Fishing road trip from Ballina to Cooktown

One of our 4WD club members almost landed a good sized Saratoga downstream of Borumba Dam outside Imbil near Gympie. Good cheap camping along Yabba Creek.

You could easily spend a few pleasant days there.

I think Barra season opens again in October. Lake Awoonga near Gladstone is usually good for a barra though I believe.

We were up around Dimbulah at Easter, Richard, and while we weren't fishing, noticed a couple of weirs on the Walsh River. The Walsh was running when we crossed it, on Mt Mulligan road, so might be worth a try along there too.

The bigger one, Bruce Weir, is to north of town, and the other, unnamed as far as I can see, is a bit further out, to the west of town. There's a water body, called Wurruma Swamp to south of Mt Garnet, don't know what it's like for fishing, and there's some weirs/waterholes up near Brownville, north of Mt Garnet. Never been there either.

Not far to go from that area, up to the Mitchell River, though I wouldn't like to put your boat in there!

Be aware that the Einasleigh River isn't running.Well not at Lyndhurst anyway, on the Hughenden - The Lynd road. Bundock Creek, north of Lyndhurst, wasn't running either, so must be a sign of the past 2 or 3 dry years.

"........never really leaves the blood." Yeah, I can empathise with that Richard. Nearly 50 years on stations in Qld & NT..........about the only thing I don't miss is the bloody bookwork!

Good luck,
Bob

Borumba has been closed a lot lately.Check before you commit to there.

The Porta Bote will serve you better as you travel further north. I've put mine in places up there that I wouldn't even consider in a kayak (some of the larger inhabitants may look at a kayak as a snack!). Mind you, on the smaller waters the kayak would be much better. Depends upon where your main focus is.

Have a look at both Lenthalls Dam and Cania Gorge. At Lenthalls you camp right on the water. Good barra and bass fishing. Cania has plenty of bass and saratoga. And my absolute favourite is Kinchant near Mackay.Camp at the water and just about the best barra fishing in Qld. Do a yearly trip there and we always get good numbers of big fish. Lake itself is very small. Barra two minutes from camp.

Here is aa tease for you

http://www.activeangler.com.au/forum/showthread.php?14804-Barramundi-Kayak-Fishing-Lake-Kinchant&highlight=kinchant

Hi Richard, Sounds like a good trip. You must be a keen fresh water fisho. I would suggest that you look at the Q'ld Gov. Dept of Natural Resources website. There you will be able to buy your Stocked Inpoundment Permit (SIP) & also download maps of all Q'ld dams etc as well as the latest regulations regarding fresh water.

Hema have a series of road maps that cover Q'ld.

AFN publish a series of fishing maps that cover Q'ld. The ones you would use would probably be 29 to 33. I have 31 & 32 as these cover the dams closest to where I live.

Your 2 craft will be suitable for most of the fresh water but the further north you go the more likely you are to meet crocodiles.

The best eating barra come from salt water so in my opinion you would be better off fishing the salt land based. Can't help you there as most of my fishing was off shore.

For camping use Camps Australia Wide 8 or Wikicamps but with a trayon you should be able to stop overnight at any quiet spot.

Take plenty of time & I wish it was me. Bill

Hi Richard, Thanks for the offer but health issues rule it out. If you are going tru Emerald give me a call. I live on the Gemfields near there. Give me a call we might be able to see what's in Fairbairn Dam or Theresa Ck Dam. Number is 49854440.
Bill