Proposed Cape York Trip!

[Rolcar52]

A mate and I are planning a 5 week trip to the Cape in September / October hopefully to catch a Barra or two! Has anyone been up there, got any advice on suitable fishing gear, lures,boats etc ? Have bought a couple of new setups, Abu Garcia 6' 2" Barra rod { Morrum Braid Colection } rated @ 6 - 10 Kg line & 10 - 30 gm lure and an Abu Garcia 5' 6" Morrum Med Heavy Ex - Fast Action rated @ 5 - 6 Kg line & 15 - 40 gm lures, both rods are fitted with Abu Garcia ambassadeur 5601C4 reels spooled with Berkley Whiplash braided line. How do you think they will perform? ???

[Lucky_Phill]

Sounds like a great trip. Only wish I was going as well. :(

Don't know much about the gear you're taking, but try Barry Lyon at lyonsarfari@bigpond.com he'll be pleased to pass on any info you might need.

We hope to see many pics and a report upon your return. ;D

[shep]

Hey how gozit?

The trip sounds awesome I reckon if i curl up real small i could fit in a suitcase!

The gear your taking sounds pretty good those braid collection rods are very nice I sell hem in my shop possibly just a little soft for pulling big barra out of snags but they were designed to compensate for the fact that braid line has no stetch( some people were pulling hooks on fish because of it)

Abu reels are brilliant i use a 6500 hundred on the flats fishing run off drains and the 4600's will be really good around the snags you don't need all that much line cap in snags.
Is the fishing up there more snags or is it mud banks?

I'll get up there on day!

[Jack_Lives_Here]

Jealous or what!!! You'll have an absolute ball. Only fished as far as Cooktown myself but spoke with one of fellas here at work who has done the trip 2 years in row. The first year they took a small car topper the next they fished from the bank and caught just as many fish.
He tells me the Annie River which is at the top of Lakefield - runs in Princess Charlotte Bay was very good both from the shore and a tinny. Also the mouth of the Jardine and beyond. Their best fishing was at the Penny Farthing River about 2-3 hours bush drive north of Weipa. Heaps of coffee rock at low tide with deep holes etc. Barra, Jacks, muddies and all the regular northern species as well as the odd coral trout. He said to very careful of the snappin hand bags - they were big and not shy. Also don't leave your crab pots over night - those same snappin hand bags just love a feed of captive mud crab.

Shep
Amazing what a bit of trick photography can achieve - a 70cm fish can look huge in the right light, huh Cleetus.

All the best
Jack

[Rolcar52]

Shep, thanks for the reply, I was getting a little worried only had one other reply until now! Good to hear that my gear is up to it, I'm new to baitcasters & braided line, it's pretty forgiving with overuns fairly easy to untangle, have only had to cut 20 to 30 mtrs off so far, I reckon I would have re-soopled both reels twice if I'd been practicing with Mono, anyway not getting many overuns anymore now! Have been planning this trip for a while now, we were just going on a 4X4 trip to the Cape then home but that would have been a waste! Don't know wether fishing is mud banks or snags, I bought Northern Australia Fish Finder { excellent book } and it looks like could be both with some nice beach fishing thrown in as well!

Regards Rolcar52.

[Rolcar52]

Jack I can't wait to go, September seems so far away. We're from down South {Melbourne} we intend to drive straight through to Cooktown and spend a couple or a few days there, looks like a nice place and we hear the fishing could be good too. I have an off-road trailer that we intend to take with us, I think it may be a good option to make up a couple of solid frames one for the tinny & one for the outboard & bolt them all onto the trailer, I don't like the idea of carting the tinny on the roof-rack. Origonally we weren't going to take a tinny, but it seems to limit fishing without one, also could be safer than bank fishing { according to Northern Australia Fish Finder the low tide occurs during daylight hours between April & October, I don't know how big the mud flats are going to be but I suspect they will be large and no place to be with crocs about , mate we don't want to make the 6 pm news}? We intend to go straight to the Cape from Cooktown, hang around the tip for a week or so, fish the Jackey Jackey system, Jardine river, we'll have a look around Wiepa, we want to see as much as possible in the 5 weeks we've got. looks like we could spend the whole time in Lakefield National park, there are numerous rivers and creeks to fish there. Like I said I just can't wait to go, this trip is all I can think of at the moment!

Regards Rolcar52.

[Moffy]

Rolcar 52,

You have probably already bought one - but if not you should get hold of a decent 4wd guide book for the Cape - something like Ron and Viv Moon's guide book - (although there are many others) - it will run you through all that you need to know - about setting up your vehicle, and generally give you lots of little hints and tips that are very useful, but you might not have otherwise thought of.

Hopefully it will answer a lot of your questions as well.

As for your tinny - i'd definitely make up a solid frame to go on your off road trailer (as long as its a true off road trailer - built for travelling in conditions like you'll find up the cape - otherwise you may end up leaving it up there in pieces) I wouldn't put the boat up on a roof rack unless you have a chassis mounted roof rack. (although some people probably do carry their boats in this way)

(i have a tray back 4wd and put my boat up on a purpose built frame which slides into the length of the tray and bolts down. (my motor sits on it's own frame which i bolt and tie to the boats frame) and this worked well last time I went up (first time in my own vehicle) - and also in all of my mates vehicles that regularly go up there.

The corrigations you'll find up there will test every part of your vehicle.

A good off road trailer should get to Weipa no problems at all (i haven't driven north of there so i can't give you any advice about the road up that way)

there will be many out there with lots more experience than me, and who will be able to add more, but i'm sure that a decent guide book (if you haven't already got one) will help you out heaps initially.

Moffy