Post by strikezone on Feb 26, 2006 22:24:56 GMT -5
Weipa Fishing Report
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au February, 2006
Barramundi, Queenfish & Fingermark where on the bite during February, we had missed out on the wet season rain for the month and it seamed like the fish where taking advantage of the great weather!
Weather:
February is normally known as the wettest time of the year here in Weipa. Not this year however the only rain we received was with passing storms, we had missed out on the badly needed rain for the month. Great sunny days, low southeast to northeast winds.
Fishing:
On the beach, jelly prawns are making their migration along the beaches and up into the rivers. Jelly prawns attracted a lot of attention, as there are not many spieces that don’t love to feed on these tiny prawns. Giant Manta Rays feast on the schools of prawns a few hundred metres off shore, they put on quite a show while herding the prawns into ever tighten schools, then with mouth open wide swim through the prawn soup filtering the water with their gills.
Schools of Barramundi, Blue Salmon, Queenfish & Giant Herring would terrorize the prawns schools once they hit the shoreline. A fly rod is the perfect tool to target these fish, however so called matching the hatch is not easy, the prawns are only 2.5 cm or 1 inch in length and almost invisible with two tiny black dots for eyes and two minute red whiskers. A small all white clousers is a good substitute and will work most of time. The best method is to get the fly in front of the fish, the more times the fish sees your fly the better chance of a take. This is not an easy task when the fish are in a feeding frenzy, they are swimming fast, constantly changing direction and surrounded by their favorite food. The jelly prawns are great and will come in waves over the next few months.
There is a dark cloud that follows this silver lining and that’s the box jellyfish. The Boxy as it’s locally known, is with out a doubt the most deadliest sea creature that graces our shores. Their almost transparent box shaped heads trails about 16 tentacles, covered in millions of stinging cells. The jellyfish range in size up to head of 20 centimeters across which is the biggest I have seen in our waters. A jellyfish this size would have no problems killing an adult. It’s not the time for wading and in some places along the beaches the jelly fish where so numerous it would be impossible to cast with-out your line landing on one, needless to say the fish where pretty safe in these areas. The good thing is they are only around for a short time and will be gone by the end of March the start of my guiding season.
We came across schools of feeding Queenfish out on the reefs casting smaller flies into the feed frenzy connected us up to 6 to 8 lb fish. Queenfish surface feeding like this are great to take on fly, small surf candies match the hardy heads baitfish well. Queenfish can even be taken by letting the fly slowly sink like a dead baitfish.
I am looking forward to the huge bait balls that will be coming in to the bay during March, April & May. Queenfish, Tuna, Mackerel, Cobia & Trevally are a few of the spieces that will wreak havoc on the bait schools. Stay tuned for all up and coming action that.
I’ll keep you posted”.
Looking for forums on fishing Northern Australia? Were looking for members. forums.strikezonesportsfish.com.au/
Sea ya in the “Strikezone”
www.flyfishweipa.com
Tight Lines,
Craig Jenkins
www.strikezonesportsfish.com.au February, 2006
Barramundi, Queenfish & Fingermark where on the bite during February, we had missed out on the wet season rain for the month and it seamed like the fish where taking advantage of the great weather!
Weather:
February is normally known as the wettest time of the year here in Weipa. Not this year however the only rain we received was with passing storms, we had missed out on the badly needed rain for the month. Great sunny days, low southeast to northeast winds.
Fishing:
On the beach, jelly prawns are making their migration along the beaches and up into the rivers. Jelly prawns attracted a lot of attention, as there are not many spieces that don’t love to feed on these tiny prawns. Giant Manta Rays feast on the schools of prawns a few hundred metres off shore, they put on quite a show while herding the prawns into ever tighten schools, then with mouth open wide swim through the prawn soup filtering the water with their gills.
Schools of Barramundi, Blue Salmon, Queenfish & Giant Herring would terrorize the prawns schools once they hit the shoreline. A fly rod is the perfect tool to target these fish, however so called matching the hatch is not easy, the prawns are only 2.5 cm or 1 inch in length and almost invisible with two tiny black dots for eyes and two minute red whiskers. A small all white clousers is a good substitute and will work most of time. The best method is to get the fly in front of the fish, the more times the fish sees your fly the better chance of a take. This is not an easy task when the fish are in a feeding frenzy, they are swimming fast, constantly changing direction and surrounded by their favorite food. The jelly prawns are great and will come in waves over the next few months.
There is a dark cloud that follows this silver lining and that’s the box jellyfish. The Boxy as it’s locally known, is with out a doubt the most deadliest sea creature that graces our shores. Their almost transparent box shaped heads trails about 16 tentacles, covered in millions of stinging cells. The jellyfish range in size up to head of 20 centimeters across which is the biggest I have seen in our waters. A jellyfish this size would have no problems killing an adult. It’s not the time for wading and in some places along the beaches the jelly fish where so numerous it would be impossible to cast with-out your line landing on one, needless to say the fish where pretty safe in these areas. The good thing is they are only around for a short time and will be gone by the end of March the start of my guiding season.
We came across schools of feeding Queenfish out on the reefs casting smaller flies into the feed frenzy connected us up to 6 to 8 lb fish. Queenfish surface feeding like this are great to take on fly, small surf candies match the hardy heads baitfish well. Queenfish can even be taken by letting the fly slowly sink like a dead baitfish.
I am looking forward to the huge bait balls that will be coming in to the bay during March, April & May. Queenfish, Tuna, Mackerel, Cobia & Trevally are a few of the spieces that will wreak havoc on the bait schools. Stay tuned for all up and coming action that.
I’ll keep you posted”.
Looking for forums on fishing Northern Australia? Were looking for members. forums.strikezonesportsfish.com.au/
Sea ya in the “Strikezone”
www.flyfishweipa.com
Tight Lines,
Craig Jenkins