Page 62 - Bush 'n Beach Fishing mag

A big crocodile basked in the winter sun.
This involved bank fishing about 100km upstream from the river mouth.
Now, it has to be said that the Wenlock is not always the easiest river to fish, especially the estuary.
The wonderful and wWild Wenlock River
ELL, with all the who- haa that’s
Cape York
by ‘BILLABONG’ BAZZ LYON
Barramundi fun outside a gutter mouth.
been going on, here at Cape York we locals finally got a late OK from authorities to trav- el within the Cape’s ‘bi- osecurity region’.
what was a fairly medi- ocre wet season.
we had to make the four-hour drive back to Weipa.
So, my wife Shelley and I decided to tack- le the 8-hour lap from Cooktown to Weipa to visit our kids, and of course get out for a fish in that magical part of Australia.
The road crews were only just making a start, having been de- layed by events.
The next trip was by boat with Josh and Lee Hodgetts – owners of the highly reputable Weipa Sportfishing Charters.
The gravel sections of Peninsula Development Rd were pretty ordinary but not dreadful after
Anyway, the day ar- rived to visit and fish one of my favourite places – the mighty Wenlock River – with family and friends.
In fact, they both work closely together on charters, and a fish- ing trip with the pair is both highly educational and entertaining.
They do such a great job.
Josh held a pair of cracker mud crabs.
By assessing the amount of froth from the wake of the out- board to find the brack- ish water, Josh decided on the best section of river and out went the pots for a few hours soak.
One of the remarkable things about the Wen- lock is that even that far up, the river though fresh is still strongly tidal.
There’s a lot of ‘big’ water in this section.
Only a few minutes in my son Josh – of Sportfisher Hire Boats and Fishing Charters fame – rolled a huge barramundi on a lure on a river bend that he esti- mated at around 110cm. Lures failed to attract any further attention there, so grandson El- igh – one of the keenest anglers around – cast a cherabin to the same spot.
Although the creeks and mud gutters near the mouth are usually pretty reliable, in many other areas you often have to hunt around to find good fish.
On this particular day, we first had to find the preferred salty wedge of water to set some crab pots.
A barramundi with a couple of regurgitated red claw.
A few smaller barra were landed and re- leased at the mouth of a nearby gutter before
* continued P63 www.bnb shing.com.au
Page 62 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, July 2020
The explosive boof and water boil that re- sulted is one of the most impressive I’ve ever seen!
Heading upstream, we spotted a cracker estu- arine crocodile bask- ing on a sunny bank – a perfect subject for drone filming.
Eligh gamely tried to hold the barra out of the snags but it really was a one-way contest.
Ping, and that was that!
More by fluke than skill, I managed to get some half decent clips only to have the drone