BNB Fishing mag | Jan 2017 by bnbfishing

Fishing guide for the new year

50 Includes GST

January 2017

How to catch mangrove jack

Print Post Approved PP100001534 Volume 28, Number 1

Brisbane River fishing tips

Float lining offshore

Big bass on the bite

Slow-pitch jigging

Murray cod from kayaks Off-road adventures

Summer tactics for Moreton Bay

Hunting Hervey Bay threadfin

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 1

Page 2 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 3

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Page 4 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

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Inside this month Moreton Bay

Offshore action

P18 Jigging tips

Freshwater barra

P56

River have decreased rapidly over the past couple of years. It’s a real shame, because this is what the area from the Gateway Bridge to the mouth has become so popular for over the past decade. Summer is spawning time for threadfin and a lot of the fish move towards the mouth to spawn, just like flat-

OUR COVER

JAMIE WALL landed his first mangrove jack at Noosa in misty condition. For tips on chasing jacks this summer, check out KEITH STRATFORD’S article on Page 21. Photo: LACHLAN HANDY

Phone (07) 3286 1833 Fax (07) 3821 2637 Email: ben@bnbfishing.com.au Internet: www.bnbfishing.com.au PO Box 387, Cleveland, Qld 4163 Unit 2, 39 Enterprise Street, Cleveland, Qld 4163 AFTA PRINTER: Rural Press, Ormiston DISTRIBUTION BY: Fairfax Max. recommended retail price $4.50 (includes GST). CORRESPONDENTS: Editorial contributions are welcome, as is news from clubs, associations, or individuals; and new product news from manufacturers. Entire contents copyright. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. It is the responsibility of advertisers to ensure the correctness of their claims and statements. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. G IN

FISH ING ’S

E TUR FU

☛ continued P6

EDITOR: Ben Collins ADVERTISING: Ben Collins, Liz Gosling PRODUCTION: Jo Hendley, Daniel Tomlinson

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Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine is published monthly by Collins Media Pty Ltd ABN 43 159 051 500 ACN 159 051 500 trading as Collins Media.

AUST

FEBRUARY edition will be on sale in newsagents from January 27. See subscriber offer on Page 76 to go in the draw to win an awesome fishing prize pack valued at over $360.

head do during spring on the Gold and Sunshine coasts. In years gone by, these movements made it very easy to target threadies in the Brissie and anglers travelled from all over to land a few. Sadly, this seems to have taken a toll on the stocks of threadfin. Threadies are a hard fish to release when captured out of deep water and it wasn’t uncommon to see fish floating on the surface when the numbers were greater. Take into consideration that threadfin are excellent table fish too and you can see how these fish have suffered over the years. Unfortunately, the netters know too well that they can get a decent dollar for threadfin and therefore put them under serious pressure. Threadfin seem to really struggle at avoiding nets, and populations in most of the rivers in the north Brisbane region have been reduced to a handful of fish. It’s pretty heartbreaking stuff seeing all these systems go from amazing threadfin fisheries to producing virtually nothing. I speak to many anglers who also fish my local streams and on average they all have the same results. Everyone’s question is: “Where have all the bloody threadies gone?” After the major floods of 2010-2011, a lot of threadfin were pushed out of the Brisbane River into Moreton Bay, and from there some of the fish made their way into the rivers and creeks running off Moreton Bay.

ATI ON

by KEITH STRATFORD

Quality fish including threadfin salmon, jewfish, snapper and estuary cod will be available and plenty of other surprises will turn up while chasing these species, with grunter, flathead, bream, tailor and moses perch taken as by-catch during summer. The numbers of threadfin salmon seen and captured in the Brisbane

Local Luring

HE Brisbane River can be a great place to target a range of species during January.

Brisbane River fishing guide......by Keith Stratford S f ................................P5 Tactics in Moreton Bay .............by Chris Raimondi ..............................P9 Finding fish over summer .........by Lachie Baker ................................P12 Fishing tips....................................by Sean Conlon .................................P14 MJA Tournament report ............by Dean Galpin..................................P15 Broadwater Region ....................by Wayne ‘Youngy’ Young ..............P16 Gold Coast.....................................by Heath Zygnerski ..........................P17 Offshore options ..........................by Bill Corten .....................................P18 Guide to catching jacks ............by Keith Stratford..............................P21 Float lining offshore ...................by Jordan ‘Grinner’ Koschel ..........P23 Trolling for mangrove jack .......by Brad Smith ....................................P24 Tweed Coast.................................by Gavin Dobson ...............................P25 Clarence River fishing trip .......by Jason Brindley.............................P28 Mix of species at Ballina ........ by Brett Hyde.....................................P30 NSW North Coast........................by Gary ‘Squidgie’ Palmer .............P31 Ideal time to fish Iluka...............by Tye Porter ......................................P32 Newcastle ...................................by Nathan ‘Nath’ Palmer ................P32 Sunshine Coast............................by Wade Qualischefski...................P34 Planning ahead ...........................by Tri Ton .............................................P36 Crabbing at Lake Cootharaba.....by Craig Tomkinson .........................P37 PBA 1770 trip ................................by Mick Clutterbuck ........................P38 Teaching kids to fish ..................by Brad Young ...................................P39 Hunting threadfin salmon .........by Ben & Andrew .............................P40 How to avoid losing fish ...........by Sean ‘Skip’ Thompson ...............P41 Boat review ..................................by Daniel Tomlinson ........................P43 Boat review ..................................by Daniel Tomlinson ........................P46 Murray cod from kayaks...........by Tom Laszlo ....................................P48 Yakking western rivers .............by Noal Kuhl ......................................P49 Charter Directory ................................................................................. P50,51 Readers Forum............................................................................................P52 Product News .............................................................................................P53 Gladstone Region....................... by Gary Churchward .......................P54 Stanage Bay .................................by Von Ireland....................................P55 Slow-pitch jigging tips..............by Gregg ‘Chappie’ Chapman ........P56 Whitsundays Fishing................. by Rick Williams ..............................P57 Hinchinbrook News .................. by Todd Eveleigh ..............................P58 Cape York camping ....................by Melissa Frohloff ..........................P59 Epic road trip continues ............. by Neil Schultz..................................P60 Caravan adventure .....................by Bill Corten .....................................P61 Big dam barra ..............................by Caine ‘Caino’ Goward ................P64 Monduran Dam ........................... by Donna Gane .................................P65 Impoundment fishing ................ by Matthew Langford......................P66 Competition report ..................... by Steve Wilkes ...............................P67 Somerset Dam ............................ by Andrew Mitchell ........................P67 Freshwater Luring...................... by Callum Munro..............................P68 Yellowbelly biting...................... by Steve Wilkes ...............................P69 Fresh water...................................by Matt & Nick Wells......................P70 Luring for bass .............................by Nathan ‘Nath’ Palmer ................P70 Glenlyon Dam.............................. by Brian Dare ....................................P71 B.A.S.S. Australia Nation..........by Drew McGrath .............................P72 Snowy Mountains trout.............by Steve Hunt.....................................P73 Bass as big as Texas .................by Dustin Catrett ...............................P74 Competition Report.....................by Russell Nowland.........................P74 Trading Post.................................................................................................P75 Recipe ........................................... by Melissa Frohloff..........................P76 Subscription form ......................................................................................P76

FIS

Brisbane River fishing guide for January

P65

PRO TE CT

Z-Man 3” ShrimpZ work well on a range of species in the Brisbane River.

HOPE everyone enjoyed or is enjoying the Christmas and new year period, depending on when you’re reading this.

HIN G T R A D E

It is always great to catch up with friends and family over the festive part of the year and even better if you can squeeze in a fishing trip or two as well. The school holidays are still in full flight and our waterways will be busier as a result, so please be patient and offer a hand when and where you can. Conversely, if you are new to fishing and boating, try to practise launching and retrieving before you hit the ramps at peak times. It can be a bit daunting if there is a large line-up of people waiting to use the ramp and you are only just learning how to reverse a trailer and get the boat on and off it. I want as many people to go fishing and boating as possible because it truly is an awesome experience, but like anything, the more prepared you are, the easier and less stressful it will become. I’d also like to remind you to have a bit of etiquette when on the water. If someone is anchored up, please don’t drive past them within casting distance unless you’re in a tight waterway and it’s unavoidable. Give people some space. If you are one of the last to arrive to an area, don’t push your way in to your ‘secret’ mark. Instead, if it’s busy it might be a good time to venture to a less-populated location and do a bit of hunting around to find a new fishing spot. You might be surprised and find the more isolated pieces of structure actually hold better fish, especially if these areas are bypassed by the majority of boat traffic. Finding new ground can be fun and it is definitely rewarding when you manage to pull a few fish from it. Overall, make sure you have an enjoyable time but also ensure you are well versed in the current safety and fishing regulations. A lot of green, yellow and go-slow zones are poorly marked and it is amazing just how much water there is once you’re out there compared to when you are just looking at a map. Always check up on the zoning of the different areas you are going to fish before heading out on the water. I seem to mention this all the time but the authorities will be out in force over the holidays, so make sure you play by the rules. On a different topic, you may have noticed we have increased the cover price of BNB Fishing to $4.50. It has been almost four years since the last price increase and BNB is still one of the most-affordable and best-value fishing publications on the market. Unfortunately, associated production costs have gone up and we have had to follow suit in order to continue publishing the magazine each month. Stay safe on the water. Happy New Year. Ben Collins

November prizewinner CONGRATULATIONS to John Clift, Coombabah who has won a mega Tackle Tactics prize pack valued at over $350.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 5

The author landed this solid goldspotted estuary cod in the Brisbane River on a Z-Man EZ ShrimpZ in Greasy Prawn colour.

Solid threadfin salmon such as this one taken on a Threadybuster will be available during January.

Brisbane River fishing guide for January ☛ from P5

This 90cm jew was located on the author’s sounder and a vertically jigged Threadybuster was too much for it to resist.

Over the next few years, the thready fishing was pretty special, with some trips producing multiple fish up to and over the

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metre mark. Anglers were able to sound up schools of fish and cast a lure amongst them with instant results. I remember the first day I took my Lowrance HDS-12 for a trial run. I took my mate Phil with me to a local river and after sounding out a few trees and rocks upstream, we started looking for threadfin schools in the holes on the way back to the ramp. We didn’t have to wait long, with a school of about 20 fish sitting on the edge of a deep hole showing up on the Structure Scan. I put Phil straight over the top of the school and he dropped his plastic to the bottom. The first flick got the bite and just like that he had his first threadfin salmon. Even though the numbers in the Brisbane River have dwindled, enough fish are around to make them worth chasing.

The larger schools were a lot harder to find last summer but smaller schools of two to six fish were relatively common. Catching fish out of these small schools is a bit harder, especially when you’ve only got one or two fish to target. Getting a lure in their face can be difficult in deep water but that’s half the fun. Sometimes the threadies aren’t feeding and will ignore everything you throw at them. Persisting until they decide to bite is one option, or you can go looking for feeding fish elsewhere, which is what I like to do. I find it really painful sitting on fish and waiting for them to bite. Threadfin will eat a va-

riety of lures. Soft vibes are the most popular and they are really easy to fish. They sink to the bottom quickly and a simple lift and drop retrieve is often enough to get a bite. However, I prefer using soft plastics. The hook-up rate isn’t as good as with the trebles on a soft vibe, but I find I get a lot more bites on plastics. Z-Man 3” ShrimpZ have worked well for me over the years and they catch just about everything. Snapper and jewies love them and so do threadies. On that note, jewies will be around in good numbers this month. The legal size fish might be a bit harder to find but

plenty of smaller fish in the 65-75cm bracket will be getting around. I had a good trip with my mate Brett during the middle of December where we landed seven jew along with a stack of by-catch in a short morning session. Two of the jew were tagged fish – the first tagged jew I’ve caught – so I was pretty happy about getting two in two casts. The Brisbane River doesn’t cop anywhere near as much recreational fishing pressure as it used to. If you’ve never fished it, get out there and give it a go. It’s a great place to land quality fish. I hope to see you out there.

A victim of the deadly Z-Man 3” ShrimpZ.

Page 6 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

One of the two tagged jew the author recently caught in one session on the Brisbane River.

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Restrictions imposed on Logan and Albert rivers to contain prawn disease

EST results have confirmed white spot disease in wild prawns recently collected from the Logan River.

This detection follows the recent confirmation of the disease on two prawn farms in the region. Additionally, a third property nearby has now been confirmed as infected. The positive river samples were collected from the Logan River adjacent to one of the affected farms and at a second site 500m downstream. Surveillance will increase in the river to determine the scale of the disease in natural waterways. White spot has had devastating impacts in other countries, particularly in relation to aquaculture prawns. The disease can occur in marine environments and affect all types of decapod crustaceans as well as

polychaete worms. New biosecurity emergency order To enhance disease control measures, Biosecurity Queensland has replaced the two movement control orders that were in place in the Logan and Albert rivers from Jabiru Weir and Luscombe Weir to the mouth of the Logan River with a new biosecurity emergency order. The movement control orders restricted the movement of all potential carriers of the disease out of the area. This includes crustaceans such as prawns and crabs and polychaete worms. The new biosecurity emergency order imposes similar restrictions on the movement of white spot syndrome virus carriers but increases the biosecurity emergency area to include riverbanks, boat ramps, carparks and inlets.

The order also prohibits the intake of water unless a biosecurity instrument permit has been issued by Biosecurity Queensland. Additionally, the following are prohibited in the biosecurity emergency area: • Beam trawling; • Pots, dillies and traps for catching crabs; • Cast nets; • Yabby pumps; and • Implements such as spades and forks for digging for worms. Commercial and recreational fishers are encouraged not to operate in the area because they will be unable to retain their catch and remove it from the area. For more information on white spot syndrome virus carriers and the biosecurity emergency order, visit daf. qld.gov.au/fisheries Biosecurity Queensland and Queensland Boating

and Fisheries Patrol will be on site advising river users of the biosecurity emergency, and enforcing if necessary. Penalties apply to people who breach the biosecurity emergency order. Biosecurity Queensland has completed destocking and disinfection of one of the infected properties and will continue containment and control measures on the second and third properties. Surveillance of all properties in the area is continuing. It is crucial that all farmers monitor their stock closely and report any unusual signs to Biosecurity Queensland on 13 25 23 or the Emergency Animal Disease Watch hotline on 1800 675 888. Description WSD is a viral infection that affects crustaceans. Australia has previously

been WSD free and this is the first confirmed case we have had in an aquaculture setting. Prawns with WSD may have a loose shell with numerous white spots (0.52mm in diameter) on the inside surface of the shell and a pink to red discolouration. Signs to look for include: • Unusual mortality; • Prawns coming to the water’s edge or surface; • Prawns demonstrating unusual swimming patterns; and • Reduced feeding and failure to thrive. If you suspect a disease on your property, you must report it to Biosecurity Queensland on 13 25 23 or the Emergency Animal Disease Watch hotline on 1800 675 888. Further information on white spot disease is available from the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources.

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HE National 4x4 Outdoors Show, Fishing & Boating Expo is returning to the Brisbane Showgrounds in 2017, scheduled for March 31-April 2, featuring thousands of fishing, boating, camping, 4x4 and outdoors products from the industry’s leading retailers.

The show returns following successful events in both Brisbane and Melbourne in 2016. Already included in the exhibitor line-up are big names such as Brisbane Marine, Brisbane Yamaha (Brisbane’s largest boat dealer), Opposite Lock, ARB, Mega Cheap Hardware, Isuzu Ute and Ipswich Lifestyle Centre. Those who love camping will be in outdoors heaven, with the likes of Black Series Campers, Oztent and Stoney Creek Campers the first camper and tent exhibitors to sign up for the 2017 show. As an event that caters for the entire family, including children, back by popular demand will be favourite show features such as the Fishing Stage, Campfire Cooking Stage, Outback Stage, ever-exciting Action Arena and dedicated Proving Ground.

There will be something to keep all family members entertained throughout the three-day event. Much-loved and respected special guests and industry experts returning to the National 4x4 Outdoors Show, Fishing & Boating Expo in 2017 include ex-AFL legend and host of The Great Australian Doorstep Peter ‘Spida’ Everitt, Paul Worsteling from IFISH, outback exploration guru Jase Andrews from All 4 Adventure, one of the most recognisable faces in Australian four-wheel-driving John ‘Roothy’ Rooth, Shaun and Graham from 4WD Action and Rick, Jamie and Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling from The Offroad Adventure Show. Event director Paul Mathers said, “We are so pleased to be able to bring the National 4x4 Outdoors Show, Fishing & Boating Expo back to Brisbane in 2017.” “The show is renowned as a leading event for this industry, with our range of big-name exhibitors and industry leaders on board, along with some exciting newcomers to the industry who will have something new to

offer visitors to the show. “With more than 20,000sq m dedicated to everything outdoors, if you love exploring Australia – whether fishing, camping or 4WDing – you will be absolutely in your element at this event. “It’s the place to go to chat with industry experts, learn new skills, find out about new products and services in the industry as well as grab

great bargains in all categories. “There is certainly something for every taste at the National 4x4 Outdoors Show, Fishing & Boating Expo – whether it’s a big-ticket item such as a new boat or camper, a great price on a 4WD or a more budget-friendly option such as a new rod, tackle box or wet weather gear. “Visitors shouldn’t be

afraid to bring the kids along either, with plenty of action and ways to get their hands dirty, it truly is a show for the whole family.” Tickets are now available and Bush ‘n Beach readers receive a special discount on tickets by using the code ‘BEACH’ at the online checkout. To buy tickets and for further information, visit 4x4show.com.au/BRI

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 7

Page 8 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

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Northside Marine 2294 Sandgate Road Boondall, QLD T: 3265 8000

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GOLD COAST (NORTH)

Broadwater Boating Centre 46 Brisbane Road Labrador QLD Labrador, T: 5529 1777

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Cobia tend to show up in the bay during the warmer months.

Summer tactics for Moreton Bay M

ORETON Bay can be one of the toughest fisheries around but at the same time can be one of the most rewarding.

Boat traffic, consistent fishing pressure, frequent northerly wind and the sheer size of Moreton Bay means most anglers, including myself, have a love/hate relationship with Brisbane’s local waterway. Anyone who has fished the bay will know that to be successful, you need plenty of patience in your tackle bag. However, the sheer challenge of finding quality fish in the bay and then catching them makes it all the more rewarding when that trophy fish or red-hot session comes along. If there is a time in which to focus your efforts on Moreton Bay, it’s summertime. As the annual run of pelagic species such as tuna, mackerel, marlin and dolphinfish make their way down the east coast, Moreton Bay comes to life with big schools of bait and even bigger predators. Obviously, you’re unlikely to encounter the larger pelagic species including marlin and dolphinfish in the bay but several mackerel and tuna species, as well as cobia and kingfish, are very realistic targets during the warmer months. Find the bait and you will

Fishing Tips by CHRIS RAIMONDI

surely find the fish. No truer statement applies to fishing Moreton Bay. Catching trophy fish offshore can often be about finding structure and significant reef systems that house large numbers of fish. In the bay, structure such as reef, wrecks, rocks and dropoffs all exist, but unless they hold a significant amount of bait, you’ll find it difficult to nail quality fish on a regular basis. My theory is that fish are constantly on the move in the bay. For pelagic feeders, that makes total sense, but I believe even snapper and sweetlip tend to hunt in areas where bait is in abundance. If it isn’t, they’ll move on. A great example of this is the brilliant run of snapper in shallow water that we experienced in the northern bay in 2011/12 as the system recovered from the floods. Snapper have always been caught in the northern bay shallows and will continue to be captured in that area but it is rare to have a season where

double figures of quality snapper was the norm for a session. Also abnormal for that season was the number of big, often unstoppable snapper encountered. I believe the abundance of bait and nutrients exiting the river systems, coupled with the significantly reduced fishing pressure (during and straight after the floods), was the primary reason for those fish being there. With that theory in mind, it’s important to pinpoint the areas of the bay that hold an abundance of bait at any given time. A reliable starting point is the many shipping channel markers that line the deeper channels. Those located on the Tangalooma side of the bay are renowned for holding bait and large packs of school and spotted mackerel. Both those mackerel species cannot resist lures retrieved at speed. Use your sounder to locate the bait or feeding school, or look for bait being harassed on the surface and work those ☛ continued P10

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Hooked up! The author with a brute of a bay snapper.

Summer tactics for Moreton Bay ☛ from P9

A typical Moreton Bay grass sweetlip.

The author’s 40g Gillies 40g Pilchard covered in battle scars.

areas with a mixture of metal lures, plastics, stickbaits and poppers. Whatever your weapon of choice, work it quickly! The humble metal slug or slice is just about the best option. It can be fished along the top of the water column or allowed to sink quickly to the bottom and cranked quickly back to the boat. Most brands of metal lures will work well but the profile and weight of your lure is important. Matching the profile of bait in the area is your first priority, closely followed by choosing a lure weight that is heavy enough to cast to the feeding school or drop to the bottom and quickly retrieve. On a recent trip, the ever-reliable Gillies 40g Pilchard found its rear treble constantly connected to members of Moreton Bay’s school mackerel population. The technique that day was simple, and typical of mackerel fishing in the bay. Approach one of the

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ton Bay and somewhat surprisingly, a lot of the gun bay snapper anglers swear that summer is the best time to catch a big Moreton Bay knobby. Fresh or live bait, like with most offshore fishing, is the key. Natural baits such as yakkas, pike, slimies and pilchards work really well, as do flesh baits including mullet, tailor and squid. Again, look for areas where bait is in abundance. A bit of structure on the bottom will also help, but in the bay you may only need a rock the size of a car or a bit of weed or rubble on the bottom to catch a few. Try to finesse your bait into the strike zone. The fishing pressure Moreton Bay cops means a double paternoster with a huge snapper lead sent cannoning to the bottom will rarely entice a bite from anything worthwhile. Fish a light sinker with a single hook and light leader. ☛ continued P11

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long way to ensuring you stay connected no matter what type of hook you’re using. Eaten fresh, schoolies and spotties are actually hard to top. They’re not a great table fish once frozen though, so only keep what you intend to eat fresh, or get some brownie points with the rellies by sharing your catch rather than throwing it in the deep freeze. While fishing the Moreton Bay beacons or channel markers, it always pays to jig a few live baits as well. Deploying a live yakka or slimy right there where you caught it can also reap rewards, with big cobia in particular known for frequenting the beacons and gorging on bait. Having live baits in the boat is a big positive if you’re going to chase a feed of reef fish in the bay as well. The abundance of bait in Moreton Bay over summer means it’s a great time to target bottom dwellers. Grass sweetlip, moses perch, cod and snapper are all mainstays in More-

shipping channel markers, locate the bait, use your electric motor to sit above the school, drop the lure to the bottom and retrieve it as fast as possible. The ‘as fast as possible’ bit is made a lot easier by using a high-speed retrieve spin reel. Anything with a retrieve ratio above 6:1 is perfect and the larger your spool size, the greater the length of line retrieved on each crank of the handle. If you’re fishing with a mate and he or she is out-fishing you by five or six to one, chances are he or she is using a higherspeed reel. One of the great things about a quick retrieve is nearly every time, the predatory fish will be required to chase the lure and attack it from behind. That’s when a rear treble or single hook will do the rest. The single versus treble debate is an interesting one. Despite having razorsharp teeth, mackerel have relatively soft mouths, so making sure your drag isn’t set too tight will go a

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Summer tactics for Moreton Bay Gold Coast Marine Expo moves to March 2017 ☛ from P10

The majority of reef fish you’ll target aren’t huge but some big, ugly cod and snapper are lurking in the bay and often don’t mind a smaller snack. Those big cod absolutely love a live bait too, but they’ll pull hard so be ready for the battle before you deploy that live yakka. After a recent really good day on the school mackerel and sweetlip, we decided to pull up to one last patch of rubble that had produced quality fish in the past. We fished it the same way as we’d fished the bottom all day; with small flesh baits on a single 5/0 hook and a size 4 or 5 ball sinker. We were using 4000 size spin setups with 20lb braid and 25lb fluorocarbon leader and had a ball on the grassies, which pulled pretty hard for their size. The typical afternoon northerly had started to puff as we drifted our last spot catching a few undersize squire and grassies. My mate Ross was suddenly hit hard and line began peeling from the reel before his braid gave way a long way from his leader knot. It was a disappointing result but one that was unavoidable and I didn’t think too much of it at the time given it may have been anything from a big

cod to a shark, tuna, cobia … anything. As Ross was re-rigging I received a similar thumping as something nailed my flesh bait and took off on a blistering 50-60m run. I honestly wasn’t too perturbed and was just enjoying the serious bend in the rod and hoping for maybe a cobia or longtail tuna to surface at some stage. Anything but a shark was the best I was hoping for and given the light gear, I wasn’t even too confident of landing the thing. There was serious weight but midway through the fight, the fish didn’t seem to get a second wind, occasionally pulling string but not taking off on another blistering run like a pelagic or shark would. At no stage was I really thinking that it might be a ‘quality fish’ until we got a glimpse of the pink and white silhouette coming up from the deep. Big snapper! For someone who was just enjoying the bend in the rod for the preceding five minutes, I quickly crapped myself and was suddenly stressing out big time because a cracking bay snapper was within reach. Despite a few small issues with my sinker being caught on my leader knot, the donkey snapper

eventually made it safely into the net and onto the boat. What a day in the bay! A big, fat, well-conditioned Moreton Bay snapper was on the deck in bright, mid-afternoon summer sunshine. How good is Moreton Bay!? Well, on that particular day it was. The thing that made that day and that fish all the more special were the countless tough days out there. Targeting snapper and coming up empty. Sounding for new ground and coming up empty. All the days with great shows on the sounder but everything shut down. Hooking quality fish and losing them to tackle failure, bust-offs or just bad luck. Those are the days that culminate into the special moments that keep us coming back for more. Incidentally, this was my first big snapper from the bay in quite some time and weight wise, it was a Moreton Bay PB that tipped the scales at a tick under 8kg. My mate Ross was suddenly thinking what might have been if his braid hadn’t given way. But again, it’s all part of fishing the bay. The lows make the highs that much more special. Catch ya!

HE first major event of the 2017 Australian boat show season will be staged in March right in the heart of the nation’s recreational boating industry capital on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

The Gold Coast International Boat Show & Marine Expo sees the dates of the award-winning show move forward to March 17-19, 2017. This year the Expo will be operated and managed with the support of the Boating Industry Association – Australia’s peak industry representative body, and held at the Gold Coast Marine Precinct at Coomera. BIA national chief executive Howard Glenn said the March boat show dates will be the catalyst for an exciting new era for Australia’s marine industry. “The timing of this March event is seasonally important for boating enthusiasts and it also opens up an exciting opportunity for our industry to continue to innovate and grow,” Mr Glenn said. The Expo’s dedicated Event & Marketing manager Emma Brown will lead the boat show management team to ensure a smooth transition to the March dates. “A standalone Gold Coast International Boat Show & Marine Expo means the Expo we all know and love will be

able to continue to grow and build on its proven success – 2016 was our biggest show in six years,” Mrs Brown said. “The new March dates create further lead time for our exhibitors as existing boat owners can prepare for the coming summer – fresh in their minds are their considerations for repowering, replacing or upgrading their boat’s systems and accessories, or buying a new boat or yacht to further enhance leisure time with their families next season. “For manufacturers, importers as well as accessories and service providers, the pre-winter campaign timing is a business imperative.” Mrs Brown said the full support of the BIA is immensely significant and welcome. “The skills, resources and experience the BIA brings to the table will be invaluable for our boat show, and for our industry as a whole,” she said. “With our new dates, we are now taking ‘the boat show with so much more’ to a whole new level.” Applications to exhibit at the Expo were released recently. Exhibitors are invited to register their interest by contacting the show team via gcmarineexpo. com.au If you love boating, you’ll really love the Gold Coast in March.

A solid platform for further success The Expo was created by marine industry leaders in the extremely tough economic times of 2011 to help the boat industry get back on its feet. The event has today transformed the concept of a traditional boat show by engaging, educating and entertaining over 100,000 visitors, many of them new to the boating life. In addition, the Expo has delivered outstanding returns on investment for marine industry exhibitors. Based on direct sales for exhibitors, the Expo has in the past two years alone injected over $100 million into the Gold Coast and Queensland economies. In 2015, the Expo was named Australia’s Best Exhibition at the Australian Event Awards – the same year it changed its dates from November to May. The 2016 Expo – a national finalist for the Best Exhibition award – was the largest in the event’s six-year history. “The Expo’s visitor and exhibitor feedback revealed over 77 percent exhibitor satisfaction with the return on their Expo investment, with over 74 percent of 2016 exhibitors committed to exhibiting at the Expo in 2017,” Mrs Brown said. “In fact, not one single 2016 exhibitor who

responded to our survey stated they would not return to the Expo in 2017… and that’s extremely encouraging as we move forward. “Our visitor feedback was also overwhelmingly positive – almost 58 percent were firsttime visitors to the Expo, 62 percent were regular boaters, 56 percent stated they came to the Expo with the intention of making a purchase and 38 percent made major purchases at the Expo. “The interests of the Expo’s 2016 visitors also spanned a wide range of boating interest sectors – 34 percent luxury motor yachts, 38 percent equipment and materials, 43 percent family cruising, 28 percent engines and outboards and 53 percent fishing and trailer boats. “Of course, the true business impact of the Expo continues to flow many weeks and months, even years after each event.” The 2016 Expo visitor survey also revealed 90 percent of respondents rated the Expo as seven or better out of 10, with 25 percent giving the event top marks of 10 out of 10. Most telling of all was that 96 percent of respondents said they would recommend the Expo to their boating friends, and over 75 percent said they would return to the Expo in 2017.

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The author’s Sea Jay 370 Creek Masta all ready to go in the recent MJA Tournament.

The author with a quality pearlie from offshore.

No jacks but solid fish offshore H

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This is a fantastic time of year to be fishing, with many species firing up in the warmer waters and fast-moving currents. At the time of writing, the school holidays had just begun, so I was very keen to get out chasing mangrove jack in my 3.7 Creek Masta from Sea Jay Boats. I have had her for almost a year and have only boated one jack, but hopefully that will change soon. A multitude of other fish are available throughout summer including large whiting, which will be on the chew around the sand gutters at Jumpinpin during the big tides. A Cribb Island worm presented on a size 4 Mustad long-shank hook is my preferred bait but the whiting will also eat surface lures fished around the sand flats. Mackerel have been making their presence felt in Moreton Bay, with more and more turning up every day. These fish provide excellent fighting and eating, so they’re worthwhile targeting. Simply look for birds dive bombing bait and fish busting the surface, and then once you’re in casting range throw something shiny such as a metal slug into the school and start winding flat-out.

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Moreton Bay Young Gun by LACHIE BAKER

You can’t go wrong! Another good technique is to cast 4”-7” white or pink plastics into the bustup. My preference is for the Z-Man StreakZ and Scented Jerk ShadZ ranges. If bait fishing is more your thing, a gang of three Mustad 7/0 Big Guns and a whole pilchard or live herring is the go. Fish this setup unweighted through a berley trail and you should be able to take home a feed. I recently fished the November Mangrove Jack Anglers Tournament at the Gold Coast. It was my first time fishing the Gold Coast, let alone my first jack tournament, so where I fished was a last-minute decision. Launching into the Coomera River at the ramp under the M1 bridge, I started making my way downriver, though unfortunately for me the rain also started making its way down. I spot-locked my Minn Kota under a bridge and hid there for a while, and when the shower passed I raced down to my chosen fishing spot. Upon arrival the rain came down once again, but this time I just kept fishing, hoping it would go away. After working the area for a while I decided to seek refuge under a small bridge where two boats were already anchored. I struck up a conversation with one, who was a fellow competitor, and he was rapt because he had just caught his first jack. I was equally excited because according to him a few jacks were in the area. Once the rain moved on I headed into the closest canal. After fishing it the whole way around, I was on the final pontoon when I noticed something. A big, dark mangrove jack of at least 60cm was cruising along the front edge with its nose down. As soon as I put a cast near it the fish spooked, sulking down to the bottom. Further down the canal I saw five jacks free swimming but they were all very spooky because of

the heavy boat traffic. With that I decided I would head back up into the canal where I saw the big dog and a few pontoons up I spotted another jack of the same calibre as well as another smaller one sitting between a jet ski slide and a pontoon. I threw plenty of casts but not a single jack wanted to play the game. Defeated, I headed home a few hours later to receive a picture from a mate fishing the same comp, and in said picture he was holding a jack of 55cm. Yeah thanks mate! The following day I was lucky enough to fish with local gun Cheyne Jones but apart from a few short swipes and hits as well as one good run, we experienced nothing much worth talking about. While I didn’t catch a fish through the whole comp, I still had a ball, learning heaps from Cheyne and my own experiences. I’ll definitely be back. Recently I have been doing some work as a deckie on Moreton Island Fishing Charters aboard Firebird. On a recent trip, the bird was the word, and we nailed solid pearl perch as well as several squire. We had a good bunch of clients who supplied all their own jigging gear and just wanted to go fishing in a new area. Because the boys were already experienced fishos, they didn’t need much help, taking all their own fish off the hooks before me or the other

deckie Jordan could get to them. This meant we could also have a few drops when nothing needed doing, putting more fish into the box for the clients to take home. I was lucky enough to land one standout snapper of 60cm that nailed a float-lined pilchard in 145m of water. I was using a Wilson Classic M10 and a gang of two Mustad 6/0 7766 hooks. Jordan managed two juvenile red emperor, which was a welcome surprise. It was a cracker day all round to be sending the happy clients home with a few fish each and they even insisted I took home the biggest squire. I certainly had one very happy mother. On the way back in we stopped for a spot of beacon bashing, catching a mackerel and having a large cobia as well as a

bunch of other fish follow our plastics and jigs. If you would like to book a charter on Firebird, give Mat a call on 0413 128 056. Sitting at my computer writing this article, I’m getting a tad excited for what’s to come this summer. Hopefully the weather will allow me to get outside and target a dolphinfish on a plastic as well as an amberjack or snapper. I’m also keen on chasing blackspot tuskfish and longtail tuna in the bay, as well as jacks and threadfin in the estuaries. In addition, I am planning a trip to Borumba Dam to try to catch my first saratoga. I’ve certainly got an action-packed holiday period planned, and hopefully next month I’ll have a few more photos and stories to share. Until next time, smoking drags and sore arms.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 13

Bec landed a southern bay tailor.

A few quality lizards are still around. This one hit a Zerek Bulldog Crank.

Simon with a tailor caught on a standard set of gang hooks and a fresh pilchard floated down a berley trail.

Trolling hard-bodies at high tide is a great way of catching flathead at the moment because it allows you to cover a lot of ground.

Focus on peak times when fishing is tough

ITH 2016 done and dusted and a whole new year of fishing ahead, let’s hope 2017 is similarly productive.

Thomas scored a solid southern Moreton Bay lizard.

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At the time of writing, we are definitely going through a changeover period in Moreton Bay. Mackerel haven’t quite turned up, our summer snapper are just starting to come on the chew and flathead numbers are down in the southern end of the bay. Last month I talked about fishing those peak bite times and really we need to keep doing the same things this month. When the fish are not completely on the chew we have to take full advantage of those good moon and tide phases and target our species right at those peak bite times. That’s basically how we get a feed. Over the past month we’ve started to pick up more of a mixed bag of fish instead of just flathead and squire/snapper. To make up a full day’s fishing we will target flathead on the turn of the tides and snapper in the middle of the tide. We will also get a bit of bait out and chase bream, tailor and the odd shark,

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WITH SEAN CONLON

Southern Moreton Bay by SEAN CONLON

whatever we can do to keep those rods bent and our clients having fun. I find when the fishing is in a transition like this, you’ve got to move around a lot and look for those good bits of ground with a bit of current to find bottom species such as snapper, grassy sweetlip and tuskfish. For the flathead, you might have to check two or three spots before you get one bite. You may also have to spend a bit more time in one area, putting some baits out and flicking plastics around to stir up the fish. I have no problem with deploying a bit of berley when bait fishing. During these changeover periods you just have to work harder for your fish. You have to think more about where you want to be and at what time. While you might have a few trips that aren’t as productive as say the snapper breeding season, that’s fishing. We just enjoyed a bumper flathead season where the fish were breeding, aggressive and hungry and they stuck around for a while. Before long, our summer snapper season should be in full swing and a few spotty mackerel should be around to chase. So if you haven’t already, I suggest you get your mackerel gear out, dust it off and start having a prospect for these speedsters because they should be around in January. I’d be looking for them from Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef north to the top of the bay. Have a look for them in the Rainbow and Rous channels right up to South Passage Bar. The easiest way to target mackerel is to find the birds working the schools of bait that are usually pushed up by the mackerel. Mackerel can be cap-

tured in a variety of ways, from casting stickbaits on the surface to using paravanes to troll down deep through the schools. Probably the most fun method is casting metal slugs at the bust-ups on the surface. I’ve had the best luck chasing mackerel on an incoming tide around a new moon. We like to use a Wilson Magnum 8-20lb rod paired with a 3000 to 4000-size spin reel spooled with 20lb braid. If you don’t like to use wire on the metal slugs, you will have to use quite a heavy leader because as we all know mackerel have really sharp teeth. I run about 40-50mm of 40lb wire, though be warned they sometimes shy away from that small bit of wire and you may have to run a 30-40lb fluorocarbon leader. I like to use metals in the 30-50g weight range. If you haven’t already got metal slugs, a model that won’t break the bank and works quite well for us is the SureCatch Bishop, which comes in 3560g sizes. The SureCatch Knight is available in 20-40g models and the SureCatch Shore Jig comes in 20g, 30g, 42g and 70g sizes. Shore Jigs are not bad little metals. They come in a small metal pilchard profile with an array of colours and a scale pattern on them. If there is one lure colour to have in your box when targeting mackerel, it’s gold. Something to look for in the bay is nice clean water or a colour change between dirty and clean water. If you find one of these lines, work the edge on the clean side. Speaking of clean water, over the coming months we will receive lots of storms and wind, which causes dirty water in southern Moreton Bay.

One species I will chase over summer when the water is dirty is the old bream. They don’t seem to mind it and targeting bream is just another way of filling in a day of fishing. It also gives you one more option if the weather’s not great because these fish usually hide around moored boats, little rocky areas, mangrove lines, rocky outcrops and other protected areas. I usually target bream on bait, getting a berley trail going along the mangrove lines or rocky outcrops. If I decide I want to use lures, trolling hard-bodies such as the Zerek Tango Shad and Bulldog Crank around mangroves and rocks will produce bream. Casting those same lures and soft plastics around moored boats (especially those with plenty of growth on them) is also worthwhile. When it comes to the outfits we like to use for bream, a 2-4kg rod run-

ning 4-6lb braid with a 4-5lb leader is ideal. A quiet and stealthy approach is the best way to target these fish. On a final note, often you will see the same people holding fish in the photos accompanying my articles month after month. I’m not recycling old pictures, I just have a lot of regular customers who come out with me at least once or sometimes twice a month. Generally those fishos learn the techniques well and progressively get better at fishing, meaning they sometimes capture the best fish of the month, hence you may see their faces popping up time and time again. If you’d like to join me on a charter, give me a call on 0433 732 310, check out moretonbay charters.com.au or visit the Moreton Bay Charters Facebook page. Until next month, stay safe on the water.

Bream are a good option when the water is dirty. You can usually find bream in protected areas, so it’s not bad fishing on a windy day.

Numerous squire have turned up lately. While not big at 36-40cm, casting soft plastics such as the Gobblers Curl Grub has been the way to pick them up.

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Arnold Joseph with a couple of the nine fish he landed over the weekend. The ever-growing MJA Tournament presentation.

Colin Christensen’s MJA Tournament-winning jack.

MJA Fishing Tournament report T

HE fourth Mangrove Jack Anglers Fishing Tournament was held recently and it was the biggest event to date.

The sense of this event growing into something remarkable is overwhelming. We had 178 entrants, up 98 percent on the March competition, with 75 jacks landed. The 75 jacks were

caught by 40 fishers (35 percent of entrants) and came to a combined length of 32.12m, or one and a half cricket pitches, at an average length of 42.2cm per fish. The longest jack prize went to Colin Christensen with his 59.2cm fish caught on live bait in one of those deep and dark corners of the Gold Coast. Remarkably, this was Colin’s first-ever man-

TOP 5 BIGGEST JACKS 1

Colin Christensen

Mark James

Grant Humphries

Arnold Joseph

Lochie Reed

59.2cm 59cm 57.5cm 56cm 55.5cm

MOST JACKS CAUGHT IN CENTIMETRES 1

Arnold Joseph

Dane Nichols

306.5cm

443cm

Mark Krummenacher

249.5cm

Mick Kelly

191.5cm

Nathan Hugget

152cm

grove jack capture! He took home our major prize of a handcarved wooden trophy supplied by Mick Molnar Marine Art and a $500 BCF voucher as well as a Weapons Custom rod made specially for big jacks. The incredible thing is Colin’s maiden and major prize-winning jack capture was made possible thanks to a Jarvis Walker spin combo with 10lb line and 30lb leader. Allow me to throw out my $2000 worth of rods and reels and take me to Kmart please! So stoked for Colin. Another amazing outcome from the comp was Arnold Joseph’s win for the longest combined length. Arnold managed to catch an unprecedented nine jacks over the weekend with a whopping 443cm in total length. He won $500 worth of gear from JML Anglers Alliance. For this comp we intro-

duced a prize for a mystery length and a bonus species. The name of the bonus species was released at sign-on and was revealed to be a cod/grouper over 50cm. Plenty of cod were caught as by-catch but only one came in over the minimum size, with a 53cm cod caught and released by Andy Bee. With this year’s biggest jack measuring 59.2cm, it only seems a matter of time before we break the 60cm barrier during comp hours. Over the history of the tournament we now have an even split of winners between lure fishers and bait fishers. For some anglers, rivalry is what drives them to get up early and hit those pontoons, not stopping fishing until an hour after midnight. For many others the comp is about fishing a combination of lures during the day and then sitting somewhere for a few

hours at night soaking a live bait… with a cold drink of course. Similar to rivalries between Ford and Holden fans or surfers and bodyboarders, our lure and bait fishos are passionate and know their trades back to front. One thing both styles of fishers are wondering is how big can these jacks get inside the Gold Coast canals? We are yet to see a 60cm fish taken in the comp and this is driving us to gain the support of sponsors that attract the fishers who can find these trophy fish. They are out there. Once again we would like to thank our major sponsors Dream Kayaks, BCF Oxenford, JML Anglers Alliance, Weapons Custom Rods, Marquee Events and 2DEEP. We would also like to thank our other sponsors for their contributions – Burleigh Brewing Co, ☛ continued P16

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Page 16 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

I everyone, this is one of the toughest angling times of the year here on the Broadwater, more because of the heavy boat traffic over the busy holiday period than lack of fish.

This just means you need to fish smarter, as with the correct planning and preparation all our summer species are still worth chasing. Consider fishing either late afternoons and into the night or very early in the mornings before our waterways get busy. It is amazing how few boaties are out and about at these times even during busy periods, and the ones that are on the water are usually keen fishos like us. Not being out in the sun all day is great too, and planning a trip is so easy nowadays thanks to the internet. It doesn’t matter what sort of fishing you want to do, at your fingertips you have weather forecasts, tide predictions, wave height monitoring and all the YouTube clips you could want regarding catching most species. Such information means you can work out the best day or days to go fishing. A site I use regularly is windfinder.com This site forecasts 10 days ahead and while not 100 percent accurate is a great guide for planning trips. Data from the Gold Coast wave rider buoy off Surfers Paradise is helpful for checking if conditions are OK offshore. There’s nothing worse than getting offshore and being belted by a big swell. The Bureau of Meteorology site (bom.gov.au) is also good for providing the latest coastal weather, wind and rain radar information, which is very important if you own an open boat like I do. At this time of year, being able to watch the radar and delay a trip by an hour to let a storm pass can make for a much more enjoyable fishing trip. Tide time websites are extremely important as well, as we all know some species bite better at different parts of the tide, with mangrove jack and jewfish preferring tide changes to feed while whiting definitely prefer tidal flow to stir up the bottom and provide food. Google Earth is another good resource and ideal

Broadwater Region by WAYNE ‘YOUNGY’ YOUNG

for checking out new fishing spots. Once you have decided where and when you are going as well as what you’re chasing, it’s time to make sure the boat batteries are charged, the steering is free and the fuel filter is clean. These three things account for more dud fishing trips than anything else. Also ensure your safety gear and navigation lights meet the required standards because during these holiday periods you are likely to be checked by fisheries officers. I also make sure I have a suitable rod and tackle for my target species and the best bait or lures. As you get older like me, you also appreciate good interior lighting. Being able to see the whole interior of the boat sure beats stumbling around in the dark with a headlight on trying to find things. Now we have got everything ready, let’s see what’s out there to have a crack at. Everyone who has gone offshore lately has been talking about mackerel, with Palm Beach and Mermaid reefs the two most popular spots. Out the front of the Seaway can fish well at times too, especially if a lot of bait is around. A 4-6kg or 6-8kg rod with matching reel and 20lb line is all that’s needed for spotty mackerel. A short 27lb wire trace with a small black swivel on one end and a single 4/0 hook on the other will see you get plenty of fish. Another advantage of fishing out the front of the Seaway is still being able to bottom fish for a mixed bag of cod, trag, tuskfish and even a few snapper. Pillies are the preferred bait, whether whole or in pieces. If at anchor, make sure you have a good berley trail going as well. A free-swimming livie out the back is a good idea because you never know when a big spanish mackerel will turn up in the berley trail. Going through the Seaway on first light will give you the best chance, with the bite period over by 8am on most days.

Back in the estuaries, a few small snapper are being taken in the Broadwater. Just remember they have a minimum legal size limit of 35cm and bag limit of four. We have been getting our fish by jigging small blades but half pillies or even large yabbies would be good baits for these snapper. Some trevally can still be found, with the Council Chambers area of the Nerang River the best on a run-out tide after dark. Medium size poppers and live herring present the optimum ways of catching them. In the Coomera River, the Sanctuary Cove to Gold Coast City Marina stretch has been fishing OK for trevally and mangrove jack, just be aware that Sanctuary Cove comprises private canals that cannot be fished by nonresidents. The main channel in front of Marina Mirage has held good size GTs just around sunset. Trolling lures that dive from 2-4m has been productive. This whiting season has been good so far, with consistent catches of 2030 fish an evening coming from the Nerang River. Bloodworms have been far and away the best bait and the run-out tide has been slightly better than the run-in. Daytime fishing has been a waste of time, with the fish not biting well until the sun goes down. In the Coomera, a few

fish have been caught during the day but at this time of year, fishing late in the afternoon and into the evening is much more enjoyable. Once we get our usual heap of rain it will be time to change from catching sand crabs to mud crabs, with both the Coomera and Pimpama rivers as well as the Aldershots area worth trying.

Good sand crabs are currently being taken in the deeper channels of the Broadwater, with whiting frames an ideal bait for both species of crabs. Please be patient on the water and at ramps over this busy period. Remember the reason we go fishing is to relax and enjoy ourselves. ‘Til next month, fish for the future.

As soon as the Gold Coast receives heavy rain, good mud crabs such as the couple Larry has will become more active.

Linda with part of a good catch of whiting from the Nerang River taken while fishing with the author.

MJA Fishing Tournament report ☛ from P15

Mick Molnar Marine Art, Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine and Coomera Watersports Club. A big thanks to John Costello who once again offered his time to MC the presentation. No one seems to be able to get jack fishers to spill the beans better than John. If you haven’t yet seen his DVDs, be sure to jump over to his ‘The Jack Guide’ Facebook page and buy a copy. John also runs inde-

pendent lure views on his Facebook page and YouTube channel ‘My Lure Box’. Behind the scenes we are working as much as we can to not only keep this competition running well but also keep listening to what competitors say to improve the comp’s conditions, sponsors and prizes. We have a few ideas for the next 12 months in the pipeline, so keep in tune with the MJA Facebook and Instagram pages. This is now one of the

fastest-growing fishing tournaments in southeast Queensland. It is the biggest specialised mangrove jack tournament in Australia and is rivalling big Gold Coast fishing comps while keeping the entry cost down at a low $30 per person. March is the month when you really want to be on the water targeting mangrove jack, so that’s when our next comp will be. Keep reading Bush ‘n Beach for exact dates. Dean Galpin www.bnbfishing.com. au

Upside to recent weather patterns N OW that Christmas is over, it’s time to get set for another year.

As we race head-on through summer, that ever-persistent northerly wind has made fishing very hard in recent weeks. Some spotted mackerel were starting to show on the local reefs as the northerly hit. With humidity sitting at 100 percent along with 30C days and countless thunderstorms, the offshore water temperature has plummeted to 19C, which has made life hard for those chasing mackerel, wahoo and other pelagics. Mackerel are notorious for disappearing when the water temperature falls quickly or the clarity drops off, both of which result from a constant northerly. Hopefully we’ll get a good southerly blow to fix things up soon, otherwise we might end up with a season where the mackerel bypass the Gold Coast altogether on their way south. It’s happened several times over the past 15 years and is just one of nature’s cycles that seems to be built to frustrate fishers. There is an upside though, as when this happens the snapper tend to hang around a bit longer; often well into summer if the current doesn’t run too

Gold Coast

by HEATH ZYGNERSKI

My old man has found a new passion for bass fishing and has had outstanding success, in some sessions landing four or five fish and losing double that number. hard in close. In the creeks and estuaries, the fishing has been great. The water temperature hasn’t dropped off as much as offshore and mangrove jack have been keeping punters entertained. They are biting on both lures and baits, and the key to finding them is to fish structure such as a rock wall or jetty. If you see baitfish hanging around structure you are in with a good chance of snaring a jack. Another sportfish that seems to be gaining popularity is the giant herring. These fish are super aggressive, with searing runs and aerial acrobatics that get the blood pumping. They’ll take lures such as poppers and soft plastics as well as live

and dead baits. They have a really rough mouth, not unlike what you’d find on a cobia, which will make short work of your leader. Plenty of fish manage to rub anglers off during the fight. Giant herring frequent the same areas as mangrove jack but look for shallow water near structure to give you the best chance. They don’t fair too well if handled roughly or kept out of the water for any length of time, so if you catch one, get it back in the water quickly, after a photo of course. My old man has found a new passion for bass fishing and has had outstanding success, in some sessions landing four or five fish and losing double that number. The upper reaches of

Currumbin Creek have fished very well, with small surface poppers accounting for the bass. With the creek being so narrow upriver, watch out for trees on the other side when casting. I spent an afternoon with my old man trying to retrieve about $100 worth of his lures that had managed to land on the opposite bank, so it can work out to be pretty expensive. I was able to get my first bass in the dark, which was a blast, but also managed to hook the old boy through the thumb, which was a mission to remove in the dark. After a short operation (I didn’t feel a thing), the lure and fish were released. The local bars can be very dangerous at this time of year, with the northerly pushing the swell side-on to the bar in some cases. Tweed River Bar is still very shallow inside the walls and caution is needed on an outgoing tide. A shallow bank of roughly 3m deep is about 200m out the front too and it will catch the swell. Currumbin Creek Bar is impassable on low tide. It is being dredged, however this will only continue to the end of the walls where the sand is being pumped back into the gutter. If you try to run it on low water, you’ll need to

head about 400m down the beach before you reach the gutter out. Half a tide is your best bet but keep a keen eye out for surfers and paddle boarders. Tallebudgera Creek Bar still has a small gutter and is best used only on the calmest of days. The Seaway is in good condition, but watch the bank to the north in a northerly wind. This bank now heads out about 2km before dropping off. If you try to shortcut it when heading north, you could find yourself in some bother. ‘Til next month, stinky fingers to you all.

The author with his first night-time bass taken on a surface popper.

Mitch and a giant herring caught on bait.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 17

Gloria Goh with a stud pearlie from the 35s back ledges. Alice Goh enjoyed the thrill of landing a large parrot from the 29-fathom reef.

Gloria put some serious bend into the Venom rod on the catch of the day.

Offshore options for the new year ■ South Passage Bar update

Ray and Gloria Goh were pleased with this 29s pearl perch.

Peter Wooldridge was happy with the size of this summer teraglin in the lead-up to the new moon.

OW things can change over a month.

Last edition I was critical (but optimistic) of the slow fishing on the local offshore reefs, but since then the fishing has improved considerably, delivering a level of consistency that suggested it has not been a one-off, moon phase dependent thing. Everyone was feeling the pinch for a period and it was broadly spread. A personal observation is this slow-down happens pretty much each year, always sometime after winter but on a random basis, and the fishing comes good again after a period of adjustment. With the Christmas/ New Year period on us, I am happy to share a bit of what has been working well for us offshore in the hope it inspires someone to seek out that fish they have been hoping for. For example, we have seen cracking parrot and pearl perch activity along the 29 and 33-fathom lines, with the broken reefy sections along the eastern ridge of the 29s a favourite late in the year. Float lining this area on the right days has produced quality late-season snapper but nothing really big and frankly better fish of other species have been caught on paternoster rigs in the same areas. It is very easy to fish paternosters at that depth because they are not subjected to as much current as on the deeper reefs when the weather warms and the current is on. Fishing the closer grounds is easier than fighting a stronger current out deeper anyway.

Offshore by BILL CORTEN

Working a bit east to the 33s, amberjack have been taken along the northern sections, as have a few teraglin. Their size has been average but they are excellent fun on Wilson Venom spin sticks and to spice things up, we have been using live baits for the better fish. The bend and power through the Venoms on hook-up has been amazing. The area around Nats Rock and the ledge to the north used to be very reliable in October and November and it was nice to make a rare visit to pull some good fish from the

reefs there after a long absence on my part. At this time of year I like working away from the mainstream areas and tend to focus on fishing paternoster rigs for the best results because the main run of snapper fishing has well and truly slowed. A good starting point is the back ledges to the east of the 35s. Here you’ll find a number of ridges and they hold a surprising variety of fish during summer when the current permits. Pearl perch are my favourite fish in this area and I like to spend time idling around in 70-80m

Luke Steedman landed a fat 62cm pearl perch large enough to feed a whole family.

to find the bumps holding the most fish, selectively separating the table fish from the bait schools and working them over. A good example of what can be found in this area is the 62cm pearl perch Luke Steedman caught on a recent trip. This fish was big enough to feed a whole family and those big fat pearlies hit so hard you can easily mistake them for a small amberjack. It came from a flat piece of reef that rose no more than a metre off the bottom, but it was the nice spread of solidly separated red dots on and just off the bottom that showed up on the Garmin mediumfrequency CHIRP and got my attention. Rather than a clump of fish as you would see on a

single-frequency sounder, the CHIRP really can separate the targets much better and these days I get really excited when I see shows like this, whether in shallow or deep water, as it will be tight lines coming up soon. The lead-up to the last new moon saw big teraglin and amberjack firing on the 42s and it was good to get into them after they had been missing in action. Live baits were sparse that day, so after burning off those in the live bait tank, we gave the deepwater jigs a good rip through the water column. I still get a buzz watching others hook up with this exciting form of fishing but it requires a good bit of co-ordination ☛ continued P20

Ted Stevens with a very well-conditioned pearl perch from the back ledges.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 19

A small yacht stranded on the sand island in the middle of the bar. John Mander Jones with a livie-caught new moon teraglin.

At a stately 80 years of age, Ken Mander Jones was not going to let a dark and stormy background interfere with catching this teraglin.

Offshore options for the new year ☛ from P18

When the livies ran out on a bumpy sea, Peter Wooldridge nailed this 105cm amberjack on a deepwater jig.

Page 20 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

and cardio fitness. If the crew gets tired, it is great just being able to lend a hand and defy the odds with a hook-up, handing the rod over to someone who appreciates the opportunity. On the offshore scene, an enthusiastic young bloke, Mat Hubbard, has just bought Moreton Island Fishing Charters from Warwick McLean. Warwick built up a good business with Mat as his occasional skipper and decided to retire, so good luck to you Warwick. Mat has a fresh approach to chartering, with great interpersonal skills, takes anywhere from six to 12

people on the boat and supplies good-quality outfits, braid for reef fishing, mono for trolling and an excellent deckie with whom to share the workload. Well done Mat and good luck with the venture. No doubt plenty of people will be heading through the bar over the Christmas/new year break, so here’s a quick round-up. We had a big swell recently and it presented a good opportunity for a preChristmas test of how the channels are holding up. In a nutshell, some very big swells were rolling through that day and I can assure you that the bar just doesn’t hold those

swells as easily as it did in the days of the old northern channel. That is history now and some days you will be limited by your level of knowledge, experience and the capability of your boat to manage ground swells and big summer tides. The southern channel is very shallow and if there is a run-out tide and a metre and a half or more of easterly or east-northeasterly swell, be very cautious when heading out. The middle channel is much better in those conditions, being deeper, a shorter run to the safety of deeper water and with the scope to manoeuvre when the bigger ones

come rolling through. A northern channel past Short Point is holding up well and is also only good for small swell days or a larger southeasterly swell because the waves don’t tend to wrap round the corner too much, but you still need to keep a good eye out. A big sand island is once again in the middle of the bar. It seems to get bigger each year as we near Christmas due to the build-up of sand from the constant northerlies and general lack of swell in this period, and then it gets gouged out once the big swells start up in the new year.

That sand island is presently decorated with a small stranded yacht that has been there a few weeks and is easy to spot from a distance. I’m not sure of its origin but it makes for an interesting talking point. The channel just to the south of the sand island starts off deep but quickly shallows as the water fans out over the banks and is definitely not a good option when the surf is up. Remember: if in doubt, don’t go out. Whatever you are doing over the break, stay safe and have a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

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Guide to catching jacks ■ Live bait ■ Lures ■ Gear ■ Locations

ELCOME to 2017.

Hopefully it moves a bit slower than the previous year and we get more time to tangle with a few fish. The summer holidays can be a tough time for fishing the local rivers and creeks around southeast Queensland. Most systems on Brisbane’s northside can be hit and miss at this time of year due to significant boat traffic and high water temperatures. Flathead are hard to find in good numbers and the average size is

Fishing Tips by KEITH STRATFORD

generally pretty poor. Bream are still on the smallish side but will improve over the next couple of months. Sharks are always very active during the warmest months and they offer plenty of fun for anglers willing to put in the effort. Mangrove jack are high on a lot of anglers’ lists at this time of year and they are well and truly on the chew. The season has been a

good one so far but the local streams cop a lot of pressure from jack anglers and it can be tough to get a bite. Live baits will out-fish lures when fished correctly around structure. A well-positioned livie is rarely turned down when drifted into a fallen tree or rock bar. It can take a lot of casts with a lure to get a bite, especially when the fish aren’t feeding.

Jamie Wall and a solid cod captured while chasing jacks in the Noosa River. The plastic is a 3” Z-Man MinnowZ in Green Lantern colour.

Live baiting isn’t for everyone, but it does get the runs on the board. Plenty of jacks will be available for anglers casting and trolling lures this month, especially if you like targeting deep structure. Don’t give up completely on a snag even after you have put 20 to 30 good casts into it. Leave the snag alone for a while and return to it later in the session. Trying different lures can also trigger a bite. If you’ve been throwing a fish-imitation plastic without any luck, try a prawn imitation. It’s a lot easier to try a few different presentations if you have a few rods rigged and ready to go. If I’m serious about chasing jacks and I’m on my own I’ll have four or five rods rigged up. One will have a fish imitation such as a ZMan 3” MinnowZ or 4” SwimmerZ, another a soft prawn imitation like a Z-Man 3” ShrimpZ or EZ ShrimpZ and one a Prawnstar Junior or Original. I also like to have a casting hard-body outfit rigged with a mid to deep diver such as a Lucky Craft Pointer or Rapala X-Rap. The last outfit will ei☛ continued P22

The author held a solid jack pulled off a rock bar on a 3” MinnowZ in Bloodworm.

Paul Kelly with his first lure-caught jack taken at Noosa. The fish ate a Z-Man 3” MinnowZ in Redbone.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 21

Ben Monro hooked this 40cm cod on a Prawnstar Junior while chasing jacks. The fish had previously been tagged.

Quality by-catch will be around this month. This trevally and jewie both ate Z-Man EZ ShrimpZ in the Noosa River.

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Page 22 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

ther have another type of plastic or a deep-diving hard-body to troll any deep rock bars or timber I might come across. Carrying this many rods isn’t necessary but it does save a lot of time with lure and leader changes. It’s also a good idea to carry a range of leaders. I’ll use 20lb at a minimum when throwing for jacks and even that is pushing your luck around crusty structure including rocks and fallen timber. I find 30lb is safer and it’s the strength I commonly use for a lot of casting. If I’m trolling hard-bodies and know the lure will be crashing into rocks and fallen timber, I like to step it up to 40-50lb. Any lighter than that can easily be damaged by the structure, which will lead to a quick bust-off with a big jack as soon as any pressure is put on the leader. As I mentioned, the rivers and creeks will be very busy this month. Planning your trip for early in the morning or late in the afternoon can help with getting a bite from a jack, especially in the smaller creeks in-

cluding those that run off Pumicestone Passage. Night fishing works really well during January. Lures and baits will both get plenty of bites. Lures can be hard to use effectively if no lights are close by but I’ve enjoyed good success while fishing rock bars in complete darkness over the years. One little trick that works a treat is using your starboard navigation light to tell when your lure is on the bottom. LED navigation lights emit a fair bit of light and it’s quite easy to see when your line relaxes after hitting the bottom. Hard-bodies also work really well at night, especially over rock bars. Lure selection is the key here. You want to choose a hard-body that floats so it can back up over any rocks it catches on. Some of the suspending hard-bodies work through rocks really well, but they will still get caught up occasionally. The most important thing when choosing a hard-body is making sure it dives to the right depth. Most hard-bodies don’t get down very deep when cast and retrieved. The depth stated on the

packet is taken when the lure is trolled, which is considerably different. Knowing how deep each lure gets both when trolled and cast is important to ensure your hardbody is in the strike zone the entire time. A lot of deep-divers will only get down to 2-3m when cast and retrieved, so you need to find a rock bar around that depth. There is no great need to have your lure crashing into the rocks during the entire retrieve, but having it occasionally tapping the rocks lets you know you’re in the strike zone. As long as the lure is within a foot or two of the rocks, you’re in the zone. Most rock bars are very up and down when it comes to depth, which is one of the reasons fish live around them so often. The drop-offs and rises create back currents where the fish can get out of the main tidal flow to conserve energy between feeding. Targeting any pinnacles or holes over a large rock bar will generally see you hooked up to better-quality fish. Getting them out is another story, especially over shallow rock bars. Hard-bodies dive con-

siderably deeper when retrieved or trolled with the current. Unfortunately, they spend less time in the strike zone due to the lure and/or boat travelling faster and get snagged a lot more as well. Retrieving the lure against the current allows you to give the lure more time in the strike zone and it’s a lot easier to allow the lure to float back up over snags, which will see you get more bites. Motoring in over the top of a shallow rock bar is a sure way to spook any feeding fish. Casting across the current flow also works well, whether it is up or down current. Make sure you fan your casts across the entire rock bar and be prepared for a belting hit at any stage. Once you do hook up, be prepared to go hard on the fish and try to keep its head up. If the fish finds a cave and you feel the leader rubbing on structure, putting the reel in free spool can be the best option. This will generally stop the fish pulling and it’s usually possible to motor in over the fish and gently work it back out.

Once you feel the fish is out of its hole, go hard and keep its head up so it doesn’t go straight back in. Estuary cod are very common captures around rock bars as well and some are very solid specimens. A fat cod of 3-4kg can take some stopping in rough country and they are often mistaken for big jacks. They can put on quite a show and are also delicious table fish. I release all my local jacks but I don’t mind taking home the odd cod of 50-60cm for a feed. Cleaning cod is a bit of a mission with all the slime and assortment of fish, crabs and prawns they tend to hold on to, but they are well worth it once on the plate. January is always a busy month but anglers who are willing to put in the effort and get out on the water early and late in the day will get good results. If you plan on fishing during the day, remember to pack the sunscreen and a hat and make sure plenty of refreshments are in the Esky. I hope to see you on the water.

V8 hero Russell Ingall enjoys Mercury diesel power and joystick control

8 hero Russell Ingall enjoys Mercury diesel power and joystick control WITH the motor racing season slowing over the holiday period, Aussie racing legend Russell Ingall is looking forward to spending quality time in his newly renovated Riviera M400. Powered by a pair of Mercury Diesel TDI 370hp engines with Bravo 3 drives, and controlled via Mercury’s Joystick Piloting system, the boat has been a special project for Gold Coast local Russell who’s particularly proud of the outcome. “I made a ridiculous offer for the boat,” Russell said. “I got it but it hadn’t seen much love. “I thought the work might take a couple of months but it took twice as long.

“I’m very happy with the results though. “It looks like a brandnew boat and feels like one too. “It’s economical, quiet and has tonnes of grunt.” The 2005 V8 Supercar champ and a two-time Bathurst winner, Russell still races regularly but is finding more time for pursuits beyond the track. Working with the team at Boat Service Gold Coast in Coomera, Russell pulled out the Riviera’s old MerCruiser 496s and replaced them with the far more powerful, efficient and reliable TDI 370s. “These Mercury diesel engines are really impressive,” Russell said. “They’ve taken the best of modern European car technology and adapted it for the marine environment, so you have engines that have a far better power-to-weight

ratio and are seriously durable.” On-water testing has shown Russell made the right decision. The big boat now has a top speed of 34 knots at 4150rpm, with both engines combined using 158 litres of fuel an hour. Cruising at a very comfortable 25 knots and 3200rpm, fuel consumption drops to an impressive 100 litres per hour, providing a range of 352km from the main 800-litre tank. To improve the boat even further, Russell opted for Mercury’s Joystick Piloting system, which makes it so easy to dock and manoeuvre in tight spots. “The joystick system is just amazing,” Russell said. “It makes me feel like I’ve been driving boats all my life instead of cars.

“You can go forwards, backwards, sideways and the GPS anchoring feature just sticks the boat in the one spot – fantastic.” During the refit, Russell also had the dash reconfigured with up-to-the-minute electronics including Digital Throttle and Shift controls, which provide super-smooth shifting and lightning-fast throttle response, and a VesselView 702 display that puts real-time data on

boat and engine performance right at Russell’s fingertips. With the boat now dialled in perfectly, Russell is planning a family holiday to Moreton Island. “For me, it confirms you don’t have to spend big money on a new boat,” he said. “Repowering a secondhand boat can give it a completely new lease of life and you have fun doing it.”

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Float lining offshore A

S this is my first article in Bush ‘n Beach, I’d like to start by introducing myself. My name is Jordan Koschel but everyone knows me as ‘Grinner’. I moved to southeast Queensland from country Victoria when I finished year 12 in 2013. Growing up in the bush, I fished fresh water for Murray cod, yellowbelly and trout. Within three weeks of moving to Brisbane I found myself on the deck of Moreton Island Fishing Charters’ Firebird, with my now best mate Mathew Hubbard teaching me how to run the deck successfully. For about six months I was on and off ‘the Bird’ until I became the fulltime deckie, a position I’ve now held for about two and a half years. Being on the water every

Offshore Action by JORDAN ‘GRINNER’ KOSCHEL

weekend, I’m able to test and fine-tune many fishing methods. I hope to be able to share with you my tips, tricks and good fishing stories from offshore Brisbane. I love being able to teach people things I have learnt over the years and that’s one of my favourite things about this sport we all love – the satisfaction of seeing smiles and photos after I’ve taught someone something and it pays off. Now for the fun stuff and one of my favourite ways of fishing for bottom-dwelling species: float lining. Many people have heard of float lining but a lot of those same people couldn’t tell you what it is. In my opinion and with

Kale Koschel landed an amberjack on a live yakka pinned through the back with two Mustad Tarpon hooks. The live bait was floated over a wreck to bring the AJ unstuck.

first-hand experience, I believe it’s the only way to go when using baits. The idea behind float lining is to make your bait look as natural as possible when drifting through the water column, presenting it to the bigger fish sitting up off the bottom above smaller fish. When float lining, you really need to assess the conditions on the day, taking into consideration the current, direction of drift and most importantly the depth of water. Once you have figured out the conditions, it’s time to set up your rig. The float line is a pretty simple rig but easily the most effective and time and again it produces the better-quality fish. Plenty of southeast Queensland offshore fishos would know that at certain times of the year we can be greeted with very strong currents. As a rule of thumb, if we’ve got more than 1.5 knots of current and we’re in water over 60m deep, I’ll run an 8-10 ball sinker and in less current I’ll use a 6 ball (depending on water depth). The hooks you choose are also very important. They need to be of top quality because some of the fish you are targeting have very strong mouths.

An 80cm-plus snapper will have no trouble bending and snapping poorquality hooks. Three hooks I swear by are ganged Mustad Tarpons, Tru-Turn gangs and ELKAT Flashers. I like to fish as light as possible, generally running a 30lb fluorocarbon leader. However, if the fishing is tough I’ll go as low as 15lb to try to get a bite. My float lining rig goes something like this: I tie the fluorocarbon leader to the hooks and then put a glow bead between the hooks and ball sinker. I then chop my leader at 110cm in length, tie a small swivel to the end of the fluorocarbon to stop the bait from spinning and connect the other end of the swivel to my shock leader (2-3m of 30lb fluorocarbon), which is tied to my braid with either an FG knot, slim beauty or back to back uni. When choosing a spot to float line in southeast Queensland, look for reef, wire weed or rubbly bottom. A good-quality sounder is the key, and once you are marking fish on the bottom, figure out your drift line and get your rig ready. Take your time when looking for the fish because there is no point fishing a spot with no fish on it. It’s always better to spend an hour looking for the fish ☛ continued P24

The author and his mate James pulled a 70cm pearl perch and 61cm snapper off a good show on the first drop.

The author’s personal-best pearlie smacked a live slimy mackerel that was actually intended for an amberjack.

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3397 4141 Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 23

Tips and tricks for float lining offshore ☛ from P23

Pearl perch are suckers for a well-presented floatlined bait.

instead of sitting on top of an arid desert all day not catching a thing. Put in the time, search around and it will pay off in more ways than one. The beauty of float lining in southeast Queensland is you can catch absolutely anything. It’s a common misconception that float lines are only good for snapper. That’s definitely not the case! By-catch is very common and very welcome. During the warmer months, excellent fish can be caught on the close reefs. In summer when wa-

ter temperatures are up, you’ll see me hit these reefs in the early morning armed with a very light pea sinker and float line rig for species such as redthroat emperor, spangled emperor, coronation trout, goldspot pigfish, hussar, moses perch, maori cod and jobfish. Another very welcome by-catch on float lines are the pelagic species that plague our waters when the water temps are up. Fishing for pelagics with a float line is deadly. Again, using your sounder to find the fish is the key. Pelagics often school up

and once you find those schooling fish or stackedup bait, slowly run your rig through them. Whole dead baits and live slimy mackerel or yakkas normally don’t last long. Using this method, you can run into species including mackerel, wahoo, tuna, amberjack, kingfish, jobfish, cobia and even marlin. Most baits can be used when float lining, and personal favourites are pilchards, mullet strips, striped tuna fillets, whole fresh squid and live yakkas and slimies. To make sure these baits look as natural as

possible when floating through the water column, they need to be pinned in a straight fashion on your gang hooks. Take your time doing this because the bigger fish are very smart and you almost have to trick them into feeding. If all this is new to you, plenty of videos are available on YouTube to provide a visual demonstration of the technique. The easiest way to learn is to have a go! Get out and give float lining a shot and I promise you will not be disappointed once you have the technique down pat. As soon as the bigger

and better-quality fish start hitting the deck, you will not look back to standard bottom bashing. If you would like to join Mathew and I on an offshore fishing charter, please contact Moreton Island Fishing Charters on 0413 128 056 to make a booking. If you have a question about anything fishing related, you can contact me through my Offshore Fishing Brisbane Facebook page. Just shoot me a message and I’ll be happy to help out. Or if you see me around, introduce yourself and have a chat.

Trolling for mangrove jack G

’DAY everyone, I hope you had a very merry Christmas and perhaps Santa left a bit of fishing gear under the tree.

Justin Connon was stoked to catch his first jack while trolling an Atomic Shiner 75DD in the Tristo’s Proton Pill colour.

In this month’s article I talk about a very successful technique for targeting one of the major bucket-list fish in southeast Queensland and northern NSW, the

The author got into the action with a jack taken on an Atomic Shiner in Rock Crab colour.

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Gold Coast Guide by BRAD SMITH

mighty mangrove jack. The technique I discuss is trolling deep-diving minnow lures, which to do correctly is a fair bit more involved than throwing out a couple of lures behind the boat and chugging around the river. First you need to find the correct areas to troll. These are very heavily structured regions of a river that are also reasonably deep, with my favourite spots being 4m and deeper. Some good examples of prime locations are along man-made rock retaining walls and around natural rock bars and reefs as well as the footings of bridge pylons. The prime times to troll for jacks are very early morning and late afternoon tide changes, with my preference being the first of the run-out. Because of the mangrove jack’s notorious nature of smashing lures and baits and stripping you back into their craggy domains in order to bust you up, I don’t muck around with light equipment. My artillery consists of 10-15kg baitcaster outfits loaded with 30lb and 50lb braid and 30-50lb shock leaders. I take my rigging a step further and tie a 30cm double to the end of my braid with either a bimini twist or spider hitch and then to my leader, which improves the strength of the joining knot to the leader. My favourite lures for the job are my Digga lures, Mann’s Stretch 15+ and 20+ (which are getting very hard to find these days), Sebile Koolie Minnows and the very well built and designed Atomic 75 and 85 Double Deep Shiners. I don’t really have a favourite colour but if the water is discoloured I usually go for gold or a darker colour while I pick a more natural colour in clearer water. For the past few jack seasons I have had great success with the UV col-

our range in the Atomic Shiner series and this season I will be taking this into a fun and experimental stage with the introduction of the Atomic Trick Bitz system, which features an assortment of hook assists and paints that allow you to paint new lures and jazz up old favourites to any colour you like. The Trick Bitz range is extensive so I will write a detailed article on it at some stage early this year. OK, let’s get into the pointy part, which is the art of trolling for jacks. I consider this a bit of a ‘no guts, no glory’ combat style of fishing due to the jacks’ nasty nature and unforgiving lairs. When trolling for bread and butter species I always troll with the tide but when chasing jacks I often troll into the tide to slow my boat. Some of my most productive areas feature a lot of tidal current, which will see the boat travelling too fast if running with it. You have a lot more control of steering your boat when heading into the tide as well. The next and most important part of the technique is you have to troll your lures as tight and close to the structure as possible. In fact, the lures should at times crash into the structure. This means you have a chance of snagging up from time to time, as well as the obvious chance of hooking up and losing your lure to an angry jack. This is where the no guts, no glory part kicks in. You can use a small device called a ‘tackle back’ to retrieve snagged lures and save some money. Always keep your rod tips low to the water when trolling because this will keep your lures running at their optimum depth. When a hook-up occurs, it is now a reflex action for me after targeting these fish for most of my life to steer the boat away from

the wall or structure to pull the fish away from their snags as quickly as possible. In fact, one of my clients recently made the comment that the heavy equipment I use and the way I pull them out is like a tractor pulling a tree stump out of the ground. I never troll my chosen area just once, so it is not uncommon for me to spend well over an hour in the same spot, mixing it up and trolling with the tide and against it as well as making slight variations in and away from the structure, at times changing lure type and colour and distance behind the boat. Sometimes I even troll

a shallower-running lure on the inside close to the structure and a deeper diver on the outside to cover different depths. The Atomic Shiners are good for this variation. I have no doubt that with persistence and constant knocking on the jacks’ front door they will eventually smash the lures out of pure anger and territorial aggression, rather than just hunger. Well good people, I hope this article helps you catch one of these iconic critters. To you and your families, the crew at BNB and all my valued sponsors, I wish you a very happy New Year.

This jack smashed a lure while trolling one of the many rock walls in the Nerang River.

Tristan with a fabulous 54cm jack captured while trolling the Tweed River with an Atomic Shiner.

The author has been experimenting with rigging his jack lures with Gamakatsu single lure hooks with great results.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Pelagics provide the best present P ELAGIC species arriving on our doorstep is the best Christmas present a fisho could ask for. As I sit here and type, it’s not Christmas yet but it seems like the pelagic fish are just a dream. We have had weeks and weeks of strong northerly wind and as a result the water has gone green and cold. And not just a little bit cold, 18C cold. But we fishos know that a week of southerly wind can change all this. Licks of blue water will push in against the coast and mackerel will start popping up. The further we get into January, the more consist-

Tweed to Byron Bay by GAVIN DOBSON

ent the blue water will become and with a bit of luck it will be full of mackerel. While the inshore grounds are prone to fluctuating water temperatures, the wider grounds should be more consistent, with warm blue water flowing out of the coral sea. Hopefully it’s full of mahi mahi, wahoo, marlin and tuna. With the excitement of the arrival of good fishing, and being holiday season, a stack of people

will be around. Conflict is going to be inevitable at places such as boat ramps. Here at Brunswick Heads I have a few pet peeves. The pontoon next to the boat ramp is for boaties to use as they launch and retrieve only. There is even a little sign (about the size of a postcard) that says so. Unfortunately, the pontoon is often lined with anglers who get upset when you pull in with a boat. Also, some boaties think

this pontoon is their permanent mooring. Another annoyance is boaties who think that because the fish-cleaning bench has taps, the ramp makes the perfect wash bay, only leaving one lane of the ramp open. This might be acceptable when not in peak season but when there is congestion it is just plain rude. These days I try to ignore all these goings-on and just get my part of the process done as quickly as possible. Yelling doesn’t help! It doesn’t matter how much you yell because more ignorant folk are always ready to come out of the woodwork.

Mackerel are the fish everyone loves to chase at this time of year. The author caught this one at night on a slab of mack tuna meant for a jew.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

The only time I don’t hurry away from the boat ramp is when I can assist someone. The tide can flow very hard past the Brunswick Heads ramp and retrieving a boat can be difficult even for those used to the conditions. If I think I can help, I will. Likewise, I always carry a selection of winch handles because often someone will have forgotten theirs and will instead be using a small shifter at the rate of an inch a minute. Either be patient or get in and help someone out this holiday season. ☛ continued P26

Don’t forget to check out the rules when heading interstate these holidays. This is a black cod, similar to an estuary cod, and both are protected species in NSW.

If the mornings are a bit crowded on the reefs, try a spot of evening fishing for jew or snapper.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 25

Pelagics provide the best present â&#x2DC;&#x203A; from P25

Ice is very important for keeping your catch in top shape and critically so at this time of year. Here Keira sorted out her catch.

Another thing to watch out for these holidays is compliance officers. Expect to be checked by the water police, NSW Maritime officers, fisheries officers and around Brunswick Heads and Byron, Marine Parks officers. If you are coming from interstate, make sure you are aware of the rule differences. While on the water a lot with the cruise boat, I see three main infringements here on the Brunswick River. First, cast nets are not allowed in NSW. Second, the Brunswick River has a healthy population of estuary cod, which is a protected species. Third, the Brunswick

River is part of Cape Byron Marine Park and therefore no jet skis, water skiing or aquaplaning are allowed. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not saying the rules are good, bad or indifferent, but they are the law. The main aim over the holiday season is to have fun and catch a few fish. I used to hold the belief that a lot of fish were shy and to catch them you had to avoid the boat traffic. While I prefer to avoid the boat traffic for my own enjoyment, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve changed my mind on the idea of fish not feeding around boats. Whiting, for such a seemingly timid fish, are often caught under a steady flow of marine traffic. Additionally, a countless

number of times I have watched the fishers on the jetty while I am preparing the cruise boat and things are really quiet. As I pull away from harbour in the boat, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very common for one or more anglers to catch a bream with the boat motor blaring away. There seems to be something about the vibrations of a boat motor that cause a cautious bream to feed. I worked this out years ago with mangrove jack too. I regularly fished a sleepy little corner of the Tweed River for mangrove jack. Often when all was quiet and the live baits were swimming around unmolested I would hear a boat coming and as it drew

level with my position all of a sudden one of the rods would buckle in a typical jack attack. Most fish arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as boat shy as is often written and letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face it, we trolled for these species for years before electric motors were popular, with the lure working away just 20m behind a noisy two-stroke outboard. For your own peace and tranquillity though, you may wish to fish early morning and evening/ night. Offshore, you can usually find a spot to yourself, though all the popular reefs will have boats all over them on a good day. You wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need a GPS or landmarks to find Nine Mile Reef off the Tweed this month!

Once again, to avoid the crowds, a bit of night fishing might be necessary. January can be a pretty good month for snapper and jew on the close reefs at night. Put a mackerel bait out too because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve caught plenty of mackerel on moonlit nights and even a few on the dark moon. With all the storms that have been rumbling through of late, the fishing up our rivers has improved out of sight. This month should see excellent fishing in our mid to upper reaches if we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t receive a big rain event. All in all, the fishing should be productive this month. I hope your holiday season is a great one.

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E AC HG OE R S are encouraged to be SharkSmart, with a multi-faceted campaign under way together with the NSW Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $16 million Shark Management Strategy to reduce the risk of shark attacks this summer.

NSW Department of Primary Industries deputy director General Fisheries Dr Geoff Allan said the SharkSmart campaign provides useful tips to minimise the risk of being in waters where sharks may be present. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sharks are a natural part of our environment, however a better awareness and understanding of sharks and their behaviour can help everyone enjoy the beach and reduce their risk of a shark encounter this summer,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The NSW Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $16 million Shark Management Strategy includes SMART drumlines, VR4G listening stations to identify tagged sharks, increased traditional aerial surveillance and trials of drone surveillance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Drones will be flying every morning during school holidays at Kiama, Redhead Beach, Evans Head, Lighthouse Beach at Ballina and Lennox Head. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A total of 100 SMART drumlines will be progressively rolled out along the NSW coast. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A shark net trial has commenced at five beaches on the NSW North Coast and shark nets are in place at 51 of the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most popular beaches between Newcastle and Wollongong.â&#x20AC;? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to realise the nets do not create an enclosed area, nor do they provide a shark-proof barrier between beachgoers and sharks. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The DPI works with beach authorities, aerial surveillance contractors and NSW Police to do all we can to protect swimmers, surfers and other water users,â&#x20AC;? Dr Allan said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would encourage all beachgoers to download our SharkSmart app and

follow us on Twitter to get the latest information.â&#x20AC;? SharkSmart tips for swimmers and surfers â&#x20AC;˘ Tell an on-duty lifesaver or lifeguard if a shark is spotted near swimmers or surfers; â&#x20AC;˘ Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t swim too far from shore; â&#x20AC;˘ Swim in groups; â&#x20AC;˘ Avoid swimming and surfing when itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dark or during twilight hours; â&#x20AC;˘ Avoid murky water, waters with known effluents or sewage; â&#x20AC;˘ Avoid areas used by recreational or commercial fishers; â&#x20AC;˘ Avoid areas with signs of baitfish or fish feeding activity â&#x20AC;&#x201C; diving seabirds are a good indicator of fish activity; â&#x20AC;˘ Do not rely on sightings of dolphins to indicate the absence of sharks as both often feed together on the same food; â&#x20AC;˘ Be aware that sharks may be present between sandbars or near steep drop-offs; â&#x20AC;˘ Avoid swimming in canals and swimming or surfing in river/harbour mouths; â&#x20AC;˘ Avoid having pets in the water with you; and â&#x20AC;˘ Do not swim/surf near or interfere with shark nets. Dr Allan said the NSW North Coast remains a key focus this summer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aerial surveillance is now under way on the NSW North Coast and a number of sharks have been tagged and released by DPI shark researchers in recent weeks,â&#x20AC;? Dr Allan said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The North Coast shark net trial has commenced at Lighthouse, Sharpes and Shelly beaches at Ballina, Seven Mile Beach at Lennox Head and Evans Head Beach. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We will be conducting a further advertising blitz on the North Coast over the school holidays to ensure everyone gets the SharkSmart message.â&#x20AC;? For further information, visit dpi.nsw.gov.au/fish ing/sharks/sharksmart, download the SharkSmart app and follow @ NSWSharkSmart on Twitter. www.bnbfishing.com. au

New sportfishing competition T

This year we are very excited to announce the commencement of a sportfishing competition. This comp will be run monthly, featuring a species of the month as well as a members’ choice category. To compete, members will need to take a photo of the specific species on a RBAFC sportfishing comp brag mat with a code word and enter by sending it to rbafcsports fishing@gmail.com before each month’s close date. Awesome prizes will be provided by sponsors.

HE Redland Bay Amateur Fishing Club sign-on day is coming up.

The date is set for January 29, with a barbecue on site and an opportunity for current members to have a yarn. RBAFC has been around for 35 years after it was started by a few local fishing legends. RBAFC runs a hotly contested inshore and offshore competition as well as three beach trips a year (Stradbroke and Fraser islands), freshwater dam trips and fun social events.

The first sponsor on board is Gobblers Lures, who will supply us with fantastic prizes. Bonza Graphics is also on board and will be supplying us with the brag mats for the comp. If you are interested in sponsoring this competition, please call me on 0415 149 350. This comp is designed for the angler who loves to catch the big ones but also gets gratification in seeing them swim away. This is not to say you can’t take home a feed because nothing is better than fresh fish, but if you

Call 07 3283 3373 or 0417 142 352

don’t like killing some species, you don’t have to and can still take home awesome prizes. The members’ choice section will be open for every species other than the species of the month. Again, to be eligible you need to photograph the fish on the brag mat with the code word of the month. All entries will be considered and the best seven catches will be presented at the general meeting, with the members voting to decide the winner. An information sheet on the sportfishing comp is available from rbafc.org. au RBAFC is consistently evolving to cater for everyone from the serious

fisho to the fishing newbie wanting to learn more. We also cater for the family with both ladies and juniors competitions. We hope to see you at the sign-on day and then a few weeks later at our meet and greet day. Meet and greet day is a bunch of fun, with a jumping castle for the kids and a mullet toss for the adults. This day is about new members coming down and breaking the ice with a few tall stories of ‘the one that got away’. Please feel free to come along and enjoy this fantastic club atmosphere. Just visit the website for more information. Keep livin’ the dream. Matt Savas

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 27

Annual Clarence River fishing trip G ’DAY all, this month I’d like to share with you one of my favourite holiday destinations that our family has been visiting for well over 30 years.

The author with a couple of Middle Wall jew.

Yamba on the mighty Clarence River is home to some of the most epic river fishing a mad angler could ask for. Coupled with a sleepy holiday town feel and beautiful beaches, it makes for the perfect family fishing getaway. The Clarence River stretches through 24 different tributaries along its 394km length: enough water and species to keep an angler busy for a lifetime. I generally concentrate my fishing on the lower reaches due to easy access

Fishing Trip

by JASON BRINDLEY

from our accommodation. We stay at the Peninsula Court townhouse complex, which is situated on prime river frontage. The facilities here are amazing for the visiting angler. The two-bedroom townhouse is comfortable without being five star (with two young boys this works for us) and has a private pontoon with excellent cleaning facilities in the safe and quiet waters of the canal. Try to visit out of holiday season because it will save you a fortune and the town will be

nice and quiet. You can literally catch anything from blackfish to cod and trevally right off your doorstep without even setting foot in the boat. However, sometimes the trick to catching fish can simply be persistence and time on the water. Having the boat moored and ready to go allows you to grab a few rods and snacks and be fishing within minutes. The other bonus is if like me you have young children, it allows for short trips to keep them from getting bored or too tired.

This year we concentrated on chasing bigger fish on live baits, mixed with a bit of whiting fishing and crabbing. Sand crabs can be plentiful in the Clarence over summer. I put four pots out in the channels adjacent to the accommodation and this was more than enough to keep crabs on the table for most of the holiday. We could see the pots from the deck of the townhouse, so it was easy to keep an eye on them, and the kids love checking them each day. While on this holiday I made the rookie mistake of putting my hand in a bucket of live sandies. I think most of Iluka and Yamba would have heard the profanities… it was a real brain explosion and I won’t be doing that again. The sandbanks of Rabbit Island provide plenty of yabbies to pump, which is another great activity for the kids. Towards the full moon, the kids were catching 34cm whiting along the foreshore of our accommodation and on the runout tide along Sleeper Island. I particularly love to catch two species of fish each year at Yamba: large flathead and jewfish. Both can be enticed on a variety of lures, however I tend to focus on live baiting because the kids can fish a live or dead bait in deep water much more easily than they could learn about lure fishing. If bait isn’t your thing, you could definitely fish the same locations we did with vibes, big plastics and micro jigs for similar results. My rig consists of a two-hook 3/0 snooded Gamakatsu setup on 3040lb leader with 20-30lb braided main line. This is reasonably heavy gear but necessary when fishing tight along rock walls or around bridges. Collecting live bait is a great option for the kids. They will happily jig for herring and it can be

a fun exercise. The best locations for collecting livies are Oyster Channel Bridge around the pylons, the Goodwood Island wharf and the top corner of Sleeper Island. Use a size 10 Wilson bait jig and often you will pick up what I call ‘jewfish lollies’ in the form of just-legal (30cm-plus) tailor. These are gun baits because the bream will not touch them. If you jig up herring, the bigger the better. Bream in the Clarence are lethal and will pick the eyes out of the herring and then kill them as quickly as you can blink. After you have a tank full of livies, head for the deeper sections of the Middle Wall on the Iluka side, Oyster Channel Bridge, the mouth of the north arm along Collis Wall and the deep ledges along Browns Rocks. I will fish a very heavy sinker such as a 10 ball to make sure my bait is always close to the bottom as I drift my livies along the structure. This was the third year in a row that I pulled flathead over 80cm from Middle Wall. I was drifting a dead herring (in the rush of baiting up the kids’ rods with livies I threw a dead one on) and was absolutely smashed by a big fish. The rod grip had slime on it from the herring and I just about lost the whole lot overboard. After a brief struggle, I saw the silhouette of an absolute croc of a flatty. I yelled to my oldest son Hayden to get the net and the beast took a run for the rocks while my thumb was burning on the baitcaster. After a few more tense moments, I gave Hayden the rod and leadered the behemoth into the net. The fish went 92cm on the brag mat and was a PB for me. It was magical to have the kids on board to witness such a fish. ☛ continued P29

Hayden and Cooper did well to land this flathead.

Whiting were a welcome catch in the Clarence.

Page 28 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

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Hayden held a good bream that ate a live herring.

Cooper and Poppy with a solid bream.

Annual Clarence River fishing trip â&#x2DC;&#x203A; from P28

We really look after the big breeders and after a few quick pics this fish swam off to the deep. I must stress how important it is to look after these big flathead for future generations to enjoy. Each year the flatties are getting bigger and I hope one day we can see

that magical metre-long monster. I know theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re out there. One afternoon while fishing the run-out tide with live baits for jew, things had been slow for the first hour, boating just a medium size lizard and being busted off. Just after dark, the sounder lit up and I knew

The boys held the behemoth flathead.

something was on. For some reason I was using my micro jig rod (itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a bit of a silly stick) and got smashed. The little rod was buckling under the pressure of a good jew, and after some wicked runs a 90cm jew was landed. I immediately went back for another drift. In the same spot, the sounder once again lit up and the rod buckled with another good size jew. I called it a night after that, made the five-minute run back to the pontoon and was sinking a JD and cleaning fish before you could blink. This location canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be beaten for access to the fishing grounds. Fishing with live baits really gives the kids a chance at hooking a big fish. The more my boys fish, the better they get and the greater their expectations. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really enjoyable to tie up to the bridge, deploy

Hayden Brindley and a jewfish taken on a live tailor.

live baits and watch the boys take on jewfish and trevally. They love it. Fishing around the mouth and the bridges in the Clarence can be very tide dependent. It is important to fish these locations on either the slack water or the start of the run. During the full tidal movement, the flow is too fast and makes fishing impossible. Because our boat is on the water the whole time, you can fish early for a couple of hours and be back in time to spend the day at the beach with the family, keeping everybody happy. If you are looking for a family friendly holiday that involves relaxing, having fun with the family and enjoying hot fishing action, Yamba is the destination for you. Good fishing to you all. The authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PB flatty ate a dead herring.

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.com.au/brand/ZMan Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, January 2017 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Page 29

Mix of species on the bite at Ballina H ELLO and welcome to this month’s edition of

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in larger numbers out a little wider on the 48-fathom line. Knife jigs up to 400g and live baits have accounted for the majority of the kingfish, while the snapper and pearlies have shown more interest in baits such as squid and bonito or larger slow-pitch jigs in bright colours. Spanish and spotted mackerel have not turned up just yet but with the warm currents pushing in closer each day and slimy mackerel and yellowtail hanging around the close reefs, it won’t be too long until the razor brigade arrives. Now is the time to start making rigs and sharpening hooks so they are ready to go. The Richmond River has been a hive of activity and the hardest part is working out which species to target. The only disappointing thing has been the distinct lack of mud crabs. While the past couple of seasons have been rather good, I think this season may just end up being one of those quiet ones if the numbers of small and undersize crabs are anything to go by. On the other hand, the warm and stormy weather has really got the mangrove jack moving. As is usually the case, the run-out tide in the afternoons has been the best time to target these cranky red fish.

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weather of late. The mahi mahi have shown up around the FAD on the 32-fathom line, and as is typically the case, they have been taking everything from skirted and hard-body lures to live baits and even a few blue pilchards and surface lures. Larger models were around earlier in the season but their numbers have dropped away in recent weeks. We should continue to see a good run of these brightly coloured acrobats for the next few months, so don’t panic if you have not had a chance to get out there lately. The warm ocean current has also brought small black marlin. A number of these fish have been hooked lately and most of them lost, but the odd one has been boatside for a quick picture before release. Most have taken a liking to extra-large skirted lures trolled for mahi mahi, though some have also shown interest in live baits on the wider grounds. The 32-fathom line has been holding a few snapper, flathead and the odd parrotfish. The current has been fairly quick of late, so make sure you have some large sinkers on board the next time you head out. Kingfish, pearl perch and better-quality snapper are

I hope you had a safe and happy Christmas with your friends and family. This is shaping up to be another fantastic year if the fishing around the Northern Rivers is anything to go by. The offshore scene started summer very slowly, and this appeared largely to do with the inconsistency of the water temperature. The temperature would climb to 23-24C and then drop dramatically to 1920C the next day. However, it now seems to have settled a little, with slightly more stable

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ing in the slightly deeper water and they’ve generally been happy to take live or preserved beach worms and yabbies on the larger run-in tides. Most of the fish have been 30-35cm in length but the odd fish has been up around and even over the 40cm mark. Bass have probably been the slowest to respond to the warmer weather, though having said that, we are now getting reports of plenty of surface action from Coraki to Lismore, especially first thing in the morning. A lot of the fish have taken surface walkers from 60-80mm in length and predominantly in darker colours. Once the sun has well and truly poked up its head, most bass have taken spinnerbaits or hard-body lures cast under any overhanging tree branches. Colours such as numbers 1, 11, 15, 19, 34, 51 and 60 in the Bassman Spinnerbait range are great options. This technique takes a bit of practice to master. While it can be very difficult when standing on a bank, it is incredibly effective when fishing from a boat or kayak and you get your cast right into the strike zone. That’s all from me this month. I look forward to providing you with helpful information over the next year. Thank you for your wonderful support of this great magazine. Until next time, tight lines!

Lures and live baits have worked at different times, so it is up to you to use whichever method you prefer and have confidence in. Four-inch soft plastics with a paddle tail have been a popular choice, as have hard-body lures from 70-100mm long. Almost all the fish have come from along the rock walls in the river, and in particular between the Burns Point Ferry and Wardell Bridge. The warm weather has also stirred up the flathead and whiting over the past month or two. A number of the betterquality flathead seem to be hanging out in the deeper parts of the river in an attempt to beat the heat. Large soft plastics and live baits such as poddy mullet have been popular choices for these larger fish but the heat has made them very lethargic, so early mornings and late afternoons have been good options. The better eating size fish have been taking smaller soft plastics in more natural and transparent colours along with baits such as prawns, white pilchards, yabbies and mullet. Most of these fish are congregating along the deeper drop-offs of the sand flats from the mouth of the river all the way up to Pimlico Island. Whiting have been a little different to the flathead, with some of the larger fish showing up in the shallows and taking a keen interest in surface poppers and stickbaits. Better numbers are hold-

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Fishing smarter over the holiday period Vale Rob Colyn

OW quickly did 2016 go by?

It is getting to the stage that every time I blink a month goes by. Before I get into my report, I’d like to wish you a (belated) merry Christmas and a happy New Year. I hope you enjoy the rest of your holidays. January is a brilliant time of the year when whiting, bream, school jew, flathead, dart and in my area shovelnose sharks are all viable targets. In some washy areas you’ll also pick up lateseason greenback tailor. While many fish can be caught over the holidays, you have to fish smarter due to the number of holiday-makers around. You will need to scout around for spots and get the freshest baits such as beach worms, pipis, yabbies, prawns, live herring and poddy mullet. You could also use preserved worms and blue pillies. Fish early in the morning before the surfers and four-wheel-drive owners come out to play. If beach fishing, head down to the beach on the day before your trip and pick out the gutters you think will produce good fish. Mark them out with a stick or some other sort of landmark. Night presents a great time to fish over the holidays. I would start at about 9pm and fish until after midnight.

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Evans Head by GARY ‘SQUIDGIE’ PALMER

In the Evans River, worms and yabbies are ideal baits for whiting. You will need a size 6 long-shank hook, a 50mm piece of red tubing to sit on top of your hook and 30cm of leader. Some fishers go longer with their trace but I like my leader short. A 3 ball sinker completes my rig, though sinker size may change with the bigger January tides. The best spots for whiting in the Evans River are out the front of the kiosk, next to the RSL, around the bridge and along all the yabby beds leading up to Iron Gates. One of my more productive locations is the island area. Just look up from the bridge and you will see the island. Fish the left-hand side on your way upstream. It is not deep but can hold very good size whiting. If chasing whiting, I’d also head upstream past Iron Gates and fish the shallows all the way up the river. When bream fishing the Evans River, the walls and Iron Gates are the most productive areas and white pillies, prawns, cut herring, yabbies, mullet gut and mullet strips will entice them. I find early morning or

night run-up tides and the last of the run-out to be best. Fish as lightly as possible using 10lb or lighter line with the lightest possible sinker for the tide. I sometimes use no sinker at all. Try to present your bait as naturally as possible with your sinker sitting on top of your hook. I like bait-holder hooks for this type of fishing. If you are fishing the walls, leave your bail arm open and feed out line. Alvey reels are best here but threadline reels will do. You want to let the bream run with line for a bit before whacking the reel into gear. If chasing flathead in January, I would target beaches because the river sees too much activity with boats and swimmers. Those flathead in the river will be sitting at the top end and you will need a good tide to reach them. So on the beaches, find a good gutter with a sandbank that’s close enough to cast to. Once your bait lands on the bank, slowly wind in and the flathead should be waiting at the drop-off for any morsel to roll over. I also look for small, deep gutters with sandbanks all around and a deeper section that allows

surf to come in. These are honey holes with all manner of fish in them. Early morning and night are the best times to fish these locations and I would use pipis here. Whiting fishing on our beaches can be brilliant too and some of the best spots are out the front of the surf club. You want to be there before or after the surfers hit the beach. Around the Salty Lagoon is another great area to fish with worms and pipis. My beach setup for whiting is the same as my river gear but a bit heavier with roughly 10lb fluoro leader. You need a bit of wash in the gutter and there’s no need to cast to New Zealand because the fish are at your feet. Whiting love the breaking waves because they stir up food. A light sinker and once again a bait-holder hook is what you want. Jewfish will be found in the same gutters as whiting and flathead but for these fish I would use beach worms, cut mullet and squid as bait. Live mullet and herring are brilliant too, as are legal size blackfish heads with the gut attached. Use heavy rods and reels for jew fishing. It’s no good using whiting gear to fight these brutes. I run 30lb main line and 40lb or 50lb leader.

You don’t need a mile of leader, with 30cm of leader once again enough. Everyone has their own way of fishing for jew but I prefer using bait. You could also use a 65g SureCatch Knight metal slug. Just cast the slug out and let it sink, slowly winding in. Remember, you are not tailor fishing and the lure must be on or close to the bottom to work. I think the sand the lure tosses up when winding in turns the jew on. I have not captured any monster jew this way but have encountered plenty of schoolies. This time of year is perfect for being out in the deep blue chasing trag, snapper, amberjack, kingies, mackerel, pearl perch and lots of other delectable table fish. I like fishing a bit wider, with good size dolphinfish to be found around the wave buoys and FADs. If there is any floating object on the surface, have a cast at it with a stickbait or soft plastic to see if any dolphinfish are around. A live bait floated back will work too. This time of year can produce incredible fishing, you just have to pick your times. I hope you have a great holiday period and don’t rush anywhere, just enjoy the drive. Limit your kill, don’t kill your limit. Tight lines and smelly fingers.

S last month’s issue of Bush ‘n Beach was going to press, the local fishing community here on the Clarence Coast lost one of our own.

Ashby angler Rob Colyn tragically drowned while chasing his beloved jewfish on the Yamba breakwall. Rob was not only a gun angler in his own

right but also a devoted family man and hardly a day would go by without Rob fishing either the Yamba or Iluka wall with his son and best mate, Andy. I’m sure I speak on behalf of the entire Bush ‘n Beach family in offering our deepest condolences, thoughts and prayers to Rob’s family and friends. Tye Porter

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 31

This small stickbait worked a treat on estuary perch.

Young Grafton angler Ryan Hyatt with a small flounder caught along Goodwood Island on a peeled prawn.

After spinning for two solid hours in awesome water, this angler failed to entice a strike from a jew at the Iluka Bluff.

Ideal time to head to Iluka for a fish H ERE at Iluka, fishing continued to improve during the first few weeks of December, with species such as whiting, flathead and mackerel the most sought after by anglers.

This estuary perch was one of two that could not resist Mischa’s small stickbait around the Goodwood Island wharf.

As I predicted last month, reasonable catches of spotted mackerel are being boated from the close-in grounds off Woody Head to the north while the pick of the southern spots would be just off One Man Rock. At the time of writing, the odd larger spanish mackerel is being boated and by mid-January the mackerel season should be well and truly in full swing. Inside the Clarence River, whiting have really come on the chew,

Just Jew

by TYE PORTER

with quality fish around the 35cm mark quite common. I have been chasing these tasty little critters using live beach worms during the falling tide at night along the southern bank of Goodwood Island for fish to 38cm, while Ashby anglers Lexie Dutton and Ted Maclean have had similar success in the same area. At Iluka, the old ferry approach, Moriartys Wall and the sand flats off Marandowie Drive are the pick of the spots for whiting. Over at Yamba, Romi-

aka and Oyster channels and Whiting Beach will give shore-based anglers plenty of action. Flathead averaging 800g to 1.2kg are plentiful throughout the lower reaches of the river, with most fish taken on the drift using either fresh green school prawns or white pillies. Bigger fish will be hooked on live bait in the deeper water along Middle and Collis walls during a falling tide. Mid-December saw my son Mischa flicking a small stickbait around the

pylons of the Goodwood Island wharf just on dark for bream, only to land two very healthy estuary perch and a little school jew. Jewfish have gone a tad quiet in recent weeks, with only the odd good schoolie reported from the southern end of the Bluff on minnow lures, up along the beach at Shark Bay on live beach worms and inside the river at Browns Rocks on live herring. Both the Iluka and Yamba breakwalls have been unusually quiet for jew, so here’s hoping they come on the chew and kick off 2017 with a bang. Lismore angler Ryan Pellagreen has continued to take quality tailor from Main Beach at Iluka on

bonito strips, along with the odd very healthy bream around the kilo mark. It is good to see tailor finally staying on the chew, though 2016 will go down as a very poor year for this species. The majority of local beaches are holding good numbers of sizeable swallow-tailed dart and whiting for anglers using beach worms, with the occasional solid bream and big tarwhine taken as bycatch. All in all, January should see anglers have no trouble getting a feed of their chosen species as long as the weather plays its part. ‘Til next month, safe fishin’.

New year fishing options at Newcastle

’DAY, let’s get straight into what’s been happening in the salt water around Newcastle.

Even this little school jew couldn’t resist Mischa’s stickbait.

Page 32 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

A few good fish are being landed on Stockton Beach. The whiting are around and playing up in the deeper holes at the moment, with beach worms the best bait. I’ve been told a few good elbow-slappers are in the mix too. If you find any dart, cast out that bit further and you will get bigger models for dinner. Jewfish are at Stockton on a rising tide in the early mornings and late afternoons and I’m itching to get there to chase them because some mates are getting into them as I type. Good size bream are on the chew as well, so if you do the hippy hippy shake on the shore’s edge to grab some pipis, cast them out and you should catch a feed. Quality tailor are still around on the beaches too. Newcastle Harbour is fishing well, with jewfish hanging around the tugboats near the pylons and the little rock wall on the Stockton side near the pool. Give these spots a shot but you will have to put up with the crowds. The chipyards will get your heart pumping, with plastics the go for

3WAYSFISHIN – Newcastle by NATHAN ‘NATH’ PALMER

enticing tasty flathead. Get your hands on some Squidgies plastics, particularly the 100mm paddle tail in silver and black because mullet are around. Up past Stockton Bridge is another great spot to chase flatties. Find deep drop-offs in this area and cast to the shallows, bringing your lure back into the deep part of the hole. Doing so will net you a few. Just employ a slow retrieve with some patience and you should end up with a big girl on the other end of your line.

Don’t forget to take your crab pots because blue swimmers are around and you can’t beat a feed of these tasty treats. While chasing a feed of fish, check your pots every 20 minutes or so. The Hexham stretch of the Hunter River has been another standout location for a mixed bag of fish. The standouts would have to be jew, bream and flathead. Cracker lizards of 7090cm have been caught through the night on live baits. Big bream have been taken by anglers using

mullet gut as bait. I’ve seen OK size jew of about 80cm hooked around Hexham during the day on the last of the run-out tide. You never know when the jewies are going to show up. My mate Ben recently captured nine here in one session. What a day that would have been, and all on bream gear! I bet Benny couldn’t get the smile off his face for days. Just remember that in NSW, mulloway have a two-fish bag limit with a 70cm minimum size limit. Well it’s time for me to get ready for night shift. Stay safe on the water and I hope you score great fish over the holidays.

Ben Canvin and his 80cm jewfish.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 33

Hot whiting and jack action on Sunny Coast

Tyler Darbinson caught this flathead while on a Noosa River Fishing Safari. Photos fishingnoosa. com.au

APPY new year!

What a great time to get the family fishing. The Sunshine Coast is producing a great whiting and even better mangrove jack season, and combine that with outstanding offshore fishing for favourites such as mackerel and coral trout and you could not ask for a better start to the new year. Let’s begin with the mighty estuaries. Mangrove jack are well and truly on the bite, with some fishers saying they have caught double the numbers of last season and they’re still coming. Most jacks in the Maroochy River have been hooked by throwing lures at any of the pontoons either at first light or late

Stann Anderson boated this cracking whiting.

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Page 34 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

Sunshine Coast by WADE QUALISCHEFSKI

in the afternoon. The mouth of Coolum Creek and any of the deep holes upriver from here have produced jacks up to 60cm. Lures for the job have varied depending on the location. Around pontoons, shallow divers such as the River2Sea Live Minnow 95mm are a great choice while deep-diving suspending lures including the Zerek 69mm Tango Shad are ideal for the deeper water. Elbow-slapper whiting have been popping up, with the bigger fish taken on worms and peeled prawns on the Black Banks and around Goat and Chambers islands. If wanting to chase whiting with lures, the Fish Candy Skinny Dog has done the job on the run-in tide as the sand flats get covered with water. Flathead and school jew are still being caught upriver from the motorway bridge on live bait and fresh mullet, with the bigger jew taken at night. In the Noosa River, jacks are being captured between Lake Cooroibah and Lake Cootharaba. This area features great structure such as fallen trees and underwater rock bars, which make excellent spots for jacks to hide. Try trolling deep-diving lures such as the Lucky Craft Pointer and Jackall DD Squirrel, and don’t be afraid to move your rod tip a little to give the lure a different action. Sometimes it can be the littlest of things that will increase your hook-up rate. The great-eating whiting have certainly been caught in numbers of late. Areas producing quality fish have included the sand bars adjacent to the sandbags, Munna Point and the Frying Pan. The best baits have been sand worms and live yabbies. Alternatively, try a surface lure on the run-out tide. Offshore fishing has been running hot. If you love chasing pelagics, the Sunshine Coast can provide you with eve-

rything from mackerel and tuna to the occasional black marlin. Spanish mackerel have mainly been taken deeper in the water column, so try trolling Samaki Pacemaker 140DD and 180DD lures. These lures will easily get you down past the 5m mark. If you want to get even deeper, the new Nomad Design DTX Minnow in 165mm and 200mm will dive to about 12m at seven knots, which is the speed these speedsters have liked best. If heading out of Mooloolaba, the hot spots for mackerel have been Caloundra 8 Mile, Old Woman Island and Coolum Reef. When leaving from Noosa, try North Reef, Jew Shoal and Double Island Point. A good tip if you like spinning for spotties is to make sure your slug is of a similar size to the baitfish. This will improve your catch rate markedly. Lately spotties have been breaking the surface and can be easily seen from a distance. Keep a set of binoculars handy to help with spotting these fish. Snapper, pearlies and grass sweetlip have been in good numbers on the Barwon Banks, Murphys Reef and Currimundi Reef, with the pearlies mainly coming out of the deeper water around the 60m mark. Coral trout are in their

usual run on Sunshine Reef, with snapper and cod also caught while chasing these superb table fish. When trying to catch trout, landing a few other reef dwellers first usually encourages the trout to bite. The trick is to make sure you keep your bait hard on the bottom. The coffee rock, North and Halls reefs are producing snapper, parrot, cod and pearlies, with the best baits fresh mullet, pilchards and squid. Fisheries officers have been out in force all over the Sunshine Coast, so please ensure all safety gear is up to date and in perfect condition. If you need any advice regarding safety gear, please don’t hesitate to give any of the Davo’s tackle shops a call. Along the beaches, shallow-water gutters have been the key to finding not only the whiting but good size flathead.

If you are wanting to chase flathead on the beach, try using baby blue pilchards on a snooded rig made of two suicide hooks in either 2/0 or 3/0 with a running ball sinker above the swivel. Ensure you place red tubing between the two hooks to reduce bite-offs. Whiting are still being taken on beach worms and the start of the rising tide seems to be the better bite period. A few dart are being captured on pipis and mullet fillets on the last of the run-in, so fishing the higher-water gutters will give you a better chance of a quality catch. For all the latest information, visit fishingnoosa. com.au and for up-to-date bar and fishing reports, drop into Davo’s Tackle World Noosa or Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola. Tight lines and bent spines!

Kevin Darbinson landed a quality flathead.

Linda Allen and a very solid snapper.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 35

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Numerous big metre-plus goldens have come aboard recently. This was Matthew’s first golden trevally.

Chris enjoyed great sight fishing, boating both tuna and queenfish along the beaches of western Fraser Island.

Looking back to plan ahead W

OW, another year has come and gone.

WADDY POINT - FRASER ISLAND

Page 36 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

Here’s wishing a happy New Year to all. Many anglers have commented on how strange 2016 was in terms of fishing. So here are my thoughts and a short summary of the year just gone. My first note of the year mentioned how cool January 2016 was. I have found excessive heat can make surface fishing tough in January but in 2016 it was quite steady, which saw many captures of mack and longtail tuna, trevally, the odd snapper and very good size nannygai. It was a great year for nannygai, with loads caught through autumn and winter. These fish are a tasty and common by-catch on my tours. Another reef fish playing a strong game was coral trout. While not huge fish, they were very tasty and often caught during the start of the year, possibly because of the cooler water. One of the main targets on my tours is longtail tuna. From the end of January to July I regularly found small groups of big longtails. These fish ranged from 100-130cm and always put the connected angler to the test. However, the schooling longtails (under 100cm) that everyone comes to enjoy in autumn and early winter were very sporadic. While they came on strong in March, they almost slowed to a stop in April. Longtails continued to show up here and there in May and June but not in the numbers we’re used to. Queenfish also had a slow year. In late summer you can often find massive queenfish schools floating around in certain areas but I only saw the big schools a handful of times. The smaller schools, which you would expect

Fraser Guided Fishing by TRI TON

to encounter here and there, were not common either. Their average size seemed to be down too. What followed a mild summer was a mild winter, which meant a slow snapper season. Many fish didn’t quite make the run into Platy-

pus Bay and instead stayed wide of Fraser Island or south around Inskip Point or Double Island Point. Milder weather also meant a straggler shark or two. I recall losing a few decent knobbies to suspected shark attack. I even hooked one of the

sharks on a soft plastic, with the whaler clearing the water soon after hookup. During late winter I really had to search hard to find quality fish. Luckily I found some pockets of big trevally. While in certain parts of Hervey Bay I did find massive schools of trevs, they seemed to have lock jaw. The return of the tuna in spring was a godsend but

our joy was short lived as the bait got smaller and smaller. To see acres upon acres of feeding tuna and not land a single one was a very rare thing. In spring, tuna are the basic building block for most of my tours, and to have them not play the game certainly increased the number of grey hairs on my head. And good-old Marlene ☛ continued P37

Not many marlin were around during 2016 but the author’s clients hooked a few big ones. Here Fred caught his first.

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Looking back to plan ahead ☛ from P36

(aka marlin) followed the same plot as the other species with a very slow year indeed. We were lucky and managed to boat several quality fish but I’m sad to report no sight-casting conversions so far this season. Without many marlin to hunt and the tuna ridiculously fussy at times, we relied on the big trevs for entertainment. However, they were not always easy to find or hook. But once hooked, you had to land them too! This was no mean feat, with sharks wreaking havoc. In some places they were relentless and I had to avoid even going there because it was a waste of good fish, fuel and lures. Between all the shark attacks, numerous great fish were caught, many of which were over the magic metre mark, and some over 110cm.

Usually while trevally fishing we are plagued by school mackerel. Some days they are welcome because they can save a tough day. Not this year! Spotted mackerel numbers were very poor too. The local commercial

line fishers often asked if I had seen them because they commonly target the spotties, which are a mainstay of their income. But as with all things controlled by Mother Nature, seasons and cycles change. Often I believe the system needs to take a break.

It can’t be all systems go all the time. Maybe the break is over because I have recently noticed schools of queenfish mooching on the surface. Is it a sign? I hope we can start the new year with a bang!

COMPETITION DATES COMPETITION

Callan landed a solid longtail on a jig.

A storm approached Lake Cootharaba from the southwest.

Crabbing at Lake Cootharaba

Before we get into what’s been happening off Double Island Point, I’ll update you on Baitrunner. This 10m Cougar Cat charter boat has worked out of Rainbow Beach for the past 12 years and now has a new owner in Matt Cooper. Matt started out well, bringing quality reds and snapper aboard, but then we started copping due northerly wind and unfortunately it has made the daytime fishing a bit tougher. I have recently run four day trips as skipper and we have had to sound around to find fish, and when we have found a good patch of fish, if the clients drop a few or the sharks get them, this can shut the fishing down. We find it’s important to get the fish to the boat once you find them or else it can reduce your catch for the day. It will be great when the mackerel turn up, and hopefully that happens around the time you read this story. When I have not been

www.bnbfishing.com. au

LOCATION

2017

The author and his son Gavin held a few quality Lake Cootharaba bucks.

I, it’s Craig To m k i n s o n here.

DATE

Noosa to Fraser Coast by CRAIG TOMKINSON

working, my wife Donna and I and our four kids Troy, Magregor, Gavin and Lauren have been crabbing Lake Cootharaba. We have been getting good crabs after launching at Boreen Point boat ramp during the week and on Sunday afternoons. Do not try to launch your boat there of a Saturday because the yachties leave their boat trailers and/or their boats on the trailer, just taking up parking space, so we never go then. We’ve been placing our pots pretty much due east of the ramp. At this time of year the crabs make their way right up the lake and into the Everglades. It sometimes takes us a week of crabbing to track down the main body of bucks. Over our years of crabbing we have found the bucks tend to feed together in one area that might be 500m square.

They might all be feeding in that one area because it has the right salinity or maybe because better tucker is there. Whatever the reason, once you find that spot you will catch buggerall females. However, if you crab outside that area you will start to catch heaps of mixed crabs including big jennies, which is good to see for breeding purposes, but a pain when crabbing because they eat all the bait out of the pot. When I’m first looking to find the crabs, once on the water I will pull up and taste the water to see how salty it is. If it’s nearly fresh due to recent rainfall, we head towards the mouth of the lake and start crabbing near the channel markers because the run-in tide will push more salt water into the lake. The crabs will therefore hang around that

area until the salt pushes right up the lake. We put a string of pots out and move them around until we find some crabs. Once we pick up a few crabs we will work that area more heavily. If I pull up and taste the water and it is really salty, we head right up the lake into the deeper water and start crabbing there. That’s what we did this season but we didn’t catch many crabs up the top so we’ve steadily brought the pots back down until we found our good crabs in the middle of the lake. The crabs will stay in the lake until it floods, when they will move right down the Noosa River near Tewantin. Over the school holidays my mob and I are off to Victoria to check out the Great Ocean Road and some of the sights. Then if I am still married, we will turn around after Christmas and go back in convoy with my sisters-in-law to have a look around Canberra. ‘Til next month, be safe on the water.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 37

Steve with a tasty pearl perch. Peter Lee landed a solid coral trout.

Luke boated a cracking rosy jobfish.

Annual 1770 BNB Trophy at Agnes Water

LL boats made it to Agnes Water for the annual 1770 BNB Trophy without any major dramas, with the last arriving just in time for the traditional barbecue briefing at the Blue House.

This year 21 boats turned up for roll call. One of the boats, Transition, arrived after a 10-hour sea voyage that included a stop in to Hervey Bay to refuel. The first day of the competition was Sunday and it was destined to be day trips all round due to the wind forecast. Most boats steamed for the Boult and Fitzroy areas, with two electing to head towards Lady Musgrave Island. On the way out, Salty and Amity hit the Paddock with quite a few boats already in the area.

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Power Boat Anglers by MICK CLUTTERBUCK

Amity managed a couple of coral trout to 4kg and good size parrotfish were around too. Wreckless, Amity and Salty soon elected to head out further towards Fitzroy Reef, leaving Rascal, Shortfuse and Reef Runner to their own devices. Once out they split up, with Amity going to an area found on an Australia Day weekend. Judging by the squeals on the radio, it was obvious they were getting into some quality fish. By the time Salty arrived, Helaine was leaning over the side of Amity dragging in a 10.5kg red to better the 5kg model landed on the previous drop. A nice little birthday present for her for sure. Despite their efforts, Salty couldn’t raise a scale, so it was off to the Fitzroy bommie. By now a few more boats were kicking around, with Offshore Account and Lucky Me buzzing around in an effort to find something for the Esky. Soon it was time to call it a day and head for home. All boats had a feed, mostly redthroat, but it was Amity with the catch of the day and an early leader in the pot for the trout and red prizes. Monday dawned and the forecast looked good for an overnighter. The start was early due to the shallow bar and a low tide, though some boats took off later on the incoming tide. Most boats opted for the northern option on day two. The fishing wasn’t anything special and again most boats got a feed before retiring to the lagoon for the night. Amity put the big Sarca anchor down while Salty and Wreckless tied alongside for dinner, but not before a couple of beers while being treated to a beautiful sunset. Jesse had snagged the mooring buoy and LTD, Motley Crew and Reef Runner tied off. Flash and Dilligaff were close by, as was Suzie Q and just about every other boat that made the trip, come to think of it. The night was uneventful, with no gelcoat traded this year, much to everyone’s relief. As morning dawned, most boats again headed for locations around Fitzroy Reef and to the south, though Wreckless and Salty went with option B and motored for Sykes Reef. On the first drop Rob was smashed and just as quickly bricked on an under-gunned

outfit by what was probably a good red. Changing up the gear didn’t help because the only takers now were pickers and tuskies. The radio chatter was that fish were being caught but not exactly jumping in the boat. The odd trout was showing up but the bulk of the fish were quality tuskies and redthroat, which in the scheme of things shouldn’t be scoffed at. With the wind forecast to increase in the afternoon, Salty started the long push south while Amity went for a look in the shallows at Sykes, with Pete landing a solid trout. Pickings were steady but with the wind increasing the call was made and all headed back to base. Wednesday was a down day and the ideal time to get boats and tackle back in order. It was also a good time for finding out where you sat on the leader board, which was great for some and disappointing for others. Thursday dawned as a fishable day. Things were a bit jiggly to say the least but it was predicted to drop out by 11am. On the strength of that report, most elected to stick with it but a few boats had to grin through a bit of pain before the forecast calm actually kicked in. Tachyon was first on the radio, indicating he and Garlin were on their way in glassedout conditions. Hearing this, Salty opted to leave the coral trout and cobia he’d been amongst and head wide of Boult Reef.

The rest of the pack was at Fitzroy Reef reporting average catches while trying to get out of the swell. Wreckless joined Salty and checked a few marks, getting a couple of decent fish off each. Competition was strong on board Salty because every time Rob hooked a good fish, Terry would bring in something better, including snodger tuskies and a 4kg coronation trout. He was a very lucky deckie to not be walking home. They only had four hours of fishing but managed to add plenty of fish to the box by not staying long on any mark and just getting a couple and then moving on to the next. Friday was blown out, so fish and boats were cleaned and prepped for the trip home. Some decided to pull out a day early but those who stayed were treated to another fantastic barbecue to get rid of the leftovers. Another excellent trip was chalked up, topped off by all boats and crews arriving safely back in the big smoke. In the wash-up, Luke Deighton was crowned as the 1770 Bush ‘n Beach champion. Luke took out biggest sweetlip and pelagic on his way to the championship, with Greg Snape scoring the biggest coral trout and Rod Henderson the largest red emperor. Next meeting Just a reminder that there will be no club meeting in January but it will be all systems go on Monday, February 6. Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month at the Bulimba Bowls Club located in Quinn St, Balmoral. Please feel free to come along and see what the club is about. Until next month, safe boating.

One of the trout was promptly turned into a delicious dinner.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Teaching the kids to fish I

T’S the time of year when the days are longer and families usually spend time together. It is also a good time to be around the water to cool off. For some it is the time for annual leave. If you have children from about five years of age to teenagers, this is a prime time to teach them how to fish, and more importantly, how fishing is a fulfilling and relaxing pastime that can be enjoyed almost anywhere there is water. Teaching locations can include a sheltered river or estuary, an open surf beach or perhaps a dam or impoundment further inland. Thousands of options are available across our state, no matter where you are. I have fished the bil-

Bundaberg Region by BRAD YOUNG

labong at the back of the Birdsville Caravan Park for freshwater yabbies with success, and it is hard to be any more remote than this! If you have younger children, Christmas would have been the perfect opportunity to set them up with their first rod and reel, or if they already have a combo, maybe their own tackle box. Many fantastic combos are available and the staff members at your local tackle shop will be able to advise on the best options after you provide them with some ideas as to where you would like to fish and what species you want to target. If you are completely new to fishing, they will

Mud crabs should be on the move.

also be able to provide you with the places to go and the fish to target. This can be especially useful if you are heading to a new area you have not fished before. In Bundaberg, we have a range of places to source your fishing gear, from the regular larger chains such as BCF to fishing and tackle specialists including Tackle World, Barra Havoc (Gin Gin) and Rehbeins Fishing. The smaller specialist outlets have staff who have fished the Bundaberg area and know the locations to target our local fish species, and the best times and seasons to chase them. It is always worth going in and having a chat about a particular species to get started successfully. If you are visiting the Bundy region over the Christmas holiday period, you’ll find a huge range of accommodation options including fantastic coastal camping grounds at Elliott Heads, Bargara, Miara and Moore Park Beach. Each of these campgrounds is located on or opposite the water and will provide a variety of fishing opportunities. Unit and holiday rental houses are available too if you want to be in a more permanent lodging. Estuary locations The Elliott, Burnett and Kolan rivers, together with Skyringville, Littabella, Baffle and Moore Park creeks provide great land-based, kayak/canoe and boat fishing locations. Each offers a range of fishing opportunities from whiting and flathead over

open flats to bream, jacks, cod and barra near rock bars and other features. All except Littabella and Skyringville have easy boating access. Surf, rock and open beach The beachfront from Coonarr (south of Bundaberg) along the Coral Cove, Innes Park, Bargara coastline to Moore Park offers open beach and rock fishing opportunities. While there is no ‘real’ surf along our coastline unless a low or cyclone is nearby (ask the surfers!), we still have good open beach fishing opportunities. Fresh water and impoundments Our local area boasts a great barramundi fishery in Lake Monduran as well as smaller impoundments such as Lake Gregory, which is home to many a bass. Both can be fished by small boat, kayak or canoe, though Lake Monduran is a large body of water and the usual safety precautions need to be taken into consideration if covering big distances over open water. Mud crabs should be about With the warming water temperatures, mud crabs should become more active. Unfortunately, this means pot thieves are active too. I have already heard reports of pots being raided and/or stolen in our local area. Unfortunately, this is a practice that seems all too common. I am sure some anglers/ crabbers know of people who raid/steal pots but do not report them. While they are allowed to continue their highly

undesirable practices, we all face the threat of losing our crabs and/or pots. Remember to correctly mark your pot with your name and address and your float (minimum 150mm in all directions) with your surname. Pots can also be fixed to a bank or tree root with the line tagged with your name and address above the water level. In Queensland, it is illegal to keep any female crabs. Male muddies must be over 15cm from one side of the carapace to the other. Enjoy the fishing over the next month. As always, I can be contacted via the BNB website bnbfishing.com.au, by email at fishnboat@ bigpond.com or mail at PO Box 5812, Bundaberg Queensland 4670. Until next month...

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Lachy and Cooper checked the pots.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 39

Hunting threadfin salmon T

HREADFIN salmon are a prized catch for estuary fishos.

102cm of threadfin salmon caught in the Great Sandy Strait on a soft vibe. This fish was hooked while fishing an eddy just out of the current.

Not only do threadies grow incredibly large and put up a hell of a fight, but they are one of the best tasting fish as well. We often target these fish when heading out into the Great Sandy Strait. Threadies tend to roam everywhere and the Great Sandy Strait is quite a large waterway in which to be looking for these fish. For this reason, it always pays to keep a good eye on any bait movement in the area you’re fishing. It’s one thing to use your sounder to find threadies but often activity such as baitfish scattering will lead

The Salties – Hervey Bay by BEN & ANDREW

you in the right direction. Creek mouths, drains, flats, creek junctions and ledges are all pretty typical areas in which to find threadfin salmon. If you’re fishing in 2m of water or less, it is essential to be as quiet as possible. These fish spook quite easily, so an engine running in shallow water isn’t ideal. Stealth really is the key in this scenario. In saying that, threadies are almost always on the move as they hunt down baitfish, and they usually roam in groups. Larger threadfin salmon

can be found in smaller groups and even roaming around by themselves, which is something you will more commonly find when searching shallow water. Because they are constantly on the move, it pays to search for them as much as possible. Sitting in one area can be a waste of time unless you have already found fish in that area or spotted some promising signs such as fleeing baitfish. It doesn’t pay to choose a random creek mouth or drain and sit there for five hours.

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Doing so doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t catch fish. However, we have learnt that waiting for fish to come along has been far less productive than hunting them down. Threadies will very rarely stay in one place for days or even hours at a time. Whether they do or don’t hang around is influenced by a lot of factors such as tides, food source, time of day, water temperature and so on. Deeper water Fish found in deeper water will often be schooled up in larger numbers. Usually we have the most success when targeting these fish because they compete with each other for the lure. You will occasionally find fish congregated in holes and deeper areas of creeks and they generally don’t hesitate to smash your lure. Stealth isn’t as critical in these situations. You can normally leave the motor running in water of 6m-plus where driving over the top of the fish doesn’t scare them away. Obviously, this doesn’t mean driving over them at full speed won’t spook them. The best places to look for these deeper-water fish are holes, ledges, eddies or deeper water with structure such as trees and rock bars. Sounders We use Lowrance HDS sounders with down imaging and side scan. Whatever sounder you use, anything that appears as a solid object and isn’t connected to structure is usually a fish. Make sure you really take notice of identifiable fish off the bottom because if you’re seeing the same sort of shape on the bottom it is more than likely a fish holding tight to the bottom. In this case, just assume it’s a fish and give it a go anyway. You may be surprised. Lures Lure selection for threadies isn’t super important because they will take anything and we have caught them on soft plastics, hardbodies and vibes. Therefore, your lure selection needs to be suited to the water you’re fishing.

For example, if fishing dirty water, we wouldn’t even consider a soft plastic. Instead we would opt for a hard or soft vibe or even a hard-body lure. In dirty water you want something that vibrates and creates a bit of noise. Soft plastic lures become more effective in cleaner water. When the water is dirty is often the best time for targeting threadies. We have found they prefer bigger tidal movements and are far more active on the bigger tides. The bigger tides stir up a lot of sediment and food for the crustaceans and baitfish. This means the baitfish become more active and begin feeding on the sediment and other microscopic organisms being moved around by the bigger tides. In turn, they tend to fall victim to the tides and get washed out of the small creeks and drains they inhabit. This presents an ideal time for larger predatory fish to be on the hunt, particularly because of the dirtier water. Fish like cover such as structure, shade, dirty water and low-light conditions. The dirty water acts as cover for the predatory fish and makes it a lot easier for them to ambush baitfish. Dirty water also makes it harder for predatory fish to spot anglers. Threadies rely heavily on the feelers on their necks because of their rather poor eyesight. What eyesight they do have is much improved when the water is clean, making them easier to scare. Techniques We can’t stress enough how important it is to fish slowly when working lures. You’re not chasing tuna or trevally, so the retrieve doesn’t require blistering speed to entice the fish. The slower the better, whether you’re working a soft plastic, vibe, or anything. Tidal movement has a lot of influence on the speed your lure will travel through the water. If retrieving with the ☛ continued P41

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Threadies make for awesome sport in tight water.

Page 40 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

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Tips on how to avoid losing fish M This threadfin came from a school of fish congregating on a drop-off to attack a Z-Man 3” paddle tail.

Hunting threadfin salmon is sitting in the water column. Use the bottom as an indicator of where your lure is in the water column and go from there. Also be mindful that short, sharp hops that bring the lure half a metre to a metre off the bottom are more than sufficient. There’s no need to bring the lure right up to the surface and then drop it back. We find the warmer months are best for targeting threadies. When the water gets too cold, they tend to slow down quite a bit. So in the Hervey Bay area, this means you should find threadies on the move between September and May. If you like this article and want to ask us any questions about fishing the Fraser Coast region, check out our Instagram (@the.salties) and Facebook pages (Facebook. com/da.salties). We share as much content as we can to showcase the fishing options on the Fraser Coast from the fresh to the salt.

by SEAN ‘SKIP’ THOMPSON

Rather than expecting results, anglers need to work for their results. This all starts with preparation. Some of the most common mistakes that result in lost fish can happen before an angler’s line even hits the water. For the sake of a few extra dollars, an hour or two of preparation, a little bit of fine-tuning with the angle of the rod or a few extra seconds of patience with the net, anglers can, and do, catch more fish than they lose. Before the trip I know a few anglers who straight after a trip dump their gear in the corner of the shed or garage. This is despite the rods, reels and tackle being subjected to saltwater spray in the boat, sand on the beach or a dunking in the surf. Even worse, I’ve seen fishing gear stored in boats with no cover and thus directly exposed to the sun. So give yourself the best chance of landing the fish you have worked hard for by adopting a few key tackle maintenance and technique tips. Fishing line Fishing line is the direct link between the an-

gler and the fish, so it is important it’s in good condition. To ensure your line is in the best condition: 1. Never store your spooled reels in the sun.

Sun damage will weaken the line considerably, making it frail and susceptible to breakage at any point. 2. Replace the line on your reels once a year if you fish regularly or every two to three years if you fish irregularly. 3. Before a trip, cut the last 50-100cm off the end of any mono-

filament line. It will have weakened due to nicks, abrasion, the extra load from the sinker running against it and casting strain. 4. Don’t buy cheap imported monofilament line. It will work out as a false economy when it fails under pressure. Platypus Fishing Lines ☛ continued P42

The author played a fish out close to shore.

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tide you will basically double the speed the lure would travel in still water. Therefore, you should hop the lure and then wind in the slack. In some cases where the tide is running quite fast along an edge or bank, cast a soft plastic and don’t wind at all, just let the tide take your lure along the length of the edge. The lure will swim and do everything it needs to entice a bite. A hard-body lure or vibe will need a jerking action to make it vibrate as it’s designed to. You really need to pay attention when retrieving lures. When fishing with mates and family we often find they retrieve way too fast and really struggle to get onto fish. Another key is to keep in consistent contact with the bottom. If you’re not keeping in contact with the bottom, forget it, you’re wasting your time and there is no way you can be 100 percent sure where the lure

They look forward to getting out each weekend or once a month, or maybe for that big annual trip to catch that ‘big one’ or that ‘great haul’. However, how often on that very first cast or some time during the first session does the line snap or the leader wear through near the business end? I also hear anglers complain they ‘keep missing them’, ‘can’t hook them’ or ‘lost a monster at the boat’. I know these things can happen because they have happened to me in the past. There is also the old chestnut that 10 percent of anglers catch 90 percent of the fish. I think that might have improved in favour of anglers due to technology and sharing of information in recent years, but either way it is a fact that some anglers regularly land more fish. So why is that? Going the extra mile Like everything in life, those who ‘go the extra mile’ achieve better results. The same principle applies to fishing.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 41

Tips on how to avoid losing fish ☛ from P41

A few of the author’s lures adapted for better catch rates.

The author’s son kept his rod low when landing a fish on the flats.

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supports a local industry, makes line for Australian conditions and designs a quality product. Reels Poorly maintained reels and incorrect drag settings present another area where anglers come unstuck when fighting fish. To ensure your reel is in top condition: 1. Have reels with jerky drags serviced so they are in good condition and won’t stick and cost you fish due to the line snapping under pressure. 2. Before a fishing session, make sure your drag is not too tight (because the line will break) or too loose (you might end up with a tangle or not enough pressure to hook the fish). 3. The best way to set your drag is to use a set of scales and set your drag at one-third of the line strength. But more simply, if you don’t have a set of scales, hold your rod at a 45-degree angle, grab the end of your line (with it hanging about 50cm from the tip) and pull the line. Adjust your drag until the line slips smoothly from the reel. Rigs Once you go to all the trouble of having goodquality line on a wellmaintained reel, the last thing you want is to lose the fish due to a failure with your rig, hooks or knots. To minimise rig failures: 1. Throw away old rigs you have previously used and left stored on the rod. They will likely have been stretched and have abrasion damage from a previous session. The knots could also be weakened. There is nothing worse than losing a big fish on the first cast with an old rig and line. Start afresh with a new rig each trip/ session. 2. Throw away any rusty hooks or swivels as soon as you see them in your tackle box. Rust will spread quickly to other hooks. Likewise, don’t put used hooks and swivels that have been in salt water back in the tackle box. They will likely have been blunted even if they are chemically sharpened. A few cents thrown away is

better than losing a big fish or rusting many dollars’ worth of hooks. 3. If you keep missing a fish when it strikes, check the hook (including jigheads) for sharpness and either sharpen it with a stone or replace it. As a test, run the hook tip down your fingernail. If the hook slips rather than catches, it is too blunt. 4. Make sure you lubricate your knot before closing it off against the eye of the hook. If you don’t, the friction from locking the knot will damage the line. 5. Tie every knot as if the next fish you hook is going to be a trophy fish. That means “testing” the knot after you tie it by a couple of gentle pulls of the main line and the hook simultaneously in opposite directions. Rod guides Rod runners or guides are one area I see minimal attention given to by anglers. To avoid losing fish from line rubbing against a damaged guide: 1. Avoid placing your hook inside the rings of the rod guides when transporting your rods. This can cause the smallest little nick, which when line rubs against it, will result in abrasion and damage the line. Always connect your hooks underneath the rings and onto the metal connection of the guide. 2. Hook-Eze is a great tool for storing your hook and connecting it underneath the rings of your guide. This avoids damage to the runner and prevents the hook getting caught on the carpet of the car or boat, or worse still, yourself or the kids! Tackle boxes Rusty tackle boxes, like rusty hooks, are going to cost you money in replacing your hooks and swivels and potentially cost you fish. To avoid this: 1. Clean old tackle trays or tackle boxes with rust remnants in them. Give them a clean with a wet rag, or if the rust is stubbornly infused, try WD40 or Inox. Then wash it out with fresh water and let it dry. If that fails, throw them out. They will cost you more in rusted hooks and terminal tackle

than a new tackle tray. 2. Think about buying some Plano Hydro-Flo tackle trays to prevent the trebles on your hard-body lures rusting and breaking off during a hook-up. The drainage holes on the lid and base of these tackle boxes mean you can simply give the whole box a rinse under the tap and leave it to dry in the sun before storing it. During the fight So, now you have all your rods, reels and tackle in tip-top shape, you want to make sure you don’t lose your fish with an incorrect landing technique. Jumping fish and lures When you are hooked up to a fish, always keep the line tight to the fish or it can throw the hook. For ‘jumpers’ such as barra, tailor and even flathead (which like to shake their heads out of the water), as the fish approaches the boat or shore, drop the rod tip right down near the water. If fishing with metal lures and casting and retrieving from the beach, rocks or your boat, consider replacing the trebles with single hooks. A large single hook is much more difficult for a fish to throw than a treble. For those who like to jig metals offshore, another great tactic to avoid losing fish is to replace the trebles with Kevlar assist cord and single hooks attached to the split ring. Rigging up this way means fish can no longer leverage hooks and jigs out of their mouths due to the flexible Kevlar connection. Landing your fish When you do get your

fish to the boat (no matter what the species) you want to swim the fish into the net, not chase it. If you chase the fish it will panic and you may lose it by tangling the line around the net or the fish shooting under the boat and cutting you off on the hull. Further, make sure your drag is set loose enough for the fish to take line with one final run near the boat, otherwise it may break you off. On the beach, a number of anglers fight the fish all the way to the shore break and then lose the fish due to impatience or incorrect technique. As the fish approaches the shore break, stay close to, or in the water, and drop your rod sideways. With a sideways sweep of the rod, use the force of a wave to sweep the fish up on the sand. Don’t fight against the surge of the wave if the fish retreats back to the water, just wait for the next wave. The same principle ap-

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plies to the rocks, except you are lifting the fish up with the surge onto the rocks. When landing a fish such as a flathead or thumper whiting in the estuary shallows, as the fish approaches the shore you should drop your rod sideways and parallel to the water, keeping the fish’s head under the water, and slide the fish up on the sand/bank. You can also carry a small lightweight landing net (such as those made by Wilson) to land the fish in the water, rather than having a long walk back to the shore and thus spooking other fish in the process. Good luck! I hope these tips help you land your next big fish, whether it’s for catch and release or your dinner. For more tips, reports and giveaways, check out my Facebook page face book.com /ontourfishin gaustralia Until next month – bag your mates, not your limit!

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A bit of wave jumping in the nasty conditions proved the quality of the 550’s hull design.

Having 130 of Yamaha’s finest horses on the back ensured the 550 Trojan was no slouch.

Sea Jay 550 Trojan set to turn heads

RECENTLY travelled to Bundaberg to water test the brand-new Sea Jay 550 Trojan. The Trojan range represents a different approach for Sea Jay, positioned just below the company’s own Plate Xtreme range but bigger than anything in the regular Sea Jay model line-up. Two Trojans are currently on offer, the 550 tested here and a 630 HT reviewed in the November edition. A big, beamy cabin boat, the 550 Trojan looks like a sizeable chunk of aluminium when sitting on the trailer. High, plate-look sides add to the impression of size and the stats back up what your eyes are telling you, with a 2.45m beam and 1.32m depth listed on the spec sheet. Continuing to run

Boat Review by DANIEL TOMLINSON

through the spec sheet proves the 550 Trojan is one kitted-out family or fishing rig. Standard inclusions consist of an anchor well to suit a Stressfree Mini Me winch, plumbed bait tank, heavy-duty boarding ladder, dive door, underfloor flotation, carpeted floor and much more. This is all on top of Sea Jay’s excellent and proven Samurai Hull. Large reverse chines form an integral part of the hull design and the whole package works to keep those on board dry and comfortable, even in seriously nasty slop. Indeed, the chosen test day greeted us with a stiff 20-knot easterly wind blowing straight into the

Burnett River. While this meant we had the river mouth entirely to ourselves, it also meant a very stern test for the two Trojans on hand. First heading upriver to smoother water for photos, the 550 Trojan tracked well in the solid metre of swell rolling in from the mouth. The 130hp Yamaha fourstroke seemed the perfect match for the hull, and with just two people on board, the boat managed to feel quite light on its feet, jumping out of the hole with vigour and planing quickly. With a following sea the 550 Trojan was more than happy to cruise along at a steady 53km/h. Considering the atrocious conditions, that’s a comfortable cruise speed in my books. Stopping the boat in the middle of the river to get running shots of the 630 HT revealed very impressive stability.

The 550 was unruffled by both the passing wake from the bigger boat and the rolling swell. According to Garry Fitzgerald of Sea Jay, this exceptional stability is a key feature of the Samurai Hull design. While at rest I took a few minutes to appraise the interior and found nothing lacking in terms of quality of fit and finish. A definite sense of quality inherent in the build of this Sea Jay can sometimes be missing from other brands in the segment. As well as the flawless finish, I really appreciated the stunning seats. They were quite simply the best boat seats I’ve ever had the pleasure of plumping my rump on. Both supportive and extremely comfortable, you’d have no trouble cruising across many miles of open ocean in these puppies. These extremely comfortable seats serve a dual purpose, with the driver’s seat box playing host to six Plano tackle trays and the passenger side housing a storage hatch and shelf: seriously handy fea-

tures that you wouldn’t normally think of and definitely won’t take for granted. Down the back of the boat, the rear lounge with padded backrest makes for comfy accommodation and when not in use it can be folded down to hide the battery tray and maximise fishing room. A rear door on the passenger side provides easy access to the transom, where you’ll find a nonslip floor covering and sturdy boarding ladder complete with grab rails to make getting in and out of the boat as easy as possible. Up the front of the boat, you’ve got plenty of headroom thanks to a generous bimini and clears that also provide good protection from the elements. Access to the cabin is made easy by a large central opening and inside is enough room to comfortably lie down on the bunks; handy on overnight trips to the reef. At the helm, the 550 Trojan is a cinch to drive either standing or sitting thanks to those outstand☛ continued P44

Folding rear lounge with padded backrest keeps backseat passengers comfortable.

Unobtrusive side pockets and fore and aft rod holders make for a great fishing cockpit.

Cushioned bunk in-fills lift off to reveal ample cabin storage.

Tough folding boarding ladder doesn’t flex underfoot and makes jumping onto and off the boat via the nonslip rear pod a breeze.

Hydraulic boat steering for a hard day’s fishing Go wherever and whenever the fish are biting with confidence! Made in Australia for our tough marine environments.

Ultra-comfy seats with in-built Plano tackle storage combine the best of function and form.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Photo courtesy of Vindicator Boats.

For product information and to ﬁnd your nearest authorised dealer contact Graham HyDrive Engineering Pty Ltd – Queensland Unit 12, 73-75 Shore Street, Cleveland 4163 T: 07 3821 6580 E: qld@hydrive.com.au W: hydrive.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 43

Yamaha releases new F25 EFI Y AMAHA Motor Australia is excited to announce the release of the highly anticipated four-stroke 25hp outboard engine, the all-new lightweight F25 EFI.

This fantastic addition to Yamaha’s fourstroke line-up continues Yamaha’s proud tradition of producing exceptional small motors designed for durability, reliability and above all else, enjoyable time on the water. The new F25 is about 25 percent lighter and has been engineered for skippers who expect the very best in features, perform-

ance and efficiency from their small outboard. This new motor has been developed to exceed the performance and features of Yamaha’s 25N two-stroke, a motor that offered excellent performance and highly reliable operation and has powered Australian boaters for decades, as well as improve on Yamaha’s existing F25. The all-new F25 has achieved all this and more. Its four-stroke, fuelinjected design delivers even better performance and the kind of fuel economy that makes small

boating affordable and extremely satisfying. Battery-less EFI is an exciting new feature on this engine and to the Yamaha four-stroke range as a whole. Yamaha’s battery-less fuel injection achieves easy starting performance, delivering onehanded starting from a seated position. Excellent acceleration, achieved through optimal setting of the EFI, puts the new F25’s performance at the top of its class. Through optimisation of the powerhead design and refinement of the transom bracket and drive unit, Yamaha has achieved the lightest model in the 25hp four-stroke class. Incredibly, this engine is 20kg lighter than the previous-generation 25hp four-stroke. This lightweight construction allows boaters to get the same great balance and performance they currently expect from their two-stroke outboard engines along with all the advantages of the latestgeneration Yamaha fourstroke technology. The new F25 comes packed with features and capability previously onaly available on Yamaha’s larger models. Yamaha’s Variable Trolling switch comes standard on this engine, allowing adjustment of the trolling engine speed in increments of 50rpm from 750rpm to 1050rpm. This awesome fishing feature allows anglers to fine-tune their lure presentation while trolling. The F25 is also compatible with Yamaha’s comprehensive range of Command Link digital gauges, with options of both basic

back-lit LCD and premium full-colour displays. The engine is NMEA2000 compatible, allowing the F25 to share information with third-party multi-function displays, GPS units and fishfinders. For added peace of mind at the ramp, dock or trailer, the new F25 (electric-start models) has the option of being fitted with Yamaha’s exclusive YCOP immobiliser. Using a remote transmitter similar to a modern car, you can ‘dock it and lock it’ at the boat ramp, pontoon or even on the trailer to avoid unauthorised start-ups. The all-new F25 will be available in a great range of configurations to satisfy every boater in this category including manual-start tiller handle, electric-start forward control and electric-start forward control with power trim and tilt. Additional kits are available for boaters who desire tiller handle operation with electric start. The F25 will be available in both 15” and 20” transom lengths. New F25 highlights • Compact size and light weight of 57-62kg. • Battery-less electronic fuel injection. • High-output alternator – 16A. • ECU controlled for efficient performance. • Variable Trolling Speed (set speeds between 750rpm and 1050rpm). • Compatible with Command Link Digital gauges, including full-colour option. • Ergonomic carrying handles. • Durable lower unit. w w w.ya m a h a -mot o r. com.au

amm tournament - the pinnacle RI SODWH DOOR\ żVKLQJ ERDW GHVLJQ

Astonishing Verado repower

OSH Ker, the man who heads up Bigfish Gear in Darwin, has been involved in offshore fishing for the past 25 years but he still wasn’t prepared for what happened when he recently repowered his Bertram 25 flybridge with a 350hp Mercury Verado.

“I’d been having some mechanical sagas with a 300hp engine from a different manufacturer which didn’t even have 1000 hours on it, so I decided replacing it was the only option,” he said. “I did a fair bit of research, talking to people, going on internet forums, and in the end the Mercury simply stacked up better, especially given that it is a lot lighter than other engines.” A man with a young family, Josh was also looking for an engine that was super reliable. “As soon as the engine was fitted I took the boat out for 10 straight days to give it a good run-down ahead of a billfishing competition I’d entered,” Josh said. “I was more than pleasantly surprised – astonished really. “She now handles like a sports boat. “It’s incredible. “At 70 km/h in a threetonne boat I can go into a full-lock turn and this engine powers in and powers right out.” Josh said it’s unbeliev-

ably quiet as well. “I thought my previous engine was pretty good but this is something else,” he said. “You can sit right next to it at full throttle and have a conversation. “The other day I was coming home in a big following sea and it was great, coming off the back of one wave and driving into the next the power is always there. “It puts a smile on your face.” Especially when you’re getting better fuel economy as well. “We came home at 4600rpm at 55 litres an hour and I was rapt,” Josh said. “I’m burning the same fuel every hour but I’m travelling further.” The 350hp Verado is the ideal outboard for deep sea/offshore fishing with its excellent reliability, instant power, surprising fuel economy and ultralow noise.

It comes standard with electro/hydraulic power steering, stainless steel propeller, fly-by-wire Digital Throttle and Shift and is the lightest 350hp four-stroke on the market. In a little over a month Josh has already racked up 90 hours with his new Verado and that’s plenty of time to confirm he made the right decision. “I wasn’t expecting this level of performance, so that’s been a really pleasant surprise,” he said. “Even the guys at Boatland Winnellie have been fantastic to deal with. “They fitted the engine, helped me get the right prop and gave it its first service. “I’ve only got good things to say!” For more about the 350hp Verado, visit mer curymarine.com To learn more about Bigfish Gear (specialised fishing clothing), visit bigfishgear.com

Sea Jay 550 Trojan set to turn heads ☛ from P43

Uncompromised ride quality and safety to put offshore reefs within easy reach. A PP UHYHUVH FKLQH IRU H[FHSWLRQDO VWDELOLW\ DW UHVW 1DYDO DUFKLWHFW FHUWL¿HG DQG EXLOW bullet-proof with premium marine grade plate alloys. Tailor to your exact needs.

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australianmastermarine.com.au Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

ing seats and a foot rest extending from the bunk. A large area above the steering wheel provides all the space necessary to house today’s extralarge sounder and GPS screens as well as vital engine data displays. Something that will be appreciated by most fishos as well as families with kids is the wide side decks that continue around the cabin to the bow of the boat, all covered in nonslip material. This gives you a second option for gaining access to the bow area,

in addition to popping up through the large cabin hatch. Heading back to the ramp and punching into the nasty conditions, the 550 Trojan kept us totally dry thanks to a fairly aggressive deadrise combining with large reverse chines and that big bimini top and clears. The 550 Trojan was able to skip over the worst of the waves and felt safe and sound travelling at a pretty reasonable 45km/h. A key point of the Trojan range is value. Here the 550 doesn’t muck around, with boat, motor and trailer

packages starting from about $50,000 when paired with a 115hp Yamaha four-stroke. The boat component comprises only $29,020 of that. I’m all for fitting the highest horsepower possible (in this case 150hp), however I believe the 550 Trojan would be pushed along quite comfortably by the base 115hp if you wanted to save a few shekels on initial outlay and fuel costs. If you think the 550 Trojan might be the right boat to fit your needs, see your nearest Sea Jay dealer or visit seajayboats.com.au www.bnbfishing.com. au

Mathew Barlow fitted a new timing belt to the big V8.

The finalists and Yamaha staff.

2016 Yamaha Marine Technician Grand Prix

HE Yamaha Marine Technician Grand Prix, which took place in mid-November, is a technical knowledge and skills-based contest held at Yamahaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Marine Training facility in Brisbane. The event brings together the very best Yamaha marine technicians from Yamaha dealerships all over Australia and New Zealand. These exceptionally skilled technicians represent their dealership, state and country in their quest to be crowned the most outstanding marine technician in the TransTasman region. The competition, held biennially, is a major highlight for the Yamaha Technical Academy, which prides itself on the skills Yamaha technicians develop through the extensive training the academy delivers. YTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mission is to keep Yamahaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marine techni-

cians up to date with the cutting-edge skills and knowledge required to support the ever-developing range of Yamaha outboard engines. Competitors must satisfy the following conditions before they are eligible to sit the initial qualification exam: â&#x20AC;˘ Participants must be nominated by their dealershipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s owner/manager; â&#x20AC;˘ Participants must be qualified technicians; â&#x20AC;˘ Participants must be current Yamaha Technical Academy members; â&#x20AC;˘ YTA members must have been in the Yamaha dealer network for 12 months or more; â&#x20AC;˘ YTA members must have attended Yamaha training; â&#x20AC;˘ YTA members must be an employee of a Yamaha dealership; and â&#x20AC;˘ Previous Grand Prix Winners are ineligible to compete in future Technician Grand Prix competitions.

After all potential candidates have completed the online qualifying assessment, eight finalists from regions across Australia and New Zealand are selected to compete in the official event. The event breeds ambition and healthy competition within Yamaha workshops, as technicians aspire to be selected to attend the Grand Prix, which is essentially race day in Yamahaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Technical Academy program. The event keeps skill levels for marine servicing in Yamaha dealerships throughout Australia and New Zealand at very high levels. The personal development of Yamaha technicians in the market through this training and testing equates to excellence in after-sales service for Yamaha customers, who consequently are the real winners from the knowledge and skills gained by Yamaha tech-

nicians who take part in YTAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s programs. The tasks Eight practical tasks with a 25-minute time limit and a 10-minute break between are set to test finalistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; knowledge, skills and composure under pressure. A number is pulled from a hat to determine each contenderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s starting task. The practical tasks are designed as such to test the technicianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to: â&#x20AC;˘ Follow instruction; â&#x20AC;˘ Obtain relevant information from both questioning the customer (assessors can play the role of the customer also) and appropriate service literature; â&#x20AC;˘ Apply critical thinking to solve complex problems; and â&#x20AC;˘ Utilise Yamaha special service tools and Yamaha systems to help diagnose faults that have been preprogrammed into the engines. The finalists are presented with a scenario

outlining what they are expected to complete during each of the tasks. Once all practical tasks have been completed, finalists then tackle a theory-based assessment containing both Yamaha-specific and general knowledge technical questions. The champion From the outset, Tony Powell of Telfer Marine in Rotorua New Zealand, was a standout performer and never looked like faltering. Tonyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s enthusiasm, hunger and sheer determination allowed him to take out the event in a clearcut, concise manner. Tony hardly broke a sweat as he appeared to breeze through the challenges and finished with a commanding lead in one of the most outstanding efforts ever seen in a Tech GP competition. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Tech GP is a fantastic event that really tests and pushes personal â&#x2DC;&#x203A; continued P46

Tony Powell received the winnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trophy from YMC Japan general manager marine service Mr Kenji Oishi.

Mathew received his award from Yamaha Motor Australia director Mr Mike Endo.

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Not a bad looking rig, is it?

AMM’s incredibly efficient hull design is the result of years of development. The 7000 Tournament is easily one of the best-riding boats on the market.

Deck wash, full-length side pockets, innumerable rod holders and storage cubbies as well as high sides… what more could you want?

The bow is a great spot to fish or relax thanks to acres of flat space and very high bow rails.

Top-notch AMM 7000 Tournament A SK anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you it’s not often I’m lost for words.

But I absolutely was when I stepped aboard the Australian Master Marine 7000 Tournament. What a beautiful example of marine architecture. When I regained control of my vocal chords, the first thing I said to Matt of AMM was: “This is the nicest boat I’ve ever been in.” This was no overstatement. The whole rig looked as if it had been covered in 20 coats of perfect gloss paint, and this was a customer’s boat that had seen about a year of fairly regular use. However, the high quality of the AMM Tourn-

Bonito

Boat Review

by DANIEL TOMLINSON

ament series is much more than just skin deep. Built on a proven plate alloy hull with a 6mm bottom and 4mm sides as standard, you can rest assured the Tournament will go anywhere you point the bow. AMM’s hulls feature full-height girders and frames underfloor, with a full-length keel bar and external keel cap to guarantee you punch through the rough stuff with ease. This is paired with a pretty aggressive 20-degree deadrise and 150mm reverse chines that on the test day offshore from the Gold Coast saw the big 7000 Tournament carving

through the minimal chop with absolute ease. Matt mentioned he would have preferred it to be rougher than it was, as the low rolling ground swell from the east and 15-knot southwesterly wind resulted in near-ideal offshore conditions. We wanted to give this boat a challenge! As it was, we ran both with and against the chop and maxed the boat out both ways at 81km/h. Attached to the stern of our test boat was a 300hp Yamaha four-stroke that clearly had no trouble shifting the considerable mass of the AMM 7000 Tournament.

Any boat that can run out to 80km/h, even inshore in dead-calm conditions, is considered a quick rig, so to be surpassing that speed offshore is no mean feat. The funny thing is, the 7000 is rated to 350hp, and man it would be an absolute weapon with that extra 50hp. Does it need the extra power though? Negative, rubber ducky. Our boat absolutely launched out of the hole and quickly reached a happy cruise speed of 55km/h, which was both comfortable and economical. Speaking of comfort, those lucky enough to perch in the front pews of any AMM Tournament boat will be treated to Reelax seats with arm-

rests as standard. The driver’s seat also has the ability to slide back and forth, just like a car’s, to ensure you’re comfortable at the helm. The unique selling point of AMM is absolutely everything is open to customisation. If you want it, you’ve got it. This means if the features on this test boat don’t suit your tastes, don’t worry, AMM will happily alter the design and specs to whatever you desire. Want a wider cabin? Longer cabin? Extended hard top? Different floor layout? No problem, AMM can do it all. Back in the driver’s seat, you’ve got excellent all☛ continued P47

6SRUWÀVKLQJ %RDWV AUSTRALIA

IRECT FA C T O RY D

The ultimate in ÄZOPUN HUK KLZPNU AMM 7000 Tournament helm is a work of art, with everything you could want in an offshore boat. Fit and finish is second to none.

2016 Yamaha Marine Technician Grand Prix ☛ from P45

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Bonito Boats Steiglitz Qld

/ Roger 0438 886 813 / Martin 0416 099 908

/ STABLE AT REST / NO TIMBER / SELF-DRAINING DECK / SOFT DRY RIDE

W W W. B O N I T O B O AT S . C O M . A U Page 46 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

up-skilling,” Tony said. “Yamaha staff outdo themselves with excellent organisation and hospitality of all technicians. The GP treats technicians to awesome benefits and acknowledgement of their learning to further develop their Yamaha product knowledge. I would highly recommend that all technicians regardless of experience try to achieve Tech GP involvement – you won’t be disappointed.” As part of his prize,

Tony will be given the opportunity to visit Yamaha’s outboard factory in Japan after a hard-earnt and welldeserved victory. The runner-up Tech GP rookie, Mathew Barlow of Tristram Marine in Hamilton, New Zealand took out second place. His excellent attitude and composure proved extremely valuable. Mathew’s second-place finish delivers a proud one-two result for the Kiwis, throwing down the gauntlet to the Aussie technicians and taking

yet another trophy back across the ditch. All finalists represented their region admirably, with less than 12 percent separating the remaining contenders. YTA, on behalf of Yamaha Motor Australia and New Zealand, wishes to congratulate Tony, Mathew and all the finalists on an outstanding competition. For more information, contact YMA Marine Products national training co-ordinator Brad Bowles on 02 9827 7511 or visit yamaha-motor. com.au www.bnbfishing.com. au

Top-notch AMM 7000 Tournament ☛ from P46

round vision thanks to a tall and broad glasshouse, and ventilation isn’t an issue with sliding side windows that open from both the front and back. Despite its massive 7m length, the 7000 Tournament is a doddle to control at idle speeds and

when cracking along at 80km/h. And when you’re really motoring, closing the side windows results in a fairly hushed cabin atmosphere, with Matt and I able to hold a steady conversation with only slightly raised voices. It goes without saying

As with everything on an AMM, the cabin is open for customisation. A small fan and pop-up hatch mean comfortable accommodation even on a balmy Queensland night.

that on this day and in these conditions, the interior of the boat was a spray-free zone. I’ve little doubt it would remain this way regardless of the conditions, mainly due to the excellent hull design and chunky reverse chines that simply pump water out and away from the boat. Check out the photo on the previous page to see the hull doing its thing. On the off chance that water does make its way into the boat (or you’ve used the standard deck wash), the standard selfdraining deck will make short work of drying things out. Also standard are a kill tank, live bait tank and rod holders galore in the side decks and on the bait board and hard top. As you’d expect, the positioning and number

Hard top is stylish, versatile for mounting accessories and provides a great sense of security.

of rod holders is up to the customer. In the cabin, the customisation continues. Our test boat did without the optional toilet and shower (yes, shower!), and instead had cushioned bunks that measured over 1.9m, providing loads of room for me to lie down and stretch out. Removing the two central bunk in-fills revealed a super-deep storage/walk space that allowed you to stand up with your head poking up through a cutout in the dash. Spacious doesn’t begin to cover it and yet the sizeable cabin doesn’t impede on deck space and fishing room. The joys of a 7m boat. A tinted central hatch in the cabin roof lets in sunlight but on the test boat, access to the bow was best gained via walking around the cabin on the 300mm-wide side decks. Non-slip coating everywhere and full-length grab rails on the hard top ensure you remain safe and sound while walking around to the front of the boat, and the side decks are so wide that you can actually stand looking forwards with your feet side by side. Once at the bow, it’s a comfortable and spacious place to be, with the cabin top flat and broad enough to easily lie or sit on for

chilling out or fishing. The anchor well is deep and broad and happily accommodates an anchor winch while the high bow rails are great to brace against. Back in the cockpit, the side decks are also the perfect height to lean against and would no doubt make things more comfortable when buckled over fighting a big kingfish. A transom ladder, full width pod, multiple grab rails and rear door make getting in and out of the boat as easy as possible. However, I’m not sure why you’d want to get out of it. The AMM 7000 Tournament is an absolute work of art and if it wasn’t for time constraints I would have spent the whole day and more soaking up the excellence of this rig. Of course, all this quality (the best I’ve ever seen) and customisation doesn’t come particularly cheap and you’ve got to pay to play, but for the boat you get in return, I would happily say you’ll be overjoyed with your return on investment. Yet again I find myself lost for words, other than to say this: If you can afford one, buy one. For more information, contact Australian Master Marine on 07 3889 7380 or visit australianmaster marine.com.au

Wide side decks and grab handles on the roof make for simple and safe access around the cabin to the bow.

Each customer is able to totally customise the cockpit. The test boat’s layout incorporated a large central ‘bait station’.

See your authorised Mercury MerCruiser Dealer today BRISBANE Holt Marine 25 Queens Rd, Everton Park Q 4053 P: 07 3353 1928 E: info@holtmarine.com.au W: holtmarine.com.au

BRISBANE SOUTH Coorparoo Marine 57 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo Q 4151 P: 07 3397 4141 E: info@coorparoomarine.com.au W: coorparoomarine.com.au

IPSWICH Ipswich Marine Centre 45 Huxham St, Raceview Q 4305 P: 07 3294 3944 E: enquiries@ipswichmarine.com.au W: ipswichmarine.com.au

BRISBANE NORTH Brisbane Marine 306 Dufﬁeld Rd, Clontarf Q 4019 P: 07 3889 3033 E: info@brismarine.com.au W: brismarine.com.au

HERVEY BAY Hervey Bay Marine Services 2 Driftwood Court, Urangan Q 4655 P: 07 4124 9955 E: info@herveybaymarine.com.au W: herveybaymarine.com.au

NORTHERN NSW/GOLD COAST Tweed Coast Marine 32 Machinery Dr, Tweed Heads South NSW 2486 P: 07 5524 8877 E: dan@tweedcoastmarine.com.au W: tweedcoastmarine.com.au

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 47

K AYAKING & canoeing

Ben ditched the kayak to wrestle a cod out of a snag. The Freak Assassin GT kayak was perfect for skinny-water fishing.

Murray cod from kayaks T

ARGETING Murray cod in summer can be brutal, with stifling heat, energetic reptiles and wild storms.

Two bits of timber poking up? No, that is a whole tree hiding a cod.

Grant peppered the snag behind him several times before hooking up.

The author didn’t catch big fish but any cod off the surface is fun.

Page 48 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

You will likely encounter all three on any trip over the Great Dividing Range. My preference is to target cod in the rivers because you can usually find some shade during a long day’s fishing and little compares to the experience of a cod smacking a lure off the surface. And summer presents your best chance to find an angry green fish willing to whack a lure. You can find plenty of places in northern NSW from which to slip a kayak into the Border Rivers for a fish. Regardless of which side of the river you launch, you will need a NSW fishing licence, available online for as little as $7 for three days (service.nsw. gov.au/transaction/applyrecreational-fishing-licence). You will also need to be sun smart and work out how to keep from burning. My crew on a recent trip took different approaches. A couple wore long pants and shirts, one applied lots of sunscreen many times a day and I wore long compression garments. For this trip we needed small and robust craft that would survive being bashed down granite-

Kayaking by TOM LASZLO

studded rapids and not be so cumbersome to drag through log jams and skinny sections. Freak Assassin GTs were chosen, and as a bonus they stack neatly, so loading and strapping them onto the trailer was a breeze. The most important skill you can bring to cod fishing is casting accuracy. Lobbing your lure in close to a likely spot without getting tangled up in surrounding structure will net you better results than wayward casts into open water. I often choose to tie on a weedless lure when targeting willow-lined riverbanks. With a bit of practice, you can fire weedlessrigged lures deep into overhanging branches and rarely snag up. Interpreting what you see above the waterline is another skill that comes in handy when fishing rivers. An uprooted tree laying in the water with a gnarly root ball may look like a good spot to throw a few casts but try to picture where the rest of the tree lies under the surface and work your lure through that area as well. Always work your lure all the way back because it is not uncommon for a cod to follow the lure all the way to your kayak and

A D & S Lures Wayward Walker got munched.

make a last-second grab at it boatside. Dawn and dusk are prime times for surface fishing because the cod seem to be cruising around away from the fringes during these lowlight periods. However, that doesn’t mean they won’t take a well-presented lure in the middle of the day. When the sun is high, better results are achieved by casting into the shadows and aggressively working the lure out.

Several casts into a prime spot may annoy the cod into striking and a tactic that works for me is to team up with a fishing buddy and cast lures over each other repeatedly to get the fish’s attention. No matter how good a seat you have on your kayak, you will get uncomfortable and need to stretch your legs. Wading helps extend your kayak fishing time and in summer it’s quite pleasant to be waist deep in the river. A length of rope tied off to the bow and secured to you will keep your kayak within reach. ☛ continued P49

All you need for a day on a western river chasing green fish.

Ben was happy to land his first Murray cod.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

K AYAKING & canoeing Yakking western rivers F

ISHING from kayaks in the upper reaches of the Macintyre River and throughout the Dumaresq River system is great fun for anglers looking to get into pristine waters. It’s something our forefathers would have experienced and not taken for granted. Fishing for cod in these clear streams feels like a time warp back to a bygone era.

Fresh Water by NOAL KUHL

Your success in these waters doesn’t revolve around good luck, as consistent catches prove you understand native freshwater fish ecology. Most of us will take home a cod from time to time, though most know when it is the right thing to put them back as well.

Brett Ciesiolka was quite happy to extract cod from the clear and challenging waters of the Dumaresq where casting to sunken snags and dropping a spinnerbait basically through the cod’s front door is the only way to entice them.

Murray cod from kayaks ☛ from P48

Young Ben joined me on a day trip to cod country chasing his first cod. While we were wading, he hooked a good-sized fish that saw his bass gear pushed to its limits, and when he finally slid his net under the fish, the cod was too big for it! Once hooks were removed and photos taken, I pointed out how being out of the kayak likely saved him from losing that fish. The river was quite narrow and if hooked from the kayak, it would have probably dragged him into the fallen timber and busted the line. Murray cod have quite a meaty mouth, so I crush all hook barbs. Not doing so makes www.bnbfishing.com. au

hook removal very difficult and unnecessarily tears the flesh. I don’t think I’ve ever lost a cod from using barbless hooks. Just maintain pressure on the line until you have the fish secured, when the hooks will generally come out without a need for pliers. Special purchases aren’t necessary if you choose to have a go at cod fishing. If you already lure fish for bass, your larger lures and spinnerbaits will work, just up your leader to 20lb. If you can convince the Minister for Finance that you need new lures, find a lure maker local to the area you plan on fishing and take advantage of their experience and advice when making that purchase.

Considering the advancements of modern tackle, catching big cod doesn’t require the 25kgplus line and tree-branch rods of yesteryear. Two-metre rods made with a strong spine and still plenty of flex are good enough, especially from kayaks. I like Ugly Stiks because they can take a lot of punishment and I can be a bit rough on gear at times. I prefer eggbeater reels due to their ease of operation, especially at night. I’ve switched back to using a dacron gel line because having zero stretch helps with getting cod out of snags and into open water, and lures can be cast further too. A good all-round line weight is about 8-12kg and this will see you tackle almost any cod in these waters, even fish weighing two or three times the breaking strain if you use a heavy trace. Our native fish have a habit of eating yabbies, worms, mussels and shrimp during summer. I know a lot of anglers who live in the border district prefer summertime outings, while some friends from my area prefer to visit the Border Rivers during winter, with no mozzies a bonus. Considering the talented anglers I have been fortu-

nate to share river fishing trips with, I feel there is no best season for targeting our native fish; success is more determined by understanding what the fish’s natural behaviour would be in its current environment. Cod are very territorial and will chase other fish out of ‘their’ area. They’ll even size the intruder up for a potential meal if it gets close enough. I have taken favour to fishing from kayaks and they are great tools for getting into the shallow and narrow stretches that can dominate even the ‘big’ rivers I fish. When it comes to lures, spinnerbaits can add a lot of flash to your presentation thanks to their rotating blades. The flash provides attraction, as does the harmonic beat of the blades echoing through the water. Combine that with dynamic skirt colours and add a soft plastic and stinger hook and you’ve got one potent cod-attracting lure. However, I’ve switched to predominantly using surface lures in the past year and use spinnerbaits and diving lures as a backup. I can’t get enough of the startling, explosive power cod exhibit with surface strikes. It’s even more thrilling when sneaking up on them in a kayak.

A decent size cod like this one is something anglers including Warren Bradford wish to see more often in the Macintyre River.

Joel Schrodter with a middle of the road cod caught on the ever-reliable purpleskirted spinnerbait from the clears waters of the Dumaresq River.

The lower Macintyre River, though it’s supposed to be wide and deep, can be a challenge, even from a kayak, when flood irrigation pumps are switched on during dry seasons.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 51

I caught this little fella on the NSW North Coast using a yakka, 50lb Sunline braid and 50lb Sunline leader. Cheers, Taigan

Family fishing fun

FTER having been away fishing with the Power Boat Anglers on the 1770 trip, I thought it was about time I took the whole family for a day out on the water. Originally, we were going to head to Tangalooma at Moreton Island for a snorkel and then fish the pylons on the way back to see if we could bag a mackerel or two. Unfortunately, the wind forecast of 10 knots didn’t quite eventuate and it was actually blowing a pretty stiff 15 knots, so we motored to a bay on the lee side of Bribie Island for a swim instead. After the swim, we headed in to Lime Pocket for a picnic lunch, dodging some dugongs on the way. After lunch, Sal and I had a snooze in the bottom of the boat while the kids decided to have a fish. Robbie took control of the Minn Kota remote and started heading along

the banks to see what was around. Audrey was pretty keen for a fish too, so Robbie gave her a quick 101 on using soft plastics such as how and where to cast and tips on the retrieve. The kids persisted with cast after cast, working the whole bank methodically for an hour, but the fish were unimpressed by their efforts. I woke up and suggested we call it a day but the kids wanted to persevere for a little longer, so I went back to sleep only to be woken by a yell from Audrey: “I got a fish, Dad!” Wiping sleep from my eyes, I watched her wind in a solid flathead, her first ever and on a soft plastic to boot. Robbie expertly netted the fish and took the photo. We were all very impressed, especially as she had persevered in spite of not getting a bite for a couple of hours. Stefan Slomka

Mackenzie and Kade Meal were very excited with their catch of whiting from the Brunswick River. Juanita Meal

Hi Ben, Taj McKay with a Somerset Dam bass hooked on a hard-body lure while trolling with a Shimano rod and reel. The fish was released after the picture. Craig McKay

Hello, I just wanted to submit a photo of Bush ‘n Beach subscriber Matt Day with his large jewfish landed on a whole squid while holidaying at Stanage Bay. Kind Regards, Lisa Day

Bruce and Jesse with a pair of dolphinfish taken off North Stradbroke Island. They were caught by trolling with 8kg tackle and both put up a great fight with many aerial displays. Lochlan Saville

I got this bad boy off Bathurst Head on Cape York. I used a live bait rig with a small baitfish, an 8-10kg overhead rod and a Fin-Nor Lethal two-speed reel. Matthew Neil

To have a photo of your catch in Readers Forum, simply email ben@bnbfishing.com.au with a good quality picture, your name and details or hop onto our Facebook page and send us a message.

■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum Page 52 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Send details to Bush ’n Beach Fishing magazine E: ben@bnbfishing.com.au PO Box 387 Cleveland 4163

Platypus Super-100 now in 40lb and 50lb

PLATYPUS Super-100 is still the thinnest diameter to strength monofilament on the market, even though it was released over 18 years ago. Initially released to celebrate Platypus Lines’ 100th year in business (the company was established in 1898), the line continues to have a reputation as the only choice for serious anglers, both as main line and leader. Super-100 is crafted using a new grade of nylon multi-polymer raw material and a revolutionary manufacturing process. These advancements allow the outer skin to be tough while the core remains supple and flexible. A new advanced coating is also applied to the line for added abrasion resistance. Platypus is 100 percent Australian manufactured, owned and operated. In fact, Platypus is still produced by the fourth generation of the family that started the business in 1898. Platypus is a truly Australian icon. Super-100 is now available in breaking strains from 4lb (0.15mm) to 50lb (0.55mm). For more information, visit fish platypus.com.au

an aluminium gear-side cover – all treated with SaltGuard 2.0 multi-layer corrosion protection. Weight is kept to a minimum with the clever C4LF carbon fibre rotor design. Smoke Inshore Speed Freak spin reels also feature an indestructible NiTi titanium bail wire and Quantum’s revered CSC carbon-stainlessceramic drag system. This advanced drag system uses a stack of carbon fibre, ceramic and stainless steel washers to deliver a silky-smooth 20lb of drag power, so you can turn the heads of hard fighters including snapper, coral trout, barra, trevally and rat kingfish. Both sizes have nine stainless steel bearings and a Continuous Anti-Reverse clutch, and the double-anodised MaxCast II spool is designed to deliver maximum casting distance. The size 40 weighs just 224g, holds 220 yards of 20lb braid and retrieves 91cm of line per turn of the handle. The size 50 retrieves 99cm per turn, weighs only 283g and accommodates 200 yards of 30lb braid. Other features include extra-hard PT gears; a lightweight machined aluminium crank handle; soft-touch EVA handle knob; and each reel comes out of the box lubricated with premium Quantum Hot Sauce grease and oil. Visit quantumfishing.com.au for more information.

Bagley Monster Shad

Quantum Smoke Inshore Speed Freak spin reels

THE new Quantum Smoke Inshore Speed Freak spin reels are all about speed and drag power in a lightweight reel for inshore and estuary fishing. The new Inshore Speed Freak format with a blazing-fast 6.2:1 gear ratio is introduced in sizes 40 and 50, which are ideal for fast lure retrieves for species such as tailor, queenfish, trevally, salmon and mackerel on poppers and metals; or for dragging jacks, Murray cod and barra away from snags. Dynamic gearing is just the start of the impressive feature list, which also includes a single-piece, machined, high-strength-grade SCR aluminium frame that will not flex, as well as www.bnbfishing.com. au

Z-Man 3.5” EZ ShrimpZ

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EVERYTHING eats a prawn and the new Z-Man EZ ShrimpZ is sure to appeal to myriad fresh and saltwater species with its realistic profile, thin legs and antennae designed for added realism and vibration. The segmented body creates maximum action and a natural prawn ‘kick’, while the fanned tail creates a natural glide on the sink. Also available in a pre-rigged version, the unrigged EZ ShrimpZ comes in eight colours, with four lures per pack and can be used as a replacement body for the pre-rigged version, or rigged standalone on a TT Lures HeadlockZ or DemonZ jig head for fishing open water and weedless rigged on the TT ChinlockZ and SnakelockZ jig heads for fishing deep in structure. Testing of the 10X Tough, super-soft and flexible ElaZtech EZ ShrimpZ saw it boat everything from bass, flathead, mulloway and snapper to barra, jacks and trevally. How many different species will eat your EZ ShrimpZ? SRP is $15.95 per pack. Fish on! www.tackletactics.com.au

Stop hooks and lures rusting TACKLE Tactics is bringing Australian anglers over 60 years of legendary lure making history with the launch of Bagley hard-bodies in Australia. Every Bagley lure is individually hand-tuned and water tested to ensure the legendary action lives on. With Jarmo Rapala, former CEO of the worldwide Rapala Group and part of the legendary Rapala family at the helm, Bagley is sure to continue its successful history of lure design and innovation. Go big, throw big! The Monster Shad is a versatile Bagley classic, originally born from balsa and now finding new life with its heavy-duty ABS construction that is already proving effective on barramundi, mulloway, Murray cod and more. Built tough with a unique locking lip, heavy-duty hooks and HD construction, the Monster Shad is sure to become a favourite, cast and trolled from the blue water to the inland rivers and impoundments. What are you waiting for… unleash the Monster! Length – 12.7cm; weight – 35g; diving depth – 3-3.6m. SRP: $26.95. www.tackletactics.com.au

Each chip has been treated on both sides with special volatile corrosion inhibitors that release a non-toxic vapour, which blends with moisture and oxygen, stopping rust and corrosion in its tracks. The special vapours are able to penetrate into the smallest cracks and crevices, providing the total protection you need. These chips make a perfect last-minute (or belated) gift idea for Christmas. RRP for 20 chips is $24.95. www.fishplatypus.com.au

BIGFISH Gear Fish Headz are multifunctional headwear for your head, ears and neck that can be used for protection from the sun, wind and rain, all while keeping you cool. Bigfish Gear specifically wanted a garment that was light, cool and comfortable to wear with good UPF protection, hence Fish Headz are made from lightweight, stretchy polyester that makes them easy to breathe through when covering the mouth. Camoscale – Bluefish Camoscale Bluefish is a light-blue version of the ever-popular camoscale pattern and great for those wanting to fish in high glare or crystal-clear skies. Bluefish is manufactured in the new full-tube material that is softer and stretchier to wear. Camoscale – Mirage Camoscale Mirage is a light-grey version of Bigfish Gear’s unique Camoscale pattern and great for those fishing in overcast or low-light conditions. Mirage is manufactured in the new full-tube material. Bush Camo Bush Camo is Bigfish Gear’s very own, unique camouflage pattern, totally generated using Australian bush flora and colourings to help you blend into the natural surrounds. Bush Camo is manufactured in the new full tube material.

points and is spring loaded to apply the correct amount of pressure to the spool. Available with a black base and the option of three feature colours in gold, blue and red. Starting RRP is $19.95. For more information and stockists, visit samaki.com.au or and like Samaki on Instagram and Facebook.

Jarvis Walker Tournament fishing shirt

THE Jarvis Walker Tournament Long Sleeve Fishing Shirt is made of a high-performance 167gsm polyester fabric for the active outdoors person. The 100 percent polyester fabric is lightweight and stays cool and dry while wicking moisture. It is designed specifically to keep you comfortable during high-exertion activities in hot weather, making it suitable for all types of fishing, from working a beach gutter with bait to trolling lures offshore for marlin. The Jarvis Walker Tournament shirt is sun smart, too, with UPF30+ UV protection and a collar to keep the sun off your neck. Its sublimated design features a striking underwater marlin image and the design is finished with a comfortable buttoned V-neck and round polyester cuffs. The Jarvis Walker Tournament Long Sleeve Fishing Shirt is available in six adult sizes from small to XXXL. Visit jarviswalker.com.au for more information.

Ladies Z-Man fishing shirts

Samaki Line Spooler

THE Inhibitor Corrosion Fighting VCI Pro Chips represent a great innovation to stop hooks and lures from rusting away. Just place a chip in the lure compartment of your tackle box for rust protection for six to 12 months. VCI Pro Chips are proven to stop rust and corrosion, penetrate and protect, be environmentally safe, provide long-lasting and economical protection, leave no scent or residue and come ready to use. The Inhibitor VCI Pro Chips make for a safe, easy and economical way to protect your fishing tackle, tool boxes, small parts bins and any other small metal items needing protection.

Z-MAN’s popular fishing shirt is now available in pink, just in time for summer and sure to be a hit over the holidays. This quality, lightweight shirt has a UPF45 sun-protection rating, colSAMAKI’S newly launched tool lar, long sleeves, zip front and is range extends from solid hardware to manufactured from dye-sublimated, quick-dry material, ready for your functional and practical appliances. The Samaki Line Spooler is your next adventure. The initial run of sizes available new go-anywhere device, meaning you’ll never have any issues with re- includes kids sizes 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14, along with adult sizes XS, S, spooling your reel again. This adaptable device features a M, L and XL. Available to order now from your high-suction cup at the base for ease of use anywhere, is manufactured of local tackle store or online from tack lightweight aluminium through the letactics.com.au SRP: $49.95. stem and extension mount and tension Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 53

Hints for hot and humid fishing

Phil caught this mack tuna while on a charter with Gladstone Fly and Sportfishing.

A few flathead will be biting this month. Flicking soft plastics and small hardbodies around sandbanks will almost certainly result in a fish.

ANUARY is going to be hot.

Christmas has been and gone and now it’s time to turn our attention to the fishing year ahead. What does January bring on the fishing front? Well the recent hot and humid conditions with afternoon storms will see jacks on the chew. Fishing before and after the storms and into the early evening will score you the most bites. Start by targeting any rock bars or rocky dropoffs in both the Calliope and Boyne rivers. Any fallen timber is worth a crack as well. Jacks will respond to most fishing methods, from a popper worked on the surface to plastics, hard-bodies, vibes and live or fresh cut bait. Whatever your preferred method, make sure you’re getting your presentation as close to the structure as you can because jacks won’t move too far from home. The speed demons of our estuaries are moving around in good numbers, with species such as giant and diamond trevally, queenfish and tarpon popping up. Trevally and queenfish are moving in the same areas as the high tidal flow and bait numbers get the schools moving around. Using surface lures in the early morning and late afternoon will get their attention and result in impressive takes. During the day, try fishing deeper with 3” and 4”

%2$7 &29(56 &$123,(6 %,0,1,6 Karee Marine now offers a full boat trimming service with the acquisition of MV Marine. We are now able to manufacture and repair all types of canopies and marine upholstery on site. No job too big or small!

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www.kareemarine.com.au Page 54 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

Gladstone Region by GARY CHURCHWARD

plastics, vibe lures and live herring or mullet floated down through the water column. Tarpon tend to school in larger numbers in deeper holes, though in the rivers and creeks you may see them rolling on the surface as they feed too. Targeting tarpon with small blades and plastics is the most effective way to get to them. Fish the entire water column because they will move through it as they feed. Most of these fish won’t be too big and a 2-4kg rod, 1500 or 2500-size reel, 10lb braid and 1220lb leader will handle the majority. It will pay to have a heavier setup on standby in case a few bigger fish are mixed in the schools. Flathead should be sneaking around the flats in the harbour and mouths of the rivers and creeks. The last hour of the run-

out and first two hours of the run-in are the prime times to target flathead on plastics and hardbodies. Whiting are also on the flats but they tend to fish better as the tide moves up onto the banks. Fresh yabbies will do the trick. Port Alma is fishing OK for threadfin salmon. Find a school and you should get a few fish. Soft vibes will entice the threadies but minnow soft plastics work well too. A few black jewfish are in the deeper holes in the port, and bigger soft plastics and large live baits will attract these fish. Crabs will be around and a fresh will really get them stirred up. Try different baits in your pots to see what gets the best results. Justin from Gladstone Fly and Sportfishing recently took some of my

workmates on a half-day charter and they headed out to the shipping channels chasing tuna. Even though conditions were tough, they managed a good mack tuna each and unfortunately lost a couple of longtails boatside. They had a ball and have rebooked for a late afternoon and evening session chasing barra at Lake Awoonga on surface. Justin tells me Awoonga is fishing well and is starting to return to its glory days as a premier barra sportfishing location. He has also been chasing golden trevally, queenfish and permit in the shallow water through the harbour. Give him a call on 0429 223 550 to discuss what he offers and what you want to target. He chases a wide range of species on different techniques. If you’re out on the water during January, take plenty of drinking water and cover up from the sun. Cheers and happy fishing from Gladdy.

Recreational fisho fined for fishing in a green zone

RECREAT I O N A L fisher recently pleaded guilty and was fined $4000 after he was found fishing in a no-take green zone near Lady Musgrave Island. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority field management acting director Chris Cochrane said the court conviction was an important reminder that penalties applied to recreational fishers if they did the wrong thing. “Welcoming people to the marine park is important, however there is no excuse for not knowing and following the rules,” Mr Cochrane said. “Our compliance patrols run during the day and at night. “If you’re caught fishing in a green zone, you can expect to be fined.” The incident was detected during a vessel patrol by GBRMPA and Queensland Parks and Wildlife officers who intercepted the occupants of the recreational fishing vessel spearfishing 400m inside a green zone at Lady Musgrave Island. The offender was an experienced seaman with a GPS on board the vessel.

The master of the vessel, a first-time offender, was issued with an infringement notice for $1800. After failing to pay the fine, the matter was referred to the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions, where the Bundaberg Magistrates’ Court convicted and fined the master of the vessel $4000. Green zones make up about a third of the marine park and are designed to help protect and conserve the biodiversity of the ecosystem. Research indicates that zoning arrangements, which came into effect in 2004, are making a positive difference to biodiversity, with more and bigger fish being found in notake marine national park zones, producing a spill-over effect of fish to areas of the marine park open to fishing.

Upholding compliance of the zoning plan is a high priority for GBRMPA. The agency co-ordinates patrols with QPWS, Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol and the Queensland Water Police, targeting suspected illegal commercial and recreational fishing. The Commonwealth’s Maritime Border Command conducts aerial surveillance of the marine park. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park users can report suspected illegal fishing to 1800 380 048 (24 hours) or via an online incident report form at gbrmpa. gov.au/report-an-inci dent Free zoning maps are available on the GBRMPA website and at bait and tackle shops, visitor information centres, ship chandlers and QPWS and QBFP offices.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

BJ landed this cracking grunter.

BJ from Middlemount was stoked with this sizeable jewfish.

Tiff boated a ripper jewfish.

Ripper fishing around Stanage Bay

OWDY all visitors to Stanage Bay, surrounding islands and reef.

The Stanage Bay road is currently awesome, with no complaints of any trailer problems since the Livingstone Shire Council finished grading it. Well done and thank you to the road workers and council members involved. The Australian Defence Force has thrown a question mark into the longterm future of the Stanage Bay area for beef producing, fishing and crabbing. Until the department lays the full deck of cards

Stanage Bay by VON IRELAND

on the table for us locals to see, the question mark will remain. Already one cattle property on the Stanage road has been bought by the ADF, with others earmarked for future purchasing. To date the ADF has not called a meeting to give locals the peace of mind required, so until then best we all go fishing and keep up with the adventures that Stanage Bay, the islands, beaches and reef can give us.

This past month in the estuary has been interesting, with jewfish well and truly on the bite and cod and parrotfish chewing in the bays. Monster muddies have been showing up in the crab pots with fresh bait. The reef and islands have turned it on for huge grassy sweetlip, the bestkept secret in the reef fish world. Grassies are a local favourite for flavour and freezer storage.

The usual targets of red fish and coral trout have received a couple of reprieves due to the coral reef fin fish closures, but fear not, they are out there waiting. At the back of the Stanage Bay boatyard you will find an awesome little tackle shop with my eversmiling self or staff to help you out. Don’t bother to waste your money in city tackle shops buying bait and tackle you don’t need. You can buy all the ice, bait, tackle and camping gear you’d need around Stanage right here at city prices or cheaper. If you don’t believe me,

wander up and have a look. Weigh in your fish and get a pic for the magazine or wall of fame. Make your holiday a great breakaway from the real world. The accommodation at Stanage is second to none, with fisher-friendly freezers, electricity, water and showers. Check out the Stanage Bay Marine & Accommodation website (www. stanagebay.com), find us on Facebook or give me a ring on 07 4937 3145. Keep on fishing and smelling the fish. Until next time, cheers.

A beautiful fingermark capped off an awesome trip for BJ and Tiff.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 55

Slowing down to increase your catch ■ Slow-pitch jigging tips

ITH the lowpitched burble of the V8 LandCruiser idling, and trying not to wake the whole street, we lined up the tow ball and dropped the boat trailer onto the tow bar.

John Boon with a cracking large-mouth nannygai.

The author’s goldband snapper was caught using slow-pitch jigging methods.

The Secret Spot bait & tackle YEPPOON

Come in and chat to Chappie!

SA ME LO CATIO N: 1 Ch ar le s St , Ye pp NE W NU MB ER : 07 49 39 10 87 Page 56 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

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We looked at each other like excited kids at Christmas, bubbling with anticipation of what the day ahead would hold. With favourable wind and good tides, we were finally hitting the water for a bit of ‘slow pitchin’. Now as a fisherman, I’m always up for trying something new to broaden my experiences and increase my catch rate. We had been playing around with slow jigging for a while but on this trip we’d be getting some instruction and direction from a mate who employed ‘fishing slowly’ on a regular basis and one of his good mates from Extreme Anglers Australia, the Aussie distributor of Volante Jigs. These two guys can really do it slow and they were going to give us a crash course in how effective this style of fishing can be when done properly. Now we aren’t talking about micro jigging, we’re talking about slow-pitch jigs with weights of 90200g to match the depth and tidal flow of the areas we were fishing. We have used lighter slow-pitch jigs for closer inshore fishing but needed the larger jigs to fish the depths on this day. After a considerable run north in quite a large swell, it was time to drop some of these fluttering lumps of metal to the depths and encourage a few fish to play the game. A quick description of a slow-pitch jig is an oval-shaped lump of metal with an asymmetric design (different-shaped surface on each side) with a rigging point on each end, generally with hooks rigged on one or both ends. This shape difference allows the jig to flutter as it rises and falls. This fluttering action imitates a distressed fish and is designed to entice larger fish to strike. Retrieves with this style of jig at first seem a bit strange. Action is mostly imparted with the reel, not the rod. Half, quarter and full turns of the reel handle load the rod, in turn lifting the jig in a fluttering pattern. After arriving at our chosen location, we began searching for small areas of bottom that held structure and bait. Once a likely area lit up the sounder, we lined up our drift and deployed jigs to the depths.

Yeppoon Region by GREGG ‘CHAPPIE’ CHAPMAN

As the jigs hit the bottom, we all looked at each other in anticipation and started our retrieves. Wind, wind, wind, wind, pause, wind, wind, wind, pause and free spool back into the strike zone. Even though larger fish may be sitting on the bait schools, it doesn’t mean they are going to smash your jig on the first drop. Sometimes it takes a few drops to wake them up and induce a bite. The first fish to come aboard with a new piece of jewellery was a goodsized grunter. It was high fives all round and a quick pic before it went straight into the Esky. With the first fish over the side, we all became a little more at ease and figured we might be in for a good day. Fishing these smaller areas, your drifts aren’t very long. Once we motored upcurrent again it was time for a second drift over the same area. Same deal, we all dropped our jigs to the depths and let them speed to the bottom so we could start our retrieves. Wind, wind, wind and smack! Three out of four of us hooked up simultaneously. Our other mate quickly wound his jig up off the bottom so it wouldn’t get snagged, put the rod in the holder and grabbed the camera to get some fight footage. Before he could press record, his rod doubled over with a good fish as well. Now we had a four-way hook-up on rampant fish trying to bury us all in the reefy bottom. With a fair bit of yahooing and general carrying on, we all managed to get our fish to the boat, each with a different species to put in the icebox. Our flukey mate had nailed a good-sized largemouth nannygai that fell victim to the rod holder retrieve style. It just goes to show these jigs will flutter with the smallest movement. After a few more fish went into the box, this spot shut down and we searched further for more productive ground. As the morning progressed we fished awesome ground where we could see large predators hassling bait on the bottom but we received only limited interest. We decided to look around until the turn of the tide, and it was then that the fish decided they were going to play the game.

Jigs down, wind, wind and smack, my rod buckled and was nearly ripped from under my arm. Before I could strike and try to turn the fish’s head, I was dusted on the bottom by something that wanted my jig more than me. Time to re-tie, motor up for another drift and try for another hook-up. The same thing happened again and my efforts were totally wasted, with only frustration to show for it. That’s two epic bust-ups I won’t forget soon. As the day progressed, we managed a great mixed bag that was probably one of the best we’d caught in a single session in quite a while. And not one piece of bait was used, just slowpitch jigs. Slow-pitch jigging is a great way to target a wide range of species, and with

a bit of practice and pointers in the right direction can be a very effective way to put a few goodquality fish in your Esky. Slow-pitching gear is a bit different to our normal bottom-bashing gear. Our gear consisted of light rods with a long taper but heaps of power in the lower end of the blank. They seemed to bend forever. We paired them with relatively small high-speed overhead reels, PE3 braid and 40lb good-quality leader. This type of gear looks a bit strange when fishing wide offshore but it comes into its own for this style of fishing and boy can it turn large fish off the bottom. On this day we used larger jigs to get to the bottom but it pays to have a variety of weights in your box to swap out as the current speeds up and slows. So give it a go – go slow and be surprised. Once you’ve done it, you’ll be back for more.

Johnny Thai from Extreme Anglers Australia with a solid grunter taken by doing it slow.

Dan Lynam nailed this coral trout on a Volante Slow Pitch Jig.

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Crayfish Beach at Hook Island.

Whitsundays fishing options with summer in full swing

URING summer, the heat creates warmer patches of water close to the Whitsundays islands and in shallow bays. Mangrove jack and other predators will hold close to the mangroves to get out of the bright sunshine. They use the shadows from the trees to hide and ambush their prey without too much energyburning effort. Casting lures into the mangrove roots and tweaking them in very fast, short movements will stir the fish into a strike if their bellies aren’t full of glassy prawns or minnows. Baitfish abound at this time of year and the seagrass is growing faster, producing more fuel for the food chain. Sharks come in closer for a chance at the larger numbers of predators eating the smaller baitfish. This can be a very difficult time for anglers using lighter lines and taking more time to boat their fish. Sharks don’t just patrol reefs and open oceans but search creeks and rivers for any opportunity to fill their mouths with fish.

Whitsundays Fishing by RICK WILLIAMS

A quick flash of brown or grey and then a splash followed by blood in the water is sometimes all you get to see. Casting into schools of tuna with small shiny slugs will get you a hookup but beware of the hungry shark lurking beneath the school waiting to steal your catch. Sharks will dart out of the shadows in the mangroves and do the same in the estuaries. Many fish will be lost to these thieves in brown suits. Cursing is part of the general reaction to having your fish stolen and for some reason this summer has seen a higher number of sharks in close. Popping around the bigger bommies has been productive and plenty of good trevally and mackerel have been caught. With the lower wind and brighter days of summer upon us, mornings and evenings have been the times to do some serious luring for the top-end sportfish. Flying fish and min-

nows are being balled into large schools by billfish and tuna early in the morning and chased into the lagoons in the middle of the day. Trevally are taking advantage of this and smashing through them for an easy feed. Smaller poppers are working well on the trevs and good fish have been taken in these lagoons. Look for bait skipping across the surface getting chased by predators and cast close to these outbursts. Sharp pumps of the rod with short spells between each pump seem to be working well. Trevally and mackerel will even hit a stationary popper, so be ready for anything. Single-strand wire of about 100lb strength and 45cm in length will ensure bite-offs from goodsized mackerel are less common. Large garfish and fusiliers are the preferred baits to hang under a float while luring for sportfish on another rod.

The shallows in Mackerel Bay, Hook Island.

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Bottom bashing still gets good bites and the fish have been fair to large but sharks are proving to be a pest when fishing near the deeper drop-offs. Coral trout seem to like the heads of garfish and pilchards more than most other species on the reef, so I suggest rigging up a circle hook and threading on a fish head if you want to target coral trout in the Whitsundays. Spanish flag are taking baits and are of a solid size. Cod are terrorising any bait dropped near caves off deepwater headlands. Strong, abrasion-resistant leader is a must for this kind of fishing because cod will head for cover as soon as they take a bait. Turtles are in huge numbers and coming up on the beaches chasing away the crayfish at night, so wait for a dark night in a few months before chasing crays, unless you want to waste your fuel. Night-time temperatures are hovering around 20C, making overnight fishing trips very comfortable. Squid are attracted by bright lights in the water and make the perfect bait for dropping to the deeper reefs. A squid jig is a necessity on any boat and when the cost of bait is so high and the bait you can see is so fresh, it makes sense to catch your own. A whale shark was recently filmed off the Whitsundays by a surprised visitor. This is further proof the waters around the Whitsundays are healthy and well worth a visit. You won’t be disappointed if you come here for a fishing trip or snorkel over one of our reefs. Remember, every day you go fishing adds an extra day to the end of your life.

These boys went out on a Boab hire boat and scored a solid GT.

Shelly with a beautiful coral trout.

A turtle swam among the mangroves.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 57

R&D pays dividends H

A spanish mackerel hooked by Paul on a popper.

Craig’s big, black GT was a fearsome sight.

Paul did well to land this horse GT on a popper around a pressure point.

APPY New Year!

With another year kicking off, I hope everyone enjoyed the festive season, ate, drank and was merry. I also hope you got out and went fishing and enjoyed the outdoors. This time of year around Hinchinbrook Island is really hot and the weather patterns can be very unsettled, which gives us a break and makes for a quiet time of year on the charter front. I get to relax and listen to the pouring rain, drink beer and watch cricket but most importantly go through all my fishing gear and lures, especially the barra gear, as I prepare for the new season. This means servicing the reels and re-spooling them with fresh line. Mrs Crackajack really loves holding spools of line while I refill the reels ha ha. But if it’s not pouring rain, now is my chance to get out and have a fish and a good time! Oh sorry, R&D as it’s known in the game. When I’m out fishing by myself I’m always pushing the boundaries, looking for new areas to take clients to, trying different techniques and so on. I look for pressure points on reefs for popper fishing, new micro-jigging areas and new snaggy and fishy creeks. I think what I love most about fishing and being a fishing guide is the whole adventurous aspect of what we do. Trailblazing, I call it. When fishing new areas inshore, I try to give the new spots a go around the good parts of the tide when I think the fish are going to bite. It’s important to try these spots when you think they are going to be most productive. At Hinchinbrook, this usually means the last of the run-out tide and the first of the run-in. This also lets you get a

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Todd & Raylene Eveleigh T: 07 4777 2968 M: 0417 192 318 E: barra@crackﬁsh.com www.crackﬁsh.com Page 58 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

Hinchinbrook News by TODD EVELEIGH

true understanding of the structures in the creeks, how the drains empty out and which ones empty before the others so you can be at the right one at the right part of the tide. It also allows you to get a true understanding of how many fish are in the area. At these times I also try different lures and plastics to see what works best. This may sound funny and some of you might call me crazy but I have found one particular lure will work better in a certain creek compared to another only a few kilometres away where another lure will work better. On the offshore scene, I actually have been putting a lot of R&D into the popper fishery of Lucinda and I’ve caught fantastic fish on the surface. The biggest key to finding pelagics around the reef and islands is to locate pressure points, which is where the current hits the face of a reef or bommie. You can also spot upwellings where the current is pushing over shallow sections of reef and forcing bait up. Searching takes a fair bit of time and you also need to cross reference with the moons and tides because quite a few of these reefs will see the water running one way on the run-in tide and the other on the runout. The currents can change slightly and move around at different times of year too, so it can take a bit of time to find the right combination of clean blue water pushing up against the reef as well as good schools of bait stacking up. It is great fun working these coral edges and trying to understand the best places to be at different times to get the bites. With poppers and stickbaits, I tend to fish water of less than 30m with a very shallow edge or bommie rising a significant distance off the bottom. The deeper edges with pressure points usually offer amazing micro jigging opportunities in big schools of bludger, tealeaf and golden trevally and numerous other species. As for finding new bottom fishing locations for red emperor and largemouth nannygai, it’s just a matter of spending time on the water zig-zagging around contour lines looking for isolated rocks and bommies. I usually find the betterquality fish and locations in the areas that are a bit out of the way and haven’t been found before. And if you do find these sorts of spots, you’re crazy if you give them to your mates. Keep it as hush-hush as possible.

Take your mates to those spots with you and have a great time, but keep those co-ordinates to yourself. I am sure your mates are good blokes but they may want to help their mates out too and let their other friends know. So keep it under your hat! It is really important to have good electronics for this sort of thing. I know incredible electronics are on the market and I have a couple of different sorts. I believe certain electronics are better in certain situations and I have a variety of brands in our boats for this reason. If you want to find big red fish on isolated rocks, Furuno is really the only way to go. I am sure you would have read articles from fellow contributor Greg Lamprecht who is a bit of a red guru. I’ve been using Furuno sounders pretty much all my life on the bluewater scene and these things are absolutely amazing.

Furuno sounders will show a rock on the bottom and individual red emperor and nannygai sitting around it when other electronics barely show anything. My new year’s resolution is to go on more adventures around this beautiful part of the world to really have it wired for our clients in 2017 and beyond. I hope some of you have made new year’s resolutions to fish different areas and explore, because there really is no better feeling than a sense of adventure. The other side of the coin is you will find more fishing locations and better fish to catch. The fishing will likely be better too because the place you are fishing will be less pressured. This year is booking up quickly, so if you would like to come and experience Hinchinbrook and what it has to offer, we specialise in multi-day fly in, fly out packages where everything is taken care of for you. Please email us at bar ra@crackfish.com.au or call 07 4777 2968. Thank you for reading for another year!

The Furuno sounder showed a school of reds on the bottom close to a rock.

Wade and the author with red emperor found in new country.

Craig with a stonking GT that nailed a popper.

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Try blue salmon smoked after being left to soak in a brine of salt water and brown sugar overnight. Delicious.

The view from the boat ramp shows plenty of room for a couple of campers to set up along the riverbank.

Donna Ramage with a Starcke River mangrove jack.

Cape York trip – Starcke River A

RE you thinking about taking a holiday to travel around Cape York with some fishing and camping along the way?

Cape York – Part 1 by MELISSA FROHLOFF

tryside with a couple of friends, visiting parts of Cape York we hadn’t yet seen. On the Cape, the multitude of four-wheel-drive tracks can lead you to the most amazing places with ocean views, river systems and tidal creeks surrounded by the beautiful nature of this region. Our first stop was the Starcke River, an easy

If so, I suggest you start planning now, especially if you want to have a successful trip with minimal complications. My advice is to be prepared so you are able to enjoy what our harsh but beautiful environment has to deliver. In late 2016, Dwane and I had the luxury of taking a few months off work to roam around the coun-

The author with a couple of blue salmon from the creeks south of the Starcke. Starcke River

Hope Vale

Cooktown www.bnbfishing.com. au

two-hour 4WD journey from Cooktown. Access to the river is determined by the beginning and end of the wet season. This can vary from year to year, so it pays to check road conditions before you leave. The roads, creek crossings and gullies are maintained by the Cooktown Shire Council soon after the wet season subsides. Morgans Creek crossing can be the most challenging. However, residents and professional crabbers need access to this area and in general the roads are in good condition compared to the majority we have travelled in Cape York. To reach Starcke River, drive 38km west of Cooktown and then turn left onto Endeavour Battlecamp Rd. This section takes you past Isabella Falls. Then 8km along Endeavour Battlecamp Rd, turn right onto the road to Starcke River. Travel 80km along this road through farmland, several creek crossings, gullies and patches of rainforest. When you arrive at a Y junction, take the right fork to travel the final 4km to the mouth of the Starcke. River and beach camping is available here but bear in mind the only facilities are a boat ramp and skip bin for rubbish collection, both of which are maintained by the Cooktown Shire Council. Both the beach and river camping locations are nice, however the wind on the beach can be hard to handle. Fishing from the mouth of the Starcke River to 500m upstream sees an endless supply of mangroves and fallen snags. Casting into these will produce salmon and barramundi. Further upstream are

deeper holes and rocky outcrops, both of which are worthy of a troll. They can also produce good size mangrove jack when live baited with mullet and garfish. Rugged, exposed sandstone cliff faces form another part of the river’s beauty and make for picturesque scenery. South of Starcke River are numerous tidal creeks that make up a huge mangrove system with endless fishing and crabbing opportunities. These creeks hold mangrove jack, fingermark, king and blue salmon and good numbers of mud crabs. Fresh water for washing and showering can be collected from the Starcke River crossing. This water is also suit-

able for drinking after boiling. Phone service is possible from the top of the gravel pit, locally known as Phonebox Hill, with beautiful views of the southern mountain ranges that surround Starcke National Park. When coming to the Cape, don’t forget the Aerogard. Swarms of mosquitoes, sandflies and march flies are prevalent at dawn and dusk. When in and around the water, pay attention at all times because you have entered the home of the crocodile. We will continue the road trip into more parts of Cape York next month. I hope you have a happy and safe New Year and enjoy the festive season.

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4WDING & off - road

How awesome are these little creatures? Spring sees them sitting on the roads around Ayers Rock warming their cold-blooded bodies but sadly, risking becoming roadkill.

Postcards and television programs just cannot do this place justice. It really needs to be experienced in person. However, the author couldn’t resist the urge to capture the scene as the rising sun bathed the Rock and surrounding desert oaks in warm light.

Northern Territory journey continues

HEN I left you last month, we’d finished our short exploratory of the justifiably renowned Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory.

Many city dwellers envisage inland Australia to be red desert. In truth, there is not a lot of red sand country. There are thousands of hectares of flat gibber country, covered after rain by saltbush and blue bush.

For the observant, yellow-footed rock wallabies can be spotted in many of the national parks throughout the Territory.

As good as the Kakadu experience is, equally inspiring locations and sights were ahead of us. Leaving Kakadu in the rear-view mirror, we had a brief stopover in Humpty Doo (love the name) and a chat with the great people at the Didgeridoo Hut, which houses an art gallery as well as an excellent array of artefacts made by the local indigenous language groups (a more correct term than tribes). After so many days in the scrub, we were a little unused to the traffic and urban landscapes of the big smoke in Darwin, but we overcame the culture shock and spent a couple of days wandering around the city’s attractions. About 10 years had

Road Trip – Part 4 by NEIL SCHULTZ

passed since my previous visit to the city but the central business district was still familiar and I was pleased to find my favourite little spot to while away some time, the Readback Book Exchange. This tiny shopfront opens up to a surprising display of so much more than reading material, but I won’t spoil the surprise for you – go see for yourself when you visit. I’ve spent time there chatting to local artists and a bloke whose name may be familiar, David Gulpilil, who, as well as being an actor of note, is a dab hand with a brush and ochre. Because Rosemary had never seen the northern capital before, we indulged in some of the usu-

al tourist activities including a visit to the Mindil Beach Sunset Market. The sunset markets are held two nights per week outside of the wet season, running from May to October each year. Food stalls with traditional fare from a score of diverse cultures are a main attraction (I can recommend the Brazilian and Portuguese curries) along with various hand crafts with equally diverse origins. One word of warning: if you arrive early in the evening, the markets will be extremely crowded; uncomfortably so. Our visit coincided with the military’s exercise ‘Pitch Black’, so we were treated to a very low-altitude beachside flyover by F15, F16, F18

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and C130 aircraft. Almost predictably, I added another didge to the collection while shopping at the markets when an instrument crafted from a very dark woollybutt trunk caught my eye. Within day-tripping distance from Darwin city is Litchfield National Park, one of the Territory’s hidden gems. This park should be on every visitor’s must-see list with its numerous waterfalls, gorges and inviting rock pools scattered throughout the northern half of its 140,000ha. Some of the falls and pools including Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls are very easily accessed and being spring fed, remain full yearround. The road in from Batchelor passes through a field of magnetic termite mounds in one of the few places they can be seen outside of Arnhem Land. Itchy feet got the better of us after a few days in the big smoke and we put in a decent day on the tar, heading south along the Stuart Highway to overnight at Wycliffe Well. Wycliffe is an interesting, tiny spot on the map with not much more than a fuel station, general store and van park with one claim to fame as being home to the Min Min lights (an unusual light phenomenon that has often been reported in outback Australia). Sadly, we didn’t see any Min Min lights during our brief stopover before steering south again for the run into Alice Springs. I was impressed with ‘The Alice’, a reasonable sized centre with absolutely stunning backdrops that look like something from a Namatjira canvas. We used this town as our base for a three-day excursion, overnighting at Curtin Springs to allow a pre-dawn arrival at Ayers Rock. Numbing early morning temperatures were made worthwhile by the view of the rock as the sun rose behind us, colouring the vista from purples to reds within minutes. I must be honest and state that if Rosemary

hadn’t made the request, I would not have bothered to visit the Rock. I am very glad she did because it is not something that can be appreciated until you see it firsthand. After a day at the Rock and a short drive out to view the Olgas, we made our way around to Kings Canyon for another overnight stay to allow an early morning hike into the canyon. Kings is another location that is underrated and worthy of a visit if you are ever in the red centre. The walk along the creek was very enjoyable, with spring blooms just appearing and bringing in scores of honeyeaters and parrots (budgies too) to flit among the white eucalypt trunks contrasted by the deep red of the surrounding cliffs. I will return to undertake the clifftop walk, which by all accounts gives stunning views of the head of the gorge. From Kings we left the sealed road once again to take the scenic route back to the Alice via the Mereenie Loop Road. This route skirts to the north and then back through the West MacDonnell National Park, and was one of the most visually pleasing outback tracks I’ve ever travelled. This run is along several-hundred kilometres of dirt road, some of which is predictably corrugated, a little of it rocky and bone jarring, but with care it is an acceptable but oh so scenic track into Alice Springs. Back in town in time to run in the Alice Springs Marathon Festival, we had some time to spare to take in the sights, most impressive for me being the Desert Park, a must for any nature lover. The Alice is a worthwhile destination in its own right and when we next return we will fly in and use the town as a base for an extended visit to the district. After our stay in the Alice, we cruised south across the border into South Australia, but that, as they say, is another story. www.bnbfishing.com. au

4WDING & off - road Off-road caravan adventure

UTH and I are always on the lookout for a bit of adventure with our Sunland Patriot off-road caravan and recently jumped at an opportunity to join a group of five other Sunland owners at West Kunderang Recreational Retreat. Located in NSW along the riverine escarpment between Armidale and Kempsey, the West Kunderang camp area forms part of a private 10,000-acre working cattle property that is on the Macleay River and totally bounded by the World Heritage-listed Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. Pretty much halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, the property is just over the edge of the escarpment of the New England Tableland where the temperatures are more coastal. Bookings are essential through owner Cindy McRae (0429 192 810 or westkunderang@bigpond. com). A range of campsites will suit visitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; needs but arrangements must be made to organise key collection because a locked

Caravanning by BILL CORTEN

gate restricts access to the property. You have 10 sites to choose from dependent on your needs and availability and they are selfcontained with a toilet, water tank, firewood, fire pit and picnic table. We stayed at the Cedar Trees camp and it was just perfect for our needs of sufficient sunlight without too much shade (to allow the solar panels to charge the vanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s batteries) and its general proximity to the areaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activities. From Brisbane, we travelled down the Pacific Highway to Grafton and took the scenic but windy road up to Ebor, where we connected with the Waterfall Way, turning off near Wollomombi about 40km east of Armidale onto Kempsey Rd. At this stage you need to have plenty of fuel and supplies, with the exception of water (which can be accessed from the river), because it is no easy feat to take a quick trundle to the shop for anything you

The local youngsters enjoyed their time in the nursery.

may have forgotten. Kempsey Rd is a very well maintained dirt road, with some bitumen sections until you turn off onto Raspberry Rd. There the road narrows and speed should be reduced for safety when towing through the Styx River State Forest

for about 26km. The last 4.3km on West Kunderang, once through the locked gate, is quite steep and low-range second gear was ideal with the big Patriot on the back of the LandCruiser as we dropped about 800m in height while working our way through a series of switchbacks, tight corners and deep-dish drains. Nothing outrageous, it just needed a slow and â&#x2DC;&#x203A; continued P62

A couple of the group packed up for the drive out of the stunning camp area.

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Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, January 2017 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Page 61

4WDING & off - road

A range of water crossings need to be negotiated dependent on localised conditions and your need for adventure.

Happy hours started under the shade of a cedar tree and then turned into a kaleidoscope of colour around sunset with some stunning backdrops.

Off-road caravan adventure to West Kunderang Recreational Retreat ☛ from P61

The history surrounding the early settler’s cottage reflects the resilience of our pioneers.

Cindy’s working dog Blue stole the show with his flycatching antics.

Page 62 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

steady pace to maintain control of the van. We also had plenty of opportunities to take some quick glimpses of the spectacular ridges and valley views as we got closer. We arrived a day after the other crew and had lots of communication with them on UHF channel 14 once past the locked gate and knew with certainty no other traffic was on the road. Reaching the flats at the bottom was like arriving in another world. The camp areas were very well spread out for privacy, with plenty of grassed areas to choose from and Cindy made sure every single item was in order. She runs a small number of cattle nearby, making sure to not overstock the area, and the horses around the paddocks are for mustering because the terrain is really not suited to using quad bikes for that purpose. The river running through the area was spectacular and is great for a bit of bass fishing, kayaking and swimming and a number of four-wheel-drive tracks provide spectacular vistas and scenery. We couldn’t wait to meet the rest of the crew and settle in before maximising the visit. Larry Newberry, the trip organiser, looked after the introductions and we felt more than welcome from the instant we arrived. Happy hour shortly after cemented those thoughts and it was a great chinwag around the campfire after dinner, with caravans, the dusty road coming in, a diversity of off-road travels around the country and 4WDs being the hot topics. Interestingly, we all had similar caravan setups, with one full-composite

Blue Heeler model and five Patriots ranging from five years old to brand new, and several variations of battery packs, solar panels and three-way and compressor fridges. Regardless, they were all serious off-roaders, self-contained for extended periods off the grid. The common theme was everyone had plenty of ground clearance in their 20’6” to 22’ vans on the way in, no one had any dust ingress issues despite it being caked solidly over the outer skin of every van (due to the council grading Raspberry Rd that week), everyone was self-sufficient with battery power, solar panels, gas and water supply for extended periods off the grid and we were all very happily living the dream using our off-road vans to their true potential. The key activities over the next days, in no particular order, were swimming, kayaking, 4WDing and socialising. On West Kunderang a variety of 4WD tracks are located both down and upriver, with adequate advisory signage. The Old Raspberry Fire

Trail is a scenic favourite. The UHF banter was pretty lively at times, with Graham Corbett leading as we weaved our way over the water crossings, around obstacles and up steep climbs. John Heath cracked me up the most with his “All Dumbos, pull in your ears,” as a friendly reminder of reduced side clearance for those of us with wide Clearview Towing Mirrors as we ap-

proached narrow parts of the track. Good job Larry had the chainsaw in the fourby, as it got a good workout. Recent storms meant fallen timber blocking the track had to be cleared in a few places on the way to the Oxley Wild Rivers Wilderness Lookout. Getting there was a great team effort and added to the fun of the trip. At the other end of the day, there is something

special about sitting back enjoying a beer or wine in the shade created by selectively parking the fourby in a shallow part of the river and cooling off on a fold-up chair plonked in the crystal-clear water that flows past your legs. There were only the sounds of good conversation, laughter, water flowing in the river, wind in the trees and bird and animal noises to ☛ continued P63

Cooling off in the shade of Gary’s Sahara was one of many simple pleasures enjoyed at West Kunderang.

A team photo at the Oxley Wild Rivers Wilderness Lookout.

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C AMPING & outdoors

Larry doled out his masterpiece of dark chocolate and date damper cooked in the camp oven.

Off-road caravan adventure ☛ from P62

absorb and enjoy. Smoko times were very special, with Roy’s freshly made vanilla slices a favourite, Jan’s fresh pikelets with a choice of toppings hard to beat and of course everyone enjoying Larry’s masterpiece, a dark chocolate and date damper cooked in the camp oven at the fireplace. A visit to the old set-

tler’s cottage on the property, which Cindy has restored and is a work in progress as a local history museum, was another highlight that was not only informative but a great insight into how resilient and hard working the early settlers were. Time at West Kunderang passed too quickly for us all and lots of new friendships were created.

The trip out was uneventful, with the LandCruiser enjoying a good workout towing the van up the 4.3km steep incline in low-range second gear until we reached Raspberry Rd. A farewell at Wollomombi where we pumped our tyres back to highway pressures and a quick cuppa saw the end of a special trip to a location we would all like to visit again.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 63

Hints for catching Monduran barra

VER the past month we travelled all the way to Monduran Dam just past the little town of Gin Gin to target barramundi for a week.

Let me tell you, it was an experience and a half. The majority of my mates who came along had never fished for barra, while I had fished for them in salt water but never an impoundment, so it was a learning experience for us all. After months of preparation, doing research, stocking up on lures and making sure our gear was in top order, we were set to rock and roll for our 16-hour road trip to Monduran. We tried to plan our trip so we could make a few stops along the way such as the Big Banana, MOTackle and finally Barra Havoc in Gin Gin to see if the staff had any last-minute advice or lures. We were quite surprised by the owner of Barra Havoc and impressed with his knowledge. Most small tackle shops just sell gear and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t offer advice but he was knowledgeable and welcoming. So with our shopping done, we arrived at Lake Monduran Holiday Park to stay in our luxurious cabin overlooking the water. We were staying close enough to hear the barra fart. We had organised to meet up with Rob from Guidelines Fishing Charters the following day in the hope he could point us in the right direction. There wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much sleep in anticipation of what was to come. The following morning, we were already up and raring to go before the alarm went off. My mate Scotty and I raced down to the boat

Lake Monduran Holiday Parkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s details.

Kirtus with a small barra.

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2 Mates Fishin â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Barramundi by CAINE â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;CAINOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; GOWARD

ramp to wait for Rob to arrive. Scotty and I had wanted to do this trip for years. Rob turned up on time with a smile and a friendly greeting and in no time we were speeding off across the water in pitch-black darkness to our first spot. Here is where it gets tricky. Monduran is a massive area but often the barra congregate on small feeding grounds sometimes covering only 5m of water. Having a guide like Rob is a must. Rob has over 10 years of experience fishing this dam day in, day out. Even if you can only afford one session with him, it is well worth it just to get a lay of the area. So as you can probably tell, I am by no means a professional at fishing for barra but my hope for this article is to pass on some helpful hints from what we learnt to steer you in the right direction. Barra in Monduran tend to feed on shallow, windblown banks of about 2m deep. When we found our first little spot, we knew it was going to be difficult to catch one. But with Rob in our corner, we were more confident than we would have been on our own. After 50 or 60 casts into the same snag employing a slow-rolling retrieve with a Jackall Squirrel minnow lure, Scotty caught his first-ever barra. It was only relatively small at 60cm but it was a start. We moved to the next spot and straight away my reel began going off. I had a big metre-plus barra on the line but as quickly as I hooked it, it was gone. I think everyone at the

holiday park heard me scream. On a positive note, it turned out the spot we had just found was our home for the next six days as it was the most productive area. In one day, I lost seven metre-sized barra. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rare to see one or two of these massive fish in a day â&#x20AC;&#x201C; but seven â&#x20AC;&#x201C; I was completely gutted. I kept reliving the moments, thinking â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;what did I do wrong?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;what could I do differently?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; but barra are masters of escape. They were headbutting

the lures and foul hooking, so as soon as they turned their body or jumped, the hook would come out. We also had big brutes crushing and straightening the hooks and just plain unstoppable beasts murdering our lures in tight snags. All in all it was a great learning experience and we ended up landing a lot of fish. Our biggest barra went 98cm and it was boated on a Lox Gen2 Baitcaster, 60lb braid and 80lb leader. We fished mainly in the early morning until about 11am, then weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d go back

to camp to eat and sleep before getting back on the water at 5pm. It was hard work casting thousands of times into the one snag but it was well worth it. The best advice I can give if you are looking at going on a similar adventure is to do the research and really plan your trip. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go under-gunned. Get a good rod and reel and make sure itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comfortable. Just remember youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be making thousands of casts, so it must be a really comfortable setup. â&#x2DC;&#x203A; continued P65

The biggest barra of the trip measured 98cm.

Scotty hooked a solid barra thanks to guidance from Rob of Guidelines Fishing Charters.

Jozef with his first-ever catfish caught on a lure.

n and rmatio ck out o f in e e or ch For m tructions, australia ins ems t s y s r ade ook/le faceb

ne e onli ll rang australia u f e See th ersystems lead a b e y/

A cracking night-time barramundi.

Page 64 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, January 2017

www.bnbfishing.com. au

One of several 55cm barra caught by Jeff Sherlock on a recent weekend at Monduran.

Ben McCarthy with a healthy 88cm Monduran barra.

Hot impoundment barra bite R

EMEMBER that during the annual barramundi closed season in both fresh and tidal waters, which is still in place until midday, February 1, 2017, barramundi are not to be targeted for catch and release because the stress of capture may prevent the fish from spawning. Anglers found taking barramundi during this closed season may face fines of more than $121,000 in court. The only exceptions to the east coast barramundi closure are stocked impoundments and waterways upstream of the dams. Size and possession limits still apply in these waters, with a minimum size limit of 58cm, a maximum size limit of 120cm and a possession limit of one per person. A Stocked Impoundment Permit is also required and can be obtained online (qld.gov.au/

Monduran Dam by DONNA GANE

recreation/activities/boat ing-fishing/rec-fishing/ dams). Some anglers say impoundment barra are fat, lazy and do not fight as hard as their saltwater cousins. We at Lake Monduran would like to say yes, the barra here are fat but they are not lazy and they will fight out of their scales. Many stories have been told of big monsters peeling dozens of metres of braid off the reel, wrapping around the trees and then diving into the weed, all within seconds of the bite. The barra have certainly been on the bite these past few weeks, and with the warm weather and northerly wind set to continue, there is no better time to fish Lake Monduran. Some awesome barra have been caught lately,

as well as plenty of the smaller 50-60cm fish. These smaller fish are the successful result of yearly restocking in our impoundment and thanks must go to the Monduran Anglers and Stocking Association and Lake Monduran Sponsor a Barra for their tireless fundraising efforts. During the holiday season, why not think about going on a family â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fishy driveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, which is a bass to barra trail through Queensland (queensland. com/en-us/journey/bassto -ba r ra-t ra i l-a-f ishydrive). A great variety of impoundments exists within our region, with excellent accommodation options to suit all budgets and tastes and fantastic freshwater fishing that might see you as the next world record holder for

Hints for catching Monduran barra â&#x2DC;&#x203A; from P64

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why we went for the best and chose Lox rods. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d also recommend hiring a charter guide. Doing so could be the difference between landing a bunch of fish and not getting a touch. So with sore arms and after a lot of blood, sweat and tears we headed home to rest up for our next adventure. I hope you enjoyed reading and got something out of this article. If you want to find out about any of the Lox gear we used, jump onto loxfishing.com To contact Rob from Guidelines Fishing Charters, find his business on Facebook or www.bnbfishing.com. au

call 07 4157 3881. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to like 2 Mates Fishin on Facebook to follow our ad-

ventures and see our videos. Until next time, happy and safe fishing.

Scotty released a 98cm barra.

the biggest barra. Lake Monduran Located 20km north of Gin Gin and an hourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s drive west of Bundaberg, Lake Monduran has the reputation as being southeast Queenslandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s barra capital. Australian bass have been stocked heavily over the years too, with a 56cm fish caught recently. Lake Monduran is the largest barra and bass impoundment in Australia. As well as the fantastic barra and bass fishing, Lake Monduran has an abundance of bird and wildlife including wallabies, kangaroos, swans, pelicans, echidnas, possums and on rare occasions the protected platypus. A variety of accommodation is available at Lake Monduran Holiday Park including camping facilities, cabins and houseboats. Four motels are located in nearby Gin Gin and the Gin Gin pub also lets rooms. Paradise Dam About a 30-minute drive west of Gin Gin is Paradise Dam. The dam is stocked with Australian bass, barramundi, golden perch and silver perch. In the area are great walking tracks with historic features. Lake Wuruma Located 48km north of Eidsvold, an old gold mining town, is Lake Wuruma. This dam features a significant variety of wildlife and loads of red claw. Eidsvold is also the home to the RM Williams Australian Bush Learning Centre, which is well worth a visit. Lake Cania Travelling 37km north of Monto will bring you to Lake Cania. Plenty of big bass are lurking in Caniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pristine waters. The lake is accessed via

the 3000ha Cania Gorge National Park, which is known for its spectacular scenery. Lake Callide Just 15km east of Biloela lies Lake Callide. While no camping facilities are available at the lake, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find plenty of accommodation in Biloela. Yellowbelly are the prime angling target in this dam. Lake Awoonga About 30km south of Gladstone is Lake Awoonga, which is known for its beautiful mountain views and thumping barramundi. The largest barra caught here weighed a whopping 36.5kg. Barramundi are now the most â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;travelled toâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; fish in the world. They are famous for their incredible tenacity when hooked and are great sportfish. The accompanying photos are from a group of guys who recently travelled to Lake Monduran from Ipswich, hiring a houseboat for three nights. They caught 10 barra in total measuring 102cm, 88cm, 60cm and several around 55cm. However they also lost a few monsters due to their light leaders, which was a hard lesson to learn. The 102cm fish was hooked on a Classic lure. Well done guys, what a memorable fishing trip. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to pop in and say hi when passing through on your travels to get all your barra fishing gear and the local fishing tips. Foxies Barra Havoc has had a facelift and is now known simply as Barra Havoc. We have also relocated our shop to provide better parking for boats. We are still on the Bruce Highway at Gin Gin but weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re now in between the fire station and Tyrepower as you travel south.

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Hot, stormy weather brings fish on the bite

Some big yellowbelly are being caught at Barambah, particularly around structure.

Bill Langford released a few thousand yellowbelly into Barambah.

E’RE well into our hot and stormy months.

The hot weather and afternoon storm build-ups bring awesome opportunities for targeting big bass and yellowbelly. If you’re an avid troller, this is the best time to dust off the deep-divers and head to the South Burnett dams to get amongst great trolling action. Boondooma Dam The water temperature in Boondoomba Dam has been steadily rising since the onset of the warmer weather. When it’s hot, yellowbelly and bass like to sit in a zone called the thermocline, or comfortable water, which in Boondooma is generally at a depth of 4.5-7.5m. With the majority of fish sitting in the thermocline, the door is open for fantastic fishing opportunities. If I’m out chasing bass, the first place I’ll look is deep water off any prominent points. I’ll use my sounder to find the fish sitting at that optimal depth. When I’m happy that I’ve found a good concentration of fish, I pull up and begin casting 3” to 4” soft plastics rigged with a 1/2oz or 5/8oz head. With a long cast over the area, I let the jig head sink for seven to 10 seconds and then begin a slow retrieve to the boat with a couple of twitches mixed in. The same can be done with a 12g Nories spoon. Continue with this technique until you feel a few taps on the plastic or spoon. When you feel a tap it’s important to keep that slow wind going until you feel weight on the line, then slowly lift the rod tip.

Get right in amongst the timber if you’re casting spinnerbaits and be ready for an aggressive bite.

Page 66 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

Freshwater Impoundments by MATTHEW LANGFORD

At this point the fish will know it’s hooked and make some great runs back into deeper water. Keep your drag fairly loose so the hook doesn’t pull. Using this method will account for big bass on Boondooma. The timbered arms are holding good numbers of bass and yellowbelly. The fish are sitting very close to structure and you’ll need to get your lures in as close as possible to get a bite. Look for spindly timber or big trees in the middle of the arms. Lures of choice for this scenario are 5/8oz and 3/8oz Bassman Spinnerbaits, 1/2oz jig head-rigged 3” soft plastics and any sinking lipless crankbait. Give your lure up to five seconds to sink and then start a slow wind. It’s important to make sure you have a lure retriever with you because you will get snagged on the trees occasionally. At least if you’re getting snagged you know you’re in the thick of it. Keep moving from tree to tree and structure to structure and persist because your lure will eventually be eaten by a hungry fish. Leader sizes are important in these scenarios because they can mean the difference between the fish of a lifetime and a broken heart. When fishing close to structure, I use 14-20lb leaders so I have a chance if a fish rubs the line through trees. If I’m in open water, I’ll decrease my leader to 6-10lb because I’m less concerned about a fish dragging me through trees and structure. Trollers are picking up great bass and yellowbelly by trolling around the deeper sections of the dam, targeting those suspended fish. Make sure you have plenty of deep-divers handy, as well as 5/8oz Bassman Spinnerbaits. Any lures that dive from 4.56m will be the ones that get you onto fish with consistency. Bait fishers are getting a mixed bag of fish in the timbered arms by using worms and fresh shrimp. It may even pay to move to the main basin and let your bait suspend under the boat in that 4.5-7.5m range. Drifting with the wind is a great way to cover water with your bait under the boat. Eventually it will cross paths with a hungry fish or two.

Red claw numbers are starting to pick up with the hot weather, so make sure you pack the opera house traps. Lake Barambah With a similar pattern to Boondooma, Lake Barambah is producing great fishing. The fish are sitting in the 4.56m range and are very willing to take anything placed in front of them. Because Barambah is a shallower dam, you can effectively target more areas and use a wider variety of lures to catch a few natives. Bass are responding well to 3” soft plastics, 1/4oz blades and 3/8oz and 5/8oz spinnerbaits. Some likely areas to focus on are the large flat area in front of the main dam wall, the Quarry and wide off Bass Point. In a recent session, I targeted bass with a 1/2oz jig head-rigged 3” soft plastic and caught dozens of bass and yellowbelly. I worked areas in 4.5-6m of water with timber or an adjacent drop-off. I found the bigger fish were holding tight to the timber or sitting on the downside of the drop-offs waiting for bait to swim over. Areas like this are prime ambush points for native fish, so don’t forget to give areas like this a go the next time you’re out. To finish the session, we tied on a couple of 5/8oz Bassman Spinnerbaits and trolled around the edges of the creek beds in the middle of the dam. Because the majority of fish are suspended in the thermocline, the spinnerbait presented a great way to get down into that zone and attract plenty of attention. If you’re not an avid caster, make sure you have a few spin-

nerbaits in your box, preferably heavier 1/2oz to 5/8oz models, the next time you come out for a visit. Trolling is an excellent way to catch plenty of bass at this time of year. Bait fishers are picking up good numbers of yellowbelly and bass by fishing the trees at the top of the dam. The best baits have been fresh shrimp and worms. Remember to tie up to the trees along the edge of the old creek bed and you’re sure to get amongst some fish. Red claw are patchy but the odd angler has reported solid numbers. Park news Fish stocking for both dams is very much alive and well, with another massive load of bass recently released into Lake Barambah. About 52,000 Australian bass and 70,000 yellowbelly were released into the dam and 20,000 silver perch will follow when fingerlings become available. This is a great boost for fishing in the South Burnett. It’s pleasing to see our stocking associations working hard to make this happen because without them we wouldn’t get to catch the fish we really love chasing. The dam levels are reasonably low at present, with Boondooma at 41 percent and Barambah 32 percent. But just because the dams are low doesn’t mean the fish aren’t biting. If anything, they’re biting as well as they ever have and there’s still plenty of water to get around on. Don’t forget to book your site at either of the dams for the holidays. When you get to enjoy your holiday with great fishing, water sports and beautiful sunsets, I reckon you would be mad not to come out and enjoy the break. Until next time, tight lines and bent rods.

Annette Montebello with a cracking bass caught on a slowtrolled 5/8oz Bassman Spinnerbait.

The author with a cracking 50cm bass from the deep water near the Boondooma Dam wall on a Nories spoon.

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The author with Scott and William Morrison who were the lucky winners of the Bluefin Drifter Deluxe. Brad Richey from Bluefin Boats (right) was on hand to present the boat.

Mitchell Petty with the cracking fish that took out the bass category during the Bluefin Sports Tuition Fishing Classic at Moogerah Dam.

Bluefin Sports Tuition Fishing Classic

HE family friendly Bluefin Sports Tuition Fishing Classic was held at Moogerah Dam from December 2-4.

This was the first year the competition had been held at Moogerah. For the past three years the comp was held at Maroon Dam under the banner of the Bluefin Lake Maroon Fishing Classic. Competitors enjoyed the new venue at Camp

Competition Report by STEVE WILKES

Moogerah, with plenty of cabin accommodation and camping areas on offer. The huge air-conditioned hall was a godsend in the extreme heat we encountered over the weekend too. Great fish were caught, with Mitchell Petty taking out the senior longest bass

Dylan with a yellowbelly landed during the comp.

category with a 53.6cm brute hooked on a purple Z-Man paddle tail soft plastic and 1/2oz jig head. Matt Home collected a 52.8cm yellowbelly to win that category, Johnathan Dionysius landed the longest silver perch at 42.7cm and Peter Milner just edged out a couple of competitors in the eeltailed catfish category to take the win with a 52.1cm specimen. The Overall Champion Angler was calculated by recording the longest fish of each species caught by an angler. This title was won by Shane Whell who captured a total length of 183.3cm of fish. The junior division was dominated by the Whell and Hunt families.

Hunter Whell picked up a 46.5cm bass, Rhyleigh Whell a 48.9cm yellowbelly and Justin Hunt a 42cm silver perch and 51.3cm catty. Justin Hunt also took out the Overall Junior Champion Angler award with a combined length of 175.3cm. The weekend had a very relaxing feel and it was an enjoyable event to host. Those who competed did so in the right spirit. The category prizes were donated by Wilson Fishing, Damiki, Evakool, Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine and Queensland Fishing Monthly. Nordic Stage and Wilson sponsored the kids’ casting competition and Mick Turner from Spin & Turn Spinner Baits ensured all the kids were winners. Wilson, Westfield North Lakes, Nordic Stage and Shane Whell Mobile Outboard Marine Mechanic

all contributed to the raffle draws. Bluefin Boats was once again the major sponsor and donated two boats as lucky door prizes. The senior lucky door winner was Scott Morrison who walked away with the 4.2m Bluefin Drifter Deluxe. Hudson Hammond was the lucky junior who collected the 3.0 Bluefin Catfish. Thank you to Barry for hosting the comp at Camp Moogerah and to all the generous sponsors who made the event possible. The next fishing competition being directed by Sports Tuition is a saltwater event from April 28-30 at Pelican Park, Redcliffe. Save the date now and follow Sports Tuition and Bluefin on Facebook to keep up to date. It’s going to have the largest prize pool ever seen at a family friendly fishing competition.

Rhyleigh’s 48.9cm yellowbelly saw her win the junior division for the longest yellowbelly.

Hudson with a 51cm cattie that he caught during the comp.

Tips for solid Somerset Dam bass I HOPE everyone is enjoying the break and had a great Christmas.

The holidays have seen plenty of people fishing the southeast Queensland dams and anglers at Lake Somerset have enjoyed very positive results. We’ve seen rather large fish hit the decks and so have many of our customers. Trolling hard-body lures has been the most effective method, however, most techniques have caught fish. The fishing has been better closer to the dam wall, with the drop-offs

Somerset Dam

by ANDREW MITCHELL

to the riverbed at the Spit and the bottom of Pelican Point producing regular numbers of good-quality fish. Queen St and Bay 13 have held fish but the majority are on the smaller side at an average of 3540cm. The flats at Kirkleagh have produced very good size fish but this location has been hit and miss. The afternoons have been a little more produc-

Rob from Somerset Fishing Tackle with a couple of great Somerset bass.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

tive than the mornings, however on the odd day the morning has produced well, so don’t be deterred if you are planning a morning session. Not many larger schools have been found over the past few weeks. Most of the fish are scattered over a large area, hence why trolling has produced more fish than sitting in one spot. Deep-diving hard-bodies have been the better choice, with most fish coming from 8-10m of water. Trolling heavy tailspinners and metal slugs has also worked well. A few good fish have come from fishing the edges of the dam, where lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits in lighter colours have been the go.

Fishing the timber has slowed a little, though decent numbers of fish are still being caught. Plate-sized yellowbelly have been very common of late, much to the delight of bait anglers chasing a feed. Live shrimp are doing most of the damage in the timbered areas, with the bulk of the fish coming from the denser timbered sections around the creek mouths into the main river basin. Tilapia have also shown up in numbers in the shallows and worms and saltwater yabbies are the best baits for these fish. If using saltwater yabbies, remember they must be treated in some way (either boiled, frozen or cured) to prevent the introduction of foreign diseases to our freshwater dams. You can buy them that way from most tackle shops. This is the law and it is so important to help pre-

vent the spread of disease. Make sure you play your part in maintaining our healthy waterways. Red claw numbers have begun to improve with the small amount of fresh water received at the start of December. Hopefully we see more rain to really get them going. While there’s been no record catches, fishos have captured just enough for a feed. If you’re heading out to Somerset over the holidays, make sure to stop in and see us at Somerset Fishing Tackle for all your tackle needs and up-to-date information on what’s working and where. We receive several reports daily and even sneak in the odd fish ourselves, so we can definitely point you in the right direction. I hope you enjoy the rest of the Christmas holidays and I wish you well in wetting a line.

Rob with a mid-50cm bass.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 67

Big Borumba bass with Merv

N the past month I’ve been able to get out to Borumba Dam quite a few times.

Big Merv Hughes and the author with a cracking bass.

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DAM LEVELS CURRENT AS OF 13/12/2016

DAMS

PERCENTAGE

JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC Atkinson 5 5 5 5 5 5 Awoonga 90 90 88 87 87 85 Bjelke-Petersen * 41 41 40 39 36 32 Boondooma * 50 49 47 45 43 41 90 Borumba * 90 90 88 82 77 Burdekin Falls * 95 101 98 93 88 83 Callide * 86 85 84 82 80 72 Cania * 88 87 86 84 82 79 Coolmunda * 31 30 53 100 97 92 Dyer/Bill Gunn * 9 8 7 9 7 7 Eungella * 101 99 100 100 98 97 45 Fairbairn * 51 49 50 47 43 Glenlyon * 26 26 42 70 70 70 Hinze 100 99 99 98 97 96 Julius 90 89 88 87 85 100 Kinchant * 102 99 98 93 87 77 Leslie * 14 14 20 32 31 29 Macdonald 96 92 87 82 77 71 Maroon * 98 98 100 100 99 99 Monduran/Fred Haigh * 94 95 94 93 92 90 Moogerah * 90 90 93 95 93 91 68 North Pine/Samsonvale * 66 65 63 60 58 Peter Faust/Proserpine * 63 63 62 62 60 57 Somerset * 80 80 80 79 78 77 Teemburra * 93 96 97 93 91 92 Tinaroo* 54 52 48 44 39 34 Toonumbar 99 99 100 98 93 93 Wivenhoe * 83 81 80 78 76 74 Wuruma * 92 92 91 91 87 85 Wyaralong 100 100 101 100 99 99 For updates on dams, visit sunwater.com.au or seqwater.com.au *This symbol indicates that a Stocked Impoundment Permit is required to ﬁsh these dams.

www.livelyluresonline.com.au Page 68 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

I knew I was going to be fishing for the Merv Hughes Fishing TV show with Merv and Jason Kennedy in late November, so I went pre-fishing to make sure I knew where to fish for the shoot. My dad helped me out heaps with the preparation. My Stratos bass boat required a lot of sorting a few weeks in advance. Dad and I had to swap all my electronics from my small poly boat back onto the Stratos, which had been in retirement for a while. With all the gear swapped back over, I couldn’t wait to get the Stratos back out on the water. I had two days off work for pre-fishing, so my game plan was to fish the edges one day and locate schooling bass the next. On the first day I basically targeted the rock walls up the Yabba and Kingham arms of the dam and mixing up the techniques turned out to be the key. I knew that in the early morning the bass would be tight to the bank, so I opted to use a 3/8oz Smak Mini Coop in IB colour. This worked well in the lowlight conditions but as the sun rose I changed to a 5/8oz Mini Coop in the same colour because as the sun comes up, the bass go deeper in the water. I managed to land quite a few bass doing this but none were of any great size, with the biggest going about 40cm. On the second day I fished a lot of my old haunts. The water level in the dam had dropped by about 3m since my last visit but the schools of bass were still in the usual areas. Most of the fish at this time of year will be found around the junctions of any timber. When targeting these fish, my go-to lure is a Berkley Gulp Jigging Grub rigged on a 1/2oz Berkley Dam Deep jig head. All the colours work but my favourites are Smoke and Pepper Prawn. These two have served me well in the past, helping me to win two Basstasstic grand finals. With the 1/2oz head you can target the suspended fish as well as the fish hugging the bottom. Most of the fish caught on these lures were over the 40cm mark. Merv Hughes Fishing I picked Merv, Jason and cameraman Pete up from Portside Resort near Noosa Waters at about 5am. The drive to the dam takes about 50 minutes from Noosa and the boys were very eager to get some lines in the water. We headed straight up the dam to target the schooling bass I had found in my prefishing sessions the week prior. The bass were still there and on the chew. Jason caught the first three fish before I put a couple in the boat. The boys were using the new So-Run Hypno Grubs from Storm Fishing.

Freshwater Luring by CALLUM MUNRO

These are such awesome plastics and it’s definitely worth your while to have a few in the tackle box. After catching five bass, the fish shut down and we moved to the next spot. The fish in the next school were a bit livelier and we had about 20 minutes of non-stop bites and hook-ups before they went quiet. After that bit of fun, the fish shut down before we managed to get any crackers. All the bass were about 40cm in length and we really wanted to get Merv onto a big Borumba bass. We ended up spending the whole day targeting these schooling fish but the northeast-

erly wind was making it a lot harder than it should have been. Merv finally hooked a cracking fish but unfortunately it did him around a tree. Late in the day he ended up hooking and landing a thumper bass that went very close to the 50cm mark. We were pumped! This is why the guys had wanted to come to Borumba Dam – to catch big bass. I’d like to thank the boys from Merv Hughes Fishing for coming to fish one of my favourite dams. I had a wicked time and can’t wait to do it again next year. For more information on the TV series, visit mervhughes fishing.com.au

Casting for bass at Borumba Dam.

Plenty of bass are being captured around Borumba.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Tom with a solid yellowbelly pulled from timber region in the far upper reaches.

Lachlan with a ripper yellowbelly hooked using live shrimp.

Heat brings on yellowbelly bite

NE of my favourite Sports Tuition programs is a five-day school camp based entirely around fishing.

Recently the Anglican Church Grammar School year 10 boys were involved in one such program at Moogerah Dam, about 75 minutes’ drive from the school. The program provided an introduction to freshwater fishing and two of the boys had never caught a fish before. However, that changed after the first session. The boys were involved in workshops on knots and rigs, casting, catching bait and fish filleting. They fished in Minn Kota electric-powered

Freshwater Fishing by STEVE WILKES

boats, apart from one session where they paddled canoes into the far upper reaches for a session where they surface fished. The week was seriously hot, with one day reaching 42C, so we focused on the prime summer fishing times of early morning and late afternoon. The boys spent the time during the middle of the days fine-tuning their skills. The fish didn’t start to come on the bite again until about 4.30pm, so there was no mad rush to get back on the water

while it was hot. Over the week, the boys had a good opportunity to explore the dam and often the Gorge was deserted, which was unusual. We tried surface fishing there late in the afternoon for no result. We also tried shrimp unweighted and weighted and didn’t get a touch. The most productive areas were around the timber directly out from Camp Qld and across to just past Camp Laurence. The upper reaches were quiet and surface fishing was mostly disappointing,

The teachers had a good time too! Mark with a couple of yellowbelly caught in quick succession.

Sam was a mad-keen angler and he had plenty of success during the week.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

however, one of the boys picked up a bass on a small Zerek popper in this region. We found the only other successful lure during the week was the Zerek 65mm Fish Trap in purple. Bass were caught by casting the lure through the timber and working it back towards the boat using a lifting technique, which vibrates the lure towards the surface. Once the line goes slack, the lure wafts back towards the bottom like a baitfish. Bass hit the lure as it’s going back towards the bottom. During the week, the heat really brought on the yellowbelly. About 80 percent of the catch was yellowbelly and most ranged from 4045cm. However, all species were landed, included many solid bass, with the best measuring 48cm. The boys mainly employed catch, photo and release tactics, however one dinner was allocated to be fish and chips, so the boys not only caught the fish but also filleted and prepared them. They also had to peel and chop the potatoes for their chips. This whole program was hands-on. These boys could certainly eat, I’ll give them that. We had no complaints about the meal either – they did a great job. Thank you to the Churchie teachers and outdoor education co-ordinators who continually book these programs for the boys. Over the week, the boys learnt skills that will hopefully hook them for life as recreational anglers. Thanks also to Alex from Red Scorpion Laser Skirmish for running one of the night activities. The boys really enjoyed the laser skirmish in the bush. It would be great to have more schools involved in this program. All details are available through sportstuition. com.au or by calling 0403 154 510.

Some great bass were landed during the week. Ben nailed this beauty.

William had never previously caught a fish. His first was a solid bass and he followed it up with this silver perch.

Moogerah Dam

Alexandra Headland

School Holiday Camps

Fishing Weekends

Fishing Charters

Group Camping & Fishing Experiences

(Fishing & Adventure)

(Impoundments & Jumpinpin region)

(Beach & Adventure)

For further details visit www.sportstuition.com.au or phone 0403 154 510.

Anywhere. Anytime

FISHING TACKLE SPECIALISTS

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 69

Nick landed a fiery Peter Faust barra on a Zerek 7” Flat Shad.

Matt got off to a cracking start in the Murray cod season with this metre-plus river fish that nailed a Zerek 7” Flat Shad fitted with a Bassman beetle spin.

Big year for both barra and cod W

E would like to take this opportunity to wish all our sponsors and followers a merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Damo Mills nailed a chunky metre-plus Peter Faust barra on a ZEREK 7” Flat Shad.

The Zerek 7” Flat Shad is one of the most durable plastics on the market and it’s easy to see why.

For us, 2016 was another great year on and off the water, with an awesome mixture of fishing in both the fresh and salt. Let’s not forget the trip of a lifetime to Wreck Reefs with the Wilson Fishing crew aboard Big Cat Reality Fishing Charters. Cod opening 2016/17 After a very moist winter with consistent rainfall over several months, the impoundments and rivers in northern NSW are the healthiest we have seen in nearly a decade. As predicted, the opening of the cod season got off to a flying start, with plenty of excellent catches and stories coming in. Matt got off to a top start with a solid metreplus fish eating a Zerek 7” Flat Shad. After success using these lures on impoundment barra, we have come up with a great way to fish

Fresh Water by MATT & NICK WELLS

them in dams for Murray cod. Using a Bassman beetle spin and our custom jig heads from Hutcho’s Custom Jig-Heads, we’ve created the perfect cocktail for Murray cod. Our favoured colour for both cod and barra is colour 20 (white). Zerek ABT Barra Tour We recently fished the ABT Barra Tour at Peter Faust, Kinchant and Teemburra dams. This year Zerek Australia had the naming rights for the tour and was the headlining sponsor. Not only is this another feather in the cap for an already reputable product, but it is a great indication of how Zerek has climbed the ranks in the barra scene in a very short time. We have had incredible success in the past four years using the Zerek range of lures and the

brand continues to go from strength to strength. This year will see the release of even more exciting products from the Zerek/Wilson Fishing stable. It’s pleasing to see the Zerek name right up there in such a competitive industry. Plenty of barra were caught by numerous anglers using Flat Shads and Fish Traps during the tour. With the tour planned around the lead-up to the full moon, it was set to be a pearler. Kinchant Dam near Mackay hosted the first round but it proved to be a very tough session. Teemburra Dam the following evening was slightly better but by no means produced super fishing. The big bags started to come in the last two events at Peter Faust Dam,

where the fishing turned right on. Congratulations to Craig Griffiths and Karim De Ridder for taking out team of the year for the second year in a row. The events averaged around 26 competing teams comprising a very tough fields of anglers. A northerly wind blew for the whole tour and was welcomed by all the anglers, especially at Peter Faust where a warm northerly always produces quality fish. The ABT Barra Tour is a very well run annual event with attractive prizemoney and prizes, so if you want to put your tournament skills to the test, this is definitely one place to do it. ATC Valour spin reels One of the hottest new products out of the Wilson Fishing stable is the ATC Valour spin reel. The Valour is built to perform in the harsh fishing environments in Australian waters. It is available in four popular sizes of 2000,

3000, 4000 and 5000 and boasts high-quality aesthetics and construction. The large EVA handle is superb for applying the heat, with a retrieval speed of 5.2:1. The 2000 and 3000 sizes have a massive 8kg of silky-smooth multidisc drag and this steps up to a huge 11kg of drag pressure for the 4000 and 5000 sizes. All are suited to both fresh and saltwater applications. With a tough aluminium body, the Valour is super light and super strong. We’ve put our reels through their paces over the past six months on hefty impoundment barra and saltwater species and they’ve stood up to the task perfectly. For any other information regarding this month’s or previous articles, please don’t hesitate to contact us via our Wells Brothers Fishing – Official Facebook page. For information about the above products, visit wilsonfishing.com

Luring for bass in Lake St Clair H Andrew Partridge scored a 40cm bass.

The author with a 36cm bass.

Page 70 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

I and welcome to the January edition of BNB.

Late November and early December saw cracking fishing in both fresh and salt water. It’s smiles all round down this way. I’ve been spending a bit of time at Lake St Clair lately, testing amazing lures from good mate Jeremy of Zoomy Lures. We have been testing surface lures in the 90mm range that Jeremy calls Bass Dozers. They are double-jointed surface lures that create the best sound as you retrieve them back to your feet. The aggressive strikes you get from bass are just amazing to watch. Another great lure Jeremy has come up with is a new and improved 45mm Bass Whacker. This lure is a deep diver that works a treat but you will have to stay tuned for pictures next month because they are still under a code of silence. I’ve been having a ball chasing bass and have been blessed to fish awesome water with good

3WAYSFISHIN – Fresh Water by NATHAN ‘NATH’ PALMER

friend Andrew Partridge in a few places he holds close to his chest. Every time I fish with him he blindfolds me on the way there and I don’t blame him. On this occasion we arrived at one of his spots around sun-up and within five minutes we were onto a 40cm-plus bass followed closely by a 36cm fish and it didn’t stop there. Over four hours we caught and released 36 fish. What a session. We have amazing bass waters around Newcastle

and the Hunter region, and I think this season will be even better than last year’s. A young-gun fisho recently caught one of the biggest bass I’ve ever seen at a place called Largs, about 40 minutes’ drive from Newcastle. I never thought you could catch a bass of its size in this area but I’ll be fishing around Largs more often now. You can check out how it all went down by following the link on my 3waysfishin Facebook page.

This epic bass measured 60cm and weighed 3.25kg.

In Lake St Clair, fishing for bass in the late afternoon has been the go. Cast your lures close to the banks and timber and you will get some action. The later you stay, the better the strikes will be because the big bass come out to play around sunset. Just down the road is Glennies Creek and it’s another spot that can put a smile on your face. Surface lures work a treat here, just walk the banks hitting every hole

you see and you should come home with few stories about the one that stole your lure. Another amazing spot where I’ve been landing a few is Clarence Town. This place has some waterways that will keep you coming back for more. If you want to try any of these spots, just jump onto Google Maps and start from there. We’ve got so much fresh water to choose from, so good luck!

Barney Sainsbury landed a 38cm bass.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Dam and local rivers on fire W

ITH Glenlyon Dam sitting at 70 percent capacity and no in-flows or releases, things are looking good for the start of 2017.

We are waiting for our fingerlings to arrive for this year’s release. Reports have been coming in of small cod on the bite. They’ve been taken on lures, bait and spinnerbaits and Debbie has been keeping a record of what fish have been taken using each method. At last we are seeing last year’s class of fish being captured, with examples from 9-45cm biting hooks. The 50-110cm and bigger fish are hitting lures and bait. It’s good to see some of the 95cm and over fish being kept for a meal because that’s what a put and take fishery is all about. Australian National Sportfishing Association Queensland members have been out at the dam putting tags in cod and giving us information on the growth rates of fish. Debbie records details about fish that have been recaptured, allowing her to update anglers who

Glenlyon Dam by BRIAN DARE

originally caught the fish on how they’ve grown. The freshly tagged fish will feature a phone number and email address for you to contact the relevant authority and let them know about the size and location of your capture. During December, the biggest cod taken on Glenlyon was 105cm, the biggest yellowbelly went 58cm and silver perch 48cm. On the local rivers, with the cod closed season now over, good numbers of cod are being landed, though most are under 60cm. I even captured a little river cod on a Bryan Power Norum lure. The little guts was only 12cm long and hit the lure’s belly hook. It certainly got a gobfull and swam off thinking ‘what the hell was that?’. I just love catching and releasing these river cod and then returning to the same spot four weeks later to see if the fish are still interested in smacking a lure.

They certainly do and it’s great to see them holding onto their little spot in their little stream in this big country. We recently had three blokes from the Kingaroy region turn up to fish our local rivers. Two had a bath in the river (oops) but in total they caught 58 little cod and dropped 18 as well. It ended up being a good three-day visit. When fishing Glenlyon Dam, find water of about 6m in depth, cast a spinnerbait out, count to 16 and then slow roll it back in. If trolling, let out no more than about 12 paces of line and work in close to the bank edges, running back and forth in 150mlong passes to stir up the big fish. And don’t worry about engine noise when trolling because it doesn’t worry the big angry cod. At the time of writing, a 110cm cod looked like taking out Glenlyon’s biggest kept fish of 2016. While we have seen big-

ger models landed, they have been released back into the storage due to the maximum Murray cod size limit of 110cm. I would like to see the max size limit taken off the books so the truly big trophy fish can be taken home. In Glenlyon Dam, a cod of 1m in length is about eight years old. This is according to research undertaken at the Grafton CSIRO research farm and overseen by Dr Stuart Rowlands, who knows more about cod than most. If you think a big cod isn’t good eating, think again. In fact, if you catch one over the magic metre mark, ask me to fillet it for you and let your tastebuds decide. Back in the sixties and until the late seventies, commercial fishing was being phased out in the Murray-Darling river systems. It’s hard to believe but over 500 tonnes of cod would hit the markets in Sydney and Melbourne each week. These were all big fish that were snapped up as soon as they hit the markets.

You will find the eating quality of Murray cod hard to beat when treated with care and ice. The next 12 months could be quite interesting on the freshwater fishing scene, with numerous changes no doubt ready to be put into place. With no funding in some areas, there’s no rocking the boat, you’ve just got to let it ride. Could we maybe see a new Queensland Fisheries Minister who might just fight for extra funding for this drop-dead department? Debbie and I wish you a happy New Year.

Zarren Cybulski with a bigger yellowbelly than Poppy’s.

Peter Griffiths boated a river cod after the season opened.

Blue-green algae alert for Keepit Dam

HE Barwon Regional Algal Coordinating Committee has issued a red level warning (high alert) for blue-green algae in Keepit Dam.

A red alert level warning indicates that people should not undertake recreational activities where they may be coming into direct contact with the water such as wading while fishing, swimming,

as well as domestic uses including showering and washing. Contact with the water may also pose a threat to livestock and pets. Warning signs are positioned at key recreational areas and will remain in place while high levels of blue-green algae are present. The species of bluegreen algae identified are potentially toxic and may

cause gastroenteritis in humans if consumed and skin and eye irritations after contact. Boiling the water does not remove algal toxins. People are advised not to enter the water, not to drink untreated water or bathe in water drawn from the dam while this red alert level warning is in place. Town water supplies remain unaffected and safe to drink. Livestock owners are reminded to continue to check stock water supplies for blue-green algae and to remove stock from foreshores where surface scum is visible or bluegreen algae is suspected. Blue-green algae usually appears as green paintlike scums on the water, near the edges, or as greenish clumps throughout the water.

It makes the water appear dirty, green or discoloured and generally has a strong musty or earthy odour. People should not eat mussels or crayfish from red level warning areas. Any fish caught should be cleaned and washed thoroughly in uncontaminated water and any internal organs disposed of before consumption. Blue-green algae occurs naturally and can reproduce quickly in favourable conditions where there is still or slow-flowing water, abundant sunlight and

sufficient levels of nutrients. It is not possible to predict how long the algae will remain at high levels. Regular monitoring will continue and the alert will be lifted as soon as the high levels of algae dissipate. Information updates about blue-green algae blooms and red level warning areas can be obtained from the Regional Algal Coordinating Committee by free calling the Algal Information hotline on 1800 999 457 or visiting water.nsw.gov.au

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 71

Adrian Melchior and Grant Clements with a $32,000 winning limit.

Team Atomic/Bassman took out the Australian Team Championship.

Team Atomic/Bassman with their winning bag.

Team Championship report – Lake Boondooma

W Terry Allwood and Greg Mitchell with their final session bag that helped them to second place.

Terry Allwood and Greg Mitchell caught plenty of big fish at Boondooma.

The Renz brothers landed a great final session limit on their way to third place.

ITH 40 of the best bass teams descending on Lake Boondooma to compete in the Haswing Marine Australia and Bluefin Boats B.A.S.S. Australia Nation Team Championship, we had a feeling the big bass would bite, and Lake Boondooma didn’t disappoint, with massive brawlers hitting the decks in a total shootout.

Team Atomic/Bassman Spinnerbaits consisting of Grant Clements and Adrian Melchior of NSW took on all comers and managed to bring in consistent bags of over 5kg per session to claim the title, which included the ultimate prize of a $30,000 Bluefin boat and Evinrude motor package fitted out with a Swiftco trailer. The Team Series is fundamentally set up to get people involved in tournament fishing at a very reasonable price, with the bonus of a massive prize pool to entice the pros to come along and compete. We get a great mixture of anglers competing, from father and son teams to husband and wife teams and best mate teams, which adds to the com-

The winners held their trophies.

B.A.S.S. AUSTRALIA NATION The Ultimate Fishing Tournaments In Australia B.A.S.S. AUSTRALIA NATION SERIES

B.A.S.S. Australia Nation by DREW McGRATH

radery and encourages participation. With NSW winning this year’s Team Championship, those from the state have bragging rights over the Queenslanders for a season, and with the Championship heading to NSW for the final next year, they will be favourites to go back to back. Adrian and Grant had a great season, with top finishes at most events, and they were ready to pounce come championship time, fishing an old technique that has come back into vogue over the past 12 months. The key lure was the goodold 20g Halco Twisty that the guys had tricked up with Atomic Trick Bitz. Adrian and Grant had worked out that they needed to trick the lure up to increase the hook-up rate, so they removed the standard rear treble and replaced it with a set of Atomic Assist Hooks in size 4 and colour 01, subsequently smashing bass of all sizes. Fishing just inside the ropedoff area of the wall region, the anglers found a massive school of bass located on a ridge running into a creek at 13.5m deep. They focused their casts along the ridge, letting the lure fall all the way to the bottom before starting a steady retrieve. If the bite slowed, they would mix it up and burn the lure back to the boat. Often this was when the big bass really hit hard. The go-to setup for the Atomic/Bassman team was Samurai Infinite rods (fin10-M69 model) matched with Daiwa Steez reels (2506 Spin) spooled with 6lb Unitika Aorika main line and topped off with 6lb Unitika Aiger leader. Leading into the final session, they had other boats around them but this didn’t matter because they just kept catching big keepers and upgrading through the entire final session. Keep an eye out in season

four because these guys will have their confidence up and be looking to replicate this form into the pro-am series as well as going back to back in the team events. Both Greg Mitchell and Terry Allwood of Team All Random are right in the middle of a form patch. These guys are fishing very well, competing strongly against the best the country has to offer. Terry recently took out Rookie of the Year and missed being the overall Samurai AOY Champion by a single point in season three of the Atomic Pro-Am Series. Again they showed everyone why they should be the ones to watch, scoring second place in the Team Championship and taking it right down to the wire with the eventual winners. They were also using the same technique and lure as Team Atomic/Bassman. Speaking to Terry after the event, he said they didn’t know Grant and Adrian were also fishing a Halco Twisty tricked up with Atomic Trick Bitz. Regardless, they used exactly the same products, even in the same colours. Also fishing at the wall, Terry and Greg would catch their limit and then move out to the lake looking for larger specimens off points and spots that had produced in the past. Then after resting the area near the wall, they would come back and hit it again, rotating this pattern throughout the sessions. Terry and Greg used a combination of rods and reels including a Samurai Reaction (model 302) matched to a 2500 Daiwa Certate reel spooled with 10lb Unitika Light Jigging braid and Unitika 10lb leader. Confidence is key in tournament fishing and both these anglers are on the rise. It will be interesting to see how they challenge for the titles in season four. Mitchell and Jordan Renz

of Team ACM Rods/JML Anglers Alliance weighed in the second-largest bag of the tournament in a single session, the largest bass of the tournament and caught some amazing bass while doing something different from the majority of the pack. Fishing an area around the Junction called Leisegangs, Mitchell and Jordan focused their lures a lot tighter to the banks than most and worked them in just a few feet of water to catch a lot of their fish. Positioning the boat in 4.5m of water and using their Lowrance Insight Genesis maps, they figured out that slowly tapering banks were working the best because the bass were sitting just above the weed beds early in the morning. The key lure was a Nories Inlet Minnow 3.5” fished with a 3/8oz jig head. Retrieved slowly, the guys imparted plenty of shakes and twitches during the retrieve. They said the Nories range features a brilliant variety of colours perfect for Australian bass. Their go-to rod and reel setups included an ACM Custom rod (IP841) matched to a Daiwa Certate 2004 reel spooled with Yamatoyo Resin Sheller 9lb braid and 9lb Yamatoyo fluorocarbon leader. These young anglers have an amazing amount of talent and ability, and with incredible knowledge of the Queensland lakes it will be interesting to see if they step up to the Pro division in coming years. Understanding that they are still working on their careers in Bundaberg, getting time off is difficult but if they decide to step up all the Pros really need to look out because they will be taking cheques home on a regular basis. Next season as the major prize for the series we will be sending the Championshipwinning team to the US to compete in the Bassmaster team Championship, making the Team Series bigger and better than ever before. If you are interested in seeing more about the tournaments, check out all the details at bass australia.com.au

WINNERS Place Team

B.A.S.S. AUSTRALIA NATION TEAM SERIES

w w w. b a s s a u s t r a l i a . c o m . a u Page 72 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

Weight

12/12

16.77kg

Prize: Bluefin 4.55 boat powered by an Evinrude E-TEC 40hp on a Swiftco trailer with a Haswing Cayman Pro 55lb bow mount motor, and Championship trophies 2

B.A.S.S. ASS A AUSTRALIA USTR NATION BARRA SERIES

Atomic/Bassman Sinnerbaits

Bag

All Random

12/12

15.06kg

Prize: Haswing and Bluefin Boats mega prize pack and Haswing Marine Australia $300 voucher 3

ACM Rods/JML Anglers Alliance

11/12

13.67kg

Prize: Haswing and Bluefin Boats mega prize pack and Haswing Marine Australia $200 voucher www.bnbfishing.com. au

Snowy Mountains Trout Festival G

’DAY readers, well I must say the 2016 Snowy Mountains Trout Festival was an event dictated by extreme alpine conditions.

The late winter made fishing uncomfortable to say the least, especially for a couple of dopey blokes from Queensland, with myself and likeminded trout-mad mate Rexwell Drop-Punt ditching the board shorts rather quickly for thermals and trackie daks on our annual November fishing trip to the unseasonably snowy region. Our home base was once again Buckenderra Holiday Village situated at the southern end of Lake Eucumbene, giving us access to iconic trout waters. As usual our stay was blissful thanks to our hosts Jana and Josh and the beautiful surroundings of the area. With perfect trolling conditions on day one of the six-day competition, we both set a cracking pace with some exciting angling action to be had high in the water column

Freshwater Fishing by STEVE HUNT

in unusually deep water. The majority of the day’s catches were trout sitting at about 5m deep in 60m-plus of water, with both the #84 Black Toad 13g (now a deleted line) and #Y94 Yellow Sunset 7g Tassie Devils taking the chocolates as the go-to lures on the day. Sadly, perfect trolling conditions were few and far between for the next five days, with wind gusts making the going pretty tough on the lakes and on the fingers as the 5C temperatures and wind chill off the Snowy Mountains put a dampener on our usually high spirits. Now I can’t speak for you, but I will say most fisher folk are a resilient bunch, and when faced with not-so-kind conditions will think outside the square and draw upon their knowledge to extract every advantage they can when Mother Nature says “I know boats”. Now for some these

conditions might mean land-based bait fishing, spinning and working the sheltered areas, or perhaps sightseeing and beer sampling from the local publicans. As much as we love a barley soda, when you travel 4000km (round trip) and $1000 is up for the taking every day for the biggest brown and rainbow trout, you certainly look at ways to improve your catch. With this in mind, we got to work (OK, we did sample some beer) and with grim persistence Rexwell (aka the Bowhunter) took out biggest rainbow on day two on Lake Eucumbene only to be surpassed by a model 190g heavier from Lake Jindabyne that claimed the gorilla! Now with such a close finish, we took solace in the fact a pair of the coveted SMTF beer steins were coming our way for biggest bowy at our weigh-in

Rexwell and a quality brown trout.

Rexwell with his stein-winning rainbow trout.

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station... and were christened almost immediately with Bundaberg’s finest rum in celebration. The next day, with a minor goal and a major headache from the previous one, we set forth into the once-again blustery conditions with fervour, working the windward side of the lake shoreline where safe to do so by trolling in varied depths (love my new downrigger) Rapala F5s, SDD-5s (a must-have), CD5 X-Raps and Tassie Devils in all weights, with Black Toad and Yellow Sunset once again earning their keep, and the majority of catches coming on dusk. With the breeze not changing for the remainder of the week, it was pretty much the same going most days. The afternoons provided the excitement, with the hot bites coming between 4.30pm and 7.30pm (you’ve got to love daylight savings) and we were both happy chaps content with the fishing escapades of the week. Competition over, with a couple more days of fishing allocated and no calm days in sight, we decided to head for the hills for sight fishing in the Thredbo River. What a thrill and an eye opener to actually see large trout and be able to cast straight to them, watching their predatory instincts kick in to follow your presentation. Using Rapala F5, SR5, SDD-5 (make sure you get one) and BXJSD-6 lures and my personal favourite the XR4, we walked for kilometres over the next two days, casting and catching trout with extraordinary markings and tremendous ‘evasion of capture’ skills culminating in one of the most exhilarating team effort catches for us in the last hour of the last day of the trip. After pegging my favourite XR4 (Olive Green) into the whitewash of a gentle rapid and working it back, it was Rexy who spotted the boil of a hungry trout not far from my position. With a deft flick of the rod and recently learnt skills, I worked the lure to see a beautifully coloured brown trout hit the Rapala hard and with gusto. Bedlam ensued and ‘Thredbo Fred’, as we later nicknamed him, went mental with triple somersaults and pirouettes to the envy of any hard-core gymnast. With a buckled rod on 8lb trace in snaggy conditions, the freckle was a bit puckered as Freddo wound himself around several submerged tree branches in a staunch stand-off. Enter one Rexwell Drop-Punt with his BCFing ‘special’ extendable net, miraculously scooping a soon to be free brute of a brown. After much rejoicing and high fives, I’ve got to say after 80-plus hours of fishing over 10 days, this last hour (in which we

caught two more fighters) was certainly a highlight of the trip. Enough so, I am entered for the Buckenderra Trout Challenge, a catch and release competition based at Buckenderra Holiday Village from Friday, March 31 to Sunday, April 2. If you’d like to know more or talk about the camping facilities, cabins and villas available, give the park a call on 1800 339 461 or 02 6453 7242. While NSW Department of Primary Industries Fisheries ensures the Snowy Mountains and surrounding areas are suitably stocked, I applaud the initiative of a fishing competition in the area promoting fish release. All right folks, I’m Steve Hunt wishing you and yours a happy 2017.

The author with Thredbo Fred.

Fly Fishing Expo T

AKE your fly fishing to the next level at the free Fly Fishing Expo on February 18 and 19, 2017, held at the beautiful Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains. Over two actionpacked days, learn all the skills and tricks to master fly fishing from certified casting instructor and Clearwater Fly Fishing Guides owner Craig Daly as well as guest instructor Brian Henderson. The Fly Fishing Expo will feature introductory, intermediate and advanced fly fishing casting classes, equipment demonstrations, fly tying and more. Schedule • Saturday, February 18, 9.30am – Village green, introduction to fly fishing demonstrations; basic casting. • 1.30pm – Village

green, advanced fly fishing demonstrations; distance and accuracy casting. • 3.45pm – Kosci Room, equipment and fly-tying workshops. • Sunday, February 19, 9.30am – Kosci Room, casting demonstration; switch and spey casting. • 12.30pm – The Local Pub & Bistro, prize giveaway and farewell barbecue. Accommodation Why not turn it into a weekend getaway?

Stay from only $139 per night in a twinshare room including breakfast. This deal is only available to Fly Fishing Expo attendees and can only be booked by calling Nicole Thrum on 02 6459 4184 or emailing conferences@ thredbo.com.au Register To register for the weekend or for any queries, call or email Nicole. For more information, visit thredbo.com.au/ events

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017 – Page 73

Biologist Allen Forshage took a fin clip. Papula Hut on La Perla Lake.

La Perla Ranch, Texas, US.

Bass as big as Texas A

PAIR of Mexican mallards swooped overhead as Blair Schwarz cast towards a row of mesquite trees along the shoreline of La Perla Lake, Texas, US.

Allen and John Jones at work.

Touching down, the long D.O.A. Sna-Koil lure slithered just above the surface before recoiling after a short pause. Within seconds, Blair’s rod curved into a tight arc as a basket-sized mouth exploded from the water. After a tense tug of war, Blair eventually wrestled the monstrous fish boatside before landing it with a net. While snapping a few photos, I asked Blair how big he thought the fish was and he said about 12lb. I asked if that was his biggest and he said no, he’d caught a 14lb fish last year. Bigger in Texas They say everything’s bigger in Texas, and just south of Laredo, the 5000-acre La Perla Ranch proves just that. Home to trophy whitetail bucks and hulking

Blair Schwarz with a big 12lb La Perla Lake bass.

Dr Gary Schwarz and a 12lb fish from La Perla Lake.

Jordan Renz took top honours at the Basstasstic Grand Ginal.

largemouth bass, Zapata County’s famous La Perla Lake is among several man-made lakes that make up this southwest Shangri-La. Blair’s father and ranch owner Dr Gary Schwarz said he wanted to create the ultimate fishing experience. “Our guests can expect to catch on average around 50 to 80 fish per day weighing anywhere from 3-10lb, with 12lb and 13lb fish common,” he said. Impressive numbers for sure, but how did a ranch deep in the south Texas brush country become a trophy bass destination? Build, feed, grow Excavating millions of tonnes of soil, Gary carved out a 100-acre lake he named La Perla, with over 11km of shoreline to optimise the angling experience. Leaving no detail overlooked, he added submerged timber, rocks, islands and beneficial vegetation, then added a network of elevated ponds adjacent to the main lakes in order to grow sup-

Matt Langford finished in second place.

plemental forage to be flushed in at different times of the year. A few years ago, Gary was stocking the forage ponds with threadfin shad, bluegill and fathead minnows and began looking for other high-protein species that would turn the most biomass into protein per dollar invested. That’s when he discovered the freshwater prawn. Weaned on a healthy diet of catfish feed, these large, slow-moving crustaceans resemble a cross between a lobster and a shrimp, and became a crucial piece to the La Perla puzzle. The limiting factor for something that eats something else is: can it catch it? And if so, how many calories did it expend to do so? The prawns became the perfect match. Genetics Gary stocked La Perla with genetically superior pure Florida-strain bass, and later hybridised fish (F-1 crosses between pure Florida and native largemouth marketed as tiger bass).

Several big bass put Mick Thompson into third.

Retired Texas Parks & Wildlife Department biologist Allen Forshage said to grow giant bass, you must have only pure Florida genetics. Pure Florida largemouth have heritable characteristics that allow them to grow larger than any other strain of bass in the world. If mixed with hybridised fish, this characteristic will eventually be bred out of the population, and hybrids won’t grow as large as the pure Florida strain. And that’s good news for Gary, who in 2014 signed a 15-year contract with the TPWD allowing it to use a completely new 60-acre lake named Jalisco he created for research purposes. Stocked only with Operation World Record genetics, the path to grow the next world-record bass became clearer, as Jalisco combined the best elements of La Perla with an upgraded design and forage plan creating a new and improved big-bass factory. “Gary built and manages

the lake, and we stocked it with our Operation World Record fish,” Allen said. “Under the terms of the agreement he’ll follow the state’s recommendations for the next 13 years.” With the combined talents from both their areas of expertise, Gary is so enthusiastic about the project, he’s even covering the bulk of the cost to prove his passion is strictly for the outcome and not money. “My goal is to be a part of a co-operative merger between government and private business that will benefit the good of trophy bass fishing here in Texas,” he said. “Allen’s the genetic superstar and I’m the wildlife nutrition superstar, and together I believe we can make Texas the home of the next world-record largemouth.” And from bass fanatics across the globe, here’s hoping some day they do. For more information, visit laperlaranchresort. com Dustin Catrett

Terry Allwood is a consistent performer and brought home fourth.

Big thumbs up for Basstasstic GF I T was great to get a thumbs up from the anglers who attended the Basstasstic Singles Grand Final, with many saying it was the best final they had ever fished. With over $21,000 in

Competition Report

by RUSSELL NOWLAND

cash and prizes on offer, it was a weekend for anglers to reap the rewards of their hard

Lane Thompson took first place in the juniors.

Page 74 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

work over the year. The event was held at Cania Dam in the North Burnett and some of the best bass anglers in the country made the top 30 ranking required to fish it. They were joined by two wildcard draw anglers and the anglers who qualified through the Supporters Auto Entry by fishing five or more rounds in a year. All those who attended made it a weekend of great memories.

With the briefing out of the way on Friday night, the Calcutta auction took place and all the anglers were sold off, with Matt Langford going for the highest price at $205. The cash pool ended up at $2000 and it was a fun night for all involved. Saturday morning saw all anglers set off for battle, and it was a battle because Cania dished up plenty of big bass for all anglers. At the end of session one, heaps of bass were brought to the measurein, with Mark Fox of Toowoomba taking pole spot after landing a very good bag of 898mm.

In second was Matt Langford of Kingaroy with 871mm and also close by was Jordan Renz of Bundaberg with 862mm of fish. With loads of anglers close behind these three, it was on for a great grand final. The second session saw Jordan take the lead, bringing his total to 1721mm. Next in line was Matt with 1706mm while Mick Thompson of Gladstone moved into third with a tidy score of 1668mm. It was early to bed for ☛ continued P76

Placing fifth at the final was Casey Sawyer.

Daniel Brooks had a productive weekend and finished sixth.

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STESSCO CATCHER SFX450 (2013). This is a great boat, presenting in very good condition, with low use and well powered by a Yamaha 40hp threecylinder manual-start outboard. Fitted with a Garmin sounder, bimini, cast decks with large roto-moulded bin up front and a small live bait tank in the rear cast deck. Just $11,490. Call Brisbane Yamaha today on 07 3888 1727 or visit brisbaneyamaha.com.au SURTEES 485 CENTRE CONSOLE (2014) powered by Yamaha 70hp four-stroke. Many extras. Great deal at only $36,900. Ref # U001660. Northside Marine – Ph 07 3265 8044. WANTED – LATE MODEL USED BOATS. Cash or consignment. When you buy a used boat from Karee Marine you know it has been through our workshop and checked over. A RWC is given with each boat sold. We have a fully insured undercover showroom so your boat will not be left out. Call Trevor at Karee Marine today on 07 3875 1600.

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Big thumbs up for Basstasstic GF ☛ from P74

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most anglers after a good meal at Camp Nowland where many anglers were camped for the weekend. At the conclusion of day two and session three, it was Jordan Renz who took top spot with 2553mm 2553m m of bass. Jordan Jorda a won $4000 cash, Trevor’s a Trevo o Leathers wallet with all the event details on it and the th winner’s trophy. He pput his win down finding a productive to find stretch of water at the top of the dam. d Here he worked dropwith Ecogear 3” soft offs wi plastics in Rainbow Trout colour. Second place went to Secon Matt Langford with a score of o 2541mm. Matt won $2000 cash and a ttrophy. Third was taken out by Thompson, with a Mick T score of 2531mm earning him $1500 cash and a trophy. troph Junior anglers also Junio fought it out on the water in the grand final and Lane Thompson of Gladstone was the overall win-

ner with a fantastic overall score of 2435mm. It was a great effort and Lane would have placed ninth in the seniors division with his score. Second went to Emma Wojtasik from Nambour with her score of 2284mm

while Jake Johnson of Chinchilla claimed third with 2247mm. A big thankyou to all sponsors who made this event happen as well as the people who helped to make this such an awesome competition.

SENIOR WINNERS Place

Angler

Points

Jordan Renz

2553

Matthew Langford

2541

Michael Thompson

2531

Terry Allwood

2493

Casey Sawyer

2486

Daniel Brooks

2483

Clinton Nowland

2442

Corey Goldie

2436

Greg Mitchell

2421

Patrick Conduit

2419

JUNIOR WINNERS Place

Angler

Points

Lane Thompson

2435

Emma Wojtasik

2284

Jake Johnson

2247

Max Fien

2008

David Nowland

1952

BIGGEST BASS Clinton Nowland

458mm

* Valid until January 31, 2017. Picture for illustration purposes only.

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To: .............................................................................................................................. From: ......................................................................................................................... Page 76 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2017

Ingredients • 500g cuttlefish hoods • Marinade • 2 tbsp fish sauce • 2 tsp sesame oil • 2 tbsp sweet chilli jam • 2 garlic cloves, crushed • 1 tsp fresh grated ginger • 1/4 cup oyster sauce Salad • 1 small red onion, finely sliced • 2 carrots, julienned • 1/2 red capsicum, julienned • 2 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced • 2 radishes, julienned • 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice • 1 tbsp palm sugar • 1 tsp sweet chilli jam • 1 tsp freshly grated ginger • 1 kaffir lime leaf, finely sliced Method 1. Cut cuttlefish hoods open and score the inside of the hoods in a fine cross-hatch pattern.

2. Slice cuttlefish into long strips, 5cm wide. 3. Combine all ingredients and mix in a bowl to make marinade. 4. Toss cuttlefish in bowl to marinate and refrigerate for two hours. 5. Heat a barbecue to hot and place cuttlefish cross-hatch side down. 6. Grill until lightly charred and turn to cook the other side. Salad 1. Toss all salad ingredients into a serving bowl. 2. Combine lime juice, palm sugar, sweet chilli jam and grated ginger to make salad dressing. 3. Add cuttlefish to salad, pour chilli lime dressing over salad, toss and serve. Serves four www.bnbfishing.com. au

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IPSWICH ROAD

DS T

WIC

D SERVICE RD ROA

Randolph St

IPS

WIC

IPS

Blackd own St

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