Cape Diversity! By Dave Donald
Scott squeezed the car topper between a bunch of snags extending from both banks. The small creek, running southwards off the mighty Wenlock River, looked incredibly fishy in the early morning light, but so far had only produced interest from a couple of pesky archer fish. As I worked my Zerek live mullet through the timber, I was absorbed in enjoying the soul soothing vibes of a wonderful tropical winter early morning so there were a couple of incomprehensible moments before I was jolted back to the present by a silver flash crashing my lure from left of field.
With lumps of timber protruding from the surface only centimetres from 9 o’clock to 4, the sizable barra seemed oblivious to the comfort of their presence, swimming straight into a small area of open water adjacent to the boat. By this time, I’d woken up enough to help it keep heading in that direction but it quickly reacted to my rod pressure, pulling line off the tightly set drag after executing a U turn and heading towards the outboard leg.
Melanie and partner Ben joined dad for his birthday bash, Mel supplying this Queenfish for a big dish of fresh nummus
Somehow, I got my old bones and muscles to coordinate, almost running over the top of Scott in my haste to get the rod and singing braid past the prop. Luckily, my mate saw me coming and dropped into a crouch to make my task much easier. Thumbing the spool as hard as I dared after making sure the line was free, I again stopped the rampaging fish, where it chose to rest for a couple of seconds before finally realizing that the snags were its best friends.
The next minute or so were a series of heart in mouth moments for us both, a coordinated dance that saw Scott working the electric and Barradave muscling the fish away from various lumps of timber.
A huge cry went up as the landing net finally engulfed the pink eyed beauty, as much an expression of relief as it was of triumph. ‘Yeah man!’
Landing that 85cm ripper in such a tight situation not only made my day, but became the highlight of a very busy month!
I’ve now lived on the Cape for more than 3 decades – but am still amazed at the diversity of fishing opportunities available when you take the time to explore. It’s almost as though nearly the entire range of tropical species are condensed into an area only a few hundred kilometres wide, a pleasantly finite area in the days of modern 4WD’s and boats.
East of Weipa in mid Cape, three major waterways have their beginnings in the same patch of the Great Divide, the Wenlock and Archer flowing west and the Pascoe running east. Yet, those that flow into the Gulf support stocks of saratoga and sooty grunter while the Pascoe, by contrast, is home to jungle perch. In places, they are only a couple of kilometres apart yet their morphology is significantly different. That’s a great bonus for fishers keen to sample their freshwater diversity without too much running around.
The author ‘blooded’ his new slow pitch jig outfit with the stonker of a fingermark during his birthday bash over to Portland Roads. Fishing doesn’t come much better!
My busy period started with the annual visit of the Jerry Hat Trick crew, a mob of elderly feather tossers who have camped at Cullen Point, near Mapoon, for the past eight years. With their most senior member now starting his 80s, it becomes readily apparent that regularly engaging in flyfishing does wonders for maintaining your health! For me, it’s a wonderful opportunity to catch up with these wily old blokes who have been there, done that, probably a couple of times over.
They fish the beach and nearby river mouth every day, rising before dawn before driving or walking to the chosen area, a destination that can be hotly debated each evening over a few wines, its location determined mainly by tides and previous results. Morning tea on the beach features pieces of heavily rum soaked fruit cakes lovingly baked prior to their trip by spouses or their own hand. It becomes a pleasure to be outcast by an ‘old hand’ who is 5 years your senior! Don’t for one minute doubt the prowess of this eclectic group.
Highlight of that trip was Trevor landing a small permit within walking distance of the camp early one morning. There were also a couple of interesting sessions where good sized tarpon smashed jelly prawns almost at your feet but the massive abundance of these mini crustaceans meant that even small flies only brought occasional strikes. It was therefore a little tough but not bad enough to exclude nightly dishes such as nummus and fish curries.
My Council commitments brought me back home for a couple of days before I packed again and drove 5 hours over to the Cape’s east coast to my mate Steve’s hut where a small group of family and friends were joining me for some fishing and birthday celebrations. Right on cue, the trade winds started puffing to 25knots hindering our on-water activities but there were still fresh coral trout and queenfish nummus on the menu plus a pizza night and cake, all washed down with a few drinks.
Then, a small window in the weather saw the south easters pause to an almost pleasant 15 knots allowing us to head out to a wonky hole in the middle of the shipping channel. With a turning tide, the swell had dropped to a manageable level so five lines headed to the bottom where the sounder was showing some likely looking country. I managed to hook the first red, a lovely nannygai, that grabbed a Halco Paddle Prawn sweetened with a small slice of mackerel.
From east to west, salt to fresh! Scott Amon with an absolute ‘tub’ of a sooty grunter from the Wenlock above Stones Crossing. All the fish there were in prime condition.
Anchoring our 10m barge in the conditions proved very difficult so we called it a day as the swell and wind began to rise, but only after putting a couple more big nanny’s and a lone Spanish mackerel in the icebox. Skipper Greg headed to a more sheltered lump where the anchor was able to find bottom and the current manageable. Bites were almost instantaneous with small nannygai and a procession of sharks providing heaps of action and lots of re-rigging.
Somehow, in the middle of all this mayhem, I hooked a very strong fish that I suspected might be a shark, only to have it materialize into an absolute beast of a fingermark that was quickly netted. It was the first decent fish to be landed on my new slow pitch jig outfit, a TT PE4 rod matched with a Penn Fathom II lever drag. The outfit handled the trophy fish superbly!
With the trade winds back up to fresh to frightening levels, it was back to Weipa for the Fishing Classic weekend, another fantastic example of the fishing opportunities adjacent to the town. A huge effort by the voluntary committee saw the event go off with silky smooth precision and around $200,000 worth of prizes awarded to many of the 3,000 in the audience. The Classic has become Weipa’s favourite community event, along with the Bull Ride held later in August.
But there was no rest for the near exhausted as Scott offered me the opportunity for an overnighter to Stones Crossing, on the Wenlock freshwater. Our trip was relatively short but the species list compensated for the effort involved with saratoga, sooty grunter, barra, archerfish and catfish grabbing our lures. All of the fish landed were in prime condition, particularly the barrel-like sooties that pulled line accordingly. When we finished the final morning off in grand style with the barra above and a PB ‘toga for Scott, it was the icing on the proverbial birthday cake!
And you wonder why we love it up here at the pointy end of Oz!
A short lull in the winter trade winds was enough to snare a few lovely reds. The author with a big large mouth nannygai.
