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| Strikezone Fly & Sportsfishing Weipa, Cape York, Far North Queensland, Australia Looking for guided Fly & Sportsfishing in one of the best fishing destinations in Australia? Well you have found it! Strikezone Fly & Sportsfishing Charters a professional guided fishing operation run by long term Weipa local flyfishing & sportsfishing guide Craig Jenkins. Strikezone Fly & Sportsfishing offer first class flyfishing & sportsfishing for all our clients! Based in Weipa a remote community located on North-western side of Cape York, one of Queensland last fishing frontiers. Because of Weipa's remoteness it doesn't have the fishing pressure of most other places in Australia, on most days we won't see another boat on the water, making Weipa a first class fishing paradise. Home of Australia's premier sportsfish the mighty Barramundi. Weipa Barramundi's are eager lures and flies takers, we catch Barramundi fishing our beaches, creeks and rivers systems. Barramundi are great but they are not the only fish that you will catch here in Weipa, we have caught 27 different species in a day and 42 species in a week! From tropical flyfishishing to unbelievable sportsfishing or just relaxing holiday, exploring pristine mangrove rivers & miles of untouched beaches where the only foot print you will see will be your own. We'll show you Weipa like only a local can. Craig & Nicole Jenkins, owner/operators have both grown up in Weipa and have an extensive local knowledge which in the fishing world is a major advantage! Local knowledge that you will only get with Strikezone Fly & Sportsfishing Charters, this local knowledge produces quality fish for our clients every time. We can cater from one person to larger groups of people we'll arrange other local fishing guides to make your dream fishing trip a reality! Fly fishing & Sportsfishing aboard one of our two custom built 5 & 6 meter boats. Our boats have been designed with fly fishing & sportsfishing in mind. Blue water or still water, our boats are built to survey, safe & comfortable. We can customise a fly & sportsfishing packages to suit you needs. To help you decide what's the best time of year for your fishing adventure read our monthly fishing reports, letting you know what's bitting and when. Got a question? visit our frequent asked questions, we will be glad to answer your questions. Visit our Fishing Forums see what the locals are talking about, become a member and add to the forum your self. We would like to hear from you. Weipa is only a 90 minute flight from Cairns. Qantas flies into Weipa daily, up to three times a day via Cairns international airport. Join us in Weipa for a fishing holiday of a lifetime! Prices, from day charters through to extended fishing trips. A fishing holiday in Weipa can be a holiday of a lifetime or like most of our clients it can become a regular holiday destination. Let us arrange your fishing adventure today. Want to know our prices? We have fishing and accommadition packages to make it easy to arrange your fishing holiday. Species Targeted From Sailfish to mangrove Jacks they are all here, so many species. Some of the most commonly encountered species can be seen in or photo galleries great snaps of our fish encounters. Please have a look and remember we can put you in the picture. Barramundi Cobia Triple Tail Black Jew King Salmon Blue Salmon Giant Trevally Golden Trevally Long Tail Tuna Spanish Mackeral Mangrove Jack Red Emperor Coral Trout Finger Mark Queenfish Giant Herring Permit Milkfish Join us for an fishing adventure you will never forget! Guided Flyfishing & Sportsfishing in Weipa, Cape York, North Queensland, Australia, the best fishing on the planet! Fishing holiday of a life time. Craig & Nicole Jenkins, the owners/operators of Strikezone Fly & Sportsfishing Charters, have both grown up in Weipa and have acquired extensive local knowledge, and in the fishing world this is our major advantage! Craig has been sportsfishing in Weipa since the age of 10 when he first joined the Weipa Sportsfishing Club and combined with his local knowledge, the result is quality fish for YOU! OUR POLICY We promote "Catch & Release" to ensure excellent fishing for our clients in years to come. OUR QUALIFICATIONS We hold all required tickets, permits & insurance neccessary in our profession and our vessel meets with all safety & survey requirements. OUR VESSEL 5 meter Cairns Custom Craft - Barra Tracker "STRIKEZONE" has been custom built for fly fishing & sportsfishing. The hull is a vee bottom with reversed chins to allow it to efficiently cut through waves unlike flat bottom punt style boats, yet the reversed chins makes the boat stable at rest, giving YOU the best of both worlds! At 5 metres, the length allows us to fish small creeks yet is big enough for blue water. Tiller steering maximises fishing space for our clients. Join our Fishing Forums for news, reveiw, tips and general chat. What's Biting? Fish will bite all year round however some months may be better than others for certain species. For example, Barramundi will bite better in the hotter months, in fact, the hotter the better. This is also true for most river species. In the winter months the Barramundi and other river species slow down, they will bite, just not as well. The cold months June, July & August is when the blue water fishing hot's up. Bait schools flood into the bay, these bait schools a closely followed by Tuna, Mackerel, Trevally & Queenfish. If you have a target species in mind let us know and we'll base your fishing holiday to suit the particular species.Tides are very important no matter what time of the year the best fishing is always on the best tides! If you are flexible with your dates for your fishing trip we'll base your trip on the best possible tides. Check the Tides here Click hereto read our monthly fishing reports. Find out what's happening here in Weipa in the different months of the year. Charter Season Our Charter Season commences in March, after our wet season. There may still be rain in March but the wet is all but over and this is an excellent time of the year to lure fish. The Barramundi are hungry after their breeding season. The water will still be murky from all the fresh water coming out of the rivers. Swamps drain into the main river system this is where we'll find Barramundi and King Salmon wait for prawns and bait fish to wash out into the river. We fish through until Mid December the start of our wet season.Join us for a fishing holiday of a lifetime! Fly Fishing Owner and operator of Strikezone Fly & Sportsfishing Craig Jenkins has been saltwater fly fishing and fly tying since 1985. We are constantly designing & developing flies that suit the local water and conditions. This development has lead the way to Craig's own fly designs, patterns that work best & catch fish. We are happy to share our knowllage with clients and other fly enthusiast. If your into saltwater fly tying visit our Fly Recipes page to see fly tying instuctions for some of the best flies for the Weipa & Cape York region. Recipes including flies designed by Craig Jenkins. With saltwater flyfishing is not a matter of cast a fly into the water and hoping for something to bite your fly, even in Weipa. There is a lot more involved, choosing the right fly, fly lines & leaders not to mention tide, time of day, etc, etc. This is where years of local knowledge comes into play. Some of Strikezone Fly & Sportsfishing milestone were the first Milkfish & Permit to be caught on Fly in Weipa waters were by our clients. If you choose to fish with us you'll be fishing with a ture Weipa local, you can't beat local knowledge!. Fly Fishing Fourms, visit our fishing forums for interesting topics on flyfishing including our General flyfishing discussion page where you'll find topics including tips, techenics, locations, photo's and lots of other topics on flyfishing. Weipa covers the whole spectrum for Fly Fishers from gracefully wading the flats sight casting to a huge range of speices that cruse our beaches to super fast action of casting shooting heads to schools of polagis in a feeding frenzy out in the bluewater "it's all here for you". Barramundi Sight Casting Wading & walking our flats & beaches, you can catch just about anything! Sight cast to Barramundi, Blue Salmon, Golden Trevally, Giant Herring & Queenfish. Two of our spectacular catches from the beach is a 20 kg Cobia & a 15 kg Giant Trevally. Catching these fish like this in clear shallow water makes for spectacular flyfishing. There are also Permit & huge schools of Milkfish to 15 kg we come across along our beaches. It takes a dedicated fly fishers to target these fish, it's all worth the time when one takes, dig your toes in the sand and "HANG ON". See "Milkfish on Fly" article here Bluewater We'll head out the channel markers to cast poppers to three different type of Trevally species including Brassy Trevally, Tea Leaf Trevally and of course the mighty Giant Trevally. Then we'll sink shooting heads to the bottom for huge Golden Trevally, Cobia, Black Jew & many more. Our channel markers guide the huge oar ships into port these also are a safe haven for huge schools of bait and where there's bait there's predators. Mackerel, Giant Trevally, Giant Herring, Queenfish, Cobia and Long Tail Tuna cruise the shallow reefs, the sea birds give them away. As we get closer you start to see the massive splashes from the feeding fish. Cast the fly in to the schools and strip as fast as you can. Recommended Fly Fishing Tackle For fishing Flats, Beaches, Creeks & Rivers, 6 to 10 wt rods with intermediate and floating lines are ideal. Flies: For these areas include Poppers, Deceivers, Bend Backs, Pink Things, Clousers & Delbergs. Tied on 1/0 to 4/0 hooks. One of the best flies is the good old White Clouser "They will catch anything & every thing!" Reels should carry a minimum of 200 meters of backing, large arbor reels are perfect. Leader material 8 kg fluocarbon for Permit & Milkfish. 15 to 20 kg shock leaders for most other fishing. Out on the Blue water Rods 10 to 12 wt rods with sinking lines and/or shooting heads (450 grams or more). Flies for blue water including surf candies, flashy profiles & streamer fly tied 4/0 to 8/0 extra stong hooks. Click Fly Recipes for great Weipa flies. Shock leaders 20 to 40 kg. Reels Must carry a minimum of 200 meters of backing, good drag systems is also an advantage. Best choice: Ideally would be to bring three rods. 8 weight rod with a floating line, a 9 weight with an intermediate line and a 10 to 12 weight with a fast sinking line. Spare lines are also a good idea. If you would like to target Giant Trevally on fly, bring big flashy profiles or streamers flies 6-8 inches long tied to 6/0 to 8/0 hooks & a fly rod to cast them! Our Tackle we don't supply fly rods, reels or lines. However our tackle boxes are full of the best flies for the area, so don't worry if you are unsure of your fly selection, these flies are supplied at cost price, if lost. Sports Fishing The Hot Spots we choose for the day will depend on the targeted species and what is biting best at the time. We endeavor to show you a new sportsfishing destination each day, we like to show you as much of our region as we can! We want you to have the best possible fishing holiday so you will return year after year. Here are a few examples of the sportsfishing hot spots available around Weipa and in the Cape York Region: Creeks & Rivers Fish in pristine mangrove lined creeks and rivers all with unique Eco Systems. The low tides force baitfish out of the mangroves and out onto the flats. For the baitfish, there is no where to hide from hungry Barramundi and King Salmon! This is the ideal time to have lure or fly in the water. Casting into mangroves snags is the challenge, getting your fly or lure right in close usually rewards you with a Barramundi or Mangrove Jack. Coastal Beaches: We'll visit Weipa's coastal beaches & flats where the only footprints you will see will be your own! Crystal clear water for wading and targeting schools of Salmon, Giant Herring & Barramundi with the occasional sighting of a big cruising Giant Trevally or Queenfish. We'll keep a look out bait schools along the shoreline, hungry predators push the small fish hard up on to the bank. Skipping a pooper over the surface fools the Queenfish & Salmon into thinking that baitfish is getting away. There is nothing like competition, they'll be climbing over each other to get at your lure. Coastal Reefs: Shallow Reefs, full of reef dwelling species. Casting jigs & poppers into clear water for visual strikes from Coral Trout, Red Emperor, Finger Mark and Giant Trevally. Hooking up is easy, getting the fish out of their coral homes and to the boat is the challenge! Just hang on. Trolling deep driving lures over bombes watching the sounder for schooling Golden Snapper or Finger Mark once the fish are found you can have multiple hook-ups every pass. A sportsfishing paradise!Pelagic's like Mackerel, Tuna, Queenfish & huge Cobia patrols the reef edges. These are some of the toughest fighting fish you will ever connected too. We watch the sky for sea birds diving into the water feeding on baitfish pushed up to the surface by hungry Tuna, Mackerel, Trevally and Queenfish. Exciting fishing, fish come thick and fast when they're in a feeding frenzy. Check out our Sportsfishing Section of our Fishing Forums. Species Targeted: Barrmudi, Mangrove Jacks, King Salmon, Blue Salmon, Giant Trevally, Golden Trevally, Long Tail Tuna, Mack Tuna, Mangrove Jack, Glod Spot Travelly, Red Emperor, Spanish Mackerel, Queenfish, Giant Herring, Finger Mark, Coral Trout & many, many more. Lure Fishing Tackle Beaches, flats & rivers, Suggested tackle 6 to 8 kg rods & reels, bait casters or spinning tackle. Braided lines are also advantage (6 to 10 kg). Lures include Gold Bombers, "c" lures (head master), mad mullet and other minnow type lures, Poppers in the 75mm-120mm size range. Best colors, gold with a black back, pink and blue. Make sure your lures have extra strong saltwater hooks. Blue Water I like to use 7-foot spin rods with fast retrieve reels, 15 kg outfits, again braided lines are an advantage. Bluewater Lures include, poppers, jigs and trolling type lures with extra strong saltwater trebles. Our Tackle, If you don't have the right tackle or any tackle at all we can supply all your you'll need, lures, rods & reel no extra charge. This tackle is on a replacement for loss or damage bases. *We only use top quality tackle, which can be expensive. Please contact us if you require for more info. Weipa - Cape York - Queensland Weipa is a remote community located in Albatross Bay on the western coast of Cape York, Australia. Weipa is from the Aboriginal word Waypa meaning "hunting ground ". The area around Weipa, Cape York region was first explored back in the year1606 by Dutch explorer Willem Jansz who sailed the Duyfken. Willem set ashore about 40km north of Weipa here the first contact with the local Aboriginals where made. The northern most point of Albatross Bay is called Duyfken point in honor of their expedition. Weipa's first settlement were missionaries who arrived in Weipa in 1890. In the early 1900's the red cliffs of Albatross Bay that was noted almost 100 years prior by Matthew Flinders on his circumnavigation of Australia, were found to be bauxite however gold had just been discovered in the Wenlock River and there was little interest in the red mineral. Geologist Harry Evans rediscovered the bauxite in 1955, which was found to be the largest deposit of pure Bauxite in the world. Five years later Comalco & the State Government worked together to built Australia's newest mining town. These days, Comalco's mining lease covers 2590sq. km of the Weipa, Cape York, Region. Comalco indirectly employs around 1500 of Weipa's 2500 residents.Weipa facilities include a shopping center, news agency, post office, bowls club, 18 hole golf club, four restaurants& seafood shop. Weipa locals like to make their own entertainment; fishing, hunting and camping would be most popular.Albatross Bay has four major river systems, miles of untouched beaches and coastal reefs all within close vicinity of the Weipa town-ship. Weipa is situated approximately 840 kms north west of Cairns, only a one hour plane flight! Weipa is accessible by Road or Air. Driving to Weipa? Want to find out about road condition, info on camping, alcohol restrictions or anythig that you need to know. Check out our Fishing Forums talk to the locals. Fishing in Weipa Fish in pristine mangrove lined creeks and rivers all with unique Eco Systems. Visit Weipa's coastal beaches & flats where the only footprints you will see are your own! Shallow Reefs, full of reef dwelling species. Cast into clear water for visual strikes! Our Charter Season commences in March, after our wet season. It may still rain in March but the wet is over and this is an excellent time of the year to lure fish. The water will still be murky from all the fresh water coming out of the rivers. Flies work best when the waters clear in April. We fish through until Mid December. Getting To Weipa By Road: A dirt road links Weipa to Cairns and this is an approximate 12 hour trip. This road is only accessible during the dry season, from March to November. It is recommended for 4WD vehicles only. By Air: Qantas has daily flight service into Weipa via Cairns International Airport, up to three flights per day. These flights are a comfortable 90 minute flights in a modern turbo prop aircraft. Click here for Qantas website you can book a flight or check reservations Our Climate: March, April: 28°- 35° C - the average temperature range May: 26°-30° C - the weather starts to cool June, July, August: 22°-26° C - Weipa's winter (escape the cold southern winter) September: 26°-35° C - the weather starts to warm up October, November, December: 30° - 38°C- the hottest months (The weather is hot but, so is the fishing) |
Strikezone Sportsfishing Charters
PO Box 3396 Tannum Sands Queensland 4680
✆ 07 49732169.
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