Weipa Report - Better late than never!

[Duncan O'Connell]

Been meaning to do a report on a houseboat trip I went on in September, but just haven't managed the time until now. Six of us hired a house boat and 3 tenders for a week of mostly flyfishing along the beaches south of Weipa. The first few days consisted of flats fishing around the Boyds bay area for permit, queenies, trevally and blue bastards (among other things). Around the middle of the week while drifting down the beach, we came across what appeared to be a spawning aggregation of big GTs in 2m of water on the beach. A school of 30 odd fish in a big circle, none of which were under a metre long! Of course neither of us had suitable tackle on hand so we stood in amazement as one big fish broke from the pack, inspected the #2 prawn fly Jono had flicked in their direction, spooked at the sight of the boat and took the rest of the school off the flat with it. Another 500m down the beach we then came across a 70 odd kg black marlin sunning itself in the shallows. This fish was more than happy to wait around while we rigged the heaviest rod we had in the boat (a 10 weight  ) with a big mackerel fly. It causally inhaled the fly at first opportunity and proceeded to tear up the ocean around us for 20 seconds before getting all wrapped up in the line. Half an hour of hard slog later made no impression on the fish, we just couldn't budge it with the angle of pull we had against the fish. It all ended with a broken rod shortly followed by a popped tippet.
After those incidents Crusty and I made sure we had popping rods on board wherever we went. The following day we fished the shallow reefs off Thud Point when the tide was running at it's hardest. It wasn't long before a pack of black backs were mowing down the Hammerhead. Half an hour later the fish started to wise up. In the meantime the score was one all - I landed one fish and donated one of Crustys prototype poppers to the GT pool room. Crusty had a shocker, umpteen strikes for zip.
We took two tenders back the next day and I tried to get one on fly but the best I could manage was a half hearted tail swipe. Voltzy was introduced to GT popping and managed a very respectable fish first up, though he was calling for his mother a few times through the fight.
Weipa isn't really the place to go specifically for GT's but it is definitely worth taking the big rod along to give the points and headlands a crack!

[Luke Wyrsta]

Some exciting stuff there Duncan - thanks! Nice Gs

[Geoff Volter]

Hi (My first post)
Dunc is correct, i hooked that GT on my 3rd ever cast with what you'd call proper "popping gear"- wow what an experience. Sign me up for some popping gear!! I spend the majority of my fishing time flyfishing but I really enjoyed the GT popping and cant wait to do some more. I had some pretty shitty technique happening and thought that GT was gonna pull me in on 15kgs of drag

I'd love to combine GT popping and flyfishing and nail a big one on a fly popper. Delivering the right sized popper the required distance with fly gear will be a challenge.

Got this one on a baitfish profile fly near a mackeral boat. This thing was eating 4 foot long mackeral frames!! Took many shots to get it on. Cheap thrills, but good practice!!



Voltz
PS- gordon low will probably tell you I broke his new rod landing this fish......

[Chris Young]

G'Day Voltzy, Lowy would prob say you broke his new 16# high sticking if he saw it 

 thought that GT was gonna pull me in on 15kgs of drag
Mate, I thought you were going in a couple of times too (though I was a bit scared to grab your shorts cos you were so EXCITED ! ) Lucky the gunwales on that tinny were too high for you to see over or I think you may have gone for a swim,    . That was a pretty extraordinary day with the marlin & all , Still jealous of your GT & congrats on the smaller one on fly . Have to do that trip again
Crusty

[Gordon Low]

I think it has all been covered... haha
On the bright side, you're one of the few guys that knows exactly how badly you can bend a big flyrod before it pops.
I'd love to boat one of those mosters on fly! Just gotta figure out how to get them away from the ledges with only 10kg of pulling power

Lowy

[Luke Wyrsta]

So are any of you fly boys going to be taking a popping outfit to XMAS anytime soon?

[Geoff Volter]

So are any of you fly boys going to be taking a popping outfit to XMAS anytime soon?

One of the guys brought an ugly stick, a spinfisher and 50lb braid and we tried to tease some from the reef onto the fly. Didn't really work too well. What do you reckon would be the appropriate popper technique to switch them onto a fly? blooper, skipper stickbait? I'd consider taking an outfit next year.

Luke, I'd love to get a big one on the flats!!! this pup was cruising with half its back out of the water nailing bait on a coral cut-thru on a flat, plenty of 'tude even at a young age.

[Aaron Concord]

Up the top of Fraser Island, I have concentrated big GT's with berley.
Had a couple clients lose quite a few shooting heads using 14wt Cam Sigler fly rods with 80lb straight to the fly and these guys had caught billfish to 90kg before so they knew what they were doing!
The only 2 feasable ways to have a shot over reef is berley or switching from a hookless popper or stick bait...the popper rings the dinner bell better though the sticky can be whipped from the water more easliy for the "switch".....the biggest problem is drawing the damn things close enough to cast a fly at them!!
Competition doesn't hurt one bit either...a big GT can appear fro nowhere, knock a popper to bits and p*ss off quicker than you can spit!
If there is 2 or more you can keep them interested enough to draw them from a long way off to bring them close enough for a shot on fly...and make sure the fly is BIG!...and don't use sissy gear for your teaser rod. You need to get that bone back once you have fed the dog! Keep the popper moving your way and speed it up to really fire up the "dog"....then switch...and hang on!

Voltz,
I never heard anything about a high sticked 16wt...from anywhere.
Also, I never heard you cried for your mummy when you were hooked up on the GT gear...the Sellys Bar at my local hardware sells "Harden Up"by the litre.

Gordon,
I know you are still in mourning over your rod....you should be.

To anyone else....I'd be glad to be the caster (fisher) for such an endevour 

Cheers

Aaron.