The southeasterlies have finally abated for a while and have opened up most mornings suitable for the small boat brigade.

Quality trout and tuskfish are in great numbers around Dyfkun with some of the trout reaching 65cm, which is a great fish for the west coast.

The land-based fishos have also been getting amongst the action with decent trout, tuskfish and cobia being landed off the rock bars near the Pennefather River mouth.

I recently had a good session on queenfish and little reef species on fly and the pristine flats around Pennefather offer a great place that is full of fish for a complete fly rookie like myself. I reckon if I can catch cobia, trout and dart on fly after my second session than the experienced fly anglers would have a field day in a place like this.

Just walking the beach on foot we managed to see more than species of fish including threadfin, golden trevally, permit, cobia, trout and even a 15kg barracuda, which would have been great fun for me on fly if my wife didn’t catch it first on a popper.

There have been some absolute horses of Spanish mackerel caught down around Pera way with fish over 20kg common.

A mate at work recently showed me a photo of a fish that was more thank 70lb and was probably one of the biggest Spaniards I have seen since I fished around High Island out of Deeral. Fish like that are extremely fast and the initial run when first hooked has to be seen to be believed and is a memory that will be etched in your brain for many years.

The threadfin fishing has really heated up and fish over 1m are being landed on a daily basis. I was recently fishing under the Mission Bridge at night and a mate landed seven fish over 1m and all were released to fight another day. These fish are in my opinion the hardest fighting fish in the river and are also excellent table fish if you are that way inclined.

With the barra season well and truly in swing, please make sure you release any fish that you land as soon as possible.

The coming months will only see the fishing action heat up even more and the good weather will allow anglers to get out to a few deep water hangs to chase jewies, fingermark and saddle tailed sea perch (large-mouth nannygai).

There have also been reports of some fantastic billfish action with good sails and black marlin being reported by the few anglers that chase them. Weipa has a fantastic billfish fishery, yet it amazes me how few people target them.

For southern anglers who are keen on messing with a few of these speedsters there are a few top charter operators that really know what they are doing when it comes to chasing these billies.

Marlin and sailfish one day, barra and salmon the next. Seems like a fantastic way to spend a few days fishing over the wet season I reckon! If you have not fished the numerous waterways around Weipa before, do yourself a favour and book in with a good guide for a fishing experience of a lifetime!