Zac Moss caught this thumper 20kg spanish mackerel when fishing north of Yeppoon with Chris Nash.
January options for Capricorn Coast
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This is what school holiday fun looks like. Stuart Lewis and his son got stuck into some quality red emperor.
Patrick Egan with a quality giant trevally on a slow pitch jig. Page 62 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, January 2022
DO love the smell of a good new year. So many opportunities and trips to plan for an entire 12 months. Now is a good time to sit down and work out what you want to achieve for the year. I think it’s very important to set goals, so you have some direction and something to work towards. This year I want to focus on new species or species I haven’t caught or targeted in many years. The craving for something ‘new’ is real. So, what are our options here on the Capricorn Coast for the month of January? I guess the bigger question is what the Fitzroy River will look like. At the time of writing, the Fitzroy reassembled something similar to a chocolate milkshake. Is that a complaint? Of course not. What we haven’t seen since 2011 is a decent wet season with the riv-
Capricorn Coast by JOHN BOON
er in flood at the right time of the year… until now. I spoke with Bill Sawynok 12 months ago and we chatted about barramundi recruitment. The past couple of years, we’ve had the river in flood but very late in the season – around March April. This year we got an early wet as predicted and the first of our floodwater pushed through the barrage during November. Let’s hope we’ve had enough water to get the lagoons running so the barramundi can do their transition. The last time these events lined up we had an explosion of barra all through the area, so let’s hope that happens again – exciting times ahead. Depending on the levels of the Fitzroy River and local rain, Port Alma will still be
worth a look, particularly around the Connors Rocks area on a smaller tide. The fresh seems to bypass this area occassionally. Connors Rocks is one of the most reliable places for fingermark, if you know how to fish it. The best way I find to fish this area is to use the sounder and locate bommies throughout the rocks that are holding either masses of bait or good fish activity. If you’re a bait fisho then a live prawn, mullet or herring setup on a paternoster is a sure-fire way of getting some action. If you’re a lure fisher then I would be looking at grabbing a few of your favourite soft vibes. I personally like the Zerek Fish Trap lures in the 95mm size.
* continued P63
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