It was a long trip from Hayward, Wisconsin to Cape York Australia.  Two days of travel to be exact.  The breakdown was Duluth to Minneapolis to Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia (15 hours by the way) to Cairns and finally to Weipa which is close to as far north as you can get in Australia.

Our connection here is Joshua Hutchins, founder of Aussie Fly Fisher.  I feel like I’ve known Josh a long time because we have some mutual friends but really we met only a few years ago at The Fly Fishing Show in California.  We hit it off and before I knew it Granny and I had an invite to come fish with him.

The visit is exceptional for several reasons.  First of all, I’ve caught three of the four permit species – Atlantic (Trachinotus falcatus), Indo-Pacific (Trachinotus blochii) and the Africanus (Trachinotus africanus).  I have not caught Australia’s Anak (Trachinotus anak).  It was a cold winter day in Denver when Josh mentioned he would love to help me cross number four off my list.

Furthermore, Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Aussie Fly Fishers recently began working together.  As a Yellow Dog Ambassador, it helps to see each and every destination so I can talk the talk.  The Australian flats are a hot topic these days and I get asked about them.  Now I don’t have to pass the questions on to another.

There are also at least several other fish species around Cape York that I haven’t yet added to my list.  Fish such as the blue bastard, tusker and the barramundi to name a few.  Obviously I’m thrilled to get my hands on at least a couple new ones and even more will be new for Granny too.

Weipa is 19 hours ahead of Wisconsin time.  To explain it better, it’s still Wednesday in WI but here is more than halfway through Thursday.  We arrived here at 6 PM Australia time.  While we’re exhausted and could easily sleep, its important to get on schedule.  Instead we opted a couple Australian brews and a nice dinner.  Now its time for bed and tomorrow the fishing begins!

Jeff Currier Global Fly Fishing