West Coast QLD - Gulf Country

[Corry]

I've put this on another forum as well, so apologies to those that see it twice.

Looking at planning a trip to the west coast, we live in Cairns, have done Karumba a few times, not wanting to head over to King Ash, so have been looking at the west coast of QLD.


One option is to work out of Karumba, and head north to fish some of the tributaries along the coast (am planning a Kowanyama trip for another time), but not sure what the access is like to the estuaries up from Karumba.
First dilemma is which boat to take, we've got a 360M Cruise Craft that is purely our reef boat, not set up to be grounded, but set up for long distance, and also great to Barra fish out of, as long as not in hazardous water (fish Hinchinbrook a bit with it). Other boat is a plate 4.2m, set up for extreme offroad, same boat and set up as Sammy Hitzke Fishing.


Depending on which boat we take would depend on where and how far up we could venture, big boat would have Staaten River in reach (has about 250-300klm range, can easily carry extra fuel), but not sure on water depth etc. Not interested in damaging or knockin it around, and would have to pack pots carefully, but can be done.


Little boat would keep us closer to Karumba, but still with a healthy range, and extra fuel can be carried, would probably look at limiting the venture to around Smithburne River.
Looking for any info on any of the area over there, previous trips to Karumba has seen us hanging around closely, Norman/Bynoe Rivers, would like to venture a bit further, do the miles get the smiles sort of thing.
I also believe that Staaten may be off limits now, can anyone confirm, and what about the other creeks up to there?


Is there anywhere we can go to camp along one of the rivers along that stretch, we're fully set up for off grid camping?
Interested to hear what others have experienced in the area.

[Alchemy]

Hi Corry. We’ve done it twice. As far up as the Staaten. Have a read of this, it may help a bit. Happy to answer any questions.

http://alchemyfishing.blogspot.com/p...ssey-2011.html

[Stressless]

You can tow a tinnie into the Smithburne, but need to be set up for self-recovery if you get bogged in a sand drift.

Here is the camping info: https://kurtijaraboriginalcorporation.com.au/

You can sleep on a boat, but not on land without a permit

[Corry]

Thank you Alchemy and Stressless, that is the perfect information that I'm looking for.

Great write up Alchemy, would love to see more of those.