We are having a blast here in Cape York Australia fishing with Aussie Fly Fishers crew. We’ve caught a lot of fish. Just about everything but the Anak permit. We came close yesterday to landing an Anak but in the end the beautiful fish came unbuttoned.
We fished north again which meant an hour drive followed by a 30 minute boat ride to the first flat. The forecast was for windier than yesterday which would jump conditions from challenging to awful. When we left the boat ramp it actually didn’t seem too bad.
Unfortunately however, as we moved north hugging the white sand beach along the way, the wind was bad. The fires we saw flaring last night were raging. And at the first flat, where two days ago Josh found numerous Anak permit, there was very little water and what water there was, was cloudy and with the low early morning light, it was too hard to spot fish.
We needed some luck. As Josh ran us further north, I tied on the heaviest Mike Lodge crab. You might think with the forceful wind you would want a lighter fly, but for me when making a short cast a heavier fly helps load my rod quicker. And with murky water and a surface littered in whitecaps, we weren’t spotting fish until they were very close to the bow. Almost every cast was short.
I won’t bore you with our laborious morning of getting beaten down by the wind. Josh busted his butt trying to find fish. We covered a ton of miles. We actually staked out at the mouth of a river where numerous fish came by. I tagged this nice golden trevally off a ray. There were sharks. There were tons of milkfish. But only a very few permit came through and honestly, we weren’t 100% sure they were Anak’s. I can promise you though, the crab went their way but they didn’t respond.
By mid afternoon everywhere we went, the water was churned. We tried shallower areas where we could see better but the permit weren’t there. We searched some outer flats but the waves and wind made seeing deep impossible. It was turning into the classic permit trip – a true ass whipping.
After a late lunch, Josh suggested retreating from the wind by heading up the Jackson River. Not to far up from the mouth there is an excellent permit flat. We went. To simply not have the wind ringing our eardrums made it the most pleasurable move of the day.
I managed to screw up a massive queenfish. I dropped my crab on his head. He spun around and I felt him on. But I must have come up with the rod too quickly because he was off. Next cast however was big. A school of these cute little pikey breams (Acanthopagrus pacificus) came by and they loved the crab. It’s a new species for my list!
There were no permit to be found in the Jackson River so we started the journey back. In a fairly sheltered area there was a huge school of golden trevally. Granny hadn’t bothered to fight the wind in two days so I handed her the rod. Josh got us within 20 feet of the marauding school and Granny stuck one on a good cast.
Most flats in the world that have goldens, they are one of the prize species. Here on Cape York there are so many goldens and there’s so much focus on the Anak’s that they are somewhat overlooked. Today they saved our day!
It was an apocalyptical ride home. The offshore winds were ripping and the fires were cooking big time. In a few areas we passed through to get back, the smoke literally blocked out the sun. We went through one area where chunks of ash and debris were landing on us. The good news though is that these fires are all prescribed.
Tomorrow is our last day of the trip. I have to laugh (in a sick way), the forecast is for the wind to increase even further. Yikes! No one said any sort of permit fishing was easy. Bring it on!
Way to get after them in tough conditions. Lake Superior has been good training for you!