so good having its diversity and generally always something to have fun with.

More First Week Pictures.......

2009-04-14T06:10:00.007+10:00

Just a few more pictures showing how good the fishing is at this time of year on the right tides. Kerry (top pictures) had never really fished the tropics before and by the end of the week had caught around 50 barras - his best at 92cm (lure caught), with biggest fish of 4 days, a groper of 110cm which took both guys to hold. His brother Glen ispictured holding 1 of 3 105cm Jewies along with a lure caught 98cm barra and a rare treat, BOTH halves of a shark attacked queenie! Glen himself managed roughly 50 barras also for the 4 days and there was a blur of countless blue salmon (some massive fish for the species), fingermark, cod, gropers, mangrove jacks (to 49cm), queenies (of course). The bussiest day saw over 70 fish landed, of which only 1 was kept for dinner. DOwn the coast has been a little quieter than the creeks of late but a few days earlier I had a day where we managed a couple of tuna from not too many shots, had a bite froma sailfish on soft plastic (fell off) and caught a 25lb blue bastard on soft palstic

kicked off

2009-04-11T19:31:00.003+10:00

the big girl 109cm...on popper..
as fish said below the season is under way now with some nice fish being caught and some great weather as well with gin clear waters along the beachs making for some great visual fishing,with the fellas from the first couple of groups landing some nice fish....

Season start

2009-04-11T17:40:00.007+10:00

Well the season has started off with some good fishing this week with a group from around Newcastle/Port Maquarie area. They managed to land over a hundred barra for the 4 day's with 7 over 90cm and 1 nice 109cm fish on a roosta popper which Owy reckons the bite was sensational. There was also a 77cm mangrove jack captured and released and a 13lb blue salmon which looked more like a pit bull.

I am sure the other boys will post some of their pics for you to enjoy!

By the way we still amazingly have a few spaces left for May! I would hate to see good fishing gone unfished?

Quinnie with his memorable Mangrove Jack.

Mick Brown with a 92cm barra!

Start Up!

2009-03-31T13:23:00.004+10:00

Well we are just about to start up for the season so onour last day's off we went fishing (as you do).

Things look pretty good down the coast with the water colour clearing and looking more like it should, and the tides receding back to normal.

Guess now we just have to see if the bait turns up?

There have been a few tuna at the bottom end of the bay, but are very flighty and hard to approach.

Hopefully that will all change in the coming weeks.

My sister in law Janine has come to Weipa doing some training to become a nurse so the family ventured out for a day's fishing and sight seeing.

Janine caught her first fish EVER which of course was a queenfish.

Kristy my daughter and Notso's other half captured a 8kg goldie on 10lb line from under a manta ray. We then went to red cliffs for a dip under the fresh spring water pouring from the cliffs and had a bite of lunch before heading home.

Pre Season Warm Up

2009-03-19T20:18:00.002+10:00

I've been home for a week or two and given the Last Cast a mini makeover in readiness for the coming year. Of course the boat needed to be run so it was a good reason to take Kristy and Calais for a fish. We found a bunch of queenies around the bridge which were fun on light gear. A few days later Fish and I went for a look along the beaches and found good numbers of queenies smashing bait and had a ball for a couple of hours with the fly rods. I also managed a nice Giant Herring which took a stationary clouser while I was waiting to make another cast - the fish were that thick!! We also found lots of good blue salmon which were willing to eat our flies as well. Later that day a bunch of barras kept us busy eating lures and flies at the mouth of some drains. We managed a couple for dinner and both lost really nice fish as well.

Kristy on a queenie with Calais checking out the action.....

This is actually my best GH on fly to date. I used my Sage 8wt TCR with 20lb leader and a white clouser. The first run took 50m or so of backing!

MORE WET SEASON.......

2009-02-02T07:04:00.009+10:00

I'M IN PORT STEPHENS NOW PATIENTLY WAITING FOR THE MARLIN TO TURN UP - THE OCEAN CURENTS HAVEN'T BEEN ALL THAT FAVOURABLE THIS YEAR, BUT AS WITH MARLIN FISHING - WE ARE ALWAYS ONLY ONE FISH OFF HAVING A GREAT DAY!! AS I HAVE BEEN UNBELIEVABLY SLACK WITH MY BLOGGING OF LATE, HERE'S SOME FAMILIAR LOCATIONS SHOT IN UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS IN EARLY JAN. SOME OF YOU ASK WHY WE DON'T BOOK CHARTERS IN SUMMER - THIS IS WHY.........

THIS SERENE PICTURE IS WHAT MOST OF YOU ARE USED TO AS YOU SIP A COLD ALE AFTER A LONG DAY FISHING...........

THIS IS A PIC I TOOK THE OTHER DAY OF ROUGHLY THE SAME SCENE (THEN I WENT HOME FOR A HOT CHOCOLATE)........

ROCKY POINT BOAT RAMP.......IF YOU'RE GAME

IS THAT A JET SKI FREE ZONE???

MOST OF YOU WILL BE FAMILIAR WITH THIS LOCATION.

wet season..

2009-01-16T22:32:00.004+10:00

well guy it been a while,thought i'd put up a few pics....these first ones are from out the bush which was great fun exploring and fishing,found some nice togas,sooties and a few barras up the fresh,until it got to wet.!!!....while the buid up was humid an very hot espiecally out the bush,rather stifling at times,it made for some excellent lightning shows of the evening,managed to grab a few snaps of it...my missus thought i'd gone crazy roaring around town at 2 in the morning chasing it.!!.

2008-12-22T08:33:00.002+10:00

Merry Xmas to all!

See you in the New Year!

2008-12-01T10:49:00.003+10:00

Well guys, as fish said below the season has finished for the year,the last week or two of oct presented some pretty awsome sight fishing opportunities for the last couple of groups,getting plenty of shots at bb's,chasing mantas loaded with queenies an goldies and the odd cobe or two lurking underneath....

so with the season over and a little time before it gets to wet its been high tail'n it out the bush for a bit of 4x4'n and some fresh water fly fishin,will post some more pics a little later....

Almost there again!

2008-11-15T11:53:00.005+10:00

Things are starting to wind down for the year with only two charters left in Nov then it's off for a play around and do a bit of fishing for ourselves, and take a bit of a holiday even.

Brendan Rolt with a fine fingermark caught on a soft plastic.

I took a quick trip down to Hervey bay recently and had a fish with a couple of mates of mine to try to catch a big impoundment barra on fly.

The weather proved against us and we only caught one which was 90cm( you would be happy with that at home!)

I did manage a few nice flatties on fly the largest being 65cm.

In all the weather wasn't the best but great guiding by Mark Bargenquast who kept us on the fish under a lot of pressure.

If any of you are heading to Hervey bay give Bargy a ring he is definitely one of the best guides in the area.

Apart from getting me my flatty on fly he has guided Morsie onto some monster threadies that most of the other guides don't even know are there. I also had a shot at a permit during my trip.

Check out www.fraserguidedfishing.com.au or ring 0427 230 261

I will make another post next week to inform you of our last charters in Weipa.

Hopefully the boy's will also make a posting in the next few day's.

2008-10-13T15:26:00.002+10:00

just a few quick snaps of a bit of whats been going
on for the past few weeks,we had some good sight fishing from the beachs,landing a number of bb's and monster gh's over a meter!!!..off shore there has been good numbers of tuna's,some big queenies, honkin gt's an great goldies

2008-09-06T10:26:00.001+10:00

river snaps

2008-09-06T10:23:00.002+10:00

2008-08-29T23:47:00.001+10:00

2008-08-29T23:44:00.002+10:00

some great tuna,mackeral and travelly fishing

pelagic madness

2008-08-29T23:41:00.002+10:00

some mackies gettin a bit of air!!!

more bent rods

2008-08-25T13:26:00.005+10:00

2008-08-25T13:19:00.002+10:00

2008-08-25T13:10:00.002+10:00

dougal with his second b.b..

2008-08-25T13:01:00.002+10:00

a few more snaps

2008-08-22T17:55:00.002+10:00

there was a bit of quick step shuffle going on around the boat at times..

and some quality sight casting...

2008-08-21T23:08:00.002+10:00

the buisness end of a nice bb..

barra's and queenies on top water are great fun...

2008-08-21T23:05:00.003+10:00

spey casting for tuna..

quality tuna on fly..and if i remember it was a 6wt!!!!!

a first for sue,sight cast from the back of a manta!!!!

catchin up

2008-08-21T22:47:00.003+10:00

First post for me,so it might take a couple to catch up as i've hundreds of pic to sort through,so here are a few from the start of the season,with a bit of madness and mayhem down the coast on bait balls,manta's on the beachs,and clean water for sight casting b.b's,a few barra'san threadies up the rivers also....

Long time between drinks!

2008-08-21T15:37:00.002+10:00

I know I promised to update more often but I have been a bit slack as we have just been stuffed in the evenings.

It has been quite hard fishing this month with awful weather and dirty water on the beaches, making finding fish quite tough, nothing like last August.

The fingermark fishing with soft plastics was pretty good with 3 of us catching between 40 -50 in one session

There was a few nice macks around in late July/August but with the inclement weather we opted to do quite a bit of fishing up the river.

As the weather being so cold and not a lot of clear sky the crocs were out on the mud banks in abundance. This one took a liking to the hookless popper and didn't want to give it back.

I am hoping that the weather is about to change for the better real soon.

Unfortunately there is little we can do to control it, lucky we live in Weipa, at least there is alway's something to do.

Barramundi Tag Recaptures

2008-07-16T12:37:00.002+10:00

The First week of July was surprising for me catching 3 previously tagged barramundi. In 4 years I have guided here, I have only crossed paths with 2 other tagged barras.

The first (pictured) was recaptured in the Pine River by Allan Murray at 620mm on 3 July, having been origonally tagged on April 17 2002 by local angler Phil Aspinall at 500mm.

The second was recapture in the Embley River two days later by Art Severn of Yowie Bay at 730mm. This fish had origonally been tagged on 18 October 2003 at 435mm, While the last fish was recaptured later that same day by Bob Gardner. His fish measured 520mm and was tagged origonally on 13 November 2006 at 480mm.

As you can see, the Weipa strain of barramundi seems to be surprisingly slow growing. This data was supplied by Bill Sawynok of Suntag who is in charge of the inshore finfish tagging program in Queensland. He confirmed that the Weipa barras do seem to have a slow growth rate compared with those on the east coast or even further south in the gulf. I guess this is another good reason to reduce the indiscriminate commercial pressure on this valuable resource.

Blowing in the wind

2008-07-14T15:46:00.005+10:00

This week just gone was a little blowy with some big swells earlier , however ther was some great pelagic activity with macks and tuna and thankfully not too many sharks.

Some of the crew though didn't fair too well in the drinking stakes and opted for an easy day!

FUN WEEK FOR ILLAWARRA FLY FISHERMEN

2008-07-13T06:19:00.006+10:00

Although we had what I would say were poor conditions this week, these guys had some excellent fly fishing. A bad combination of swell and wind made offshore and beach fishing very difficult, so much time was spent in the rivers.....

ARCHER FISH ABOUND IN THE RIVERS AND ARE A WELCOME BYCATCH

A WONDERFUL GOLDIE SESSION WAS HAD ON THE LAST MORNING

3 BOATS, ALL SIGHT FISHING NICE GOLDIES ON THE FLAT

GREAT BREAM FROM A SUNKEN SNAG

I'M SURE THIS WAS THE LAST FISH OF THE TRIP

SOME EXCELLENT SIGHT FISHING TO BIG BARRAS WAS HAD ALSO (NOTE THE .22 SHELL FLY)

A SPOT OF ESTUARY / BEACH FISHING YIELDED SOME UNUSUAL CAPTURES - CALE CALE AND DIAMOND TREVALLIES

THE BEAUTIFUL DIAMOND TREVALLY

MORE ESTUARY SPECIES - A FINGERMARK

AT TIMES THE BARRAS WERE THICK IF THE FLY WAS IN THE RIGHT SPOT

ACROBATIC TARPON ARE FUN

THE INCIDENTAL QUEENIE KEPT EVERYONE ON THEIR TOES!

DECIEVED TARPON

ANOTHER GOOD BARRA ON AN EXPERIMENTAL HOME TIED FLY

Great Pelagics

2008-07-12T06:24:00.008+10:00

Some excellent pelagic fishing has been had this year, although patchy at times, there have been both longtail and mack tuna, GTs, Bludgers, spaniards and even an occasional billfish showing up.

A nice GT on Jig

Tuna on Fly

Yes, this rod did break!!

Some great spanish on fly opportunities have presented themselves

A Pair of hard pulling Bludgers (the fish, not the fishermen)

Another First Fly caught Spanish.

A surprise 350lb black marlin which ate a 10lb spanish mackerel whilst being fought on 30 lb spin tackle - boatside in just over 2 hours!!

A FEW UNUSUAL CUSTOMERS......

2008-07-09T18:45:00.006+10:00

A Couple of Kissing (Fighting??) Blue Bastards

Estuarine Stonefish....

Floss with a couple of much sought after species on the fly - a nice diamond trevally and a rare tripletail.

First Day Ever Saltwarter Fly Fishing...

2008-07-09T06:26:00.009+10:00

WHAT A WAY TO KICK OFF YOUR SALTWATER FLY FISHING CAREER - QUEENIES, GOLDIES, BLUE SALMON, BIG COBIA, A FEW REEFIES FOLLOWED BY A SIGHT FISHED BLUE BASTARD AND ENDING UP WITH A BARRA, WELL OK THE BARRA WASN'T CAUGHT BY MAX (GRAHAM CAUGHT IT) BUT HE DID CATCH ALL THE OTHERS AND MORE, JUST ON DAY 1. WHERE ELSE BUT WEIPA.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words......

2008-07-09T06:15:00.006+10:00

Hi all and my apologies for not posting news and pictures for some time, so I'll put lots of pictures here in the next few days which will give an overview of the last couple of months. Enjoy!!

A few nice jewies have been making an apearance.

Barras too.....

No time to scratch!

2008-06-14T15:44:00.004+10:00

Well I know I said i would keep things up to date but when you get home from work and clean the boat for the next day and then do emails for an hour, you just don't have the fuel to think about posting an entry onthe blog.

Even Notso has been just too tired to make an entry.

Anyhow the fishing has been pretty good since last entry which is about 3 weeks. Plenty of spaniards around and quite a few tuna although they are infrequently showing themselves staying deep and under cover. A week ago there were spaniards leaping in the air and visible in just about every direction there were so many.

Ther have also been a few schools of bludger trevally around, these fish pull hard like a kingie or samson fish and are great fun.

And of course there are the everpresent sharks making a pain in the butt out of themselves.

There is the odd day out there though when they are not around and it sure is good to play a fish to the boat and not be harrassed by them. Plenty of good blue salmon on the beaches also.

Here is a few pics to drool over for the moment. I will update as soon as I can.

"Kaos"

2008-05-18T09:13:00.006+10:00

This week we had the "Kaos" group as they are more affectionately known.

They are 8 guy's with the right attitude that really know how to enjoy themselves and have been coming for the last 5 years.

Kaos and his group were mostly fly fishing and had some wonderful beach fishing and afew rare encounters with pelagics with few sharks.

"Sad about the shirt colour ladies"

Last week was a bit of a mix with both conventional and fly fisho's that also found a few good fish.

Kristian Stebbing with a nice GT, he managed to land this one after a much bigger one broke the leader

Tim Meares with a fine barra caught and released in the Embley

Back in the swing

2008-04-27T09:52:00.005+10:00

Everybody has been busy in the last few weeks with the season now rolling along at last.

The fishing has been good most day's and plenty of fish to keep the anglers happy, both for the fly fishermen and the conventional fisho!

Here are a few pics to check out from this last week and I am sure Notso will post a few also

Rick Baobel with a 70cm barra fly caught from the beach

Ricky Baobel with a fine cobia caught on a soft plastic

Check out the bait schools on my sounder. This shows just how much bait is coming into the harbour. This was right at the entrance to the harbour being hammered by big queenies.

Unfortunately for a number of those queenies they were being caught by a few guy's in hire boats fishing in the area and killing every one of them.

If everyone that comes up here has to fill their freezers to have a good time, then it wont be long before we have no reason for those idiots to come here as the fishing will be just the same as where they live.

Queenies turn into fish icecream when frozen, yet some people have to kill everything that swims just because they can. If only these tourists could just have fun catching a few fish and releasing most, maybe taking enough for a feed but put a few back for next time.

Sonya & Tony's Week

2008-04-14T16:46:00.006+10:00

Well, it was game on again for me last week, with Sonya and Tony fishing for 6 days, spending 2 days down the coast and 4 in the rivers. The fishing was quite special some days - up to 60 or so fish in the creek for the day, with another day producing over 50 barras, both on lures and live bait. Te pelagics were a little tough at times, however one afternoon we found a number of mackerel and some tuna - both longtail and macks which were eager to eat metal slugs cast into the feeding masses.

Sonya managed a great threadfin salmon on a lure one afternoon, while in the middle of another day, in a quiet(?) backwater, lunch
had to be delayed as mullet after mullet was eaten by masses of hungry barras

This nice golden trevally fought hard and after release we watched as a dolphin that was hanging around caught and ate it.

A few more pics

2008-03-31T10:56:00.007+10:00

Just a few more pics of the happy couple fishing together.

Notso finally caught his triple tail after hooking a bigger one the day before and losing it at the boat, his first ever!

Kristy caught this 88cm barra on a lure which is her PB on a lure also.

The release what a great feeling watching them swim away!

Playing before the work starts.

2008-03-28T16:02:00.002+10:00

Myself,Notso and Kristy decided to go out chuck a few lures about and have a few cold beers yesterday afternoon. The pics below are what eventuated to make it an enjoyable and interesting few hours.

The little lizard ( about 1.6m) was infatuated with the vixen surface lure and almost climbed into the boat while chasing it. Kristy had her feet on the gunwhale but retracted them incredibly fast even though she was looking through the viewfinder taking the pics, I won't print the expletives that came from my darling daughters mouth at the time. we did manage to catch a few nice ones though.

A New Season Begins

2008-03-11T20:11:00.003+10:00

Well the rains are still with us and we had a phenominal wet February.

So far this year since Jan 1st we have had 1590mm with our wettest day 140mm, so it looks like being a beauty if it keeps going.

There have been quite a few barras around lately, so Duane and I went out for a fish the other day for 4 hrs. In that short but enjoyable sassion we caught 2 queenfish, 4goldies, 2 mangrove jacks, 18 barras, a couple of barracuda and an estuary cod.

Not too bad for a couple of hours?.

Although I went down the coast last week and didn't get much top the boat to speak of.

Hooking a few good fingermarks but the sharks and a big groper giving us a hiding and stealing just about everything.

Here is a pic of Jason Owens (Owy) our new guide with a 90cm barra caught and released yesterday in the Mission river.

For those of you who don't know, Jason is an experienced fly fisherman and will be a welcome addition to the team this year. He also has a few clues on those frustrating Milkies and can obviously use a baitcaster also.

Rainy time

2008-01-14T17:05:00.000+10:00

AS some might be aware we have had quite a bit of rainalready this year, and we are hoping it will be a big wet and flush out the rivers

Here is a couple of pics of both the boat ramps after the high tides and storm surge from cyclone Helen.

Both of the boat ramps have a couple of feet of gravl and rock piled over them and are virtually unuseable.

Exciting Trip for Brynn

2007-12-23T16:31:00.000+10:00

My son Brynn visited for a week to see the family before Xmas and to get in a bit of fishing while he was here.

Although I am still supposed to be laid up after my operation I decided to take my boat out with Notso, Kristy and Brynn.

We caught a half of dozen tuna and a couple of Spaniards before hooking up a nice marlin of around 140lb.

Brynn had the marlin alongside for a couple of pics within 50 min and ended his Weipa trip on a high and what a xmas present.

This was Brynn's first ever marlin, and did a great angling job to land it.

The marlin was released to fight again and we got some great video and pics.

Merry Xmas to ALL

2007-12-18T16:32:00.000+10:00

I would just like to wish all of my clients a very Merry Xmas and hope to see you all in the New Year.

I have just had my hernia operation and am feeling a little sore at present and worst of all can't go fishing for a week or so, there fore don't have a lot to report.

I will however have something for you straight after the New year celebrations.

Just for something to think about here's a pic of Nic Jooste and his fly caught bull shark

R & D

2007-12-10T10:53:00.000+10:00

Just what does a fishing guide do on his days off?? Research of course (well, fishing anyway). This pic is of a permit I found recently mooching along the beach (look closely - tail and dorsal out of the water). Alas - there is no photo of me holding it! The fish seemed pre occupied on whatever it was doing and never seemed to acknowlege the crab fly I had - maybe I found a blind permit! Anyway, that's why they're high up the hard to catch ladder. Kristy was with me for the day and we enjoyed some nice weather, caught a coral trout for tea, a decent queenie on light spin gear, played with a mantaray and found a couple of barras.

Marlin to Manta Rays

2007-12-06T10:22:00.000+10:00

Hi all, Well I'm back from another Cairns marlin season and already have slipped a quick charter in back here in Weipa. This year I had Lee who guided with us for some of the season here in Weipa on the deck. As you can see from the picture, marlin like to get up close and personal at times! Luckily Lee (LuckyLee??) got out of the way of this 750lb fish, using the tag pole to fend off and tag the fish at the same time. The season turned out to be the slowest in years, altough there was still some great fish to be caught, although cyclone Guba ended it a little early for me.

Last week I had Bill and his son Alex, both from Sydney fish with me for the week. They had a great week with lots of fly targets including small queenies, goldies, giant herring, small queenies, small mackerel (even had a 30lb fish almost jump in the boat in the harbour), barras, manta ray action and, did I mention the small queenies. Huge volumes of jelly prawns were the food supply along many of the beaches which attracted most of these fish. Well, some more time off, so its R & D for a while, but stay tuned for the results!! NOTSO

End of Season

2007-11-30T08:01:00.000+10:00

Our final charter has finished today.

As you can imagine as much as I love my fishing this year has been very busy and I am looking forward to the break.

This week was great fun and some fabulous fishing.

We found quite a few Manta ray's and some had a few cobia and goldies with them.

The early rain started the jelly prawn hatch and most of the beaches had quite a few jelly prawns which really gets the action hotted up.

Lots of tarpon, goldies, giant herring, blue salmon and small queenies creating good fly fishing on the beaches and flats.

Duane has decided to leave us with some trepidation, and has joined the Rio Tinto workforce as a shift fitter. Duane has been with me since 2000 and has been an integral part of the business, and as some of you are aware a great fishing guide.

He will be doing some cameo appearances during next season, doing some part time guiding with us on his day's off.

FF&S wish Duane the very best in his new job.

It looks like we are going to have a good wet with the rain that we have already had and that should give the fishing a great kick start for the next season.

By the way we still have a vacancy in April and have had a cancellation late June which is prime time, so if you might be interested get onto us soon.

Those groups that haven't paid their deposits for their 2008 bookings please do so to secure your trip!

Almost there!

2007-11-10T08:49:00.000+10:00

Well, end of season is almost there!
Oct was perhaps not our best fishing month, although there was some great highlights.
One day travelling along the beach and one of the clients said have a look at that big shark!
I said that isn't a shark, it's a marlin!
We tied lure on and trolled it past the 500lb fish. He immediately crashed the lure and hooked up.
The marlin took a long run then put his head out of the water thrashing back and forth. It then swam back toward the boat and swam under the boat and out the other side. He again put his head out and thrashed throwing the lure into the air.
A short but very exciting experience, for the angler, and on a 30lb spin outfit I think slightly undergunned.
This whole episode happened about 800m from the beach just outside the harbour, and in 14ft of water.
This was not just an isolated incident either during Oct/Nov we seen quite a few billfish which is encouraging as we wern't fishing for them.

On the 5th Nov I had a client ( Nick and Roz Durrant)and his wife fishing with small metal slugs. Both of them were on a double hookup whenroz's tuna was smashed by something we didn't actually identify, but dissapeared in a flurry of whitewater.
I released the other tuna and told Roz it is probably a shark just break it off!
She tried but couldnt break the 30lb Fins braid on the very light Sage spin rod.
She gave me the rod to break it off.
I held the spool waiting for the slow constant pressure to break the line when to everyones surprise a marlin slowly launched itself from the water 20m from the boat.
I quickly gave Roz back the rod, who was still, like all of us, in a state of shock and awe.
The marlin was around 200lb and gave us a fantastic show as it jumped and jumped with some spectacular airobatics finally after an hour losing it next to the boat when the line eventually chafed through.
I don't know how it managed to get hooked on such a small treble and stay hooked with a 4ft 45lb schneider leader?
But it did and made one angler very happy!
We also hooked some memorable fish jigging soft plastics over the reefs.
The fishing in general has been great over the past couple of weeks although the sharks are still a real problem.

One more charter to go before finishing for the year, and I am really looking forward to a break even though I am sure it will be a wet one.
Sorry no images today as I can't seem to upload them?
I will post some images ASAP

2007-10-02T13:51:00.000+10:00

Three young guys were lucky there dads were into fishing. The dads had fished with us before and decided to bring there sons up for the experience. In the three days the weather was great we fished down the coast and caught GT, mackerel tuna and more. Dads got problems now because the boys wont to come back.

2007-10-02T13:13:00.000+10:00

These guys were fishing for five days with very relaxed hours. We would pick up at 7 and be having beers back at the lodge by 3. Ten guys on four boats meant we could spread out to find the fish. The boat on the wide reef caught lots of nice treavaly and some tuna. Up the river there were barra, salmon, jew, fingermark and lots more. All caught good fish over the five days and will be back to catch more in the future.

Floss & the GT

2007-09-15T20:04:00.000+10:00

Hi Guy's Check out the "floss" with a 20lb fly caught GT.

This is not a guides estimated 20lb either it is a genuine 20lb check out the certified boga grip in it's mouth!

Pay up Renee!

2007-09-11T14:49:00.001+10:00

These guys came over from NZ to fly fish for some of the tough fish that swim in our warm waters. They have fished with us many times before and caught lots of fisher. The request on the first morning was for quality fish not numbers of fish. John had caught lots of barra on fly but not a legal size one so he was happy with his 63cm fish caught on his first cast one morning. We fished for Permit, Milk fish and Painted sweet lip (blue bastards) allot of the time with lots of fish of all species sighted. Doogle caught this sweet lip on the last day after hooking two others earlier in the day that got back to the rocks. In between the sight fishing they also caught lots of Trevally, Queenie's, Barra and more it was a good week weather and fishing.

This week

2007-09-11T14:49:00.000+10:00

Dougall Rilstone from NZ with a fly caught King Salmon.

Kiwi John Dean with a great fly caught Goldie caught from under a manta ray.

2007-09-11T12:24:00.000+10:00

some nice queenies and a big fingermark

2007-08-20T10:18:00.000+10:00

The fishing in the last month has been good with lots of Spaniard's nice queenies when the weather is good the wide reefs have had good trevally and up the rivers the fingermark fishing is great on the jigs. Late July the Weipa fishing challenge was held I caught this 83cm barra and lots of fingermark on the first day. The second day Linda and I went down the coast and caught lots of reef fish and macks non of which were big enough. Wining sizes Barra photo graphed and released 100cm mackerl 10kg queenie 6.8kg trevally10.4kg grunter 3.3kg fingermark4.5kg and reef fish(nanigie) 6.2kg. If the fishing stays as good for the next month I will be happy, with the water warming it should get better.

2007-08-20T09:54:00.000+10:00

Damian and Mario one night were sitting around with the guys of Notsos boat, after lots of scotch they decided to have a bet on the biggest fish caught the next day. At 9.30 Damian caught this large Queensland Groper and we new we had it in the bag. The other boat in a different river caught some nice fish with the biggest a 78cn barra but when the photos were shown they payed up and drank more scotch.

2007-08-20T09:26:00.000+10:00

On my days of I still get to go fishing with the family and when the tides are perfict. When the tide is low in the middle of the day I can have my sleep in and still take the girls fishing in the prime time. 78cm and 67cm two of a bunch of barra we caught in a three houre fish not far from the boat ramp.

Steve Huff Visit

2007-08-19T17:27:00.001+10:00

Steve Huff and Fish with a fine fly caught barra caught on Steve's Weipa visit

During late July I had the pleasure of guiding one of the worlds famous guides.

Steve Huff was the guide that guided the late Del Brown onto almost all of his 513 fly caught permit.

Steve guides in the Florida everglades and is a great fly caster and fisherman. Guiding Steve on his australian visit was a great and most interesting experience.
I can't wait to take him up on his offer to guide me in Florida!

Winter in Weipa

2007-08-19T17:02:00.000+10:00

Well winter has come and gone and we have had some filthy weather over the last few months.

The fishing however has been pretty good and ther have been plenty of the larger pelagics on the bite.

The mackerel have been thick although ther are always casualties with the sharks also being thick.

Some day's you can manage to evade them and land a good percentage of your hookups.

Check out Maurie Mariani's fine Mack caught on a Shimano bullwhip baitcaster and Shimano 2 speed beastmaster, not a bad effort. The fish measured 134cm and managed to outrun the 9ft bullshark that was hot on it's tail.

Pete Leemon and his big queenie caught on fly on his first saltwater fly fishing experience.

Hot Fishing in Cold Weipa

2007-06-29T22:45:00.000+10:00

I'm glad I live in Weipa. Even when the weather is cold and miserable, it is still a darn sight better than being further south. Check out what we found this week..... The first couple of days the swell and wind were kind and the pelagic fishing was almost as good as it gets. Plenty of mackerel, tuna, trevally and mad fish schools. The mackerel were that thick that I managed this pic of a mid air 25lb fish returning to the planet after being on some small baitfish's case. Also pictured is Ant with a 40lb fish taken on a soft palstic with wire. Steph found the only BIG queenie of the trip - a nice one just as the swell rose to massive proportions for Weipa...... That picture was taken from the beach jsut to the north of Weipa (not the Gold Coast surf!!!) It was up the creeks for a few days while offshore had a rest. Despite cold water, some quality fish were found on live baits with Craig catching his first 4 barras, all above the 60cm legal size with the biggest 79cm. Ant persisted with lures and was rewarded with this 58 cm fish on a

top water lure, one of the most exciting ways to catch them!! Ant, Steph and Craig each caught a juvenile groper, the biggest 106cm, along with jacks, fingermark, cod, etc. It just shows that even when it's cold and yukky here, it's probably colder elsewhere, but the fishing is still great.

2007-06-25T18:01:00.000+10:00

After four days of unfavourable fly fishing weather spent up the river catching barra, fingermark,qeenies and other medium size fish on his last day Frenchy was desperate to get among some bigger fish. We headed south with a few bags of berley were we found some birds flying hi and lots of bait down low. I decided to try the berley amongst the bait schools. We anchored at 9am and only pulled the anchor at 3pm to chase some bait balls. At anchor we caught Spanish mackerel,mack tuna,long tails sharks and mad fish,it was a great day to finish a fishing trip.

2007-06-25T17:41:00.000+10:00

I have seen some dodgy reels in my time but this one surprised me. With a good glove on to act as a drag and a competent angler this reel secured some nice captures.

2007-06-21T11:49:00.000+10:00

Late March in to April I Had some good fishing up the river for Jew fish. Rob on the right with a nice groper on his bait caster was a good battle to watch. Along with the Jew were all the other river creaters, fingermark,Barr, jack Queenie's and cod. The the weather was good and as you can see from the smiles we all had a good time.

Big Queenies & Bad Weather

2007-06-20T07:42:00.000+10:00

There's no doubt why Peter (Windy) Wilson has aquired his nickname - crikey we've had some wind here of late! Despite some ordinary conditions for some flyfishing newcomers and old hats alike, the fishing has still been quite good. Some fantastic BIG queenies turned up to the south this week giving some newcomers to saltwater fly fishing a great thrill. Many of the beaches have been unfishable due to a large swell rolling in. The tuna have been patchy in close, some days quite good, and very close to shore, with both longtails and macks, plenty of madfish and even some billfish been seen. The creeks are still fishing well - smaller queenies, giant herring, and goldien trevally on the flats and some great barra fishing around the low tide drains.

Frenchie caught this cobia off a manta ray during the week.

Frenchie and Ken caught these queenies during a hot bite down the coast

2007-06-18T12:19:00.000+10:00

Fish what fish. The end of April and half way through May had some very good beach fishing, with lots of jelly prawns in close. Geoff, Done and Phil were fly fishing for ten days and landed over 500 fish on the fly. The fish were mainly Queenie's, trevallys, blue salmon and giant herring on the beaches and when the offshore winds eased some tuna of shore. Even after fishing Weipa for the last seven years [Geoff fishes in October as well as May] the guys said every time is different and cant wait for the next trip.

Video posts

2007-05-27T08:26:00.000+10:00

HI everyone
Check out the video that Peter Holland posted on U - tube.

U Tube weipa 06 videos

We have been trying to get video on the blog site for a while now with little result, however this may be the way to get them to you.
We will try another one next week
Give us your thoughts by adding a comment click on comments at the bottom of each posting and click anonymous then just sign the text to let us know who you are?

Hot lure fishing in the creeks

2007-05-14T21:32:00.000+10:00

Gavin Matthews and his brother John fished a week with me recently and had some awesome lurising action. 5 days were spent in the creeks and one day down the coast chasing pelagics. A variety of species were caught including barras, jacks, fingermark, cod, grunter, queenfish, blue and threadfin salmon, longtail tuna
In all, the biggest barra caught was John's 89cm fish. Some spectacular top water action was experienced with feeding barras sounding like a microwave full of popcorn! The action got better and better by the day with each of the last two days scoring over 50 barras and 30 odd fish of other species.
This is one of John's first barras on a top water lure. The bites make up for the lower hookup rate. Gavin with a nice cod which took him into the snags before being extracted. John managed to keep this tuna away from the sharks.....
Gavin did well to catch this jack from among mangrove roots on the high tide flat.

John with a harbour caught queenie. You don't have to go far some days to catch some great fish.

2007-05-14T19:36:00.000+10:00

Newsflash!!!
We have availability due to cancellation for June 18 - 22 and 25 - 29
June is one of our best fishing months and is normally booked out 12 months in advance so if you are looking at coming up, check out these dates and send me an email wildfish1@bigpond.com

Steve Cooper's Trip

2007-05-08T01:53:00.000+10:00

The Cooper family fished with us again this year, using 2 boats for 8 days. I had them for the first 3 days and then moved on to a new bunch of guys. In those couple of days some great fly fishing was had as well as some good beach side barra fishing.

Holy Jumpin Barramundi!!!

Tom with a good beach barra

Gerald caught this great Shovelnose Shark on a small baitcaster after a 40 minute fight. A maginficent effort. The frisky fish was released after this quick pic.

Tarpon are a great fight on fly also...

David with his Tarpon

Father and Son Steve and David with a queenie on fly double header only minutes from the boat ramp!!

2007 Kicks Off!!!

2007-04-30T11:32:00.000+10:00

HI ALL, FIRSTLY, MY SINCEREST APOLOGIES TO THESE GUYS WHO FISHED WITH ME A FEW WEEKS AGO FOR TAKING SO LONG TO PUT THEIR PICTURES ON THE NET AND MAKE THEM FAMOUS - STEVE (BUCKO), FRANK, AUSSIE ANDY, AMERICAN ANDY, MARTY & THE OTHER STEVE.
FUN WAS HAD BY ALL WITH A VARIETY OF FISHING INCLUDING ESTUARY, BEACH AND OFFSHORE SPORT AND FLY FISHING. AMERICAN ANDY WAS IMPRESSED BY THE LUSHIOUS LIPS OF AN EXCITED GOLDEN TREVALLY AS OPPOSED TO THOSE OF THE SMALL SALTWATER CROCODILE WHICH TOOK A LIKING TO ONE OF HIS LURES UP A CREEK. ALSO PICTURED IS FRANK WITH A NICE QUEENFISH AND MARTY WITH A TASTY BARRA FROM A CREEK MOUTH AND A LARGE (BUT STILL ONLY JUVENILE) QUEENSLAND GROPER ON A BAIT MEANT FOR A BARRA. THESE MAGNIFICENT CREATURES ARE TOTALLY PROTECTED IN QUEENSLAND WATERS AND ALWAYS AN ACCIDENTAL CAPTURE. THEY INHABIT THE ESTUARIES UNTIL THEY MOVE TO OFFSHORE REEF AREAS WHERE THEY REACH SEVERAL HUNDRED POUNDS!! GREAT SKILL IS REQUIRED TO LAND A LARGE ONE IN THE RIVERS AS LIGHTER LINE IS GENERALLY USED AND COVER IS NEVER TOO FAR AWAY. THE LARGER ONES OFFSHORE CAN OFTEN BE OBSERVED HANGING AROUND THE BOAT WAITING FOR AN EASY FEED. THANKS GUYS FOR COMING UP AND SEEING WHAT WE HAVE TO OFFER FROM THIS GREAT PART OF AUSTRALIA.

First weeks charter 2007

2007-04-15T15:42:00.000+10:00

Just a few images from the first weeks fishing with Dave Donavan.
these were taken underwater in a bait ball.
I have some great underwater movie footage also but as yet I can't post on the blog.,but we are working on it

The life of a baitfish is a stressfull one!

Back on line!

2007-04-15T08:56:00.000+10:00

Hi Guy's it's been a while!
With the wet break and we have been to Africa checking out all the animals and stuff.

Notso and Kristy, Sue and myself travelled first to Dubai where we spent 4 day's with the Jooste family looking around this unbeleivable city. The skyline is a forest of tower cranes, as the city grows at an incredibly rapid rate. High rise after high rise appear to grow almost daily as an unbroken line of trucks file into the city bumper to bumper 24/7.

Dubai Airport

The mind boggles with the vast amounts of money and technology being poured into this arab desert to produce this amazing place. Shit, you can even snow ski in the desert on real snow!

This is the Berg the only 7 star hotel in the world and costs AUS$15,000 a night for the best rooms, but you can get a budget room for around AUS$6,500 If you like.

Nothing like a cold beer in a hot arabian desert watching the sun set.

From Dubai we travelled on to Nairobi the capital of Kenya and then on to Malindi which brings us to the real reason for an african holiday"FISHING".

I wanted to catch a broadbill swordfish on fly and from all reports this was the place to do it.

However to cut a long story short I had one shot when we raised one on the teaser on the only night we fished for them, and didn't manage to tease it all the way back to the boat.

It was a long night!

(picture Angela Jooste with her first ever sail on fly)

We did however catch 9 sailfish on fly between us and the Jooste family that organised the whole trip to Kenya and who we stayed with in Dubai.

Kristy managed to get a striped marlin and a sail on conventional tackle and I also caught a 200lb black marlin on fly which was only the second ever caught on fly in Kenya and the biggest on fly.

The blue water fishing in Kenya was sensational, they have a great fishery, but the boats and equipment leave a little to be desired.

My black marlin, check out the weather, it was like this the whole 6 day's fishing

Lunch! This red snapper was caught on a jig from the bottom, which was deep while I was fighting my marlin.

After the fishing, we took a 3 day safari out to Tsavo national park to see some of Africa's wildlife.

We stayed in canvas tents on the bank of the Sabaki river and although were upmarket safari style tents theey didn't appear to give a lot of protection against the lions.

I think the mossie mesh on the sides should be made from Kevlar instead of nylon.

I know Kristy did when the first night a hippo came charging down the hill which sounded very close to her tent as it crashed into the water in the river.

Kristy didn't sleep at all that night!

It was exciting though and very well run. Our guide was "Gaetano" was a great guide and very knowledgable about the wildlife and all the amazing bird species.

I would certainly recommend the whole Kenya experience, although it is a long way from Oz it is worth it.

The Wet

2007-01-30T10:53:00.000+10:00

Upper Wenlock flyfishing

Caught a few of these little porkers also

Sooties will brick you everytime when fishing light

2007-01-30T10:36:00.000+10:00

File snakes were prolific on the banks of the Wenlock

Well the rain has finally turned up!
It has been raining constantly since last friday the 26th Jan hence I have time to get something on the blog.
Previously Notso and I had been doing a lot of camping and fishing in the bush.
Prior to last week the weather had been beautiful, other than a few hot day's.
Over the Xmas and New year period we did a trip to Chillie beach and Portland roads on the east coast and came back via frenchmans road which was great 4wd country.
We got to see lot of the cape that we hadn't seen before and managed to get a few fish for the pond project downstairs from the top of the Wenlock.
Other than freshwater fishing, which I must say I have been enjoying thoroughly I haven't been doing much in the salt.
The family did do a camping trip up on the Skardon/Jackson over Xmas which was great and caught a few good fingermark, but haven' got out since.
My intention was to get out tommorrow but the constant rain may also put an end to that. Kristy with a thumper goldie
Anyhow here is a few pics from the camping trip and I will let you know how the fishing goes in the next week.
Brynn Philliskirk with a good Fingermark

2007-01-26T17:11:00.000+10:00

The only charter I had in November and these guys had great fishing for barra. We released 85 barra in three days up to 112cm. The weather is hot but so is the fishing. I had plenty of time to catch my own fish and do some hunting but I would rather see these guys catch there nice fish. So hope we see more fisherpersons in November on my boat.

Xmas end of 2006

2006-12-21T16:31:00.000+10:00

Permit doing the covered wagon deal

Hi everyone!
We havent posted much of late as we have finished fishing for the year.
Duane has gone down to Newcastle for a month, and Notso has just arrived back after his heavy tackle marlin season. I have been busily working around the house doing all the jobs that I don't get to do during my season. groover was up a few weeks ago to do a little fishing, and we went camping for a few day's and had a ball catching barra's and threadies and some great queenie and GT action.
It really is good to have a break, and pick up a rod!
My son Brynn and his girlfreind arrive tommorrow from Cairns and with Notso and Kristy,Sue and I are all going camping for a few day's over Xmas.

Next year is really shaping up well and looks like we have a new guide working with our team, Lee
Has guided with DeJaVu and also with Carpentaria Seafari's and has done a bit of work with Notso on the marlin boat. He is only 19 but according to Notso and Groover who have both worked with him are both impressed by his abilities and work ethic.
As we now have a full time 4th guide we still have a few vacancies left for one boat in prime time Apr/May/June so if you did miss out give me a call or email and see if we can work something out!
So to all our valued clients both new and repeat We at F.F.& S. wish you all a very Merry Xmas and a happy New Year and look forward to fishing with you and having a few laughs again in 2007

2006-11-28T13:52:00.000+10:00

The last week in October seen the last charter that was a shame because the fish were jumping in the boat. We were heading down the coast to do some reef fishing when I seen this sailfish fining on the surface as we pulled up the fish came over to investigate. I had the still frozen mulet out of the esky and was feeding them over the back while getting a trace ready. As I looked over the side I could see the fish ten feet down eating the mulet

one at a time. We baited the hook and dropped it over, the fish swam up and eat the still half frozen mulet the hook was set and the game was on. After about 15 minute of great boat driving the sail was ours for some quick photos before release. The tuna were so thick you could have walked on there backs this 24 pounder was the size of quite a lot of them. We also got up the river for one and a half days with 50 barra caught and released and many other species these guys had a great time and will be back. It was a shame to finish at the end of October with the fish jumping in the boat.

2006-11-28T13:05:00.000+10:00

Gordon @ Charles were the two novice fishers that came up with a group of seven guys lead by Dean Butler I took them to the bait schools off Norman creek on the second day of there trip the morning sea conditions were perfect. As we came closer to were the bait had been you could see the water was bulging with the bait being pushed to the surface by all types off predators. By 1pm we left to avoid the westerly the guys arms felt like they were twice as long as in the morning and the esky was full of mackerals bodies.

2006-11-28T12:06:00.000+10:00

Four mates in the middle off October two of them second time fishing.They must think fishing is easy with catches of thirty barra one day fifty the next forty the day after.In between barra all the other river fish were on the bite as

well with king salmon, jack, queenies cods and more ready to eat anything that came its way. Down the coast the reef fished well for fingermark trevaly and nannygai while the pelagics were moving in on the bait schools that had been moving around for days.

Delay

2006-11-28T11:35:00.000+10:00

G'Day Guys,

So sorry for the delay in entries, we have been pushed off our feet with work catching up on things.

Notso has been away captaining Wild Turkey ( a marlin chartering boat) since august now and has been doing quite well, if you want to know updates go to http://wildturkeycharters.blogspot.com/.

Fish has been away in cairns catching up on a few things and will give you an update in the next couple of days about the last few trips in the end of the season.

Again I apologise for the neglect of our blog, i hope we still have you attention.

Kind Regards
Kristy (Fish's Daughter)

3 Days of variety in the tropics

2006-10-13T21:50:00.000+10:00

I recently returned to Weipa for a week from the Cairns marlin season to take some clients on tour of the wilds of Weipa. A day spent offshore produced spanish mackerel, tuna, trevally etc, while the next couple of days were spent in the creeks catching barramundi, mangrove jacks, estuary cod, bream, fingermark and tangles with some unstoppable snag dwelling creatures. On the wildlife side not to much was missed with sea snakes, a couple of species of dolphins, turtles, kangaroos, pigs, box jellyfish and of course crocodiles observed at times from extremely close quarters. Pictured is "Mackerel Boy" Mike with an average sized spanish; a couple of barras for Graham and Mike; Graham with a nice jack; Peter with one of the few estuary cod which could be stopped.

2006-10-09T19:12:00.000+10:00

These guys had a very good five days with lots of great video of bait balls and triple hook ups on macks, tuna, GTs and other trevalys. At the end of the week the guys reels will need rebuilding with bits falling off and smoke almost coming out of there drags.I think we might see them again.

2006-10-05T13:58:00.000+10:00

Affter going down the coast on the first day and catching fingermark,tuna,trevaly and lots of other reef criters we were up the rivers for the next five days.We had two slow days in the middle were the tide didnt move much.The other days were good with everyone catching barra on well cast lures.This king Salmon was one off 21 we released on one day.

2006-10-05T13:36:00.000+10:00

Jack with his blue basted and black spot tuskfish very happy walking the beach and casting to nice fish like this,he also had a shot at a school of feeding permit but the fly landed like a stone right in the middle of the fish.Jacks none fly fishing buddy was happy to leave the beaches and get into the tuna,macks@trevaly offshore at every opportunity.

Stripe on Fly

2006-10-01T22:31:00.000+10:00

We have a a video attached here, it is of me catching a beautiful Stripe Marlin on Fly in Port Stephen's in New South Wales early in this year.

All you have to do is click on the attachment below. Happy Watching.

Stripe Marlin on Fly

Japanese magazine visit

2006-09-24T10:48:00.000+10:00

"Chopstick" (another nick name)finally catching the tuna that he wished for.
"Chopstick" aptly named for his very slight frame, was one of 3 japanese in Weipa recently putting together a fishing article for a japanese fishing magazine.
The fishing could have been easier however we did manage to have a few good sessions.
The 3 day's finishing with an amazing barra bite, that left them wanting more and still very excited and talking about returning, as I drove them out to the plane to fly back to Japan.