Drop Bear

Midgey is a new addition to the family. She is pretty cute... makes up for the poo clean ups haha. 

/Bass caught by Mark Thompson hinze dam  southside.

Southsider checking in.
Couldn't find a brag mat of suitable size, so measured the green case when I got home. I'm going to go with a conservative 100mm for this Tailor. 
Gotta give the northsiders a benchmark to aim for. 

@Kat Grassie 41.5cm

ellicat Grassie 46cm

@Kat Grassie 39cm

@Kat Blue Maori Cod 20cm

Threadie 95cm. Excuse the dodgy filleting job

There can be good diver whiting in the creek but generally it is pretty lousy as a fishing location. The foreshore however can be great. 
Plenty of Bream and Whiting cruse the banks at high tide. A bit of worm will entice a few bites. 
A bit further south, the other side of the wading pool, is a great spot for flicking small top water lures for bream and the occasional well travelled flathead. Start about 200 m from the wading pool and walk  south around the courner. 
At night at high tide many squid fishers don the headlamps and walk the foreshore and catch a good amount of squid. 
Also the rock wall at Manly is very popular and turn up trevally and the Tailor should be starting to turn up. 
Good luck
 

Il be up hervey bay with my boys, if not I'd take that up in a heartbeat! Good luck 

Just seeing this now Ray, hope you got some deckies? I was nursing a very rare hangover (because I don't have many big sessions these days) ......... 🤪.

Up to 3 decky spots avail this sunday. 6 am start or leaving redland bay 4.45 am western arm bait fishing only with live shrimp ( supplied). No smoking if under 12 years old byo life vest. 0403072325

Loads of great info here - I'm going over to Straddie with brother (plus his new family) who lives in Brisbane and mother who will have just travelled from Ireland. I'm bringing a rod and surfboard so they probably won't see me armed with this info and eagerness. Thanks @Drop Bear

This is a rock I love to fish at the Sandhills. Have caught; Jew, Bream, Dart, Tailor, Flathead, Trevalay, Whiting, Spotted Hind, Somber Sweetlip, Wrass etc here. 

A week at Point Lookout will be awesome. There are lots of fishing options.
Point Lookout
The main area I like to fish is from Deadman's Beach to Frenchmans Beach. 
I have attached a map. 
There are lots of whiting along Deadman's up to the sandhills. Worms are your friend here for whiting. Best at lower tides but they will bit most of the time if they are there. 
The areas around the rocks at the sandhills is great to throw small soft plastics for Bream, Flathead, Dart and Trevs. Curl tail or paddle tail grubs with a small weighted jig head with about a 2/0 hook works well. Favourite colours are dirty red or clear with a flash. 
Try some bigger soft plastics at high tide for Mulloway especially if you get a good southerly. This can be a great spot to fish in a big southerly sea. Try heavier jig heads with about 4-5/0 hooks and pink or deep green plastics. 
Widdow's Rock is a long high area right on the water. It gets its name because waves can crash over it and it is a good drop to hard rocks behind so be careful especially on a high tide and a Northerly or Easterly swell. It can be a good spot for pinging chrome lures for tailor. They can be thick here at times. You can also try any deep holes near the Sandhills. The sand moves around a lot and what was a deep hole last week can be just sand the next so move around looking for the deeper holes for tailor. The 2 hours leading up to High tide and high tide itself is often productive as they will come into the gutters then. If you can combine this with Dawn or Dusk you are in with a great shot. 
First rock is great for Gold spot Blubberlips (known locally as Spotted Hind), Tarwine and Bream. Best baits are Cunji that have been cut the day before and left to toughen in the fridge over night or washed up and dried Cunji that you find washed up on the beach. I have a secret bait that I will tell you about if we ever go for a fish there. If the water is deep here it is also worth a ping for some Tailor or Mulloway. Dawn is best here and be very carefull of high tide as waves will wash over the whole rock. If you can, use a long rod and heavy weight and try to cast to the rocks to the north of here. 
There is a set of stairs leading from Point Lookout down to Frenchman's Beach. It is a good work out and totally worth it. Dragging a bag full of bream and Spotted Hind up these stairs lets you know you are alive. 🙂
There are lots of options to fish the main headlands. They can be dangerous and hard to get to and I don't fish them much so wont put up a guide here but the spot in front of the life savers is worth a go.  I know that Angus uses larger soft plastics here for Kingfish. 
Main Beach
Like the others have said Main can be productive. I only target Taylor at high tide and whiting at low. I have always found the bream, Flathead and dart patchy at best.
The trick with whiting is to use worms (pipis sometimes work) at low tide. The last 2 hours of run out and the first to of run in. Go to the little blind gutters and fish in about 1 to 4 foot of water. They whiting are feeding on worm heads at your feet. Fish each hole for only a few casts and move on to the next one. 
There are a series of fresh water lakes (The Keyholes) behind the dunes at Main Beach. Where you see the shiny water on the beach I find it harder to catch worms and pipis. I think that the fresh soaks through the sand and puts them off. Basically south of the Causeway the lakes become less frequent and further from the beach. For this reason, for whiting, I like to fish south of the Causeway. Anywhere is fine for Taylor. Look for deep holes not the long featureless gutters for Tailor. If you are up for it there is good night time fishing for Mulloway. Look for the same water as for Tailor and use live baits, Mullet fillets or a whole worm. 
Jumpinpin
At the southern end of Main beach you will find Jumpinpin bar. It is a great spot for Bream, Flathead and Mulloway. 
Amity
Amity is inside the bay. It has great rock walls to fish from and lots of people fish from the jetty. If you want to see Dolphins they always come to the jetty at about 5pm. The best place to see them is just in front of the sight that says "Do Not Feed Dolphins". Don't feed them. They like fresh fish the best (especially whiting) but will eat pilchards. 
At the southern end of the caravan park at Amity there are extensive yabby banks. The beaches at the front of the caravan park fish really well at night with yabbies. 
So that is about all I can think of. I hope you have a great trip. Let me know if I have not covered anything. We spend a lot of time here so know it pretty well. Make sure you do the headland walk. Stunning views. 🙂 I didn't proof read so sorry for the typos. 
 
 

A week at Point Lookout will be awesome. There are lots of fishing options.
Point Lookout
The main area I like to fish is from Deadman's Beach to Frenchmans Beach. 
I have attached a map. 
There are lots of whiting along Deadman's up to the sandhills. Worms are your friend here for whiting. Best at lower tides but they will bit most of the time if they are there. 
The areas around the rocks at the sandhills is great to throw small soft plastics for Bream, Flathead, Dart and Trevs. Curl tail or paddle tail grubs with a small weighted jig head with about a 2/0 hook works well. Favourite colours are dirty red or clear with a flash. 
Try some bigger soft plastics at high tide for Mulloway especially if you get a good southerly. This can be a great spot to fish in a big southerly sea. Try heavier jig heads with about 4-5/0 hooks and pink or deep green plastics. 
Widdow's Rock is a long high area right on the water. It gets its name because waves can crash over it and it is a good drop to hard rocks behind so be careful especially on a high tide and a Northerly or Easterly swell. It can be a good spot for pinging chrome lures for tailor. They can be thick here at times. You can also try any deep holes near the Sandhills. The sand moves around a lot and what was a deep hole last week can be just sand the next so move around looking for the deeper holes for tailor. The 2 hours leading up to High tide and high tide itself is often productive as they will come into the gutters then. If you can combine this with Dawn or Dusk you are in with a great shot. 
First rock is great for Gold spot Blubberlips (known locally as Spotted Hind), Tarwine and Bream. Best baits are Cunji that have been cut the day before and left to toughen in the fridge over night or washed up and dried Cunji that you find washed up on the beach. I have a secret bait that I will tell you about if we ever go for a fish there. If the water is deep here it is also worth a ping for some Tailor or Mulloway. Dawn is best here and be very carefull of high tide as waves will wash over the whole rock. If you can, use a long rod and heavy weight and try to cast to the rocks to the north of here. 
There is a set of stairs leading from Point Lookout down to Frenchman's Beach. It is a good work out and totally worth it. Dragging a bag full of bream and Spotted Hind up these stairs lets you know you are alive. 🙂
There are lots of options to fish the main headlands. They can be dangerous and hard to get to and I don't fish them much so wont put up a guide here but the spot in front of the life savers is worth a go.  I know that Angus uses larger soft plastics here for Kingfish. 
Main Beach
Like the others have said Main can be productive. I only target Taylor at high tide and whiting at low. I have always found the bream, Flathead and dart patchy at best.
The trick with whiting is to use worms (pipis sometimes work) at low tide. The last 2 hours of run out and the first to of run in. Go to the little blind gutters and fish in about 1 to 4 foot of water. They whiting are feeding on worm heads at your feet. Fish each hole for only a few casts and move on to the next one. 
There are a series of fresh water lakes (The Keyholes) behind the dunes at Main Beach. Where you see the shiny water on the beach I find it harder to catch worms and pipis. I think that the fresh soaks through the sand and puts them off. Basically south of the Causeway the lakes become less frequent and further from the beach. For this reason, for whiting, I like to fish south of the Causeway. Anywhere is fine for Taylor. Look for deep holes not the long featureless gutters for Tailor. If you are up for it there is good night time fishing for Mulloway. Look for the same water as for Tailor and use live baits, Mullet fillets or a whole worm. 
Jumpinpin
At the southern end of Main beach you will find Jumpinpin bar. It is a great spot for Bream, Flathead and Mulloway. 
Amity
Amity is inside the bay. It has great rock walls to fish from and lots of people fish from the jetty. If you want to see Dolphins they always come to the jetty at about 5pm. The best place to see them is just in front of the sight that says "Do Not Feed Dolphins". Don't feed them. They like fresh fish the best (especially whiting) but will eat pilchards. 
At the southern end of the caravan park at Amity there are extensive yabby banks. The beaches at the front of the caravan park fish really well at night with yabbies. 
So that is about all I can think of. I hope you have a great trip. Let me know if I have not covered anything. We spend a lot of time here so know it pretty well. Make sure you do the headland walk. Stunning views. 🙂 I didn't proof read so sorry for the typos. 
 
 

Day 13 Weipa to Lakeland 
https://www.turalba.com.au/home 07 448602666 
Dust... and more dust. A long and mostly uneventful drive this day. The car had done well and it was nice to get off the dirt. 
 



 

Day 12 Day Trip - Fishing
5m - Booked. has ice and fuel $450 
We dry hired a boat from Tackleworld at Weipa. Its a nice Cairns Custom Craft 5.5m tiller. Well set up.
They give you a good briefing and heaps of marks are on the sounder. We headed out and tried a few drops around the beacons and trolled the channel for no love so headed out to a reef mark. 
We were trolling a deep diving lure with wire trace and a vibe on mono. The vibe got hit and Mrs DB pulled in a nice little school mackerel. 
We caught 3 more this way. 
I hooked a stack of reef fish but the tax man was vigilant and I only got one small tusky to the boat. 
The I saw a school of tuna swimming fast towards me. I grabbed the rod with the vibe and cast into the school. I was instantly on. So cool seeing the fish turn, shoulder out a few buddies and smash the lure. It was on a light rod and took ages to get in. Somehow the sharks didn't smash it and with the worst gaff shot in the history of gaff shots I pulled in the tuna with the gaff just holding onto a piece of skin... Some fish just wanna be caught I guess. 
We drove back in and headed up a few creeks looking for jack or barra. I got smashed by something toothy that looked like a queen fish and took our last vibe. There were jacks smashing baitfish on rocky ledges but they were not interested in the plastics or the micro jigs. 
up another creek we saw some huge crocs then headed home.
The park has a great fileting bench and bins for the frames so we were able to look after the fillets well. Sashimi yellowfin tuna was tough and not nice for some reason. oh well. so we ate one of the schoolies and had beautiful drinks watching the sunset. 

Day 11 Captain Billy's to Weipa

Weipa Camping Ground Lot 172, Kerr Point Road
07 4069 7871https://www.facebook.com/weipacampground/
A short and simple drive (in comparison) from Captain Billy's landing to Weipa. We took the shortcut that saved us ages and the road was great. A few nasty washouts but otherwise in very good condition. Lots of creek crossings, plenty of cattle to avoid and dust to wade throught. We landed at the caravan park a bit early so had lunch at Albies. Good quality pub food with a nice view. After lunch we had a walk down at the beach and found some oysters! propper oyster reefs that non of the academics I have been talking too know about. They were pretty extensive. 
We headed to the campgrounds and had a prime location at the front overlooking the beach. 
Tomorrow is a boating day so we touched base and went and said hello. I bought 4 soft vibes and some bait and we planned to meet at 6am the next day. 
Spectacular sunset drinks while sitting at the camp made for a relaxing day. 
 














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Thanks mate,
Not really much walking. Most of it was by car. The walk over to the tip was easy enough. We did a hike up to see some cave paintings but generally it was very easy. I still have a stack to do so thought I would bump it when all done. 🙂
 

Yep you could take a 2wd. Unless it was well built, I think it would rattle itself apart though. I saw 2 Porches doing it. Just had big tyres otherwise stock. I still have lots of days to fill in 🙂 lots of corrugations to come.  

Thanks, yes we had a great trip. Back about 15 years ago we took our kids around Aust for 3 months when they were 9 and 11. It was a great thing to do and I would encourage every family to do something like this. 
As for the car... Its really up to what you want to do. This was our first trip up that way. We wanted to see the place and have an adventure. Our setup was pretty much as basic as you can get with just a standard Hilux and a tent with eskis. We did pretty much everything that most 4wds could do and we saw pretty much everything we wanted to see. I don't regret not spending money on the car. If I went again... I don't know
If you are in a Patrol or Cruiser with a lift kit, big tyres, snorkel and winch you can do every bit of the tracks including CREB and Frenchman's as well as the water crossings at Gunshot and Dulcie River. We were not able to do these. As I type this, I haven't written it yet but we did get to Gunshot and watched people do Dulcie River so saw it all really but didn't do the drop ins. I don't feel that we missed out.
Where do you start and where do you finish? If we had a snorkel we could have done Frenchman's but we still crossed the same rivers just not at the parts as deep as Frenchman's. Even with a snorkel we couldn't do Dulcie and Gunshot. If we had a lift kit We would have been able to continue along the track that I have been calling AFO track, but we saw both ends of it. 
So... If I go again I would either do it with the Hilux as is or go all in and do the cruiser with lift kit, snorkel, winch and big tyres. 

Sorry for all the spam posts. I wanted to keep them all closer to to top and will edit them as I go. 

Day 15 Drive to Brisbane

Day 14 Drive to Emerald
 

Day 13 Weipa to Lakeland 
https://www.turalba.com.au/home 07 448602666 
Dust... and more dust. A long and mostly uneventful drive this day. The car had done well and it was nice to get off the dirt. 
 



 

Day 12 Day Trip - Fishing
5m - Booked. has ice and fuel $450 
We dry hired a boat from Tackleworld at Weipa. Its a nice Cairns Custom Craft 5.5m tiller. Well set up.
They give you a good briefing and heaps of marks are on the sounder. We headed out and tried a few drops around the beacons and trolled the channel for no love so headed out to a reef mark. 
We were trolling a deep diving lure with wire trace and a vibe on mono. The vibe got hit and Mrs DB pulled in a nice little school mackerel. 
We caught 3 more this way. 
I hooked a stack of reef fish but the tax man was vigilant and I only got one small tusky to the boat. 
The I saw a school of tuna swimming fast towards me. I grabbed the rod with the vibe and cast into the school. I was instantly on. So cool seeing the fish turn, shoulder out a few buddies and smash the lure. It was on a light rod and took ages to get in. Somehow the sharks didn't smash it and with the worst gaff shot in the history of gaff shots I pulled in the tuna with the gaff just holding onto a piece of skin... Some fish just wanna be caught I guess. 
We drove back in and headed up a few creeks looking for jack or barra. I got smashed by something toothy that looked like a queen fish and took our last vibe. There were jacks smashing baitfish on rocky ledges but they were not interested in the plastics or the micro jigs. 
up another creek we saw some huge crocs then headed home.
The park has a great fileting bench and bins for the frames so we were able to look after the fillets well. Sashimi yellowfin tuna was tough and not nice for some reason. oh well. so we ate one of the schoolies and had beautiful drinks watching the sunset.