Australia – The New Saltwater Fly Fishing Frontier
by
Justin Miller
Australia is definitely THE hot new saltwater destination on the planet. There is so much untapped potential, and the locations that do have viable operations in place are all destinations that we have heard stories about. Australia definitely has a buzz that is growing in the saltwater world. This trip in 2024 was my second expedition to Australia and it was just as amazing as when I visited in 2019. The diversity of species is literally unbelievable, targeting fish that you can’t find anywhere else on earth. We were on Cape York, the spike on the north east corner of the continent, pointing directly at Papua New Guinea. There is still a lot to explore, but this was an amazing place to get our foot in the door, in Cape York, Far North Queensland!
We started our adventure in San Francisco, flying a marathon run across the Pacific, 14 hours in the air, directly to Brisbane. Then a 2nd short flight up to the beach resort town of Cairns. Our flight landed late in Brisbane, I got stuck in 2 lines of over 10+ minutes, then we had to take a bus transfer to a totally separate domestic terminal for the next flight. It was a mad dash! On the bus, I accepted the fact that I was going to miss the flight to Cairns, but as soon as I walked in the door, an Australian Air attendant saw me and came over. I explained the situation and she jumped into action! She had me checked-in in seconds with a boarding pass in my hand, she ran me through security and pushed me right to the head of the line, then wished me luck. I shoved everything into the x-ray and when it popped out the other side, I promptly got flagged. The reels in my carry-on got me… “Go Directly to Jail: Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200”! Haha! There was no bargaining. With my tail between my legs, I went back out through security and back to the check-in desk. The poor girl’s eyes popped out of her head when she saw me again, wondering what I had done. I explained the situation again and she had to hunt down my checked bag so that I could put my reels in it. There was another flight to Cairns an hour later though and the attendant got me rebooked for no additional charge and I was on the next bird to Cairns. A small bump in the road but a good lesson learned… It’s time to stop carrying fishing gear through security at airports worldwide. It’s just too much trouble. I’ve had issues at security with fishing equipment in my carry-on now in Russia, the Seychelles, Australia, Mexico, Canada, Brazil and Argentina. The risk of missing flights due to reels in your bag is extremely high. Everyone wants to carry their expensive gear, obviously, but it’s just becoming impossible.
I made it to Cairns by midday and met with the entire group at the Hilton, where we all were staying, an easy Uber ride from the airport. I had 7 guys that joined me for this adventure. It was a great crew. Everyone was pretty exhausted from the long flights and time change, so we all went down for nap time before we met up at 6:00 PM for dinner.
Cairns is a hopping little tropical beach resort town. Tons of high end touristy shops and restaurants, right on the banks of the Coral Sea. The Esplanade is a long beach front road with all kinds of shops, restaurants, entertainment, massage parlors, etc, all within walking distance of the hotel. There is no real beach though, it’s more like a giant mud flat, so there is a giant saltwater swimming pool on the Esplanade, overlooking the sea. It has sand and everything, tons of people laying on chaise lounges and splashing around in the shallow water, all day, everyday. Their own little artificial beach. The area has it all, so we might have Ubered out of the area maybe once? It was perfect. We did some serious food touring for meals, gathering intel from anyone that would offer. It was incredible. Awesome seafood was obvious, but everything you can imagine is available… Wood fire pizzerias, steak houses, Italian joints, we even had Mexican food for lunch one day!
We were up at 4:00 AM for the charter flight out of Cairns from the private airfield at 5:30 AM, we were going to get in a full day of fishing on entry.
We landed in the little Native Community of Aurukun right at daybreak. We weren’t that far as the crow flies from Weipa, but far enough that the charter makes more sense than the commercial flight. We loaded a van and were on the tenders headed to the ship by like 7:30 AM.
We moved into our rooms on the liveaboard quickly, grabbed some rods and jumped in the boats with breakfast burritos wrapped in tinfoil. Full attack, no messing around.
We were on the west coast of Cape York, in the Gulf of Carpinteria. The outfitters name is Weipa Sports Fishing, owned and operated by my good mate Leroy Hodgetts, who I fished with and have kept in touch since 2019. We were super excited to be back on the water together. Weipa Sports Fishing caters to a lot of spin fisherman, targeting trophy Barramundi in the estuary where we were anchored, but this guide team were real pros and all keen fly fishermen. They knew the fishery like the back of their hands. The West Coast of Cape York, especially in the estuaries, is far more protected from the prevailing winds of the East Cape, the Great Barrier Reef side. We were running on glass from the Mothership to the Barramundi water we were headed to up the estuary. This is a true variety fishery. In 2019 we encountered over 30 different species on the fly. The main target species in 2019 were Barramundi, Golden Trevally and Queenfish, but we had been stuck in the estuaries back then, due to weather, and we were anchored over 150 miles to the north last time. Leroy promised that the fishing was even better down here. The variety is great of course, but most of us were hellbent this year on only one… The Anak Permit. This is the only place on earth to find them, and a few of us had caught the other 3 species of permit, looking to close out the coveted Grand Slam of Perms this week.
The Permit Grand Slam:
- Trachinotus Falcatus – Atlantic Ocean
- Trachinotus Blochii – Indo Pacific
- Trachinotus Africanus – Middle East
- Trachinotus Anak – Australia
We found a few nice Barra’s the 1st day, casting along mangrove walls. My partner Kevin hooked a monster, way over 20 pounds, but it threw the hook on a violent jump. The rest of the barras we caught were like schoolie stripers, 5-8 pounds. One of the other guys in my group landed a giant over 20 as well. The elaborate river system in the upper estuaries of this fishery is well known for producing giant Barramundi, but it is remote enough that there is no competition.
After lunch back at the boat I talked Leroy into pointing the boat downstream to go looking for Anak. It was time to stop messing about. We got out there and the wind had beat the beach up pretty good. We stalked a few lower estuary beaches looking for them, and we got one really good shot at a perm, but my partner splatted the fly right on its head and it exploded off the shallows and into the deep. I probably would have screwed it up too, but watching that shot was painful! HaHa
After fishing, we finally got a chance to relax. Everybody poured a cocktail or grabbed a beer and we started talking with the guides and Leroy about the plan for the week to come. The weather looked great, sun with winds light and variable. Game on! The guides talked about all of the different things to chase and set angler pairs and made plans for the next day. Some guys were into variety, some wanted big barra’s… I was headed outside to hunt the tailing species on the beach. We would basically explore the estuary, or head outside and fish the beaches along the coast. The waves just lap the shore, when the wind is mellow, creating an endless linear flats like scenario. This is where we would hunt the tailing species…
Besides the Anak Permit, I was super excited to get shots at the infamous “Blue Bastards” (Plectorhinchus caeruleonothus). Not only do they have the most epic name in all of the fishing world, they just look like tanks, and they tail in shallow water in the same areas as the permit. When the guides said they had them in good numbers, along the coral rubble outcrops, I was ecstatic! I never heard mention of them in 2019, either because they had not gained popularity yet or that we never needed to talk about them because we couldn’t fish outside on the beach due to the weather… Either way, I was beyond excited to get a crack at them this time. The guides were also super stoked on the vibrantly colored “Tusky”, (Choerodon schoenleinii) is a parrotfish species with these crazy snaggly teeth poking out of their mouths, kind of like tusks. The boys called them “The Tractor Of The Flats” because they were super difficult and were infamous for being unstoppable, running right into the coral and breaking guys off. Turning them away from their goal was like turning a tractor… Sign me up! I wanted to tangle with one!
The first day we got a few fleeting shots at some smaller Anak that were hauling ass away, but that was about it. I hooked 2 tuskies, getting the full tractor treatment on the 1st one, breaking off in the coral after an unstoppable run… But I turned the 2nd Tusky before he got there and was able to get him to the boat. They are gorgeous, despite the snaggle teeth, definitely a worthwhile target to pursue.
My partner that day had a ton of great shots on Blue Bastards. I was so stoked to see them! They can be super finicky and most shots were never even acknowledged. A few others followed and refused… and then one ate! It instantly took off for a huge bomie (coral head) about 100 ft away and there was no stopping it. The guide was in a panic, but what can you do! We all thought it was over, but Dennis got the rod high and by some miracle the fish came up and OVER the giant coral head from the backside. I couldn’t believe it! Once over, after recovering some line, he had it safely over white sand and away from disaster. It tried a few more runs back to the bomie, but never made it. We were so excited when it went into the net! It was an absolute miracle that he survived that first episode on that giant coral head. It was a tank, maybe like 15 pounds. An absolute trophy fish.
On our way to the next beach we spotted some birds working in the Bluewater. It was glass on the open ocean… we had to go investigate. We pulled up to an enormous bait ball that was being attacked from all sides. Birds from above, with giant fish slicing the edges off from all sides. We grabbed our streamer rods and went to work. I think we both hooked up on our 1st cast. We were both tied into big Queenfish around 15-20lbs. Both of them instantly took off, ripping down into the deep, under the bait ball. I was gaining ground on my fish with the rod, bent to the cork, and then I felt a giant heavy weight at the end. The line just steadily started pulling away, and I knew the game was up. A giant bull shark had taken the fish. Just hold tight and the leader cut in about 15 seconds. Dennis suffered the same fate. Super annoying to be re-rigging when there are fish blowing up all around you! Back in the game, our guide Lethal turned back in and another cast from both of us had us doubled up again. We were laughing at the mayhem we were in. It was one of the craziest displays of the violence that goes on in the ocean that I’ve ever seen. Total chaos. The even cooler part was that it kept evolving… All of a sudden it was all tuna shredding the ball, the Queenfish either tired, or full, or too scared to compete with the bully tuna… we landed a few of those missiles too, Longtail, or yellowfin they call them, they pull unbelievably hard. The bait ball got split at one point and now there were 2 different fronts of the war, we stayed on one and it evolved again, now the GT’s coming in for their turn. Both of us landed a few of them too, and a Tea Leaf Trevally… nothing enormous, most of the fish around 15 to 25 pounds. Awesome fish.
We ended up spending over two hours punishing those baitfish alongside the tuna, Geets and Queenies. It was an incredible afternoon. I have never seen a bait ball that you could just stay with that long. They usually break up and sink down at the sight or sound of the boat… It was an experience like you dream about. You just can’t walk away from that deal… but you can’t be greedy either! So, we eventually called the other boats and we reeled up to give them a crack at it, when they arrived. Time to get back on the hunt for Anak!
The wind picked up before we got to the next flat. It got choppy and super tough to spot anything in the white caps and turbid water. I don’t think we saw anything after the bait ball. We will get them tomorrow.
The next day, everybody planned on fishing first light, up river, looking for Milkfish. We saw a few working these areas on the outgoing tide. We anchored up and tied on the algae fly and started casting. With the weak outgoing tide, it was almost like swinging for steelhead. Then strip it up and cast it again when the fly was dangling downstream, straight below the boat. After watching a few fish definitely working and feeding inside my casting range, the line suddenly came tight! The 1st milkfish of the trip hooked up! In this shallow water, the Milky’s can’t dive deep like they do in Bluewater. They have to stay within 2-3 feet of the surface so they just take blistering run after blistering run. The fish took about 15 minutes to convince to come to the net and we had him. They are an absolutely incredible gamefish, and it was special to hook them in shallow water. A few other fish were hooked that morning, it was happening. At about 9:30am the sun gets on the water, the tide starts to slack and the fish stop working. Time to move on… Some guys headed upstream, further into the estuary, while we were headed back out to look for tailer’s.
We saw a few permit again, but again, no proper opportunities where I felt like we had a real chance. They were just buzzing by, nothing happy and feeding in shallow water… but the tuskies and bastards were! We were happy to get shots at them the rest of the day… I hooked a small bastard briefly, but it came unbuttoned on his first surge, the hook never took purchase. That stung, I want to hold one!
We pretty much ran it back the next few days. Some days the milkies were working and feeding in the early morning, other days it would be slow. Everybody landed a Milkfish during the week though, it was epic.
On my 2nd to last day we were on the hunt for Anak again… We had spotted a few pairs of mega models, but they were hauling ass, apparently someplace more important that they wanted to be… As we rounded this little rocky point though, we spotted a nice school of permit up on this little sandy flat, tailing and flashing away. This was it. I was going to get a proper shot at feeding permit, finally! My guide Lethal expertly maneuvered around the point and started getting the boat into position. There were probably 15 perms, with a few other species mixed in with them, feeding away, happy as can be. Just as we got set they started acting squirrely. I laid out a cast just off the edge of the school, praying they wouldn’t spook… I don’t know what happened next. They didn’t spook on the splash of the fly, but they just started fracturing apart, fish darting away in all directions… Something just got them nervous, maybe the vibration of the boat, I don’t know… My heart sunk in my chest as I watched my best opportunity dissolve before my eyes, nothing I could do about it… It took me a half hour and 2 beers to get my body to stop quivering from the adrenaline dump. Hellish. Permit.
On our last day of fishing I was out there with my boy Stove, with Leroy at the helm. We went straight to the Milkfish flats in the estuary again, at the crack of dawn, to take advantage of the low light… It was going crazy! We had a hell of a morning, hooking maybe 5 fish each. It was absolute mayhem, those things pull so stinking hard, it is ridiculous.
After the sun hit the water and the Milkies stopped working, it was time to get serious. Last chance to dance and Stove and I were hell-bent for the Anak Permit. We got out there and pretty much saw the same as we had been. The struggle was real for Perms. An epic day though, I had Stove up on the bow and he had a bunch of good shots at Bastards and Tuskies and just couldn’t come tight. I had a few half ass shots from the back of the boat, but I couldn’t make anything happen. Stove got stuck in some coral on a shot and broke off and Leroy was retying his rig when I spotted a big blue bastard working about 80 yards down the beach. Leroy finishes up the rigging and gets me up on the bow to go after him. As he starts putting me in position and we get closer, Leroy questions if it’s a fish or just a big old dark spot on the bottom. Then it moves and we get pumped, it’s a monster! Leroy gets me a great shot from about 50ft with the wind on my left shoulder. The fly lands with about a 3ft lead, let it sink for a few seconds to get it down to his level, then just a couple of short strips. The fish instantly turns right over to the fly. We’re kind of freaking out as it moves in to investigate. Leroy yelling to set if I feel anything… a couple more short bump strips and he closes in and tips on the crab, sucking it down. I strip into him and he bolts. Leroy peed himself a little I think, I am trying not too. The tank covers 60ft of white sand in no time and buries himself in some coral rubble right on the beach. Leroy is freaking out yelling at me to get him out of there. I don’t know why, but I wasn’t even that stressed out, just felt everything was going to be OK… A bit of solid pressure, but not forcing it, and after a few stressful seconds for Leroy he just swam out of the cover and back out over the white sand. I managed to keep him from getting back in the rocks on his next few surges and after maybe a 10 minute battle we had him in the net. I was so excited to have landed my first blue bastard and it was a proper one, over 20 pounds. It was the fish of the trip for me, and the grand finale. I was happy to walk away after that one. Looking at the leader, he had cut me up pretty good, a couple more seconds in that coral rockpile and he would have won… I should have been more stressed out, like Leroy!
In between all of the target fish I’ve mentioned, as a group, we landed a total of 46 different species. Lots of them are small little weird things that dart out of the coral, but the diversity is so impressive and a defining part of this amazing fishery. The guides would just refer to the little weird ones collectively as “Shitta’s”, but each evening I made the guides sit down and tell us the real names of each of the different species’. We kept a detailed list, looking up every one of them in the fish book they had on the boat, to verify. The whole group was super into it and would crowd around the table as we added the day’s new species to our hand written Master List, every night. It was a super cool thing to do, both for our own personal knowledge, but to also give those “meaningless” fish actual meaning and value. Every one of them got put on the list, all equally important on the list, no matter how Shitta they were. It was awesome… We did land all of the actual “trophy” fish species too, Knowles pulled off a miracle and landed an Anak permit on the last day, the only one for the group! I was so pumped for him and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t super jealous, but I guess I just have to go back next year to finish the Slam!
Live Aboard Details…
The mothership was different, but super comfortable and spacious. It doesn’t look like much, more like a big barge. It doesn’t even steam around, they just planted it near the mouth of the estuary in the perfect position to fish hundreds of miles of water in any direction. It had a barge platform off the back with all the fuel where the tenders tied off each evening. The rear transom platform was where we geared up and accessed the tenders, and then you entered the back door into the galley. Walking through the kitchen and small dining room there is a hall with two rooms with bunk beds on one side and two rooms in the stern with two side-by-side double beds. The two rooms in the back were great, wide beds, and en-suite shower and toilet. The bunk bedrooms had to use a separate shower room and toilet out on the back deck. No one complained about the bunkbeads… There was a steep ladder staircase up to the top deck from the back transom deck, up top it opened up into a large area with open air sides with railings, but fully covered with a hard roof. The dining room table sat right in the middle of the deck, with mini fridges full of beers and mixers and cut limes up front. They had a giant reach-in freezer that they kept the liquor in and tons of bagged ice that they made themselves in an industrial ice machine onboard the boat. Everyone hung out upstairs each evening around the table. The boat was spacious and comfortable and everything we needed. And with fishing like they have, nobody will complain. It’s no super yacht, but actually more comfortable than plenty of other liveabord “yachts” I’ve stayed on.
They had a washer and dryer on the top deck, just give the hostess the clothes after you get them off each evening and they’d be ready for action that evening! The ship had spotty Wi-Fi, no surprise.
The chef was excellent, the food was awesome. Dinners were diverse, steak, seafood, pasta. We got a lot of sashimi from the tuna we whacked, that is always a giant bonus. Breakfast could be ordered with eggs, bacon, sausage etc, or you could just make some toast and yogurt, which is what I did. No big sit down deal, eat on your schedule as you hustled and bustled to get on the boat each morning in the dark. Fishing was the priority, we were running as soon as the guides could see enough not to kill us. Lunch was your standard sandwich and a bag of chips. You told the guide what drinks you wanted and they were in the cooler, that was it. That works just fine for me. The food was everything it needed to be at a remote hard-core, fly fishing destination.
Both destinations had pre-order websites for all booze. With weight limits for the charter flights, this is important, especially due to the fact that they actually landed the plane in the Aboriginal village of Aurukun, which is a dry native community with heavy penalties for smuggling in liquor of any kind. You can not fly in with your own stash. Orders must be made far in advance, like 6 weeks, to give them time to have it delivered by barge to the boat.
The owner of the Eclipse D handed the reins to a new Captain, hired from New Zealand, who brought his wife to be the hostess. They were fantastic, real Pro’s. His orientation about protocol on his ship and safety let you know that he was extremely qualified with a lot of experience and that the ship was under control, even though it wasn’t ever going to go anywhere… His wife was a sweetheart and was always there to help anybody with anything on the boat. They were a great team holding down the fort every day. They were super in touch with us every time we pulled up after fishing too. They would ask me everyday, with legitimate excitement and hope, if I found that permit that I was chasing… I let them down every time! HAHA!
The schedule tells you who these guys are. Boats fired up in the dark at 6:30 AM and we often did not get back to the mothership until after 5:00 PM. They don’t look at the clock. Dinner was at 7:00 PM. The guides were amazing, relentless in their pursuit, and fully in tune with the tides and winds. They always knew where they wanted to be and when, no matter what you wanted to chase on any given day.
I kept up with the boys everyday for a few weeks after I got out of there, sharing pictures and stories… Lethal took me bow hunting for hogs in the swamp one evening. It was super fun… so I was super stoked to send him the pic of the piggy I got 2 days after I got home… He replied with picture after picture, every day, for 10 days, of GIANT Anak his dudes had landed. Absolutely killing me… I need to go back!
Gear:
Every angler needs to have 2 rods in the boat everyday and a back up. I did see a couple big GT’s come up shallow once, hunting close to shore, but they were moving and there wasn’t a shot to take… No need to carry 12wt’s around for a needle in a haystack. So we had 2 rods in either 9wt or 10wt. I had both rods in 10wt, the tailing rig set up with a full floating Grand Slam line with a 17lbs leader. Just like the Carribean, nothing fancy. I ran a white crab all week, switched to ESB Shrimp a few times after a refusal on the crab. The Flexo was a favorite as well. The other rig had an INT sink tip with 6ft of 40lbs level leader with a streamer tied on. I liked the chartreuse Half and Half most of the time. Obviously, good saltwater reels are mandatory. Leroy wanted smaller Clousers and had some on the boat for us to purchase.
The fishing on the West Coast of Cape York is absolutely out of control. After two trips fishing in the area, It’s safe to say that nobody will go there and not have an amazing experience. It has something for everybody. Variety, big fish, rare trophy fish, flats fishing, estuary/river fishing, and bluewater. You choose your own adventure, everyday. If you wanna go bang 100 fish you can. If you only want to chase the one of your dreams, you can do that too. And it’s pretty much fishable in any conditions. Even if there’s nuclear wind on the ocean, you can go hide in the labyrinth of the estuary. I would send anybody to fish with the crew at Weipa Sports Fishing. It is a mind blowing trip, for sure.
Headed Home:
We boarded the tenders early the next morning and took the short 20 minute water transfer to the ramp, 5 minutes to the little airstrip, the 45 minute flight, and we were back in Cairns, checked into the hotel by 10am. We ran out and got some food, then back to the rooms for a siesta. We had reservations for the whole team to have 1 more dinner together. We couldn’t walk into the Waterbar Steakhouse on the way in, so we booked it 8 days out. It was great, and a wonderful Grand Finale with the squad.
The next morning, everyone was getting out of Dodge at different times. Stove and I had a mid-morning departure, so not too much stress. We flew to Brisbane and had an easy transfer this time, no reels in the carry-on bags! Then we were homeward bound, the 14 hour flight over the vast Pacific.
It was such an epic trip. It is such a diverse fishery, with so many new and unusual things to see. Obviously the fish, but everything else as well… The birds and their songs, Kangaroos hopping around in the fields instead of deer… It just feels different, everywhere you look, and that is a very cool thing. It is wild and a world of wonder. It is no surprise that it is becoming a destination that everyone is talking about, and that new target species are emerging from. Everyone that goes wants to go back, including me.
Contact Justin Miller at (800) 669-3474 | (530) 222-3555 | justin@theflyshop.com to learn more about Australia and this incredibly diverse fishery.
