Australia Visit - Day 20 - Goldsborough

Well, even though my flight is in a few hours, there's always time for one last fishing session. Just south of Cairns is a river that our family has fished for years and it holds many good memories for me. From the adventurous, sleep-on-rocks and chicken-crimpy-eating flyfishing treck my brother and I made to quick afternoon outings during college breaks the river has always given up fish and memories. Paul had to begin his long drive back out to Richmond so left the session to dad and I.

The best past of fishing the upper Mulgrave River is the extremely limited fishing pressure it receives. Most people in the region either fish the reef or the estuaries and almost nobody bothers with the freshwater rivers and creeks. These rivers are full of sooty grunter, jungle perch and tarpon, with the occasional small barramundi or mangrove jack. This is as close to trout fishing as it gets here, and is very similar to smallmouth bass fishing back in Minnesota. In fact, if I had to compare I'd say rivers that primarily yield sooty grunter (like the Mulgrave) are closer to nutrient-rich smallmouth rivers, whereas rivers full of jungle perch (like the Mossman) are more nutrient poor and more similar to mountain trout streams.

Anyway, as per usual, there was nobody fishing the river when we arrived. We decided to try small spinners to start with and if things looked good we'd switch to flies. The river looked as though I'd never left it, which is about the only thing that hadn't changed on the trip. There was certainly a feeling of time closing in, now that Paul was gone and knowing I had that 28 hour journey in front of me was always on my mind. Still, it was great to throw a few lures around with the old man down at his River.

One thing my father (with help from an old mate) has done is observe, and now fish, a large mayfly hatch that occurs during evening hours just prior to the wet season. The problem is, very few people fish flies here, and those that do through big whistlers and deceivers for saltwater species on 10 weight outfits. Obtaining fly tying materials and outfits to fish natural nymphs and even dries. The guys at the tackle stores just laugh when he says he needs hooks in sizes under 2/0! Still, with nobody else doing it, it's a niche that gets no pressure and dad and his mate have had some stellar evenings catching tremendous numbers of large, feisty fish. Our hope was to sample some this evening.

We scored on a few smaller sooties with spinning gear and pound for pound I'm sure they have more go in them than a smallmouth bass but the real pleasure was just being out on the stream. I was yearning to roll a fly over though. When we got down to the big pool, the old man spent quite a bit of time turning over rocks examining the nymphs and life living on them. He reasoned there was quite a few about so it was time to head to the flyfishing spot.
Upstream from the big pool

The old man turning over rocks in the big pool

At first glance it didn't look like much of a fly spot. Reminiscent of a pool a trout fisher might focus on when fishing the famous Hexagenia hatch, it was a still, featureless pool with a mix of stones and silt for a bottom. Light was beginning to fade and I saw next to no surface life and I asked dad when to expect things to happen. He replied, "when light gets too dark for a video camera to work" suggesting the reason he'd never sent me any footage of his exploits. Although I've never had any reason to doubt my father's word I sat and watched this lifeless stretch of water with some reservation. Suddenly, just as it got dark enough that birds flying around appeared as silouettes, boils began to ring out across the surface as fished sipped emergers just beneath the surface. These boils became more frequent and we were soon hip deep in water, casting to rises.

A couple of the Sooty Grunter we caught on mayfly nymphs

It didn't take long once I followed the advice I'd been given to let the fly dead drift (I had general nymph pattern tied by my father that resembled a dark, skinny hex nymph). A few seconds after I'd dropped my fly by an earlier swirl the line jumped and a fair sized sooty screamed off. It was an aggressive strike and a lively battle that tested the 5 weight outfit. There was no moon and darkness enveloped us fairly quickly. The fishing wasn't red hot but the action was steady and we each landed a half dozen or so fish in the hour or so before we decided we'd better get back for my final dinner before flying out. We took a couple of fish home as well as they're not bad table fair. After a delightful final dinner, we took a relaxed drive out to the airport and I think I was asleep before we'd taxied to the runway.

Supporting stars, Dad and Mum

All in all it had been a fantastic trip. Just seeing Paul and his family was the highlight and although the barra fishing wasn't as great as it could have been, all the other stuff that happened in Burketown would have outshone any number of fish anyway. I was especially impressed with Richmond, and the towns out west in general - truly God's country. It's always great to catch up with family and we packed a whole heap of stuff into a short time. The only regret I have is not catching up with my good mate Dave, but I can probably rectify that in the not too distant future. I don't know about anyone else but I'll sleep for a month. I am scared about going from hot (45 degrees Celcius/115 Farenheit) to cold (-5 degrees celcius/20 Farenheit) and I hear it's already snowing back in Minnesota. I guess I have to come up with something amazing for when he visits me - perhaps Alaska or British Columbia, either way it will be a hard ask to come close to this trip. My greatest thanks to Paul for all his work and efforts. Without him the trip wouldn't have been even half of what it was.

Paul, the superstar of the Trip

Visiting family was great and I thank all of them for the great time they showed me. Paul's co-workers were great, especially Brad and Pete that we spent extra time with. Everyone would be more than welcome to stay with me any time they find themselves close to Minnesota.