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Cooktown to Hinchinbrook in 10 days

1420 Views 8 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Blaen
Just got back today from a 10 day holiday up in North Qld. The first 5 days we had crappy cold weather with heaps of wind and dirty brown water. Fishing was useless which made for a great driving holiday and a perfect opportunity to check out the amazing outback.

At Tully Gorge we were just about to go back home when we saw a blue streak inbetween the rain clouds. We drove to Cardwell and managed to get a beach cabin at Hinchinbrook Island. By 2.00pm Monday it was blue skies and a 5 knot wind.

Over the next 4 days the wind was non existent and it was blue water and blue skies all round. On the island kayaks it was half scary and heaps of fun. There's a lotta sharks out there.

My wife and I saw dugongs, turtles and fished through the postcard.

With a short rod loaded with 50lb braid and a live sard, I slow trolled and got nailed by a small barra. It did the leap and threw the hook. A little later I caught a nice wolf herring which I later heard is the gun Spanish Mackeral bait. Too late I released it. The next day I tried again and got a small spotty, a trevally and a massive 8kg catfish which snapped my rod as it dragged it under the yak. (This was a daiwa heartland IM-6, 3 piece baitcast traveller) That night I used my landbased stick off the wharf and was hit by a head shaking freight train. I fought the fish for about 5 minutes before it beat me. The local guys I was fishing with reckon it was a huge barra. All I can say is that it was bloody huge.
Yesterday morning it was back on the yak for an hour before leaving the island for a nice 3.5kg Cobia (pictured) which ended up as lunch.
At 5.00am today we were at Cairns airport. Great holiday - Hinchinbrook is the best place ever. Great staff, great fishing and a magnificent place.

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G'day Dan,

Good to hear from you again mate.

Great report and well done on the cobia. mate (Queenslanders also call em black king) :D blood good tucker at that size.
great report dan - sharks are a worry but did you see any crocs?? Can't wait to get up that way one day, seems the fishing always pretty good going.
Bloody nice fish with the Cobia. Shame about the barra, but that would have got the heart rate up...next time...always next time. Nice going with the dugongs :D
Broken rod and smashed up on 50, truly magnificent.
Spooled1 we will have to go and chuck some sps at the cliffs at Skinners, Ive had reports of some good jewies last couple of weeks and saw 2 huge carcasses on the beach last week. One of the old blokes here has been hammering schoolies in the river, I'm still trying to coax the secret spot out of him :wink: And on the sharks, the paper here on Sat had a big story on ariel photos of 3 great whites swimming metre from surfers here at Lennox, where we went that day ! Interesting read but typical Northern Star crap sensationalism.
Cheers
Thanks fellas,

Scottty Beefs - It's an incredible place and don't fear the crocs. NPWS reckons theres only 18 maneaters in the whole 40,000 hectare park. Just keep clear of the estuaries and bring a waterproof fish bag to keep the blood away from the noses of sharks.

Breambo - Mate, I'm thinking about a paddle tomorrow morning in the bay. Are you up for it? We'll deal with the noahs if we see them! Saw about 500 monster bream today just off the cape. Couldn't raise a jewie this arvo - maybe they're all down your way.
Good one Dan. Sounds like some real fun after a bit of a wait
Hi mate, were you staying in the Eco resort right out on the northern point of Hinchinbrook? That's an amazing spot, I could see myself staying there for a month, glad you had better fishing up there than me, that little jetty was loaded with bait fish when I was there, would have to be some monster predators lurking around there at night. I know there has definitely been sightings of crocs not far from there very recently too. Nice little cobia, and a great trip. :D
Great report Dan, seeing Dugong and Sea Turtles would have made the fish a nice bonus.

It sounds like one of those trips you should do at least once in your life time. Well done again.
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