Most Cape York visitors stick to the main development road. The fishing country worth reaching is off it. An account of two weeks north of Musgrave.
Getting There
The Peninsula Development Road runs from Cairns to the tip of Cape York — sealed to Laura, graded dirt from there. In the dry season it is accessible to any standard 4WD with reasonable clearance. The fishing country worth visiting is off it: the rivers that cross the Cape from west to east, the estuaries that push inland from the Gulf side, and the coastal systems that rarely see a lure.
We turned west of Musgrave Station and followed the Morehead River system for two days before reaching the water I had been looking at on satellite maps for the previous six months. It was exactly as the satellite suggested: a braided estuary system with extensive mangrove fringing, a deep mid-channel run, and not a boat ramp within 80 kilometres.
The Fishing
Barramundi, mangrove jack, and jungle perch in the same system — the Cape York trifecta. The mangrove jack were the most aggressive; fish between 45 and 65 cm that would hit a surface lure within two seconds of it landing near any structural edge. Jungle perch in the tannin-stained freshwater reaches above the tidal influence — smaller, extraordinary fighting fish that hold in fast current behind boulders.
Barramundi were present but difficult, which is their nature. We found them in a deep bend pool on the fourth evening when the tide had dropped to expose a gravel bar that concentrated bait. Three fish between 65 and 90cm in thirty minutes at last light, all returned.
The Logistics
Two weeks of self-sufficiency in the Cape requires serious planning: 200L of fuel in long-range tanks and jerry cans, three weeks of food, a satellite communicator, and the mechanical capability to address any problem short of a destroyed engine without external assistance. This is not a beginner's trip. It is worth building toward. Browse our camping and outdoors range for everything needed for extended remote travel.
