About Us

Hi my name is Jamie Beitzel and I’ve been fishing for a living now for over 30 years on the Daintree River and adjacent offshore waters. Living just on the northern side of the river in the rainforest I’m happily married to Edie, my high school sweetheart, and we have three thriving children, Unity, Fletcher and Trinity and love them all to death. Briefly outlined below is a bit of my family history and how we have come to be as a charter operator in the area to this day.

Mum & Dad arrived in the immediate area in the early 1950’s and were crazy fishos, including spear fishing and fell in love with the area. With this passion they started a small boat commercial fishing business fishing for Mackerel working the Daintree waters off Snapper Island and Low Isles. Living at a local caravan park at the time, they devised a home made snap freezer and sold their product to the local Cairns Port Fish Board.

From this they bought a larger boat in the 1970’s and extended their efforts to include fishing for Coral Trout and the abundance of high quality reef species on their doorstep. This was transported in an old Ford Truck and delivered to Cairns, then transported on the old Sunlander railway train on a weekly basis to the Brisbane Fish Markets.

At this point of their legacy I was only a young child and literally grew up on the boat. I only went to school when the weather was rough otherwise I was on the water fishing and processing our catch with my Mum & Dad. They were the old golden days if you know what I mean. It was extremely bloody tough work though and they stuck at it for years under a lot of duress due the type of work. I remember the day when Dad said to me when I was around 10yrs old, “WHATEVER YOU DO SON DON’T GO FISHING FOR A LIVING”. A few years later after this he sold his Fishing Licence and big boat as I began High School. Following this the family built a house in Wonga Beach just south of the Daintree River.

When I was 18yrs old I acquired my Coxwain Skipper Ticket and began my guiding career on the Daintree River with the Croc Express tourist boat. Not long after I married Edie in 1989, then bought our current day property and started my own recreational fishing charter business very soon after. The rest is history and we all still enjoy as a family a wonderful lifestyle in a very unique part of the world.

Being a guide for so many years, the Daintree River region is a challenging system that is ever changing day to day and from season to season. It's an incredible beauty and keeps me genuinely intrigued. I’m always learning new tricks and it's amazing some of the old methods still produce when nothing else does. It is stunningly beautiful in all conditions and I’m so lucky with my chosen vocation.

Cheers Jamie (locally known as the Huckleberry Fin of the Daintree)