Page 63 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

Dave Kowitz with a personal best 62cm blackspot The view from the author’s campsite at Janie Creek. tusk sh.
MAwesome annual trip to west Cape York
Y annual trip Over a week of fish- Dave sat this sortie north with ing, we got to know out.
my friend Deon and Spud. Rodger and I went
Cape York Trip
by CRAIG TOMKINSON
Dave is over, but it was Rodger, Deon and I in my boat, and Deon
a cracker.
We weren’t sure if
Dave turned up.
We loaded his gear
The next day, we aired down and drove to Janie Creek where we found a cracking campsite.
hatched a plan to do a 100km run up the ‘hard to access by 4x4’ west coast of the Cape to Vrilya Point in our boats – Deon’s 4.55m TABS Territory and my 5m Quintrex.
and Spud in the TABS, with extra fuel, ice and tucker.
we’d get to Weipa to be- gin with because people on the northern forums said it was closed for the rest of the year due to COVID-19.
and hit the road.
We decided if we
It took a few hours to get south of Vrilya Point – where I just started looking for new ground – and the country was so flat, I knew if I found any little lump it would be loaded with fish life.
A good friend, who was heading north to camp at the same spot (and has a relative at Queensland Health), told us Weipa would be open in time for our trip, so with that in mind I prepped my gear ready to go, just in case.
were stopped going north and weren’t able to get to Weipa, we’d come back and stay at Stanage Bay.
Two other sites were being used but as they both left within two days, we had the place to ourselves for a good stretch.
Sure, this trip’s a non- event for locals but it was a trip I had wanted to do for over 20 years.
A couple of days later, we pulled in at Bar- ramundi Gardens at Ju- latten – a barra farm owned by Snow, Linda, Tim and Gayle – and stayed the night.
It was unreal and we were glad we made the trip north.
We planned to take our swags and stay overnight on a random sandy beach.
Rodger put out a lure and caught a few just- legal school mackerel,
I did all the usual maintenance – checked the four-wheel-drive and boat trailer wheels, the bearings, and changed the oil and fil- ters on the motors and gearboxes.
We left early and as we drove past the quar- antine station north of Coen, Dave and I high- fived because we were in the northern zone and our trip had offi- cially started!
Fishing this trip was as good as I’ve experi- enced, with big grass sweetlip and blackspot tuskfish everywhere we fished, and plenty of trout and fingermark as well.
* continued P64
These 40-56cm blackspot tusk sh were all caught in about half an hour.
Bush ’n Beach Fishing, October 2020 – Page 63
That done and gear packed, we planned to head off on Wednesday July 15, after my last two shifts on Monday and Tuesday.
We met our friends Arthur and Sandy at Cullen Point, where we stayed the night.
Deon and Lane showed up and estab- lished their site shortly after, and then Deon’s friend Spud and his wife came and chose a spot near him.
The day came and
www.bnb shing.com.au
We arrived in Weipa around 2pm the same day and shortly after headed to Mapoon.
About a week later, Rodger and his fam- ily arrived and set up camp.