Page 78 - BNB Fishing mag | May 2020

The scenic Endeavour River in Cooktown itself.
The beautiful Walker Bay.
Cape crusader’s Cooktown commendations
* from P77
Barramundi are the main target species
cessing the river and the reef, and another at Marton near the airport.
can be fairly choppy.
The north arm is one of my favourite
further upstream. On the northern side of Cooktown is the bigger Endeavour River, which has two main branches.
The latter is a great option for fishing the south or north arm of the Endeavour, being much closer and not having to tackle the ‘mad mile’ near town, which
places on the Cape – the jungle and man- groves clothing its banks look primeval – and it offers great barra and mangrove jack fishing.
There is a great boat ramp in town for ac-
With summer moving on and the dry sea- son upon us, the northerly wind has been replaced with southeastly trade winds.
So to head to the magical reefs around Cooktown, you have to wait for a decent gap between high-pressure systems.
Better still wait for a winter low from New South Wales or southern Queensland, which will block the trade winds.
Richard Pillans with a speared fingermark and trout, both of which were found around headlands in the Cooktown area.
Josh Lyon with a snodger giant trevally taken on a popper.
The headlands too offer excellent fishing for species as diverse as barra, coral trout, cod, fingermark, and at Archer Point occa- sionally huge trevally.
Bird’s eye view of the mouth of the Annan River and Walker Bay.
Page 78 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, May 2020
Hopefully we will see you up here soon. It’s a cracker of a place!
Pick a reef, any reef – the bigger ones are a half hour run from Cooktown in good weather. The reefs we always do well at are Boulder and Big Uncharted, though a mass of great country to fish lies further south at Cairns and Osterlund reefs.
It’s worthwhile to have a putter around looking for some rubble country or wonky holes for red emperor and other arm-pull- ers.
Attractions around Cooktown include the scenic Finch, Quarantine and Walker Bays, Grassy Hill lookout offers superb views, and the impressive Black Mountain 35km south of town is well worth stopping at.
Of course, not far from the national park is the iconic Lions Den Hotel, while further on great camping is available beside luxu- riant rainforest and crocodile-free Wallaby Creek at Home Rule, near Rossville.
In Cooktown itself, there’s plenty of his- tory on display and the famous Lure Shop, one of the best tackle stores in the country.
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