4 minute read
Crossover species smorgasbord
Welcome to April, hopefully cooler temperatures have kicked in.
We finally managed to crack a string of good weather at the end of February and into March.
Even more surprising were the great weekends, which saw many people take advantage and head out wider.
While most reefs and shoals had their fair share of boats on them, most people caught a good feed of fish from all locations.
Coral trout and redthroat emperor made up the majority of the catches, though I didn’t hear of many sizeable red emperor or nannygai being caught.
I fished Rock Cod Shoals, catching good numbers of both trout and redthroat on soft plastics, jigs and vibes.
Typically, I concentrate my fishing around the southern section of the shoals, in the 1520m depth range, as this area sees less fishing pressure.
On this day though, the bite on the southern end was a bit slow.
There was enough to keep us busy, just not a consistent bite.
After a few moves, we ended up on the northern end of the shoals, fishing the shallower 1013m water with many other boats.
From the moment we dropped our first lures down the bite was nonstop, with good trout to 75cm and redthroat to the mid-50cm range.
Throw in the occasional tuskfish, spanish flag and various other reef dwellers and we left the shoals catching over 70 fish for the day.
The best part was the lack of toothy critters –we didn’t see a shark or lose a fish to one all day – a very rare occurrence these days.
A near-flat run home topped off a great day on the reef, taking advantage of good conditions and catching plenty of good fish.
Hopefully the great weather continues for Easter and the school holidays.
April is one of the best months to be on the water, with the temperature perfect during the day and just starting to chill at night.
It’s also crossover time – warm-weather fish will slow down and cooler-climate species will become more active.
Species such as barramundi and mangrove jack will still be on offer, though they’ll be a little harder to get a bite from.
And fish such as blue salmon, bream and flathead will start to turn up more often.
April is one of the few months when both summer and winter species will both be common captures.
On the local fishing front, the rivers and harbour have provided good catches of barra, yet these will start to drop off towards the end of the month.
And mangrove jack will be in the same situation, however the top of the Boyne River and to the back of smaller creeks will still produce a few.
Good sized fingermark have been caught in decent numbers through the harbour and around the deeper rock sections of the Calliope and Boyne rivers.
Hopefully blue salmon numbers will start to increase as the water temperature drops.
This species have been hard to find, with the occasional fish caught as by-catch.
Grunter numbers and sizes were good throughout the Gladstone area, with most gravel banks holding small schools of these fish.
Bream and flathead will also be found in better numbers as we move into the cooler months.
Awoonga, Monduran and Callide dams have all been fishing well for barra.
As the temperature drops, try concentrating on shallower areas where the water can be a degree or two higher.
Let’s hope for some periods of good weather so we can enjoy what our local waterways have to offer.
Cheers and happy fishing from Gladstone.
