Cape York

Changes as water temp drops

CAPE YORK Tim O’Reilly

wildrivercompany@gmail.com July in Cape York is a southerners version of tropical perfection, but it is usually the first month of the year when temperatures actually decrease with any real significance. The real change up for the fishing comes in dropping water temperatures.

Barramundi fishing is one of the most famous fishing pastimes up the Cape and, although they still get caught, numbers definitely start declining in captures and most serious fishers try and switch their You can find black jewfish on the shallow onshore reefs and riverine rock bars.

Chris was very happy with his GT capture.

attention to other species.

Both sides of Cape York have similar conditions, however the moisture laden sou’east trade winds can make fishing the East Coast a tricky experience. With this consistent wind brought about by high pressure systems in the bottom half of the continent, things can get tough for the offshore brigade. This gives the East Coast a self-imposed catch restriction for a good part of the year.

It’s a different story all together on the West Coast, as the trade winds generally blow offshore. Light tackle sports fishing becomes a serious game plan for many Cape York travellers venturing in to this area. The full range of fishing opportunities exists right throughout the winter months, all of it is very accessible from relatively small craft.

Schools of northern bluefin tuna will usually be found down this stretch of coastline, intermixed with ravaging packs of mac tuna. Casting metal slugs and slices is a fantastic way to get your arms stretched, usually within a few kilometres of the coastline. Heading out to the contour lines on most modern plotters and making use of depth sounder technology to

find bait patches is hugely productive.

Besides the dead giveaway, tuna schools erupting on the surface with birds flitting around, other blue (or in this case green) water species will be close at hand. Spanish mackerel, grey and spotted mackerel, cobia, giant trevally, golden trevally, bludger trevally and large queenfish live on the bait schools around the contour lines. Even if bait schools can’t be located on the surface, many of these speedsters will be sitting below the surface terrorising them.

Coming into the shallow onshore reefs and riverine rock bars, black

jewfish and golden snapper will be making up captures of those fishing vibes, jigs and bait close to the bottom. Sometimes sneaking up into water between 10-4m, these fish go hard and often win the battle in shallow country. Working the deeper offshore reefs on the West Coast will find these fish in 12-25m. Other fish, such as nannygai and red emperor, will join the party out wide on the West Coast. The reef fishing can be superb over on the Great Barrier Reef side of the Cape during the winter months. If the weather gods allow it, fishing up shallow on the reef flats and edges for coral trout and a host of other hard-

fishing reef dwellers can be excellent. It helps that water temperatures are cooler this time of year, attracting these fish up into shallow water on the reef tops.

July can be a fantastic month to be travelling Cape York with a huge array of travelling and fishing options available. The roads up the Cape will normally be graded and near their best, making travel a breeze amidst plenty of other travellers busily exploring the Cape.

Metre long queenfish will show up in packs during winter.

Andy had a great time fishing the Cape, especially when he caught fish like this permit.