BNB Fishing mag | Mar 2021 by bnbfishing

Awesome autumn action

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March 2021

50 years of fishing tales

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Offshore action

Primed for prawning

Monster mackerel Moreton Bay roundup ISSN 1832-4517

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 3

Page 4 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

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From the Bush ‘n Beach Fishing Editor

S we ease into autumn, the boating and fishing landscape is still a little hard to work out. Boat sales have been going through the roof, with production schedules for many manufacturers reportedly out to 2022. That’s right, next year. And from all reports, boat sales won’t be slowing any time soon. I know a lot of the manufacturers are planning to make hay while the sun shines, but the question still remains, how long will this go on for? It’s also hard to work out where the money for these purchases is coming from, though most is thought to be money that was going

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to be spent on overseas travel. If this is the case, once travel is back on the agenda things may slow down, and quickly. But, are people going to want to travel overseas or go on a cruise? We live in what I think is the best country in the world, so more and more people may pass on the dream overseas holiday and instead enjoy the beauty we have right on our doorstep. The reason I am posing these theories to you is because we may need to get used to the current landscape in terms of wait times and availability of products. Or, and hopefully this is the case, Australia starts manufacturing more items here. I know if I was buy-

ing a boat for less than $20,000, I’d want it within a few weekends, if not sooner. However, that mindset will have to change. In the interim, while people wait for their new pride and joy, it may be a good time to head out on a charter or hire a boat. Speaking of hiring, this is one direction the caravan industry has gone down, with businesses such as Camplify where you can list your van for hire or hire a van. Boab Boats is one company that hires out its own vessels and there are several smaller hire companies, and I wonder if this is something the industry can look at as a way get more people on the water. By getting more people on the water, the ripple effect will be positive spinoffs of more bait, tackle, ice and fuel sales, which in turns keeps the economy chugging along. Fishing On the fishing front, prawns have started to turn up. If you have not chased these tasty critters before Sean Thompson has an article in this edition that gives a few good tips. There are also articles on bnbfishing.com.au I managed to get out recently with fellow scribe Sean Conlon and we got enough prawns for a feed. Though the prawns were a little patchy, so we ended having a troll for flathead, and were successful on a Zerek Tango Shad. With the recent announcement that the

Gold Coast Flathead Classic is on again this year, I’m sure there will a few more boats starting to target these fish. Whatever you’re targeting, remember to take only what you need and will eat, and make sure it complies with current bag and

possession limits. I know when prawns are thick – and they should fire again after rain – it can be easy to get heaps. And as much as I love prawns, it takes me ages to get through 5L, let alone 10. Ben Collins

OUR COVER

FLEUR caught her first ever Seaway jewfish on a live yakka off the Gold Coast. Picutre by Ben Smith. You can read his article about targeting these fish on Page 34.

NEXT EDITION: April edition will be on sale in newsagents from March 26. MARCH SUBSCRIPTION PRIZE: See subscription form on Page 81 to go in the draw to win one of three Okuma Avenger 3000 spinning reel and BNB cap packs valued at $85 RRP. JANUARY PRIZE WINNER: Congratulations to Liam Purdy, Thornlands; Bill Cross, Tinana and Rees Davis, Carrara who have each won an Okuma Avenger 3000 spinning reel and BNB cap packs valued at $85 RRP.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 5

March 2021 contents

South Passage Bar update. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Bill Corten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P8 Mix of options for Moreton Bay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Mark Templeton . . . . . . . . . . P10 Dedication and attention to detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Paul ‘Chief’ Graveson . . . . P12 Magical Moreton Bay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Brian Webb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P14 Live baiting for black marlin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Ben Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P18 Primed for prawning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Sean ‘Skip’ Thompson . . . . P22

Prepare for Plan B. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Justin Willmer . . . . . . . . . . . P26 PBA off-season opportunity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Mick Clutterbuck . . . . . . . . . P30 More joy on jack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Clint Ansell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P32 Doing things differently. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Ben Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P34 Mackerel mayhem offshore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Gavin Dobson . . . . . . . . . . . . P37 Prayers answered by weather gods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Brett Hyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P39 Insights into boat insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P40 Huge species selection from inshore reefs. . . . . . . . . . by Grant Budd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P46 Trip preparations are cool bananas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Craig Tomkinson . . . . . . . . . P47

Red dog target at TCB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Chris Rippon . . . . . . . . . . . . . P50 Road trip to Hervey Bay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Keith Stratford . . . . . . . . . . . P52 Healthy Hervey Bay hauls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Tri Ton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P54 Offshore mixed bag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Brad Young . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P56 Chasing hungry jacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Helen Abdy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P57 Oceancraft Boat Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Ben Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P58 Product News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P60 It’s a prawn thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P61 Best times to fish Capricorn Coast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by John Boon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P63 Coming back on-line. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by John Glanford . . . . . . . . . . . . P64 Looking back at 50 years of fishing tales. . . . . . . . . . . . by Dave Donald . . . . . . . . . . . . . P65 Big bucket list tick for Monkey Mia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Todd & Raylene Eveleigh . . P68 More preparations for a trip to the Tip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by ‘Billabong’ Bazz Lyon . . . . . P70 Readers’ Forum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P73 Charter Directory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P73

When a plan comes together fishing Wivenhoe. . . . . by Neil Schultz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P76 Moura Muddy Water Family Fishing Classic. . . . . . . . . by Helen Abdy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P77 Hooked on Miles family competition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P77 The border is open but more rain needed. . . . . . . . . . . by Brian Dare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P78 Trading Post. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P80 Subscription Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P81 Page 6 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

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Our website bnbfishing.com.au is updated several times a day with the latest news and handy fishing articles.

The Team

EDITOR: Ben Collins ADVERTISING: The BNB Team PRODUCTION: Adrian Cardaci, Lisa Jones, Bob Thornton

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. Phone 07 3286 1833 Email: ben@collins.media PO Box 162, Wynnum, Qld 4178 PRINTER: Spotpress DISTRIBUTION BY: Fairfax 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.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 7

South Passage Bar update

W Sizeable easterly swells have hit our coastal bars due to the intense low-pressure systems that have rolled across the north of Australia.

Give the southern entrance of the South Passage Bar a big miss on an easterly swell that has a bit of size.

The outer bank was shallower than halfway out of the channel but workable, holding every bit of swell except larger sets which broke directly across the entrance. Page 8 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

E’RE in that phase of the year when we have a lot of sizeable easterly swells hitting our coastal bars, due to the intense low-pressure systems that roll across the north of Australia and into our swell window. Making a wrong decision or being inexperienced while attempting to cross coastal bars in these conditions can easily result in vessel damage, capsize or injury. Therefore, it’s a timely discussion point, given we’ve recently had the first extratropical cyclone of the season pass our coastline. In the space of five days, the pounding swells created such a large shift of sand at the southern end of South Passage Bar, so I though it timely to offer a few words of advice. On an incoming tide, we managed to find a gap in the larger sets on a 2m swell and were able to get out through the southern channel. It looked as though we would have to turn early and do a runner at one stage, but slowing the boat right down and allowing the next set to break and roll into deeper water on the inside gave us the time required to get out the back without coming close to wearing a big one. The outer bank was shallower than halfway out of the channel but workable, holding every

Offshore by BILL CORTEN

bit of swell except the larger sets which broke directly across the entrance. Being the first run of the day, my client was a bit nervous about what we were witnessing, and rightly so, I was in no hurry to replicate what we had just done. We rode the back of a big one in and headed up the road on the inside of the bar to check out the other two routes. The northern most option was clearly the safest because no sets were breaking across the entrance. That raises the point of giving the southern entrance at the bar a big miss on an easterly swell that has a bit of size. On an outgoing tide, it is much more severe and risky. If it looks as though it’s going to be dodgy, take a safer route, especially if you are not experienced in these types of swells and shallow surf break scenarios. Get a bit of experience under your belt first and tackle the softer options while gaining proficiency. I say this because it is 10 years since Australia Day 2011 when the last two guys drowned on the southern channel of the bar while tackling a smaller easterly swell on a roaring run-out tide in a washing machine

environment. Unfortunately for them, on that day there was a much safer option up the road, though being in an almost 5m open boat, not wearing lifejackets or bothering to log in on the VHF didn’t enhance their chances when things turned pear-shaped. I so often see people using the southern channel of the bar in marginal conditions, taking a chance and risking the lot because they intend to fish off Point Lookout and want to use the southern channel to save fuel and get to the fishing grounds quicker. If you are confident, at least take the right precautions by donning lifejackets and logging on prior to crossing, and then calling up to advise of safely completing the crossing when making it out the other side. Five days after the scenario mentioned above, I was out there again. Being an outgoing tide and at the tail end of a solid swell, despite it being a glassy sea, the southern end of the bar had changed considerably in that short space of time. A lot more sand had been pushed onto the outer bank, meaning smaller swells break right across the entrance more often. At least for now, the * continued P9

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South Passage Bar update and advice * from P8

southern channel can’t hold the solid swell it had been capable of and the kilometre-long channel inside the outer bank is shallower too. The area inside the outer banks – halfway out of the bar where the beach turns to head south along Flinders Beach – has filled with sand on the southern corner, narrowing the pathway and by default pushing boats more into the flow of the ebb tide and the pressure waves getting past that point. The channel north of the sand island in the middle of the bar is still the safest option in larger swells – so use your observation skills when crossing and don’t rely

on older waypoints. Sandbanks do change and move, and mostly in increments. Instead, read the swells, avoid the shallow sections and look a long way out the back to pick up the path of oncoming sets early, so you can safely be in the right place at the critical moments. While it isn’t mandatory to wear lifejackets in boat over 4.88m on coastal bars in Queensland, just wear them on any days of swell and don’t forget to log on with the volunteer groups before crossing, and let them know when you’re out the other side. These precautions might just save your backside one day. Sadly, the majority of

boat owners do have VHF radios, though most have no licence so don’t use the radio or simply don’t know how to. There’s no point having a flash boat and all the toys for offshore with no idea of how to

do the basics such as using the VHF. Contact Marine Radio Manly at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron or Volunteer Marine Rescue Victoria Point or one of the volunteer groups who provide marine radio

courses and upskill yourself. For more information on courses, contact Marine Radio Manly at RQYS on 3396 2778 or rqys.com.au or VMR Victoria Point on 3207 8717 or vmr.org.au Stay safe.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 9

Mix of options for Moreton Bay

M Proud as punch, Harper landed a toadfish.

Will put in the long hours to perfect his technique and was rewarded with a personal best 50cm flathead.

Drew did well to land this cracker chinaman. Page 10 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

ORETON Bay area is certainly producing the goods at the moment and the weather has made up for all those 2020 wasted weekends due to COVID-19 and the wind. The awesome thing about our region is that you can go out with a plan in mind – ‘yes, mackerel today’ or ‘definitely bringing home snapper today’ – then boom, you pull something totally unexpected out of the bay! Drew, who we featured with a stonker cobia from the Brisbane River a couple of months ago, has done it again. Out chasing snapper with his dad Wade, he absolutely nailed a cracker chinaman. Well done Drew! I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next… maybe a barramundi from the Brisbane River? I wouldn’t put it past him. We have started to see more kids get in on the action these days, which is so overdue. Harper had her first fishing trip recently. She was full of enthusiasm and could not wait to break in her very own personalised Alvey rod and reel. Many thanks to Con, Bruce and Glenn from Alvey Reels Australia who supplied and engraved her extremely special first rod and reel combination. Mum and Dad – Nikki and Steve – were on hand through ‘the right of passage’ and to teach Harper how to rig

Northern Moreton Bay by MARK TEMPLETON

through to hook-up of her very first fish. Rod rigged – with enthusiastic assistance from Harper – bait on, line in the water and then the call “Fish on!” There was a solid fight for a couple of minutes, but Harper wore the fish down and before we knew it a solid toadfish was on the deck! After a couple of hesitant photos, the fish was released to steal someone else’s bait and Harper was inducted into the toadie hall of fame… just as her dad was many years ago. As a grandparent, there is nothing more satisfying than watching something as humble as a child’s first fishing trip. We now understand what our parents were explaining to us – slow down, relax and enjoy the time you have with your kids and family. Taking the family out fishing can be rewarding in more ways than one. Harper was not the only one out there having a great time. Will was out there putting in the long hours to perfect his techniques, and was rewarded with a personal best flathead coming in at 50cm. Nice job Will! This will go nicely with the stonker bream he caught recently. Boaties are having a good time out there at the moment, with schools of mackerel

showing up and a few being boated, with others living up to their ‘razor gang’ reputation. So, take extra slugs out with you if you’re targeting these beasts. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but mack tuna have made a few reels sing and had the adrenaline pumping until they surfaced. A great little fish to help train young anglers on too. Several longtail tuna have been taken around the Moreton Bay area and a number have shown up for land-based fishos around a couple of the local piers, Shorncliffe and Woody Point. They are being caught on both lures and live herring bait. Cobia were being hooked around Shorncliffe Pier, not always landed but gave a very good account of themselves when they were hooked. The topwater craze is still alive and well, and with new lures coming on the market all the time, we have had great sized bream, flathead, mackerel, saratoga and mangrove jack being landed. Shorncliffe Pier has become a must-visit local fishing destination, with a lot of interest coming from people that are new to the area. We get a lot of questions on what type of bait to use, what type of gear will work and * continued P12

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 11

Dedication and attention to detail

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I all, travelling around there’s a lot of time to reflect when driving. My mind often drifts to fishing and reminiscing on different scenarios. Brisbane River snapper came to mind and their strong habit of going on the chew at different locations and at various stages of the tide. My favourite choice of plastic back then was the 4” Berkley Gulp Turtleback Worm in Pumpkinseed colour rigged on a 2/0 jig head, 3/8 or 1/4oz weight was critical to success depending on tidal run. The game changer was to douse the plastic with Big John’s garlic spray. We concentrated on one location where the fish turned it on two hours before the bottom of the tide. If you got there late when the tide slowed, you may as well have thrown sinkers at them because they’d completely shut down. Being there too early provided the same outcome. Now this is just one location and you can see by identifying all the ingredients how you can take the guess work

Outdoors by PAUL ‘CHIEF’ GRAVESON

out of success. Having the knowledge of areas to target over the various stages of the tide is invaluable. This brings me to the point of this story – identifying all of the above information is up to you. Keep a diary and write down your wins and understand why they were successful. Look at variants such as location, wind direction and intensity, tide size and what specific time of the tide the fish were active. Other considerations such as what phase the moon was, water temperature, time of year and water clarity are all pieces of information to help you build knowledge. This will assist when making decisions that will affect your fishing strike rate. You’ll begin to recognise the results – here are a couple of examples. After a few days of a westerly blowing things have settled and the water clarity is crystal clear, and you could

spot a shell on the bottom in 2m of water. Probably not the best time to fish a shallow bay reef area around the islands. Perfect, now the choices begin, we know we may need to fish deeper water or pick another area to target. You may have a king tide with a lot of water movement where, as an angler, your first thought is its too hard to fish. One of my favourite times to fish is a king tide two hours before and the first run out from the top. My decision is simply made the night before because I know the spot I wish to fish and what time I need to fish it. I know fish such as whiting, bream, flathead and trevally have pushed up high into the mangroves and are enjoying feeding over new ground not always accessible on a smaller tide. If I cast lures at the drains and gaps of these mangroves, I’m going to have a most enjoyable day. * continued P13

Mix of options for Moreton Bay

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* from P10

what sort of fish can be caught. There are no secrets to fishing on the pier. Light sinkers and a Size 4 hook generally work for many of the resident fish. Prawns, mullet or small baitfish do the job and for something different try no sinker and just let your bait sink naturally. Mud crabs have also

begun to show up, and hopefully with a bit more rain we’ll see them increase in number. We’ve had reports of pots being stolen, so ensure your pots are properly marked and if you see someone lifting your pots or find that your pots have been stolen, record the location, take photos and report it to the Queensland De-

partment of Agriculture and Fisheries. The Shed, Tackle Land’s second-hand store, is in full swing – buying and selling all types of fishing, camping and boating gear. We have built up a selection of new, second-hand and exdemonstration stock, so keep an eye out for a bargain.

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Dedication and attention to detail the key * from P12

Well, I’m 95 percent sure, but as for everything in life, you may still encounter one of those days that leaves you scratching your head. The idea of keeping that diary is to highlight your days of success and become a more consistent fisher. Now, this is where the dedication comes in – there is that old saying you have to kiss a few frogs until you find a prince. Anyone who said they’ve never had an unsuccessful day on the water is probably telling porky pies. Even fishless days provide pieces to the jigsaw puzzle. Dedication is the secret and the more time you’re on the water the more time you spend

time gathering information. Speaking of dedication, I recently camped up at a beachside location and watched Lea walk the beach a couple of kilometres to and from an inlet where she had placed her crab pot. She returned to the campsite to a swarm of excitement, as her children were delighted with mum’s success. Commitment each day saw Lea come back with results. Moving to the new home base of Agnes Water will give me a totally new area to explore. Of course, there are the obvious natural indicators such as drop-offs, current lines and snags to begin the search for success, but I feel keeping a diary will help fine tune season-

al changes relevant to individual species and highlight the most productive times to target fish during windows of tidal flow. Brian Webb wrote an article 15 years ago on why 10 percent of anglers catch 90 percent of the fish – this included Nick Whyte, Richard Luck, myself and my son Garrett. I believe the statistics would still be relevant today. You will never make the 10 percent without putting in the hard yards, applying the dedication and searching for knowledge. Give the diary a go and try to piece together a bit of that fishing puzzle. Keep enjoying everything our great Queensland outdoors has to offer.

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Lea’s pay off for putting in the hard yards.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 13

Sammy Hitze caught this doggy mackerel from the beacons.

Aiden Worth’s red emperor was taken near the Four Beacons.

Adrian Martin and the flathead he captured from Mud Island.

Jodi Michael with a nice mangrove jack from the river. Page 14 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

Magical Moreton Bay

ELL, the spotted mackerel have shown up in reasonable numbers and have been found mainly in the paddock, with bird activity showing the way, especially from the Sandhills across to the Measured Mile. Doggy mackerel are around in good numbers and a fair few were trolled up using paravanes in the Rous Channel and near the Amity Banks drop-offs, with the occasional school in the Rainbow Channel. The beacons are also producing doggies by jigging the base of them, either with whole pillies or silver spoons, and the best beacons are those holding bait in the eddies. The Pearl Channel has been producing doggies as well using paravanes trolled along the drop-offs – there have even been schools of doggies south of Peel Island around Pelican Banks. Plenty of mack tuna can be found from the bottom of the Pearl to the top of Peel, the odd school has also shown

Moreton Bay by BRIAN WEBB

up in the mouth of the river. Once again birds are you best shot in locating them. Longtails have been caught from the top of Peel up to the Four Beacons and across to the bottom entrance of the Pearl Channel or by trolling the sides of the shipping channel. The top end of the Pearl to the bottom of Bribie Island has also seen a school show up. There have been plenty of threadfin salmon in the river, from the container terminals up to Breakfast Creek, along with the odd jewfish – mainly from the Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges to the mouth. There have also been jew caught at the top of Macleay Island, especially at night. Copious estuary cod have been in the shallow reefs in the bay, as well as the rock wall in the river, with the occasional trevally. Squire have shown

up in the shallows, the reef drop-offs, artificial reefs and the container terminals, and a few 60cm plus models have been caught in these areas. The Scarborough Reef has produced squire and this species has even been caught in the Bribie Passage. Ample grass sweetlip have been found around the drop-offs and the rubble areas on top of them, particularly the Wellington Point dropoffs and the inside and bay side of Green Island. The isolated coffee rock at the top end of the shipping channel has been producing good numbers of grassies, often better than the bay – if you sound around from Curtin Artificial Reef past Bulwer and further north where the shipping channel heads north to Caloundra. With the hot humid days, we’ve had the best * continued P16

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Magical Moreton Bay * from P14

Sher Usman and a pair of brute blackspot tuskfish.

conditions to target this species, and fresh bait – especially squid heads – are producing the better catches. The odd spangled emperor has shown up when targeting grassies, along with moses perch. There have been a few unusual catches in the shipping channel lately, from red emperor – which aren’t legal – to chainman fish, and cobia off the beacons near Bulwer and around the four beacons. Isolated structure off the western side of Peel, not far from the West Peel Artificial Reef, has also produced red emperor and nannygai. You’ll find bream up in the shallows at high tide and in close around the eastern side of Mud Island, and flathead in close again around Mud, the creeks near south Wynnum, the Pine River and Macleay Island south

around the mangroves. Squid have been in abundance from the weed beds in the Rous and Fishermans Gutter, the front of the rock wall in the river and in close around Mud, or the boat harbour rock walls and shorelines for land-based fishos. If you want to target blackspot tuskfish head north to the Bulwer drop-offs, using crab as bait and reasonably heavy gear – once you find a good drop, anchor up. The top of Peel and the eastern side of the Rainbow north of the Myora anchorage has also been producing the occasional blackspot. The river has produced a diverse range of species, with snapper, threadies, jew, bream, mack tuna, squid on the rock wall and cod, and there’ve been nice mangrove jack caught too, particularly using live bait. Just goes to show, you don’t have to travel far to catch a good feed.

Mud crabs are around in good numbers and once again the river and creeks south of Manly have held a feed. Remember to check your pots after an overnight soak, as too many bucks in the pot will start them fighting, and it pays to release anything not legal. The bay has good numbers of sand crabs – also known as blue swimmer crabs – especially from the Pearl Channel across to Shorncliffe. Of course, the best times to fish the bay are sunup and in the evening with a good rising tide, as well as the few hours on the turn of the tide. Best of luck in your ventures as there are a lot of boats out there targeting pelagics – and why wouldn’t you, this is the best time of the year for both spotties and doggies. If targeting longtail tuna, you have to put in the miles and even then you could dip out.

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These fish are awesome fun on light gear.

The colours of black marlin are amazing.

Live baiting for black marlin B

EFORE I get started, I wanted to let you know I’m not an expert at catching black marlin, however I do want to relay what worked for a couple of friends and myself on a recent trip out from the Gold Coast. The plan was to head out through the Seaway, check out a few of the wave rider buoys and then onto Spot X. Despite one of our crew setting his alarm for pm instead of am,

Fishing Tips by BEN COLLINS

we still managed to get offshore at a reasonable time. He had the lunch unfortunately, so we were forced to wait. I may need to review this for the next trip. Light breezes were forecast for the morning with a northerly coming in after lunch, so the plan was to be back before the wind

started to kick in. On the way out, we checked a couple of the wave rider buoys but they were devoid of any fish. I guessed the amount of boat traffic around one buoy was partially responsible for this. Undeterred, the 685 was pointed east again and we made the journey to Spot X.

A huge amount of bait around Spot X. Page 18 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

For those who do not know where this is, here is a GPS mark for the general area S27˚54.588’ E153˚48.081’. I normally don’t give out GPS marks, but this one seems well known and I want more people to try this form of fishing because it can be very rewarding. Before heading out, we did a bit of checking around to see what techniques were working and the general consensus was live baiting was the way to go. As this was the main plan for the day, rods were rigged the night before – thanks George. A roll of trolling lures was also thrown in, as you never know what might work on the day. Our plan was simple, find bait, jig up bait, put bait down and wait for the reels to start screaming. Almost sounded too easy, but there were a few other things we took into consideration. First, the bait. Fortunately, there were massive schools of bait showing on the

Furuno FCV-295, so bait jigs were deployed and a mix of yakka and slimy mackerel were caught. We discovered later, the slimies were the way to go because all strikes came from them. We also learned on this occasion that the slimies were towards the top of the very large school of bait, which meant we needed to target this area. Slimies are not as hardy as yakkas, so care needed to be taken when getting them off the jigs and into the live well. It’s also important to make sure they go back in the live well when you are running back to start your drift again. While you are getting your bait, I suggest checking out your drift so you know which way to face the boat and where to actually start. Distinct from fishing for bottom-dwelling reef fish, you’re better off trying to drift along the edges or off the point of the bait – which is the front of * continued P20

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What you want to see on your sounder, a black marlin sitting to the side of the bait school.

Live baiting for black marlin * from P18

the school – as bait will generally be swimming into the current. In terms of the rigs, it was basically a floating rig that you’d use for snapper. Though we crimped the sinker about 3-4m above the hook to let the bait swim around

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more naturally. Sinker size varied and we ended up downsizing the sinking because there wasn’t much current. The leader used was around 100lb, but having spoken to a few people since our outing, you could get away with 60lb, which may also result in more hook-ups. This was connected to a wind-on leader attached to 8kg or 15kg mono and were matched to 8-10kg Garry Howard game rods and my Venom overhead rod. Our reels of choice were Shimano Tyrnos in 16 and 20 sizes. Interestingly of the five fish we hooked, four were on the 8kg, which showed lighter may have been the better way to go.

To allow the bait to swim as freely as possible, it was attached to the circle hook by needle and thread. This also allowed water to go through its gills, so they stayed alive longer. It also meant most hook-ups were in the corner of the mouth, making for easy release. If you’re planning on trying a bit of black marlin fishing, be sure to get a good set of gloves because their bills are sharp. Also be aware, when you grab this fish on the bill they will often thrash around, especially if a bit green, so be prepared to hang on and keep the fish away from the gelcoat – which we managed to do.

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Well short of the bag limit but still a nice feed of banana prawns in early February.

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T’s fair to say that March is one of the peak months for prawns in southeast Queensland. Hopefully by then the catches will be a bit more consistent. Banana prawns Speaking to a few regular banana prawn fishers from the northside of Brisbane, this season started very late and, at the time of writing which was the end of first week of February, occasionally prawns had been in the rivers in numbers, while on other days it had been much harder to put together a feed. Let’s hope we have more rain to concentrate the prawns in the deepest holes and to push them out into the bays. For first timers to catching banana prawns, top pocket nets are your best bet because the prawns try to escape upwards in the net when caught. The trick is once your net is on the bottom – which you can tell by it going slack – hold the rope on your net firmly and give it a few short pulls, this will scare any

Fishing Tips by SEAN ‘SKIP’ THOMPSON

prawns the net may have landed on upwards and into the top pocket of the net. Top pocket nets are easily emptied, with a draw string at the top to open the net from above and empty into your Esky or bucket. Also, get a good quality net with heavy chains on the bottom, this helps to minimise tangles and allows it to sink faster. Bottom pocket nets are better for catching baitfish for fishing. Top and bottom pockets can be a nuisance when prawning due to the time it takes to empty the bottom net, as well as catching a lot of twigs and unwanted by-catch. The best time for prawning can be the hour or so either side of the tide change when prawns concentrate in deeper holes. Usually, banana prawns are considered the domain of boatbased prawn fishos with cast nets.

However, land-based anglers can try their luck for banana prawns at this time of year in deep holes close to riverbanks, boat ramps, jetties and wharves. Finally, when it comes to eating these yummy critters one of my favourite meals is white French loaf bread, prawns and my homemade thousand-island sauce – I’ve included a picture with the three ingredients. Tiger and bay prawns – on foot! One of the lesserknown tactics for landbased prawn fishers is catching bay and tiger prawns on foot in the shallows of Moreton Bay. These prawns can be located in very shallow water – often less than 60cm deep – at low tide at night around areas of mud, sand and ribbon weed. During the higher stages of the tide prawns are a much more difficult * continued P23

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Primed for prawning * from P22

target, becoming spread out and the shore-based areas become too deep. Prawns also move around much more in deeper water, rather than sitting stationary on the bottom around low tide. As a result, the best time to target them is two hours before to two hours after low tide. This is because you get less water movement – that is only one twelfth of the total tidal movement in the first hour after a tide change – for a six-hour cycle – and two twelfths of the tide in the second hour. The other thing to be aware of is that access to these prawns is not dependent on a new moon.

So, rather than being able to only chase them a few nights either side of a new moon once a month, as it is for NSW estuaries, the right tide – with low tide around or after dark – comes around every second week. One of the bonuses to this type of prawning is that you will also come across the occasional mud crab wading the shallows at night, particularly after a bit of rain. In fact, on good nights I have caught three! Yes, scooping these mud crabs up with prawn nets is legal. I don’t go by hearsay with these things and have confirmed this directly with the Queensland Department of Ag-

riculture and Fisheries. Apart from tide, the other key influence on prawn numbers is weather. The best conditions for bringing them into the shallows to spot their red beady eyes is a hot still day and a calm night. The less wind chop on the water, the clearer the water is and therefore the further away you can spot them. You want to be looking for wind less than 10 knots. Before you head out, check your local area for the latest localised wind readings and be sure to get forecasts that are for on the water – not the land as per a few popular wind apps. * continued P24

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 23

Primed for prawning * from P23

The three ingredients for my home-made thousand-island sauce.

A couple of bonus mud crabs caught when shorebased prawning after rain this year.

Equipment As the tiger and bay prawns in Moreton Bay are in shallow water and are quite spread out, underwater lights used in NSW estuaries are less effective here. Rather, a do-it-yourself headlamp is a better option. The light from the headlamp is what’s used to spot the red eyes of prawns at night. I use a 7-watt LED lamp which is connected permanently though the peak of my cap. I run the wires between the light and a switch under the peak of my cap and then connect it to a 12V 9-amp battery in my backpack. This is very effective and much brighter than even the best headlamp

on the market. The other equipment I carry are two prawning scoop nets and a cooler bag over my shoulder to transfer the prawns after I have a few in the bottom of the nets. The key with this method of prawning is using the two nets in tandem to maximise your success rate. Note, both Queensland’s Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and Parks and Wildlife Service – responsible for the Moreton Bay Marine Park – confirmed it is legal to use two scoop nets. Though the nets need to be in your control and not staked, plus their size must conform to the current regulations. Word of warning Before you go trudg-

ing out at night in Moreton Bay, beware – there are a few risks. You will see a lot of sting rays, crabs and a range of other ooglies. Thick sole reef shoes are a must for protection. Also, I never wade much further than kneedeep due to the risk of sharks. This sort of prawning is not for everyone but gets you away from the crowds and under the stars, plus it’s great exercise! So good luck if you give land or boat-based prawning a go this month. For more tips, advice and giveaways, follow my Facebook page, Ontour Fishing Australia or my new YouTube account of the same name.

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Prepare for Plan B I

Sean with a Plan B flathead from a location change.

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Tackle Tactics

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with our heart set on catching a particular species, maybe threadfin salmon, barramundi or longtail tuna. However, it is worth carrying a selection of gear to suit a variety of other pecies, just in case your chosen species is not on the job. I’ve had tailor sessions turn into hot spinning queenfish and trevally sessions, bay tuna sorties turn into snapper battles and flathead expectations turn into blistering bream bites. You could keep grinding things out for your target species, but don’t forget there may be another species there keen to feed. Pay attention to what is going on around you and adapt to what’s feeding on the day. If you’re fishing deep and there’s action on the surface, try spinning lures or drifting bait closer to the surface.

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Sometimes a technique change can get the bite. Sean went outside the box for this snapper.

If you’re throwing larger lures for flathead with no luck and getting plenty of smaller taps, try downsizing and you may score bream or grunter. Carrying a selection of jig head weights and soft plastic sizes is a great way to cover many bases – I also carry at least a light, medium and heavier spin combination in the boat. You may even get away with the same combo, but simply switch the leader size to target a different species. Technique I have been guilty of leaving home before with a single technique in my head and all the rods pre-rigged for this method, only to find it’s not happening on the day and I need to make the call to change things up. My mind may have been fixed on blading deep structure, picking the pockets in the weed with lightly weighted plastics or swimming heavily weighted plastics down deep drops. By the end of the session, I’ve changed techniques, re-rigged rods and managed to land plenty of the target species using a completely different method. A few examples would include switching from metal lures to soft plastics in the surf when the tailor were finicky, changing from paddle tails to soft plastic surface frogs when chas* continued P27

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Consider what other locations and species are available in the region also. A northern adventure to chase giant trevally and reef fish could be a complete write off due to wind, or it could be your best trip ever on impoundment barramundi, so pack accordingly. Occasionally it’s just about making the call and knowing when to hold them and when to fold them. Do you keep grinding it out or switch things up? Time on the water and fishing experience often make these decisions easier, however there’s always the ‘what if’ in the back of your mind.

* from P26

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 27

03 5022 75 03 5152 32 03 5562 63 03 5443 57 03 5822 21 03 5174 12 03 9397 69 02 6024 65

Prepare for Plan B * from P27

Three casts into Sheri’s Plan B and a 70cm plus flathead was landed.

Sending a flathead on her way to put a bend in someone else’s rod.

Page 28 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

ter to sneak through into the drain, at which point I threw my toys out of the cot and made the call to just drift down the outside of the bank to see if we could find flathead. After half an hour of no bites, no bait activity and negative vibes, Sheri made the call to go to Plan B, which she decided was a 10-minute paddle to a completely different bank where we had caught fish in in the past. I mentioned that we would only have half an hour of run-out left and maybe we should just grind it out, to which she started pad-

dling off towards the other bank. Well, the move to go to Sheri’s Plan B was a good one and within three casts my rod was bent, drag peeling and I soon had a hefty 70cm plus flathead in the net. Sheri had a big smile on her face – knowing it had been the right call. We continued to drift the edge and 15 minutes later a cast into a drain had the little ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ collected by a fish that hit the afterburners, raced out of the gutter and took to the air. I had hooked my first queenfish in my local waters!

After a dozen jumps and runs the 70cm plus beast of a queenfish was photographed and released to join the flathead released earlier. Whether the moral of the story is to always listen to your wife or to change things up if they’re not working, remember to always have a Plan B – along with the gear and confidence to execute that plan. Be flexible with your fishing, whether that means a switch of location, a different target species or employing a different technique. See you on the water…

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UZUKI Australia has commenced the national distribution for Suzuki marine outboard products in the Australian market. An announcement was made last March that the 100 percent owned subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation would be appointed as the new sole national distributor for its marine products from January 2021, bringing synergy to the brand locally by unifying its three core product groups – automobile, motorcycle and marine together under one roof. Coinciding with the commencement of Suzuki Australia’s marine division is the

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New social media handles have also been activated to satisfy the demands of fans hungry for the latest Suzuki marine news. Customers and fans can connect with Suzuki Australia Marine on Facebook suzu k iaust ra l ia ma rine, Instagram @su zukiaustraliamarine or via the website marine.suzuki.com. au www.bnbfishing.com. au

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 29

Rob Schomberg soaked but happy with this 11kg mackerel... nice sticker!

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Offshore reef fishing fanatics WANTED One of Brisbane’s oldest deep-sea fishing clubs with a 100 percent safety record has vacancies for new members. Owners of suitable vessels encouraged. All levels of experience. Those without own vessels also invited to apply. Approximately 15 deep sea trips per year. One week-long fishing holiday to Town of 1770. Monthly meetings, video shows, guest speakers and free nibbles. 4WD beach fishing and camping. Inshore fishing also on the agenda. Interested? Then call Darren (0413 511 436) or Robin (3269 5013). POWER BOAT ANGLERS REEF FISHING CLUB INC Page 30 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

Rob and a beautiful 9kg mackerel.

PBA off-season opportunity

URING the club off-season, Rob Schomberg and a few other retirees had the opportunity to head out in the bay and take advantage of decent weather. The results were good compared to the woeful trips of last year. The first sortie may have been mentioned last month when Rob caught a nice largemouth nannygai within 10km of his home. He’s yet to head back to see if it was a fluke but we’ll keep you posted. His next trip was with Scotty Williams when they headed up to Western Rocks to check out the reports of school mackerel. They checked a few marks and loaded up on live bait before settling on a good show to spot lock on.

Power Boat Anglers by MICK CLUTTERBUCK

Initially, there was one other boat and them, but as the sun got higher it soon became a car park with more than 10 boats in the same small area. The fish were only taking live bait and herring were the snack of choice. Bite-offs were numerous – in excess of 30 would be close – and the guys went from no wire and 2-ganged 3/0s to a wire stinger and eventually settled on 30cm of 27lb single-strand wire with a stinger using 2/0 and 4/0 live bait hooks. Bruce Wotton came out for a look, anchored nearby and floated pillies out, while not getting the same action,

he did land the odd one. By 11am, the fish had slowed and there were only a couple of boats left. Bruce came over to say goodbye as mackerel were having a quick last bite with three rods going off, resulting in one fish in the Esky. With a few livies left they decided to wait out the tide and just before high, they were on with a vengeance. After bagging a few more, it was time to head in. Not wanting to waste the last livie, Rob hooked it up and let it free spool. It was about 40m out when it got slammed by what was clearly * continued P31

www.bnbfishing.com. au

PBA off-season opportunity * from P30

not a schoolie. After a big run it was called for a cobia, and with a 20lb leader and a 2/0… it was going to be a big ask. When they finally saw colour, it was blue and as it got closer the bars of a nice spanish mackerel came into view. The next few minutes were tedious, trying to get it into gaff range without parting the leader or the wire but patience prevailed and the gaff found its mark on a 9kg fish. The next trip was a week later to the same spot with Scotty and his son Joel. This time around it was the polar opposite, with a whiteout from rain as they crossed past Comboyuro Point and wind squalls to match. They could only manage six knots due to lack of visibility. Arriving at the mark the first livie was deployed, slammed and bitten off in quick time. This time Rob was prepared and had traces ready to minimise down time. They were very wet but it didn’t seem to deter the mackerel and the conversion between fish in boat to bite-off ratio improved significantly. The fish were on and off for the morning with bust-offs here and there. One that did stay hooked nearly had Rob spooled on the first run and with big head shakes the fishos were sure it was a spanish. It came straight at the boat then nearly spooled him for a second time – once again www.bnbfishing.com.au

with a 27lb wire and a 2/0... it was a big ask. After a bit of a battle it was beside the boat but out of view where Rob couldn’t raise it from the current and unfortunately it bit though the wire. They had a good bag and were discussing when to pull the pin, when another livie got smashed, with line disappearing from the spool once again. This one wasn’t as big as the last but still took a little patience to get it in range. The gaff finally found its mark and an 11kg spanish hit the deck Scott had bagged a few grass sweetlip to top the day off and they left happy with their efforts. The next trip was a midweek jaunt looking for spotted mackerel but after the Australia day long weekend they were nowhere to be found. The anglers checked the Sandhills and the shipping channel then went back to try for whiting but again none were to be seen. Rob called a friend who said they were in the Lucinda Bay area but on arrival there was not a bird in sight, so they headed to Tangalooma for a look but found nothing there either. They had squid jigs on board, so decided to hit the wrecks for squid then head back to the shipping channel to look for birds. No boats could be seen on a certain wreck, so they headed over for a look. As there was a good show, the Minn Kota Ulterra was deployed

and spot locked on the mark, with bait dropped hoping for a snapper. Rob’s rod got a hit with what he thought was a snapper but it turned out to be a nice grunter, another first for him in the bay. They stayed for another half an hour for a schoolie and a cod and went bird watching again. There was a little action in the distance and as they got closer the slashes from spotties became obvious, the only problem was that they were mixed in with tuna and would spook before anyone could get a cast in. After an hour of chasing their tails the fishos had a bust-up beside the boat and Rob got one cast in for an instant hook-up. It was clear it was a tuna and the battle had just begun. After 20 minutes a 15kg longtail tuna was circling under the boat staying out of gaff range. On 15lb braid and leader there was no come here action and the lure eventually pulled out, much to the dismay of the fishers. After these recent trips, Schombie is determined to spend more time in the bay to find out what other species it can produce. Next meetings The venue remains the same, so see you at ‘The Club Manly’ (bowls club), 26 Faine St Manly. Upcoming meetings are Monday March 1 and Monday April 5. Until next month, safe boating.

Rob Schomberg and a grunter taken from the bay.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 31

Maddie caught a monster mangrove jack, her first ever.

Harry with a 64cm flathead he caught on a Westin soft plastic and released.

More joy on jack H

I everyone, this month I’m going to provide a few tips for novice anglers to catch fish on lures, but first a quick round up of Gold Coast estuary fishing this month and recently. We are right in the peak of the mangrove

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jack fishing season in Surfers Paradise. If we don’t get floods, this will continue until at least April. Try fishing live bait such as whiting, mullet or mullet fillets close to rocky areas at night. Sand whiting fishing has been quieter lately. We are expecting it to improve, with the water clearing and the holiday crowds gone. My favourite way to target them is with 2lb

line on sand banks with yabbies. If you’re fishing on the eastern side of the Nerang River around the council chambers area at night, bloodworms are best and then yabbies. Back to the lures. Most anglers would notice a massive choice in tackle stores. We have tried hundreds of lures over the years and our favourites

* continued P33

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Page 32 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

John with one of two solid mangrove jack he caught on a night charter with the author. www.bnbfishing.com. au

More joy on jack * from P32

below have helped us catch a variety of estuary fish consistently on our daily fishing charters. There are two main techniques that make it easier to catch fish on lures in rivers. Both involve covering ground to find fish, keeping the lure in the strike zone for periods of time, and enticing fish to chase and grab the constantly moving lures – or they miss out on a potential feed. Having a boat is not essential for these methods but using a kayak will at least help or walking a number of kilometres if you’re land-based. If you have a fish finder, always look for bait – where there’s bait, predators are usually present too. I look for random patches of dots near the bottom on the screen as a starting point. The first technique is trolling, and here are a couple of key tips and killer lures. Troll the lures 2030m back at a speed of between 1-2 knots, making sure your lures

are always swimming straight and clear of weed. If you don’t know how to tune lures, there are plenty of ‘how-to’ videos on YouTube. Troll with the tide for better results, and it’s essential that the lures are tapping the bottom every few seconds. A selection of our favourite lures for trolling include the Pontoon 21 Crack Jack 48SP DR, the Daiwa Tournament Spike 53SP, the Savage Gear 3D Shrimp Extra Deep Runner, and the Samaki Redic. For light tackle trolling, use a 6’ 6” length 2-4kg rod with a 2500-size spinning reel or a small baitcaster. Use 10lb braid with 6-8lb fluorocarbon leader. The second technique is drifting and ‘teabagging’ lures. We love using vibe and blade-style lures because the vibration they make in the water attracts fish. We also use SAX Scent in prawn flavour, smearing it over the lures every 10 minutes. Drift with the tide at a speed of 0.5-1 knots,

drop the lure straight to the bottom and try to keep the line angle at around 45 degrees. Keep the lure in the water without winding it in and jig it continuously up and down with short sharp flicks of the wrist. If it’s difficult to drift, you can also cast these lures into the tide and then hop them along the bottom. Our favourite lures for this technique include the Samaki Vibelicious Thumper Tail 70mm, the Ecogear ZX40 and ZX43, and the Pro Lure V42. Our favourite rod to use with blades and soft vibes is the Atomic Arrowz AAS-70L, which is a one piece 6-12lb, 7’ long rod. Pair it with a 2500-size Shimano Sedona reel and 10lb braid and 10lb fluorocarbon leader. To book on a charter with myself or Brad, or if you have any fishing related questions, SMS 0432 990 302 or email f ish i ngwit hcl i nt@ gmail.com, or find us on Facebook at Brad Smith Fishing Charters.

The author’s best night of mangrove jack charter fishing with Matty, Mick and Nigel. www.bnbfishing.com.au

Greg and Mitch with nice mangrove jack on an evening charter with the author.

Jayden caught his first mangrove jack that put up a tremendous fight.

The author with Jonathan and John, and four mangrove jack caught. Jonathan is allergic to seafood, so the author held two fish for a quick photo before release.

Ashton was stoked with this beautiful tuskfish he caught in the Broadwater. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 33

Fleur, Georgia and Giselle with a mack tuna.

Bailey and a snapper caught on a dead yakka float lining.

Doing things differently

Darcie, the author and Fleur and the snapper from northeast of the Seaway.

The author on a solo mission scored a feed caught on pillies. Page 34 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

OW many of you have ever taken your fishing outside of your comfort zone and done something a little different? We’re quite comfortable taking out the regular crew for a regular fish in the same old spot for the same result, yes? Well, that’s what I thought too, but then with everything going on over the past year and so many of us having to make big changes to our lives including our fishing life, the comfort zone wasn’t quite so comfy. With fishing being a way of life for many of us, I thought it was time to do things a little different and ask a few younger anglers if they wanted to try fishing offshore. Well, I didn’t need to ask twice. In fact, they had been asking me for years. We met up at 4:00am, which for teenagers may as well be the middle of the night but

Gold Coast by BEN SMITH

that’s just the way it is. Our first target was jewfish, so we collected bait on close reefs outside the Gold Coast Seaway. These bait reefs are well known and there are plenty of GPS marks for them all over the internet. We headed out and filled the live bait tank in the back of my Bar Crusher with medium size yellowtail scad. Once we had enough bait onboard, we headed back to a spot near the Seaway where I had marked fish on the sounder during the drive out. We used a rig that was just 2 x 5/0 octopuspattern J-hooks snelled 8cm apart with 60lb ANDE leader and a running 2oz glow egg sinker from United Tackle Australia. The bait needs to be rigged with the head of the yakka in near the sinker so that the bait

swims correctly. Don’t put live bait on backwards. You’ll kill it and probably won’t catch a fish. The fishos were totally pumped by this stage and having three of them onboard was a bit of a social media photo overload. Fortunately, within a few minutes Fleur had baited up and we were drifting a livey into the zone. As we drifted, I watched the sounder and started to see the jewies on the bottom. Within a few seconds she got absolutely drilled. The rod folded under the boat and it was all on. The drag is almost locked up for this type of fishing because the bait is fished on the bottom and very close to structure. For her first ever big fish, she fought it bet* continued P36

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 35

Doing things differently offshore on Gold Coast * from P34

ter than a few of my friends could and a few minutes later we had it boat side. The excitement on the boat was unbelievable and as we brought the big silver slab onboard, all three anglers were cheering and reaching for their phones for a photo. We released it safely and started the proce-

dure once again. Giselle was next and for each drift over the next hour we scored fish after fish. Everyone got a turn on the rod and I’d be surprised if the whole Gold Coast didn’t hear the screams of joy that day. We took a couple for a feed and decided that we should go back to fillet up our catch. We hadn’t long been

One of the many snaps taken of Fleur with her first ever snapper.

The author, Fleur, Darcie and Bailey beside the boat at Wave Break Island. Page 36 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

home and another angler turned up at my place. She had seen the photos we had sent and wanted a piece of the action. I couldn’t say no, so said we would do something very special in the near future. I had planned something even many of my closest friends hadn’t experienced – the fishos were in for a trip of a lifetime. I told them to meet me at 3:30am at the same place the following week and with big smiles on their faces they all willingly agreed A week later we met again, this time taking my son Bailey. Two eager faces were awaiting beside the boat that I had prepared the night before. We launched and I proceeded to tell them to get comfortable because we were in for a 30km trip out to sea. It was still dark, so I took extra caution crossing the bar. We set on 24 knots for the run out and by the time it was first light, the anglers were asking what we were going to be targeting. I told them the target for the day was snapper. The spot we had travelled to was only small and extremely fishy. I visit it only occasionally, simply out of respect for what it has provided for me over the decades. We baited up using the left over yakkas I had frozen from the trip the previous week. We used the same rigs as we did for jewfish, though dropped the sinker size down to a

3/4oz pink glow egg sinker from Full Scale Tackle. The rods were Daiwa Saltist BW 64BJB-AO PE2-4 rods matched with Saltist LW20H-C reels. First light was on us and I knew the fish were probably on the southern side of the mark, and we were able to confirm this by doing a test drift over the spot. That allowed us to not only set up a drift line but also to see where we needed to start deploying, so that the snapper and bait would end up in the hot zone. Big snapper will swim almost halfway up to nail bait, so don’t rush to get it to the bottom. We circled back around and started the session, with Fleur going first. I knocked the motor in and out of gear to keep a good angle on the line, and we could see her offerings slowly wafting down on the Lowrance HDS LIVE. The Airmar TM185M 1kW transducer I use picks up everything and we were watched the fish come up off the bottom at about 15m to smash the bait on the drop. Boom! As anticipated, she was on to a big fish. This was her first big snapper and once again the excitement grew as it was reeled in. It pulled drag and resisted with those head bumps typical of a big knobby and within a few minutes, excitement once again erupted onboard. A big pink monster blew its bubbles a few metres down and pro-

ceeded to float belly up to the surface. Bailey leaned in with the net – we knew then it was going to be a good size because it hardly fit in the net. We placed it on the floor of the boat and the fishos’ joy was overwhelming. Thinking this was going to be their only fish, they proceeded to take pictures. I told them we needed to keep fishing because the fish were on the bite and the window of opportunity was short. Bailey got that one on ice while I drove us back to the top of the drift. At this drift we dropped two down and as expected, scored a double hook-up. We continued float lining for a few more drifts and within 45 minutes we had two over 70cm and the rest from 56cm up. What a memorable experience for the young anglers, it was an adventure they will never forget. It’s like this… try to think of fishing as a big jigsaw puzzle. I can give you all the pieces – the bait, the tide, the moon phases, the GPS marks, all the rigs to use, everything – but it’s up to you to work out how it all fits together. If you’re missing just one piece, it won’t work so well. Do your homework and you will have plenty of success and enjoyment. Enjoy your fishing during March, it’s certainly started off way better than 2020, and if you see me out there come say hello.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Melissa with a spanish mackerel to kick off the 2021 season on one of the very few nice days.

Mackerel mayhem offshore

T’S hard to know where to start… Last month I struggled to scratch up a couple of photos due to the lack of fish I had caught. This month however the situation has changed, with good fish coming from all of, the different fisheries. Offshore hasn’t been easy with swell on the Brunswick Bar, but when we’ve made it out there were enough mackerel around for the effort to have been worthwhile. Both spotted and spanish mackerel were present – the hard part was the lack of quality bait. For the dead bait draggers, no bonito have shown up here. A few were caught up near the border of NSW and Queensland, but down here… there have been zip. From what I’ve heard most spanish caught this year have been on live yellowtail scad. Yakkas aren’t my preferred bait for mackerel but by the same token if there’s nothing better

www.bnbfishing.com.au

A nice start to the pelagic season for Toby.

Tweed to Byron Bay by GAVIN DOBSON

available, the humble yakka catches plenty every season. During a season long ago, I even towed dead yakkas with a skirt over their nose out of sheer desperation. To my surprise they were very effective, more so than the live version. I think the mackerel were attracted to the extra speed, colour and movement, and since that day it’s a technique I have employed from time to time. Melissa came down for a visit and was welcomed with clear blue water for her dive at Julian Rocks, traditionally known as Nguthungulli. In the afternoon, we headed back out and caught a couple of spanish mackerel before heading home to prepare for an early start. The next morning, we were on the water at first light and had a spanish in the boat within minutes.

Looking around we saw a few other boats hook-up too, so I thought it might be on but things went quiet after this. I decided to chuck the anchor and berley out. It took a while and a lot of berley but a few spotties started to show up. It wasn’t hectic spotty fishing but as long as the berley kept going, we chipped away at the fish. We’d get a few fish to the boat then a shark would eat a couple, then a missed bite and a bit of busted wire. In between all the drama, we landed a few. Well, I should clarify… Melissa got a few to the boat while I pulled hooks and got sharked. She had the happy yet uncanny knack of getting fish to the boat – I don’t think she was sharked once. * continued P38

Nice spotted mackerel added to the bag for Melissa.

Sharks are an ongoing problem. The author sent this pic to Melissa’s dad Ron and he suggested the filleting skills left a bit to be desired. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 37

Mackerel mayhem offshore * from P37

Toby equalled his personal best with this nice lizard from the Brunswick River.

Mind you, one time was close. A spotty came flying out of the water with a big brown mongrel right up it, not once but twice, and Melissa still got the fish to the gaff. I think I only landed one mackerel for the morning. They were good spotties, averaging 5.5kg. Since that morning, we’ve had a fair amount of rugged weather to deal with. Big swells and wind have punished the coast and while we have been

able to duck out to the local reefs occasionally, I don’t have much to report from further afield. Windarra Banks will have plenty of jelly bean tuna on it and possibly wahoo. Our rivers are fishing quite well too, and good flathead are getting around. I reported a few months ago of Toby Hart catching his personal best flathead of 91.5cm on a live bait. Well, he’s done it again with a fish of exactly the same size and caught in nearly the ex-

act same spot – makes you wonder if it was the same fish. There were a couple of months in between, so surely not – but I guess it’s possible. Trevally haven’t headed further back upstream since all the December rain we had but plenty have been in the lower reaches. Mangrove jack are abundant in all their usual haunts, and mud crabs are on the move and filling out nicely. All in all, it’s looking pretty good for March.

4x4, fishing and boating expo to make massive Brisbane return

UTDOOR lovers rejoice, the National 4x4 Outdoors Show and Fishing & Boating Expo is back. Returning bigger and better than ever, Australia’s best outdoors lifestyle event will be taking over the Brisbane Showgrounds from March 19-21. In time to stock up on all the latest gear before the Easter break, the expo will feature many of the attractions guests have come to love over the years, all in a COVID-19 safe format and with tickets available via online pre-purchase only. Combining the best products from the 4x4 aftermarket to the latest in campers, caravans and camping accessories, fishing and boating, tourism and apparel, the event also features a range of scheduled live entertainment, informative presentations and interactive displays. Event director Jon Perry said, “Follow-

ing a lot of hard work by all involved, we are thrilled that the National 4x4 Outdoors Show, Fishing & Boating Expo is back, with an emphasis on complying with the latest COVID safe practices.” “A part of this is that strict crowd caps are in place, meaning that it is important to get in early and pre-purchase your tickets online via the expo website. “With the current emphasis on domestic tourism, it’s exciting that the industry will be able to meet once again and present the many great products, innovations and destinations available for everyone to enjoy locally.” One of the new features is the Rig Gallery Show ‘N’ Shine, a competition where 4x4 enthusiasts will come to show off their fourwheel drives, including

Page 38 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

highly modified specials. Categories include Rough & Tumble, Tough Tradie, Terrific Tourer, Highway Hero, Urban Stallion, and Ace of Clubs, with entries now being accepted via the expo website. Another fresh addition to the expo will be the 4x4 technical and training centre, with expert advice on a range of specialist areas, preparing you for your next trip to Fraser Island, Cape York or the Simpson Desert. The ever-popular Action Arena returns as does the Proving Ground and the Outback Stage, complete with a fully subscribed program of presentations from several of the biggest names in the industry. The Reptile Kingdom will make a belated debut, with the public able

to interact with a wide variety of fascinating reptiles, while also learning about important snake safety tips. The informative sessions seek to expel myths about reptiles, explain their importance and inspire today’s youth to have a better understanding of flora and fauna conservation. Important ticketing information To adhere to social distancing requirements, limits have been placed on the number of people entering the show at any one time. All tickets must be purchased online before the event as they will not be sold at the gate in compliance with Queensland Health contact tracing requirements, meaning each person entering the expo must have a registered ticket, including children and

infants attending. Ticket numbers are limited by the hour of entry and once an entry timeslot is sold out, the website will display all other available times. Adults tickets are available for $20 each per day, pensioners are $17 – Pensioner or DVA Gold card only, not valid for seniors or concession cards – while children under 16 years of age are admitted free. Two-day bundles are also available for $35 each and are valid for Friday plus one weekend day only, with the tickets non-transferable. The new extended opening hours are 8am to 6pm Friday and Saturday, and 8am to 5pm on Sunday. Options to get to and from the Brisbane Showgrounds include public transport and more parking than ever before has been made available onsite. To purchase tickets or for more information, check out the website at 4x4show.com.au/bris bane

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Prayers answered by weather gods

ELLO all, it looks as though we’ve finally had a month where the weather gods decided to be kind to us. After our initial summer flood in December, this month has been fairly dry, which has given the river a chance to clean itself up to a degree. It is probably going to take another month or so before we see clearer water up around Wardell and Broadwater, but things are certainly moving in the right direction. Easter is just around the corner and we all know how wet it can get around that time of year, so keep your fingers and toes crossed that we don’t see a wet one. The drier weather has meant that the mackerel season should still be a goer at this stage, if things stay reasonably dry. At the time of writing, we’ve had a few spanish mackerel show up, but they have been very inconsistent. By early March, I would expect them to have improved in numbers and have spread out around Black Head and Lennox Point. Live bait species have been a little thin on the ground as well, so I would suggest taking a backup plan when you head out next. This may be in the form of a few lures to troll, such as Halco Laser Pro 160mm or 190mm, Samaki Pacemakers, Nomad DTX Minnows or Rapala XRaps.

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Ballina Bait & Tackle by BRETT HYDE

All of these lures have been successful over the years, so make sure you have a couple of these in your tackle box. The other good back up is to have a selection of frozen troll bait such as slimy mackerel, bonito, garfish or legal tailor over 30cm. Any of these can be rigged and slow trolled around for a mackerel, as an alternative to using live bait. I am also expecting to see spotted mackerel over the coming weeks, so now is the time to organise a few rigs and check the hooks on your lures are ready to go. Out wider the current has settled down a little of late, with most days producing 1.5-3 knot current, depending where you are. Mahi mahi are still hanging around the fish aggregating devices, but they have certainly been a little inconsistent over the past couple of weeks. Try live bait, but make sure you have a few small skirted lures to troll as back up because lately this seems the best alternative. The 42 and 48-fathom lines have been producing the occasional snapper, as well as small kingfish, amberjack and a number of good quality pearl perch. Squid, mullet and pilchard have been the best types of bait to use, but the bet-

ter pearlies have come from lures in blue, pink or silver colours. Back in the river, bream and flathead in good numbers were caught from the mouth of the river to Pimlico Island. Bream have been hugging the rock walls and taking bait such as mullet or prawns. On a run-up tide, lure throwers were tempting fish using surface stickbaits, along with natural coloured soft plastics. Flathead on the other hand seem to have moved out into the deeper sections of the river. This was probably because the water would be a little saltier in those areas, and with the increase in water temperature in the river over the past month, several of these deeper sections would be a little cooler for them.

Try using live bait such as herring or poddy mullet if you are targeting larger fish and if not, prawns or pilchard have worked well of late. Bright coloured soft plastics and vibes have been successful in deeper water for those wanting to throw a lure around, but make sure you have a jig head in the 1/4-1/2oz range to stay in contact with the bottom when there’s a larger tide during a full or new moon phase. The increase in water temperature and improvement in water quality has meant whiting and mangrove jack seem to have fired up over the past couple of weeks too. As per usual, with jack try targeting the rock walls during a run-out tide. If you can organise your trip so that the run-out tide is later in the afternoon, this can work better because jack tend to be more active after they’ve had the heat of the day

to warm them up. Live or cut bait such as mullet have both had a little success lately, as have 4-5” soft plastics. But there have been a few days when jack have been a little difficult to tempt. It may be worth trying a suspending hardbody lure because they can be twitched and paused along the walls, and this can be a very effective method if jack are playing hard to get – you can leave the lure in front of them a lot longer than other lures. Whiting have also been much keener to play, with good fish taking the usual bait types of worms or yabbies during a runin tide, and larger surface lures on a run-out tide. North Creek, Mobbs Bay and several sand flats above the ferry have all been good spots to try your luck. Well, that’s about all from me this month, until next time – tight lines!

BALLINA

BAIT & TACKLE

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02 6686 2527 Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 39

BOATING & marine Insights into boat insurance

A good assessor is your best friend

GOOD marine insurance assessor can be your best friend and Nautilus Marine Insurance engages several of the best assessors in the business. The company engages specialists to determine the extent of damage done to alloy, timber and fibreglass hulls, to outboard motors, inboard engines, personal watercraft and marine infrastructure. A highly credentialled assessor knows that a boat coming off a trailer at slow speed might have incurred far more damage than the superficial graze on its side indicates. Similarly, when a boat has been reversed

into a wall, componentry other than the outboard might have been damaged. It could be the transom as well. The forces behind an impact on one side of a boat could also have done structural damage to the other side. Similarly, the appearance of damage to a propeller might not be restricted to the prop. The internal drive shafts and gears that make it turn might have been damaged. What is the condition of the outboard’s mounting points? Has damage been sustained there? What about the outboard engine’s mounting frame?

Has it been cracked or weakened? What about the ram tubes? With an expert understanding of boats, highly-credentialled assessors ensure they take into consideration other possible damage that might not be immediately evident in addition to any repairs that are obviously required. An insurer not specialising in marine insurance may use the same assessor for establishing damage to a building, damage to a caravan and damage to a boat when clearly all three have entirely different construction considerations. If a scrape down the side of a boat is simply

dismissed as being ‘a scrape down the side of a boat’ during a superficial inspection, you as the boat owner may not be getting the repair required. A specialist assessor who has spent a career assessing, inspecting and dealing with damage to vessels has a better understanding of what needs to be done. Would you use a panel beater to determine what repairs need to be undertaken on your house after a car has crashed into it? Of course not. A specialist marine insurer has the professional resources and a superior knowledge about insuring vessels than a ‘jack of all

trades’ insurer. Accordingly, specialists such as Nautilus Marine Insurance know the best ways to remove problems for the owner and other parties if things ever go pear-shaped. The specialist marine assessor will also understand if it is worthwhile undertaking a repair, regarding the vessel as a writeoff or as a repairable write-off. The specialist will also know how to recognise whether the vessel has been well looked after and will be able to determine what damage was sustained in the incident described by the boat owner. When it comes to marine insurance, always check your Product Disclosure Statement and if you have a query, ask your insurer for clarification. Any special conditions and excesses should always be explained clearly in your insurance policy’s PDS. For further information, contact Nautilus Marine Insurance on 1300 780 533 for any boat insurance requirements.

Advice in this article is general and might not apply or be right for you. Before acting on it, consider its appropriateness having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs. Nautilus Marine Insurance is a business name of NM Insurance Pty Ltd ABN 34 100 633 038 AFSL 227 186 (NM Insurance), the issuer of Nautilus Marine Boat Insurance. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement at nautilusinsurance.com.au before deciding whether to purchase a policy.

Page 40 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

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BRISBANE NORTH Holt Marine 25 Queens Rd Everton Hills Q 4053 P: 07 3353 1928 www.holtmarine.com.au GOLD COAST Nitro Marine 167 Currumburra Rd Ashmore Q 4214 P: 07 5532 5812 www.nitromarine.com.au GOLD COAST NORTH Onshore Marine Horizon Shores Marina, Cabbage Tree Point Rd Woongoolba Q 4207 P: 07 5546 2480 www.onshoremarine.com.au

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CONTACT YOUR LOCAL DEALER BRISBANE (NORTH) | Brisbane Yamaha P: 3888 1727, Bruce Highway, Burpengary, QLD www.brisbaneyamaha.com.au BRISBANE (BAYSIDE) | Wynnum Marine P: 3396 9777, 31 Fox St, Wynnum, QLD www.wynnummarine.com.au

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 43

BOATING & marine Boats powered by Yamaha’s new Offshore V6 series can be easily equipped with Yamaha’s autopilot and even joystick control, with the ability to use set point features that automatically hold the vessel’s GPS heading or position at the push of a button.

Automatic trim assist can be set to automatically trim the engine based on pre-set speed or rpm parameters.

Yamaha’s fully integrated V6 Offshore outboard range

AMAHA Marine kicked off 2021 with the release of next generation V6 Offshore outboards that deliver exciting new technology while continuing Yamaha’s proud reputation for legendary reliability and performance. The new V6 Offshore series features powerful 225, 250 and 300hp models, with premium options available in the 250 and 300hp range, including Yamaha’s new integrated digital electric steering and the choice of all-new stunning white or traditional Yamaha grey colours. Yamaha’s new V6 series is based around the proven 4.2L block, an engine platform famous for introducing high performance automotive engine technology – plasma fusion – into the marine industry. The plasma fusion process used in the production of Yamaha’s new V6 offshore series involves the thermal application of a plasma

coating on the engine’s cylinder walls. The process creates a cylinder wall 60 percent harder than steel and removes the need for conventional steel cylinder sleeves. That means larger cylinder bores for increased displacement resulting in more power and torque without increasing outer cylinder dimensions. It also results in significantly lighter weight, better cooling and ‘micro-textured’ cylinder walls that dramatically reduce internal friction, further increasing performance and enhancing reliability. To improve this already class-leading engine platform, Yamaha introduced a range of new features designed to satisfy skippers who crave advanced control and further integration into modern boating systems. The new Offshore V6 series also feature a bold new cowling design with aggressive

Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

lines that reflect the strength and performance of these powerful engines. New integrated digital electric steering The same integrated DES system introduced in Yamaha’s groundbreaking 425hp XTO Offshore outboards is now available in the new F250 and F300 V6 models. This latest boat steering technology provides smooth, fast and precise steering and unlike most conventional steering systems, only draws battery power when actively in use. DES is significantly easier to rig than conventional steering systems and creates an uncluttered bilge and transom with no steering pumps, hoses, hydraulic lines or connections, no bleeding procedure, less complexity and straightforward serviceability. It also provides customisable steering settings for steering friction and sensitivity at the helm.

Integrated DES allows the skipper to easily expand their engine capability with Yamaha’s Helm Master EX system. Boats powered by Yamaha’s new Offshore V6 series can be easily equipped with Yamaha’s autopilot and even joystick control, with the ability to use set point features that automatically hold the vessel’s GPS heading or position at the push of a button. This incredible system is available on multi engine as well as single engine setups and has turned into the must have boating capability for serious fishers and

commercial operators. The new V6 engines are also available in configurations without the integrated DES, ready to connect to traditional steering systems in 225, 250 and 300hp models for repower and other new boat applications. Thrust enhancing reverse exhaust In traditional outboard design, exhaust gasses are released through the propeller hub. In Yamaha’s new V6 models the new thrust enhancing reverse exhaust feature releases exhaust bubbles above the anti-ventilation plate well away from the pro* continued P45

Stay point functions and joystick control of Yamaha’s Helm Master EX system take it to the next level. www.bnbfishing.com. au

BOATING & marine Yamaha’s fully integrated V6 Offshore outboard range * from P44

peller when in reverse and below 2500rpm. This means the propeller bites only clean, undisturbed water, resulting in outstanding reverse thrust for improved control around marinas, tight docking situations or backing onto fish. It’s especially effective when combined with the fast precision of integrated DES, taking the stay point functions and joystick control of Yamaha’s Helm Master EX system to the next level. Next level trim and tilt system Yamaha’s all-new exclusive TotalTilt function allows the complete tilt up of the engine from any position with a simple double click of the ‘up’ trim tilt button, or full tilt down until trim ram contact by the same double click of the ‘down’ trim tilt button, for an improved user experience. There’s also a new built-in integrated tilt limiter allowing the en-

gine to be automatically set to the maximum tilt angle to suit the boat. Plus, built-in DES models tilt higher out of the water than previous models, which helps lessen the potential for corrosion in boats that are kept on the water. The new V6 Offshore series brings other premium features to the helm as standard. These include speed control, which allows the user to fine tune the speed of the boat by using a toggle switch on the throttle handle. If the speed is reduced below what can be achieved in gear, the engine will automatically enter pattern shift mode, shifting between forward and neutral to maintain a very slow speed for trolling. Automatic trim assist can be set to automatically trim the engine based on pre-set speed or rpm parameters. In multi-engine setups, the skipper can easily activate singlelever operation for more convenient control.

The V6 Offshore outboards are available in all-new stunning white or traditional Yamaha grey colours. www.bnbfishing.com.au

ActiveTarget Live Sonar views show high-resolution images of fish movements in real time and in detail.

Lowrance launches revolutionary new ActiveTarget Live Sonar

OWRANCE, a world-leading brand in fishing electronics since 1957, announced the launch of its new, high-resolution ActiveTarget Live Sonar system recently, revealing liveaction views of fish moving in and around structure as they respond to lure presentations. This new technology delivers top-ofthe-line live sonar functionality to the high-resolution HDS LIVE Ultimate Fishing System, as well as HDS Carbon and Lowrance’s recently introduced Elite FS displays – providing ActiveTarget Live Sonar connectivity with a wider range of displays and pricing options. The ActiveTarget Live Sonar views show high-resolution images of fish movements in real time and in detail. With this immediate

feedback, anglers can adjust the presentation to trigger a strike and know if more than one predator fish is active in the area. Offering three viewing options, ActiveTarget can be set to Forward, Down or Scout mode. Forward and Down views allow anglers to track fish in front of or below the live sonar transducer, and Scout mode delivers an ultra-wide, overhead view of structure and fish activity in front of the transducer – perfect for finding bait balls and big schools of fish.

ActiveTarget is a perfect complement to the Lowrance Active Imaging 3-in-1 sonar, which includes extreme high-resolution SideScan and DownScan Imaging views for finding structure, and the superb target separation of Lowrance CHIRP Sonar. ActiveTarget Live Sonar complete with black box module and transducer is the recommended retail price of $2,299.00. For more information on ActiveTarget, HDS LIVE, Elite FS or the full range of Lowrance products, visit lowrance.com

ActiveTarget Live Sonar delivers top-of-theline live sonar functionality to the high-resolution HDS LIVE Ultimate Fishing System. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 45

Caught on a Lucky Craft Sammy 65, Jo Behrens was happy with this 57cm saratoga. Photos: fishingnoosa.com.au

When flicking for tuna and mackerel, Nick Swann scored this 9.5kg giant trevally on a Nomad stickbait.

Huge species selection from inshore reefs

ITH March shaping up to be a cracker, it is this time of year we tend to see solid weather patterns come through. On the plus side, the school holidays are a distant memory and the swell keeps most of the smaller craft inside the river, making for quieter conditions offshore. The best fishing will be had over the next few months when conditions allow, with spanish mackerel in good numbers, and spotted mackerel and good longtail coming through. We can expect to see wahoo, queenfish, mahi mahi and fat coral trout from the inshore reefs. By now most offshore anglers will have bagged a big spaniard from the great fish that turned up late January and into February. If you are yet to score, the bigger fish including wahoo and an occasional large longtail are taking slow-trolled dead bait species. Small mack tuna, pike, garfish, slimy mackerel and sauries all make excellent troll bait.

Sunshine Coast by GRANT BUDD

Come in and take a look at the great range of gear for rigging the perfect bait, including nose cones, wire, skirts and solid rings. If trolling lures is your thing then Samaki Redic and Halco Laser Pro lures are very popular and come in a wide range of enticing colours. With mackerel often sitting deep, particularly after rain, owners of downriggers will do very well because you can send any lure or bait as deep as you want. Come in and ask us how these work if you aren’t getting the bite but know the fish are there. Spotted mackerel are being taken on a trusty metal slug in the 25-40g size, with Halco Twisty and Gillies Baitfish lures being the pick. High speed retrieves are key to catching mackerel and tuna, as is swapping the hooks for a quality inline single jigging hook such as a

Page 46 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

Mustad Kaiju. Doing this leads to the faster and safer unhooking of fish, not to mention a stronger hook-up. Lastly, if you are losing lures then come and ask us how to tie a haywire twist with single strand wire. This twist requires no tools and is certainly the best way to hang on to your lures for longer during a hot bite. Halls Reef and Jew Shoal play host to a mixed bag of reef fish with species including snapper, sweetlip, coral trout, cod, cobia and tuskfish. Most fish take pilchard, squid and fresh mullet strips. Quality coral trout are bitting well on Sunshine Reef with live yellowtail scad and big pilchard being the better bait options. Don’t forget to keep your bait hard on the bottom when chasing trout, lock that drag down and hold on. Another technique

worth trying on reef fish is slow jigging. Slow-fall jigs such as a Samaki Ribcage fluttering to the bottom have been responsible for many a big fish. Be sure to swap out the stock hooks to a pair of Decoy Middle Pike Twin Assist in a 3/0 size to ensure the best hook-up. Come in and check out the range of rods from Oceans Legacy, particularly the element range which are well balanced and designed for slow-pitch jigging. In the Noosa River, bream and whiting have been on the chew at the river mouth, the dog beach and Frying Pan areas. Live bait species such

as worms and yabbies have been the winners, so break out your yabby pump. Using a basic running sinker rig with a Mustad Size 4 Bloodworm Long Shank hook and a 6lb fluorocarbon leader is the way to target bigger fish. This rig also allows you to cover a lot of ground and search for fish in the current. When big easterly swells hit, baitfish get pushed into the estuary. This means bigger fish such as flathead around the 80cm mark can be caught along the drop-offs of the mouth. If unable to throw a cast net, ask us how so you can get a few mul-

* continued P47

Craig Mullet scored a huge coral trout on a pilchard. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Huge species selection from inshore reefs * from P46

let, which big fish love. Soft plastics like the Zerek Absolute Shrimp and the smaller Chasebaits Flick Prawn will get the job done for lure anglers working the drop-offs. During a first light high tide, Woods Bay will have trevally and tailor busting up baitfish. Trolling hard-body lures such as Zerek Tango Shad and Atomic Hardz Shiner works well, as does casting surface lures in the 70-

90mm size range. Live bait on a run-out tide at the back of Noosa Sound works well on mangrove jack, so be sure you’re running at least a 30lb leader and have the gear to turn a fish of such power. If you’re heading upriver, try the Tewantin ski run where school jewfish are often found. These can be tempted with soft vibes including Samaki Vibelicious Thumper Tail and Zerek Fish Trap lures. When the swell drops the beaches around

Noosa fish well for smaller dart, bream and whiting. Mudjimba Beach towards Peregian has a lot of good gutters after last month’s swells and hold dart, bream and whiting plus the occasional tailor, with bigger fish taken at dusk and night on live worm and whole pilchard. At night, jewfish often cruise the high water around Yaroomba, Point Arkwright and Noosa headland. Fishing the last half of a run-in tide tends to be

John Tate’s 120cm 15kg jewfish was captured off Yaroumba beach on worm bait.

the more popular time for capturing these bigger fish. Fresh mullet, mack tuna strip and live beachworms are best for jewies, and fresh is always best. When using worms for jew fishing, make sure the hook is an extra strong 1/0 or 2/0 Tru Turn forged worm hook and is heavily baited. If using slab bait, be sure to use bait thread to avoid losing it to small fish. This also helps streamline the bait for casting greater distances. Freshwater started to fire up again after the school holidays passed. Borumba Dam and Lake MacDonald are stocked with bass, as well as yellowbelly and cod. Be sure to throw surface lures early morning during low light and be sure to cast under overhanging branches and bushes for saratoga lying in wait. Spinnerbaits and soft plastics cast tightly

against structure will help pull those off their snag. For the deeper schooled up bass, Hot Bite Gang Banger spoons, soft vibes, blades and spinnerbaits will get you into the action, with a slow and steady retrieve. Make sure you have your stocked impoundment permit before fishing these areas and always remove any weed hanging off trailers and propellers before you leave. Now for all the latest information log onto fishingnoosa.com. au for up-to-date bar and fishing reports, don’t forget to drop into Davo’s Tackle World, Davo’s Boating and Outdoor in Noosa and Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola for all the right equipment, bait and advice to get you catching. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, and remember tight lines and bent spines!

MIG welder. It came with a Teflon liner and alloy U-roller, which you need for alloy welding. I run the next size up tip – say you’re using .9 alloy wire, I run a 1.2 tip – this lets the wire feed through the tip when everything gets hot and expands. I’ll borrow an Argon E-size bottle and regulator off my brother-inlaw and get to work. It’s been about 10 years since I used a MIG to weld alloy and even then, I’ve not done much alloy welding, so

it’s going to take a bit to get the amps right and the wire feed speed set up. Under the floor of the tinnie was full of extra survey foam I’d previously put in, so I took that out and hosed the boat down well. I found two old lures with no hooks that I’d lost years ago, sinkers, swivels, bits of fishing line, crab legs, leaves and sticks – it was a mess. I gave it another good hose down and let it dry, then I vacuumed

Trip preparations are cool bananas

I, with March not far away, what has been happening on the coast? Well, I don’t know because I haven’t been fishing or crabbing as I’m in preparation mode for a trip to Weipa in April. With the LandCruiser 80 series in good shape, there’s only one thing to do to it and that is to fit a scraper and felt kit to the left swivel hub. The bearings are good, the brakes are great, tires are in good nick – I just have to change the engine oil,

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Noosa to Fraser Coast by CRAIG TOMKINSON

the filter, fuel filter, and gearbox and differential oils, and the 80 is ready. But my poor old 5m Quintrex King was in rough shape. She had what I suspected were a few cracked frames under the false floor, possibly from years of Cape road travelling and hundreds of nautical miles at sea. So, I drilled out the

alloy pop rivets that hold the floor down and took out the 3mm alloy floor. Yep, there’s a heap of work to be done under there. I thought “Right, it’s time I bought a welder.” In last month’s story, I mentioned I was thinking of buying a TIG welder. Well, I changed my mind and I bought a 200-amp Renegade

* continued P48

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 47

The author’s 5m tinnie was prepped to have false floor frames welded back in.

The author’s biggest bunch of bananas to date.

Trip preparations are cool bananas * from P47

the dirt out and will acid wash it with alloy cleaner to get the dirt and stuff out of the cracked alloy to make it easier to weld to. I ordered two 6m lengths of alloy box 25 x 50 x 3mm to strengthen up around the seats too. Once everything turns up, I’ll get started. While waiting, the 80 was due for an engine oil change and a small repair because it had clicked over 770,400km, of which I’ve done 220,000. I know people say the 1HZ 80 series are overrated. Well, they may be compared to a doublediff lock factory-fitted turbo lifted model but compare it to the open centre diff leaf-sprung four-wheel-drives that I’ve owned in the past, and it’s a fantastic 4WD. With its limited-slip differential in the back and full coil suspension, the older I get the

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more I love the old 80. But I tell you one thing, I have towed more powerful wellequipped 4WDs than I have been towed, and it can’t be from my driving skills alone. The left-hand side swivel hub on the 80 was leaking a bit more grease than I’d prefer, so I gave it a clean with petrol and pulled the pieces off. I replaced the felt and rubber flat rings and steel flat washer and to get the new ones in, I cut them in half and put them in with the cut halfway up each side of the swivel hub, as they only leak oil and grease out the bottom, never halfway up. I will do a piece on YouTube on this in what I call ‘Tonks Tips’ – it will show what I mean and how I do it because it saves a lot of work – rather than pulling the whole front side apart. If after a while it’s still leaking, I’ll do the inner axle seal and brass spindle bush, but I think what I do fixes the leaking hub. As an aside, I love growing a few bananas plants in my back yard. I have what are supposed to be dwarf cavendish bananas but the stools I have recently grown are so big they’re possibly the bigger cavendish variety.

To grow mine I have an area of mounded soil about 3sq m, which is dug up, heavily limed, mulched and fertilised. Plant your suckers around the end of winter or beginning of spring – August or September – water well every few days until they are up. Once growing well, I heavily lime every six to eight months with a full bag of agricultural lime spread around each stool. Then I mulch them frequently with lawn clippings and hit them with Nitrophoska Special fertiliser before rain, the more the merrier within reason. In dry weather, I water them, and they love it. And I spray the butts for banana weevil borer – if you don’t spray them, the weevil group live in the bottom part of the plant known as the corm and they eat the inside of the plant. With a bunch of the borers, not much plant is left, the roots die, and the banana falls over or doesn’t grow well. I spray mine for leaf spot and speckle as well – spray under the leaves and over the top too, and only leave one or two following suckers. My last bunch out might have 15 hands – my best bunch yet. Until next month, be safe.

The author’s new MIG welder. Hope it does the job well. www.bnbfishing.com. au

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For more details contact your local Tohatsu dealer or visit www.bnbfishing.com.au

www.tohatsu.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 49

Going fresh for something different, the author caught a decent 68cm saratoga.

Jed Lee and his mangrove jack for the fishing competition.

Red dog target at TCB

Your

loc

’DAY crew, hope you are all well and have been able to get out and enjoying our beautiful Tin Can Bay over the holiday period. So how has 2021 been treating you all, full of bent rods and fresh fish I hope? We have been flat out at the shop the past few weeks – our feet have barely had time to touch the ground, let

tackle Store

Noela Kay and her first ever mangrove jack.

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Tin Can Bay by CHRIS RIPPON

alone have lunch on the odd day – so not the February we’re used to. Plenty of tourists wetting a line and loads of regulars have been keeping us super busy. Now, on to the fishing that’s been happening lately. With hot days and balmy nights, mangrove jack are one of the main targets for many fishos around Tinny. That said, the most productive time to target red dog for most is at night and for the past couple of weeks that has definitely rung true. Fresh mullet fillet fished into the snags on a 4/0-6/0 suicide hook and lightly weighted lead has proven a surefire winner. Or try fishing deeper holes in the creeks at low tide using the same setup and don’t disregard the good old pillie either. For the lure fishos, the standout hard-bodies have been Samaki

Redic DS80 and MS60, and Lucky Craft Pointer 78DD and 78XD lures, and yes they are all stocked up at The Chandlery Bait and Tackle, ready to go in to battle. The ever faithful 4.5’’ Molix RT Shad remains a favourite for the anglers skip casting deep into the shadows. Zerek Live Shrimp and Zerek Live Cherabin have also been holding their own for a soft plastic prawn imitation. When it comes to chasing snag dwellers such as mangrove jack and barramundi you need to be knocking on the back door, not the letter box. If you aren’t getting your lure deep into the cover, you are simply wasting 99 percent of your time. This is not always so at night because jack are happier to come off structure to hunt, as they have the cover of darkness on their side.

One-Stop One-Stop

Your for Boa

* continued P51

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Red dog target at TCB * from P50

This can be a good thing when tossing lures at night because no one wants to take the gelcoat off of someone else’s boat or get hung up on a pontoon! At the time of writing, our 2021 Catch and Release Mangrove Jack Fishing Competition was well underway. We had 84 dedicated anglers fishing the two-month long comp, which started on January 2 and ended on the February 28. Stay tuned for the results of this one, if the statistics are anything similar to last year, it will come down to the wire. So, there have been a good selection of fish around lately. Queenfish over 1m have been around in good numbers near Inskip Point, the bar and past the bluff recently. Mixed in with them have been nice sized giant trevally. Working poppers and large slugs around pressure points should see you get a bit of explosive action with these hard-fighting sportsfish. Alternatively, unweighted live bait have

been producing the goods. Offshore has seen great catches of reef fish, with trout, grass sweetlip, snapper and red emperor all being reported by charter crews and recreational fishos. Spanish mackerel were in good numbers for those chasing a feed and all reports have been offshore so far, with no one mentioning catches inside the bar. Trolled skirted garfish are going to work best. On that note, we have been busy tying up our pre-made skirted gar rigs for the shop – so pop in, grab a couple and a bit of fresh gar if you’re heading out. If you want to try to make your own, we are more than happy to show you how we make them up. From what we have been hearing, crabs seem to be playing hard to get over the past few weeks. A good downpour should help that situation out. But what has been playing the game is squid! Yes, squid in the bay in summer – it’s hap-

The author changed the scenery and landed a bass from Borumba Dam. www.bnbfishing.com.au

pening and it’s happening now! My wife and I landed a dozen good models the other day on a runout tide and we weren’t even targeting squid. Small micro jigs worked for us. Turned out this wasn’t a one off… after telling a bunch of customers they all came back with reports of catching good numbers of squid in the same spots. One of the young fishos even managed to bag 47 in a couple of hours on the turn of the tide. Food for thought and the table! The past couple of days off, I’ve been hitting the local dam chasing a few saratoga on the fly. It was a nice change exploring Borumba Dam. I’m definitely not an expert on dam fishing but it was fun learning a few things in the process. I managed to snag a 68cm toga and a couple of bass on the first trip – great fun on a 5-6wt rod. For the next couple of trips, I didn’t score a saratoga but I did manage a couple more bass. I’m not breaking any catch records but as I said it was a nice change and the clean up after fishing in freshwater is a quick one. Anyway, that’s is for now crew, hope to see you on the water or in the shop sometime. The Chandlery Bait and Tackle for all your boating and fishing needs. Cheers and tight lines.

Wyatt Lee and his mangrove jack for the fishing competition.

Mitchell Cooper with a nice model mangrove jack.

Jacko got this monster on a Zerek Live Shrimp. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 51

A better quality trout taken by the author.

Ben Monro and the legal trout he caught.

Shaun with a trout.

Road trip to Hervey Bay

’VE always been a big fan of getting away to destinations that I don’t get to fish often. A lot of these trips are often planned with little notice and end up with two swags and an Esky full of cold drinks driving north on a Friday afternoon. One of my friends had been talking about a spot around Hervey Bay that was holding a few

NT FOR RE t Stewar Eco d n a l Is Villa

Local Luring by KEITH STRATFORD

coral trout. He had been there a few times with other friends and always scored at least one trout to put in the Esky. My ears pricked up at these tasty little treats, so the next free weekend when the weather was friendly, we hit the road

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in search of fish for the Esky. We arrived at the Urangan boat ramp early on a Friday morning and made our way towards the first mark. The wind was blowing about five knots and was expected to drop out as the morning went on. We got to the spot and had bit of a look around. We chose a couple of different prawn imitations to start with and it wasn’t long before mine was whacked by a 40cm trout. Shaun was next with a slightly bigger model, also taken on a prawn imitation. The bites slowed down a bit as the tide picked up and the bay glassed out. Schools of longtail tuna were starting to get very active, so we chased one of them for a while with no success. We had fish swimming around the boat slurping small baitfish off the surface. I’d never seen tuna feeding in that manner before and we didn’t come close to getting one to take our lures. They seemed to be full and were only eating be-

* continued P54

Page 52 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

www.bnbfishing.com. au

That’s the thing about a get away in a Quintrex – it’s just you and your mates or family, out on the water. At your special spot, by yourselves, having fun. Catching a fish or two and a lot of laughs. No crowds, no worries. Quintrex is Australia’s number one boat brand, designed and built on the Gold Coast since Adam was a boy. We’re the best because all our boats, from tinnies to blue water rigs, are built for safety and function, ease of use and utmost reliability. So what are you doing this weekend?

Find your special fishing spot... Talk to your nearest Quintrex dealer for more info on the perfect Quintrex for you.

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Brisbane | Karee Marine 1776 Ipswich Motorway, Rocklea Q T 07 3875 1600 www.kareemarine.com.au

Sunshine Coast | Caloundra Marine 8 Baldwin St, Caloundra Q T 07 5491 1944 www.caloundramarine.com.au

Bundaberg | Boats Galore 142 Enterprise St, Bundaberg Q T 07 4152 6744 www.boatsgalore.com.au QXDEALER2021

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 53

Road trip to Hervey Bay * from P52

cause they could. We went back to the trout spot and increased our jig head weights to get to the bottom while the tide was running hard. I hooked-up to a better fish straight away, which turned out to be a 50cm trout. This started a hot bite with a few more trout, several nice grass sweetlip and a small cobia all eating our lures. A couple of ooglies were also hooked that we had no chance of landing on the light gear we were using. As the tide started to reach its peak and slow down, the fish went off the chew. We had a few fish in the Esky, so we went back to ramp and headed for the caravan park. The next morning was a bit windier. We got out to our spot after a bit of a slog and the fish were hungry. Unfortunately, someone had told the sharks about all the action and every trout we hooked was eaten. They left the grassies and the cod alone though, so we still had a bit of fun before heading back to Brisbane. A couple of weeks later I went back for an-

other go with my friend Benny. We found a lot of hungry fish, but the sharks were brutal. Benny landed the only legal trout, but only just. A shark came flying out of nowhere, right next to the boat, but missed the trout by a scale. It was a solid shark at over 3m, which gave us a bit of a surprise and definitely encouraged us to keep our body parts inside the boat. The last morning was a bit windier, so we went to River Heads boat ramp to have a look around. We didn’t go far and landed several nice flathead on the same prawn imitations we were using for trout. River Heads is a great spot to have a look at. It holds great fish including barramundi, threadfin and jewfish. On the first morning we put the boat in, I had a 70cm jewie in the boat before Benny could get back from parking the trailer. We will definitely be back for a rematch with the trout. Hopefully the growing population of sharks will be busy eating someone else’s fish next time.

A typical River Heads flathead. Page 54 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

Lorinda hauled up this beast of a giant trevally.

Healthy Hervey Bay hauls n Time to chase tuna

EY guess what? It’s blowing again… hilarious right? At least this time of the year it’s often from the southeast, which allows us a little protection from Fraser Island. With the weather gradually cooling and stabilising into autumn, we look forward to surface feeding action coming in close to shore – occasionally only five minutes from the harbour! Autumn is a sportfisher’s dream. Hervey Bay is flooded with tuna, mostly mack and longtail under 10kg, but what does it matter? They pull string, eat lures and in the case of longtail, make great sashimi. Under the surface, school mackerel should still be around – not a great string puller, but good on the table and excellent for beginners. Other species on the cards are queenfish and golden trevally. However, how often we catch these is moderated by shark activity. I personally don’t go to reefs and target resident fish because I

Fraser Guided Fishing by TRI TON

know sharks frequently reside there too. But occasionally around the roaming schools of tuna you may find other species. Please consider moving any time you encounter shark activity. At times the bait balls are that good, sharks are too lazy to chase the fish you hook. It’s easier for them to turn around and bucket mouth a bait ball. This isn’t license to take too long landing a fish though. A struggling exhausted fish is still an easy

target for even the laziest of sharks. So, land them quick and release them in healthy condition. The tuna at this time of year shouldn’t be too hard to catch. Metal slugs are cheap and cast well. I prefer 30g options and run them with single hooks such as a Mustad Big Gun 3/0. Singles make for a stressless release, especially boatside with the assistance of a dehooker tool. I favour the basic u-

* continued P55

Nick with a lovely trevally. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Josh and the typical autumn longtail tuna.

Paul with a solid diamond trevally.

Healthy Hervey Bay tuna hauls * from P54

shaped tool that you slide into the hook gape and turn the hook upside down. Lift the fish with the tool and let gravity do the rest! Only remove photoquality fish out of the water. The other favourite lure is the heavy jig head rigged plastic. I use Z-Man StreakZ and generally fast crank them, with no other action. Occasionally a twitch and jerk are handy, but that’s certainly not every day – another great

option for fast and easy release. Lastly, topwaters – note these are usually rigged with two-hook setups. I prefer one treble on the back end, as I believe it lessens gill damage as well as making release easier and faster. It’s scary being slapped in the face with a lure and six hook points that are still attached to a thrashing pelagic. That’s coming from someone who does it for a living and never dehooks trebles without pliers or a tool.

Lorinda with a pretty spanish mackerel.

> Hervey Bay > Fraser Island > Sandy Strait

Get into the best fishing action! Full and half day tours All levels of experience Experienced guide

Mav loved surface feeding. Tuna and mackerel were on the cards for him. www.bnbfishing.com.au

www.fraserguidedfishing.com.au > 0427 230 261 Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 55

Offshore mixed bag n Tips to secure a feed

K A nice red emperor from the 18 Mile area.

A perfect specimen redthroat emperor from around Herald Patches.

A very happy trout angler.

A stunning trout from Herald Patches. Page 56 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

IND weather conditions provided offshore anglers the opportunity to head out to their favourite haunts and bag a few good fish. With sharks appearing to be an ever-present threat to a good fish – particularly if it is red – those anglers fishing less popular spots have landed a greater percentage of their hooked fish whole. Areas such as 18 Mile and Herald Patches have yielded good bags. If you do happen to get sharked, it usually signals a need to move before you experience the frustration of more taxed fish and lost gear. Don’t inadvertently set up a berley trail by throwing frames and fish scraps over the side that will attract sharks when you’re fishing. I usually keep mine in a bucket or similar until it’s time for a big move and then discard them over the side after we have moved off the fishing spot. Chris and Brett had success fishing both 18 Mile and Herald Patches recently. Chris landed a nice red emperor using a whole mullet fillet from the 18 Mile area. Chris and Brett both enjoyed landing a few sizeable red throat and trout from Herald Patches using slimy

Bundaberg Region by BRAD YOUNG

mackerel and yakka for bait. Rain stirs up prawns A recent heavy downpour, mainly along our coastal areas, has apparently livened the prawns up. It’s not hard to tell when they start a run in the Burnett River and coming weekends should be crackers, with a spring tide or two providing plenty of water movement. Flotillas of small tinnies with two people cast netting in turn are easy to spot. Gatherings of tinnies can often be seen around the sugar loading terminal in the Burnett, and also occasionally upstream near Strathdees. Don’t forget to try the upper reaches of the Elliott and the Kolan rivers too, especially near the entrances to the mud drains from among the mangroves, as this is where prawns will often congregate. Another by-product of recent rain should be more movement and easily accessible mud crabs, after being flushed from their usual habitat. While we have not had a flood to push them right to the river and creek mouths, there seems to have been enough rain to bring them into the open areas of creek

and river systems. Rivers fishing well The Burnett River has had quite a lot of bait in it recently and catches of grunter and other predatory species have been reported. Shane from Tackle World Bundaberg has had recent success with grunter and will share a few tips if you’re keen to target them. While I am certain he won’t share his secret spot, he is generous in sharing his knowledge to help keen anglers get a start. Mackerel appearing Spanish mackerel are usually available off our coastline at this time of year. Early morning at dawn is the best time to target these hard fighters. Make sure you have a wire trace and about 10m of heavy leader to help ensure your catch. My favourite lures for these fish at different depths are Rapala, particularly the rattlers. Make sure you set the alarm for an early morning run to target these speedsters. As always, I can be contacted via email at f ish nboat@bigpond. com or via post a PO Box 5812, Bundaberg West Queensland 4670. Until next month…

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Chasing hungry jacks

HE Kolan River on the north side of Bundaberg was and still is a fantastic river system. This river system is very close to where I grew up – one of the first places I got the bug for chasing mangrove jack and barramundi. Head north towards Agnes Water from Bundaberg and turn off to Yandaran, then follow the signs to Miara Holiday Park. There are a couple of boat ramps, but this one is the most accessible, especially if you’re travelling through. Miara is the mouth of the Kolan River and offers sandy beaches, shady trees, powered and unpowered sites, a cement boat ramp a short drive away and everything else camping by the river offers. I was working away for most of last year, as we have to do, but leading up to the Christmas period this year I was able to come home. I worked way out west, carting cattle in doubledecker triple road trains in the harshest country Australia has. This country can be lush and supports livestock very well during the wet season, and after the run-off water works its way down from the gulf, it turns the desert country into an amazing place full of life. Spectacular scenery you couldn’t imagine. When it dries out however, times can get very tough, for stock as well as people. Even though this country can be so hard, it’s certainly well worth seeing, as is supporting and mixing with the residents of the smaller www.bnbfishing.com.au

Fishing Tips by HELEN ABDY

towns dotted through the outback country. Put the outback on your bucket list of places to visit. Back to now though – after settling in back home, I headed to the Kolan for a few days of chasing mangrove jack. They are such a hardfighting fish and can take you into the snags before you know you’re hooked up. You have to be ready because it can happen so quickly. Typically, they’ll be hiding close to or in structure and at the right time will dart out, grab your lure and head straight back. When they grab your lure it’s usually after they’ve turned and are heading back into the snag, hence the quick hard takes. The best times to chase them are ideally when they’re feeding and when the tide turns. I prefer the last of an outgoing tide and first of a run-in. Occasionally that means an early start or a late finish to the day, but if that’s not convenient, get out there when you can and find spots such as rock bars and overhanging timber with deeper water nearby. Structure is where jack will hold – you need a bit of movement in the tide and keep pestering these areas. I troll for them initially because the lure will be at depth for longer than if casting. As the tide drops the lure will be closer to

the bottom, which can be good. If you’re snagging up too much, either swap to a shallower lure or move into deeper water. Stagger your track when trolling – it’s amazing what you’ll find – rock ledges or parts can get into the middle of creeks but never come out of the water, even with the lowest tide. Mangrove jack can turn up anywhere, particularly when out hunting, but during feeding times they will hold close to structure. When you’ve trolled up and back enough and have worked out the lay of the land, you can sit out from the structure and pepper casts into and around the spots. When jack aren’t hungry or not in a bite window, a lure jigged or slow rolled enough times right past his nose may be all it takes to hook up. Experiment with different lures and retrieves, and knowing an area well gives you a real advantage. Because these fish live around rocky areas and even timber country, you are probably going to get snagged at times, so having a good lure retriever is essential. Snagging up can mean you are at least getting your lure into the right places. Watch the sounder and use a lure that’s going to work to that depth. Jack certainly are an exciting fish to target. Hope you’re all staying safe and getting a bit of fishing time in.

Big or small, they all fight hard.

The author’s PB flathead of 78cm was a good surprise when trolling for jacks.

The author loves chasing jacks. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 57

Oceancraft 6000 Extreme Reef Fisher

INDING the one boat that does it all may feel unachievable. However, the deckedout 6000 Extreme Reef Fisher by Ocean Craft manages to tick most of the boxes, making it a very versatile boat. Unique in design, Ocean Craft boats are constructed to handle almost any condition,

Boat Review by BEN COLLINS

inshore and offshore. The large buoyancy chambers – a feature of the boats – and the Posi Lift hull ensure they ride well, deflect the spray and keep you safe. Plus, these boats can be customised, so you

Plenty of room at the helm to store electonics.

This boat was customised with a dive door.

can tailor them to your needs. I recently tested a 6000 Extreme Reef Fisher, which was set up for a mix of inshore and offshore fishing and spear fishing or diving. One noticeable option on the boat was the electric motor fitted at the bow. Due to the hull design, the boat can float in shallow water and, with the addition of an electric motor and casting platform, the functionality of this boat is greatly increased. These days, electric motors are being used instead of anchoring offshore or to control your drift. However, as this particular vessel also needed to be anchored, the owner opted to fit an electric Savwich under the front casting platform. Though rated to take a maximum of 170hp, this boat was fitted with a 140hp 4-stroke Suzuki, which provided ample power and punch. The white Suzuki

The hull design ensures a smooth and dry ride. Page 58 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

also had solid figures in terms of fuel usage, with the vessel getting 2.2km/L at 3700rpm. When the throttle was opened a bit more to 5500rpm it was still getting 1.7km/L. In terms of deck or fishing space, in sort there’s a lot. The large rear deck has ample space to comfortably fish four people, though six would also fit because there’s an impressive amount of space on this 6m vessel. A front casting platform allows for a mix of lure fishing or a good vantage point for fighting other fish. Combined with 10 rod holders, live bait tank, bait board and a tied down Esky, you have a well set up fishing rig. In terms of storage, there are several large hatches and pockets that would hold tackle bags, or you could customsie further and set them up to take individual tackle trays. Additional storage under the front casting deck and in a cabinet within the helm area has a clean design that will hold large electronics. There is also a captain’s seat, which in this vessel was hydraulic. Extra seating is possible on the front tubes,

but if you were planning on taking the family out regularly, a rear bench seat would be a good option. Overall, Ocean Craft boats are built for a purpose, and that is as a solid workhorse. In this instance for fishing and diving, with a dive door added to make getting to the water with your dive gear on easier. A rear ladder aids in getting back into the boat. Performance-wise, the hull design and efficient Suzuki means you have a well-performing boat that can handle the chop. The test boat easily jumped onto the plane and could also hold at low revs. On the test day we played a little in the Caloundra Bar, which I would have classed as average due to the wind and waves. Despite not having the finish of few other custom alloy boats, the Ocean Craft range is worth checking out for their ruggedness and performance in a host of conditions. For more information on this particular model or other in the Ocean Craft range, visit oceancraft.com.au or call Mike on 0416 293 686.

Large storage hatches are a feature of this boat. www.bnbfishing.com. au

BASS HUNTER 480

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 59

Majorcraft Dangan Egi Fluorocarbon

THE Majorcraft Dangan Egi FC or Fluorocarbon is a new leader range for squid fishing. Majorcraft’s engineers have spent countless hours to ensure that the Dangan Egi FC has properties such as flexibility, excellent abrasion resistance, and strong knot holding abilities. They also added a slippery coating to extend the flight distance of light squid jigs. Fluorocarbon is a popular leader material due to its low stretch, low water absorption, and low visibility. It is excellent at communicating barely there bites along the line and up to the rod. It comes in a handy travel spool size of 30m and is available in 6, 8, 10 and 12lb. Visit www.majorcraft.com.au or facebook.com/majorcraftaus for more information.

This portable cup holder will keep your drink from getting knocked over in almost any situation! To use simply set the Anchor down and insert your favourite cup. The Smartgrip suction base keeps your beverage upright while being hit or rocked. To remove simply lift straight up. From a lack of cup holders on a rocking boat to wagging dog tails, this product will keep your drink upright, and accident-free. Features • Smartgrip Technology: Patented unidirectional suction design makes it hard to tip, but easy to lift • Universal Fit: Securely fits all popular 16oz-32oz tumbler cup brands and most insulated water canteens • Stainless Steel: Stainless steel walls with a durable rubber interior • Comes in two colours: Teal and white. The Anchor is a SRP of $39.90, and more information can be found at www.zman.com.au

Page 60 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

Fat Betty shirts arrive

Z-Man 3” Baby GOAT

The Anchor from Toadfish Outfitters

DON’T just anchor your boat… anchor your beverage! The Anchor is a universal non-tipping cup holder designed to secure your favorite cup or drinkware container and anchor it to any smooth surface.

Soft and buoyant, the 10X Tough ElaZtech construction means more fish per lure and a natural ‘claws up’ stance when at rest on the bottom, attracting fish and triggering strikes. Buzzing the surface, swimming the flats, twitching the drains or hopping deeper structure, the 3” Baby GOAT covers multiple presentations, while also being right at home as a ChatterBait, spinnerbait, buzzbait and skirted jig trailer. Weedless or standard rigged, fresh or salt, bottom to topwater, the Baby GOAT could well be the most versatile presentation in your kit. Initially available in six colours, with six per pack and a SRP of $15.30. For more information visit www.z-man. com.au

FROM buzzing topwater to hopping deep structure, the Baby GOAT will get the bites! Designed with versatility in mind, the 3” Baby GOAT has the power to thump and vibrate at all retrieve speeds, thanks to the twin action tails that feature the same unique curved paddle tail design found on other proven Z-Man plastics. The GOAT’s segmented, slightly flattened torso transitions to dual thinskinned kicking legs, each finished with a pulsating, deeply cupped paddle.

YOU’VE seen the lures and now you can wear Fat Betty, with the release of the Wilson Fat Betty fishing shirt. Fat Betty is an iconic colour in the lure world, being loud and proud and firmly linked forever with the Zerek Fish Trap, where the Fat Betty colour first appeared. The Fat Betty fishing shirt is UPF 50+ rated for the ultimate in sun protection and comes in sizes from S through to 4XL. The shirt is long sleeved with thumb holes built into the cuffs to allow protection of the back of the wearer’s hands while fishing. A standard collar and button up neck finish off these shirts that do Fat Betty proud. Check them out at your nearest tackle store or drop over to the Fat Betty 4 Lyfe Facebook page for all the latest goings on in the world of Fat Betty. www.bnbfishing.com. au

The Live Shrimp Hot Legs is an ideal lure for chasing flathead in the estuaries with the hop and drop retrieve.

It’s a prawn thing T

HE arrival of the Zerek Live Shrimp lure created a stir unlike that of many other lures in Australia. This lure catapulted to the top of the charts and, after more than five years on the market, still maintains its place at the top of the heap. But what is it about the Live Shrimp that makes it such a user-friendly lure? And where has the development of this phenomenon gone? Back to the start The Live Shrimp is a prawn-shaped soft plastic lure constructed from virtually indestructible thermo plastic. It has a host of features that makes it an exceptional piece of lure engineering and allows it to be rigged in multiple fashions. Three sizes – 2”, 3.5” and 5” – means there is a Live Shrimp suitable for every species in Australia. Let’s look at the features first. The Live Shrimp has unique rigging slots in the body to shield the weedless worm hook, making the lure virtually snag-proof while maintaining exceptional fish-hooking abilities. The tail is segmented

www.bnbfishing.com.au

to provide a realistic tail action and these segments are held together by Kevlar matting to give the tail exceptional durability. The legs are stiff, however this relates to their action in the water, as they quiver realistically rather than fold up and over the body, as they do in softer materials. The Live Shrimp also comes with an in-built rattle chamber to add extra sonics to the lure. The rattle can be removed when rigging the Live Shrimp on a jig head or if you feel the extra sonics are not required. Lastly fluorescent eyes add extra visual appeal to an already amazing lure. Yes, there’s a lot to the Live Shrimp. Add that it’s available in over a dozen super realistic colours and the fact the Live Shrimp won best soft lure at the AFTA Trade Show on its release and it’s easy to see the credentials this lure has. In the field The Live Shrimp is at its best in the field – when anglers are throwing it at fish. The most basic retrieves for this lure is the drop and hop technique.

This method is simple to master, with the angler simply casting the lure out to the target and letting the lure drop through the water column or structure and then hop it a couple of times before allowing it to drop again. The lure can be hopped subtly or harshly and with large hops or small hops, it’s totally up to the you and the situation you find yourself fishing. This retrieve has the lure resembling a real shrimp or prawn and is extremely effective in thick cover, be that snags, rocks, reef or weed. A different retrieve is the slow roll. This is also a very simple retrieve, with the lure simply being slowly wound back to the angler after the cast. The mechanics involve the angler casting the lure out, allowing it to sink to the desired depth and then slow rolling the lure back. You can mix this retrieve up with little shakes of the rod or rod tip pulses to give the lure a little more action, but this is not always necessary. This retrieve takes advantage of the stiffer legs mentioned earlier, * continued P62

Jarrod Day with a Live Shrimp munching black jewfish from Weipa. Wherever prawns are found, the Live Shrimp is an incredibly good lure to use.

Josh Usher with a Copeton cod that inhaled the Live Cherabin 6”.

Paul Kanafa with a fairly typical saltwater barramundi. They just love the Live Shrimp Hot Legs.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 61

It’s a prawn thing * from P61

Scott Fleming with an estuary-based snapper that found the subtle retrieve of the Live Shrimp Hot Legs too much to resist.

Golden snapper, fingermark or simply choppers, it doesn’t matter what you call them, they love smashing the Live Cherabin.

as they look life-like – vibrating and wriggling. These leg movements resemble the legs of a real shrimp as it swims through the water. Extra live love With the success of the Live Shrimp, several other models in the Live range were designed and released. The first of these was the Live Cherabin, a similar lure that was designed to look a lot more like the larger freshwater shrimps found in northbased freshwater rivers and lagoons. The Cherabin comes in two sizes, 4” and 6”, and can also be rigged with the supplied weedless worm hook or a jig head, however the tow point is in a different location coming out of the top of the head of the plastic rather than the nose. The Cherabin is a more slender profile but with a robust head and long forward feelers. There are also different colours available, yet many of the same strengths of the Live Shrimp are retained such

as the Kevlar webbing in the tail, the internal rattle chamber and the TPE used in its construction. The most recent addition to the Live range is the Live Shrimp Hot Legs. This lure is almost a hybrid between the original Live Shrimp and the Cherabin, with features of both seen in this version. The big difference with the Live Shrimp Hot Legs is the body plastic, while still being TPE it’s a softer compound allowing for extra movement in the long feelers and the legs. The extra movement in the legs is important because the Live Shrimp Hot Legs features highlight tips on all the legs in all the colours. Many of these highlights are UV enhanced, however not all are. The non-UV leg tips are bold and black, creating a real contrast to the rest of the legs and the bodies. The final difference is a slender body when compared to the original Live Shrimp. This gives the lure a

real finesse that is difficult for others to copy. The Live Shrimp Hot Legs also comes in two sizes, 3” and 4”, and with two hook styles – the omnipresent weedless worm hook for serious structure and the stand-up jig head for more open areas such as mud flats, sandy stretches and freshwater lakes, where you want the lure to sit with its tail up wafting around. Summary The Live Range from Zerek is a revolution in soft plastic fishing. From the smallest 2” Live Shrimp up to the 6” Live Cherabin, there is a size, colour and profile that will perfectly match your local crustaceans. This range is definitely not only a saltwater range, with all the big name freshwater species also dining on these ultra-realistic shrimp representations. From barramundi, mangrove jack and king threadfin salmon up north to trout, bream and redfin down south, the Live Range from Zerek is a range that simply produces fish again and again.

Somewhere down that gullet is a Live Shrimp Hot Legs. There is no better proof of concept than a barramundi smashing the lure so hard you can barely see it!

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The Live Cherabin provides a larger profile and is a sensational lure to use up north where big black jewfish are found. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Jason Howard with a Port Alma beast king threadfin salmon taken on a Zerek Fish Trap.

Luke Peisker and a nice salty barramundi captured on a Jackall Squirrel.

Best times to fish Capricorn Coast

HERE is the time going? Before we know it, the Easter bunny will be knocking on the door. Strap yourselves in for the next few months because on the Capricorn Coast from March through to May is the best time of the year to hit the estuaries. At the time of writing, the gates of the Fitzroy River Barrage have been opening and closing sporadically. There’s a lot of weed making fishing difficult and the water clarity resembles that of a chocolate milkshake. Several local jetty anglers have been scoring the occasional nice barramundi, but they have been resorting to live bait such as spangled perch. They are hardy little monsters… if you can get them. The better barra landed have been at night around any of the lights along the riverbank. Most of the fresh has stayed in the top half of the river systems, so on a good tide the mouth of Casuarina Creek and the Fitzroy River mouth may be worth a look. Quality barra have also been caught out at Port Alma. www.bnbfishing.com.au

Capricorn Coast by JOHN BOON

There’s a creek that runs through the middle of Balaclava Island, which the locals have named Bob’s Creek. This is a fantastic place to find barramundi structure such as bank slips and snags. If you drive through on low tide you can find the snags very easily. High-quality side imaging will tell you if the snag is worth a cast or not. If you don’t have that luxury, give them a cast anyway. Use a selection of lures such as hard-bodies, prawn imitation, paddle tails and soft vibes. You never know what the fish will want on the day. Take it one step further and get a couple of live mullet to soak in case the bite is a bit tough – believe me it happens. While you’re searching for barra, you will most likely come across schools of king threadfin salmon. A sight on the sounder of one to two hundred 1.2m plus threadies will get you excited, and if

it doesn’t, maybe you should take up bream fishing? From now through to around September, those threadies will school up hard, making it much easier to get a lure in front of a nose. When kings are scattered, things get tough. It’s not impossible to catch them when they’re spread out, but the odds are better with multiple fish in close proximity to each other. We generally stick with soft vibes and prawn imitations when targeting threadies. If you’re not overly confident throwing lures, then a good old live prawn will do the trick. Make sure you do your best to get it in front of them. On a recent trip with good friend Jason we landed six good threadies between 1.1-1.4m for a half-day session. It’s not always this easy, they are occasionally hard to find, so investing time into searching is a great idea. Estuary fingermark

continue to fire at Port Alma and Coorooman Creek. The best fishing have been off the wrecks and rubble patches. We have also been pulling them off snags when targeting barra – it’s always great to have that type of quality bycatch. Mud crabs have been steady by reports, but they seemed to have fired up towards the mouth of the river and Casuarina, thanks to that little fresh flush. Anglers doing well have been keeping their reef fish frames and using them as soon as possible. Remember fresh is always best. On the offshore scene, one species that has been fishing well in the weather windows are golden trevally. We have seen a few

cracking schools of these fish and they fight as though possessed. Once they get over 90cm, they are a proper handful. Red emperor and large-mouth nannygai continue to be caught in good numbers and sizes. The fishers finding isolated structure between reef systems appear to be doing well. A lot of the nannies have been hitting jigs and falling lures about halfway down the water column. Keep this in mind when sounding new locations, as nannygai schools tend to sit quite high off the bottom. Well, that’s it from me for this month. I ran out of time to get a report together for the recent Shimano King of Kings competition, so tune in next month for all the hot gossip.

Geoff Peet caught this lovely Corrooman Creek fingermark. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 63

Barramundi are back on the target list and locals have had success using lures.

Lure fishing in the creeks has turned up good numbers of estuarine predators such as this blue salmon.

Coming back on-line

Baily caught this good quality fingermark weighing just over 5.1kg on a lure.

E all know that this is the ideal time to be chasing fish and many of the fishos staying with us did just that. Using predominately lures nice barramundi, fingermark, grunter and bream were caught. With the contentious issue of the black jewfish ongoing, quite a few have been caught over the past months, with recreational and local professionals

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Stanage Bay by JOHN GLANFORD

chasing them. If chasing black jew, it’s important to fish the right tide, have good quality bait – usually squid and pilchard – use reasonably heavy gear and make sure you are for the most part fishing and holding bottom. Sportsfishos still land them on light gear. There’s a limit of one black jew per person and a maximum of two per boat. Crabbing to date has been quite slow for Stanage expectations, yet there are still monster Stanage mud crabs being snagged. Make sure you’re using quality heavy duty crab pots, that the pot is firmly on the bottom using fresh bait and move your pots daily – this is the best way to catch these elusive critters. Call in and see us at Stanage Bay Marine

Centre for any further information on local crabbing. The road into Stanage has been graded but since then we’ve had a bit of rain, which in turn has chopped it up a bit. Drive to conditions and enjoy the trip in, it’s well worth doing if only for the scenery. Roadworks are being carried out on the road at the moment and a number of double tippers carting from Hollins Bay quarry back towards Torilla, so be very careful of these. A larger than normal police presence has been noticed on Stanage Bay Rd for whatever reason. I certainly hope we have a lot more to report for you next month, but it’s always a bit quieter here at this time of year. Cheers for now.

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The author’s most memorable barramundi trip featured the ‘Daly Double’, a duo of monster fish taken on consecutive days at the Daly River in the Northern Territory while fishing with good friend Larry Lockwood. One was a 120cm taken on a cast Sure Catch vibe, the other at 119cm while trolling with an Ollie Hardt hand-made Mac-ray.

Looking back at 50 years of fishing tales

Y old friend and lifetime fisho the late Ron ‘Demo’ Dempster loved Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám and gifted a copy of this wonderful book to me, which I have treasured since. Its message is very clear – we’re only on this earth for a short while, so we must make the most of every day! It certainly doesn’t feel like 50 years since my first magazine article was published in the Australian Angler in 1971! I was as proud as punch that my contribution titled ‘Fraser Island by 4WD’ had been accepted by the legendary editor the late Ron Calcutt, as his magazine was leading the way in the ‘new’ sportfishing movement that spread like wildfire throughout the country. They were heady days indeed, with almost every issue featuring fresh

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Trip to the Tip by DAVE DONALD

techniques or adventures that were changing the way Aussie fishers approached their pastime. Perhaps a quote from that article would put those days in perspective: My first visit to Fraser early this year in an old FJ Holden was enough to convince me to trade in my Mini Cooper S on a 1963 Toyota Landcruiser. Since then, almost all of my trips have been at weekends, usually once a month when the tide allows maximum fishing time on the Island. In those days, it was a five-hour drive to the ferry crossing at Inskip Point from my home in Ipswich. Having cut my fishing teeth casting Alveys for whiting, bream, flathead

and tailer, I joined the newly formed Brisbane Sportfishing Club and was suddenly hearing whispers about mysterious species such as mangrove jack, bass and tuna. There was a fishing world out there ready to be explored and tested that I hardly knew existed. No better way to enhance my passion than to share my experiences with other fishers by writing about them. So here I am, five decades later still fishing and scribbling away after sharing my writing skills through a career that included work as a medical laboratory technician, tackle shop owner – twice – boat sales and brokerage, and several stints as a charter operator and guide.

The last 30 years I’ve been living in God’s own country, based in National Parks Australia for the initial seven and then as a Weipa resident for most of the other 23. During those years, I’ve had hundreds of articles published in just about every Aussie fishing and adventure magazine and a few others, as well as appearing in a heap of video and TV productions. If I had to single out a couple of my most memorable articles, ‘From Culm to Cast’ in FishLife magazine in 2017 – where I documented building a split cane fly rod from scratch under the eye of master craftsman Nick Taransky – was one of the most satisfying projects of my life, and an Inside Sport feature on our own Kim BainMoore, the first Aussie male or female ever to make the US Bassmas-

ters finals, certainly come very quickly to mind. What’s also interesting is that Inside Sport paid more than double for that story than any other publication I’ve dealt with! Which brings me to the rather tricky subject of writer payment and sponsorship – editor Ben, I’m being candid here, not suggesting a raise. While Australia’s tackle industry generates an estimated $2 billion plus in sales every year, our turnover is small biccies in comparison to the enormous US market and major tackle companies. What this means in real terms is that few fishing writers or celebrities are able to make a living from full-time writing and promoting their sport in our country as the industry dol* continued P66

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 65

The author’s most memorable barramundi trip featured the ‘Daly Double’.

Looking back at 50 years of fishing tales * from P65

The first fish caught on the newly constructed 5-weight split cane fly rod featured in the ‘From Culm to Cast’ article – a 3.7kg rainbow trout from 28 Gates farm stay in Tasmania.

The author’s first cover appearance, a Fraser Island oyster cracker (snub nosed dart or permit) taken on a home-made Sportex beach rod and Daiwa spin reel loaded with 10lb Tortue line. Cover shots had to be taken on a large format camera in those days to get the print quality needed. The camera was a Yashica 2.25 square. Page 66 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

lars, based on how many people are going fishing and using their products, are just not there. The recent shift to digital technology and subsequent harvesting of advertising by the global tech companies have exacerbated that equation even more. So, when you consider that way back in the 1970s I was being paid better than a week’s wages for an article published in the Australian Angler, that’s definitely not the case in these ‘enlightened’ times. Sure, we’ve had writers and communicators – Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling, Andrew ‘ET’ Ettingshausen, Rex Hunt and my good friend Warren Steptoe – manage to make a buck or two, but it’s hard going scratching around for dollars in our relatively small market. To illustrate how the other half lives, US fly fishing writer John Gerach – hardly a wellknown name outside of his fraternity – made enough from a column that was printed in a couple of major newspapers each week to live and fish extensively as a full-time occupation for decades.

US pro tournament fishers such as our own Carl Jocumsen routinely have sponsors lining up to furnish them with everything from vehicles and boats to tackle and electronics when they make a name on the circuit. Recreational fishing is an enormous industry over there. But, there’s more to writing than mere dollars – reminiscing and sharing personal experiences has always been my primary motivation. Over the years, recreational fishing has largely changed its focus from kill and grill to a much more responsible limit your catch attitude and that transition has been largely due to writers and TV programs promoting a more responsible and ethical approach to their fishing activities. Rex, Starlo and Kaj ‘Bushy’ Busch took the message wholesale to our screens but similar to myself many regular writers have been chipping away at this theme for a long time. It’s all very well to be altruistic but when you have a family to support the dollars have to come from somewhere. After selling my tack-

le shop in Yeppoon in 1981, I decided to start a guided fishing business, but it wasn’t the time or the place. However, the lessons learned eventually allowed to me combine my writing skills with my day-to-day occupation, that of a fishing guide at Cape York Wilderness Lodge at the tip of the Cape. By the time I resettled my family in Weipa seven years later, my pioneering efforts and experience in northern Australian fishing tours came together to consolidate into a viable business venture that included a wonderful remote lifestyle and provided numerous ingredients for my magazine articles. One of the many lessons learned concerned business promotion via fishing writers. While my articles and columns featured mostly business-related events, the coverage given by visiting journalists definitely provides a more credible and independent view of your operation. In the early days, it was usual for tourism departments to send all sorts our way.

* continued P67

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Looking back at 50 years of fishing tales * from P66

After experiencing several journos who were only there for the junket, I quickly learned to pick and choose my visitors – writers who knew the ropes and submitted to the best magazines. In that way, our business got value for money rather than giving away a freebie. I’ve met quite a few fishers over the years who’ve sought advice on becoming fishing writers. If you’re in that category, the following tips may assist. For a start, read widely from novels and historical books rather than the usual dribble on social media. Writing well requires a good vocabulary as well as being able to draw on a variety of literature styles. In these days of spellchecks and other edit-

ing tools, it’s still important to be familiar with punctuation and presentation. Perhaps the most helpful subject in developing my writing was during my Queensland University of Technology days – a supplementary course titled ‘English Expression’. A correspondence course in journalism also provided the skills needed to differentiate a magazine submission from a news article. Anything you personally write or submit for publication becomes your copyright and cannot legally be used without your permission. It is important that any terms of use are negotiated with the editor before publication. The digital age has unfortunately made the plagiarising of material and photos much less manageable these days but should be something

aspiring writers and photographers are well aware of. Well, writing has been a large part of my journey as a passionate fisher. If I’ve helped or brought enjoyment to a few of you then my efforts have been worthwhile. Perhaps words from my feature, ‘A Day at the Office’ published in Modern Fishing in April 1993 is a pertinent endpiece. “Here’s the man with the world’s best job!” I’ve lost count of the number of times clients have greeted me this way. For many, the salutation is genuinely believed, their judgement no doubt influenced by the healthy voyeurism provided by the ‘Penthouses’ of the

fishing press… However, the truth must eventually be told and who better to

pen the ‘confessions of a fishing guide’ than a well-credentialled bloke like myself!

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DAM LEVELS CURRENT AS OF 18/2/2021

DAMS

The author’s first published magazine article ‘Fraser Island by 4WD’ in the Australian Angler in 1971. www.bnbfishing.com.au

PERCENTAGE

JAN FEB OCT NOV DEC Atkinson 5 3 5 5 5 Awoonga 49 47 61 61 60 Bjelke-Petersen * 11 10 12 12 11 Boondooma * 26 25 31 30 30 Borumba * 79 79 84 82 78 Burdekin Falls * 114 104 79 73 65 Callide * 22 21 24 24 23 Cania * 37 37 45 43 40 Coolmunda * 20 18 29 29 25 Dyer/Bill Gunn * 3 3 3 3 3 Eungella * 82 82 85 83 78 Fairbairn * 13 12 10 9 8 Glenlyon * 14 13 15 14 14 Hinze* 101 100 89 87 85 Julius 98 104 82 80 77 Kinchant * 82 83 76 71 66 Leslie * 11 10 12 12 12 Macdonald* 105 99 94 94 87 Maroon * 55 56 51 42 46 Monduran/Fred Haigh * 46 47 54 52 49 Moogerah * 15 14 21 20 17 North Pine/Samsonvale * 72 71 54 53 51 Peter Faust/Proserpine * 62 61 63 61 58 Somerset * 78 78 76 75 74 Teemburra * 99 97 97 95 94 Tinaroo* 58 64 61 57 50 Toonumbar 101 100 63 61 54 Wivenhoe * 38 37 43 42 40 Wuruma * 43 42 53 50 45 Wyaralong* 91 90 93 93 91 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.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 67

C ARAVANNING & adventure The beach out the front of the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort.

Dolphins cruising past at feeding time.

Big bucket list tick for Monkey Mia

HIS month, we would like to talk about Monkey Mia in Western Australia. This was definitely on our bucket list of places to see around Australia. I still remember when I was a young whipper snapper seeing a TV program about the wild dolphins in the Monkey Mia region – I was amazed and blown

Caravanning by TODD EVELEIGH

away by them and the scenery on the wild west coast. This was also a mustsee place for my wife Raylene, as she is a bit of a fan of dolphins around Australia. To woo her, one of the first dates I took her on was swimming

with the dolphins at Sea World. I have to say we had a fantastic time at the Monkey Mia Dophin Resort, even after hearing conflicting stories about it being overpriced and over publicised, I would have to disagree.

Fellow travellers Katie and Jessie with Dustin and Bridie. Page 68 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

Yes, it was up there in the price range of a good caravan park, but this place was more like a resort for caravanners rather than a caravan park. We were lucky when we were there because it was a quieter season, with just enough travellers for that happy vibe. From amazing amenity blocks – that felt more ‘ensuite in a flash hotel room’ – to the amazing resort-style swimming pools that were surrounded by restaurants and bars. Plenty of happy hours were available, which funnily enough wasn’t at just one bar – they were spread out over the resort where one happy hour would turn into three by doing a bit of a bar crawl around the resort. Amazing camp kitchens were supplied too, which would have been at home on the MasterChef show, as well as a couple of incredible games rooms – we found ourselves having family ping pong cham-

pionships and rivalry games between fellow travellers quite often. It really was a nice spot for us to just chill out and enjoy the resort-type atmosphere, as we had been doing a lot of free and national park camping. The views from the caravan over Monkey Mia were absolutely breathtaking and we had several beautiful clear days with almost glassed out conditions. We also had a couple of episodes of crazy interaction with the local emus and their chicks, who would come right up to you and scavenge around the camp site looking for anything to eat. They truly were not fazed by people one bit – they would also make their way into the buffet and restaurants at times for a little poke around to the amusement of diners. The dolphin-feeding experience was incredible, and they were very interactive with people, * continued P69

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C ARAVANNING & adventure

Big bucket list tick for Monkey Mia * from P68

coming extremely close and a few lucky people were chosen from the crowd to feed these incredible animals. Touching of the dolphins was not allowed, as this can hurt them over a period of time. The park rangers were very informative about the movements and family dynamics of the dolphin pod that would come in daily. Not all of the dolphins in the pod would come in, a few would go missing and be replaced by others, but it was cool to see a couple of new mums with their young. They are even cuter when they are tiny. After dolphin-feeding hours, you could be having a swim in the ocean or paddling on a stand-up paddle board and dolphins would come close to check what you were doing, an experience you weren’t expecting and one you will never forget. Another little past time was to go scooping sand crabs in the crystal-clear water right out the front of the resort. This was so much fun, especially when the whole family and friends are involved, as the crabs would pop out of the sand and start running – the chase was on. They changed direcwww.bnbfishing.com.au

tions so quickly and all of the sudden they were on your feet or back towards you where the water had been stirred up and anything that touched you was possibly a sand crab, which made people react in unusual ways, with screaming, shouting and lots of laughing. It was a great family activity, not to mention an incredible feed – they are a very sweet meat and are super yummy. Whiting fishing just off the beach was also fantastic and the best bait were peeled prawns and cockles, with a simple running sinker to a swivel, about 30cm of light line 4-5lb – the lighter the better – and a small size 4 long-shank hook. Fishing the sand patches in between weed beds worked best. Whiting filleted and crumbed with $5 worth of chips from the shop made a beautiful feed, especially with an entrée of sand crabs. It truly was paradise. The restaurants also had an amazing menu, which catered for everyone and had great specials. They had buffet breakfasts, lunches and dinners, with a huge selection to choose from. You definitely didn’t need lunch if you had a buffet breakfast. Being at Monkey Mia had been a long time

coming for us and it lived up to our expectations. A few times we had to pinch ourselves to make sure it was real

and wasn’t a dream. We loved the place – a great location to take the family and definitely a place you can relax and unwind, taking in

the beautiful surroundings, the incredible nature and amazing wildlife they have on the west coast. Until next month.

The view from one of the restaurants and bars at the resort.

A family of emu chicks near the campground. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 69

4WDING & off - road

A winch is an asset if travelling alone to remote destinations such as Cape Melville National Park.

More preparations for a trip to the Tip

ELL the wet on the Cape continues. Nothing massive yet but there have been widespread heavy falls over most northern and inland parts, less along coastal regions in the south so far. However, March statistically is the wettest month for most of east-

Cape York - Part Two by ‘BILLABONG’ BAZZ LYON

ern Cape York, so there may be much more to come yet. As a follow on from last month, it’s time to continue preparations for the big trip – whether that be to the

Tip or to detour away from the main roads to wonderful less-visited destinations. Bull bars are almost mandatory for travel anywhere outback or to the bush in Australia

Stretchers offer an extra level of comfort and get you off the ground. Page 70 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

and the Cape is no exception. Plenty of wallabies, pigs and cattle certainly wander about here. Of course, bull bars also make the perfect platform to mount driving lights. Many people use a combination of spotlights and a light bar for broader vision, which is a perfect combination. We prefer not to drive in the dark or very early morning and late arvo at ‘wallaby o’clock’ if at all possible. But occasionally you have to, and good lights are invaluable. With all the gear most of us carry today, it’s difficult not to need a decent roof rack. The important thing is not to overload them weight-wise. Swags, tents and other light gear are ideal for a roof rack. Many people load

them with jerry cans of fuel and water, and I certainly have at times. The fact is this extra weight risks cracking the roof rack, mounts or more and makes the vehicle so much more top heavy. Your vehicle manufacturer will list a maximum roof load to guide you. The good news with utes is that you can fit a rack independent of the roof – a big advantage. I drive a 33-year-old Land Rover 110 which has a very strong gutter for supporting the roof rack, and on it stow a complete spare wheel, yabby pots and at odd times a swag or tinnie. Quality recovery gear is vital on the Cape. I would recommend a tow strap and rated Dshackles, long handled shove, compressor for re-inflating tyres and * continued P71

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4WDING & off - road

More preparations for a trip to the Tip * from P70

set of Maxtrax or similar as the minimum. The latter can get you out of a huge amount of trouble – they are a wonderful invention! Of course, winches are great insurance and recommended when travelling alone or in remote areas in difficult country. While working as the park ranger on the Jardine River National Park I had to travel the Telegraph Track fairly often and the frontmounted winch on the Toyota LandCruiser ute got used fairly frequently, especially on steep and rutted creek exits. However, I was always driving alone. If one of the vehicles in a travelling party has a winch, then that is usually enough to cover everyone else too. In any case, towing a stuck vehicle out with another is usually the first and successful choice. Call me old fashioned but I still carry a good hand winch and, while it is used very rarely, it

is highly effective. Yes, they are hard work – less so when used with a snatch block. Though hand winches can get you out of a much broader spectrum of trouble than a frontmounted unit, particularly when winching backwards when you think it’s no longer wise to go forward. They are also invaluable for dragging fallen trees off the road that you can’t access with your vehicle. The downside of hand winches is that they are bulky and need to be stowed. The other piece of recovery equipment I own but have not yet needed to use is an Australian made Bog Out system. This is basically a harness – one end is fitted to a wheel of your vehicle and the other to an anchor point, which does need to be straight ahead. You then drive in that direction, the harness capturing the wheel and pulling you forward and out of trouble. Looks good and very

compact. I will do a proper review in the future. Though not essential, UHF radios are invaluable for Cape York travel and enable you to keep in touch with your fellow travellers, and warn of hazards such as ruts, dust holes and approaching traffic. We have both vehicle and handheld radios – the latter are great for scouting ahead on foot and helping with driving or recovery in tricky circumstances. Many people ask about carrying spare fuel when exploring the Cape. You honestly don’t need to unless perhaps you’re travelling very remote and doing a lot of driving around at * continued P72

It’s important to research the rated roof load of your vehicle before adding items like car topper dinghies.

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4WDING & off - road A vehicle awning is a valuable asset anywhere in Australia, and particularly for sheltering from the tropical sun. This Australian made Supa-Peg has been brilliant.

A set of Matrax is almost mandatory for bush and beach travel.

More preparations for a trip to the Tip * from P71

that destination. An example might be Cape Melville National Park. Even then most vehicles filling up at Laura or Musgrave should have enough for the duration. Carrying a decent larder of food makes good sense – usually a combination of fresh, tinned and packet tucker. This gives you flexibility should you want to stay somewhere longer than expected or if you get held up due to a breakdown – heaven forbid, but it does happen. Rice, pasta and sachets or tins of whatever else appeals to you are a great backup. What sleeping arrangements are best? This is one of the most frequently asked questions with regard to camping on Cape York – particularly with crocodiles around. The risk from these animals is real but minimal, and many travel-

lers bemoan when they don’t see any on their trip! I have safely lived by camping on a high riverbank without any hint of a crocodile visiting for around 10 years on Cape York. Official advice from the Department of the Environment is to camp 50m from the water’s edge for safety. These days many people go for a snug rooftop tent. I have never used one though they look fabulous – obviously the only downsides are the need to climb up and down, which is a novelty, and the need to pack it up to travel anywhere. Camping trailers are hugely popular on the Cape too and are very convenient, apart from having to tow it. Deep-water crossings are a consideration in that regard. Then there are the options of a good oldfashioned swag or bedding in a mosquito dome or a tent.

Page 72 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

Many people use stretchers as well for added comfort, and several swags have built-in insect mesh. Regardless of which way you go, good ventilation is a must in the deep tropics, as is protection from insects. Equally, a vehicle awning is fantastic shelter from the tropical sun. We use an Australian made Supa-Peg, which wraps around the back of our Land Rover Dis-

covery as well as extending from the side – it has been fantastic! As in all outback travel, carrying water is on the Cape is essential. Plastic jerry cans are good, and everyone should have their own water bottle topped up and handy, as this is thirsty country. Another option worth looking at is a dedicated water tank. Western Australia based BOAB Offroad produce a range of dif-

ferent sized and shaped tanks, and we’ve used a 42L slimline model for many years. Couldn’t recommend it enough! Well, the latter end of the wet season is upon us and it won’t be too long until we can traverse the amazing Cape York region again! Next month I’ll offer more information to help you to understand and enjoy a fabulous Cape experience.

A well-equipped 4WD will help you enjoy many wonderful Cape York experiences. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Caught this mangrove jack in the Noosa River drifting a live unweighted silver biddy. Dallas

Zenny Johnston caught this coral trout at Hervey Bay while on holidays – his first fish. Baz

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

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seanconlonsfishing@hotmail.com Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 75

When a plan comes together fishing Wivenhoe

HILE chatting with a group of old and new friends around the campfire during a recent hunting trip, the frequency of my team’s successes was commented on. In retrospect, we surmised that significant

Fishing for Sport by NEIL SCHULTZ

contributing factors to those attainments were the formulation of practical plans and sticking to them. This habit has been

The author caught this golden perch with a 120mm Predatek Boomerang.

entrenched in all facets of life – from work, projects at home, hunting, fishing, drag racing and training for marathons. On the fishing front, a couple of recent outings have reinforced the value of planning and groundwork. Coincidentally, both of them involved a day on the water with long time fishing friend and all-round good guy Kevin Clark. For quite a few years Kev and I have been trying to get together for a day on Wivenhoe Dam to score one of the bruiser bass for which the lake earned a reputation during the 1980s. Life has conspired to prevent this from happening, but the planets finally aligned mid-last

Kevin with one of the golden perch that found the Aussie gold Boomerang to their liking. Note the elbow! This is what a 56cm fish looks like when not held out at arm’s length. Page 76 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

year for one morning on the water. Launching at Logan’s Inlet – the first boat on the water – we cruised down the lake at the prescribed six knots, enjoying the cool air and doing a little wildlife spotting along the way. Previous weeks had seen my kayak scooting around the lake looking for areas that may be holding the big fish, away from the schooling medium-sized fish that are now commonplace. It wasn’t until we approached one of the waypoints I’d saved during those explorations that I rolled the throttle back to trolling speed and we lobbed a couple of lures into the wake. Kevin opted for an ever-reliable purple 65mm Predatek Boomerang but departed from tradition by selecting a medium runner. I chose a deep 65mm in the pale colour scheme known as Poddy Mullet, just to have a contrasting offering in the water. Serenaded by the quiet rumbling of the Honda idling on the stern and avoiding the deep flats, we managed to steer clear of the swarms of juvenile bass that had been gracing fishing pages on the interweb in the preceding few months. Tacking along the edge of the sunken river channel brought us close to a steep rocky face in an area known as bit of a hotspot for many years. Kev’s purple lure took the first strike, which was a screamer – stripping line from his light spin outfit in a manner

that looked very promising. After the initial enthusiastic exclamations on first sighting the fish, I breathed heavy relief as it was slipped over the waiting landing net – an easy 50 plus stonker. Measuring 53cm fork length, Kev had every right to be chuffed with his Wivenhoe specimen – almost as happy as I was to see our plan yield the hoped-for results. A couple of weeks ago, Kevin was passing through the Lockyer Valley, so we arranged a stay for a couple of days with us. On this occasion, the plan was to put Kev onto a decent golden perch – a species he'd learned to love in the early days of NSW's stocked fisheries. After moving closer to the coast a couple of decades ago, Kev had not had the opportunity to experience a hot golden bite. Younger son Tony, his littlest daughter Violet and I undertook a few reconnaissance outings with success. Having found a reliable stretch of water, we left the fish alone for a month leading up to Kevin's visit. True to form, we pushed my much-travelled Stessco from the trailer to be the first vessel on the lake. Again, we ploughed along at six knots down the lake to reach the location where the goldens had been biting for us. This time I elected to run one of the new 120mm Predatek Boomerang lures on the chance that there may be a cod in the area,

* continued P77

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Moura Muddy Water Family Fishing Classic

OT long now – April 3-4 is the Moura Muddy Water Family Fishing Classic, held at ‘the river’ in the central Queensland mining town of Moura. If you are in the area, passing through or haven’t done this family fishing competition before, it is one you should put on your to do list. ‘The river’ being the Dawson River that runs through mid-Queensland, from west of Injune through to Rockhampton where it meets the salt. It is home to the southern saratoga, which has fast become one the sportfish anglers want to mix with. These fish are wild in this river system and breed very well here, so they are a catch and

Outback Fishing by HELEN ABDY

release species. Catch them on bait, lures or flies. The Moura Fish Stocking Group are a dedicated group of locals who love this place and each year put on a fantastic weekend for those who want to share this place. Camping is at the Apex Park campgrounds on the west side of town. A fantastic free campground by the water with shade trees, fruit trees with fruit for the picking if you’re in early and a toilet block with coin operated showers. There is no power, but generators are allowed, as are pets.

When a plan comes together fishing Wivenhoe * from P76

though we'd not encountered any on previous visits. My selection was also made to give Kevin the shots at the resident golden perch by running a lure that I expected would be too large for them to grab. When unmistakable fish traces showed on the screen of the Garmin, I alerted Kev to be ready for a hit. Right on cue Kev announced the strike as the 65mm Boomerang he was towing was inhaled, presumably by one of the fish we'd seen on the sounder. Hanging deep, the fish exhibited plenty of lowend torque and weight but didn't speed away, www.bnbfishing.com.au

indicating it was possibly our planned target species. When the large golden appeared from the green depths, it was greeted with huge smiles and much backslapping by a usually cool-headed pair of grey-whiskered anglers. Subsequent passes saw our tally of quality golden perch steadily increase, including a surprising number that hammered the big cod Boomerang I was running. When we called stumps on the session to head home for lunch, we'd passed double figures of our target species. Yes, it’s great when a plan comes together.

If you haven’t visited the river lately, the amenities have had a fantastic face lift, with a mural of a saratoga and yellowbelly adorning the exterior walls. The town of Moura, its businesses and the mine get right behind this wonderful fishing weekend, and the restocking group and even more locals this year have chipped in with $1,000 up for grabs if you catch the tagged saratoga. The toga aren’t the only species you’ll catch here, there are also yellowbelly, golden perch, sooty grunter, eel-tail catfish, spangled perch and fork-tail catfish.

All great species to catch at any time. This year the committee have changed to lucky draws for two of the species, so not catching the biggest could still make you a winner. Dave Hodge the barefoot fisher will be there again, with demonstrations and tips on casting and fishing for different species. Plenty of food from the morning through to night, beverages and

entertainment will be available. If you need any more information, contact Zelma on 0428 971 932 or email m.a.f.s.g@big pond.com When you’re in Moura, check out the viewing platform that the mine erected on the edge of town. It certainly is worth a look, especially at night with the lights – makes it a whole other world. Look forward to seeing you at the comp.

Dave Hodge the barefoot fisher with a saratoga he caught in the 2020 competition.

Hooked on Miles family competition

HIS year the Miles District Fishing & Recreation Club will be hosting our first Easter Family Fishing Classic, ‘Hooked On Miles’. The competition will commence Friday April 2 with sign on at 2pm and run through until 12pm Monday April 5. There will be market stalls and kids’ activities on the Saturday and a live band in town on the night. Sunday will see an Easter egg hunt for the kids and yabby races at night. Join in Saturday and Sunday afternoon for daily lucky entry prizes with the major prize draw and winners at 12pm on Monday.

Ozfish and the Murray Darling Basin Authority will be in attendance hosting information sessions and there will be plenty of food vans onsite over the weekend. The event is being held at Karingal Reserve in Miles, which the Miles District Fishing & Recreation Club now leases from the local council. Competitors are able to camp onsite for free, but there are plenty of accommodation op-

tions available in town. A courtesy bus will run to and from the event each day so you don’t miss any of the prize draws. Karingal Reserve will have toilet facilities only. Remember to bring your drinks, fresh water and your own camping gear. Karingal Reserve is only a 5-minute drive from Miles for supplies, however we will have food and coffee vans onsite for the duration of the event. For entry forms and enquiries, please email peter@machineryso lutions.com.au or follow the Miles District Fishing & Recreation Club Inc on Facebook.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 77

The border is open but more rain needed

E have been waiting for rain for the past month, as was the case for January too. To date, the season is proving to be another tough one with storage at Glenlyon Dam still at 15 percent capacity. We are seeing water being released out of Pindari Dam near Ashford and this has pushed a flow down to Goondiwindi and then further south as the river is kept going via a minor flow.

Glenlyon Dam by BRIAN DARE

The water in Glenlyon is earmarked for later flows as it will be used for town water if the rain doesn’t arrive. We sit and watch TV reports of ‘major’ rain events bringing 10mm and 15mm of rain in most cases. Folks, a rain event is 145mm of rain over two days in the bush, if not more.

A selfie on the water alone, Geoff Hinze caught and released a 113cm Murray cod on a chatterbait.

To have Glenlyon fill at this stage it would require around 300mm of rain every day over a two-week period to fill the creeks and rivers and get the water flowing to our storage areas. With a little luck we will still be putting fingerlings into the dam if things remain as they are. Our hatcheries and water supplies in the creeks and small onfarm storages remain a consistent fear. I have been getting an earbashing from the boss Debbie who on picking up the book Codfather by Stuart Rowland went off about the yellow highlight pen marks on the pages. It’s a good read, and when you look back to the late 1970s and see how close we came to losing our Australian icon, you admire the

work by Stu and his biologist friends, mentioned in the book. The content is great, and the last chapter really makes you think about our bush river systems. Sunday nights at 9pm on SBS, I watch a show they put on called Bamay – meaning land in the Bundjalung language from northern NSW. This is a must-watch series if you’re into rivers, streams and coastlines. I must admit, I watched part of it on the January long weekend. It starts by looking at the headwaters of the Murrumbidgee River, Yanco Creek, Hay, Broome, Alice Springs, the Murray River and many locations in between. Shot from the air, it follows the stream to its end where it links to the sea or other rivers that flow to the sea. You will need the

GLENLYON DAM TOURIST PARK A great place to fish! • Powered and Unpowered Sites • No Domestic Pets or Generators • Kiosk • Ice • Gas • Petrol • Amenities Blocks and Laundry • BBQs • Hire Boats • EFTPOS • Fishing Permits

14 CABINS bookings necessary

GLENLYON DAM TOURIST PARK via STANTHORPE 4380 Contact Debbie or Brian Dare for more information or for bookings

Ph: 02 6737 5266 E: glenlyondamtouristp@bigpond.com Page 78 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

electric jug full of water and coffee on standby. It’s written with historical information, giving an insight to the great island we live on. I started watching at 9pm Sunday night and finished at 4am Monday morning – seven hours. I had a bit of jetlag from it! We just got the gate open to find out it could be closed again soon. Give us a call on 02 6737 5266 to check. I suppose one thing to come out of this is the fact that the fish won’t all be caught, there will still be a few around when you do get to come back. We’ve seen heaps of spangled perch turn up in the dam, this species has been breeding in other storages as well. The kids have fun with them on the bank using bait. Yellowbelly and silver perch are waiting for any rises in water flow. Cod and catfish have finished breeding and are anticipating a rise to take them over new locations. The rivers have a slight flow, which is suitable for canoe or kayak fishing and as the borders are open once again, you can get down to Glen Innes, Inverell, Moree, Casino and Deepwater – all in NSW. These locations have good cod fishing, though you will need to purchase a NSW fishing licence and make yourself familiar with the state’s fishing regulations. We do sell NSW licences at the kiosk here, which you can pick up on your way through. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Hooked on Miles Easter Family Fishing Classic 2nd – 5th April • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Free camping included for all paid entries Food and coffee vans on site all weekend Toilet facilities only Daily lucky entry prize draws Live band Yabby races Kids activities Sunday morning Easter Egg Hunt Tagged fish bounty Only 5 minute drive from Miles 42 acres of reserve to spread out on Fish anywhere in the Western Downs Bait and tackle available on site Containers for Change Tagged fish bounty $1,000 Try your luck to catch the tagged fish over the Easter weekend

For entry forms and more information email peter@machinerysolutions.com.au or follow the Miles District Fishing & Recreation Club on facebook www.bnbfishing.com.au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 79

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Page 80 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 81

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*Based on testing done by Mercury Marine’s Product Research & Development team. Torque data collected on a Dynamometer at cruise speed, an average of 3500-4500 rpm. Fuel economy testing done using a 23 foot Centre Console boat for both 200hp engines, while a 21 foot Bass boat was used for the 250hp testing.

Go online or contact your nearest Mercury Dealer to find out more about the Mercury V6 / V8 range, taking performance, efficiency and reliability to the next level.

Page 82 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 MM0725 V6_V8_BnBFishing_210x297_v3.indd 1

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AIRLIE BEACH Whitsunday Outboard Centre 17 William Murray Dr, Cannonvale Q 4802 P: 07 4946 7286 E: woc@whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au www.whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au AIRLIE BEACH Whitsunday Outboard Centre BRISBANE 17 William Murray Dr, Cannonvale Q 4802 Coorparoo Marine P: 07 4946 7286 E: woc@whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au 57 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo Q 4151 www.whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au P: 07 3397 4141 E: info@coorparoomarine.com.au BRISBANE www.coorparoomarine.com.au Karee Marine 1776 Ipswich Motorway, Rocklea Q 4106 BRISBANE P: 07 3875 1600 Karee Marine E: sales@kareemarine.com.au www.kareemarine.com.au 1776 Ipswich Motorway, Rocklea Q 4106 P: 07 3875 1600 BRISBANE NORTH E: sales@kareemarine.com.au Holt Marine www.kareemarine.com.au 25 Queens Rd, Everton Hills Q 4053 P: 07 3353 1928 BRISBANE NORTH E: info@holtmarine.com.au Holt Marine www.holtmarine.com.au 25 Queens Rd, Everton Hills Q 4053 BRISBANE P: 07 3353 SOUTH 1928 Australian Marine Centre E: info@holtmarine.com.au 3491 Pacific Highway, Slacks Creek Q 4127 www.holtmarine.com.au P: 07 3808 7333 E: info@amcboats.com.au www.amcboats.com.au www.bnbfishing.com.au

CAIRNS Aussie Marine 5 Hannam St, Bungalow Q 4870 P: 07 4033 8800 E: sales@aussiemarine.com.au www.aussiemarine.com.au BUNDABERG Adrians Marine Centre CAPALABA 28 Ritchie St, Bundaberg Q 4670 Mike’s Marine P: 07 4153 1819 E: Smith adriansmarinecentre@bigpond.com 9 St, Capalaba Q 4157 www.adriansmarinecentre.com.au P: 07 3390 3418 E: admin@mikesmarine.com.au CAIRNS www.mikesmarine.com.au Aussie Marine 5 Hannam St, Bungalow Q 4870 GLADSTONE P: 07 4033 8800 Ship & Sale Gladstone E: sales@aussiemarine.com.au www.aussiemarine.com.au Gladstone Marine Centre, Gladstone Q 4680 P: 07 4972 7111 CAPALABA E: sales@shipandsail.com.au Mike’s Marine www.shipandsail.com.au 9 Smith St, Capalaba Q 4157 P: 07 3390 3418 GOLD COAST E: admin@mikesmarine.com.au Nitro Marine www.mikesmarine.com.au 167 Currumburra Rd, Ashmore Q 4214 GOLD COAST P: 07 5532 5812 Nitro Marine E: sales@nitromarine.com.au 167 Currumburra Rd, Ashmore Q 4214 www.nitromarine.com.au P: 07 5532 5812 E: sales@nitromarine.com.au www.nitromarine.com.au

GOLD COAST Onshore Marine Horizon Shores Marina, Woongoolba Q 4207 P: 07 5546 2480 E: onshoremarine@ozemail.com.au www.onshoremarine.com.au GOLD COAST Onshore Marine IPSWICH Horizon Shores Marina, Woongoolba Q 4207 Ipswich P: 07 5546Marine 2480 Centre E: onshoremarine@ozemail.com.au 45 Huxham St, Raceview Q 4305 www.onshoremarine.com.au P: 07 3294 3944 E: enquiries@ipswichmarine.com.au IPSWICH www.ipswichmarine.com.au Ipswich Marine Centre 45 Huxham St, Raceview Q 4305 ROCKHAMPTON P: 07 3294 3944 Rifen Boats E: enquiries@ipswichmarine.com.au www.ipswichmarine.com.au 6 Dooley St, North Rockhampton Q 4701 P: 07 4927 9150 ROCKHAMPTON E: rifen.boats@bigpond.com Rifen Boats www.rifenmarine.com.au 6 Dooley St, North Rockhampton Q 4701 P: 07 4927 9150 YEPPOON E: rifen.boats@bigpond.com Sea Breeze Marine www.rifenmarine.com.au 150 Scenic Hwy, Yeppoon Q 4703 YEPPOON P: 07 4933 6366 Sea Breeze Marine E: info@seabreezemarine.com.au 150 Scenic Hwy, Yeppoon Q 4703 www.seabreezemarine.com.au P: 07 4933 6366 E: info@seabreezemarine.com.au www.seabreezemarine.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021 – Page 83

’ DRIVE AWAY

DRIVE AWAY $

125,000

98,988

YELLOWFIN 7000 SOUTHERNER HT

YELLOWFIN 6500 PLATE CENTRE CONSOLE

Package includes: alloy trailer, 225hp Mercury, 6yr warranty

Package includes: alloy trailer, 200hp DTS Mercury, 6yr warranty

DRIVE AWAY $

430 TOP ENDER PRO

430 FISHABOUT PRO

Package includes: alloy trailer, 60hp Mercury, 6yr warranty

28,296

27,498

DRIVE AWAY $

25,332

11,110

420 RENEGADE SIDE CONSOLE

400 TRIGGER TILLER STEER

Package includes: alloy trailer, 40hp Mercury, 6yr warranty

Package includes: alloy trailer, 20hp MLH Mercury, 6yr warranty

40-60HP FOURSTROKE

Finance & Insurance available

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY PROVEN RELIABILITY POWERFUL PERFORMANCE

A POWERFUL PACKAGE * Mercury Finance terms and conditions apply. Photos for illustration purposes only.

Can’t make the yard? Shop online! For quality new and used boats! www.kareemarine.com.au

1776 Ipswich Road, Rocklea | Call 07 3875 1600

Page 84 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, March 2021