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Cape York report

G’day mates,

I’ve just come back from a fishing trip to Cape York and in short, it was amazing. It was beautiful, the weather was spot on, there were fish everywhere, and I got to share the experience with my old man and a group of legends. Unfortunately, my camera died on the second day so we had to rely on our phones for a lot of the trip, but luckily this place is so beautiful, it practically photographs itself.

So the trip started with a night in Cairns:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psakd2lxxy.jpg

We arrived around at the Continental hotel around midday and even though we had a week of solid fishing ahead of us, I was absolutely hanging to wet a line. Luckily a couple of the other fellas are as mad as me so we hired a car and drove to a little stream about an hour outside of Cairns, where I’ve caught plenty of jungle perch and sooties in the past:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psvokgdeem.jpg

It was as beautiful as I remembered and first cast, I had a cute little sooty on the bank:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psmakh063z.jpg

Not a bad start. Over the next couple of hours we all managed a handful of sooties each, ranging from small:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psry7ufyui.jpg

To tiny:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...ps03y0idqx.jpg

To downright scary:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...pseucpqroy.jpg

I’m not sure what was wrong with this poor fish - anyone got any ideas? Disease? Fungal infection? Zombie fish?

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psvgghdtvd.jpg

Whatever it was, it must have scared all the jungle perch away. But it really didn’t matter:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psb3mkpslf.jpg

So after a restless night and a short flight, we finally landed in Cape York:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...pspjwebchj.jpg

Our host for the week - ‘Bully’ from Bully’s fishing camp and boat hire - met us at the airport and took us to our accommodation in a little town called Bamaga, which is about 40km from the northernmost tip of Australia. Our rooms were extremely comfortable and the location was beautiful (this was the view from our decking):

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psnvp7vxzg.jpg

After unpacking our luggage Bully gave us a quick rundown of how the place worked. We had use of two 4WD’s and four boats – two 18 foot centre consoles for blue water work, and two 14 foot tinnies fitted with electric’s for the estuaries:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psofosfmwg.jpg

We were pretty much left to our own devices – we could take out as many boats as we wanted each day, and fish wherever we wanted. There were pro’s and con’s to this arrangement. We didn’t have a local guide fishing with us each day, which meant we definitely didn’t catch as many fish as we could have. But we had the independence and freedom to fish wherever we wanted, whenever we wanted. And any fish we did catch were so much more satisfying. Personally, I absolutely loved the arrangement.

We spent the first few days fishing the blue water. Our days alternated between trolling for mackerel:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...pssm0hpwxk.jpg
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psdxhc5z0l.jpg

Throwing little stickbaits and poppers on the shallow reefs for countless coral trout and other little reefies:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psoaqdnohv.jpg
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psjml9mcze.jpg
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psy7gyg0wo.jpg
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...ps94hybrzz.jpg

And if the fish ever went a bit quiet, we whipped out the bream gear and racked up the species:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5pvhkoes.jpg
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...pshwzfbrkt.jpg
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psf6otbxsh.jpg
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psrfauhyuq.jpg

On our penultimate day we decided to hire a guide who took us through a maze of mangroves and little creeks to a remote river called Escape. Unfortunately, none of us had a working camera on board, which was a disaster as it was without a doubt our best day fishing (big barra, jacks, cod etc) and the location was stunning. But sometimes it’s nice to just enjoy the moment and not worry about taking snaps (HA who am I kidding, I was bloody FILTHY with myself).

On our final day we decided to take a break from fishing and drive to the very tip of the Australian continent. After stopping for lunch at yet another beautiful beach:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4skphssa.jpg

And hiking over a rocky outcrop:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psby4jbjxz.jpg

We arrived at the tip:

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...psitybkaom.jpg

We couldn’t help but have a quick flick (here’s my old man landing the tiniest cod in the world at the tip of Australia):

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...pssczmqyxu.jpg

And before we knew it, the trip was over. Although we didn't land any trophies, it truly was a wonderful trip – I can’t recommend Bully’s fishing camp and boat hire enough enough. A huge thanks to Mal Caffin, our organizer and spiritual leader – you’re an absolute legend. It’s safe to say I’ll definitely be going back.

Cheers!

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/...pssk0sendp.jpg

Looks like one hell of a trip mate, well done.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bear (Post 684858)

Looks like one hell of a trip mate, well done.

What he said

Wow, trip of a lifetime stuff mate - very jealous!