Fly Fishing in Remote Australia

Cape York & The Anak Permit

Early this year an opportunity presented itself to my dad and I - to go to Australia to visit my mom who is there on an extended work trip. Obviously, as fly fishermen, the two of us looked at each other and the gears started turning about how we could make a fishing trip out of it. After seeing it on social media and doing some research, we decided to get four days of fishing at The Cape Lodge at Cape York, with the Aussie Fly Fisher outfitter & guides. There’s something about heading to a new destination with different species and a change of scenery from your typical outings on your home waters. My time at The Cape Lodge was more than just a fishing getaway - it was an experience that will be hard to ever match, from the early morning rises to the stories shared in the late evenings from everybody’s day on the water. This trip became one I won’t forget anytime soon. I wanted to share a little about my trip to The Cape - the highlights, challenges, and unforgettable memories from down under.

Spot The Fish!

The species that was on our mind was the Anak Permit, native only to northern Australia. What differentiates this permit from others are their snub noses and long yellow fins. Australia also has some Indo-Pacific Permit found in Western Australia from Exmouth all the way north. In our case we were staying in just about the most northern part of Queensland in a small mining town called Weipa. After landing in Brisbane from Calgary, we traveled an additional 6 hours in total to get up to the lodge - the longest travel I had ever experienced, and the excitement of getting out to fish wasn’t making it go by any quicker.

Grilled Lamb Chop Night 

Pulling Out the Sticks on Day One! 

Saltwater fly fishing is often described as the perfect blend of patience, precision, and likely a lot of frustration for a typical trout angler. Unlike the fishing we are used to here on the Bow and other rivers in Alberta where typically you are picking out fish-holding water, or you’re out there late in the evening looking for fish to start doing push-ups. The flats demand sharp eyes, quick reactions, maintaining patience, and the ability to cast that fly into a hula-hoop out anywhere from 20’-80’, as if the constant 40km/hr winds were casual in trout conditions as well. Keen observant fish and hungry, fast apex predators are all residents of the flats. Getting into them depends on your ability to spot them in the conditions you are presented with, as well your ability to execute when the opportunity is presented.

On the other hand, there’s nothing quite like it, spotting a fish cruising through crystal-clear water, making the perfect cast, and watching it inspect and decide if it wants to eat, or as soon as your line hits the water, the sheer speed of a big GT or Queenie pulls it tight. The highs are high, and the missed/lost fish are memorable, it’s all part of the game.

Is it Mars With Vegetation and Happy Fish?

Fishing on the Cape was almost like fishing on another planet, the red bauxite riddled dirt and vibrant green flora is completely foreign to just about everywhere on our planet. Let alone the amount of biodiversity on land and in the water, seeing wallabies hop along the edge of these tall and steep red cliffs, along with wild horses all over the long stretches of fine white sand beaches. And the best part… the endless species of fish you come across in the water, whether it’s cruising schools of Permit searching for crabs or a hungry group of fish hitching a ride on the back of a Manta-Ray, the opportunities are seemingly endless when it comes to variety of fish to be had.

We spent a lot of time under the clouds on the water but luckily, we got our gaps of sunshine and had opportunities at fish. Most fly anglers who have experienced fishing on the tropical flats have probably experienced the indecisiveness and unpredictability of permit, you can see them and what direction they are moving, but will it stay on that path long enough to see your fly as you let it sink? Or is he going to see something else within that 10-15' lead between him and the fly in a different direction that turns him off course, even better, if he does see your fly and takes a look is he going to eat it?

Battling The wind and Tuskies

My first experience on a respectable fish was one of the two huge cobia that were following the Ray we had been chasing around most of the first morning, we kept running into the issue of dinky golden trevallies coming in and smoking the fly before the cobia had a chance to even see it. Turns out fish love shrimp just as much as us. After about a dozen reps, the trevallies gave my fly a chance to sink, and the Cobia finally had a chance to see my fly and sure enough both tracked it down to the boat and the closest one ate. From setting the hook came the most blitzing run I have ever felt from a fish in my life. Before I knew it he had torn the rest of my fly line off my reel and I was about 50 yards into my backing, the hardest I’d ever held onto my rod. It was gone about 30 seconds later when his hard run crossed into the path of the huge manta we had been following, the tension of the ray getting caught up in the fly line had enough power to break the hook at the shank and he was gone, you know you can’t get them all!

Setting Into My First Golden Trevally

My experience in south Belize was the first and only tropical salt trip I had been on prior to this trip. Where, I did have a few shots at Permit that were fish deserving, but like a Permit they thought otherwise, after their inspection of my fly it turned out to be not edible. Honestly going into this trip, I had the mindset that every shot I had at a permit was either going to be a follow to the boat or a rejection with no eat, which can make shots at fish so nerve wracking that you end up making simple, even more aggravating mistakes.

If it sounds like I lost the first Permit I hooked, then you are correct. Whether it was letting him run and the extra line going out getting tangled up around my feet, or not giving him enough slack to run, or a fish breaking me off in the coral because I let him go too far too quick, I couldn’t seem to keep my first couple fish on no matter how good my hookset was.

The Fish That Took My P-Card

Luckily after a few reps I was able to keep ’em on and get my first permit to the boat. Finally, the fish I have dreamt of catching while tropical fly fishing - elusive, indecisive, and unpredictable, the Permit was finally in my hands.

I managed to get my first two permit on the second day of fishing out of the four days we had at the lodge. This was the day we saw the most permit by far, I’m willing to say we saw upwards of 50-60 fish that day with at least a dozen extremely solid shots that got away because of the wind or cloud cover, and like permit, they just disappeared. These fish can bring you an advantage in the clouds and chop though, the Anak are the only species of Permit that do a movement called “mooning”. Now I know it sounds rude, but mooning is when a fish rubs its side on the bottom for a few seconds, and the silver body reflects any light possible coming down on the fish to the surface, making it easier to find schools of fish in clouds and through the chop. Day 2 turned out to be great, my dad and I both hooked a few fish each but only two made it to the boat which were both mine. This meant Justin had it out even harder for these indecisive fish on Day 3, and it treated him great.

Tank #2

Face Portrait of This Stud

To kick off our third day we went north again about an hours’ drive and headed for the same flat we had gotten into all the fish the day before. Firstly, we hit the beaches and long sand bars hoping we would find fish following the tide into the river mouth flats. Our first visitors were a small group of large golden trevallies and Justin was able to pick one up while I lathered up the sunblock.

The next flat we were met with a decent sized Bull shark; sure enough because of him there were no more fish on the flat, so onto the next one. The next sand bar was teeming with schools of small Queenfish. After picking up a couple dinks, about 20 minutes later a group of bigger fish swam by and Justin made a cast at them and got into a big one. After watching it jump over and over again we finally got it to the boat and were joined by a roughly 10-foot Hammerhead. The first I’ve seen in my life, right beside the boat, it was super cool to witness. I wish I had gotten the camera out quicker to get a shot, but he had that queenie we just released on his mind and darted off to figure out where it had gone.

First Fish of The Day!

After lunch we headed back up to the flat that we had seen all the permit at the day before, my dad and I were both pretty eager for him to get some shots at fish, so he spent most of the time up front fishing on Day 3. Contradictory to the day before, the flat wasn’t teeming with life when we showed up. Then, we started getting into some decent Golden Trevally, yet to see a permit at all.

Warming Up For The Permit!

 

Calling All fish With a Cold One

There's nothing like a beer to change your tides though. Shortly after we enjoyed a cold one, permit started showing up and finally my dad hooked up into a stud fish that took him for a ride to the edge of the flat and we had to play the catch-up game with him. After the 20-minute fight Justin had finally got his permit, and the fish he had on his mind the whole trip was in his hands as well.

J-dubz First Permit!

It’s totally different watching someone catch their dream fish compared to catching your own. When you get yours, the feeling is almost surreal and you can’t really believe it in the moment until you finally see that fish swimming away as you let him go back home. Whereas watching someone land theirs, you see the pure excitement and almost relief come out of the person, their face typically shows “This is the best moment ever, I finally did it” running through their head, as if the fish had rewarded all their hopes and dreams. That’s really when you realize fishing is more than catching a bunch of fish, it’s about the experience, frustration and missed or lost opportunities that really build up to the celebration of finally getting that one fish to the boat.

Celebrations All-Around

Day 4 came around pretty quick, sadly we battled the clouds and hard blowing winds all day and it made it pretty tough to spot fish and deliver accurate casts especially when Blue Bastards and Tuskies are the species at hand. They are pretty keen on what they eat and not really interested if it’s not in their path of travel, if you do trick one to eat, you're in for the most dogging fight you’ve felt. Once they realize they are hooked they will take you into the gnarliest coral or any hole they can find to get into. All said our Day 4 turned out to be a day of losing these electric blue fish in the endless blue water and getting broken off in the reef whenever the fish had the chance.

Where in Calgary Is This?

Getting Ready To Roll

All said we had an absolute blast Down Under. The talk of huge dinner plate sized spiders and ultra venomous snakes is just to keep you away from this fishing haven - with zero experiences of huge bug encounters, I’ll take it as the cherry on top. Let alone how terrific the fishing was, the hospitality and charisma of the people was just outstanding and familiar; it was kind of like being around a bunch of Canadians only with funny accents and words. My thoughts of my time down under has consisted of “When am I going to go back?” and “How am I going to get back?”. If you have been thinking about bringing your fly rods to a new or first salt destination, every single day of the week I will recommend remote Australia as an addition to the fly angler's ever-growing bucket list.

One Last Sunset in Paradise