Princess Charlotte trip

[flyer912]

Hi,
Four of us are making a trip to Princess Charlotte next April and would like to know if there are any good, safe camping areas near the water.

Sandfly free areas would be great, is the campsite and gear usually safe while out fishing etc.

We will have two 4X4's and one tinnie.

We have never been there before so any info would be greatly appreciated.

Baz.

[Slider]

Baz, had a bit of a peek on our way back from Weipa in july - Annie Rvr camp area is good sandfly country and a bit of a hoik to the mouth. Bathurst Head has camping and looks good for land based with clean water and the tinny will get used there also. Spaniards off the rocks are a fairly common catch here apparently and there is plenty of close in reef that fish well for trout, gts, queenies etc - so I'm told.
And the soueasters obviously won't worry you there either.

Lindsay

[flyer912]

Thanks for that Slider,

It's still a toss up between PC or Cooktown, haven't been to either place yet but that clean water you spoke of at Bathhurst Head sounds good.
We don't want to go all that way and find ourselves fishing in a muddy hole.

Baz

[FNQCairns]

I have yet to visit PC, have researched it and live fairly close all things considered ( a BIG daytrip).

April might be a little wet (read possibly inaccessible...inescapable:), will depend on what the particular season is up to. You will be able to camp near the shore, if during a Pub hol you might had a few other campers around.

Cooktown will be a more or less muddy hole for the boat you are bringing, the wind will decide your trips.

Lucinda is a real option if you head up and find the season not on your side so all is not lost.

Any chance of a making your campsite an Ausfish Meet and Greet point:):)

Cheers fnq

[Slider]

A real big day trip fnq. Took us 9 hrs to get from Cooktown to Cairns via Bloomfield Track after 100mm the night before. Was fairly hairy in places with a full load and boat. Which emphasises potential difficulties Baz that you could have in April. Is bitumen all the way to Cooktown via Lakefield, but getting into Princess Charlotte so soon after the wet could be difficult. Cooktown certainly is a good fallback position if it's a normal wet season.

[flyer912]

Thanks for all this fellas,

We just want to go somewhere where we can get good clean water where we can toss lures from the shore for queenies, macs, GT's and the like or troll for pelagics and bottom bounce .

My brother and I have spent a couple of years in Gove years ago so we've been pretty spoilt.

Can you get this type of fishing around the headlands of Cooktown ?
We will have a 13 ft tinnie with a 25 on it.

Baz

[FNQCairns]

Yeah I have towed a boat through there a couple of times, I am done with it now, good for the tourists etc though. A few of the grades at the top end of the daintree would have been interesting with that rain, better you than me!!.

The last time I did Cooktown (inland road)we did it in a nonstop 4.5 hours towing and not trying real hard, they have since bitumened the entire road so even faster now I guess.

Some blokes I know say they do Bathurst bay in a day, leaving between 3 and 4 in the morning and setting up camp near dark - depending on the conditions too I would guess.

cheers fnq

[FNQCairns]

Thanks for all this fellas,

We just want to go somewhere where we can get good clean water where we can toss lures from the shore for queenies, macs, GT's and the like or troll for pelagics and bottom bounce .

My brother and I have spent a couple of years in Gove years ago so we've been pretty spoilt.

Can you get this type of fishing around the headlands of Cooktown ?
We will have a 13 ft tinnie with a 25 on it.

Baz

From my experience No, when comparing it to what I have heard of gove. The reef is where it is at in FNQ, of coarse other options are open like impoundment and estuary barra.

In comparison to what you hear on TV or in the general beat up regarding FNQ say Townsville to Cooktown the fishing can be great at times although most do go home a bit disappointed because they thoroughly believed the marketing. Even my first trip up from NSW years ago left me disappointed

Can you tow a 5.2m up instead? lots of options then as the reef is sorta kinda pretty close at cooktown.

Others may have a differing opinion.

It's all about the reef IMO.

cheers fnq

[flyer912]

I wasn't expecting it to be like Gove, we just want some clean water to throw lures into, the headlands north of Cooktown look ok on Google Earth.

I Googled Lucinda too, it looks ok along the east side of Hinchinbrook have you ever fished that area.

Baz

[FNQCairns]

Yeah Lucinda is a great place, I was there 3 weekends ago and went for a walk out on the wharf, wind blown barramundi scales along bits of it, looked like snow half a cm thick and 5 wide in places.

I have fished most spots around Hinchinbrook at one time or another.

Yes you can troll the Cooktown headlands and you will catch fish, the wind may not agree etc pretty much you can do it anywhere up here depending on how much time you put in.

Have you been to www.fishingcairns.com.au (http://www.fishingcairns.com.au) they have a great species V time of the year chart on their site.

A trip is what you make it obviously but I would be happy to visit anywhere up here for a fish but would be happiest planning to fish Bathurst bay or Hinchinbrook. Bathurst bay before Hinchinbrook.

cheers fnq

[Pazz01]

If you go to cooktown i would highly recommend, if the whether permits to go to cape bedford. The locals will know all about it and won't really give much away.

April may be a bit early as the mackeral won't have started but the odd spanish might be around. And i'll forwarn u, they can get very large up there. Just off cape bedford is a bit of a reef or pinnacle and people catch good reds and fingermark on occassions.

Only problem with cooktown is that is blows constantly and you could go for 2 weeks and not get a chance to go out.

I've never fished lucinda, but I've heard good reports, and there is some protection in that area from the wind, it might be the better go.

The earliest i've got into bathurst heads is the end of May, but again it all depends on the rain and whether u can get across the Normanby and the Marriot Rivers. I was up that way in June this year and last year and it was still pretty wet in areas. If you want to go in April make sure u have sufficent recovery gear otherwise you could be stuck for a while. The heads can have a lot of mozzies at different times too, especially if the wind is down, but fishing can make up for it.

Regards
Pazz

[flyer912]

Thanks for this fellas,
this is just the sort of info I need.

Pazz, when you say go to Cape Bedford, do you mean drive around there and camp rather than do a day trip by boat.

I googled the Cape and I see there are a few dwellings along the Elim beach side, is there a good spot to camp up there more towards the Cape.

Is the water clean with reef or mud flat at low water.

Baz.

[Pazz01]

Cape bedford is about 15 miles from cooktown harbour. Only accessable by boat to my knowledge, but i haven't been there for years and there could be a road now, it's bitumen to cooktown now. If you can camp there you won't have far to go.

It is the ocean, so its reef or shale i think. Day tripping or over night is the go if the weather is good.

Pazz.

[Moffy]

Have been in to Bathurst Heads just the once - coincidentally in April - it was a late easter - however we had next to no wet season that year. The flats had just dried out when we went through and we didn't have any hassles at all - just the odd drain/creek to cross but no bog holes - there was plenty of evidence of where people had pushed through the slop in the preceding weeks though.

If its a big wet you won't have a hard time getting in in April - you simply won't get in end of story. The tracks can be impassable until June/July after a big/late wet.

The track is fairly rough though once past the Kalpower crossing and closer to the coast - It took us 3hrs to do the last 20ks and that was basiclly rally driving on the good stuff as i wanted to see the sun set over the water - only place on the mainland east coast you'll see that!!. we made it with minutes to spare.

There is no drinking water available - though i believe there is a soak back along the range a few k from the camp - but we didn't go looking for it having taken water with us. The camping situation has changed since too with the land having been handed back - there's only limited camping now allowed - not sure who you have to contact to suss it out. There's a couple of camps on the bank of the river 15ks or so from the coast - quite a high bank - good for croc safety - not so good for access to the river with a boat - though will depend on the tide. and the main campsite used to be right on the coast having followed the range and skirted salt pans in a fairly long way.

When we went in we had just gone for a drive for the long weekend basically and weren't planning on going to Bathurst heads - had 2 swags, some simple food for our planned 3 days, and plenty of water. Plus a couple of rods and lures etc. but ended up there as we didn't feel like staying with the hoardes at Lakefield.

We ended up eating barra and jacks caught off the rocks right next to camp (we left the tinned spaghetti in the tin;D ) and had a ball catching fish walking the bank/rocks to the east of the camp.

With a 13ft tinny the options are infinitely greater with river mouths back further west along the bay and obviously the trolling options around all the headlands. the Flinders Islands are also only a few mile offshore a few miles around the headlands from the campsite.

The mate i originally went with went back with a boat a couple of years ago and said that the mackeral and tuna schools busted up in the channel between the mainland and the islands all day long:D - though he went back much later in the year- so plenty of fun to be had there and then there's the fringing reefs around the islands themselves - with the usual reefies, trout, gts etc to be had (am sure these will be around the headlands as well - be we just chased the barra on lures.

A place I'd love to go back to with a boat - but we always seem to hit the other side of the cape - as have plenty of good spots over there as well.


Hope this helps.

Moffy

[The-easyrider]

If you go to www.seamedia.com.au (http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/www.seamedia.com.au) they have a write up on princess charlotte bay in their travel section

[flyer912]

Thanks Moffy,
That's the stuff I want to hear.

I just stumbled onto another top looking spot, "Portland Roads"
Anyone know about this place.

Baz

[flyer912]

All good stuff fellas,

I just stumbled on another top looking place, Portland Roads,
anyone know about this place.

Baz

[The-easyrider]

Nice little spot near chille beach only fished there for 10 mins got a small baracuda on a popper but looks the goods

[Moffy]

No worries Baz.

Haven't been in to Portland Roads myself - but if you can't get to Bathurst Heads cause of the wet - its pretty likely that you wouldn't get into the Portland Roads/Chilli Beach either - its much further up the Peninsula Development Road (level with Weipa) which is rarely open by April if there has been any sort of Wet. And even if that road is open you have to cross the Wenlock and the pascoe rivers which can be quite high for a fair while after the end of the wet (My brother is in weipa and earlier this year they did a trip from the crossing down to Moreton station on the wenlock by boats and they had to keep a check on the river height so they could go at the right time (too high = not as many fish, too low = having to drag the boats half way) think it was in May from memory - and we had an early wet this year)

Also Portland Roads is much more exposed to the South Easterly Trade Winds - so if its blowing you are very restricted in what you can do - whereas there's pretty much somewhere you can fish at Bathurst Heads whereever the wind is blowing from, except maybe in strong northerlies - which would be very rare at that time of year up here.

Cheers,

Moffy.