FNQ & the gulf April 2022

When planning a trip to the far north of Australia on the back end of the monsoonal wet season one must be adaptable. This trip well and truly fell into the ‘be adaptable’ category. Late last year we hatched a plan to fly into Townsville. Meet up with Brad then hitch up his trusty 435 Hornet to his Dual cab 4WD, here after referred to as the “Slowdeo”, and drive to Weipa on the Western side of Cape York for an awesome mix of estuary and blue water fishing. Then return via Cooktown for a change up fishing excursion. Before returning to Townsville. 

First curve ball, about the time the Archer River was getting to a level that would allow the road to open yours truly got the bloody Rona virus. Bugger! Brad n Rus kindly offered to delay the trip by a month. So with a bit of mucking around the bookings were all moved to accommodate the new dates.   

The second curve ball,  was that the Archer River crossing that is between Townsville and Weipa was on the rise as we were boarding the plane to join Brad in Townsville.  By the time we landed the level over the crossing was 2 metres. No way we can cross that in the Slowdeo so  we did a bit of a brainstorm and thought that if we did Cooktown first the road to Weipa should open in about 4 days time. I made enquiries only to be told by the Cooktown accom place “why the f#@k do you want to come here?!!” The lovely lady at the Cooktown holiday park went on to explain they were expecting a shit load of rain over the next few days. 50mm, then 150mm, then 250mm. Bugger!!  

 Oki doki, we need a plan C. We found a fishing camp south of Townsville called Sinclairs. It looks pretty good and the rain forecast reasonable. We made enquiries, all looked ok, until we checked the wind forecast. Crikey, fresh to frightening for 5 days straight. Bugger!!!

Rightio, we need a plan D. Running out of options we cast our gaze to the Gulf. The wind forecast and rain forecast looked great for Kurumba. Bookings were made and packing finalised. We headed off early the following morning to tackle the eleven hour drive. It was great to be back in the Savanah country across the bottom of Cape York. After an uneventful trip we made sunset at the legendary Sunset Tavern at Kurumba Point. Beer doesn’t taste much better than when finishing an epic FNQ road trip watching the sun set over the waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Day 2 done and dusted.  

Day 3: Fished Opposite Creek right up to where it gets narrow with no luck. Then we looked around the flats to the west of the Norman River, nothing. Then fished right up Bynoe River, again with no luck. When the tide just started to drop out I got a reasonable Thready and Brad got a decent Bluey. Things went quiet so we headed back to Opposite Creek to see if a dropping tide would yield any fish. Upon arriving back at the creek mouth Rus’s first cast was taken by a very energetic Barra that measured 62cm, we also got a couple of Barra around 50cm, and Brad got a couple of Blue Salmon. While at the creek mouth Rus got the catch of the day. He sight casted/tea bagged a mud crab swimming straight at the boat just under the surface. A couple of well placed and timed jigs of his soft plastic soon set the hook near its rear leg. I carefully lifted it into the boat. Happy days, tonight’s entrée. Thready and crab for dinner. Happy days!  

Fish caught;  

-Brad 3 Blueys -Rus 2 Barra (62&50), Crab -Ash 1 Thready, 2 Barra (50 & 45)   

Day 4: We headed up the Norman River to Walker Creek which looked good on the satellite photos. Another entire morning with not even a hit. We tried a heap of spots working our way back toward Kurumba with no luck until I jagged a small Queenie near the pub. It was getting late in the day so we returned to Opposite Creek where we got a few the previous arvo. We caught nothing there but witnessed the most extraordinary Barra feeding session. Buffs everywhere. We changed several lures, mixed up retrieve techniques but no hits from the feeding frenzy of Barra. Absolutely a trip highlight to witness, but bloody frustrating we couldn’t land any. After retrieving the boat we had to do the ‘fishless walk of shame’ to the pub for a feed. 

Fish caught;  

-Brad 0 -Rus 0 -Ash 1 small Queenie (foul hooked)  

Day 5: This morning’s wind forecast was pretty ordinary for Kurumba so we decided to drive to Normanton (70km) to fish the middle reaches of the Norman River and hopefully avoid the wind. We checked sat photos and decided to head to a small creek that led into the Mutton Hole wetlands. Spectacular day but not very fishy. Rus was the only one to get a Barra, albeit just under legal. Brad only a Trevally, Rus and I also got a couple of Catfish. Another tough day. With no keepers in the esky we couldn’t face another ‘walk of shame’ to the pub so we defrosted the Barra Rus caught on the first day.  

Fish caught; -Brad 1 Trevally -Rus 1 Barra (57 ) & a Catfish -Ash 1 Catfish   

 Day 6: Brad stayed at camp to get on top of work. Rus and I went hunting. We again started at Opposite Creek. We couldn’t find Barra but did get a couple of Flathead. Then we came upon an interesting bank on the flats, not too far from the boat ramp. We found a couple more Flathead before landing a few “just under” Barra. Then Rus got a 74cm Barra. Not long after that I landed an 85cm Barra. After the bite went quiet we grabbed coffees, delivered one to Brad who took a break then headed to Mangrove Island. It was a bit rough with quite a swell pulsing through the trees. Rus rolled a Bluey, then suddenly I nailed another big Barra. This one was 82cm.  We worked the patch for a bit longer but only rolled, not landed a couple more Blueys. We had 3 big fish in the esky so decided to get off the water and enjoy fresh fish lunch and a siesta. Brad was still working. No ‘walk of shame’ for us now. The fish stocks were now in good shape.  

Fish caught;  -Brad did not fish.    -Rus 4 Barra (74,50,51,53) & 1 flathead  -Ash 5 Barra (85,82,52,48,45) & 1 Flathead   

 Day 7: Brad was back on board and with our new knowledge we headed back to Opposite Creek. Brad was the first with a fish, Flathead again.  We then headed to yesterday’s prime spot hoping it would fish well again. We weren’t disappointed. It wasn’t long until we were getting into Barra about 50cm. 8 were caught ‘n’ released before I landed a decent Bluey. After it went quiet, we headed back to Mangrove Island. This time the conditions were calm, albeit a lot of current. We only found one small Barra.  Being so calm we decided to head out offshore to see if we could jig up reefies. We had been given a couple of marks by Brad’s mate in Townsville 20km out. Trying many different lures the only catch was a 90cm shark caught by Brad.  Another big day finished with fresh fish only this time we spoiled ourselves with hot chips from the takeaway.  

Fish caught; -Brad 1 flathead & 1 shark 90cm    -Rus 4 Barra (4x50ish) -Ash 4 Barra (4x50ish)  Bluey 60cm   

Day 8: Packed up, checked out then launched the boat at town boat ramp. Went straight back to Barra tree on the flats. Barra tree was harder this morning, Brad got a Flathead, Rus didn’t trouble the scorers. I however got 3 good Barra – 72cm, 65cm, 63cm.  We retrieved the boat about 1pm then grabbed a quick lunch at Kurumba before heading east. Planning to get as far across the bottom of the Cape as sunlight would allow. We had a very refreshing beer at Croydon hotel before pushing onto Georgetown by sunset. The dongas in the Georgetown caravan park were basic but comfortable enough. After getting cleaned up we wandered down to the pub for a fair dinkum steak.  

Fish caught; -Brad 1 flathead -Rus 0 -Ash 3 barra (72,65,63)   

Day 9: We continued the drive east via Undara for a tour of the famous Lava tubes. Then showed Rus a few waterfalls on the Atherton tablelands before descending to the coast. Finding a villa near our planned fishing destination was tough. We ended up at Kurrimine Beach 30mins south of where we will fish in the morning. After a quick beer at the “resort” overlooking the beach we checked into our motel family room. It was fantastic. Heaps of space and a full kitchen. So we grabbed a couple of slabs of Barra from the esky and cooked Barra up with hot chips from down the road.   

Day 10: Drove to Mourilyan Harbour, 30 minutes north. We fished the Moresby River all morning for only a few small fish. We had to retrieve the boat by 1pm to ensure we got back into Townsville before dark. We arrived back at Brad and Dot’s to find Dot had knocked up an amazing lasagna for us. This paired perfectly with a couple of fancy reds from Brad’s cellar.  

Fish caught; -Brad Jack and Cod -Rus 1 Barra(cuda) -Ash 1 trevally   

Day 11: Clean up day with a side trip to the Strand for coffee. Fly home mid arvo