Hinchenbrook Trip 19/10/07 to 27/10/07

[Stingray]

Hi! All here is a little report on my trip hope it isn't to boring.


Friday 19/10/07 7am Two excited fisherman depart Mackay with boat in tow headed for Port Hinchenbrook(Cardwell) where we are to meet up with 4 other keen fisherman for 7 days on a houseboat in the Hinchenbrook channel.Weather report 15 to 20kt south easterly winds and o/cast(not good) After a leasurely 41/2hr drive we arrive in Townsville and decide to drop in and have a chat to Matt Coleman.Matt is a great bloke and i appreciated him taking the time to talk to me (he was supposed to be working) Thanks Matt and good luck in the suothern round of the ABT barra tour.
Leaving T/ville we set out for about a 2 hr drive to Port Hinchenbrook and about 3pm we arrived and began the task of unloading all our gear onto the houseboat it's amazing how much s*?t you seem to think you will need for just 1 week.With the weather forcast looking good and predictions of 5 to 10 kt north easterlys in the next day or so we all hit the sack early in readyness for an early start the next day, except for my fishing partner Darren who woke us all up about midnight to show us the two barra (legal size) he had caught under the pontoons beside the boat in the marina.
Saturday morning saw us all out early to try a hot spot we had been told about by one of the local guides and guess what? my second cast of the day saw me hook up to a 40cm barra(not big but what a great start) unfortunately that was the only action of the morning. Afternoon saw us head south down the channel in the house boat punching into a 20kt south easterly with the tinnys in tow untill we reached Con ck were we anchored for the night and a couple of cans of medicine to keep the mosquitos at bay.
Sunday morning saw us all up early again keen to try our skills and look over the floating barra farm a couple of klms up the creek. Lets just say the guys at the barra farm were a lot more co-operative than the fish,only 1 fingermark for the day(tough) even though as forecast the weather was improving.The Hinchenbrook area has a vast area of mangroves and once the tide has risen about half way it is difficult to get to the fish pushed up into these mangroves and for this reason we decided to rest at this time of the day.
The next morning we shifted the house boat further down the channel to Deluge inlet.This opened up a huge area of creeks, flats and gutters we could fish and it didn't take long before we landed some nice jacks and a few cod to supplement our dwinderling and poorely organized food supply.
Our next move took us to Haycock Island which is about half way down the channel and right in the middle.What an amazing island it is almost perfectly round and only approxamately 200m in diameter with a sheer drop off all round and in places the water depth is 90ft. A great place for jigging for large fingermark and trevelly( so i'am told ) we could only raise a couple of medium trevors.To my supprise Darren got the idea of trolling deep diving lures close up to the island at dead low water and was rewarded with 4 nice barra all about 81cm at midnight on Wednesday.
The rest of the week we spent flogging the creeks and gutters but as Ben said Hinchenbrook can be a hard place to fish.There seemed to be plenty of small barra on the snags and sight casting to these was a lot of fun we just couldn't seem to find their big brothers and sisters.
The lesson i did learn for the week was that it's no use casting lures if you don't cast right into the snags the saying (if your not in the snags your not fishing)is certainly true, time and time again i was beaten to what fish we did catch by my fishing partner Darren because he would cast right up into the snags and the old fart me would be a couple of feet short (i'am a slow learner ) but there is always next time and the old fox doesn't forget i hope. Anyway that is about all for now i did manage a few pics which Ben will attach soon.

Cheers Stingray.

[Daniel W]

What a great way to holiday-fish. Can't beat houseboat holidays I reckon. Nice report and fish.
Cheers Danny.

[adidaspeteman]

Nice trip Stingray, nothing boring about that report.

What lures did you use on the trip?

[Stingray]

gold bommers,flat ratz & tilsen barra's and i jigged with home made bumper bars.
Cheers Stingray.

[happygilmour]

Goog report Stingray,

Have fished that haycott island and caught trevally and queenies before. It has a great current line/eddie that forms on the tide changes that screams pelagics.

Did you try any of the jew holes? I have not fished them but heard they can fish well.Sorry to hear that you didnt get any javelin/grunter or fingermark to anysize.

Pm if you are ever up this way again.

Cheers

Aaron

[Stingray]

Hi! Aaron, we didn' get to try any of the jew holes,we were told about them but just run out of time. I'am sure we will be back up that way in the not to distant future and will certainly pm you if we are.Likewise if you want to come down and try our sooty's or barra just pm me and i would be only to happy to help in any way i can.
Cheers Stingray.

[TinarooTriumph]

Stingray - Great report mate... enjoyable read. How good would it be to build a Tree-House on that little Island?!?!?!

One Lure a mate recommended I use when Im down there next is some of the deeper running Manns Lures. He likes to fish on High tides when things are alive and just spray his casts around the place. Will have to give it a go!

Cheers

Theo.

[Stingray]

Your not wrong Theo you build the tree house and i'll retire there.LOL
Thanks for the tips on the lures i think you could be on the right track there.
Cheers

Stingray

[lippa]

what are the tidal runs there like?
great pics, and gotta be on the to do list!

cheers

lippa

[Stingray]

Hi Lippa, Yeh the tidal runs can be pretty strong especially round Haycock Isl but it is very deep water so it probably needs it, elsewere we found it was not to bad there was always someware to hide from it.Hinchenbrook channel is a mighty big area and you would need a couple of trips to take it all in.

Cheers

Stingray.