Mourilyan - What Could have been!

Its been years since I fished Mourilyan Harbour!
Don't know why....just one of those things. Its a beautiful waterway approx. 100ks south of Cairns and it is quite unique in that it is not really a river as such. Mourilyan is more like a tidal basin with several creeks flowing into it.

It is quite exposed to our prevailing South East trades that blow fairly constantly during the "winter" months and on big tides, the waters rush in and out through a fairly narrow channel making it a bit tricky to fish on all but the slower cycles. Well that's my take on it anyway!

Debbie, and to a lesser extent, my good mate Keith, have been pestering me for months to take them to this place. For no other reason than they have not fished it much while Debbie is still a virgin to its waters. One day baby....when its warm, and not windy and the tides are OK, I'll think about maybe taking you there. See, I'm not really committed to this little patch of paradise.

But last Sunday was a pretty good day, well to start off with anyway. Keith and I had an easy journey south and I was pleasantly surprised when I pull up next to the brand new boat ramp / huge car park / Volunteer Coast Guard headquarters and toilet facilities. This ramp has seen a huge upgrade since the last cyclone with a two lane all tide ramp, floating pontoon and enough car and trailer parking for a whole footy team...I was very impressed.

Hows this for a boat ramp / pontoon set up!

My rig all ready to go!

Keith had done his homework in preparation for this trip, he had collected heaps of data from fisho's who are a lot more experienced than us about where to be at what tide cycle etc, BUT as you know, you can only be in one place at a time. Hmmmmm.......what am I leading to here?
Don't worry Chris, you still have a job at Bransfords.

Sure the water was a cool 20C, but hell man, it looked so good. We drifted along the "secret" spot and cast to magnificent looking snags and bank side mangrove roots and overhangs. There was a crimson flash....Jack! But it failed to hook up.

There was a silver streak....but it was only a small cuda....the wrong type of barra!

But then it came.....that unmistakable thud from a, well, er a.......COD!
Yes, Keith was "cod walloped" again!

Keith and his Cod!

And again....well done!

Just look at the bankside structure!

And thank goodness for these pesky little blighters, for without them, it would have been a very lean day.

This water-way is still to yield up her secrets to us. Sure there was so much great looking country, so may snags and gutters and creeks to explore. But on the day, it just did not happen for us.

How good does this look!

Way upstream in a little feeder creek!

Even I can catch a cod!

"Its winter mate" I exclaimed as we drove home....its always a bit tough when conditions are like this. And I'm the lucky one, I have an ace up my sleeve. I'm off to Aurukun on Thursday to help Rob Paxevanos do a film shoot for his TV show, Fishing Australia. I hope I can cope!

Catch you on the water, regards Les
www.fishingcairns.com.au
www.aurukunfishingcharters.com