I am hoping from this post that everything is all good with the blog again.  I am not sure exactly what was wrong with it but every time i wrote a post it dissapeared!

Hey guy’s a few more shots of the new boat that John sent through to me,not far off now,the motor and water test this week and onto the Barge to Weipa!!!

Hey guy’s…a few more shots of the progress of my new rig..the boy’s at Hooker boats have been working flat out on it and is really taking shape now..cant wait to get it here!!!…

As some are aware we have been having a late wet season with great weather during Jan and part of Feb.

Late Feb and early March it has been raining its tits off. Hopefully now we have seen the worst of it with the monsoon trough moving north.

During the last few months the fishing here has been pretty good, and we have had a few great days out there. I also went to Exmouth with Peter Morse and fished with Bret Wolf for that elusive permit (Trachinotus Blocchi) as we don’t see too many of that species over here as most are Anak.

Brett has a few new techniques sorted with these fish and seems to be able to catch them on a regular basis and with tides being right can almost guarantee you a bite! Definately worth giving him a ring if you are thinking of fishing Exmouth.

Back to Weipa and we are all getting ready to start our busy season with a few changes in the mix! This year we have Justin Duggan (Scooter) back with us for Apr- June and we also have a very experienced guide from Hervey Bay in Mark Bargenquast (Bargy) who will also be helping out for the busy time through Apr- June. We shipped up Bargy’s 5.5m Gale Force with 115hp Suzuki as a welcome addition to the fleet this year also.

Owey is all excited as he is in the process of building a new boat, a 6.2m Cyclone by Hooker which will be a one of, and a real weapon. The hull is a cut down 6.8m Cyclone race boat and has a custom Hooker fitout. This machine looks to be the goods and is certainly getting Oweys adrenalin pumping as he looks like receiving it mid April. No more little boat and coming last geting down the coast for Owey he will be well and truly up with the fleet possibly in front of them.

Hi People  Hope you all had a great Xmas and exciting and happy New Year!

No it is not an opportunity to buy a dog!

But by chance and the first time ever I have had two cancellations in prime time that leaves the spot open for a rare opportunity to take advantage of two valuable spaces. I won’t go into detail but stupidly have been let down not once but twice. It never rains but it pours! However this leaves the road open for others who might lie to take advantage of rare availability in Apr/May.

There is availability for 2 boats from 2nd – 6th April 2012 and 30th April – 4th May both 5 day spots in the best fishing months of the year normally booked 12 months in advance. Doubt it will happen again so take advantage of someone elses bad luck.  Send me and email with your preference from the contact details on the site and get started on your fishing trip of a lifetime.

Stay tuned as I am putting together some exciting barra footage and will post soon!

Hey Guy’s,thought  i’d stick a few shots up of some of the lightining shows that have been happening the last few weeks,that i got lucky and managed afew snaps of…There was some great shows of the late arvo and into the night for a while..they have subsided now though with x-tropical cyclone Grant pushing cloud and rain in from the west…wet,wet,wet now..was good while it lasted though..

Here’s the full length “movie” version of catching a couple of Sailfish on fly recently here in Weipa.  A last minute decision to go out left me with no crew and as it happens, the weather was gorgeous, the water blue and the fish were there.  In total I teased 4 sailfish, got bites from all 4 on the fly, and hooked and landed 2 and saw another free jump in front of the boat.

Merry Christmas everyone and hope you all have a fishy new year!

Hey all,as Fish has said the 2011 season has wound up for the year..my last charter ended mid Nov,and what a week to end up on.

I had Snapper Bob for the the week from Sydney a board,first time to Weipa and a bit of a wish list was read out on the way out of the harbor,yer Tuna,Big Trev’s,Big Queenie’s,just Big  stuff,oh an a Cobia,oh an a Sailfish would just round it out he chuckled…

Arriving down the coast each day saw another species, a p.b and the wish list being ticked off ,weather was glamed out in the mornings till a bit of westerly puff showing itself around 2ish,but not to bad..

I’ll let the pic’s tell the rest of the story,from baitball’s loaded with Longtails,to sailfish,we raised 3,got two hook up’s and landed one,Spaniard’s and Great Barracuda also readily stealing the Billy baits,but provided some great fun to,the aerial takes of the Spanish Mack’s are pretty awesome to watch,jumping 10 foot in the air swiping at the pushers  and skip bait’s..

Fish also mentioned my Sail on fly,pretty stoked!!,got him on a day out with Notso(cheers bud),i’ll try getting some vid footage together to post shortly,couldnt take any snap’s too busy fighting the fish,lol..but had the gopro on..

Looking forward to seeing ya’s next season..

Another season done and dusted which is my 11th year guiding full time shore based in Weipa.

In all those years I can’t remember too many years where the fishing was much better!

It would also appear that those pesky old bull sharks were not as prevelent during the season which is great.

The year finished as exciting as it started with numbers of billfish and plenty of great barra fishing so I have attached a few of the latest pics of the last marlin and sails and also Brett Wilson of Shimano’s 118cm barra which was one of two caught while here, the other a 108cm.

You couldn’t finish the year without mentioning Tony Stent of Tassie’s massive 120cm Barra which was the best of the year.

I will also mention Owey’s sailfish on fly caught last friday on a day out with Notso, so he might also add a post with his pics.

We will attempt to post a few pics through the wet to keep you interested as we will be doing a bit of fishing in fact Owey and I are venturing out tommorrow for a look.

 Fish’s Fly and Sportfishing would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a fabulous Xmas and  New Year and look foward to seeing you again in 2012.

Just a reminder to those clients that have booked dates for 2012 and have not placed a depositI can only hold chosen dates for 14 days pending deposits and then they must go back out on the market. So please if not already done get those deposits in ASAP.

A quick report on the first ever Weipa Billfish Challenge, which was a bit of a Fish’s Fly and Sportfishing team event with Fish, Owey and Myself joined by Kristy, fishing out of the Last Cast.  All of the photos in the gallery are a credit to Kristy’s photographic talents.

A lot of interest has been shown towards billfishing here in Weipa by locals and recently a few got together and organised a small (locals only) billfish tournament.  It was a great success with 14 teams nominating for the 2 day event and with great weather forecast, organisers couldn’t have asked for better conditions.

Overall, 3 fish won it for us – Fish with a sailfish, Me with a baby black marlin and Kristy with a sailfish.  Second place caught a sailfish and a small black marlin and then there were 4 boats with one billfish each.

By the sounds of it, there is quite a lot of interest locally and the formation of a game fishing club in Weipa may be now on the cards.

Here’s a quick snippet of footage from just over a week ago where I had a great day catching 2 sails from 4, all on fly.

Well as usual as the weather warms so does the fishing!

There is little doubt that we are coming into the wet season with consistant 36 deg temperatures almost every day and we have already had some reasonable rain, but I guess that is what it is like in the tropics and why we love it here!

Over the past couple of weeks the offshore fishing has been very exciting with sailfish, small marlin and Gt’s and a few other species also.  The GT fishing especialy has been extroardinary over the past few weeks with some large specimens being caugh and a few more apparently bigger ones that were not caught.   They say every picture tells a story so check out these few pics to keep your appetite wet.

For all those clients that have not yet booked for 2012  better get thinking about your dates soon as spaces are starting to fill up.

Looks like we may have a new but very experienced guide with us for a while next year helping out during the busy season but will tell you more about that soon hopefully, before we sign off for the year!

Anyhow enjoy the pics and as soon as I get a chance I will put together another video as I have a good bit of exciting footage.

Hey all…a few more shots of the Billfish action that’s been happening of late…has been really cool watching these fella’s appear up behind the boat,beak’s popping and smashing the teaser’s..A  double hook up with Coll and Beth was pretty crazy..but one jumped off,but we still got one for a shot..and Matt and Andrew’s Sail last week..the look on the boy’s face’s with the first jump..priceless..cool stuff!!

Hi Guys

Finally managed to get a copy of the black marlin on popper caught two weeks ago uploaded onto you tube, so have a geek apart from the music it is pretty cool!      http://youtu.be/j5fWrIrOr9k

I also uploaded one that my son Brynn caught with Kristy Notso and myself a couple of Xmas’s ago which is worth a look.    http://youtu.be/2NN40xX9y34

Will get some cool pics from last week on the blog in the next day or so!

Take care

It is absolutely amazing the difference that good weather can make to the possibilities of  big fish!

The last few weeks the weather has been great and it shows in what is being caught around Weipa. We have been excited to be out there with permit all over the beaches and sails and marlin off shore.

This week I guided a couple of guys from Perth in Terry Nutt and Neil Dearn who opted to catch fish on poppers and soft plastics and came up trumps with Terry’s first fish ever on a popper being a 60kg black  marlin.

The red and white popper was rigged with a single decoy jig hook and planted firmly in the upper bill of the marlin.

Not a bad start! And check out the weather, doesn’t get much calmer!

I did also happen to have the Go Pro head cam on at the time and got the tease by Neil on his popper and the bite when it ate Terry’s popper at the side of the boat. I will try to get that edited and on to you tube this week once I can delete all the expletives if you can imagine, and put the link on the blog on the weekend.

We also caught some kick arse jewies and Gt’s which you can see in the pics attached Notso was out with Kristy on the weekend and Kristy caught a baby marlin about 6kg and a sail and Notso also caught a sail.

Owey has also been getting into the billfish action also having a few bites this week and catching another sail yesterday but I am sure he will tell you about that!

Take care!

Can’t wait to get back out there, exciting stuff!

I know I’m no longer a full time fishing guide, but I do still fish regularly and will continue to supplement Fish and Owey’s REGULAR news updates.

Following the success of catching a sailfish and then black marlin on fly fishing solo two weeks earlier (check out the video below), and hearing from Fish and Owey tales of marlin and sailfish encounters over the previous few days, I took Kristy out to change her luck on the billfish front.  With over  50 billfish captures in Weipa aboard my boat and several trips with her aboard, Kristy still hadn’t seen one caught here – convinced she was some sort of human banana, we set about changing her luck.

Not long after setting the baits, a black marlin came and investigated in the early morning light before disappearing, not showing any sign of eating our bait.  I too was beginning to wonder if I had the world’s unluckiest fishergirl on board, except she has seen some of the best with me in Port Stephens, so for the moment human sacrifice was off and Kristy got a second chance.  It all came at once when two sailfish appeared and ate a bait each – Kristy had to put her camera down and do something with the bent rod, while I managed to lose my fish, Kristy’s stayed on and gave a great display.  After a few photos and a fisheries tag, the sailfish was released.  Soon after a fiesty little black attacked every bait in the water but made it’s mistake when Kristy free spooled the fish (under expert guidance of course!)  and set the circle hook neatly in the fish’s jaw.  At just 113cm from lower jaw to tail fork (short length) it is one of the smallest marlin I have seen caught and estimated to be about 6kg – such a cool capture.  It too was tagged and released.

While lunch was being prepared, I got my turn with a sailfish that gave Kristy some good opportunity to use her camera, staying airborne more than it was beneath the surface.  As the afternoon sea breeze kicked in we began to troll in the direction of home, jumping another sailfish off  when a large brown shape appeared behind the short bait and ate it!  Not too sure what it was, I gave the rod to Kristy who brought alongside her biggest cobia to date.  At 15kg, it was a great fish and welcome end to the day.

Now Kristy has the Weipa billfish monkey off her back,  she’s pretty well hooked and even starting to nag me about going fishing!

I recently did a week’s guiding for long term client Steve Cooper fishing alone for a couple of days, then being joined by his father Gerald for the remainder of the week.  The weather was perhaps as good as it gets here, with glassy conditions for much of the day and only slight SW breezes in the afternoons.  Steve was super keen to concentrate on Permit for the first two days and I have to admit seeing more than I’ve ever seen before along Weipa beaches.  The end result was one fish landed, with a couple lost and several ooh soo close encounters amid the many fish seen.  A nice by catch was a 7lb Black Spot Tusk Fish.  With Gerald arriving, we spent a couple of days fishing the rivers with a little live bait, lures and flies at times.  Without doubt the nicest fish landed was an 87cm barra by Gerald, although seeing yet more permit tailiing on estuary flats kept Steve busy with his crab fly.  With gorgeous weather predicted for the last day we ventured offshore for a nice mixed bag of Brassy and Tea Leaf Trevally, Spanish Mackerel and Long Tail Tuna.  An encounter with a marlin and couple of sailfish topped the day off.

Hey Guy’s,a few more snaps from the past 2 weeks,got a bunch more shots to sort through an post but will start with a few flyfishing shots.

Congrat’s  to Dougle on his Milkie and Permit captures,and Stenty on his mega effort on an 8wt to land the first Sail in Weipa on  fly!!!!!..

Had  a few blog issues recently due to excessive spam however seems to be solved for the moment.

The weather has finally given us some respoite from the strong winds that we have endured this last winter and with the good weather the fish have also cooperated and shown up in good numbers.

There are plenty of permit showing up on some of the beaches and we have been hunting them and catching a few.

With Dougal Rilstone and John Dean from NZ catching one each this week and Dougal catching a “Weipa slam ” of a Permit, BB and milkie and that is his second slam in 4 years and the third ever taken.

As you know they just arent easy anywhere in the world however of the more exotic locations that I have fished I reckon that we have more numbers at times and now is one of those times.

A few billfish turning up now also with Notso catching a 150lb black on fly solo!

Managed to tease hook and tag the feisty little black and video the whole thing! This is the first billfish ever caught on fly in Weipa.  Check it out on you tube 

http://youtu.be/IRrTBoNEKAM

Then this week Tony Stent from Tassie managed to hook and land a 35kg sailfish on fly  which ws quickly photographed and released, a great effort and the second billfish caught in Weipa ever and in the same week. So it all happening!

Owey should paste a few pics on the weekend of the last few weeks also som stay tuned!

Hey Guy’s..A few more happy snap’s of what’s been going on up here from the past few weeks..

It’s been pretty busy with some charters and mates coming to warm up from the cold down south,mixing it up a bit with some fresh and saltwater..

The weather seems to be warming back up,and with it the water..Sight fishing has been great with clean water along the beach’s and creek mouths,which have provided some great fun,out a little wider there has been good bunch’s of Spanish Mackeral and big Goldies an GTs hanging around the bait,and Longtails popping up here an there..

After 6 years of being an integral part of the team @ Fish’s Fly and Sportfishing Ben ( Notso) Bright has finished guiding on a full time basis!

Ben has decided that he would like to improve on his marine qualifications and follow a different path other than full time guiding. There is no doubt that all of our clients and friends that have fished with ”Notso” will miss his informative knowledge on birds, fish and animals, as well as his incredible fishing skills.  Ben has been an extremely valuable and intrinsic part of our guiding team single handedly pioneering the billfishing potential of Weipa and will surely  be missed in  our day to day ventures.

As most of you are aware Notso is part of the family having been in a relationship with my daughter for some time so intends staying in Weipa and if his new job allows will still do some part time guiding with us!  

I would like to thank Ben personally for all of his loyalty and efforts over the past 6 years in building this busines to what it is today and wish him all the best in his future endeavours, I’m sure you will do well.

Here is a small pictorial collage of the past few years.

Great job mate!

Finally the weather gods smiled and my last charter saw fairly blue skies, no swell, glamour afternoons……and great fishing!  I had father and son Steve and Tom Cooper keen to bend a rod for a week with Steve keen to chase fish on the flats on fly, and Tom more keen to just catch fish, whatever the method!  To compromise we fished blind until the sun got high enough to see fish well in clear water (after about 9am here in mid winter), then hit the shallow flats in search of BBs and the like. The mornings saw plenty of blue salmon and a few small queenfish as by catch, and with patchy light thereafter, the BB fishing became a bit tricky with a few refusals and a few spooked, but Steve proved you don’t have to see the fish to catch them, with a nice sized BB falling to his ”one fly catches all” prawn imitation.  Seriously, this fly caught all manner of things (just like a white clouser   – except it even turned the tricky jelly prawn fixated fish into willing captures).  Schools of golden trevally abound in the shallows along with diamond, cale cale and bigeye trevally, a few GHs and provided good entertainment while cruising the flats.  A few permit were noticed along some beaches and after a few follows and close inspections, Tom managed a hookup (on a crab fly) from the back of the boat to a fish as it was heading away from him.  At 81cm, a fantastic capture on just a 6wt rod – what a top effort!  Most afternoons saw bad light and Tom in need to pull on something bigger, so some soft plastics and jigs were used to entice some trevally, mackerel, fingermark and coral trout.  Steve managed a fantastic GT of about 50lb on a small baitcaster, and at times the mackerel were thick on the job making short work of anything without wire.

Here’s a video I put together of a fun session sight fishing to small barras on fly a little while ago.  Enjoy…

Hey guy’s,a few more pics from the past couple of weeks
Even though the weather has at times limited some of the fishing opportunity’s out side,the rivers and creek fishing provided some great fun,with Barra’s,Jack’s,Fingermarks and the likes..
When getting outside there was still some great beach fishing to be found in sheltered pocket’s turning up the goods,some great fun on light gear,Plastic’s and Fly.Balls of Goldies,Gold spot Trev’s,Brassy’s and Diamond’s with some big and bunch’s of smaller Queenies turning up to play
Also a short splat off the beach’s Tuna’s got some reels singing and knuckles crunched!!

This week was spent with a group of guys from the middle of Victoria, many of which have hardly fished at all.  In the face of poor weather again – a large swell, strong winds and rapidly neaping tides, the options looked bleak, but as it turned out a great week was had.  For those that went to the south, there was some mixed success, although the end of the week saw some great pelagic fishing, mostly tuna, mackerel and trevallies, despite the windy weather.

I spent the week fishing the creeks, and had some awesome fishing, considering what looked to be terrible tides.  The blue salmon fishing was nothing short of unreal, catching 30 to 40 fish in a couple of hours each day casting lures before looking for other creatures to catch. Due to the neap tides, not much time was spent chasing barras, although a few were caught to make up the species count. Some great jack, fingermark and cod fishing was had, with one spot yielding 9 quality jacks and a couple of fingermark one day, and 10 big creek fingermark (to 60cm) and a couple of jacks the next.

Here’s a few pictures and video of one of the best baitballs I’ve seen for a while.  While there were only Bull and Spinner Sharks, Mack and Longtail Tunas and cobias present, it lasted for over half an hour and left a good scuff on my gearbox from a shark.  At one stage I had bait fish landing on the dash and the boat rocked as the predators rammed into the hull……

For some reason the youtube tool isn’t working at the moment, so copy this to your browser:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WQb-3gau-A

The talk up here at the moment is the weather – crikey it’s been cold!  Okay, anything below 20 degrees qualifies as cold in Weipa, but during the week we had the coldest morning for a couple of years, at just 12 degrees!!  This has dropped water temperatures, especially in the estuaries, but with some of the lowest tides for the year, the fishing has still been excellent, weather live baiting, lure or fly fishing.

Down the coast, the swell has been persisting again, restricting the areas of clean water, although quite a few queenies, goldies and some giant herring were willing to eat a fly.  The tuna were a little sporadic, but there seemed to be a pretty even mixture of longtails and macks.

In the rivers, the water was at times down to 21.8 degrees, but good numbers of barras were still found boofing on certain drains, with the odd threadfin mixed in and excellent numbers of blue salmon, some nice jacks and fingermark and loads of pikey bream.  The average sized queenfish on the flats in the rivers at the moment make for a great fight between barra bites.

June has started already,..how time flies!! With a great week of weather, turning up some awesome bait ball action and clean water on the flats,making for some great sight casting..
An amazing sight watching Sharks,Tuna’s and all the other munchers feasting on  a tightly packed bait ball..great stuff!!
In-between fishing and watching the bait balls the beach’s provided  bunch’s of Goldies, Diamonds,Blue Salmons,Queenies,GH’s,BB’s and black spot Tuskies
The creeks also turning up some Barra’s,Fingermarks,Tarps and Trevallies..