BNB Fishing mag | Nov 2017 by bnbfishing

When & where to ﬁnd the ﬁsh

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November 2017 Print Post Approved PP100001534 Volume 28, Number 11

Perfect month for mulloway Summer whiting begin biting Epic 4WDing adventures Offshore reports

Mixed bags from Moreton Bay Magical Lake Monduran Fraser Island fishing trips Exploring the Capricorn Coast Early start to pelagic season

Gold Coast Flathead Classic gallery Fresh flush fires up estuary fishing

Mental mangrove jack action Inland impoundments impressing anglers Proudly produced and printed in Australia

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Inside this month Flathead techniques

P20

Beach fishing

P43

bly be my favourite month of the year to target jewfish, both for number and size, and the rain and water temps are encouraging factors. A few different deepwater locations from Brisbane to the Gold Coast will traditionally hold big schools of large jewfish

OUR COVER

PATRICK AUBREY captured this ripper flathead on an orange Pig Lure at the Slipping Sands during the 2017 Gold Coast Flathead Classic. Patrick wins an awesome prize pack for making it on the cover. To see more photos from this year’s Flathead Classic, check out PAGE 22.

Ben Collins Daniel Tomlinson Ben Collins, Kacie Hubbert Jo Hendley

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

FISH ING ’S

E TUR FU

☛ continued P4

EDITOR: SUBEDITOR: ADVERTISING: PRODUCTION:

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

AUST

DECEMBER edition will be on sale in newsagents from November 24. See subscriber offer on Page 72 to go in the draw to win your choice of Okuma gear to the value of $350.

during the month. Finding and targeting Using my Simrad sounder to locate any schools of jewfish is the first step I take when hitting the water in search of these awesome fish. Setting the sounder’s side scan very wide helps cover ground quickly. I usually have my unit set at 40-50m scan on each side of the boat when in over 10m of water. Once I find a school, I try to position the boat in a way that allows me to drift my lures through it. I do this in two different ways. One, by positioning the boat on top of the school and casting my lures upcurrent of the school, letting me drift them back through; the other, by positioning the boat up-current of the school and then dropping the lures down and drifting the boat and lures together into the school. I often use the first technique because I find it a lot easier to position the boat near the fish and confidently cast my lures far enough to sink into the strike zone where I can see the fish with my sounder. Drifting the lures and boat onto the fish can be trickier to do because the schools can move from side to side in the current, which can make a well-planned drift unsuccessful. However, if you can drift the lures and boat together onto the school successfully, it’s usually the more likely technique to get a bite from these sometimes-fussy fish. Tackle I often see people targeting jewfish with tackle I feel is too light. The argument of having fun is fine but getting the

Targeting jewfish ........................by Peter Herbst....................................P3 Offshore action ............................by Jordan ‘Grinner’ Koschel ............P7 A look back over the years ......by Bill Corten .....................................P10 Flathead in the southern bay ...by Sean Conlon .................................P12 Access to Moreton Bay.............by Brian Webb...................................P13 Hungry predators ............................ by Keith Stratford....................................P15 Guide to anchoring .....................by Colin Hinder..................................P16 Tingalpa Creek.............................by Sean ‘Skip’ Thompson ...............P18 Techniques for flathead ............by Robert Payne ................................P20 Flathead Classic photo gallery ..........................................................P22,23 QLD Bream Open.........................by Lex Irwin .......................................P24 Planning for 1770 trek ................by Mick Clutterbuck ........................P26 Gold Coast fish firing ...............by Darren Rama ................................P27 Flathead Classic report .............by Jamie Mckeown .........................P28 GC jack competition...................by Dean Galpin..................................P29 Fishing Trip ...................................by Jason Brindley.............................P30 Gold Coast estuaries..................by Brad Smith ....................................P31 Snapper and whiting biting ........by Wayne ‘Youngy’ Young ..............P32 Gold Coast options .....................by Heath Zygnerski ..........................P33 Rivers rife with life.....................by Gavin Dobson ...............................P34 Bountiful Ballina ............................. by Brett Hyde ...........................................P35 Surface sessions.........................by Gary ‘Squidgie’ Palmer..............P36 Iluka wrap-up ..............................by Tye Porter ......................................P37 Sunshine Coast............................by Wade Qualischefski...................P38 Hervey Bay....................................by Tri Ton .............................................P39 Yakking for jacks ........................by Joel Johnson................................P40 Canoeing .......................................by Dan Owbridge..............................P41 Awesome Agnes Water ............by Phill Kliese ...................................P42 Beach fishing Fraser..................by Mark Woodrow ...........................P43 Trip to PNG....................................by Nathan Reid..................................P44 Jet ski fishing ..............................by Jason Mccoll ...............................P45 Readers Forum.............................................................................................P46 Family road trip............................by Craig Tomkinson .........................P48 Gladstone Region....................... by Gary Churchward .......................P49 Hinchinbrook holiday ................by Lachie Baker ................................P50 Mental mangrove jack ..............by Todd Eveleigh ..............................P52 Caravanning adventure ............ by Bill Corten.....................................P53 The Springs 4x4 Park .................by Greg Bell .......................................P54 Trip to the tip .............................. by Brad Young ...................................P56 Camping and bush skills...........by ‘Billabong’ Bazz Lyon .................P57 Pennefather River trip............... by Craig Tomkinson .........................P58 Magical Lake Monduran ............. by Callum Munro....................................P60 Monduran barra ......................... by Donna Gane .................................P61 Charter Directory ................................................................................. P62,63 Capricorn Coast...........................by John Boon .....................................P64 Somerset bass .............................by Andrew Mitchell.........................P66 Freshwater Impoundments ..... by Matthew Langford......................P67 Fishing SEQ dams ...................... by Steve Wilkes ...............................P68 Sizzling spring action ................by Noal Kuhl ......................................P69 Glenlyon Dam...............................by Brian Dare.....................................P69 Guide to still water trout .............. by Neil Schultz ........................................P70 Insights into boat insurance ....................................................................P70 Trading Post.................................................................................................P71 Subscription form ......................................................................................P72

ATI ON

by PETER HERBST

P61

Hot weather in late September and early October saw the water temperature jump 4C in just a couple of weeks and at the time of writing most areas have about 24C surface temperature, which will make a number of species more active this month. November would proba-

Luring Moreton Bay

Freshwater barra

UCH-needed rain and increasing water temperatures in October will help with fishing efforts during November.

P32

FIS

Time to target jewfish

ation.

PRO TE CT

A couple of jewfish over 90cm that were taken home for a feed.

Gold Coast snapper

HE Queensland Government recently issued an update on the white spot disease situ-

HIN G T R A D E

The update announced the ongoing surveillance for white spot disease has turned up consistently negative results, with no prawns tested carrying the disease. This is a very encouraging and welcome result. If this disease had taken hold it would have had a massive impact on our fishery. While the government put several measures in place to control the disease, I think Mother Nature may have lent a helping hand in shortening the lifespan of the disease due to weather events after the initial discovery. Either way, it is good news, but two consecutive years of negative results are required to determine the disease is no longer in Queensland waterways. In other news, a tragic event occurred in the past month, with a trawler going down in heavy seas in Bustard Bay, north of 1770. Thankfully, one of the crew was rescued, but at the time of printing, six crew members were still missing. Sadly for the families of the missing crew, the police indicated ‘the window for survivability had now passed’. Police are now appealing for anyone who finds debris or personal items that might belong to the missing crew to take a photo of the items and record the GPS co-ordinates. And if possible, take the items home and secure them. Some debris believed to be from the trawler washed ashore around Gladstone, but police have indicated debris could be found as far north as Yeppoon. In breaking news, just before going to print, word has come that the weather has eased and searchers have located the sunken trawler using side imaging technology. There is no news on the crew at this stage but divers will be investigating further in the coming days, so we will keep you abreast of the issue via our webpage and Facebook account. While this is a tragic event, hopefully its severity will give everyone pause to think more seriously about their ventures offshore. While it can be pure bliss on the water, it doesn’t take long for conditions to change dramatically, so it is vital as a skipper to make sure you are aware of the current and impending weather. With offshore trailer boats now mostly fitted with larger fuel tanks and economical outboards, more and more people are venturing further afield, so being observant on the water is vital. On a happier note, it was great to have a heap of photos sent in from the recent Gold Coast Flathead Classic. While we could only get one shot on the cover, you can find the rest of the submissions on Pages 22 and 23. On the topic of cover shots, if any readers happen to take an awesome photo they think might be cover worthy, please send it in to ben@bnbfishing.com.au Cover photos ideally need to be vertical, very sharp and clear and of a recently caught fish with no blood on it. I’d also like to acknowledge one of our well-known scribes Bill Corten who has clocked up 25 years as a contributor for Bush ‘n Beach Fishing mag. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Bill for many years as he was good mates with the old man and now a good mate of mine. Fortunately I’ve been able to spend plenty of hours in boats with Bill, so have picked up a tip or two over the years, many of which he also relays through his informative and often entertaining articles. This month Bill has looked back on the past 25 years of fishing and boating, and I can assure you it is a memorable read. Ben Collins

September prizewinner Congratulations to Adam Rapson, Wynnum who has won a Garmin STRIKER 5cv CHIRP fishfinder/ GPS combo valued at $429.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 3

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Time to target jewfish in Moreton Bay ☛ from P3

fish in faster is better for both the angler and fish. Baitcast and spin tackle with a rating over 6kg spooled with 20-40lb braid with 20-50lb leader is my preference because it gets the fish in quicker so I can catch more and release them in better condition. Jew will not usually rub through the leader but a heavier leader allows you to pull harder on the fish. Lure weights can vary and I usually match my rod and reel combos to the different weighted lures. Basically, I will use a heavy rod with a heavy lure and a lighter rod with a lighter lure. I prefer to use baitcast outfits most of the time because I find they cast heavier lines with ease and are very light and well balanced. Lures I usually target jewies with three different lure

types: soft plastics, vibes and jigs. My first preference is to use jigs on schooling jew in deep water because these lures get to the bottom and the strike zone very quickly. If the fish are less aggressive, I prefer using vibes, both soft and hard. Vibes will still get to the bottom pretty quickly, but they also generate a large amount of vibration for the fish to home in on. The subtlest presentation is the plastic and it can be very effective when the fish are hard to get a bite from. Starting with a larger plastic and heavier jig head, I’ll work my way down to a smaller plastic and lighter jig head until I crack the fish and work out a pattern to their bite. Keeping a feed In Queensland, jewfish have a minimum size limit of 75cm and a bag limit of two fish per person.

I think this is one of the strictest limits of any species, so don’t feel bad taking some home to eat. I like to fillet my jewfish, then cut the fillets into small, thin pieces,

crumb them with panko and fry them. Some people don’t like the taste of jewfish but I’m yet to find someone who hasn’t liked the fish I have cooked for them.

Small soft plastics on light jig heads are a good lure choice when the fish are tough to get a bite from.

The author’s baitcast setup spooled with a new braid from Sunline called Siglon PE, which ably handled a nice jewie.

Is your bait Australian wild-caught from a quality bait supplier? Have you put your unwanted bait and seafood in the bin?

Using raw, imported prawns as bait can introduce serious diseases to our waterways.

For more info, visit www.qld.gov.au/checkyourbait Authorised by the Queensland Government, William St, Brisbane Page 4 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

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Queensland on track in fight against white spot

TATE-wide surveillance for the virus that causes white spot disease has recently concluded, with all samples collected returning negative results for the virus.

The negative results are encouraging, however Biosecurity Queensland wants to emphasise that movement restrictions will remain in place from Caloundra to the NSW border and west to Ipswich. What the results indicate is that the disease may not be established in Moreton Bay and has not spread into other parts of Queensland, which is great news. Biosecurity Queensland’s goal is to eradicate white spot disease from Australia and the negative results suggest the disease control activities in place have been effective in containing the virus and stopping it spreading. More than 4120 prawn and crab samples were collected from 94 locations along the east coast of Queensland, as well as the Moreton Bay, Logan River and Brisbane River areas. While these results are very encouraging, more testing is needed, as the samples were collected during the low season for prawn breeding. Biosecurity Queensland will recommence testing in early 2018 when the prawn population is expected to be at maximum production cycles. These results will contribute to the national

proof of freedom surveillance required to regain international disease-free status for white spot disease. Two years of consecutively negative test results are required in order to prove the disease is no longer in Queensland waterways. Biosecurity Queensland understands the impact this disease has had on the Logan River prawn farmers and Moreton Bay commercial fishers, and their co-operation in this difficult time is greatly appreciated. Biosecurity Queensland would also like to thank the Queensland public for adhering to the movement restrictions on prawns, yabbies and marine worms as they have helped stop the spread of the disease by human-assisted movement. You can view the surveillance maps for more details about locations of the surveillance, or visit the white spot disease page on daf.qld.gov.au for more information about white spot disease. Frequently asked questions – answered by Biosecurity Queensland 1. Do these results mean white spot disease is gone? No, the results do not mean white spot disease has gone but they do indicate the disease may not be established in Moreton Bay. This means the disease control activities that have been undertaken so far have been effective,

Gone Fishing Day another success

HE third annual Gone Fishing Day took place on Sunday, October 15, with NSW Department of Primary Industries hosting a number of free community events designed to get everyone casting a line.

DPI Recreational Fisheries Programs manager Bryan VanDerWalt said Gone Fishing Day was a huge success, with more than 20,000 people attending DPI’s events across NSW, as well as many thousands more nationally. “It was great to see so many people attend who were interested in fishing, whether they were experienced recreational fishers or beginners,” Mr VanDerWalt said. “More than one million fishers participate in recreational fishing every year and clubs are always welcoming newcomers. “The NSW Government is proud to support its recreational fishing sector, which generates $3.4 billion to the state’s economy each year and accounts for more than 14,000 www.bnbfishing.com. au

full-time jobs.” Free NSW DPI community fishing events were held in six locations across NSW. “No fishing licence was required on the day, so it was a great chance for everyone to get involved,” Mr VanDerWalt said. “It was a great day with how-to fish workshops, casting comps, goodie bags, expert fishing tips, touch tanks, fish cooking demos, boating safety stands, activity marquees and loads of kids’ activities. “Snappy the crab mascot was also hugely popular with the kids as he handed out prizes on the day.” Gone Fishing Day was supported by NSW DPI and the Recreational Fishing Trusts. “A number of other events were held by fishing clubs across the country to celebrate Gone Fishing Day,” Mr VanDerWalt said. “It was great to see communities brought together by one of the country’s most popular recreational activities.”

however we will need to have negative results consecutively for the next two years before freedom from white spot disease can be declared. 2. Why are movement restrictions still in place if all the tests are negative? Movement restrictions need to remain in place until we declare the area ‘white spot disease free’, which means we would need to get negative surveillance results consecutively over the next two years for the restrictions to be lifted. It is possible for the virus that causes white spot disease to be present in the Moreton Bay area but at a very low prevalence. 3. How long will movement restrictions be in place? The movement restrictions will be in place for a minimum of two years, providing we continue to get negative results. If we receive positive results in the future then this timeframe will be extended. 4. When will the next round of testing be carried out? The next round of surveillance will resume in early 2018 (February/ March). This will include the movement restriction area and the east coast of Queensland. 5. What does white spot disease surveillance actually mean? Surveillance means we are looking for white spot disease or signs of the disease. When conducting surveillance, we collect prawn or sometimes crab samples (both are known carriers of white spot disease) from different locations across a specific area and test them in our laboratory to see if they have the virus that causes white spot disease. 6. What is actually done when you test a prawn sample? Our technicians at

Queensland’s Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory take part of the prawn and break it up in a small tube. The pulverised sample is used to obtain DNA through a process called DNA extraction. The DNA undergoes a diagnostic process (real time PCR) that makes billions of copies of the DNA, and using a fluorescence marker, highlights if DNA from the virus that causes white spot disease is present. This test is similar to tests used by forensic scientists when testing for human DNA at a crime scene. All positive tests are sent to the Australian Animal Health Laboratory in Geelong for confirmation, where the samples are tested again. 7. What is proof of freedom surveillance? Proof of freedom is a nationally co-ordinated and structured approach to surveillance through sampling to determine national freedom from, in this case, white spot disease. The international standard requires two years of consecutive negative results for white spot disease, from the samples obtained during active surveillance to demonstrate freedom from disease. 8. Why do we need to test across the state if white spot disease has only been found in southeast Queensland? Testing for white spot disease has been conducted across the state to check if the disease has been introduced in any other locations and to ensure the disease has not spread from southeast Queensland. The results from the most recent round of surveillance along the east coast of Queensland indicate that it has not spread at this stage from the initial entry point in southeast Queensland. 9. What is the White

Spot Disease Program doing to stop the disease? The White Spot Disease Program is focused on continued surveillance as well as prevention and control activities within the restricted area, with the aim of eradicating white spot disease in Queensland and returning Australia to a white-spotfree zone. To date, all infected prawn farms in the Logan River region have been disinfected and are now laying fallow for 12 months to ensure the virus that causes the disease is no longer present. Additionally, more than 50,000 prawn and crab samples have been collected and tested for the virus that causes white spot disease. Movement restrictions have been put in place to reduce the likelihood of the virus that causes white spot disease being spread through human assistance. Fishing restrictions have also been put in place in high-risk areas around prawn farms. 10. What are the major risks people should be aware of? Using imported prawns as bait may introduce serious disease into our natural waterways, which is why it is important to only use Australian wildcaught bait from a quality bait supplier or catch your own. Not disposing of raw seafood properly could also introduce disease, so putting seafood scraps in the bin and not into waterways is also vital to keeping Queensland disease-free. Moving raw prawns, yabbies and marine worms out of the restricted area could spread the disease into other waterways in Queensland, which is why movement restrictions are in place. For more information, visit daf.qld.gov.au or bn bfishing.com.au

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Page 6 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

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BRISBANE (BAYSIDE)

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Big James with one of many rusty jobfish ripped in on the jigs.

Spontaneous sessions reward with reef fish I WILL start this month’s article with an apology.

I’ve been flat-out with work and unfortunately didn’t get a chance to write an article last month. I haven’t had many opportunities to enjoy the good fishing everyone else has. In the past month and a half I’ve only been able to squeeze in a few trips, which by normal standards weren’t all that flash. The first trip was off Mooloolaba for an overnighter on Shortbill and I was accompanied by Mick Reed and his boat The Penetrator. The forecast was for 10-15 knots of wind dropping away to less than 10 overnight, so with weather like this we jumped at the chance to stay out there overnight and get stuck into the fish. Oh how the weatherman was wrong. As we left the entrance at Mooloolaba for our run out to the Barwon Banks and Hards, we were greeted by the full 15 knots of wind, so had to run the fairly long trek at a slower speed of 20 knots. It didn’t really bother us because we thought it was going to drop off overnight. We got to the Banks around 5pm and fished the sunset, only picking up a few smaller reef fish. The fishing wasn’t our problem, it was the stiff 20 knots that had now set in and didn’t seem like it was easing any time soon. We decided it was time to head to our anchorage for the night. We punched straight into the slop until we were hard on top of the Barwon Banks. With the reef anchor deployed, it was time to enjoy a few beers, kick back and listen to some Penetrator FM. My crew mate big James decided he was going to fish most

Offshore Action

by JORDAN ‘GRINNER’ KOSCHEL

of the night, picking away at reef fish while I was tucked up in bed. As the sun broke over the horizon, I slowly got out of bed and found the wind definitely hadn’t eased overnight, but had become worse. A short, sharp slop was on the cards that prevented us from following our original plan of a day out trolling for marlin. However, it didn’t stop us do-

ing what we were primarily there to do, and that was to fish. I had a few spots close by, and luckily they fired. Micro jigs were the weapons of choice, bringing in a heap of fish including rusty jobfish, yellowfin tuna, dogtooth tuna, trevally and everything in between. We found mixed retrieves worked to get the fish excited ☛ continued P8

Coronation trout are always a welcome sight.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 7

A juvenile dogtooth tuna, which is pretty cool by-catch in southeast Queensland.

A nice little snapper the author pinned on a micro jig.

Spontaneous sessions reward with reef fish ☛ from P7

Trevally are common by-catch on the Barwon Banks when using micro jigs.

and I think that is the key: don’t repeat your retrieves, instead mix it up so you get all the action out of your lures of choice. After an unreal session on the jigs, it was time to punch the 40km back to Mooloolaba. The wind was still blowing roughly 20 knots, making it a slower than usual trip in. The shorter and sharper swell limited our speed to about 20 knots when normally we would cruise at 30 knots. It could have been a

blessing in disguise because I’m sure it would have helped the fuel bill stay a little lower. The second trip was a pretty spur of the moment thing with big James once again. We decided after a few too many beers that we would get the boat ready and go for a fish the next morning. At 4am my alarm went off and it sounded like a train smashing around in my head. Committed to my drunken decision, I dragged myself out of bed and wan-

dered down the hallway to James’s room to find him passed out across the bed with the lights still on. Both feeling very dusty, we hopped into the car and headed to the ramp. You know it’s going to be a long day if you’re feeling very sick before you even step foot in the boat. We had a fairly long run out to the fishing grounds, so feeling like death was definitely not ideal. We had come up with something of a game plan the night before and the goal was to get a good size knobby on light gear.

The fish were chewing hard in the morning but we couldn’t find the bigger models. We got our bag of snapper pretty quickly, with the biggest 70cm fish wrangled on PE2 gear. A fish of this quality isn’t to be sneezed at but it wasn’t what we were after. The fishing stayed pretty hot and we ended up with an OK feed while having a bit of fun on the silly string. We found a good mix of reef fish, all of which were welcome as we were taking home a feed.

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Page 8 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 9

The author with a sailfish caught while fishing for snapper.

The late Ron Collins struck it lucky and nailed the first knobby to come aboard the all-new Cruise Craft Outsider 650.

Kev Nichols with a cracking snapper from east of Point Lookout.

A look back over 25 years of fishing H OW quickly time flies in the world of boating and fishing.

It is now 25 years since my first column was published in this monthly fishing newspaper in November 1992. This month is about sharing some of the journey with you, as it was the catalyst for so much change in my life. I was very actively enjoying fishing and boating, especially the reefs offshore, at the time the late Ron Collins asked me to pen a column for him. Ron had quite a cult following at the time as a laid-back journalist giving it a red-hot crack in a knockabout style with his monthly fishing paper that he was growing into a major player in the boating and fishing media. I was taken aback at the request because I had never aspired to do anything like that and told Ron I was a poor writer of stuffy office correspondence, so

Leo and the author with snapper at an interclub weigh-in caught from the all-new Outsider 750.

Kev landed a solid snapper on the maiden offshore trip in the first-ever Outsider 650.

Page 10 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Danny Nichols, Jim Carlson, Ron Collins, Kevin Nichols, Barry Nichols, the author and Ben Collins at the 1999 Straddie Classic.

Offshore Origins

by BILL CORTEN

didn’t fancy my chances. He explained he had some continuity problems with one of his long-term contributors and confirmed having to write under a pseudonym when necessary. The brief was to have a crack at filling a gap to provide something of interest from offshore each month and just see where it lands from there. The instructions were clear too. Stick to the facts, write in a conversational manner with no big words to confuse readers, submit on time with current photos and there will be pocket money to fill the boat with fuel. Well the photos were the easy bit because that was already a strong hobby and the timing was good as I was contemplating taking a work colleague who was withering away with malignant brain cancer on one last offshore fishing trip. He was legally blind by then but assured me he could hang on going across the bar and see a pillie three inches from his eyes to put onto a gang of hooks to make it swim. After talking it over with my mate Tony Cotter, we went to Deep Tempest in my boat at the time, a Cruise Craft Explorer 570. It was a great late-season day in October on snapper with two mates; one very competent and the other down on his luck in life but still managing to create some monumental bird nests when hooking up snapper in free spool and landing cracking fish that would make a more able-bodied person green with envy. The resultant yarn from Tony Ferry’s last offshore trip tickled Ron’s fancy and he continued to nurture me along. Writing something acceptable for a serious journo was a challenge and a great confidence booster for me. Ron’s enduring friendship and advice on writing and a whole range of issues was always appreciated too. It led to attending a lot of fishing competitions as well as many boating and fishing-related seminars and being involved in other hands-on boating activities with Ron until his untimely and prema-

ture death in June 2003. In the meantime, there was always plenty to write about offshore, as the club scene was very strong and I penned plenty of yarns from fishing competitions that we regularly went to. Through my ownership of a Cruise Craft Explorer 570, I got to know Cruise Craft company owners Kevin and Barry Nichols well, and with Ron on the loose, some legendary stories and good times were to be had whenever we went to the Toyota Fraser Island and Straddie Classic fishing comps. An eternal prankster, just having Ron nearby or on the boat would lead to something outrageous or controversial. I still maintain Ron had a lasting impact on my son Ashley growing up thanks to some of his more memorable pranks and brain explosions on the boat. His on board ‘petrol leaks’ or the birthday celebrations were legendary, but what happens on the boat, stays on the boat. Ash used to get his dial in the mag a bit back then too and some of his school teachers were obviously avid readers. Any day Ash wouldn’t be at school, it was common for a particular teacher to sidle up once he returned to school and discuss the previous day’s fishing. Never a problem, he just wanted to know what was caught where. Kevin Nichols had asked for some small bits of input from Ron and I into an Outsider 750 he developed, and down the track it was a real hoot when he gave it to Danny Nichols, Leo Kelk and I to fish from in a friendly end of season comp against the Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club deep sea group. A really good honest offshore boat and brilliant to fish out of, we were amped with a huge catch of snapper and amberjack that day and pretty cocky when we dragged our bins of fish up the beach from that flash boat for the weigh-in. It wasn’t that surprising to be just beaten by another of Ron’s contributors, Ernie Richards, from our own Redland Bay Club, who was always referred to by Ron as ‘King Ernie’, much to the disgust of John Palermo who was

a very exceptional fisherman of the day. There was a lot of good mateship among the crews of each of the clubs who fished offshore back then and some of those old brigade fishos still get around offshore today and would put some of the young blokes who fancy themselves to shame. Not all that long after my BNB gig started, I got dragged kicking and screaming from my marine board job that I really enjoyed into a team rewriting Queensland’s marine safety legislation. It didn’t take long to recognise an opportunity with the new rules being developed (that did away with prescriptive requirements more intended for ships) to get a new fibreglass boat built, and with some modification and inbuilt upright flotation, put it into survey for commercial passenger carrying offshore and let it pay its own way. Ron strongly encouraged me to follow through with this concept I had been developing of pro-

viding hands-on training in boating and fishing as I pieced the puzzle together in my spare time. I had been fishing in a lot of boats over a fair period, and when Kevin Nichols produced his first Outsider 650, I just knew by its lines and layout that it was the boat I’d had in my mind for a few years. Ron, Kev and I took it offshore on its maiden bluewater run on a day the Redland Bay Fishing Club called off that weekend’s round due to excess winds. Yep, it was windy, but this boat was just eating up the lumps and bumps on the ocean and was far superior in ride and layout to anything in the market at that time. Kev was willing to work through the new survey requirements with me, and my 650 was on order as a spare time project at the factory until after Ron and I took the latest Wynnum Marine demo model to Fraser for the Toyota fishing comp. Ha, the look on Kev’s ☛ continued P11

The author with a snapper at a club comp weigh-in from the early ‘90s.

A young Ash Corten with a good offshore snapper.

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A look back over 25 years of fishing â&#x2DC;&#x203A; from P10

face when he saw the suggested list of changes Ron and I worked up over that week at Fraser, but in the true spirit of the gentleman he is, he willingly adopted them for my boat and most became standard inclusions or options for future buyers. It was no surprise that the Outsider 650 went on to win the Australian trailerboat of the year in 1996 as it was streets ahead of the opposition. After formalising my experience with the necessary commercial quali-

fications and working through the red tape of the boat build, we kicked off Reel Affair as a business in August 1996, providing training in crossing coastal bars and fishing offshore, and the journey has continued from there. It put a few noses out of joint in my workplace and within fishing circles, but after weathering some sour grapes and constantly refining what we do, I stuck with it, never dreaming I would still be contributing to BNB, let alone still be in business, all these years later.

Leo cleaned some of the catch after a club comp weigh-in at Reeders Point.

Ron Collins getting lucky again.

That boat went to a lot of great fishing locations and benefitted from all the advances in marine electronics and technology that were happening at the time thanks to the support and advice of Jim Carlson from Trymax Marine Electronics. Jimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s input and involvement from all those years back has kept me abreast of so much change and high-performance gear that helped me let rip with some accurate yarns on the benefits of the latest gear. Wow, those old Furunos, then the Lowrance colour units and the groundbreaking JRC FF60s really did set new standards in terms of finding hard reefy structure and fish schools. Yes, they were amazing days but now Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m being blown away with the latest mid-frequency sounder performance in shallow and deep water. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not forget the tackle either, and the rods and reels that are stronger, lighter and more dynamic than anything we had back in the day. Those old M10s donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cut it against the latest Wilson Venom sticks, for example. Ron always had an interesting group of characters who contributed articles to BNB and he encouraged all of us to get out of our comfort zones and keep the tools sharp with new skills, equipment and ranges of activities. It has been fun writing about the latest gear we now take for granted.

Ron had a great strategic mind, a wicked sense of humour with an excellent network of industry participants who also fished or boated, and he became an outspoken advocate for recreational boaters and fishers. His passion and fire to tackle the tough issues and lobby governments for change made BNB a very interesting read each month and drove many of us to pick up the cudgel too. Not afraid to tackle politicians if they werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t doing the right thing by the boating and fishing community, Ron lobbied for change for what pollies didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t consider the big-ticket items, but were important enough to people who owned boats and fished and who also voted for these fat cats. His legacy was improved management of fisheries, enhanced stocking of impoundments and greater recognition of the need for improved boating facilities. This legacy is certainly well carried by his son Ben, our present-day editor who keeps well abreast of the topical issues and isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afraid to voice his opinion and be a leader where a strong voice is needed. In fact, it is great working with a modern-day version of a chip off the old block, who keeps the paper in great shape and nurtures a very diverse team of contributors and staff members in this modern era.

Leo Kelk, the king of double hook- A young Jim Carlson held a snapper ups with a night-time pair from Deep taken north of Jumpinpin Bar while tunTempest. ing a mateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new Furuno sounder.

Ash Corten grew up with some large as life characters and regularly made it Ash at a boat show getting casting tuiinto BNB with his own handiwork. tion from Gary Fitzgerald.

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A very happy customer who attended one of the tuition days to learn how to catch flathead in southern Moreton Bay.

Carol with a southern Moreton Bay flathead taken on a Zerek Bulldog Crank.

Trolling hard-bodies such as the Zerek Bulldog Crank is a sure-fire way to pick up a few.

Lyndon attended one of the author’s on-water training days and picked up a few tips and a feed of flathead by trolling Tango Shads.

Flathead still going strong in southern bay

HE year is really scooting by and it feels like I’ve just finished writing one article when all of a sudden the next one is due.

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Winter fished extremely well but didn’t last long enough because it seems like summer is already here. Flathead are still going strong at the time of writing. We’re catching plenty of fish in the 55-60cm-plus range. Casting has picked up a few but trolling Zerek Tango Shads and Bulldog Cranks in 1-1.5m of water has been the standout way to catch them. We have been hooking them on both the low and high tides all the way from Coochiemudlo Island right down to Tipplers Passage. At this stage they don’t look like they’re going too far but I have noticed the water temperature is starting to heat up rather quickly. In some areas it’s already up to 25C, so the flathead may not hang

Southern Moreton Bay by SEAN CONLON

around the shallows much longer. I’d advise you to get out there and get amongst them before their numbers diminish. In the past few articles I’ve talked about techniques, colours and types of lures to use, so won’t cover that again here. Something I’ve noticed to be effective is on the bigger tides I’ve been fishing Russell Island north to Coochie and on the smaller tides I’ve been fishing from Russell Island south to Jumpinpin, Jacobs Well and Tipplers. By fishing those areas on those tides I find I get just the right amount of run to fish most productively. So with the way the water temperature is rising I think it’s probably time to dust off the pelagic outfits and prepare to get into a few mackerel in the coming months.

Numerous bream have been turning up as by-catch while trolling for flathead.

On another note, I was lucky enough to fish the Gold Coast Flathead Classic again this year with Troy Dixon and Adam Meredith as Team Zerek. The boys put in a fair bit of pre-fishing, so during the competition we were lucky enough to get onto a number of fish and end up in fifth place overall, which we were quite happy about. Nearly all our fish came from trolling Zerek Tango Shads and Bulldog Cranks in 1.2m of water, with the flathead ranging in size from 30cm up to 69cm. They weren’t big fish but we caught heaps of them. I think we boated about 100 fish in the three days to secure our top-10 finish. Troy captured the most fish and the most points in our team (as he does every year), but this year he had a secret weapon in the new colour range of Tango Shads, though one

was a standout. The lure colour pictured alongside the article is the one Troy caught every single one of his fish on. In fact, he landed them all on that one lure and didn’t even lose it, which is a remarkable effort. The new Tango Shad colour range looks good, so check them out at wil sonfishing.com.au Team Wilson did just about as well as us, finishing in sixth. The boys put in another great effort and always finish in the top 10. Thanks to the Gold Coast Sport Fishing Club for putting on another great Flathead Classic and hopefully we get to do it all again next year. Remember, if you want to learn how to fish southern Moreton Bay and catch more fish regularly, we are doing on-water tuition days and tuition classes at night. If you’re interested or would like to know about our charters, contact me on 0433 732 310 or find Moreton Bay Fishing Charters on Facebook.

This flathead was hooked in the Broadwater on a Zerek Tango Shad.

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Access points to Moreton Bay

HIS month we look at the accessibility of boat ramps from north of the Brisbane River to Redland Bay. Of the 10 ramps covered, only a couple cause dramas at low tide. Hopefully this article helps you find the best ramp to get into the bay. Remembering the bigger the boat, the more water you draw, and at low tide, trimming may be necessary. If you put two people on a 5.2m boat versus two on a 4.2m tinnie, the tinnie will go places the bigger boat cannot. Looking at the topography of the bay, the eastern side is all sandbanks, with tidal currents making the only changes, whereas the western side is mud flats, with many areas devoid of water on low tide. The channels across these western flats are mostly man made and often the silt build-up causes low water to get even lower, especially on the big full/new moon tides. What you need are ramps where launching and retrieving on low tides is not full of drama. Ramps with a pontoon or sandy beach close by to use while parking and retrieving your trailer are ideal, though some ramps require a second person to physically hold the rig while you fetch the trailer. On low tides you want a

Moreton Bay by BRIAN WEBB

ramp that ends in deeper water so youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not churning up mud. And you want the channel from the ramp to open water to have at least a metre of depth and be well marked for day and night use. Nudgee Creek (Kedron Brook) Access to this ramp is gained off Nudgee Rd. The ramp has four lanes with a pontoon up the middle. It drops off into deeper water and has ample parking facilities. At low tide you have to cross the mud flats into Bramble/Moreton Bay and this entrance is very shallow, so a fair amount of trimming is needed and only a few beacons mark the channel. If you want to access the Brisbane River, once clear you turn right into Koopa Channel, which is well marked, and this brings you out near Luggage Point. On a rising tide youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find bait, whiting and sandies on the flats coming through the channel, or you can head to the compass buoy, Brisbane Rd beacons or across to Mud Island. Pinkenba

You can access Pinkenba ramp from Kirra St on the north side. Southerly wind and wakes from big ships donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help with launching/ retrieving, though there is plenty of parking and playground areas for a family barbecue. This ramp gives you access to Bulimba Creek, Gibson Island and further up the Brisbane River to the Gateway Bridge. You can also head downstream to the rock wall near Bulwer Island, the boat passage or the many terminals, but remember the 30m exclusion zone from the wharves. Colmslie On the southern side of the river upstream past the Gateway Bridge is Colmslie ramp, which is accessible from Lytton Rd/Col Gardner Drive behind the hockey fields. Here youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find a twolane ramp with a pontoon, a sandy beach on the western side, deepwater drop-off and ample parking. It can get crowded due to the ferry terminal next door, and people tend to park in the lanes marked for trailers. The edges of the channel up and down the riv-

er feature a lot of rocky structure and fish well for bream, cod, threadies and often jewfish. Whyte Island Towards the mouth of the river is the boat passage and Whyte Island, which features a two-lane pontoon ramp and small sandy area at low tide to the south, which helps if the pontoon is full. At high tide, a rocky shoreline prevents this. The ramp is not friendly when a southerly is blowing. You have two exits here. You can head south towards Wynnum with a well-marked channel that is shallow at low tide but passable. Once past the mangroves, the flats (South Point) on the bay side produce plenty of worms, the odd yabby and soldier crabs. A left turn past these flats gets you to Mud and St Helena islands (remembering St Helena is surrounded by a green zone). Otherwise, you can fish the Brisbane River and then head out through the mouth into the bay past the coffee pots to Mud Island, the Measured Mile and Moreton Island. A multitude of beacons at night will have you confused. One thing to watch on high tide is the railway

Nudgee Creek

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bridge because the clearance can be very tight. Don’t have any rods or aerials higher than the canopy until you’re through. The flats opposite the water police get shallow, so stay in the marked channel. Bear in mind this ramp is one of the busiest on the south side, but an overflow parking area exists on the grass behind the carpark. The ramp is under video surveillance from the Port of Brisbane. At present it’s a nightmare getting to the ramp with all the roadworks and detours. Wynnum Creek The Wynnum Creek ramp is accessible via Glenora St and provides awesome access to Mud and St Helena islands. Here you’ll find a twolane ramp with good water depth at the end. The channel leading into the bay is well marked with reasonable water depth heading out. This ramp has good wind coverage when launching and retrieving as well as heaps of parking space while being fairly secure. It also gives the smaller boats good access to the shallows down to Manly Boat Harbour. Manly Boat Harbour This four-lane ramp/ pontoon is inside the Manly Boat Harbour along Fairhead Crescent, so it’s well protected, has lots of secure parking and the coast guard is next to the ramp, so there’s no excuse for not logging on. There is a speed limit inside the harbour, but when you exit you simply follow the well-marked beacons out towards Green Island and then turn left or right into the bay. You can fish the ledges around Green or the dropoff down to Wellington Point. Both southerly and northerly winds churn the water up around Green and into the bay. Wellington Point The Wellington Point two-car ramp is accessible off Main Rd, with the jetty running right next door to the ramp. This ramp has a wellmarked channel out over

the flats and reef/rubble ledge, which is around the 4-5m mark before it drops off into bay waters. This ledge runs south nearly all the way to Raby Bay, and in some points you can get up into the shallows and chase bream. Heading north around the (Thorpe and Huyber) beacons on the point, you’ll find two channels and ramps not covered in this write-up (Lota and Tingalpa creeks), which both have well-marked channels as they come out over the extensive shallows into Waterloo/Moreton Bay. Raby Bay The Raby Bay ramps are located on William St, with two normal public ramps and a secure ramp for the Moreton Bay Trailer Boat Club. A recent expansion has seen the existing threelane ramp with its decent water depth complemented by a two-lane ramp just to the south. Both ramps feature pontoons. The area out from the ramps has good depth but it’s not a big area before it climbs back up to shallow water. Stay in the marked channels until you get to know the area. The foreshore between the northern ramp and VMR wharf is user friendly. Again this is a busy ramp on weekends with good weather, though you’ll find ample parking. The ramps are used by many offshore crews. Once you clear the last leads out from Cleveland Point it’s a good run across the bay to the top of Peel Island, up the Rainbow Channel and out through South Passage Bar. Strong southerlies and northerlies can churn up the open waters between Peel and the mainland. Victoria Point (Colburn Ave) The Colburn Ave Victoria Point ramp is two lanes with a pontoon up the middle and a reasonable drop-off at the ramp’s end, though don’t reverse your boat too far back or you will strike shallow waters. The VMR is close by and you should find plenty of parking spaces. Both channels leaving

this ramp are shallow at low tide. You can either head out towards the main channel coming up from Redland Bay or go up the western side towards Point Halloran into the bay, remembering that from Point Halloran north towards Cassim Island is a green zone. This ramp provides the best access to Coochiemudlo Island, Peel Island, Pelican Banks and Blakesleys Anchorage Good fishing grounds exist arounds the northern side of Coochie and an artificial reef can be fished on the eastern side. Redland Bay (Weinam St/Banana St) This four-lane ramp drops off suddenly into Weinam Creek and your trailer is likely to bottom out, so take care when launching and retrieving. There is nowhere to park

a boat, so you need two people to launch and retrieve. The coast guard is close by and the ferry terminal to Macleay and Russell islands is just around the corner from the entrance to the creek. To exit this ramp it’s best to stay in the marked channel out to Snipe Island and then follow the main channel up into the bay or head to Pelican Banks or Potts Point (Macleay Island), which has reasonable fishing grounds. The ramp is protected from the wind until you enter the bay. You can also head south towards Jumpinpin and the bottom of the bay after exiting Weinam Creek. My choice of ramps are Colmslie, Whyte Island, Manly, Raby Bay, Victoria Point and Weinam Creek.

I have never used the Lota and Tingalpa creek ramps. Launching from any of the ramps listed gives good coverage of the bay and rivers. All the ramps are quite boat friendly and the channels have fairly good water coverage on low tides, plus all the boat ramps are secure and many of them have VMR operations or coast guards right there. COR R ECTION An error was published in Brian Webb’s October article wherein it was stated that crab pot floats ‘must be any colour other than yellow’. This is incorrect. In Queensland all crab apparatus must have a ‘light-coloured’ surface float attached. The author and publisher apologise for this inaccuracy and any confusion it may have caused.

Raby Bay

Victoria Point

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Estuary cod will be feeding in deep rocky holes this month. This one ate a 3” Z-Man MinnowZ in Calico Candy.

Small jacks are a good sign of a healthy system.

Predators turned on by rising temperatures

OVEMBER is a great month to be on the water in southeast Queensland. It traditionally produces the first of the really hot days and afternoon thunderstorms become more common. The weather that spring has thrown at us so far has been a bit of a lottery, so it will be interesting to see what November brings. Southeast Queensland received a big downpour during October, which gave the rivers and creeks a good flushing. Some areas received over 300mm of rain, which caused serious flooding in some systems. The rivers and creeks around Brisbane copped a good flushing without any serious floods, so it should clear quite quickly during November. The fishing after a flush is very productive for a range of species. As the salt water pushes back into the rivers, the baitfish move upstream with it and the predators follow. Species including mullo-

Local Luring by KEITH STRATFORD

way, threadfin salmon, mangrove jack, estuary cod, bream, flathead and sharks can all be regular catches in these conditions. The bait and predators can move upstream very quickly. Quite often the water will look and taste too fresh for fish to feed in, but the water is saltier down deep. A good sounder will give you a decent indication of whether bait and predators are in the area. Don’t be turned off by the colour of the water. Fish will happily feed in filthy water, as long as bait is present. I’ve caught many mangrove jack in dirty water and have actually found they are a lot more active when the water is like this. The dirty water gives them some cover, which allows them to move away

from their crusty homes to feed. Deep holes are a great place to start looking in dirty water, especially if some rocks or fallen timber is close by. Jacks will school up in these areas, particularly if bait is holding in the holes. These deep holes also hold numerous other species, with jewies and threadfin common catches in deeper water. Don’t be surprised if the spot that was loaded with bait and fish one week is barren the next. The bait and predators can move very quickly in these conditions, so you might need to keep moving upstream to find the action. Sharks also thrive in dirty water, and with the rising water temperatures this month, they will be very active. Sharks are very fond of

mullet, so areas with good numbers of poddies and larger mullet are good places to look. Live baits under a float work well in dirty water. Mullet are very active baits and cause quite a bit of disturbance when put out under a float. This is a good way to get the attention of a hungry bull shark in the area. Smelly baits such as stingray flaps and catfish also work well. Brisbane River The Brisbane River should have an excellent run of school jew this month. Previous seasons have turned up large numbers of jewies in the 80-90cm range. They are particularly fond of prawns at this time of year. I like to eat a few jewies and the fish I have kept at this time of year have been full of prawns. A couple of fish I kept from one session even had numbers of mantis shrimp inside their stomachs. Try matching the hatch on these school jew.

The prawns are quite small at this time of year, so a smaller prawn imitation such as the Z-Man 3” ShrimpZ will get plenty of bites. These little plastics continue to produce great results for me. They catch everything in the river from flathead to threadfin. Z-Man EZ ShrimpZ have also been producing results. If you can’t get a bite on a prawn imitation, it’s worth trying a baitfish profile such as a soft vibe or paddle-tailed plastic. I’m not sure if the fish get sick of eating prawns or whether they focus on a certain size prawn, but occasionally they just won’t bite. A change of plastic is often enough to get their interest, so keep your mind open and carry a good range of models and colours at all times. With the water clearing up after the recent rains, plenty of hungry fish should be around. I hope to see you on the water.

Jarryd Corney with a pale jack caught in a Brisbane creek.

Flathead are common by-catch when fishing the Brisbane River. They respond well to prawn imitations.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 15

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Bradh's Smited Guiding Fishs Tour

A comprehensive guide to anchoring

BOAT anchor is used when you want to stop and fish, swim, have lunch or stay overnight.

It is also an important piece of safety equipment. Even if you do not plan to use it, an anchor is imperative if a boat breaks down. An anchor will keep the boat in the one location or reduce the rate of drift until help arrives. When at anchor, remember changes in wind and sea conditions can affect the holding power of ground tackle, compromising the safety of the boat. Anchors must be of a type that will work in the relevant seabed and with enough line to suit the depths in which you usually operate. Other than for an emergency, boats must not anchor in channels, near navigation beacons or important notices on the shore such as cable crossing signs. Types of anchors Several types of anchor are suited for different applications. A Danforth anchor is most commonly recommended for, and used by, small craft. The Danforth is a small,

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Boating Tips by COLIN HINDER

light anchor with excellent holding power in mud and sand that can be easily handled in a small boat. Reefs should be avoided because the flukes may wedge between rocks, causing the retrieval of the anchor to be difficult. CQR or plough anchors are most commonly used by larger, heavier boats, but can be used in small craft. These anchors have good holding power in sand and mud but should not be used on reefs. Reef or grapnel anchors are designed to hold on coral and rocks. Other types of anchors will lodge under coral and that’s where they will remain. The prongs on a reef anchor are meant to straighten out when excessive load is applied and can then be bent back into position. They also cause less damage to the coral. In coral reef areas, it is better to anchor on sand where a Danforth or plough anchor is more suitable. Do not anchor on coral unless in an emergency. A sea anchor or drogue is used in heavy seas to slow the drift and keep the bow of the boat into the wind and waves. This will also provide more comfortable conditions when drifting in choppy seas. If you plan to go boating offshore or on an extended trip, a sea anchor is a valuable piece of equipment. Anchor lines Anchors also must have something to attach them to the boat. This is called the anchor rode and may consist of line, chain or a combination of both. The whole system of gear including anchor, rope and shackles is called ground tackle. Anchor lines are important. Don’t use an anchor line

that floats, such as polypropylene. It can hinder the anchor from digging in and holding and is also prone to being cut off by passing boat propellers. Nylon and silver rope are both suitable materials for anchor lines. Nylon is best known for its strength and stretching ability as well as being more resistant to abrasion. Silver rope has less tensile strength. You should always have a good length of chain measuring at least a boat length. So on a 5m boat you want 5m of chain between the anchor and anchor line. The purpose of the chain is to keep the stock or shank of the anchor parallel to the seabed to allow the flukes of the anchor to gain maximum penetration into the seabed. Chain also helps prevent the anchor line chafing on the bottom. The length of the anchor line may need to exceed five times the depth of the water in which you normally operate. If you mark off the rope at regular intervals with coloured twine, you’ll know how much rope to release so the anchor sets correctly. Scope Scope means the ratio of the length of anchor line let out to the depth of water in the place you are anchoring. It is essential to use the proper length of anchor line to hold the boat in all conditions. To calculate how much line to let out, allow for a ratio of five to one. If conditions are extreme, increase the ratio to eight to one. The flatter the pull on the anchor, the better it will hold. The ability of the anchor to hold the boat will also vary with the nature of the seabed.

Anchoring Keep the anchor, its chain and rope tidy – many boats have a chain locker or well, though a plastic crate, bin or open bag keeps things neat. Leave the end out (or feed it through a hole in the crate or bin) to tie to the boat, and then lay the rope down coil by coil, then the chain and anchor. Ensure the end is secured to the boat. Charts and local knowledge will show you where to find good holding ground, but beware of submarine cables and other moorings. When anchoring, lower the anchor to the bottom, don’t pick up a bundle of anchor chain and line and throw it over, hoping it will untangle. Always lay your anchor line out, let it touch bottom and let the boat drift back until sufficient line is paid out. Don’t be tempted to anchor by the stern. Anchoring by the stern causes the stern of the boat to sit lower in the water. Any wave action or even the wash of other boats can cause water to flow over the stern. Always anchor by the bow. Ensure you take into account the rise and fall of the tide when selecting a long-stay anchorage. Like anything, there’s a proper way to anchor: • Select an area that offers maximum shelter from wind, current, boat traffic and so forth. • Consider how your boat will lie in relation to others. Pick a spot with swinging room in all directions. • Determine depth and bottom conditions and calculate the amount of rope you will put out. • Lay out the amount of rope you will need on deck in such a manner that it will follow the anchor into the water smoothly without tangling. Ensure its end is secured to the boat. • Motor slowly into the wind or tide to just ahead

of your chosen spot. • Wait until you start to drift backwards, then lower the anchor, checking the marks on the rope. • When it touches bottom, slowly pay out the required scope (gentle reverse propulsion may assist), then secure the rope to a cleat. • Motor gently back against the anchor to dig it in and ensure it is holding. • While still in reverse, observe a transit between two fixed features to be sure the anchor isn’t dragging. This can also be determined by observing the angle of the rope away from the boat and placing your fingers on top of the rope to feel for any vibration that would accompany the dragging of an anchor over the seabed. • Check frequently to make sure you are not drifting. • Don’t forget to show the correct lights at night. Always use an all-round 360-degree white light mounted as high as possible so it can best be seen. Raising the anchor Warm the engine and then motor slowly along the line of the anchor rope, bringing in the rope and feeding it into the bin or locker. Don’t over-run the rope. In small boats always try to handle the anchor from the cockpit, not the foredeck. When the boat is directly above the anchor, a good pull or, with the line secured on a cleat, a short push ahead under power should release it from the seabed. Once free, raise the anchor to the waterline. Clean if necessary and let the rope dry before stowing. If the anchor becomes caught, do not move the boat over the top of the anchor in an attempt to dislodge it because it may cause the boat to overturn. If you cannot dislodge the anchor, it is safest to cut it off. A handy hint is to wear gloves when hauling in the anchor.

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Big bream can be by-catch on small 2.5” soft plastics used in Tingalpa Creek. The author’s wife with a lovely whiting caught on a double dropper rig with worms.

Mixed bags from Tingalpa Creek

HILE I have been having a ball island hopping between Moreton and Fraser islands over the past month or so, it is always good to be able to have a fish close to home, especially when the fish are on.

The twisted leader knot by Geoff Wilson is a quick, easy and strong knot for connecting braid to leader.

The Lively Lures Micro Mullet is a fantastic trolling lure for flathead.

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Tingalpa Creek is only a short drive from my home and although a relatively small, narrow system, it can produce a reasonable mixed bag. Due to its small size and increasing fishing pressure, I prefer to practise mostly catch and release here and encourage other anglers to do the same. Tingalpa Creek is also a good spot to take the family given it is relatively protected, with only the long channel that runs up towards Wellington Point being a bit more exposed. In terms of access, there is only one main public boat ramp near the mouth at Thorneside, though you can find a few dodgy dirt/rocky ramps further upstream including the bridge at Rickertt Rd. These ramps are more suited to launching canoes and small boats. Locations and bait During the cooler months, bream can be found in very good numbers up the creek, though they are present in smaller numbers all year around. Good spots include the rocks just past the railway bridge and some of the slightly deeper holes further upstream. A few whiting hang around the shallow sandbanks before the railway bridge on high tide. The odd mulloway (usually undersized) hangs in the deeper holes, but these of course should be carefully returned if below the legal limit of 75cm. I generally prefer to target whiting, bream and flathead from the boat ramp all the way out to the last of the channel markers that run out from the creek mouth. This area offers myriad sand and mud flats, weed banks and drop-offs. A number of yabby beds

Fishing Tips by SEAN ‘SKIP’ THOMPSON

are also accessible at low tide. You can access these beds on the Lota side of the creek if you walk out to the main channel at low tide, or up towards the entrance to Lota Creek. Yabby banks can be reached by boat near the red channel markers before the creek takes a sharp turn to the right towards Wellington Point. For those proficient with a cast net, the area around the boat ramp usually holds small poddy mullet and prawns in season. Fishing report and tactics Over the past month or so, I’ve had a couple of good sessions around the creek both with my family and on my own. Whiting During the top of the tide, I like to fish over the shallower banks and in the drains evidenced by the darker green water. If you drift you will cover more ground, but if you find a patch of fish it can pay to anchor and fish. Yabbies and live bloodworms (available locally from Water Tower Bait & Tackle at Manly) are a good option for whiting here. The secret is to use relatively long, sloppy rods (8’-9’) so the whiting won’t feel much resistance when they pick up the bait. With these rods you can let them run rather than striking and thus catch a lot more fish than you miss. A good option for the whiting here is to run a double dropper rig with two baits, using size 4 Tru-Turn baitholder hooks for yabbies and size 6 for worms. If you are short of time, you can also buy off-theshelf Tru-Turn worm rigs or paternoster rigs with baitholder hooks. I find 6lb Platypus fluorocarbon leader is as strong as you need to go.

During low tide, whiting can be caught by drifting the deeper water in the channel that runs all the way from the creek mouth. Alternatively, you can anchor at the entrance to deeper drains. My wife recently scored quality whiting using this technique. Flathead Flathead are a great option at the mouth of Tingalpa Creek and up Lota Creek (during high tide). On most trips here I use a combination of trolling and casting soft plastics, so I’ve included a few tackle and technique tips for this style of fishing. Trolling Trolling both inside and outside the creek can be effective because you cover more ground than casting. I like to troll two (or at most three) rods low and parallel to the water to ensure the small lures are swimming at their maximum depth. I run the lures at a variety of distances back from the boat to help avoid tangles.

If I’m trolling in more open water outside the creek mouth I’ll run the lures about 10-15m and 15-20m back from the boat (and if I’m running a third rod it will be only 5-10m back). When I am up either Lota or Tingalpa creeks I will shorten the distance of the lures behind the boat, especially in areas where I have to make a lot of twists and turns. If I am trolling along the edge of the channel or a bank in the creek, I will make sure I have a shallower lure on the side closest to the drop-off and a deeper-diving lure in the main channel since it needs to get down deeper. In shallow water (less than 2.5m) my favourite lure for trolling the creek is the Lively Lures Micro Mullet in Pink Bit and Pink/Purple colours. These lures dive to just over 2m. Other good options include the 50mm Zerek Tango Shad, which dives to 1.6m, and in slightly deeper water (2.5-4m) the Tilsan Bass in Dynamite and Gold Herring. During my most recent trip, I also tried Mad Keen’s new Quivers. ☛ continued P19

The author with his son who landed this quality flathead in the shallows.

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Mixed bags from Tingalpa Creek ☛ from P18

These soft vibes have a great action, resulting in a significant and constant pulse to the rod tip when trolling. Unfortunately, as can sometimes be the case at the Tingalpa Creek mouth after strong wind, on the recent trip I came across a lot of floating weed but still managed a couple of fish on these new lures when the trebles were weed free. I can’t wait to use them again when the area has less weed because their movement is awesome. Both the Lively Lures and Mad Keen lures are primarily available online from their respective websites, while most tackle shops will stock the Zerek and Tilsan lures. Casting and retrieving Casting and retrieving soft plastics is of course another very good option at and around Tingalpa

and Lota creeks. This technique has the advantage that you can target particular areas such as drains emptying from the flats or the edges of channels on a falling tide with successive casts. Depending on the wind, in these shallow waters I will use either 1/8oz TT HeadlockZ jig heads in very calm conditions or step up to 1/6oz or 1/4oz if it is a little windier. You should also try to position your boat (or yourself if you are on foot) so the wind will assist you with longer casts. If you don’t have an electric motor to lock yourself in position, sometimes it can pay to quietly anchor to target an area if the wind/tide and thus the drift is against you. In terms of lures, my favourites are Z-Man’s 2.5” Slim SwimZ, 3.5” Trick SwimZ and 3” MinnowZ in these relatively shallow waters.

Teaching kids catch and release from an early age will pay dividends.

I find lures that are any bigger can create too much of a splash and spook the fish. The other advantage of using smaller lures is you will pick up bream and the odd whiting as well as flathead. In terms of colours, I like clear colours when the water is clear and darker colours or fluoro pink and green when the water is a little more discoloured. For casting and retrieving I will use either Australian-made Platypus Platinum+ 5lb braid or Platypus P8 braid in 6lb. Both braids are very thin for their strength and also very bright, which makes it easier to detect hits and see when you are on the bottom as you lift and drop the lure during your retrieve. I find 10-14lb fluorocarbon trace is more than enough to handle all the lizards in this area.

For a very simple, strong and quick connecting knot to tie while on the water, I use the twisted leader knot as described in Geoff Wilson’s Complete Book of Fishing Knots and Rigs (diagram on previous page). Importantly, I will ensure the knot sits above the bottom runner on my rod to prevent wind knots and ensure less friction when casting. I use graphite rods such as the Lox Yoshi in 1-3kg or 2-5kg and Wilson Live Fibre Blade ‘n’ Tails. In terms of reels that won’t break the bank, I run the Shimano Sedona 2500, Daiwa Crossfire 2000 and Daiwa Legalis 2000. I hope you manage to get out and score a few fish of your own in November. Don’t forget to jump onto my Ontour Fishing Australia Facebook page. Until next month – bag your mates, not your limit.

The new Mad Keen Quivers soft vibes are great trolling lures in shallow water.

Suzuki Marine unveils lightweight DF100B

UZUKI Marine continues to offer products that provide better acceleration, better fuel efficiency and better value with the worldwide release of the DF100B at the Genoa Boat Show.

The new DF100B four-stroke outboard is the lightest in its class and at just 157kg is 25kg lighter than the current DF100A, opening up Suzuki’s midrange outboard category to even more customers and a wide array of boats. Aside from its compact size and performance, the new model also has the largest gearbox ratio in its class and has been crafted from a proven design using the same 1502cc engine unit as the DF70A/80A/90A models. However, Suzuki has stepped it up in the DF100B by adding a water-detecting system, which alerts the driver with an audible alarm and visual warning if water is detected in the fuel. This means safer boating for the driver and less chance of corrosion and loss of power output in the engine. National marketing manager Sean Allen said the DF100B offers better value with its class-leading size. “Boating made bet-

ter is what we strive to achieve with our range of four-stroke outboards and the DF100B delivers a number of advantages to our customers,” he said. “Its compact size and weight makes it an ideal power choice for a wide range of boats without compromising on performance, giving customers a choice of which 100hp outboard model best suits their needs. The DF100B also includes the same technologically advanced features Suzuki Marine customers expect including Lean Burn fuel technology, offset driveshaft, maintenance-free timing chains and tilt limit system, all packaged in a stylish body

with a large 3D ‘S’ Suzuki emblem. This new engine is available in either Pearl Nebular Black or Cool White finishes. The DF100B and DF100A will both be available to allow customers to select which outboard best suits their boating requirements. The announcement comes off the back of the recent launch of the flagship DF350A and updated 2017 Suzuki outboard range earlier this year. DF100B stock will be available this summer, but for more information on the release, visit suzukimarine.com.au and contact your local Suzuki Marine dealer for pricing and to make an order.

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MARINE Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 19

Rob with a good size fish taken from the shallows on Crusoe Island.

Kord Luckus with a sizeable flathead caught in October.

Kord held a quality Pin flatty.

Top techniques for catching flathead

EOPLE often ask why I’ve got such a fascination with catching flathead.

John checked out the measurements on Dad’s 90cm flathead landed at South Stradbroke Island.

Page 20 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Commonly referred to as ‘humble’, flathead can be such an easy fish to catch some days and then the next day they can be horribly shut down with lock jaw. The attraction is they are such challenging fish to target given they respond to so many different techniques and lures in a wide variety of locations. I love tinkering with tackle to find the lures flathead are most responsive to.

Fishing Australia by ROBERT PAYNE

Given that literally hundreds, if not thousands of lures could possibly catch one of these fish, a ‘go-to’ lure that is a tried and tested workhorse is something most good flathead fishers will have in their tackle box. For me, a couple of dozen lures I have enjoyed using over the years have given good results, but as the wheel turns and the season goes by, I usually get bored and find another

interesting lure to fill the void. Those scratched and beaten-up ‘oldies’ are usually relegated to the back of the tackle box and are pulled out for a reminisce every couple of years. I’ve been fishing Jumpinpin since I was a young lad, however it’s only really been in the past 20 years that I’ve put more thought into tides, water quality, water height and how to best fish the area.

Generally speaking, a lure that’s hitting the bottom when trolled or jigged will usually catch the most fish, however the next fish that’s taken 2-3m off the bottom certainly won’t be the last. Flathead are also renowned to be a lazy piscatorial target but I’ve seen them swim from 10m or so to take a lure, so they aren’t as lethargic as some people may think. Fishing the shallows Fishing the shallows is one of the easier ways of cutting your teeth on flathead, and trolling lures is certainly a way to find the

fish as quickly as possible. What you do once you find the fish is entirely up to you. Two scenarios come to mind: either turn around and continue to troll the same area or deploy the electric bow mount motor, hit anchor mode and pepper the areas with casts instead. Although trolling is certainly not my preferred method of fishing, I have a lot of faith in the merits of this technique. First, a lot of ground is covered and when a fish or two is found often more ☛ continued P21

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Top techniques for catching flathead ☛ from P20

will be in the vicinity, so it’s important to keep hitting the area and not drive away from it. Second, the lures are usually in the water longer compared to casting techniques. Third, it works. It’s a must to look for baitfish in the area because we have found over the years that if there’s no bait, there’s no flathead. Another area that is a must to fish is any place where water is running over the banks. If fishing weed beds, you’ll find fish sitting in the bare sandy patches in the weed. The most important thing to remember is to use a lure suitable to the depth being trolled and a good boat driver will keep an eye on the sounder and GPS to mark where fish are being caught, along with formations such as gutters or depressions/ holes that can be revisited in future trips if the area produces. Consider trolling the contour lines around the edges of banks and work your way around, playing with the depth trolled. You don’t necessarily have to stick to the edge of the bank either because at high tide or when there’s sufficient water covering a bank, it’s possible to troll over the top, looking for small gutters in the weed beds as well as the bare patches. With regards to my favourite lure, I enjoy the results from the floating Zerek Tango Shad 50mm hard-bodies. The Ayu colour is great over the sandy bottom and I also have a bit of a soft spot for the UVG, though I’ve had success with most of the available colours. Three out of the past four Gold Coast Flathead Classic podium places for Team Wilson were due to this lure’s ability to catch fish.

When targeting flathead, I generally concentrate from Tulleen Island in the Broadwater northwards to Russell Island. Also look at the channels leading from Jacobs Well and Cabbage Tree Point because good patches of fish can be found in these localities. An abundance of flathead territory is out there ready to be explored and as much as I’ve fished the Pin, there’s always a new little nook and cranny that deserves a look. Fishing the deep I’ve found a lot of success in the deep using a variety of lures over the years, from the 7” Berkley Gulps through to the Zerek Fish Traps I’m using today. How these are fished in the deep depends on tidal flow. If just starting to fish the deep with lures, first things first, buy yourself a tackle back device, which will save you a lot of money if you happen to snag your lure on the bottom, and believe me, you will! Even as a sponsored angler with Wilson Fishing, I don’t break off lures for the hell of it and will do my best to retrieve my lure and line from the depths. It’s best to try this technique when the tide slows at either low or high tides or when there is minimal tidal movement between high and low. I mostly use the 65mm and 95mm Fish Traps and occasionally the 110mm if needing more weight. Using the electric motor, I’ll set my position and cast up-current, slowly drawing the rod tip up and down while winding up the slack. Sometimes all you will feel at the business end is a ‘tick’, so you need to be on the ball to strike. At other times the flathead hit so hard you don’t make a mistake. Depending on the tidal

movement, I’ll use the electric motor to drift with the tide and ‘tea bag’ the lure in an up/down motion below the boat. Using this method I’ve caught mostly flathead but also mulloway, longtail tuna and even whiting. The flathead should be around for a bit longer but generally slow around the Christmas period. Also, congratulations to the winners of this year’s Flathead Classic: the Lowrance Whyte Boyz who smashed the other 275 teams entered to take top position. My team, Team Wilson, still came in a respectable sixth, however we’re definitely aiming to make it back to the podium in 2018!

Ken Thompson of Lowrance scored his personal-best flathead on a jigged Zerek Fish Trap.

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By-catch of whiting are not totally uncommon, with this fish caught by John on a Zerek Fish Trap.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 21

PHOTO GALLERY The Bush ‘n Beach team would like to thank everyone who submitted a photo from the 2017 Flathead Classic. Congratulations to Patrick Aubrey for getting on the front cover and winning the prize pack. Ja im ee H or n er

L oga n Ru d ge

Ja m es Sin gh Pau l Nei ls en

Ta y lor P h ee n ey

Page 22 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

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St ep hen Wi lson Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 23

Mercury Queensland Bream Open T HE Mercury Queensland Bream Open once again proved to be one of the most challenging tournaments on the ABT calendar.

Bassday Sugapens jazzed up with Atomic Trick Bitz assist hooks did the damage.

As in past years, the arena for the tournament was Moreton Bay, with the back-up of the Gold Coast in the event of strong wind. The weather certainly

Tristan Taylor and Dave McKenzie from Team Samurai Reaction were the winners of the 2017 Mercury Queensland Bream Open.

Page 24 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Competition Report by LEX IRWIN

tested competitors, with conditions ranging from glass-outs to strong wind warnings. With the forecast for the weekend less than favourable, Team Bush ‘n Beach/Atomic (comprising Anthony Wishey and I) decided to pre-fish the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay. We caught fish in both areas and just had to wait to see what the final forecast would be and where we would be allowed to fish. On day one the forecast was marginal, but with 15-20 knots of northerly we were allowed to fish the bay and as usual Wishey announced: “The bay is open!” First thing in the morning, a five to 10-knot breeze was perfect for our planned topwater approach in the southern bay. We were using Bassday

Sugapen surface lures in colour 137 and soon had our bag of five small fish. While we fished the southern bay islands, the remainder of the field spread to all areas of the bay, from Redcliffe to Jacobs Well. As the tide rose, we changed our approach to cranking hard-bodies around structure. The Atomic Hardz Bream Crank 38mm Deep was our lure of choice in colours Ghost Gill Brown, Muddy Prawn and Ghost Brown Shad. Throughout the day we slowly upgraded our bag and were happy to weigh in 3.82kg, putting us in second place. Team Samurai Reaction’s Tristan Taylor and Dave McKenzie were the leaders with a 3.85kg bag and they had employed a similar game plan to us, fishing topwater and cranking the shallows. Team Pontoon21 was in third place with a bag of 3.77kg. With less than 100g separating the first three teams, this was going to be an epic three days of fishing. On day two, the forecast of calm wind early turning to a strong wind warning of a 25-knot northerly forced ABT to confine all boats to the Brisbane River, which had all teams rethinking their game plans. Since we’d pre-fished the river, we had a plan to target Luggage Point first and see where the day took us. With Team Samurai Reaction leading us out at the start and also deciding to fish Luggage Point we were no match to beat them to the spot – their 250hp Mercury had them in the box seat and we were forced to change plan on the run, deciding to fish the pipeline pylons on the northern side of the river. It was a grind but we landed three small fish using soft plastics and crab patterns. We headed to Luggage Point after a couple of hours and spoke to Tristan and Dave to be given the bad news that they’d had an epic session on big bream, with a bag they estimated to be bigger than their day one total of 3.85kg. They left us the spot because they said it was too hard to fish now the tide had risen. We caught a few bream and by-catch to round out our bag but there were no kicker fish for us. The rest of the field had spread from the rock walls at the mouth up to the Gateway Bridge. All employed different methods ranging from shallow cranking rock

walls and boat hulls to fishing deep with crab lures and soft plastics. The weigh-in back at the showgrounds revealed Team Samurai Reaction’s estimation to be correct, easily out-fishing the remainder of the field. A 4.07kg bag gave the guys a lead of 940g over second placed Team Pontoon21. We were 1.78kg off the lead with it all in front of us if we were to be successful on the final day. As day three began, it was clear the weather gods would not be kind. We woke at 3.30am to a 14-knot northerly blowing in the bay and the forecast of a 20-25 northerly developing. The venue was changed to the Gold Coast, with the northern boundary being the northern tip of Macleay Island. All boats bar one decided to stay local on the Gold Coast. Team Atomic’s Aaron Sharp and Steve Eldred decided to fish their beloved bay even in the testing wind and as it turned out they weighed the biggest bag for the day at 2.46kg. We struggled. We saw plenty of fish but catching them was another story. Eventually our bag was filled with small fish after we were unable to locate any kickers. We used a tandem approach, fishing pontoons with plastics and crab patterns and throwing Bassday Sugapens and Atomic Hardz Bream Crank 38mm Double Deeps between the pontoons to the sandy beaches. All teams we saw in the canals said they were struggling and complained the wind was testing their ability to get

lures close to where they intended. The bag weights on the final day were evidence of the tough day. In the end, Team Samurai Reaction held on to win with a three-day total of 15 fish weighing 10.3kg. Well done Tristan and Dave on your Queensland Bream Open title. Second place went to the consistent Team Pontoon21 comprising Denis Metsdorf and Khoi Pham, with 15 fish totalling 9.41kg. Team Atomic’s decision to fish the bay on the final day got them into third place, with their 15 fish weighing 8.25kg. This tournament was a true test of fishing skills due to the three different arenas each requiring a different approach. The conditions also proved testing, whether it was the glass-out calm that makes it very difficult to tempt spooky fish or the 25-knot northerly that makes it tough to just stand on the decks. I’m sure all anglers who fished the event will agree with me in saying we all enjoyed ourselves and would like to thank ABT for organising and running the event. ABT’s coverage with live video footage and social media updates was fantastic and gives all anglers access to a wealth of knowledge. Thanks also to sponsor Mercury for being involved and to all the teams’ individual sponsors. The camaraderie and banter between the teams was fantastic, whether having fun or helping each other out by assisting with launching and retrieving. This is a great competition. Bring on next year!

This luderick was interesting by-catch.

The author’s and Wishey’s standout fish from day one.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 25

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.

Jeff Sorrell with a chinaman fish taken on Short Fuse at 1770.

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UE to the public holiday, the October Power Boat Anglers meeting was brought forward to September and obviously caught quite a few off guard, with about half the usual numbers turning up.

The main topic of discussion was finalising preparations for the annual trek to 1770 for the Bush ‘n Beach Trophy club competition. With the usual “who’s with who, who’s taking what, how many rods is Schomberg taking and where is everyone staying” out of the way, it was time to get down to the nitty gritty and fine details of the competition. Discussion was held on the new point scoring

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Page 26 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Power Boat Anglers

by MICK CLUTTERBUCK

system and how it might work. Gary Crompton presented a draft of the ideas raised during previous meetings and after further discussion and clarifying a few points, members decided to adopt the new system for this year’s trip. The main reason for the new system is to ensure the club is up to date and complying with all legislation in regard to fishing in general and in particular the coral reef and rocky reef fin fish categories. The new score sheet gives anglers the chance to weigh their allowed number of coral reef fin fish while also being able to weigh their allotment of rocky reef fin fish. A few different scenarios were presented but in the end, we decided to keep it as simple as possible by eliminating any grey areas. In a nutshell, you can only weigh a total of 20 coral reef fin fish, so you really need to manage your catch. If, for example, you catch your bag limit of a species on the first day, then that’s it for the week. As usual, the club places great emphasis on looking after your catch and practising good catch and release techniques to increase a fish’s chance of survival. It’s always a bit of a guessing game when it comes to what to keep in the early days of a competition, particularly when you throw in the weather, which can change at the drop of a hat. Checking the weather, hedging your bets and your ability to find the best fish for your total will make for a very interesting comp this year.

The system will be reviewed post-competition and will be tweaked or thrown out if required. With 17 boats and crew logged for the trip, it will get a decent work-out to say the least. As with previous years, rivalry is expected to be pretty fierce and any advantage anglers can get will go a long way. With this in mind, a few crews headed up for a couple of pre-comp excursions in an attempt to find the fish. Jeff Sorrell and two others towed Short Fuse up and landed quality fish, but don’t expect to get any hard info out of them. Stefan Slomka is another who keeps heading up that way with impressive results, though his trips have been to the estuaries near Rockhampton chasing barra. I’ve still got to take him up on the invite. In recent months we’ve had quite a few new members join, so welcome to the club and if you haven’t yet been

interrogated by commodore Rob Schomberg, then expect it to happen, especially if you have a nice big shiny boat. He’s not good at remembering people’s names but he won’t forget a boat. Next meetings The next club meeting will be held on Monday, November 6 and then the

last before taking a break through January on Monday, December 4. Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month at the Bulimba Bowls Club located in Quinn St, Balmoral. Please feel free to come along and meet us. Until next month, safe boating.

This quality coral trout was hooked on a recent trip off 1770.

A coronation trout boated by Jeff Sorrell.

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Gold Coast a good place to be in November

OVEMBER seems to be the month when everything kicks into action.

As people begin planning holidays, we’ll see more people on the water and more fish being caught. Coming off the back of the Gold Coast Flathead Classic and a large amount of rain, people are continuing to target flathead with good results. During the Classic most of the bigger fish were sitting in deeper water, though decent numbers were still picked up by anglers casting and trolling the shallow flats. Swimbaits remain popular lures for targeting larger flathead in the shallows, but the newly mixed water clarity will see anglers picking up more fish by either trolling hard-bodies or casting paddle tails and blades. Many anglers will now turn their attention to targeting mangrove jack due to the water temperature sitting around 23C and higher. These feisty fish are starting to pop up more frequently and your best

Nerang Rooster Report by DARREN RAMA

chance will come from fishing the slack tides and targeting permanent structure. Systems including the Nerang and Coomera rivers are producing good numbers of jacks. In the Nerang, it’s worth looking from Chevron Island right up to the railway bridge, while in the Coomera expand your search area from the weir to Sovereign Island. Paddle tail soft plastics of 3”-5” are the most common lures being thrown. Jig head size will depend on depth and current. Hard-bodies are a goto for many anglers, and twitching them along rock bars and pontoons can trigger bites. Recently I have been using smaller hard-bodies because not only do they increase the chances of by-catch but they’re also getting the most bites. I normally throw lures including the Lucky Craft Pointer 78 and Pontoon21

Deep Rey but lately I’ve moved to cranking small Pontoon21 CrackJacks. For these smaller lures I run a 2-5kg rod with 10lb braid and a 12-16lb leader. As the water gets warmer, surface fishing will become a more popular option. In the fresh water, bass fishing has been very productive. Fishing the likes of Hinze Dam, Clear Island Waters and Mudgeeraba Creek has produced fish for people on a regular basis. One combination that has been working wonders is the weedless TT

SnakelockZ jig head with a jig spin. Having the availability to mimic a smaller spinnerbait with the versatility of a weedless plastic not getting snagged on structure definitely benefits the fishing and your wallet. As night falls, I always turn to surface lures, not only because they’re more visual but feeding on the surface at dusk is a natural behaviour for bass as they prey on injured insects and critters that have fallen into the water, making ripples as they land. When my lure lands, I wait until the ripples disappear before beginning my retrieve. One fish showing up coming into its spawning

season is tilapia. Tilapia are pests to our waterways and if caught must be responsibly disposed of away from the water. A tilapia fishing competition will be held at West Lake, Robina on November 4 to help eradicate these fish in order to keep our native species healthy and thriving. I have caught tilapia when targeting bass because they share the same habitat and take the food source of the bass. They are destructive fish in a similar vein to carp. So every one we get out of our waterways benefits the ecosystem. Get out there this month and hopefully score the fish of a lifetime.

The author borrowed a teammate’s fish for a quick pic during the Flathead Classic.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 27

Team NuLook Floors Northern Rivers.

The author (left) after winning the great Quintrex boat package supplied by Paul Banning at Surf Coast Marine.

A flathead classic to remember W OW, what a few days it was.

Paul Tamis came home strong on day three.

Garry Rayner with a huge deepwater flatty from day one.

The Gold Coast Flathead Classic is always an event that many anglers from up and down the east coast mark on their calendar. It is one of the biggest fishing competitions in Australia and the way it is run is an achievement the Gold Coast Sport Fishing Club should be very proud of. This year my son Ethan and good mate Matt fished with me as NuLook Floors Northern Rivers in the three-person team division. Six NuLook Floors teams were entered this year, with all teams fishing hard, which the results on the scoreboard showed at the end of the three days of fishing. Our plan was to fish deep around Jumpinpin on the first morning and then make further decisions after seeing how the deep was fishing. As I have found in previous Classics, fish in the deep can be there one day and totally gone the next, so we had pre-fished a fair bit, practising trolling and fishing shallow drains that run off the flats to at least have a solid backup plan if things didn’t pan out in the deep. As luck would have it, the fish were firing in the deep and we caught both solid and small fish for most of the day. The biggest for day one was a 73cm model taken on a Samaki Vibelicious Thumper Tail in Char-

The whole NuLook Floors crew enjoyed a cold drink after a long three days of fishing.

Page 28 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Competition Report

by JAMIE MCKEOWN

treuse Ginger Squid. This fish was hooked by simply hopping the vibe down some deep ledges around the Pin Bar. We finished up at 4pm as per comp rules and after speaking to a few other teams it sounded like most caught plenty, with the Whyte brothers consisting of Nick, David and Brendon really cracking a pattern. We headed to dinner and handed in the scorecard and later that night found out we managed to land ourselves in the top 10 out of 276 teams. Day two brought a huge change, with a northerly wind absolutely howling. The number of boats fishing the Pin area had doubled, probably because all the teams that fished the area on day one did so well. I managed to land three point-scorers very quickly, with the first fish coming on the first cast. Sadly, after the first 30 to 60 minutes, if you didn’t cash in, the rest of the day was a grind. We managed a few and then went to troll the flats. We picked up several fish by trolling, which was handy to keep the points ticking over. The pick of the lures on the troll were custompainted O.S.P Dunks and custom-painted Zerek Tango Shads, with the better fish coming on the Dunks. Day three had a much better weather forecast, but I had a feeling it was going to be tough because of the pressure the system had been placed under in the previous days. Once again we started off well, bagging a number of fish quickly. We then moved to the bar area and got a couple more, though I frustratingly dropped three really good size fish. That was about it for me for the rest of the day, with Matt and Ethan catching the rest of our fish, while I seemed to be best with the

net and camera. Our third day finished slightly better than day two, which I was happy with and thought we might be lucky enough to finish in the top 20, an outcome I would have been really proud of considering Matt had never fished a Classic before and neither had my 16-year-old son. We headed to the final day’s presentation and I was tired like the others but was feeling pretty good because my name had been drawn out on the Tuesday night to go in the running for the major lucky draw prize of a new boat, motor and trailer. Although I never for a second thought I would be lucky enough to win the boat, I knew all the prizes for the 28 competitors in the running were great and I was going to be stoked with whatever I went home with. The presentations were concluded and we managed to sneak into the top 10 in the three-man division, with the Whyte brothers absolutely schooling the rest of the field and Brendon Whyte taking out champion angler with an amazingly high score. This team really is the benchmark for other teams to try to reach. The brothers fish so well together they’re like a well-oiled machine. It’s a credit to their ability and I must say a massive congratulations to the three of them. This brings us to the lucky draw. Over the four nights of the event 28 lucky anglers are drawn out and on the final night the 28 entrants sit on chairs and hope their number isn’t called out first. However, as I said, every one of the lucky 28 entrants walks away with a great prize. Once the numbers narrowed down to the top 10, the nerves started to build but I would have been happy with any of

the prizes, some of which included expensive Lowrance sounders and Shimano fishing gear. Now down to the top five, the nerves really kicked in. Next thing I knew I was climbing into a new Quintrex boat as one of the final three entrants in the draw. The first guy in sat straight in the driver’s seat, which I thought was a bit like the kiss of death, and wouldn’t you believe it he was first to exit the boat. Then it was down to me and another guy as the final two. I was now beside myself, knowing I was either going home with an expenses-paid fishing holiday to Papatura in the Solomon Islands or a Quintrex 460 Renegade package generously supplied by Surf Coast Marine. With my son and Matt standing beside the boat, I could hardly watch as the numbers were rotating up on the screen and to my absolute surprise I was now the lucky winner of a Quintrex 460 Renegade side console fitted with a 75hp Evinrude E-TEC along with a number of other great prizes. I simply couldn’t believe it and found it hard to even speak, let alone think

of the words I should be saying. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the Gold Coast Sport Fishing Club for putting on such an outstanding tournament. It must take an amazing amount of effort and a serious number of hours to organise. Congratulations to all the competing teams, especially the Whyte brothers. And thanks to all the sponsors that come back year after year to support the Flathead Classic, especially Paul Banning and his team at Surf Coast Marine (the new Quintrex Frontiers look like awesome machines on the water). Last but definitely not least, thank you to my personal sponsors: CNC MachineIt – SeaDek, and Josh and Kate at Samaki. The last-minute SOS shipment of lures was much appreciated. The person I must thank most who has helped me tremendously with sponsorship this year and allowed me to fish so many tournaments is Wayne Smith from NuLook Floors. From all of us in the NuLook Floors fishing teams, thank you so much mate.

Ethan Mckeown with a day one cracker.

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Mangrove Jack Anglers fishing tournament ■ November 24-26

T’S that time of year again where anything red reminds you about mangrove jack season.

It’s time to swap the 4lb bream gear for 30lb jack gear and stop bouncing plastics over sandbanks for flathead and instead work on precision casting in readiness for that drag-shattering hit that gets the blood pumping like no other fish on the Gold Coast. But most importantly it’s time to start trying to find a few jacks and hone your locations for Aus-

Jack Competition by DEAN GALPIN

tralia’s biggest mangrove jack fishing tournament this November. This November’s Mangrove Jack Anglers Competition runs from Friday, November 24 to Sunday, November 26. You can fish any inshore creek or river between the Tweed and Brisbane rivers. This year’s tournament sees a couple of welcome

No one loves jack fishing more than Steele Petrovic.

changes that have a lot of fishers very excited. From now on, the competition will split into three divisions: Bait, Lures and Juniors (16 and under). The breakdown of the rules will be listed on the indemnity form at sign-in. Pre-sign-on at BCF Oxenford is encouraged not only to get a reduced admission fee and 20 percent discount on any fishing gear bought as a competitor, but also to get you out ahead of the crowd and on the water faster on Friday afternoon. As always, the brag mats will not be released until 4pm on the Friday. We have been working hard behind the scenes trying to make this the best comp possible for the average mangrove jack fisho. Our prizes have been redistributed across more categories, enabling us to pour more sponsorship dollars into our lucky draw prizes held at the presentation at the best chicken parmy restaurant on the coast, the Coomera Waters Tavern. Our grand prize will once again be a Beast Kayak Pack courtesy of Dream Kayaks, which will be given away along

with thousands of dollars’ worth of fishing gear, vouchers and apparel. A top underground jack fisho recently told me it’s one thing to know where to catch jacks but another thing entirely to know how to catch jacks. This is where our presentation is designed to help us all crack the code on how to get more reds on the deck this season. A major bonus is that the Gold Coast’s own John ‘The Jack Guide’ Costello is MC-ing the event and also offering two threehour guided jack fishing sessions in his boat as lucky draw prizes. One will go to a junior and one to a senior. Watching any of John’s DVDs is exciting enough, and having some one-onone time with him as a jack tutor will solve some of those ‘how to’ questions you have been dying to know. A massive thanks to all our major sponsors: BCF Oxenford, JML Anglers Alliance, Mako Eyewear, Weapons Custom Rods and Marquee Events as well as all our minor sponsors 2DEEP, D&H Reel Repairs, Viking Tackle, Minn Repairs & Servicing, Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine and Caino Lures. The usual suspects have been leading the way on social media, with awesome early season jacks coming in. With water temps hovering around 25C, the jacks

are definitely warming into feeding mode. This early in the season I would be keeping my lure as tight as possible to structure because the jacks may still be a little sluggish and not wanting to move very far. A lure that fish find offensive in their territory might also get a reaction, so something with a loud rattle, big splash or shiny reflection could be the thing that annoys a red enough to have a go. Remember to pre-signon at BCF Oxenford! See you on the water.

Shane Holding is never far away from jack action at any time of year.

Michael Daniels, a previous MJA winner, with a nice early season jack.

Matt Thompson with his usual double for the day.

Brock Perry would love this early season form to run into the competition weekend.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 29

Fishing and camping at Jumpinpin

HIS month I’d like to share the highs and lows of a recent camping trip to Jumpinpin.

Looking down the gob of Brad’s fish.

Hayden Strang proved not all flathead can be crocs!

Brad held a cracking Kalinga Bank flathead.

The plan was to camp at the Pin a few weekends before the Gold Coast Flathead Classic and chase big lizards on plastics. There is nothing like the sight of a crocodile-sized flathead gliding its massive shovel-like head into the landing net. We headed out at daybreak on Saturday morning from Paradise Point bound for the Pin, with the boat loaded and spirits high. I had about three camping locations in mind, with my preference being the northern side of Crusoe Island. This is a very popular spot and after a quick look there we decided the afternoon northerly would make it pretty uncomfortable, so went to plan B, which was a sandy bank on the northeastern side of Whalleys Gutter near Gold Bank. The entrance here is a bit shallow but a fairly good anchorage for a small boat. The campsite is decent, with level ground and enough space for a tent or two. After setting up camp, it was time to chase flathead. I like to use bigger lures when chasing flathead. I’ll run anything from a 5” Atomic Fat Grub or Z-Man 5” StreakZ Curly TailZ up to a 7” jerk shad for deeper water. Jig head sizes vary from 1/4oz on shallow flats to 1oz in deep water. There is quite a movement towards glide baiting with large 9”-plus slim-profile plastics, however I stuck with what I knew. Maybe next year I’ll venture into the unknown and try some swimbaits and other popular profiles. The locations I concentrate on fishing include Crusoe Island, Whalleys Gutter, Kangaroo Island, Kalinga Bank and the deep water near the Pin

Fishing Trip by JASON BRINDLEY

Bar entrance. These are all fairly wellknown spots, however the key is spending the time to know the ‘when’ and ‘how’ in each location. Something I try to avoid is fishing anywhere with excessive amounts of snot weed. If you find your plastic is being covered every cast, it’s time to search for cleaner water. I’m positive the fish either move or shut down when this stuff is floating around, and it’s a pain in the backside cleaning the lure every cast. The fishing on Saturday was red hot, with lots of action during the run-out tide. My mate Brad landed cracking fish to 75cm, with a lot of the usual 40cm and 50cm fish coming over the side. Not having an electric motor, I left the Honda running a lot to help position us during drifts. The quiet four-stroke motor does not seem to bother the fish and helped us keep within casting distance of structure. Though if I fished this way every week I’d definitely be investing in an electric. We headed back to camp in the late afternoon and I anchored the boat out a little way to ensure the morning low tide would still see the boat floating. After a good dose of Bushman Repellant (this is an absolute must when around the Pin because the midges can be relentless) we got the steaks on and kicked back with a couple of drinks. This is living! This was about when the good times came to an end. Around midnight I woke up crook as a dog and started hurling my guts up. About every hour after that until 4am I couldn’t even stomach water. Turns out I had a dose

of sun stroke or similar and obviously didn’t drink enough water the day before. I know some blokes who can survive drinking XXXX all day long in the sun, but if you’re not that hardy, make sure you take the time to hydrate during the day. I packed a CamelBak (but didn’t use it) and next time I’ll be refilling it and drinking water like crazy. Throughout the night I heard Brad reinflating his mattress multiple times (no mate, we didn’t pull the plug!), so he wasn’t having the greatest time either, and then at about 4am what felt like a 30-knot southerly literally pushed the tent right over with us in it. My plans of a Sunday morning fish were well and truly down the toilet.

We decided it was packup time and loaded the boat and punched our way back to the ramp in 25-knot wind while I had the occasional chuck over the side. The moral of this story is twofold: make sure you plan for not only the weather at the trip’s start but the possible changes coming through; and sec-

ond, keep the fluids up if you’re out in the sun. Overall, I’d definitely recommend camping at the Pin during September. The flathead are prime targets at that time of year and great fishing can be had. Just remember it is breeding season, so catch and release all the big girls with care.

Brad Watts with a quality fish.

Boat anchorage.

The chosen campsite alongside Whalleys Gutter.

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The camp setup for the trip.

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Father and son Des and Brad Falconer took turns on the rod to land this quality jewfish on 4lb braid.

Joel Williams was thrilled with his first jewie.

Ghosts of the Gold Coast estuaries I N this article I will chat about one of the largest apex predators in our Gold Coast rivers: the mighty mulloway.

Mulloway are known by many localised names such as jewies, soapies and schoolies, and because of their often-elusive nature, the ghosts of the estuaries. Their nomadic and often temperamental nature adds to the fun and challenge of targeting them, so hopefully I can pass on to you some of the tips I have learnt over years of guiding. Mulloway favour larger, deeper rivers over smaller rivers and creeks because a deep entrance or river mouth allows them to commute into and out of the ocean. Once they enter a river, their favourite places to school are the deepest holes. During times of drought or long periods without rain, these fish will mi-

Gold Coast Guide by BRAD SMITH

grate well upstream to the point where the water becomes brackish, as was the result during the past two months. I have caught mulloway so far upstream this year that they have been sharing deep holes in the far upper reaches with Australian bass. On the flip side, when we receive a lot of rain the jewies will migrate back downstream due to the lack of salinity and are best targeted around river mouths. It is not crucial, but my favourite deep holes in rivers usually have some rock along the banks, the bottom or even better, both. Rocks and reef add a bit of structural habitat and form eddies that suit the mulloway’s nature. Once you have learnt

where the deep holes are, the next thing to look for on your sounder is bait. Big apex critters need loads of food to sustain them, so they will move around the rivers until they find the holes holding the most bait. I believe finding bait is more important than moon cycles, tides and fishing times. However, I have found dark moons work well and there’s always a spike in activity around the tide changes. Even though I have caught mulloway during the middle of the day many times, the preferred periods are very early morning and late afternoon and night. Overcast and showery days that might not be pleasant for us anglers really suit the mulloway’s

feeding patterns too. In summary, combine deep holes, low-light conditions, tide changes and loads of bait and you are in with a real chance. Jewies can be targeted with live baits and the best ones in the rivers are herring and poddy mullet. Live prawns are great too but can be hard to acquire and often fall quickly to the bream that also reside in the deep holes. My favourite way to target jewfish is on lures because they require less effort than finding and catching livies and provide more variety in terms of techniques when drifting and casting around the holes. Soft plastics, soft and hard vibes and metal blades are proven lures when targeting jew. It is important to note that bigger is not always better. If chasing jewies around river entrances, 5”-7” plastics work well, but when well upstream I hook most fish on 2”-3” plastics and

small 40mm blades. The big tip here is to try to match the shape and size of the lure as closely as possible to the bait the predators are feeding on. Thank you for reading and I look forward to talking to you again next month.

The author with a jewie pulled from one of the many deep holes in the Tweed River.

Des with a decent jewfish caught on light gear and an Atomic 40mm Metalz blade.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 31

Young Angus went on his first night-time trip with Dad and landed this big whiting.

The author with a hard-fighting tarpon extracted from the Broadwater on a small soft plastic.

Snapper and whiting consistently biting

HILE our ‘snapper season’ has passed, don’t think snapper can’t be caught until next winter.

Rebecca hooked her large snapper by float lining a pillie in 40m of water out from the Seaway.

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Most fishos start getting mackerel fever at this time of year, though I still prefer to go out and fish for snapper all through summer. Though not as many of those monster knobby snapper are around, it is still possible to get a good feed of 40-60cm snapper from the local reefs. Nothing different is required to your normal snapper fishing methods – just anchor up and use plenty of berley to attract any fish in the area to the back of your boat. The only difference at this time of year is a stronger current, which simply means using a slightly bigger sinker to get to where the fish are. I prefer to go a little wider than the closer mackerel grounds. Around the 40m depth line is quite good and a steady flow of berley could attract mackerel to your area too. The first sign of this will be getting your soft plastic or bait bitten off. Ganged hooks and a pillie for bait may see you land a couple of mackerel. If the mackerel persist, a small piece of singlestrand wire above the hooks will prevent biteoffs but slow the snapper bite. It’s best not to put wire on until after you’re sure mackerel are around. A live yakka or slimy under a float out the back can snare the mackerel too. For snapper, 20lb leader is fine for most presentations, but for the live bait rig I’d use 40lb main line with 69lb single-strand wire leader to prevent being bitten off. I will discuss targeting mackerel in coming months as they get more plentiful after Christmas. This time of year will also see smaller but legal snapper in the Broadwater.

Broadwater Region by WAYNE ‘YOUNGY’ YOUNG

Anywhere that has a rocky rubble bottom is worth trying. The Seaway and the channel to the east of Sovereign Island are two good locations. Large yabbies on a 1/0 hook or flesh baits would be best. It has been a great start to our Gold Coast whiting fishing. The best thing about catching whiting is just how consistent and predictable they are. Right on schedule, they turned up between Isle of Capri and Chevron Island in the Nerang River for our night sessions. I wish all species were as regular as whiting. While I don’t normally suggest one tide over the other, this year I’ve noticed the run-out tide has been much more productive than the run-in. On more than one occasion we have struggled on the run-in but once the tide turns to run out the whiting have come on the bite. I am not sure where they are feeding on the run-in tide but I’m still looking. Another thing that has been noticeable this season is the week between the new and full moons has fished as well, if not better, than the weekend around the full and new moons. While whiting will eat a variety of baits as long as they are live, some baits out-fish others two or three to one. Yabbies and beach worms will get you a feed but much better baits are available. Recent trips have shown Cribb Island bloodworms are better than yabbies or beach worms, however two baits are even better. Redcliffe Rockies, which are a type of bloodworm, and mangrove bloodworms, will out-fish any other bait in our local rivers. The reason is quite sim-

ple: these two worms are thinner, softer and juicier than other baits and easier for the whiting to eat. It’s a bit like scoffing down a chocolate compared to licking a lollipop for 10 minutes. As the weather warms, it’s time to start chasing some of our more popular sportfish such as bigeye trevally, giant trevally, tarpon and even the odd tailor. Tarpon are most likely to be found in the early mornings and late afternoons into the evenings at the hole at the top of the Coomera River and around well-lit bridges at night. A 3” soft plastic on a 1/8oz jig head with a 1/0 hook is a consistent catcher. Tarpon tend to play with a lure before aggressively taking it. GTs are best targeted in the Seaway and around the bridges in the Nerang River of a late afternoon. Use 5” white Z-Man soft plastics on 3/8oz or 1/2oz jig heads with a 2/0 hook in the Seaway. In the estuaries you can try a variety of lures including surface walkers, poppers and soft plastics.

Bigeye trevally are more of a night-time option and can be found anywhere lights are shining on the water such as bridges, marinas and jetties. We have been doing OK at night in the main channel of the Broadwater from behind Sea World down to the Sundale Bridges. Reasonable tailor for this time of year have been taken around the pylons of the Sundale Bridges, with the pedestrian and tram bridges adding extra structure. Good size jewfish are in the Seaway around the pipeline, with the better

catches coming on live yakkas and pike. The pike can be caught on small hard-bodied lures from the weed beds in front of Biggera Creek. Sand crabs are a better option than mud crabs in the Broadwater and rivers, with the mouth of the Nerang River and the Aldershots area worth trying. The best crab baits are whiting frames and mullet, with chicken carcasses and catfish also popular. If we get decent rainfall then the mud crabbing will improve. ‘Til next month, fish for the future.

Quality whiting have been biting on the run-out tide, as Brett showed.

Leigh with a solid snapper caught on a soft plastic.

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Gold Coast creeks and offshore

ITH the water temperature slowly climbing, we’re all hoping for an early start to the mackerel season.

Last year the early northerly wind snuffed out the run of spotted mackerel to a handful of days where they were on the chew, with a majority of fish choosing to bypass the Gold Coast and park themselves midway on the NSW north coast due to the cold water in close. With the stable conditions we’ve had over the past few months, all going well we should see the water temperature get over that magic 23C, signalling the time to start targeting spotties at last. The run of quality snapper is still clicking along, with solid fish being landed on the 24-fathom grounds and wider. Conditions should be favourable for as long as the current stays slack. As the water temperature increases, the fish traditionally move wider into the deeper, cooler water. So be prepared to do some running around to find the fish. Low-light periods of early morning and late afternoon with the moon in the sky remain the best times. With the snapper, jewfish will also be around, and be prepared for a cobia or yellowtail kingfish

Gold Coast by HEATH ZYGNERSKI

to show up. In the creeks and estuaries, the crafty ol’ mangrove jack has been going off. Plenty of red dogs have been caught in heavy structure in the Coomera and Nerang rivers as well as Currumbin and Tallebudgera creeks. Most success has been on lures, with both soft plastics and hard-bodies accounting for the majority of fish. Those using livies have also been getting a few, along with the odd giant herring. Giant herring have been steadily gathering a cult following for their blistering speed and acrobatic displays. These fish should be handled very carefully and quickly returned to the water. They lose their scales really easily and this seems to affect how successful the release is. If using a brag mat or laying them on the grass, ensuring the surface is wet will also help them along. They have very hard mouths and will throw hooks easily if they are not sharp. Their teeth are raspy rather than mackerel-like,

so they can be lifted from the water easily as long as their body weight is supported. In the upper reaches of the estuaries, bass have come back on the chew, with some fish going better than 45cm. Soft cicada lures seem to be accounting for most of the fish. Mixed in with the bass are absolute stonker carp and koi. Despite the beautiful colouring of the koi, they can’t be returned to the water because they are a noxious pest, unfortunately destroying native fish habitat. Any carp or koi caught must be humanely killed immediately and disposed of in a responsible way, away from the water. They can’t even be used for bait or berley. The local bars have deteriorated significantly over the past few months. Tweed River Bar is very shallow inside the walls, making for large pressure waves on the run-out tide. Couple this with the shallow bank about 200m out from the walls where the depth is only 3m and the Tweed Bar deserves respect and caution. Currumbin Creek Bar is all but closed up on the bottom of the tide. It has a small gutter snaking around the wall and right along the beach for a few hundred metres before hooking 90 degrees to head out. It gives you nowhere to run the oncoming swell. By the looks of it, you may get over the sandbank an hour or so either side of the top of the tide. If things don’t improve, running Currumbin Bar will be very interesting once the mackerel start

Mitch with a healthy bass that hit a soft plastic.

running. Tallebudgera Creek Bar has been dredged but there is no improvement at the end of the wall. A big bank runs right across to Burleigh Headland and is very shallow. The Seaway is still OK, except for the shoal building in front. While it is deep, it will catch the larger swell. You have to wonder why Currumbin, Tally and to a certain extent the Seaway deteriorated so quickly over the past few months. It could be just the natural movement of sand but I’ve seen nothing like it in the past 20 years I’ve been here. It wouldn’t have had anything to do with the ‘mega dredge’ that’s been working along the coast over recent months, would it? Smoking drags to you all.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 33

Stunning Mercury reliability drives Queensland canal fleet

LAZING sun or sheeting rain, the Gold Coast’s signature canals have to be constantly maintained, and much of that work falls to Wingbrook Marine.

With a fleet of four specialist craft – punts and a barge that can each cover up to 80km a day – the Wingbrook team works to rid the waterways of problem vegetation and rubbish as well as maintaining the canals’ crucial stone revetment walls. It’s hard, virtually non-stop work as manager Kevin Adshead knows so well. “When cyclone Debbie hit earlier this year, it was simply flat-out for a month and a half,” he said. “We have a 40’ barge that acted as the mother ship for the other three just hauling out huge amounts of vegetation.” There’s also long-term maintenance. The canal’s revetment walls gradually subside and Kevin’s team has recently upgraded a 3km stretch, carting

hundreds of tonnes of rock to raise the wall by up to a metre along the entire length. 45 tonnes and 5300 hours “The barge weighs 20 tonnes and can carry another 25,” Kevin said. “Often we’re loaded with rocks as well as a six-tonne excavator and three-tonne bob cat. “It’s a lot of weight. “For the past three years I’ve had a Mercury 115 FourStroke pushing all that, which has now done 5300 hours. “It’s all about torque for us, not top-end speed, but you just can’t beat that for reliability.” The engine is still going well and Kevin is only now repowering the barge with a 115hp Mercury SeaPro because its heavy-duty Command Thrust gearcase will allow him to run an oversized prop that will improve the boat’s handling significantly. He’s also looking forward to the SeaPro’s fuel efficiency, although he’s been very happy with the numbers he’s been getting from his

standard FourStroke. “When we work on a revetment wall we’re hauling 130 tonnes of rocks a day and we use about 105 litres of fuel a day,” Kevin said. “I talk to my competitors and they are getting nothing near that.” 8500 hours Unbelievably, the 5300 hours notched up by the trusty Mercury 115hp FourStroke isn’t the record setter at Wingbrook Marine. The company’s ‘work boat’, a 2m x 6m aluminium punt that is used to haul up to 17 wheelie bins of rubbish has a 75hp Mercury outboard that has been operating for 8500 hours. That’s even more impressive when you hear the engine goes from forward to reverse close to 200 times a day. “It’s never given us a problem, so I’m just going to leave it and see how far it goes,” Kevin said. “It starts every day and keeps working, so let’s see what happens.” Kevin runs plain black covers on his outboards, which means he’s often asked about his engines. “Other people on the waterways are regularly asking what engines we use and how they are going,” he said. “Plenty of fishers have never seen anything like these numbers, and when they don’t believe me it’s all there in the computer so I can show them. “I would have sold a lot of Mercury engines around these parts I think. “I used to swear by another brand of engine but that all changed because there’s just no comparison.” To find out more about barge hire from Wingbrook Marine, go to wingbrookmarine. com.au

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Spanner crabbing is at its peak this month. It doesn’t take long to throw a dilly over the side on the way to your fishing grounds, and when you return hopefully it is full of crabs like this one was.

Offshore OK but rivers rife with life

HIS month we’ll start with the rivers because that’s where all the action is. Schools of herring have pushed well upstream, as is usual for this time of year, and the predators have followed. In the Tweed River, trevally are the prime target if you want a bit of light tackle sport. I had a fish for trevally recently and ended up with half a dozen and no two looked the same. I’m going to hazard a guess that some were GTs and at least one was a tea-leaf but the others are still a mystery despite my research efforts. Even the three I think were GTs had slight variations in shape. They all fight pretty much the same and whatever they are I’ll take them any day for a bit of fun and a tasty feed. I was talking to some kids at the boat ramp the same day who said they had discovered a backwater in the school holidays that was full of giant herring and a few tarpon. Apparently these fish were very willing to take small soft plastics and they showed me some photos on their phones. They made me wish I had the time to go exploring! Flathead are out and about in the Tweed River. They were a couple of weeks later than usual but are in good numbers. In the mid to upper reaches I would be looking over the flats for bait. Before you go charging over a flat, sit back and watch for a few minutes. You should be looking for prawns flicking and small mullet being harassed. Five minutes of watching will soon tell you where the bait is holding over a flat or in a bay. If any predators are about they will be where the bait is and a good shower of prawns or mullet is a sure sign a flathead or trevally is hunting in

Tweed to Byron Bay by GAVIN DOBSON

If you haven’t had a go at spanner crabbing before, then now is the peak time. They are closed to commercial fishers from later this month so they can spawn in peace but recreational fishers are still allowed to get their limit in NSW – just remember to return females with eggs. the shallows. Stealthily approach the area where the bait is holding, preferably with an electric motor, and start throwing your lures. A more patient and quiet approach will net you a lot more fish. November is the month to concentrate on deep jigging the mouth of the Tweed River for really big flathead. The gravelly bottom behind the hospital has long been the go-to spot for XOS lizards in the Tweed and this is the month to do it. Slack water is the easiest time to maintain contact with the bottom in this high-current area. Flathead will eat almost anything bouncing off the bottom and years before plastics emerged on the scene fishers caught miles of flatties by bobbing prawn baits around. While flathead aren’t fussy, I will say I have always found a chartreusecoloured plastic to have an edge in this area. Whiting are biting well in the Tweed at present. Every year I see the same boats return to the same stretches of water between Tumbulgum and Murwillumbah. The Brunswick River isn’t firing on all cylin-

ders but a few fish are around. A scratching of flatties is on offer for those putting in the hours with soft plastics. Casting lures around the timber in the middle reaches seems to be the best bet. Whiting are there but once again there’s a fair bit of water between them. However, the ones being caught are quality fish in the high 30cm to 40cm range. A bit of storm activity this month will get things happening in our rivers and creeks. Mud crabs are hardly showing themselves but that is fairly usual for this time of year. Once the thunderstorms start rolling through, the crabs will get on the move and into pots. It’s the same story with mangrove jack. A few are around now but a spike in the water temp and a few gullyraking thunderstorms will see them much more active. Offshore has been fairly hard work this spring. What has interested me is mahi mahi turned up very early and despite some horrible northerly wind this month and the water ranging from green

to black in colour, they have kept hanging around the FAD and trap floats. Not that they have been in the mood for feeding with the water the way it is, but a few have been enticed with live baits. I hope that as soon as the first licks of warm water push in, the mahi mahi bite their heads off. You would expect the current to be raging this month and make bottom fishing the wider reefs difficult to impossible, but stranger things have happened and the past month saw next to no current and good fishing on the 32 and 50-fathom lines for pearlies, parrot and small squire. Closer in on Windarra Banks, November is a good month for yellowtail kingfish. Kingies are great sportfish and some people like eating them but I’d have to be starving. A few tuna might also come in this month on Windarra Banks. Mostly mack tuna but some stripy tuna, big bonito and jellybean yellowfin tuna might show up too. The close reefs are always hard work in November, but scratch around and you might put together a feed of squire, moses perch, the very odd jew and with a bit of luck a cobia. If you haven’t had a go at spanner crabbing before, then now is the peak time. They are closed to commercial fishers from later this month so they can spawn in peace but recreational fishers are still allowed to get their limit in NSW – just remember to return females with eggs. Chasing spanner crabs adds another dimension to a fishing trip and of course you can go fishing while you soak your dillies. Hopefully upon return from a successful fishing trip you have a bunch of tasty crustaceans to add to the feast. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bountiful Ballina and surrounds H

ELLO and welcome to this monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edition of BNB.

Finally the weather gods have listened to our cries and sent us much-needed rain, but we could still do with plenty more. Many families across the region have already had to buy water, and many more would have had to follow suit if not for this break in the dry spell. The weather department is saying more should be on the way throughout the coming month, so Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to keep my fingers and toes crossed that the forecasters are right. Now donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get me wrong, five months ago we were praying for the rain to go away after two floods in as many months. Some people are still trying to repair houses, replace lost items and rebuild businesses, but we certainly could use a small amount of rain to fire up the fishing coming into summer. Given how dry the past few months have been, the fishing around the area, and in particular the Richmond River, has been rather good. I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seen the river looking so clean and picturesque in a number of years, so it is certainly a nice change. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to stick my neck out here and say I think this summer we are going to see decent numbers of blue swimmer crabs in the river. Normally the discoloured water from heavy rain keeps these tasty little crustaceans away, but I think this summer is going to be different. Some larger tides over the past few weeks have meant mud crabs are starting to move around a lot more. At present, Emigrant Creek is blocked off at Duck Creek while the RTA removes the old highway bridge, and this will remain the case until the middle of December.

Ballina Bait & Tackle by BRETT HYDE

So anyone wishing to crab or fish in Emigrant Creek will have to launch above the highway bridges, but this will only be possible with very small boats or kayaks and canoes. With this area effectively out of bounds, the main river will become very popular for anyone wishing to crab using pots. Wardell to Rileys Hill will be an ideal section of river to start looking, especially during the runout tides. With this clean water moving in and the wa ter temperature rising, we have started to see a few more whiting cruising around the sand flats in the lower reaches of the main river and in North Creek. Worms and yabbies have been the best baits, as you would expect, while some of the lure throwers have managed to tempt a few on surface poppers and walkers early in the season. Flathead have been much the same, with good numbers caught between the mouth of the river and Pimlico Island. The run-out tide has fished a little better in some of the deeper locations later in the day, while the sand flats have produced quality fish early in the morning. Best baits have been live herring in the deeper areas and prawns or white pilchards across the sand flats. The bream on the other hand, seem to have made their way upriver for summer. While the odd fish can be found in the bottom end, the bulk of the fish are being hooked between the Burns Point Ferry and Broadwater. Most reports have suggested the bream have been taking mullet fillets,

chicken gut and prawns. Most of the lure brigade has slipped into warm weather mode, with small hard-body cranks doing most of the damage along the rock walls. Offshore really seems to have kicked into summer gear over the past few weeks. The water temperature outside had been hovering around 20C but recently popped over 21C. The first mahi mahi of the season have been hanging around the FAD, and quality fish up to 10kg have already been taken. Most fish are only just legal, so some small live

baits or pilchards will be the way to go, but I would make sure you have a metal spinner or surface lure at the ready just in case they start busting up on the surface. As the season goes along and the fish get more aggressive they will show more interest in skirted lures being trolled, so if you havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t done so already, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to sharpen the hooks and check the leaders on those lures. Snapper and flathead also seem to have assumed their usual summer spots out on the 32-fathom line. Micro jigs and soft plastics in brighter colours have all produced fish recently and most of the bait fishers are saying the usual baits such as mullet, pilchards and squid have been tempting fish. The wider grounds out

around the 48s are holding quality AJs, kingfish and pearl perch. The current is fairly slow, so fishing this deeper water has still been pretty easy. Live baits and jigs have been the most productive methods, though the current may start to pick up at any tick of the clock, so take some heavier jigs and bigger sinkers with you just in case. Finally, by the time you read this the grand final of the Australian Bass Tournaments will have been run and won on the mighty Richmond River at Coraki. Stay tuned next month for a run-down on who caught them and how. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all from me this month. â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Til next time, tight lines!

Scott with his 99.5cm flathead caught and released in the Richmond River.

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Steve with a nice bass from an early morning session.

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Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, November 2017 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Page 35

Damon Andrews with a nice bass landed on his kayak.

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Surface sessions reign supreme T O me, November means bass and whiting on topwater lures.

For whiting I’d use Megabass poppers and Dog-X Jnrs and Bassday Sugapens in pretty much any colour, though Modena Bone and White Butterfly work a treat in the Dog-X Jnrs. I have plenty of Lucky Craft Sammy 65s but I don’t seem to bring them out as much as the others. Samaki has released a lot of surface lures and they do the job as well. It’s up to you if you want to spend heaps on lures or stick to a budget. I buy whatever turns me on and often I find my lures in the cheap stand that all tackle shops have, so have a good look in the cheaper section because you never know what you’ll find. Sometimes whiting don’t care what they hit, and TT Ghostblades also work on sand flats. Ecogear blades in gold, green and black can be effective too. Soft plastics are another option and Squidgy 70-100mm Wrigglers in Bloodworm are ideal. You just need to slim them down a bit, so cut off the fins. Don’t touch the bottom of the Wriggler, just slim down the top. You can make them a bit rounder with your braid scissors and then use a

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Bass are biting well in the upper reaches.

Evans Head

by GARY ‘SQUIDGIE’ PALMER

hidden weight or 1/28oz jig head and cast onto sand flats. Just use a slow wind at first. Let the plastic rest and then slowly wind again before stopping and then winding a bit faster. This should attract the whiting but if not you will certainly get a flathead’s attention. I don’t mind a feed of flathead, so it’s a win-win no matter what takes my lure. Most people know I just use lures and very rarely use bait except when fishing for blackfish, but if you are into bait, worms and yabbies work well on whiting too. However, you will get a lot of unwanted fish as well. Toadfish love bait, as do baby bream, and they can be a pain in the butt if you have spent many an hour foraging for bait. Hence my trip to the dark side and lures only for most of my fishing. Soon I will not be using any bait whatsoever if the new fly imitation lures work OK for blackfish. I have read they are working very well around the Newcastle area, so I just need to try them here. On the bass scene, they have gone mad, with catches from Coraki all the way up to and beyond Casino. I took the Minister of Finance and a couple of my granddaughters for a drive to Kyogle the other day and all the rivers we crossed looked really fishy. We could see fish having a go at bugs on the surface, with grasshoppers being the main food source from what I could see. Most fish were playing under big trees overhanging the water. We then headed to Toonumbar Dam for a look. We didn’t want to fish, we just wanted to mosy on in and look the dam over.

It had been a while since my last visit but while there I spoke to a few fishers and they reckoned the fishing and camping were OK. The road down wasn’t too bad, with just a few branches we had to clear as we went into Bells Bay. It seems a lot of fishers are into kayaking these days because I have had heaps of big bass pics sent to me by kayakers. Surface lures and Bassman Spinnerbaits have been the lures of choice. I’m having a hard time getting on the water due to my ill health but the bug to go is like an itch I can’t scratch. It’s near on three months that I’ve been laid up and I’ve only just started taking small walks with the missus as my back-up in case I fall. There is nothing worse than feeling uncomfortable with your own ability to do what you normally could, but hopefully I’ll be back to myself soon and on the water fishing again. All the small waterways branching off the Wilson and Richmond rivers have seen seriously good size bass caught. As I said, Bassman Spinnerbaits and poppers are working well but I would also have heaps of bug imitations in my bag. Back in the day I was known to duck into the long grass to catch grasshoppers and cast them out unweighted and just watch the bass suck them in. But with the number of snakes about, that is a no go now. On the trip with the granddaughter we came across heaps of snakes both dead and alive on the roadsides. We even pulled up for the girls to have a look at a big python but the novelty of looking at the snake wore off quickly as the kids said it was time to go because snakes are scary.

The fishing at Evans Head hasn’t been too bad, with bream, flathead and whiting taking most baits. I would fish around the bridge pylons and Bream Hole for flathead because at this time of year the big girls play down that way. Live yellowtail, herring and poddy mullet are the best baits, and if you like fishing with blades, Atomic vibes, Samaki vibes and any plastic from 70-100mm will get you a few. I like the Squidgy Fish for flathead and Black Gold is my favourite colour, though most colours will work. If you have a boat, try up past Iron Gates and fish the sand flats for whiting and flathead while drifting with the tide. The fishing can be bloody brilliant up higher in the Evans River and I would fish any deep hole or run-off area. Evans Head is a very underrated fishing spot. Many campers and fishers will head to Iluka or Ballina instead, but let me tell you, once you launch at one of our boat ramps and head up or downriver and start catching big flathead, bream and whiting, you will wonder why

the hell you hadn’t come before. The Evans River might not be as big as some but it is pristine and the higher you go, the better it looks. I don’t even have to fish, I just love the boat ride up. I’ve seen dingoes and a hell of a lot of other critters including big lizards and amazing birdlife. The fishing is excellent and crabbing night or day you will catch a feed without any dramas. I have set out my pots and had to toss many crabs back because I have reached my limit in just a couple of pots. You can still use dillies here in NSW and I’ve been using Hayes Pots for a while now. They are the duck’s nuts for crabs. If you haven’t tried Hayes Pots, may I suggest you get a few. They aren’t cheap but I know I will never have to buy another pot because these will outsee me for sure. That’s it for this month. ‘Til next time remember: limit your kill, don’t kill your limit. Tight lines and smelly fingers.

A flathead caught in skinny water on a popper.

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Bass biting inland from Iluka

HE bloke who wrote the song with the lyrics “Some days are diamonds, some days are stones” obviously has never fished because if he had he would have added “Some days are horse droppings, some days are Dynamic Lifter.”

That about sums up fishing during the past month here at Iluka on the beautiful Clarence Coast of northern NSW. Look, the odd nice fish has been taken by the lucky few, however all in all fishing in general has been as crook as it gets and a far cry from what we have come to expect from this stretch of coastline. The one and only species chewing its head off is bass, with good numbers of stonking big fish measuring well into the mid to high-50cm range being landed from most of the local creeks and rivers including the Esk, Orara, Mann and Nymboida. Tai Donelan has been into some awesome bass fishing from his local creek, while Mischa Porter of Iluka and Jett Deveigne of Woombah have taken fish to 53cm in the upper reaches of the Esk River on a variety of lures including black Stump Jumper and Rebel Crawfish diving lures and Arbogast Jitterbug surface lures.

Just Jew by TYE PORTER

Tai Donelan has been into some awesome bass fishing from his local creek, while Mischa Porter of Iluka and Jett Deveigne of Woombah have taken fish to 53cm in the upper reaches of the Esk River on a variety of lures... Lismore angler Ryan Pellagreen has been landing bass into the mid50cm range by trolling diving lures on the Richmond River and if I can get him motivated enough I hope to make a trip out to Pindari Dam very soon to chase the odd cod and yellowbelly. Inside the Clarence River, whiting are yet to move into the system in any real numbers, with only a handful of just-legal fish being reported in recent weeks. Pan-sized flathead are a little more plentiful in the lower reaches of the river system, however the larger fish seem to be good at playing hide and seek. The old ferry approach here at Iluka is still producing the odd school jew to 80cm on either live worms or live herring during the low tide, while out on the main breakwall, fish of similar size have

been landed on the ocean side at the back of the surf break on beach worms. The Bluff and Frasers Reef have been the pick of the headlands for a feed of ocean bream and tarwhine on white pillies and green prawns, while the rocks at Shark Bay have produced the odd sizeable grouper on red crabs. Tailor continue to be almost non-existent, with hardly a fish being taken locally during the past month, even though large shoals of pilchards have been abundant along the beaches and adjoining headlands. Offshore fishing has been a bit more productive, with numerous catches of sizeable snapper. Iluka angler Linden Harris got into the action in early October, boating fish to 7.5kg on blue pilchards. The beach along Shark Bay has had excellent

flathead gutters from One Tree right through to Black Rocks, with reports of reasonable lizards to just over 60cm being landed on soft plastic lures. I wish I had more to report this month. All we can do is hope November provides us with an early Christmas present in the form of good fishing. Feel free to give me a call on 0427 978 790 if you are thinking of heading to Iluka for a fish as I am only too happy to help you get a feed. ‘Til next month, safe fishin’.

A flashback to when tailor were so plentiful on Main Beach that gun anglers such as Richard Hope of Brisbane had no problem catching quality fish. These days you are flat-out catching a cold.

Tai Donelan has been having a ball lately, landing awesome bass in the headwaters of his local creek.

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@frogleysoffshore Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 37

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Page 38 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Spanish November on Sunny Coast

ARM weather on the Sunshine Coast has seen the pelagics in full force earlier than usual. We saw school mackerel up and running in September and anglers even secured the odd spanish mackerel. With water temperatures higher than usual due to unseasonably warm and dry weather (until very recently), we should see a perfect pelagic month in November. Spanish mackerel are thought to be migratory, travelling south along the coast in the warmer southbound currents. Male spanish mackerel are smaller than females of the same age and are the biggest of the five types of mackerel found in Australia. Hooking a spanish mackerel is the start of a battle because they are fast and strong fighters and often watched by sharks, so moving quickly is the key to saving your catch. Spaniards can be targeted a few different ways, with trolling one of the favourites. The guys at Davo’s tackle shops carry an exclusive locally made trolling lure called the Spanish Special. This lure comes in two sizes (regular and large) and is pre-rigged with quality VMC O’Shaughnessy hooks to suit all bait sizes. The Spanish Special is best used with a method I call low and slow, which has become very popular over the past few years. This entails putting the outboard just in gear, making the lure sink further down the water column. Another effective trolling lure is the Halco Laser Pro, which comes in sizes ranging from 120mm to 190mm. Laser Pros will attract the attention of spotties and schoolies through to the bigger spaniards. These lures come with different bib sizes for a variety of diving depths, so if the mackerel are cruising at a particular depth, you can select the appropriate lure to suit. All Laser Pros come in a great range of colours, with my favourite being colour 1250. If it’s the thrill of casting lures that grabs your attention, then pick up a couple of Halco Twistys or River2Sea Sea Rock slugs in the smaller sizes because spotties tend to shy away if the lure is too big. If you feel the mackerel are holding back from your lures, try micro jigs because their profile is generally shorter, however they are heavier, creating longer casts and more strikes. Good models include the Shimano Colt Sniper

Sunshine Coast by WADE QUALISCHEFSKI

and Blue Blue SeaRide. Don’t forget when using micro jigs as casting slugs to tie your leader to the other end of the jig, leaving the hooks at the rear to ensure better hook-ups. In the rivers, both the Noosa and Maroochy have produced good-quality whiting. The dog beach and Frying Pan are the prime locations in the Noosa River, while in the Maroochy, give the Black Banks and Chambers Island a go. The best baits are live yabbies and beach and bloodworms. This is the time of year when it is all about mangrove jack. Jacks have to be the ultimate river predators; living in snags and under structure while anglers spend many hours trying to lure them from their snaggy homes. Jacks will respond well to both lures and bait. Whichever way you go, you still have to get the fundamentals right. Fishing with good-quality braid is a must. I like to run an eightcarrier braid of about 15lb, using an FG knot to connect it to a 20lb fluorocarbon leader. For braid, I use and recommend Daiwa J-Braid 8 and Shimano Kairiki, which are both eight carriers that give you a rounder and smoother finish. I love the Sunline FC Rock leader range, which seems to handle abrasive surfaces with aplomb and ties extremely well. The perfect lures should be suspending types such as the Lucky Craft Pointer and Zerek Tango Shad 69mm. Being suspending lures,

they tend to sit in the fish’s face that little bit longer. The weather also plays a big part in chasing red devils. If there’s a storm on the way and the barometric pressure starts to rise, they feed more aggressively. As for bait, there is no doubt live is best and poddy mullet and herring are perfect. Dead baits such as salted bonito fillets, fished unweighted at night in the slow-current areas including Noosa Waters and the Maroochy canals, can also be deadly. Flathead are plentiful at the moment. Big girls touching the

metre mark have been taken from the rivers and soft plastics such as the Keitech Easy Shiner 4” and Z-Man Trick SwimZ have both produced great fish. The Davo’s teams can vouch for pink as an excellent colour when chasing lizards. On the beaches we are seeing the return of tailor after their spawning run at Fraser Island. Some large fish around 3.5kg have been taken around the river mouths and along Noosa’s North Shore. The trusty pilchards and salted bonito fillets fished at night on Tru-Turn Strip Bait Rigs have been responsible for the larger fish. Jew are also on the cards at this time of year, with most fish taken on the open beach at night be-

tween Peregian and Mudjimba. The best way to hook one of these beauties is to use Tru-Turn’s 090 forged worm hook, which has been specially designed for using worms as bait. Whiting and dart are everywhere on the beaches and provide great fun for the family. Look for those lower water gutters and fish a couple of hours either side of the low tide. Peeled prawns, worms and yabbies are the perfect baits. Log onto fishingnoosa. com.au for up-to-date bar and fishing reports. Don’t forget to drop into Davo’s Tackle World Noosa or Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola to find out where the fish are biting. Tight lines and bent spines.

Roy Helling scored a good size tailor on Yaroomba Beach. Photos: fishingnoosa. com.au

Craig Mullet landed two spanish mackerel.

Liam Fromyhr with a solid 68cm jack.

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COMPETITION DATES COMPETITION School holiday fun!

Tuna chewing at Hervey Bay

CTOBER kicked off with a bang, with plenty of tuna about.

Most were mack tuna but a few longtails were mixed in, with the majority sub-metre fish. They were still biting strongly at the time of writing. At first they were quite easy to hook but as time wore on the baitfish got smaller until they were the size of drops of water and the frenzied feeding was focused on that. The ironic thing is, the tuna were mostly caught on 5” plastics – go figure. At times I switched to 3g jig heads and 1” plastics and when combined with 20lb leader, bites were sometimes instant. But stopping the fish in a

Fraser Guided Fishing by TRI TON

reasonable time was tough even for me, let alone a novice. Sharkings were the end result, so it was back to the motto of “If you ain’t sweating, you ain’t getting” and spinning for a strike. At least by spinning we can hook the fish on reasonable gear that has the power to stop the fish quickly to help prevent shark attacks. And yes those toothy critters are back. Some days they leave us alone but on others they take their fair share of fish. When fishing, pay attention to your sounder

because that big mark on the sounder is most likely a top-level predator. Marlin are supposed to be thick and on their way, with fishos to the north and offshore reporting captures. However, I have heard that before and we’ll see how I feel about it after this edition is published. Nothing to mention at this point, that is for sure. Getting back to light line fishing, on a recent tour with a client we dropped a light line down and accidentally hooked something bigger than expected. With 20lb main line and 20lb leader, the fish had

Jake scored a big longtail just shy of 130cm.

A solid spring snapper for Nick.

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us battling for control but we worked our way through bit by bit, never resting. We made small gains with regular cycles on the rod and reel and were rewarded with a lovely 111cm trevally. The beast would have eclipsed the breaking strain of the line. The angler was an older bloke with wrist and back injuries but he gritted his teeth and kept the technique tight. And in the end he prevailed, even after some nervous moments where the fish sprang to life under the boat, running out a lengthy amount of line. The angler was on the starboard side and the fish was god knows where out wide of port. However, he just kept his cool and dropped the tip of the rod underwater while I manoeuvred the vessel around to a safer position. Go back a few trips to a younger guy and in my opinion a smaller fish that was ready to be boated. The young fella rested and let the occasion get too big for him. I pushed him to keep cycling the repetitions of lifting and winding with nice short lifts, which he did for a while, but for some reason he stopped and asked for some padding under the rod butt. Two minutes later I was pushing him again, this time with more authority, but it was too late and a shark finally found us. He was devastated and the boat went quiet as I was fuming silently. Over the years I have had some interesting things happen on board. Once a guy asked for a drinks break, two drinks breaks, actually. He was a big burly bloke bringing up a smaller 90cm trevally. Again the fish was ready to come up and we could actually see it. But two drink breaks were needed. I told him a small shark was definitely down there, and that he needed to get ☛ continued P40

DATE

LOCATION

2017 Callide Dam Fishing Classic

Oct 28-29

Callide Dam – Nigel Krueger 0402 923 443

ABBT* X-Factor Teams Series Round 4

Oct 28-29

Wuruma Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

Mary Valley Family Fishing Classic

Nov 4-5

Borumba Dam – gympie.qld.lions.org.au E:gympielions@gmail.com

Lake Cania Fishing Classic

Nov 11-12

Cania Dam – E:caniadamfishstocking@gmail.com

ABBT* Bass Grand Final

Nov 25-26 Cania Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* X-Factor Teams Series Championship

Dec 2-3

Somerset Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Barra Round 1

Jan 13-15

Awoonga Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

Boondooma Yellowbelly Fishing Competition

Feb 10-11

Boondooma Dam – Terry Allwood 0400 860 122

ABBT* X-Factor Teams

Feb 17-18

BP Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Bass Singles

Mar 10-11

Boondooma Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* X-Factor Teams

Mar 24-25 Dam TBA – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

Moura Muddy Water Classic Family Fishing Competition

Mar 31Apr 1

Dawson River – Graeme McGreevy 0428 195 362 or Zelma Lewis 0428 971 932 E: m.a.f.s.g@bigpond.com

ABBT* Bass Singles

Apr 21-22

Boondooma Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Bass Singles

May 19-20 Borumba Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* X-Factor Teams

Jun 9-10

Boondooma Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* X-Factor Teams

Jul 28-29

Cania Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Bass Singles

Aug 18-19

Somerset Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Bass Singles

Sep 15-16

Wuruma Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Bass Singles

Oct 13-14

BP Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* X-Factor Teams Grand Final

Oct 28-29

Dam TBA – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

ABBT* Bass Grand Final

Nov 24-25 Cania Dam – Russell Nowland a/hrs 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

2018

*Australian Basstasstic Bass Tournament To have your competition listed in the calendar please phone (07) 3286 1833, email design@bnbfishing.com.au or fax (07) 3821 2637

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 39

K AYAKING & canoeing Yakking for jacks around Bundy B

EING passionate about fishing often gives you the opportunity to go to epic places and see spectacular things.

Leeah Bahr and her cracking first mangrove jack hooked on just 8lb braid.

My girlfriend Leeah and I both have a never-ending love of the outdoors, and particularly areas that feature water due to the scaly creatures that usually inhabit it. A number of weekend trips away to top spots off the beaten track left us fishing land based and constantly wishing we could go further. So through a spontaneous recent decision to buy a second-hand tandem kayak, we quickly discovered how many more options were on offer. Having a means of getting on the water without the limitations of landbased fishing or towing a boat along the rough and rugged tracks that usually lead to the best fishing destinations was

Ross Clements with a great mangrove jack caught from his kayak.

Bundaberg Estuaries by JOEL JOHNSON

a win in our eyes. Being able to throw the kayak on the roof of my ute and head into the unknown, going off no more than local insight and Google Maps, is something of a dream to me. The chances of things going wrong are greatly outweighed by the potential for an untouched fishing oasis sitting out there and waiting for us to paddle through. Having put our kayak through its paces a mere hour after buying it, we were eager to get out and explore further abroad. We quickly realised how much having it as an option increased the number of places we could travel to and properly explore. The weekend after picking up our yak, my good friend Ross, Leeah and I put a plan into action, travelling almost an hour from Bundaberg to a small single-lane bridge on a backroad we had found using Google Maps. Knowing this system had fairly limited access for boats, fishing the ‘skinny water’ far upstream seemed like an excellent way to find hungry fish. Coming into the warmer months, mangrove jack was our primary target species, so after skulldragging Ross’s single kayak and our tandem down the steep embankment, we set off paddling upstream. We didn’t have to go far to find good-looking territory with an abundance of fallen trees and mangrove-lined banks. We didn’t know what to expect when heading up the creek system, which was half the excitement, with sheer anticipation

pushing us around every bend. It wasn’t long before we came across a shallow rock bar almost completely exposed on high tide, which was good news for us because we could then push beyond where any boat could. We eventually came to a fairly wide pool with everything we could wish for: rocks, fallen trees and submerged snags. This area was bound to hold mangrove jack, and it wasn’t long before Leeah had her first encounter. Casting a snaglessrigged Z-Man SwimmerZ, she flicked her plastic perfectly under a branch and was almost instantly hit but didn’t hook up. Soon after, we positioned ourselves just off a large submerged log where once again Leeah got smashed, this time right in front of the kayak. Sitting in the back seat and watching the action go down, I saw every bit of a 50cm jack come flying out from under the log to hit Leeah’s plastic, but frustratingly the fish still didn’t hook up. Having cast in the same areas multiple times for no reward, I decided to change to a smaller curly tailed soft plastic rigged on a snagless hook in the hope something new would entice a bite. Positioning my lure deep alongside the log, I was in the danger zone. Bang, I was on! With my drag locked up, I wasn’t holding back as the fish powered under the snag, pulling us along with it. I had the fish turned and almost to the surface when with a flash of red it took one last run and

wrapped me around a branch, freeing itself from my hook in the process. We continued to fish but it seemed like the pool had been disturbed by my brutal encounter, so we turned around and decided to head the other way, back past where we had launched, hoping to find some more dirty-fighting jacks for us to try our luck against. We hadn’t paddled far before Ross hooked up. Getting hit just as the lure landed on the surface, he managed to turn the fish away from its home and drag it into the safe zone and aboard his kayak. A beautiful jack measuring just shy of 40cm made for an awesome start to Ross’s day, so after a quick photo the fish was released to grow bigger and stronger. We paddled on, coming across spectacular scenery and feeling as though we were deep in the wilderness, surrounded by rocky outcrops and vinestricken tree lines. As the day wore on, I really didn’t seem to be having much luck after yet again hooking and losing another fish, this time pulling the hooks. The light was slowly fading, so we proceeded to the next bend, knowing we had to call it quits soon. Another rocky embankment made for likely looking territory in quite a deep section of water, so we drifted along casting in multiple directions. All of a sudden, Leeah’s soft plastic was smashed just feet from the front of our kayak. With a locked drag on only a light rod, she battled it from left to right, dangerously close to some shallow rocks. Right when we thought she had it under control, the fish would take an-

other lunge for cover, but finally she had the fish beat. Having no landing net, I had to try my best to comfort lift Leeah’s very first jack onto our kayak. All I could think of was the days, if not weeks, of grief I would cop if the hooks pulled as I attempted to land the fish, but luckily the hook was positioned well in the corner of the fish’s mouth, so over the side came an absolute cracker of a mangrove jack. We were ecstatic after an epic battle on just 8lb braid in very challenging conditions. Measuring around 45cm, Leeah had caught herself a beautiful fish to introduce her to the thrill of jack fishing. The fish was released after some quick photos, and we hope to catch it again on our next adventure to the area. The creek began to open up and as darkness neared we decided to start our paddle back, fishing along the way of course. We made it back to our cars just before sunset, unfortunately with no more jack encounters along the way, but we were stoked to have caught what we did. The day was primarily an exploratory trip, with any fish being a bonus. With another blank section of the map filled in, we plan to go back and fish further into the unknown, hoping to stumble upon more feisty specimens. It’s amazing how much being down level to the water in a kayak changes your view of the places you’re visiting, not to mention how it changes your fishing methods. It’s an awesome, costeffective way of getting out and exploring and I’m certainly hooked on kayak fishing!

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the #*^@ing fish up now! Eventually the little shark realised the fish was easy game and took its 50 percent tax. This should have never happened, and I was so angry. There was no hiding it. Many novice anglers come on board and they usually listen and enjoy success. At times they are the easiest to teach; at times they are the hardest. But as always, the person who stays cool and listens is best. It doesn’t matter what rod

and reel or how many sponsors they have and it doesn’t matter if you’re casting or working the lure. If you think a guide is working hard to find you the

fish you want, give them the courtesy of listening to what they say. Listening is probably the best attribute an angler can master.

Lochie got stuck into a few school-sized tuna.

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K AYAKING & canoeing The great debate – fibreglass v plastic

F you’re bored one afternoon and looking for entertainment, a sure-fire way of starting a lively debate is to ask a group of paddlers which material is better: fibreglass or plastic. Drop this one little question and then stand back and watch the fireworks. Of course, an engineer would tell you it’s an irrelevant argument because they both are in fact made of plastics. Either polyethylene or ABS for the ‘plastic’ boats or glass-reinforced polyester resins for the fibreglass ones, but that isn’t going to stop our group of paddlers arguing. So, for the rest of us, here is a short overview of the differences between the two and the pros and cons of each. Let’s start with what are commonly referred to as plastic canoes and kayaks. Two main types of construction are employed for plastic canoes and kayaks – rotomoulded polyethylene and thermoformed ABS. By far the most common is rotomoulded PE, and it is the one we will discuss in detail here. Medium-density, linear polyethylene is a wonderful material. When used in its most common application, rotomoulding, it produces a reasonably stiff, durable and abrasion-resistant product that forms well into complex curves and is recyclable and repairable. Canoes and kayaks made from this material will exhibit good impact resistance and provide robust, durable boats with an excellent lifespan. Rotomoulding, the most common manufacturing technique, is a well-established method of forming complex shapes in PE. It involves heating a metal mould in a gas-fired oven and slowly rotating it to allow beads of coloured PE to melt and run into the contours of the mould. It is relatively low cost and quite a forgiving process able to be performed by semi-skilled workers. Hence its attractiveness for mass producing the many sit-on kayaks available today. It produces a consistent product and suits complex shapes and the addition of accessory fitments such as nut inserts. The key to the success of rotomoulded PE is its flexibility. This property allows it

Canoeing by DAN OWBRIDGE

to give slightly when under impact and prevents it from cracking or chipping as stiffer materials tend to do. The downside of this is reduced stiffness in the flat panels of the boat. Reduced stiffness allows flexing of the hull while paddling, which causes excessive drag and stops it gliding through the water. The answer most manufacturers have to excessive flexibility is to either increase the thickness of the hull or introduce ribs into flat panels. Both these solutions bring additional weight, and in the case of the ribs, additional wetted surface area. Hence the most common complaint about PE boats is their weight. A typical 3m rotomoulded PE boat can weigh in excess of 25kg. Something to be aware of with rotomoulded PE canoes and kayaks is they struggle somewhat with cut and gouge resistance. Dragging your craft across a rocky beach or rubbing over submerged objects will deeply score the hull, leaving it with little fuzzy cuts on the bottom. Over time, these cuts will significantly increase hull drag and make your craft noticeably slower. Being a heat-formed product, PE boats are also affected by the sun and will start to deform if left sitting in the same position for extended periods. It’s quite common to see an older plastic sit-on kayak with a series of waves along its bottom. In summary, kayaks and canoes made from rotomoulded PE will give great impact resistance and provide long reliable service, especially if stored properly and not dragged over sharp objects. They will however be significantly heavier than other construction types and be somewhat slower than an equivalent fibreglass boat. And now let’s discuss composite or fibreglass canoes and kayaks. The manufacture of composite canoes and kayaks basically involves encasing a fabric mat in a liquid resin matrix. Once the resin sets, the resulting material benefits

from the tensile strength of the fabric (resistance to pulling) and compressive strength of the resin (resistance to crushing), much the same as steel reinforcement in concrete. The most commonly used combination is a mat made from glass fibres encased in a polyester resin. Hence the commonly used term ‘fibreglass’. Many other combinations of fabrics can be used, notably Kevlar and carbon fibre, but fibreglass is the most common and the type we will focus on here. Developed back in the 1950s, fibreglass was created as a means to make complex parts that had high strength and stiffness. Glass, when drawn out in a fibre, is an incredible material. It is relatively cheap to produce and has a higher specific tensile strength than steel, with a much lower weight. When encased in a polyester resin, with its high compressive strength, the two materials work together to form a lightweight composite that is both rigid and strong. Canoes and kayaks made from fibreglass will weigh less than a comparable PE boat and have significantly higher hull stiffness. The most common and usually most economical way to manufacture fibreglass canoes and kayaks is to wet lay them in an open mould. In this process, the boat is built from the outside in, with the outer coating or layer being the first part of the craft to be put into the mould. Usually this layer is a special type of resin called gelcoat. The gelcoat contains silica powder and is harder and more abrasion resistant than regular laminating resin. On top of this initial layer are placed the layers of fibreglass mat, each one completely coated in polyester resin to bond it to the others. Once cured, these layers set together to form a strong, light and durable laminate – perfect for constructing canoes and kayaks! A typical 3.6m fibreglass kayak can weigh as

Rotomoulded polyethylene construction produces tough, durable and costeffective boats.

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little as 12kg. As with the rotomoulded PE, with the good comes the bad. Fibreglass is excellent for boat building because it is stiff and light, however the hard and stiff construction also means it is somewhat brittle and can crack under heavy impact. The good news is fibreglass is very easy to repair and when done professionally leaves little trace of the previous damage. Fibreglass craft, as a rule, are more expensive than comparable PE canoes and kayaks. This is due to the higher labour content required in manufacturing. The trade-off is the finish quality of fibreglass is arguably higher given the mirror-like surface achieved from spraying gelcoat into a mould. It’s this mirror-like finish that makes fibreglass boats glide over the water. In summary, canoes and kayaks made using fibreglass are light, strong and stiff. They will glide on the water due to their mirror finish and stiff hull and the gelcoat outer layer will tend to maintain its surface finish after years of use. In addition, fibreglass allows manufacturers to achieve sharp edges and crisp lines, giving designers more ability to create boats with superior performance. They will, however, require more care in areas where impact damage may be prevalent and will not stand up to the outright abuse a PE boat will. Having said that, don’t be led to believe fibreglass boats are fragile. The laminated structure used in their manufacture is extremely strong and when combined with fabrics such as Kevlar they are superior to most modern materials. So, what should you choose? The great debate… At the end of the day, the choice comes down to the individual paddler. If you want a canoe or kayak that can take a real beating and you aren’t concerned about performance, then choose a rotomoulded polyethylene boat. But if you want a canoe or kayak that will glide almost effortlessly through the water and maintain its performance over many years of service, then a fibreglass boat is the one for you. Your best bet is to beg, borrow or hire a few different types and decide for yourself. If you’re still not sure, call the helpful staff at Natureline Australia for some advice on 07 3390 4106 or visit natureline. com.au Happy paddling!

Fibreglass construction allows manufacturers to achieve mirror-like finishes and smooth, flowing lines.

Fibreglass construction is achieved by laying glass fibre fabric into a mould with liquid resin.

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Aunty Jan curled up for a nap while under way. The happy couple enjoyed their time on the water.

The author held a quality coral cod.

Awesome Agnes Water adventure M Y Agnes Water/1770 social family holiday started with a stop at a service station just north of Maryborough to meet up with the crew consisting of my cousin Yolande and her partner Frank as well as my aunty Jan.

Yolande with her prizes from a day spent offshore.

Jan’s trout from wide of Agnes Water.

A fisho’s dream

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Though the road trip from Brisbane to Agnes takes only six hours, it is worth having a stop or two just to break up the journey and take in some local sights and cuisine. The second stop was at a small café in Apple Tree Creek where pancakes and good coffee were on the menu. Arriving in Agnes midafternoon was perfect for collecting the house keys and settling in for our eight-night stay. With duties completed, it was up to the tavern for a meal and to watch the footy. We met up with some more Brisbane fishos who regularly come up here and given the full moon in a few days’ time, it was not surprising to see them. A check of the forecast had us planning a dawn boat ramp departure and heading to Bustard Head to try our luck at trolling up a spaniard. It was only 23km to Outer Rock but after two hours of towing around garfish, pike, lures and paravanes, we called it quits and headed for the

Fishing Trip

by PHILL KLIESE

wide grounds to bottom bash for reefies. This proved successful, with a couple of hours of action and a variety of species making their way into the Esky. Whales were the call of the day, with so many being spotted and the close encounters a welcome distraction. With the sun getting heavy in the west and the water like a highway, the Honda was cranked up to cruise mode and in no time we were back at the ramp and chatting to local fishos about their day. All seemed to have smiles on their faces and good stories to tell. The next day the alarm went off at 4.30am and we were straight onto the water. Lucky for us, the weather god has turned it on in spades. Boult Reef welcomed us with small breakers and an array of coloured water, as did the whales, dolphins, sea snakes and turtles. We fish shallow water for a number of reasons, one being my crew members are generally estuary fishers more accustomed to whiting, bream and flathead, so the pick was

deployed in 12m after a bit of reconnaissance. The next three hours was non-stop action with strawberry trout, parrotfish, coral cod, hussar, moses perch, maori cod, coral trout, sweetlip and more making the Esky a colourful display. We chose bait including gar, pike, squid, pillies and fresh flesh baits of iodine bream. It seemed lunchtime for us was lunchtime for the fish and they shut down, so we motored around sightseeing. Looking into the azure waters and clearly seeing fish in 10m-plus was amazing, as were the very close encounters, with three large turtles in 2m of water adjacent to the reef. Clear blue skies, a kaleidoscope of waters and the sea surface as smooth as the proverbial, how good was our day!? The bean bag and small mattress were put to use for our longish return trip by Jan and Frank, leaving Yolande and I to recount the day’s adventure and take in how lucky we are to have such an amazing place to spend some time away from the grind of everyday life in the big

smoke. We logged off with VMR Round Hill and would like to thank Josie and Ruth for their continued and much-appreciated coverage of us fishos while out on the briny. Monday breakfast was pancakes while chatting about the day’s chores, which included filleting 65 fish that were waiting in the saltwater ice slurry. Unfortunately, Frank had to return to work duties, so the remaining gang explored Agnes. After a late start on Tuesday, we once again went to try our luck offshore. We traversed the bar and headed north, but with the wind and swell making it not that comfortable, I made a call to cruise with the conditions and the Banana Gutters were our destination. A short stop to gather livies and in no time we found ourselves deploying the anchor and sitting nicely into the wind and current. A bit of berley went out and in no time fish were hitting the deck and Esky. More than a dozen good fish were on ice and an early day was called due to increasing wind. Over the next few days we explored Agnes and surrounds including the great little find known as Chinamans Beach. A half-day four-wheeldrive trip to Eurimbula Creek proved worthwhile, as did our journey to Baffle Creek via Deepwater National Park and fishing at Flatrock on the return trip. Being almost a local, I took the gang on a tour that included a memorable couple of hours at Round Hill headland to witness the extraordinary event of the sunset and moon rise

at the same time. We took in some of the local eateries for dinners and the standout, on a local’s recommendation, was Beachcombers Family Bistro at the 1770 campgrounds. To find local seafood on offer was a blessing, as were the home-made pizzas. This was probably the highlight of the week; just relaxing by the water, in the outdoors, munching on great food and chatting with friends and family at the end of our incredible holiday. Another to impress was the fisho at the servo providing great-tasting prawns and the display of seafood was spot-on. Agnes Water is no longer the hidden gem or the place at the end of the dirt road – it has grown into a special place that is fast becoming over-loved, which is not that bad. The infrastructure has mostly kept pace with the tourism boom and certainly the continual population increase. Upgrading to retail facilities is obvious and it is not until you discover the inner workings of those places that you can appreciate the effort longterm and new locals are putting in. From backpackers to more flash tourists, Agnes and 1770 can accommodate you. The things that never change are the feeling of anticipation as you see the ocean from the hill on the road coming into Agnes at the start of the holiday, the friendly folk at the servo and the ever-smiling faces at the tavern who are so familiar I consider them family.

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

Frank was in red heaven.

Photo courtesy of Vindicator Boats.

For product information and to ﬁnd your nearest authorised dealer contact Graham HyDrive Engineering Pty Ltd – Queensland Unit 12, 73-75 Shore Street, Cleveland 4163 T: 07 3821 6580 E: qld@hydrive.com.au W: hydrive.com.au Page 42 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Plenty of friendly visitors came to say hello.

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Low tide presents the best time to find the gutters. There was plenty to see on the drive along the Fraser Island beach, with fish frames, seabirds, eagles, whales and loads of fishos.

Matty Savas and Matt Boyle with a 70cm tailor.

Beach fishing Fraser Island for the tailor run E

XC I T E M E N T and anticipation were high for the Redland Bay Fishing Club’s annual trip to Fraser Island.

Leaving in convoy from Rainbow Beach, we reached Inskip Point and dropped the tyre pressures to 16psi. After a short trip by barge to Fraser Island, we hit the beach and were confronted by a strong breeze. The driving was tough, with large wash-outs all the way up to camping zone six. After setting up camp and eating the great food provided by the club, we headed over the dune to pursue the iconic tailor. Perfect gutters were forming, the tide was pushing in and it was game on! Our tailor setups consisted of 20lb main line, 40lb fluorocarbon leader

and a two-hook 4/0 snell rig baited with pillies. When the tailor were quiet, we passed the time by fishing for large dart with 8lb fluoro leader and small circle hooks. Pipis and worms were easy to find and ideal baits for the surf species. Every cast with worms produced fish and fresh pike strips on small circle hooks were almost as good. Our location was great, camped between the Cathedrals and the Pinnacles, close to everything we needed including fuel, toilets and showers, which was a pleasant surprise. A real bonus was the equipment and food provided by Redland Bay Fishing Club. Some afternoons were challenging, with cars passing along the beach at 80km/h making it feel like the M1 at times. On the second day, the

wind picked up to 25 knots from the east, which meant it was time to bunker down or find fish elsewhere. I got chatting with Matty Savas from Fish Flickers and decided to hook across the island to the west to seek shelter. After a two-hour drive, we saw the sea again. The excitement built, we found a sheltered oasis and after a master class from Matt we got into it with Gobblers Lures. On his second cast, my son Brandon hooked a respectable bream on a Gobblers Curl Tail. After a fun session, we headed back to camp, ready for an evening fish as the tide pushed in. Nice gutters were forming and the tailor were on. That evening, the average tailor was about 42cm,

but Matt Boyle pulled it out of the bag with a 70cm tailor. Wire traces were the go because the tailor weren’t shy. Over the next couple of days we saw plenty of action at both sunrise and sunset on the incoming tides. Sunday morning saw the weigh-in and a 3.38kg jew and the 70cm tailor were the stars. The honours were taken by Mark Woodward with a total weight of 12.3kg from his 10-tailor club bag limit. Thanks to Danny Salsus for organising the Redland Bay Fishing Club event and thanks to Matty Savas for introducing my son and I to a quality Australian-made product in Gobblers Lures. Mark Woodrow

Brandon with a solid bream caught on a Gobblers Curl Tail.

Mark Woodward nailed a 78cm jewfish.

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The convoy headed up the beach.

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An early morning wave from one of the locals.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 43

Preparation sorted for trip to PNG T HE ultimate bucket list fish is always a hot topic around the campfire.

The Sport Fishing PNG mother ship H2O.

The author’s gear for the trip to PNG.

Straightened hooks are not what you want to see when chasing epic sportfish such as black bass.

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0427 729 688 Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Is it the mighty giant tarpon of the tropical water of the Americas? Or is it the ferocious arapaima of the Amazon? Possibly the carnivorous assassin the tiger fish of the African savanna rivers? Most people will have a different answer, but as an angler growing up in Australia watching documentaries on all different types of fish, one fish always had me intrigued. With every hit caught on camera I got pins and needles running down my spine. With every hard run I took a deep breath and wondered what it must feel like to take on the world’s hardest hitter, Papua New Guinea’s black bass. At age 10 I watched a video of big fish icons Rod Harrison and Lefty casting for these littleknown sportfish and was inspired to one day replicate what I was watching. To make a decision to travel into areas unknown on a fishing trip is normally an easy one. I’ll pick a spot in a nearby river or estuary and simply drive there after a bit of planning. But targeting PNG black bass is no run of the mill trip. The required planning is based mainly on research, watching every YouTube video, reading every article and recapping every discussion you’ve ever had with anyone who has tried to catch one of these lurewrecking balls of fury. When doing your research, it’s all about detail, watching every second and reading every word so you don’t miss something crucial for success. One of the things that excites me about black bass is the way they just crush the lures. Any anglers thinking of making the trip to PNG should look for wiredthrough lures. Many on the market are not wired through and will, quite simply, be destroyed. I’d also heard that black bass have a habit of breaking rods by splintering the graphite and snapping carbon fibres. Anything that hits hard enough to break a rod is an absolute beast and has to be caught. These fish are already fully turned by the time you react. So by the time you feel the hit, your eyes widen and you strike, the black bass has turned and begun to swim back into its snag. So what gear am I taking? Black bass are a fish you may be lucky to target once or twice in a lifetime and the cost of getting to target these fish is nothing short of extreme, so

Overseas Fishing Trip by NATHAN REID

buying gear is just another massive expense. Buying two or three high-quality brand name outfits will see an extra few thousand dollars added to an already blownout budget. Luckily, there is an alternative. A 10-12kg baitcaster setup capable of casting heavy 80lb and above gear is ideal. Research reveals you can cut the rod and reel cost in half yet still have top quality and ability. The Noeby Nonsuch 1200 baitcaster is my reel of choice With a RRP of $300, it boasts a 12kg carbon drag, big crank handle, deep spool for running heavier line, a gear ratio of 6.3:1 and a supersmooth 10 + 1 ball bearing system with stainless steel everything, making it extremely corrosion resistant and tough with a light weight of 260g. Rod choice is imperative because your rod is the shock absorber for the ferocious hits from black bass. Comfort, castability, strength and light weight are the criteria to consider. Yet again, the brand name is what you pay for. So going the alternative route yet again, Noeby offers two rods with different qualities that are more than capable for this style of fishing. The Infinite slow-jigging rod is a one-piece rod built from Japanese Toray carbons with SiC guides, Fuji reel seats and stunning looks. This rod is extremely comfortable to use and cast and packs the power to drag the stubborn bass from their snags. The Infinite slow-jigging rods are available in light PE1-2, mediumlight PE1.5-2.5, medium PE2-3 and medium-

heavy PE2.5-4. This rod will bend in half and is super tough. Don’t be afraid of the low PE rating because they are perfect for casting the lures to target these hard hitters. The next rod is the powerhouse of the Noeby Fishing Tackle line-up. The Infinite Snakehead is a serious rod for serious fish and is built with black bass in mind. With a PE rating of 4-8 and the ability to cast big lures yet remain super light at 252g, the Snakehead is ideal for employing the subtle finesse needed to work lures on top or below the surface with precise control. The snakehead is exactly what I though a black bass rod would be, with double cork grips, solid construction, Fuji Alconite guides and a stiff but fast action. Just looking at one of these master class rods, you know it’s got the goods. Add the Nonsuch 1200 baitcaster to these two rods and we are set to do battle. These two rods are very high quality but the price is not blown out by brand marketing. Each rod retails for under $300, which is about half the price of typical black bass gear from competitor brands. Reels are the brains, rods the heart and line the soul. Braid has really come into its own over the years. Starting out as a simple weaved or fused strand, now it’s a real science wherein companies are getting maximum strength from minimum diameter. A plethora of brands crowd the marketplace, but which one is best is up to the angler. These days they all make really good braid. I have used two or three braid types over the past

20 years: Harro’s Bionic Braid, which is super tough; Fins XS, which is again super tough and supple; and Noeby Infinite. On my trip I will be using Infinite braid, which is an eight-weave abrasive-coated super braid. It’s so smooth and supple and casts a mile. I have been using 20lb Infinite braid on my barra gear and have never had a line break. I still have the others but for PNG I am spooling 80lb Infinite on all my reels. My leader will range from 80-100lb comprising various fluorocarbon brands. So all the gear and no idea what to put on the end – well to answer that question again you need to do your research. When watching shows in the lead-up to such a trip, don’t just take note of the lures that are catching fish, write them down! Anything of importance you see, be it water colour, the way the lures are worked, the angles of the rods at the point of impact, the depth the lure bibs indicate, anything, just write it down. Every TV show is like a lesson. The lures I am taking include the Salmo Perch 12cm deep diver in a variety of colours, Rapala X-Rap deep divers, Noeby Assassin deep divers, RMGs and the Storm Arashi. Basically anything that has a wire-through construction. If it doesn’t, it’s very possible that the bass could simply bite it in half and swim away. Wired through means everything is connected by a strong internal wire, from the tow point to the hook points. So if the lure’s body should break, the wire will keep everything else and the fish connected. It’s just built-in security. Even though I’m taking the toughest lures, I don’t

doubt a few will break. There isn’t a lure you can catch these fish on that won’t break. Each lure has 120lb split rigs attached and they’re all rigged with super-tough Owner ST-66 or BKK Raptor-Z treble hooks. Pre-rigging and upgrading all lures is essential. Going over with a job half done is not going to leave a good taste in your mouth. With all the gear sorted, who do you go with and where to? Well alongside two of my closest friends Peter Nichols and Brian Rake, I have embarked on our trip with Sport Fishing PNG. The staff members are so professional, with endless contact throughout the booking process and they’re always ready to help with gear and the like. They offer safe housing while in Port Moresby at their fishing lodging, all transfers to and from Jacksons International Airport and internal flights to the Fly River where you are treated like royalty aboard the luxury mother ship H2O. You get to meet the local tribes and fish some of the most outstanding jungle rivers in the world. The Fly River connects to Lake Murray, which is another popular black bass haunt. We will be on board for nine days, with a total of eight fishos and four guided tenders. We’ll be spoilt, with breakfast, lunch and dinner supplied, as well as water and soft drink. As we embark on this experience, I would like to thank Greg Wright, without whom this would not be possible, Wright Fishing Tackle and Noeby Fishing Tackle for the gear we are taking. So until we return with a story for part two of this incredible fishing experience, happy fishing and tight lines.

A monstrous black bass.

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Rob’s well set-up ski at sunset. The author with a juvenile black marlin landed from his ski.

Fraser Island’s juvenile black marlin put up an awesome fight when hooked on a jet ski.

Jet ski fishing trip to Fraser Island M Y jet ski fishing adventure to Fraser Island started with two months of planning with the local lads from Fishski Australia.

The two months felt like a year and because it had been so dry, I was thinking we’d probably get a year’s worth of rain in the week I was taking off work. Well getting closer to the trip, the forecast predicted a day of rain to harden up the track for the drive in followed by light winds the whole week. On day one we drove to Hervey Bay and a couple of us rode to Fraser on the skis while others caught the barge to bring over all the gear. We set up camp, had dinner and talked about the fishing this place is well known for and how many good times it has given us.

Midway through that night I got out of bed to check on the skis because the area is very tidal. On rising at 5am, we experienced an amazing sunrise with breakfast on the beach. Then it was all systems go as we prepped the skis for a big trip north in search of the famous juvenile black marlin. We dragged a few of the skis into the water, stocked our Fishski boxes with ice and food and headed off. On the way we were greeted by whales, turtles and big sharks, and an hour after setting out we arrived at our fishing grounds. We all started trolling with a mixed bag of lures mostly comprising Remora Lures because we’ve had good success with them in the past. It wasn’t long before Gazza and his son Sage

were hooked up. Another couple of fish were caught on that nice sunny day before the wind picked up and we raced back to camp for a few cold ones, dinner and an early night. On day three we were up at the crack of dawn and took our time because conditions were in our favour with an afternoon glass-out. We enjoyed exploring the island and dropping in crab pots while also solidifying camp because of the chance of a storm in the evening. Before too long we headed north for more trolling and had another epic session, with a couple more marlin caught and released from the flats. This place blows me away every time I visit. We headed back to camp for an arvo of beach fishing and chilling in the water watching

an epic sunset. A plague of mosquitoes soon got us moving and we ducked into camp to dine on slow-cooked shanks for dinner. Day four started with a big breakfast cooked up by top bloke Stevo. With nice clear skies, no wind and a maximum temperature of 32C, we had perfect fishing conditions. The day was epic. Several marlin were caught on my favourite Remora Lures and my ski hooked up to three fish; two out wide and one on the flats. It was a magical last day, with whales breaching all around and a perfect smooth ride home. That evening we had a big dinner and packed up some of the camp, ready for our departure on low tide in the morning. Day five saw us packing up early in a cloud of mos-

New Sea-Doo platform brings the rider experience to the next level

RP has announced an entirely new platform for select models in its 2018 Sea-Doo line-up of personal watercraft. With BRP’s obsession to provide the best consumer experience possible, this innovative platform transforms the on-board experience and extends the possible activities for riders with a Sea-Doo personal watercraft. The new platform, which sets the industry benchmark for stability and control, is available on seven models across the Sea-Doo GTX, RXT and WAKE PRO families. To ensure consumers’ maximum comfort, the new personal watercraft has a smart reconfigurable rear seat that transforms the watercraft into an on-board living room. It changes quickly from a three-seat configuration to a flat lounge area, where two people can face each other for a picnic lunch. When removed, the larger, flatter rear deck makes reboarding easier and more stable. Now people can enjoy more time on the water to relax and soak in the surroundings.

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Adding to the onboard experience is the industry’s first manufacturer-installed, truly waterproof Bluetooth audio system. With a simple swipe of a finger, riders can now enjoy their favourite playlists on this powerful stereo while relaxing on their PWC’s rear deck for a full experience. There is also improved storage to allow people to enjoy longer periods on the water and have a full day of fun. The storage includes a waterproof, shockproof compartment for a phone with USB charger, as well as direct-access front storage with no standing required. BRP Global Product Strategy senior vice president Bernard Guy said, “This new SeaDoo platform brings the personal watercraft to the next level.” “Everything was ingeniously designed and built to enhance the consumer experience on water. “Riding a Sea-Doo watercraft is fun, and with this new platform, we extend the exhilaration.” Platform stability and control The new platform’s stability and control starts with a lower cen-

tre of gravity, which provides more confidence in rough water, at high speed and with three passengers. It is also wider for easier reboarding and movement around the watercraft. Combined with a new, deep-V hull that increases performance in rough water and provides better control while cornering, you’ve got the best of all worlds. In addition to the new platform, BRP also unveiled a Sea-Doo SPARK TRIXX 3-UP with extended seat and rear platform. It maintains the same level of fun as the hugely successful 2-UP model launched last year, but with an additional passenger and tow sports capability. Pulling off tricks is so easy and so much fun

across the entire lineup, you’ll never want the day to end. Simply put, it’s the most versatile entry-level watercraft ever built. There are additional enhancements across the entire 2018 Sea-Doo family, including Performance, Luxury, Tow Sports and Recreation segments. Find out more about the complete 2018 lineup, including product specs and additional technical information, at au.sea-doo.com With the widest selection of models in the industry, BRP offers the right Sea-Doo to fit any adventure at a price that makes it possible. You can follow SeaDoo and the #SEADOOLIFE on Facebook at facebook.com/seadoo and on Instagram and Twitter @brpseadoo.

quitoes in the rain. We said our goodbyes and then hit the water back to Hervey Bay, punching through the rain in glassy conditions and passing schools of tuna. After arriving at the boat ramp, we noted how quick the trip was. This was a once in a lifetime adventure with so many good times and memorable moments, not to mention great fishing and the famous juvenile black marlin. Preparation is the key before venturing to the western beaches of Fraser because they are very remote. You need back-up vehicles and safety equipment because there’s no phone reception and you’re a long way from medical care. Oh and you need to be able to tolerate mosquitoes. In terms of on-water equipment, we were using jet skis with dual batteries, EPIRBs, flares, radios, Fishski boxes with all accessories, Daiwa rods and reels and Remora Lures. I hope you too can have an adventure like this. It has really opened my eyes to the great access jet skis have to these tidal places. Thank you to the crew at Fishski Australia for letting me share this magical part of the world with you. See you on the water. Jason Mccoll

The jet skis on the beach.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 45

Here is a barra caught on live bait during the morning run-in tide. Clancy Henderson

I boated this tuskfish near Heron Island using squid for bait. Connor McConnell

This is my PB 108cm threadfin salmon I picked up recently. To find the threadies, I go to man-made structure and vibe the bottom using Zerek Fish Traps. Jared Beale

My brother the trout master Cameron with a pair of crackers (inset). Stewart with his son Mathew with some good cobia caught while prospecting for new ground. Bait Soaker

Aaron Blacksell nailed this flathead on a 3” Z-Man plastic in Pink Glow on his Shimano setup running 8lb braid.

Four-year-old Lucas Barnard and his dad Andrew caught these Caloundra lizards at the northern tip of Bribie Island. Bill Corten

I was using a big live mullet to chase sharks when this beast took my line. Quite a surprising catch. Josh Prescott

Hi Ben, This is Jessica with a good whiting taken while yakking on the Gold Coast. Cheers, Dean Galpin

Hi Ben, Reave Mclean with an 83cm flathead caught on a Squidgie plastic at Ballina. The large croc was released back into the river unharmed. Greg Porter

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

Hi Ben, My name is Sam and I am nine years old. I caught this 47cm bass at a secret spot near Glamorgan Vale on a witchetty grub. Thanks.

I picked this quality flathead up on the Sunshine Coast. Nat Rose

I caught this 61cm flatty off the Seaway wall while fishing in a rubber ducky. Would be awesome if you could put this in the monthly magazine. Thanks heaps, Zach Smallfish

■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum Page 46 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

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Formosa and AMC partnership continues to grow stronger

USTRALIAN owned and operated manufacturer Formosa Marine builds a large range of plate boat models and optional extras, with the ability to custom design to suit buyers. Southeast Queensland dealer Australian Marine Centre sells Formosa Marine’s Tomahawk range, with many in stock to view and buy at the company’s Springwood premises, located between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Both Aussie businesses have recently grown, offering you more choice. Australian Marine Centre was the first Formosa dealer in Australia and has sold many, many quality Formosa packages. AMC is very excited to

see the innovation and improvements in the Formosa range as it has evolved over the years. Since 1998, it has been Formosa Marine’s mission to advance its boats to handle the Australian environment yet keep them affordable without skimping on quality and strength. The following are the company’s most recent advancements, offering customers more. • A new Offshore 740 size in the Half Cabin, Centre Cabin and X Bowrider models. With a sharper deadrise of 20 degrees, the 740s feature a large deck space and underfloor storage, high sides and 300-litre fuel tank. • Fish > Wake > Ski with the new X Bowrider sizes

of 520 and 550 available in Offshore and Classic models. These new sizes are designed with a wake/ rocket launcher without a hardtop visor for easy storage in smaller, innercity garages. • A new fully enclosed cabin hard top is available on the Offshore 740 Half Cabin and features a long cabin for sleeping comfort, lock-up ability and large storage boxes. • The new BowActive Ladder is designed to fit onto the bow roller. It’s perfect for entering or exiting the boat while nosein to the beach or on the boat ramp. View a video on Formosa’s news and

reviews website page. • New Removable Bait Board and Bait Tank due to popular demand. Formosa designed this option that can be swapped with the Removable Ski Pole so you can discover more activities in one boat. • A new Twin Motor Transom is now available for all models 620 and over. Australian Marine Centre is located at 3491 Pacific Highway, Springwood. For sales and service, phone 07 3808 7333 or visit amcboats.com.au Discover more about Formosa Marine’s range online at formosamarine boats.com.au

Formosa Tomahawk Offshore 580 X Bowrider with new BowActive Ladder.

Unbeatable Mercury FourStroke deals

N BE ATA BL E moments, unbeatable memories, unbeatable fun and unbeatable excitement with unbeatable offers… Mercury FourStroke outboards totally changed the game, which is why they are so incredibly popular around the world. And now is the ideal time for you to own one. For a short time, Mercury is offering Australian boat lovers unbeatable savings on FourStrokes from 3.5hp right through to 150hp – savings from $175 to $1950. And for anyone buying an engine from 40hp150hp, this great offer also includes a free VesselView Mobile, worth $450 (recommended retail). This makes great sense as VesselView Mobile Mercury FourStroke

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 47

Noosa to Fraser Coast by CRAIG TOMKINSON

Woodgate Beach is a lovely spot to check out.

Looking out over Gladstone Marina from Auckland Hill Lookout.

Family friendly road trip H

What a sight, with all the coal being loaded onto ships at Hay Point, Mackay.

The author’s daughter Lauren stood in front of one of the bomber’s props.

The author at the Liberator bomber site at Kroombit Tops.

Page 48 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

I, it’s Craig Tomkinson here.

Over the September school holidays my wife Donna and I and our four kids Troy, Magregor, Gavin and Lauren went on a road trip for a few days. The plan was to go to Longreach and on to Winton and do the dinosaur trail on the way but the Outback Festival was on, which sees Winton’s population swell from 500 to 8000 people, and my wife and I hate crowds. So we changed plans and decided to head up the coast towards Tully with a few diversions on the way. We had never been to Woodgate Beach, so after packing our gear in the old 80 Series LandCruiser wagon, we took off. We never book any accommodation if we are only staying in a town for the night and then moving on to different places. So we left home and travelled up the highway to Childers and out to Woodgate, which as it turns out is a lovely spot with a nice wide and long beach. We drove around looking for signs or information places saying what we could and could not do, such as driving on the beach, but we couldn’t find much info at all. The town and beach looked great, so we decided to come back another time and stay for a few days to better check it out. From Woodgate, we headed back to Bundaberg, north towards Miriam Vale and then back up the highway towards Gladstone. By now it was about 2pm and we have found if you book into a cabin or unit earlier in the day you almost always get a place to stay. However, we take our big tent just in case. On the road to Awoonga Dam is Awoonga Gateway Lodge where I had stayed with Jim and Callum Munro when we went barra fishing five years ago. After finding the place, I got a cabin there for the

Road Trip by CRAIG TOMKINSON

six of us for $160 for the night. We unpacked some gear, had a feed and a rest for a couple of hours and then went and checked out the dam. We spent a few hours looking around the dam and the best part was skimming rocks near the boat ramp with the kids for an hour or so. It was great fun and we waited until dark before heading back to the cabin because we wanted to see if we could spot any owls around the dam. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any owls out having a play. The next day, we headed into Gladstone for a look around. I had not been to Gladstone in years. In fact, not since we had our 9m boat and I pro fished out of there, leaving the boat in the marina when I went home. We drove in, had a look around and found Auckland Hill Lookout, which was a great spot I never knew existed. From here we could see all the different ships being loaded with many different raw products. Looking down, we could see the retired Gladstone II war ship in its dry dock but unfortunately found out you can only take a look at the old girl on weekends. The Radio 4CC Gladstone van was down there giving stuff away, so we drove down and they gave us a few things. Thanks 4CC, that was very nice. The 4CC team told us the Channel 7 morning show was broadcasting live from the new foreshore redevelopment area, so we all went and had a look. Gee it was great to see what had been done around the area, with a water park, kids’ playground, barbecue and un-

dercover seating areas. From Gladstone, we spent the rest of the day driving north. By the time we hit Mackay it was late in the arvo and time to stop, so we booked into a unit that cost $135 for the night. We bought KFC for tea and as we were watching the weather on television they said Tully and surrounds had received close to 200mm of rain that day. It was supposed to be clearing but Donna and I have heard that before, so the next morning we had a look around Mackay, Hay Point and Sarina Beach and then headed for home. On the way back, we were going to drive up into the Kroombit Tops National Park and have a look at Beautiful Betsy, an old World War II plane wreck. Unfortunately we ran out of time and decided we’d come back on a day trip with the kids in a few days. So that’s what we did, but this time our three 16 to 18-year-old sons did not want to come, so my wife Donna, our nine-year-old daughter Lauren and I headed off around 2pm. Our plan was to go inland just north of Gympie and drive up the Burnett Highway to Monto. The drive up took four and a half hours, so we stayed in a motel at Monto that night. About 6am the next day we headed north towards Cania Gorge, turned right into Wongalee Rd and then followed the signs to Kroombit Tops. Once along that road, I let the tyres down to 28psi. It took us about three hours to get to the escarpment lookout at the top. What a great view, and we stopped and took photos of birds all the way in. The gravel road was good but every now and then we hit bulldust up to

30cm deep in some spots. It was the most bulldust I have seen in years. From the lookout we took the 5-6km loop road on a 35km round trip. Halfway around, we walked in and checked out the old Liberator bomber crash site, which was very interesting. From there we continued on around and down into the wall camp area. It’s a pretty steep road down to it. You could tow a well set-up camper trailer in there as long as you took your time. Having said that, if you were staying in the area overnight or a couple of nights, it’s not a great campsite. I would set up camp at Griffiths Creek camping area and drive the loop road to do the Razorback Track in your four-wheeldrive. On the way out of the Wall campground is a big hill that is narrow, dug up and full of bulldust. We had no trouble with the empty 4WD but towing a 1.5-tonne camper I reckon I would have become dry bogged and had to winch out. We made our way back to the escarpment lookout and were going to do the Razorback Track but ran out of time as from here it is about 80km back to Monto. On the way back, we stopped and did the rainforest walking trail. It was lovely and cool in there and a great walk, but make sure you keep your eyes open because we saw heaps of scrubber cattle up on the tableland with some wild-looking bulls amongst them. Kroombit Tops National Park is a huge area that is full of hardwood timber such as bluegums and yellow stringy, with good 4WD tracks to explore. It’s a lovely place to visit. We got back to Monto at 2.15pm, pumped the tyres up, got fuel and headed home. ‘Til next time, be safe on the road. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Barra off-limits but plenty still on offer

ROM November 1 it’s all over for barra outside of dams until February 1, 2018 but it’s not all bad because plenty of other species are biting well to keep a bend in your rod. Threadfin salmon have started to turn up in good numbers around Gladstone this year. When I moved to Gladstone nine years ago, the odd one was caught when targeting barra but they are now starting to increase in numbers and are schooling. When they are mixed with schools of tarpon and blue salmon, it can make it hard to get a lure or bait to them. Often schooled threadies will be difficult to get a bite from, but if you can get one to switch on you may get a few quickly. Targeting them around deep rock bars in the Calliope and Boyne rivers is very worthwhile. Threadybusters, Samaki vibes, 3” minnows and paddletailed soft plastics with 3/8oz jig heads will help you get the lure down to fish sitting deeper on the rock bars. If you’re fishing with bait, a 3” or 4” live herring or mullet will get their attention, and if prawns are around they will also work well. Threadfin in the Fitzroy River have taken off in recent years, with good numbers throughout the whole system. A lot of juvenile fish are in the river and it’s common to catch fish from 40-90cm in the same schools. Fishing the many rock piles, rock walls and rock bars in the river will soon see you catching plenty of these fish. They are more willing to take baits and lures than the fish in Gladstone and you can soon rack up impressive numbers.

Gladstone Region by GARY CHURCHWARD

Good-sized fish can be found too, with threadies to 130cm available, particularly around the Port Alma area. Mangrove jack are on the move as the water temperature increases. If you’re keen enough to fish either side of a storm, you could be in for some quick-fire fishing. The Boyne River with its many rock-lined banks has been producing good numbers of jacks. Using a bait or lure around 3” long will see you in with the best chance, though they are responding to most offerings. Trolling hard-bodies along the rocky drop-offs, while it can be boring, will produce the fish and help you cover ground. The Calliope River is also giving up good jacks, not in the same numbers as the Boyne but enough to keep you interested. Other places to try are Graham Creek, South Trees and Colosseum Inlet. If you’re willing to travel a bit further, the Baffle Creek system has a great population of jacks. Fingermark have been turning up every now and then, and the bridge pylons in both the Calliope and Boyne rivers hold a few. They tend to come from deeper water and the harbour has plenty of deep rocky dropoffs that hold quality fish. They will willingly eat both bait and lures, and like jacks a smaller offering around 3” will get most attention. Trevally have turned up in good numbers and size, with some cracking fish caught

around the bridges in the Calliope River. By the size of some, they must have become lost on their way out to the reefs. Most are taking plastics flicked around the pylons. Be ready because they will hit a lure as it falls. Most have been about 5060cm in length and they are great fun to catch. Flathead will slow a little as the weather warms, though expect to find smaller fish than the larger breeding females. Most sand and mud banks will hold a couple of fish, with the best locations the mouth of the Lillies and Wild Cattle Creek on a falling tide. They will respond well to live mullet and herring as well as soft plastics and hard-body lures. Bream are still being caught around the region and both pikey and yellowfin varieties are hitting small lures and baits along mangrove edges and near rock bars. Tarpon are feeding well and you will see the odd school rolling on the surface as they feed. Small blades and plastics work best for these fish. Both the Boyne and Calliope rivers hold big schools of tarpon and they are awesome fun to catch on light gear. Whiting are biting well around the sandbanks in Gladstone Harbour, Graham Creek and Wild Cattle Creek. Live yabbies are still the best way to catch a feed of these fish. Mud crabs were slow during September but were starting

to increase in both size and numbers towards the end of October. They should really start to fire during November, especially if we get some more rain. Please remember that you will come across the odd barra when fishing for these other species, and if you catch one, be sure to look after it and release it promptly so we have a healthy fishery for years to come. Cheers and happy fishing from Gladdy.

Plenty of jacks will be around during November. Soft plastics worked down rocky ledges will account for numerous fish.

Phil nailed this diamond trevally in the Boyne River.

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This jack took a Samaki Vibelicious Thumper Tail on a rock bar in the Boyne River.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 49

Charmaine Baker held a thumping 57cm blackspotted rock cod. The picture says it all.

Hinchinbrook holiday fishing

’VE just wrapped up another successful trip to Hinchinbrook Island in far north Queensland.

Lara Baker with her new PB barra.

The author with a cool little barra taken on a Z-Man Pop FrogZ.

Hinchinbrook Island is situated about an hour and forty-five minutes’ drive north of Townsville and is the largest island national park in Australia. It’s about a 19-hour drive from Brisbane and we cover it over two days by overnighting in Mackay. Our trip was booked in for two weeks over the September school holidays. We arrived on the first Saturday afternoon and were fishing by 1pm. We headed to a favourite creek off the beautiful Hinchinbrook Channel and were a little concerned when we saw the water temperature sitting around 23C because we have found it fishes best from 26C and up. Within about five minutes of fishing, our sideimaging Humminbird Helix sounder had helped us locate a school of big barra sitting on a tree. After sitting on them for half an hour and catching a couple, we decided to move on with the tide, chasing jacks and other snag-dwelling brutes. About 10 casts into the

A great pair of jacks pulled off a snag at the back of a little creek.

Page 50 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Fishing Trip by LACHIE BAKER

session my hard-body was slammed by a large mangrove jack that was very content to return to its snag. This was disheartening but I continued casting until we arrived at a snag where we had an unfortunate incident involving a jack last year. I landed my lure in the perfect spot and slowly rolled it down, feeling a hit that was almost as solid as the previous. A short battle ensued and the jack was beside the boat and just out of net reach when the hook pulled. Some choice words were spoken as I watched the red flash disappear back into the snag. On that first afternoon we still managed to tag about 15 fish despite all the mishaps, so it wasn’t a bad start. The next day we headed to another favourite creek that always produces good numbers of fish, with quality jacks in the mix. Fishing proved a little difficult in the morning but come the afternoon flood tide the water was a little warmer and the fish began chewing. We ended up with a few jacks around the 40cm mark, a stack of cod, a couple of fingermark and other creek-dwelling species. With another 27 fish added to the tagging total, things were starting to look more promising. The next day we set a course for my numberone favourite creek where we had enjoyed countless successful days on heaps of jacks and barra. Once again the water was cooler than we would have liked but we stuck with it and were rewarded with really nice jacks and big cod. On one occasion we actually had a triple hook-up on red dogs, with the only fisho in the boat not scor-

ing one being yours truly. It proved a little hard to get a cast in while playing net man and photographer. My luck didn’t improve after pulling the hooks on a big barra right beside the boat as well as a shocking conversion rate on surface jacks. I figured the cooler water meant the jacks were a little lethargic and not 100 percent committing to eating the surface lures. But with persistence I managed to put a couple of jacks in the boat as well as a good number of cod. My mum, however, was absolutely killing it (when she managed to land her lure in the water instead of a tree, that is). She was rewarded with numerous 40cm-plus jacks and a solid barra. We ended the session once the water rose too high over the snags with about 30 fish. The following day brought rain, so we stayed in the unit and re-rigged our gear and prepared for the next day, planning how to adapt to the conditions the rain was bringing. The day after the rain, the water was a little dirty and a bit cooler, which meant a change of pace. My younger sister was keen on using fresh baits to target headland-dwelling species such as barred grunter, crimson snapper and other reef fish. First drop saw my old boy get absolutely smoked by something and my sister catch a reasonablesized grass sweetlip. We had been fishing for about 15 minutes when I ditched the micro jig for a whole squid. Almost as soon as it hit the bottom I felt a decent fish pick it up and move off. I free spooled some line out and waited for it to pull tight, and when it did I leant back and connect-

ed to a solid fish. After some gnarly moments in a bommie, a 50cm grass sweetlip surfaced. We had all called it for a trout considering how hard it fought, but we weren’t disappointed because grassies are equally good on the plate in my mind. However, we stuck a tag in this fish and set it free, only for it to float back up after swallowing the hook and choking on the bait. My mum was rapt because she had been asking all morning for us to keep a grunter for dinner for her upcoming birthday. Many women want jewellery or perfume but my mum wants a feed of fish. I can’t blame her though, as it was delicious. We captured a few more fish and endured the odd smoking before calling it a day. The day after, we headed to the offshore islands to hopefully even the score with some of the fish that smoked us last year. This time we were armed with heavier tackle and a little more knowhow thanks to our mistakes last year. We were planning on casting plastics, stickbaits, poppers and sinking minnow lures. First cast for me with a stickbait resulted in a large mack tuna, much to my disappointment, but I followed it with two legal coral trout in two casts. Just before we left for the trip, I stopped in at the Tackle Warehouse at Coorparoo and bought one pricey little Nomad Chug Norris popper. My old man had taxed my popper and was running it on his setup when I heard a large ‘boof’ and looked over to see Dad doubled over trying to keep his rod high. I also briefly caught a glimpse of a very large trout towards the 5kg mark heading for a bommie. I believe this is where my popper is now living because this beastly trout couldn’t be stopped on ☛ continued P51

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Hinchinbrook holiday fishing ☛ from P50

60lb leader. We kept casting and managed a heap of other species including striped sea perch, coral cod, chinaman fish, longtom and longnose emperor, which I was particularly stoked with because I hadn’t caught one before. Our drift had brought us to a rocky spit with heaps of current pushing bait over it and we knew fish would be holding there. I made a long cast over the back of the spit and began quickly twitching my stickbait back into deeper water when a monster trout emerged behind it. This thing would’ve been every bit of 80cm. Water erupted all around my lure and line began disappearing from my spool and I thought I had hooked the monster trout but after a few minutes of tussling a large queenfish leapt from the water and landed in the net. I was spewing it wasn’t the big trout. The next few minutes were action packed, with a few trout of about 55cm coming over the side. While these aren’t big by trout standards, they certainly put up a fight over shallow coral reefs. If you aren’t on your toes, they will brick you fairly quickly. Once again I cast back towards the rocky spit and almost instantly another huge queenie launched out of the water with my stickbait in its mouth. This fish was only 15cm bigger than the last but was built much heavier. After another solid fight it was in the net and promptly tagged and ready for release. We set up another shorter drift, just aiming to target the spit, but once we found the fish again we decided to spot lock with the Minn Kota and Dad and I had a double hook-

up on smaller queenies of about 70cm. Dad also managed a nice trout. Funnily enough, he started catching quality fish once he switched over to the same lure I was using, which was the new Zerek Zappelin 115mm sinking stickbait. My previous experience fishing with stickbaits was very limited, so to come to an area that I had only ever fished once before and catch more than 40 fish on one lure was certainly a testament to the quality of the product. I had also managed to get my hands on one of the Wilson Venom Stickbait rods, which proved to be epic in regards to stopping power and casting distance. We could’ve kept our fair share of fish this morning but all were sent on their merry way with tags, and it will be super interesting to see the recapture data that comes back on these fish. After our hot little session, we decided to go for a run up the outside of the Hinchinbrook Island and search for a pressure point to cast for a GT. One was soon located and I let fly with the stickbait because I hadn’t thought to change to a popper. A couple of twitches and fast winding drew a monster out of its cave, making two half-hearted swipes before disappearing back into the deep. We then discovered a good ledge with bait holding on the face and immediately decided to switch to plastic setups, picking up a few stripeys and tuskfish. It had been an awesome morning but the wind was picking up, so we called it a day and headed in, running alongside the seemingly never-ending sugar loading jetty that stretches for over 6km out to sea.

The following day was my mum’s birthday and after seeing the pics and videos taken on the previous day, she was keen to get out and have a go. She had never fished with poppers but gave it a red-hot crack. The tide was a little smaller, which meant less current, and I think the saying “no run, no fun” was turning out to be very true for the area. Mum still popped away and was rewarded with a 54cm birthday trout, which dwarfed my little 42cm model that came the next cast. Again we caught a heap of stripeys and cod but it was tough fishing. It’s quite frustrating how much fishing can change in a day. On a trip like this there will always be something that sticks in your head, and for me it has to be when we were retrieving a lure from a tree and saw a freeswimming jack well and truly over the 50cm mark. After quickly ditching the lure retriever, I grabbed my other rod with a weedless plastic setup, lobbed it onto the fish’s nose and twitched it across the surface. The fish was sitting in crystal-clear water and it was like watching a pet jack in a tank stalk its food. It came up behind the plastic, had two halfhearted swipes at it and then cruised off. After a few choice words and getting the snagged lure out of the tree, a barra cruised down the same path as the jack and didn’t even bother looking at my plastic. While that was quite frustrating, minutes later my dear mum bounced her lure off about three trees and landed on a great-looking log lying in the water. A couple of twitches ensured she connected to a

The author with his first jack of the trip.

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fun 60cm barramundi. She was so pumped because barra are her favourite fish to catch and she doesn’t get the opportunity to chase them very often. One of my favourite moments of the trip was when we were fishing right up the very back of a tiny creek and came upon a huge fallen snag pile. We made the call that a jack would undoubtedly be in there. I had the first cast and within seconds felt the unmistakeable hit of a big jack. After some extreme thumb pressure I slid a mid-40cm fish into the net. While I was digging around for the camera, I heard what sounded like line ripping off a baitcaster and turned around to see Dad wrestling a very big jack. My fish was still lying in the net, so the scoop proved to be a bit nerveracking, but before we knew it two awesome fish were lying on the floor of the boat. In total, for the nine days of fishing we tagged 218 fish and released about 40 more without tags. It wasn’t our best trip numbers wise but considering factors such as cool water temperature and tides with barely any run, we felt we did pretty well. It would’ve been great to convert a few more strikes but that’s fishing. The gear I brought with me for this trip comprised a mix of estuary, inshore and offshore tackle. For the creeks, I was running two baitcasters and a spin rod in the form of a Wilson Venom PE24 Crankbait baitcaster for skip casting surface plastics and fishing vibes, an 8kg Venom baitcaster for throwing hard-bodies and a 6kg Venom Barra spin rod, which was ideal for casting sinking plastics into deeper banks and mud clumps. The estuary lures of choice were the 69mm Zerek Tango Shad, 3.5” Zerek Flat Shad, 4” ZMan Pop FrogZ and 3” Berkley Gulp Shrimp. I already mentioned the awesome stickbait setup I was using to target the nasties on the flats, but for bait fishing around the front and casting plastics around the islands I was running a 15-40lb Wilson Magnum spin rod because it has a very crisp tip and loads up exceptionally well. Hinchinbrook is certainly a journey and a half to get to from Brisbane but I can tell you it is 100 percent worth it. The trip just gone was my 15th and my old boy’s 18th, so there’s definitely something special that keeps us coming back year after year. Tight lines and smoking drags.

A chinaman fish taken on the shallow coral flats.

A barcheek coral trout hooked on a Zerek Zappelin.

You never get sick of catching these fish.

This nice queenie fell to a Zerek Zappelin 115mm stickbait.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 51

Mental mangrove jack A

NOTHER barra season has been and gone, with some great fish caught this year, despite our lack of rain here at Hinchinbrook Island.

A double hook-up on jacks for Tony and Aaron from Western Australia.

Graham with a mangrove jack hooked on a Lively Lures Mad Mullet.

Ross held a feisty mangrove jack.

Surface fishing with Lively Lures 90mm Ziggys was exceptional, with big numbers of barra captured on this awesome Australian-made topwater lure. With no more barra this year, bring on the mangrove jack charters. I really enjoy fishing for mangrove jack, especially from November into the wet. Hinchinbrook tends to quieten down a bit at this time, with less boat traffic, and the jacks really come on the bite in the quieter conditions. The hotter and more humid the day, the better the bite. A lot of regular clients are obsessed with these little red devils. Early morning starts are a must for a couple of reasons. First, the jacks definitely bite better in the early hours of the morning and low-light conditions, and second, it’s great to be off the water before it gets too hot. I’m sure the Ziggy will be an excellent lure for early morning jack sessions, and as the sun gets a bit higher the trusty 2.5” Lively Lures Mad Mullet deep diver will come into its own. When fishing for jacks it is important to find snaggy banks that the current is pushing into. We call these pressure point banks and they can usually be found in the last half of the bend in a creek where the water comes around the corner and smashes into the bank. The last decent snag of the run will usually hold the bigger fish. It is very important when casting the snags

Hinchinbrook Fishing Full and half-day charters

Hinchinbrook News by TODD EVELEIGH

When fishing for jacks it is important to find snaggy banks that the current is pushing into. We call these pressure point banks and they can usually be found in the last half of the bend in a creek where the water comes around the corner and smashes into the bank. to think about lure placement. You must cast very tight to the bank, within the first 30cm of water and always up-current of the structure because the jacks will be tucked hard in to the snag and facing up-current, waiting for an unsuspecting baitfish or crab to wash down in the turbulent water where they will take full advantage of the structure and ambush the bait. Often you will see a big boil on the lure and a red

flash before an incredible bite. The jacks really burn your thumbs when you try to stop them from going back home. I like to use a 20lb outfit with a 40lb fluorocarbon leader. Some people may say this is a little heavy and this might be true for smaller jacks, but the number of bigger fish that have busted up even this gear is incredible. And let’s face it, we want to catch those bigger

ones, not talk about how we lost them. I use an EX6 G. Loomis 10-20lb, 5’8” rod and Shimano Curado 150 reel. This outfit casts the smaller 2.5” lures with ease and precision. Lots of anglers are choosing to go with longer 7’-plus rods these days. I believe these longer rods have a place in our arsenal for fishing the flats as well as soft vibes and plastics in deeper water, but in my opinion they are more a hindrance than a help in the snags. When you are using a longer rod in tight country it is pretty hard to perceive where the lure is and this results in casting into the trees and missing the mark. Using a shorter rod allows you to pick the gaps between the overhangs of the mangroves and snags in the water. A short rod also gives you much more accuracy in the short casting game. Working smaller river systems and creeks in the hotter parts of November will definitely see good numbers of mangrove jack on the bite. By putting into practice some of these tips and using the trusty Lively Lures Mad Mullet I’m sure you’ll get amongst a few of the red devils. Until next month, Cracka-jack!

Graham lifted a jack that smashed a very chewed-up Mad Mullet.

3 to 7-day packages including accommodation Two boats available catering for groups of 2-8

Experienced local guide Come on a Hinchinbrook wilderness ﬁshing holiday and tick some of those trophy ﬁsh off your bucket list – barra, mangrove jack, coral trout, GTs, sooty grunter, spanish mackerel, black marlin queenies, nannygai and more!

Todd & Raylene Eveleigh T: 07 4777 2968 M: 0417 192 318 E: barra@crackﬁsh.com www.crackﬁsh.com Page 52 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

This jack was boated by Steve.

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4WDING & off - road Glorious Glenreagh get-together L AST year we hitched up the van and headed south through Grafton and up the range near Armidale along the eastern escarpment to West Kunderang to meet with a group of Sunland caravan owners.

That was a great week of four-wheel-driving, swimming and just chilling out with new friends. Since then an owners’ group has been formalised and a get-together was principally organised by Larry Newberry at Glenreagh, a small rural town with a forestry history on the backroad from Grafton to Coffs Harbour. Well the group gathering has grown considerably over the past year from the original six vans, with about 30 Sunland vans arriving at various stages at the Glenreagh recreation reserve. Well set-up for travellers, Glenreagh offers a choice of powered and unpowered sites, as well as toilets, hot showers if you don’t want to use your own and importantly, a dump point for caravan toilets. Water is available and can be carted in drums, but it is amazing how many vans you can service when people work in with each other and join a whole series of hoses together on a needs basis. We all opted to congregate in the unpowered area, spreading out and with several initial days of doing our own thing as

Caravanning

by BILL CORTEN

people gradually filtered in, it was a nice laid-back start and a good opportunity to catch up and get to know so many of the other owners. Wow, they really came from all over just for the get-together. There was a predominance of Queenslandbased owners, which was to be expected considering the vans are built at Caboolture, but one couple came all the way from Perth just for the event, and another from Tassie. It was interesting that some couples were just travelling around the country and made the effort to be at Glenreagh just to say g’day to fellow owners. I was inspired by the story of a Hervey Bay couple who had just come in from Birdsville. They were there for the famed Birdsville Races and were so proud to be able to watch their aspiring jockey grandson who rode in many of the races on the day. The happy hour sessions around the campfire were extra special each evening with a lot of friendship and inclusiveness from the entire group. Being up in the hills behind the coast, I can assure you it was pretty cold at night and the campfire got a good workout.

Glenreagh has a great open setting where you can have a good campfire each night.

Many of us have gas or diesel heaters and it was nice to lie in bed in a warm van some mornings when the minimum temperature outside was as low as 1C. At morning tea one day it was apparent we were in the presence of pretty talented people who were dab hands at camp oven cooking and it was hard to separate who was the best, but our chief organiser Larry shared the gong with John Heath in my opinion. And it would be remiss not to mention Maureen Butler who slaved away baking some fancy savouries and pastries in her caravan oven, and they were much appreciated. In fact, everyone was inspiring and talented and there was just friendship, not a competition with everything we did all week. In getting to meet people it quickly became obvious that this was no group of bitumen tourers, with many of them having taken their vans to some of the more isolated parts of Australia. They were used to arriving well prepared for offthe-grid living and being self-sufficient and that is why so many people buy a Sunland van. Let’s face it, they are purpose built for rough roads and living off the grid and most of us were doing it in luxury, whether in one of the older models or a brand-spankers straight out of the factory. Greg Jordin had a 21’6” Patriot that was luxuriously set up and heavily optioned for the last lot of caravan of the year awards. It was runner-up in the luxury top-end category and a real jaw-dropper.

The firies were keen to test run the new Sunland Adventure Caravan.

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Love your style Greg. Actually, working together was a theme that was obvious and so many innovative ideas were built into the vans. Our neighbours for the week, Max and Marion Simmons, were very creative and I have unashamedly pinched a few ideas from Max who must spend a lot of time in the shed back home in Gladstone. For some of the newer owners, spending so many days living off the grid totally, relying on battery power and solar panels, was a new experience and that is one of the many benefits of these types of get-togethers. On board power management when living off the grid is an interesting topic in itself and requires plenty of solar panels and battery capacity if running a compressor fridge. A three-way fridge is no problem, but like many at Glenreagh, we like the benefits of the compressor fridge when the weather is hot and with a larger than standard compressor fridge we have had to become very conscious of power management. Since spending six weeks in the van in Tassie last year where most of that time was off the grid, we picked up on some of John Heath’s tips and added an Enerdrive 30A DC/ DC charger specifically built for lithium batteries. It is a very effective solar controller, pushing in 21A at one stage to the two 200Ah lithiums from the two 200W solar panels in full sun. It is also good for about 20A into the batteries from the Anderson plug at the rear of the LandCruiser when travelling. This time around, we didn’t bother to set up the 100W portable panel because we had max power before 2pm daily and on the one heavily overcast day achieved 92 percent capacity on the Enerdrive gauge, picking up the slack the next day. Some of the owners who had the big inverter systems but hadn’t yet spent a lot of time off the grid soon realised you can’t continually use 240V for the kettle, microwave and washing machine, without depleting a chunk of battery charge. A good learning curve all round and the folks with the big inverter systems who had already spent a lot of time off the grid were the ones easily managing all week. Glenreagh has a great railway museum next to the reserve and is worth

a visit if passing through. Mind you, the Dorrigo Steam Railway and Museum has an incredible collection of railway memorabilia and has amazing potential if they can find the resources to do what is planned. If you are after a big feed at a country pub, you would have to look hard to beat what the Glenreagh pub provides. It was popular among our group and I have conservatively estimated our members put about $6000 to $7000 into the local business coffers over a 10day period. While it is great to leave a minimal footprint when you depart a location, we made sure we left a lasting impression with a $652 donation to the local volunteer fire brigade. From the reaction of the firies, it was a surprisingly good contribution and money that will be well utilised on protecting the local community. I should also add a big thankyou to Larry Newberry, John Heath and John Butler for their efforts in organising and running the Glenreagh trip and to Roy Wyss, the MD of Sunland Caravans for providing some great prizes and giveaways that added more fun to the week.

The Glenreagh railway museum has some interesting pieces.

John Heath and Graham Corbett enjoyed happy hour.

A lifetime of restoration works awaits at Dorrigo Railway Museum.

There was plenty of time to socialise and swap yarns of interesting travels.

Impressive Sunland Patriots of all vintages lined up.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 53

4WDING & off - road

The crew congregated at Love Hill. Rhys’s HiLux looking pretty.

Epic weekend at The Springs 4x4 Park

OCKS, rollovers, breakages, beer, bonfires and a bunch of down-to-earth human beings – our definition of an epic weekend.

The Milk Carton lifted its front wheels more than once.

The Milk Carton’s broken engine mount.

Die-hard 4x4 enthusiasts will know of The Springs 4x4 Park, but for those who don’t, it is located about 20 minutes’ drive outside Warwick and is a haven for off-roaders. Spontaneity is both a gift and a curse, and my partner Sammy and I are very spontaneous people. We have become accustomed to hitting the tracks in the morning by ourselves and leaving in the afternoon with a completely random group of people. Earlier this year we made a last-minute decision to head to Levuka 4x4 Park for five days, during which time we met a great group of enthusiasts and clicked so well that we ended up tagging along with them for the remainder of the trip. This new friendship led to an invitation to The Springs 4x4 Park a week later, and that’s where this hectic adventure kicked off. The plan was to travel up to the park on Friday night, find our camp and catch up with the cou-

0448 948 608 21153 New England Hwy, Warwick QLD

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4WD Trip by GREG BELL

ple who invited us while meeting the group they were with. Unfortunately, the couple we were planning to meet were running late, so we decided to venture out on our own and see if we could spot some of the rigs that had been described to us. Soon enough we found them and began hitting some of the harder tracks. Those who know us will know that casual banter is simply a way of life and there was no exception for this group who we had known for no longer than 10 minutes. The first track we drove was a one-way track due to its steep angles. First up was an 80 Series LandCruiser that surprisingly didn’t make it up, followed by a 60 Series LandCruiser that also didn’t make it up – cue the well-known comment: “Cruiser life hey?” Not surprisingly, their response was: “Go on then, get that shiny white Patrol up there.” Without hesitation, we crawled the hill as slowly as possible, conquering it with ease before returning to the bottom with dirty great grins. After staring at us in amazement, the group returned to their rigs and the games began, with a weekend of banter from all parties and the Milk Carton showing off as usual. After about 45 minutes of exploring the tracks, we came upon one that was perfect for a car v car challenge. After investigating the track further, we decided it would be better tackled from the bottom, so around we went. Unfortunately the name of this track escapes me, however it is located among the competition tracks to the right of the homestead. Looking up from the bottom, this track begins with fairly low-key shale that becomes deeper and

more slippery the further you go. The shale came to an end about halfway up where it turned into a mixture of deep ruts, large boulders and some inconvenient roots before switching back to loose shale with shallow ruts and finally reaching larger tree roots that made for nice stepups. First up was Josh with his well-lifted GQ shorty Patrol running 35” tyres and twin lockers. Josh handled the shale without any hassles, however required some guidance and packing around the large boulders. After about 20 minutes we eventually got his GQ up to the last tree roots, which seemed to cause him the most trouble. The roots were perfectly located to catch both front and rear wheels of the shorty and stop him right in his tracks. After more packing and a bit more right boot, Josh was able to conquer this hill and became the first and only truck to make it to the top without winching or turning around. Shane, the group’s mechanic, was driving his lifted 60 Series running 35s and a very worn-out LSD. Shane really struggled with this track because each time he hit the loose shale his diffs displayed exactly how loose they were and he simply could not gain the traction needed to get up the track. Though he didn’t make it up, boy did he put on a show. With dust, soot and tyre smoke bellowing out from under his 60 Series, Shane finally accepted his fate and reversed back down for me to give it a crack. Now let’s just say I was quietly confident going into this track knowing the Milk Carton’s capabilities. As expected, the Milk Carton crawled up through the shale and onto the boulders, and with

a pre-determined line I stuck to it and proved our abilities to the group. Well, that was until the rear wheel got caught on a step that swallowed it like it didn’t exist! It’s an abnormal feeling when all four wheels are turning but only three are properly driving. We were thrown violently to the left and landed perfectly on the exact rock we were trying to avoid. After a few failed attempts to get off, I jumped out to evaluate the situation and found that I was bellied out on a rock that was so large our rear left tyre was at full flex and still not touching the ground. With a few laughs and photo opportunities we hooked up the winch, packed the rear tyre and recovered ourselves. With adrenalin pumping through me, I couldn’t wait to finish the track, and off I went. We tackled the tree root step-ups without any struggle and made it to the end, but after our lengthy time on the track we all decided to head back to camp for lunch and to hang out until the rest of the group arrived. When we arrive at any 4x4 park we like to have a chat with the owners and get a feel of how they like to run things. Owners of The Springs 4x4 Park Neil Taylor and his wife Carolyn are always open to talking about track conditions and retelling the history of the park. Neil and Carolyn always knew they wanted to create a destination where they could host masses of four-wheel-drive enthusiasts in both recreational

and competition capacities. They spoke about their love for 4WDing and explained that they looked for the perfect property for a number of years before stumbling across a place that would soon become known as The Springs. Finding a property with natural rock formations, secluded gullies, flowing creeks and breathtaking 360-degree views was a dream come true. Neil and Carolyn have hosted a number of competitions and many other events that always draw big numbers of competitors (including their own children) and large crowds. They always suggest their guests venture to the top of Bald Knob and Love Hill for a photoshoot with a stunning backdrop. After a quick run to get a full group shot from the top of the property and some firewood, we returned to camp and got settled in for a great night. I tell you what, these guys had the best camping setup we have ever seen, and with a qualified chef on board dinner was no doubt going to be next level. Hot chips, wood-fired pizza in a home-made pizza oven and a pig on a home-made spit – what a feed. The following morning the final group member arrived and we immediately hit the tracks again – not knowing our adventure would be cut short. After no more than 10 minutes on the track, the steering on one car locked up on an extremely steep hill, causing the driver ☛ continued P55

Arnie enjoyed the views at Love Hill.

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4WDING & off - road Epic weekend at The Springs 4x4 Park ☛ from P54

to ride the bank and roll their rig in spectacular fashion. With everyone struggling to keep their own cars from sliding down the hill, we slammed on the hand brake, put the car in gear and chocked the wheels before racing down to check if the occupants were OK. Thankfully, the driver braced well for the crash and both the driver and their dogs came out without any injuries. Now how on earth were we going to flip over and recover a vehicle on this insane hill? We attempted to reverse up the hill and get another rig out of the way to start the recovery, however it simply was not possible and we were going nowhere fast. Josh, who was at the bottom of the hill, looped back up behind us and hooked his winch up to us, allowing us to make it up the hill and winch the next car in line up backwards as well. With chatter over the UHFs of a rollover, Neil jumped into one of the competition rigs and belted it through the tracks to find us to make sure everything was OK and to assist with the recovery. Soon enough we had the Milk Carton’s rear end secured to a tree and the winch holding onto the back end of the rolled rig. With Josh using a snatch block we were able to flip

the rig onto its wheels and lower it down to the bottom of the hill, but not without one last drama. Once the car was on its wheels, we had one of the boys jump in and assist with the steering and brakes, but with minimal brakes all he could do was hope they would hold. About 3m from the bottom of the hill we ran out of winch line and were in a horrifying position – to run all the spool out or try to hold the rig with its brakes while disconnecting the winch? After ensuring there were no bystanders at the bottom of the hill, we attempted to winch the rig back up a few metres, just enough to chock the wheels and release the line. But with the angle of the track, the weight of the rig and only four rolls on the spool left, the line let go. Old mate in the rig had a fun little ride back to the bottom of the hill before the brakes gripped on the flat and the car came to a safe stop. After towing the battered 4WD back to camp, we decided it was time for lunch and one last run later in the afternoon. Are you ever unsure if you should do something, and then after deciding to do it something goes wrong and leaves you wishing you had just left it alone? Well this was one of those times. Beer O’Clock Hill, the

Tackling the one-way track.

H G U TO AR S GETOUGH TRUCK FOR

steepest track at The Springs, is only opened with permission from Neil and prohibited to novice drivers. This was a track we had to try at least once but we probably won’t hit it again. About 100m directly up the side of a mountain, with shale all the way up and a very large rock step at the top, this track is not to be taken lightly. To set the scene, you really need to understand how steep this track is. I first walk every challenging track and this one was no different. Once I made it to the rock steps, I could not physically climb them. These rocks were taller than me and steep enough that even on my hands and knees I was not able to make it over them. Now, when you’re walking up a hill this steep, even though you’re still technically on the ground, you can still become anxious about heights. I tell you what, my pants were filthy after this descent because I had to slide back down on my butt! Shane was first up for the challenge. Champing at the bit, he went up in his 60 Series without hesitation. Shane made it all the way up to the rock steps before his hub exploded and he lost all drive to the front, beginning rolling back to the bottom. Shane soon found out his brakes had no chance of stopping him on a hill this steep and the only option was to jam it into reverse and try engine braking. Thankfully, and after cleaning a few teeth, the Cruiser went into reverse and Shane was able to pull up safely at the bottom. My turn! You can bet your bottom dollar I was determined to conquer this hill, but this was definitely not my day. I chose the wrong line

when climbing the rock steps and bounced sideways, which caused the front wheels of the Milk Carton to lift about 1.5m into the air. The Patrol leant on the rear bar and the wheels came back down to the ground. Slightly shaken but still well and truly determined, we reversed back down and tried again. The Milk Carton climbed the rock steps with ease this time before an unexpected challenge was thrown at us. Just as the rear wheels finished climbing the rock steps, a mere 20m from the end of the track, we lost all power. We had no option but to reverse back down the steps and roll to the bottom. This was probably the sketchiest thing we have ever done. Once at the bottom, we could hear the engine fan hitting the shroud and upon further investigation found the force of lifting both wheels and bouncing on the rock step caused the passenger side engine mount to break and the motor to lodge itself on a nasty angle. Because of this, the intake pipe split after the MAF sensor, causing the ECU to cut all fuel and result in a loss of power. Thankfully, and with some assistance from the token mechanic Shane, we manipulated the motor back into place, secured the engine mount with a ratchet strap and taped up the intake before limping the Milk Carton home. That was certainly one expensive weekend. This trip will definitely remain in the memory banks for years to come. To keep up to date with all our adventures, like and follow Flexible 4WD Solutions on Facebook. Until next month, stay safe and keep on wheelin’!

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 55

4WDING & off - road

Eliot and Twin falls were very picturesque.

Another Sea Jay boat on the OTT.

Trip to the tip – Cape York adventure

N last month’s article, we were departing Punsand Bay/ Bamaga and beginning our journey south towards Weipa and then homeward.

Weipa sunsets are a great way to end each day.

Lachy with Horse the magpie goose at Lakeland.

We had also completed further research regarding the access to Sams Creek (turning at the corrugated ‘SIMO’ sign) that would likely allow us the opportunity to travel south along the Old Telegraph Track to Eliot Falls via Canal Creek. As we made our way southward, we again reached the Jardine Ferry where a substantially longer line-up of southward-bound vehicles was waiting than there had been when we were heading north. We were the 16th vehicle/combination in line and were also watching the time, aware that the Jardine Ferry does not operate over the lunch break. Luckily for us, we were able to cross before smoko and continue towards the area where we had been told to keep our eyes open for the Sams Creek turnoff, a simple and relatively small sign made of corrugated iron hanging high in a tree with the word ‘SIMO’ painted on it. Luck was with us as we

Heading south and waiting for the Jardine River ferry.

Page 56 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

Cape York – Part Four by BRAD YOUNG

spotted the sign and made our way left off the Peninsula Development Road towards Sams Creek. The short journey down a corrugated and narrow track saw us arrive at a very picturesque campsite on the banks of the creek. The swimming hole 100m or so downstream of the crossing was fantastic, giving another chance to wash off the dirt and dust and cool down. Lachy and Danielle enjoyed swimming with some of the other children who were also enjoying the cool and clear water. We spent the night here, enjoying a campfire and camp oven-cooked dinner before making our way south along the OTT towards Eliot Falls. Both the Sams Creek and Canal Creek crossings were easy and provided little challenge for the Patrol, albeit with some great spotting by my son Lachy who guided me around the deep holes on the Canal Creek crossing. The Eliot Falls campsite looked great and we were a little disappointed that we had not been able to spend the time here that we had planned to when heading north. We enjoyed walking to the Eliot and Twin falls before making our way back to Sams Creek to meet with our friends and then travel towards Weipa. Batavia Downs Rd provided a great shortcut and was one of the best dirtroad surfaces we had travelled on, allowing us to make good time to Weipa. Our campsite was on the waterfront and well covered in cool green grass, a relative luxury in these parts. The stopover in Weipa provided the chance to restock and for our travelling companions, the

Grooms, a chance to have a quick mechanical check of their vehicle. The Weipa Mine Tour was very informative and provided information about the operations of the large open-cut mine, even before the first dirt was moved. After our few days in Weipa, it was time to begin the journey homeward. A big day of travel was planned because we wanted to reach Lakeland that night, but also include a quick stopover at the Laura indigenous art site. A long day on the road saw us reaching Coen ahead of time. We briefly stopped for fuel and to organise lunch and were then on our way again. We reached Laura at about 2.30pm and again fuelled up before heading just out of town to the art site. The short walk up into the hillside saw us come upon large slab-like rock faces that were obviously an ideal location for artwork. It was interesting looking at the art and the story it told and both our children found this an interesting stopover. After walking back to the carpark and enjoying a quick snack and refreshing drink, we pointed the Patrol south towards Lakeland, where we found a great little caravan park full of travellers heading both north and south. A quick dinner saw us in bed early after a long day of travel. Early the next morning we were all amused by the resident pet magpie goose named Horse. She paid us a visit and was interesting to watch as she enjoyed her morning cup of tea with the

manager of the park. After a cooked breakfast we travelled south towards Mission Beach, our planned overnight stop. For us, this was really the end of our Cape York adventure. Around three weeks of fantastic scenery, beautiful campsites, interesting people and a variety of road conditions was over and we continued towards home in Bundaberg. Some interesting info: • Fuel was readily available throughout our journey, with not more than 300-400km between fuel stops. • Basic food items such as bread (often frozen), milk, butter and prepacked meat are easily found, as are limited fruit and veggies depending mainly upon delivery frequency. • The supermarkets at Bamaga (three) and Lockhart River were excellent, with a good range of food and other items and fresh bread at both areas. • Telstra signal was good for most of our trip, with only a few days without coverage. Coverage was non-existent after Archer River to the Jardine River crossing. • It was disappointing to see that some travellers continue to litter the road with toilet paper, rather than taking it with them to dump later or burning it, as well as leaving vehicle batteries and other rubbish along the OTT. • The 130 litres of water on board our camper

lasted us until our return journey at Lakeland when only used for drinking (with other water also accessed for drinking where possible) and outside sources for washing and showering. • We had a fantastic trip and look forward to identifying where our next adventure should take us! I hope you have enjoyed this series of articles covering our journey to the tip and back. Local estuaries firing Despite the very dry conditions (until the huge falls recently), the fishing in our local area has been great. ‘Spider’ Webb has enjoyed successful trips on the Burnett and offshore anglers have reported good catches offshore when the weather has permitted. I enjoyed two weeks at 1770 campground on the banks of Round Hill Creek but only had one opportunity to head out to the reef. Other boats partook in an overnight trip heading north towards Sykes and enjoyed good fishing in a couple of narrow windows of bite time. Let’s hope the recent rainfall stirs up the muddies. Enjoy the fishing over the next month. As always, I can be contacted via the BNB website bnbfishing.com.au, by email at fishnboat@ bigpond.com or mail at PO Box 5812, Bundaberg Queensland 4670. Until next month...

The size of the mining equipment at Weipa is amazing.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

C AMPING & outdoors

Camping on a remote Great Barrier Reef island is a top option when the wind drops out at this time of year.

Fingermark are a prime catch on Gulf reefs and other Cape York coastlines and rivers during November.

Summer camping and bush skills C OOKTOWN locals have a saying that “It blows at gale force for nine months of the year, then the cyclone season sets in!”

A bit tongue in cheek, perhaps, for while Cooktown certainly is a windy place during the cooler months, in summer the area experiences corker calm days when the morning sea is like a mirror. And now the tidal waters barramundi closed season is upon us, attention turns to reef fishing and bush camping beside a shady river or billabong. So far this ‘build-up’ the wind has yet to drop below the 15-20 knot mark. However, it will happen. And then many people, locals and visitors alike, will take advantage of the good weather to travel by boat to one of Cape York’s pristine islands or beaches to camp for a few days, exploring, fishing and snorkelling. Boating to remote campsites provides that extra sense of adventure, and often you can find a campsite all to yourself, which is a fantastic experience. Reef and coastal fishing during November should be prime, before many species suffer a slight loss of appetite over the wet season. Spaniards have been around in good numbers on both sides of the Cape, and great catches of tuskfish and fingermark were taken in Gulf of Carpentaria waters during October. Coral trout, longtail tuna and the ever-present trevally and queenies have added great diversity to the mix. In Great Barrier Reef waters, coral trout, red emperor, nannygai and sweetlip have been the prime species boated. When camping anywhere in Queensland at this time of year, sheltering from the sun during the heat of the day is a priority. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Cape York

by ‘BILLABONG’ BAZZ LYON

A silver tarp slung between trees or poles carried for the purpose will provide good shade. If it can be erected under the leafy canopy of a tree or two, the cooling effect will be even better. The other important consideration, in fact the most important one, is to carry enough drinking water. We all know fishing and other outdoor activities in summer really increase the need to hydrate. Advice on what to carry varies, however about four litres per person, per day seems about average, plus some extra for safety. If you get bailed up by bad weather, that extra water is very good insurance. Should supplies get low, natural water sources along coastal areas can sometimes be surprisingly easy to find. Remember, this is remote Cape York, where, in a tight situation for whatever reason, you may have to become resourceful. Freshwater pools often occur in the swales between dunes, while green grass or damp ground in otherwise dry areas (including river and creek beds) usually signals water can be obtained by digging. It can then be collected with a cup or mug and poured into a container to wait for any sediment to settle. Similarly, (fresh) ground water may be found running out of the sand and down the beach, even below the high-water mark. Water trickling out of rocky headlands can provide a good source and groves of pandanus trees may signal ground water. Springs or soaks can sometimes be found in rocky ranges, particularly in gullies and gorges, with

lush scrub or sedges indicating their presence. Any water obtained from natural sources should be treated by boiling, using purifying tablets or the water treatment bottles now available. At times, finding an extra, easy water source can simply take the pressure off the limited supplies you have carried in, especially for washing. Life-threatening situations from water shortage may be rare, but more common than often realised. A few years ago I came across an American family in a hired LandCruiser on the remote road from Wakooka to Bathurst Bay in a spot of bother. Having no remote travel experience, they had simply followed the road out from Lakefield, expecting to at least find campgrounds with stores, fuel and basic facilities. Instead they found nothing. They were low on fuel, totally out of water and feeling threatened by the isolation. In short, the family was more than just hot and bothered – they were very distressed. I came across them just as they were searching for the jack and wheel brace to change a flat tyre (it was stowed behind a panel). Being November, very, very few people were about, (I hadn’t seen anyone else for a week) and there was a real possibility they might have perished from thirst. The relief of having someone turn up and help out was palpable. Overall it was a prime example of the need to plan and be well prepared. Once prepared, bush camping is an excellent option until the trade wind fades.

Especially so if you can find a spot beside shallow water to cool off in, as long as it’s possible to ensure no estuarine crocodiles are about. Many such places exist and sitting in the shallows sipping a cooling drink after a river fishing session is hard to beat. And don’t forget the unbeatable camp ovencooked tucker! Fishing wise, sooty grunter, saratoga and tarpon are all great targets in fresh water across much of the Cape at this time of year. Note though, saratoga are absent from most east

coast running catchments. Storms may develop at this time of year, especially along the western Cape. Generally they are not a problem for travelling, except on clay-based roads and tracks. Some years they occur, while others storms are entirely absent. This year conditions and cues seem to be indicating early storm activity, something to be mindful of in terms of weather-proofing camps. Otherwise, sitting in camp watching a distant light show is all part of the wonderful Cape York and Gulf experience!

Sooty grunter are a great freshwater target in most Gulf country rivers on the Cape.

Any time is a good time to enjoy camp oven-cooked tucker.

Improved data collection a key to future of Queensland’s iconic fishing stocks

MPROVED data on stocks of iconic Queensland marine and fish species, including coral trout, mangrove jack, scallops, snapper and eastern king prawns will be part of the Fisheries Monitoring and Research Plan released recently.

A priority action of the Queensland Fisheries Sustainable Fisheries Strategy, the development of a Monitoring and Research Plan responds to overwhelming stakeholder demand for better data and information to support an improved and more responsive fisheries management framework. Fisheries Queensland executive director Claire Andersen said, “The plan outlines improved data collection and identifies and prioritises monitoring, research and assessment needs to support the implementation of the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy.” “The Monitoring and Research Plan provides an overview of existing monitoring and assessment work as well as identifying priorities for additional investment

being delivered as part of the $20 million Sustainable Fisheries Strategy.” Fisheries Queensland already collects a significant amount of information through existing monitoring programs including vessel tracking systems, commercial logbook programs, recreational boat ramp surveys, fishery independent surveys, fishery dependent catch surveys and an array of biological data collection and data analysis programs. “Almost $3 million will be invested over the next three years for additional biological monitoring and research, which will build upon our existing monitoring programs,” Ms Andersen said. “Key monitoring investments under the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy include two new fisheries independent trawl surveys for scallops, blue swimmer crabs, Moreton Bay bugs, eastern king prawns, tiger prawns and juvenile snapper. “Also, additional investment is being made in recreational and commercial catch monitor-

ing for coral reef fin fish other species quota species such as red emperor and nannygai.” Fisheries Queensland has also commenced work with researchers and industry to collect better information on shark species catch composition, age and size structure and discards. Additional data is also being collected on other fish stocks of interest such as recovering stocks of mangrove jack in the northern Gulf of Carpentaria and stocks of blue threadfin salmon state-wide. Vessel tracking is also being rolled out to all commercial fishing vessels by 2020 to better record commercial fishing effort and location information. “We are working with industry to trial new vessel tracking technologies and discuss the vessel tracking rules so they are appropriate for smaller inshore vessels,” Ms Andersen said. “The privacy of fishers’ data will be protected and individual location information will only be provided to compliance partners for

enforcement purposes, never publicly.” The Monitoring and Research Plan also prioritises the development of cost-effective monitoring programs for the collection of fisheries social and economic data, as well as an additional state-wide survey to estimate recreational catch and effort. “The plan also has a focus on more regular stock assessments so we can make more responsive fisheries management decisions,” Ms Andersen said. Fisheries Queensland will continue to work with other monitoring and research partners, including organisations such as the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. Fisheries data will also be made more accessible online so it can be used by other monitoring groups – for example the Reef 2050 Integrated Monitoring and Reporting Program and regional waterway report card programs. The Monitoring and Research Plan is available online now at fish eries.qld.gov.au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 57

C AMPING & outdoors

The author and a mixed bag including a nice cobia.

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Bob held a good spanish mackerel in front of the camp.

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Annual trip to Pennefather River H I, it’s Craig Tomkinson here.

What a great run of being out on the water I have had over the past nine months. After skippering a 10m Cougar Cat charter boat out of Noosa for nearly seven months, I stopped work on a Monday, sorted out some things on Tuesday and started packing gear in the 5m tinnie and four-wheeldrive on Wednesday for my annual fishing trip to Cape York. My great mate Dave Kowitz turned up at my Cooroy house at 6.30pm on Wednesday, we packed his gear, I had a shower, kissed the wife and kids goodbye and hit the road. We travelled through the night, taking turns driving while the other had a nap. We even pulled up and both had a sleep for a few hours somewhere. Once daylight arrived we were up near Sarina, and with no traffic we made good miles. The rest of the day was a steady run north until we finally reached Cairns. What a bugger of a place to get through. We saw very few signs on the way in, just a couple saying ‘Northern Beaches’. It was 12 months since I was last there and I’d forgotten where to go. I missed one sign and we were stuffed, because once you get off the main drag there are no signs saying how to get north towards Port Douglas. We spent 45 minutes just going around in circles. Once eventually through Cairns, the run up the coast towards Mossman is as good a coastal drive as I have been on. It’s as good, if not bet-

Fishing Trip

by CRAIG TOMKINSON

ter, than the Great Ocean Road. We hit this stretch just before dark and the ocean views were breathtaking. At about 8.30pm we staggered into our mate’s family business, Barramundi Gardens fish farm, at Julatten on the tableland between Mossman and Mount Molloy. You can buy fresh barra, prawns and seafood spring rolls at the farm, and the spring rolls are made fresh every day. They were the best seafood spring rolls I have eaten. You can stay at the free camp at Mount Molloy and then drive along Mossman Mount Molloy Rd for about 7km and buy some great tucker. Early the next morning we fired up my old 1990 1HZ non-turbo 80 Series LandCruiser and headed north again. We fuelled up at Lakeland Downs to get us through to Weipa because some of the diesel prices in between can be a lot dearer. Just before the dirt road near Laura, we pulled up and let all the tyres down to 28psi. The dirt road was very good this year. Through the dip country we just poked along but on the good straight bits we were sitting on 85-100km/h. Of course I back off on the corners and get right over to the left as I approach an oncoming road train. My 4WD is in great nick with heavy-duty suspension while my boat trailer

is also built heavy duty, with lots of runners and rollers to hold the boat up, coil and heavy-duty leaf springs out of a Toyota and Tojo brakes and bearings. The trailer can handle nearly anything I tow it over. I still see people towing their tinnies up here on standard trailers loaded to the max, and sure if you just take your time and poke along you will have no troubles, but if you are punching along like I do, your gear has to be good and standard trailers will not cut it. As the day grew steadily hotter, I began keeping an eye on the temperature gauge on my old 80 Series. On the past five trips

north the LandCruiser has been getting very hot (up to 112C when towing up big hills on hot days). I tried everything to fix the troubles over the past five years, with two new heavy-duty three-core copper/brass radiators, new water pumps, belts and hoses and three new viscous hubs. I even rebuilt the motor with a new head, bearings and rings and the motor still ran hot. So many different Agrade mechanics told me different things and my head was just spinning. All it did was cost me a lot of money, though luckily I do all my own work. I got talking to two self-trained bush mechanics like myself in Wayne Boneham and Brett Rodgers, and they both said to try an all-aluminium, tig-welded Chinese threecore radiator off eBay. They had been using these radiators for many

years with no troubles and great results. I got Brett to order a new radiator for me because I did not have an eBay account, and $365 later I had the radiator and two 30cm 12V thermo fans. I gave the fans to Brett for getting the radiator for me and we were both happy. After fitting the radiator that day, I took the 80 Series for a drive and straight away it was running 26C cooler. I was so happy. The new aluminium radiator had been in my 4WD for a few months before this trip and performing really well. As the day got hotter and we neared Weipa, on the biggest uphill pull of the trip the old girl only reached 86C. How good is that!? If only I had fitted one of these Chinese alloy radiators five years ago ☛ continued P59

Bob Gentleman with a 62cm blackspot tuskfish.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

C AMPING & outdoors Annual trip to Pennefather River ☛ from P58

I would be about $4000 better off. I thought the Chinese stuff would be crap but how wrong I was. After not knowing what temperature my 4WD was really running at for some time, I fitted an aftermarket digital Engine Guard temp gauge. Made in Queensland, this gauge is a great bit of kit and very easy to fit. I have had it on the car for about three years and it still works perfectly. It runs off the block temp, so if you blow a hose and lose all the coolant, it still works. For about $100, I would not own a 4WD without fitting one. We arrived in Weipa around 2.30pm, bought tucker from Woolies, stocked up on fuel and headed out towards the Pennefather River. We dropped the tyres to 13psi and had no trouble getting in. Bob Gentleman was camped in the same spot he has camped for a few years now and Murray, John and Paul had their

camp under their favourite tree, so we set up our camp right where we were last year. After we got the pergola and fridges and freezer set up, it felt like we’d never left. It was great to be back at my second home for the next four weeks. The fishing around Pennefather is pretty good, with blackspot tuskfish, black jewfish, coral trout, fingermark, grass sweetlip, spanish and school mackerel and good squid on offer. And this year we found big mud crabs too. But like any fishing spot, some days it’s hard to get a feed and other days you drive off and leave them biting. Dave and I mainly fished up towards Janie Creek just to get away from the other boats. As usual we employed 130lb handlines with 6 ball sinkers and 6-0 TruTurn hooks with the eye of the hook opened and a swivel fitted. Our bait was trawler squid bought back home and transported in my

100-litre Trailblaza freezer, which I reckon is the best 12V freezer on the market. While not cheap, they are so reliable. Mine is 25 years old and still going great. I also bought green prawns from our mates at the Barramundi Gardens fish farm. My mate Darren Thorn from Alpha came up and stayed with us for 10 days, catching some cracker fish. Snow Bostock came up from the tableland for four or five days and we fished most days and landed lovely fish. Bob Gentleman fished nearly every day and captured every type of fish up there. He got big fingermark, black jew and spanish mackerel and just lived on the water. He stayed at Penny for six months last year and was staying five months this year. What a top place and a lucky bloke. After getting about six years out of my two 70A SuperCharge marine batteries, before this year’s

trip I bought four new 120A SuperCharge AGM Amp-Tech batteries off my mate Murray to run my freezer. What great batteries they were. Combined with two 48V and 30V solar house panels running though two 75/15 Victron BlueSolar controllers, the 430W of solar was generating up to 26A of power when the batteries needed it. The batteries and house panels did the job so well that I did not need my other two 120W 12V foldup panels, so I sold them to John the camper next door, which paid for the new setups. After four weeks of great fun and fishing were up, Dave and I packed our gear, said our goodbyes to Bob and headed off early on Saturday. We had no worries on the trip back down to the barra farm and onwards to home. If you are having heating troubles with your older 4WD like I was when travelling on the beach or towing the boat or trailer, I would give the full-al-

loy, tig-welded three-row 56mm Chinese radiators a go. Or if you have a turbo model running higher boost and it’s getting hot, you can buy a four-row 70mm for about $330 delivered. I fitted the three-row one nearly 20,000km ago and it’s been up to Cape York and back and on the roughest roads in my area without trouble. Buying on eBay, they cost as little as $170 delivered to your house for a 60 Series wagon or HJ75 and $265 for an 80 Series. My mate Dave has a 60 Series with a 2H diesel and aftermarket turbo. His 4WD always ran hot when towing or heading up the beach and he had to nurse it everywhere he went. After fitting one of the all-alloy radiators, his temp gauge now sits well under half when travelling along the beach and working really hard in soft sand. He loves his 4WD now. ‘Til next month, stay safe on the water.

Dave Kowitz scored some tasty reef fish from around Janie Creek.

Bob with a good size black jew caught just 400m out the front of Pennefather River.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 59

Magical Lake Monduran

AKE Monduran is definitely one of the most challenging dams I’ve ever fished.

An early morning Lake Monduran barra.

James Munro was freezing while holding this Monduran barra.

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It’s such a large dam with plenty of bays, creeks, points and heaps of timber. Over the past couple of months I’ve been putting a bit of effort into trying to figure the place out. Some trips have been awesome and others not so good. I’ve got to say the stocking group is doing an amazing job. Also amazing is the Lake Monduran Sponsor a Barra program initiated by Julie Whalley. This program effectively results in donating money to help restock the dam. Monduran will be one heck of a fishery in coming years. Jump on Facebook and search for Lake Monduran Sponsor a Barra to get involved. As one of the followers on the page said: “If everyone throws in the $20 you’d spend on a lure, this dam would be back to its glory days in no time flat.” In saying that, this year the fish have really started to come on the chew. I’ll run you through a couple of trips. I headed to the dam in early September and again in late September. What a difference in success rate between these two trips. We had a similar wind direction and temperature, the only major difference was moon phase. On the first trip we mainly focused from White Rock to the area known as D. This is basically the main river channel. We hit this area hard because of the consistent water temperature. In this section you can find numerous small points with

Freshwater Luring by CALLUM MUNRO

bushy trees in 1-3m of water and water lilies along the edges. These points were by far the standouts. Dad and I located four points holding barra thanks to our Humminbird Helix sounder with Mega Imaging. Once we found these locations, we moved back and forth because only about 1km separated the spots. We anchored up, fishing the windward side. Barra seem to get pushed to certain areas on different winds but the wind must be consistent for at least a couple of days. Anchoring proved the best way to catch fish instead of moving around using the electric motor. By sitting in the same spot and casting our lures to fishholding areas, we annoyed the fish into biting. On this trip, we didn’t catch any fish at night. All the fish seemed to bite early of a morning until about 10.30am. Casting Rapala X-Raps and Jackall Squirrels to the bushy trees and water lilies produced the fish. Long pauses when using these lures – up to 10 seconds – enticed the barra into biting. On this trip we landed 16 barra ranging between 40cm and 80cm. It was great fun around the timber and excellent to see so many small fish being caught and released for the years to come. On the second trip to Monduran, the temperature was increasing and the wind had

been consistently blowing from the same direction for the past week, so it was looking pretty good. The only thing that had us worried was the wind direction was slightly different to the last trip. We looked around the same area for over half the day, expecting the fish to come through, but had no luck. After this, we branched out, looking at some of our old haunts the wind had been blowing into. Sure enough, we found heaps of barra. It’s amazing how much wind direction influences where the barra will be. Casting Jackall Squirrels and Rapala X-Raps, we ended up landing seven barra, with the biggest going 75cm. Bite periods only lasted about an hour but it was certainly worth it and that’s why we keep coming back. The 75cm barra I landed gave me an absolutely epic fight. But how I hooked it was pretty amazing. I had a miscast and threw my lure straight over the water lily patch along the bank, ending up snagging the lure on the patch of lilies. I pulled and pulled for a couple of minutes, trying to get the lure off, and when I finally did and cranked the reel twice, bang, I hooked the barra. It’s amazing to think that after stirring up the place for a couple of minutes a barra would smash the lure. But that’s barra for you. It’s great to see this lake firing and I can’t wait to get back there. ‘Til next time, cheers.

Available from livelyluresonline.com.au Huge range for all species

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DAM LEVELS CURRENT AS OF 19/10/2017

DAMS

PERCENTAGE

MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT Atkinson 7 6 6 6 5 6 100 Awoonga 100 98 98 97 118 Bjelke-Petersen * 24 24 22 22 19 18 Boondooma * 52 51 49 45 51 49 Borumba * 82 82 81 80 75 83 Burdekin Falls * 97 99 95 91 86 81 Callide * 92 90 87 86 85 86 Cania * 99 98 96 95 92 104 98 Coolmunda * 97 95 93 89 86 Dyer/Bill Gunn * 10 9 9 7 7 7 Eungella * 100 100 100 99 98 97 44 Fairbairn * 43 42 40 38 36 Glenlyon * 75 76 75 75 74 72 Hinze 100 101 100 99 98 98 Julius 94 91 89 87 84 80 Kinchant * 84 86 84 81 75 66 Leslie * 18 18 18 18 17 15 Macdonald 99 98 93 89 84 106 99 Maroon * 99 100 99 98 98 Monduran/Fred Haigh * 101 100 99 98 97 141 Moogerah * 100 99 98 97 94 92 North Pine/Samsonvale * 71 70 70 68 67 70 Peter Faust/Proserpine * 75 78 78 77 75 73 Somerset * 76 76 77 76 75 78 Teemburra * 100 100 100 100 98 97 Tinaroo* 50 50 50 48 44 41 Toonumbar 100 103 100 100 98 101 Wivenhoe * 73 71 70 68 66 68 Wuruma * 99 98 98 97 95 104 Wyaralong 100 99 99 98 97 97 For updates on dams, visit sunwater.com.au or seqwater.com.au *This symbol indicates that a Stocked Impoundment Permit is required to ﬁsh these dams.

www.livelyluresonline.com.au Page 60 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

The author picked up a midday barra.

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CATCH BARRA

at Lake MonDuran

Rory with her stonker bass.

Great time of year to target barra T HIS year has gone very quickly and Christmas is just around the corner.

Remember that throughout the Queensland east coast a closed season applies to barramundi from midday on November 1 to midday on February 1. It is also prohibited to

Monduran Dam

by DONNA GANE

deliberately target barramundi for catch and release in these waterways during this closed season because the stress of capture may prevent barra-

A sounder image clearly depicting a barramundi.

Casey with a decent barra.

mundi from spawning. This is a great time of year to check out Lake Monduran and do some impoundment barra fishing. A Stocked Impoundment Permit is required and it is best to buy online at qld.gov.au/recreation/ activities/boating-fishing/ rec-fishing/dams This web page has all the details and costs and the link for buying online. Take and possession limits still apply in impoundments and during the closed season it is one barramundi per person. In Monduran, the barramundi may be greater than 120cm and recreational anglers may continue to fish in the lake once they have reached their limit of one barramundi. Outside the closed season, a take and possession limit of five applies to barramundi that may include one barramundi greater than 120cm. Minimum size is 58cm all year round. As we approach the full moon in November, large numbers of barra will make their way down to

the main basin and areas close by such as Bird Bay and SDA Bay. The fish gather in the hope the dam will spill and they may get the opportunity to head out to the salt to breed. It can be worth hunting around the basin to target these fish, especially at night. Not all fish make the journey, however, and some will be happy to stay where they are, so heading up to the back sections of the dam where it is nice and quiet is a good option too. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a decent idea to make sure you have the right fishing gear for landing that elusive metre-plus barra. I use good-quality braid such as Black Magic for main line. Lake Monduran is known for its horizontal or lay-down timber and submerged forests, so a heavy braid of 50lb is best. Monduran barra are really good at tying you up and breaking line with their strong and raspy jaws, so your chances of boating the barra are slim with anything lighter. Sometimes I use a lighter braid when out in the basin because there is less chance of getting wrapped

around the timber. A heavy 60lb or 80lb monofilament leader is best. Remember to check your leader after each catch because it can weaken and become shredded in the fight. Barramundi are strong fish and you may need to upgrade the trebles and split rings on your lures, so check and double check. Use VMC strong trebles and equally strong split rings. You will also need a strong and large landing net, pliers, spare lures, extra leaders, a knife, first-aid kit, sunglasses, hat, sunscreen, camera or phone for photos and an esky full of ice with drinks and food. November presents one of the best times to fish Lake Monduran, so grab your boat and fishing gear and come for a visit. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to pop into Barra Havoc for all the latest fishing news on Lake Monduran. We are on the Bruce Highway heading southbound next to Tyrepower and there is easy parking for cars with boats right out the front. Until next month, happy fishing.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 63

Luke Peisker with a solid large-mouth nannygai pulled off a Capricorn Coast wonky hole on a whole yakka.

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IRST, I would like to say a big thankyou to the Bush ‘n Beach team for giving me the opportunity to come on board and share tips, techniques, experience and reports with the BNB fan base.

I love everything about fishing and am always on the lookout to broaden my skills. From offshore bottom bashing and slow-pitch jigging to chasing barra, threadies and fingermark in the estuaries, I love it all. So without further ado, let’s get stuck into what’s been happening here on the Capricorn Coast. November is now upon us and the most important thing to happen this month is barramundi outside of designated impoundments are off the radar from November 1 to February 1 next year. Yep, old pink eyes need a spell to do their best to repopulate the estuaries throughout the area. So what do you do with all that barra gear? Pack it away for three months and let it collect dust?

Yeppoon Region by JOHN BOON

Heck no. If you want your barra fix, then a couple of great impoundment options aren’t far away. Lake Awoonga is only a short drive from Gladstone. The dam is in its rebuilding phase after past flood events washed out a lot of the resident barramundi. However, barra are still there to be caught if you look in the right places. Another little gem that’s showing real promise is Lake Callide. Only 12km from Biloela in central Queensland and 90km southwest of Gladstone, it’s not that far from civilisation. A good mate visited Callide recently and did really well on barra in the 70-80cm bracket. He’s been nailing quality yellowbelly too, and these are proper tanks to keep you interested between the barra bites. At the time of writing, we are receiving a substantial amount of rain,

so it will pay to check the conditions of whichever area you plan to visit before making the drive. If fresh water isn’t your cup of tea, what else can you chase with those barra setups? That’s an easy one. The whiskered speedsters will give you a workout. I’m talking of none other than king (threadfin) salmon. Threadies are a ball of fun. Their ability to change direction at pace keeps you on your toes throughout the entire fight. King salmon have come a long way in our area since the introduction of net-free zones two years ago. Side-imaging and downimaging sounders mean that we recreational fishers are well aware of thready numbers throughout the area. This technology is impressive to say the least and being able to distin-

guish one species from another is next level. About 80 percent of the estuary fishing I do these days involves finding the fish before throwing a lure. In days gone by, blind casting was the only way to find productive areas. However, it can still be very frustrating, believe me. Finding the fish is the easy part. Some days you wish you didn’t know the fish were there as they swim around your lure all day. I guess you’ve got to remember that learning from fish-less trips is as important as learning from the red-hot days. Working out what triggers a bite or what has shut them down will make you a better fisher for the future, I guarantee it. So what’s the best technique to land yourself a king salmon? I have had the most success with prawn-imitation lures. Number one on the prawn list would be the 3” Berkley Gulp Shrimp. They don’t have any fancy tail kick or moving feelers but they do work.

A friend of mine can’t get his head around how they work. “They look like a stick” he reckons. A mixture of the scent they are infused with and how you work them gets the bite. Two or three hops followed by a pause has been the most effective. About 90 percent of the time the lure gets eaten on the drop. Two other prawn options that have worked are the Zerek Live Shrimp and Atomic Plazos Prong. The Prong is one of my favourite lures to rig weedless and work through heavy timber. Another option worth exploring for threadies is vibration-style lures. Threadybusters have caught their fair share in the past but the vibe I like using these days is the Samaki Vibelicious Thumper Tail. This lure has a fantastic design and vibes on the lift with tail thumps on the drop. So what else has been happening of late? Offshore fishing has ☛ continued P65

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Page 64 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

A school of threadies along with a barra viewed on a Humminbird Helix G2N. Good sounders take the guesswork out of looking for fish.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Combing the Capricorn Coast ☛ from P64

been pretty damn good and most boats heading wide have been getting into nice red fish. Over the past few months we have enjoyed great patches of weather for heading offshore, which is nice for a change. I recently had a couple of good mates visit for a fishing holiday. I don’t get to fish with them much these days, so I was pumped. The weather for the selected days wasn’t the greatest to head out the front and would be lumpy but manageable. We left the Keppel Bay Marina around 4am and had a drop on our first mark just as the sun was coming up. It didn’t take long to put a quality large-mouth nannygai in the box. The next fish was dropped and the spot went cold, so we moved on. We started spot hopping in the average conditions. The big tides and a bit of wind made drifting difficult but the use of a parachute anchor slowed us enough to be able to reach the bottom. By the time we packed up and started to head home, we had half a dozen quality large-mouth nannygai in the Esky along with all the other usual suspects. A good reward for putting up with the wind.

Here on the Capricorn Coast we have a good supply of wonky holes, and that’s what the majority of these fish were caught off. There has been a bit of chat lately about wonkies but for those who have never heard of them, they are basically an underwater spring that pops through the seafloor. Through underwater filming and research, I believe most of the wonkies I’ve found are inactive. Some of them even have irregular coral/fern-type growths in them. They are fascinating bits of structure regardless. Our main aim is to not flog the guts out of our spots. We have a couple of drifts, pull a few fish and move on. This practice will keep those marks sustainable for future trips. I made the mistake one day of not paying attention while we were fishing a wonky and hooking up to good fish. A boat snuck up on us and I couldn’t get off the mark in time. The boat motored around for a few minutes and then dropped the anchor. To make matters worse, it looked like it radioed another boat over to the position. I wasn’t impressed. I’ve been back to this spot several times since

and it’s now barren due to over-fishing. A harsh lesson to learn. All the inshore grunter spots seem to be fishing well. Corio Heads, Finlays and the Pinnacles have been the pick of the locations. Good-old pilchards and squid on a paternoster rig represent a reliable method. Grunter have also been responding well to plastics and slow-pitch jigs, which is good fun. Just five or 10 years ago, if you told someone you were off to target grunter on artificial baits you would have been laughed at. These days it’s a pretty common practice. With the rain that’s falling, I reckon it’s time to dust off the crab pots. I don’t usually worry about crabbing until we get our first lot of decent rain. I’m sure the muddies will be firing up with a bit of fresh and water temps on the rise. We should see our first proper run since the colder months. Along with the crab pots, you should grab the cast net that’s been hiding in the shed. Even before this rain, we were getting great reports of prawns throughout the local creeks. When launching the

boat in the Fitzroy River of late, cast netters have been standing along the pontoon gathering their live prawns for the day. Even when working the drains I could see plenty of prawns flicking on the surface. No wonder the threadies have surged in numbers. With this bit of fresh water the prawning should only get better. Well that’s it from me for this month. It’s time to put down the keyboard and go and get the rods sorted. Until next month, stay safe and fish hard.

Crabs will start to fire up this month.

Gavin Gaw with a Callide barra caught on a locally made 5” Happy Rock Willy paddle tail.

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Seven-year-old Lachlyn Hancock held a cracking Somerset bass.

The author with a picture-perfect yellowbelly.

Somerset bass not bothered by boat traffic

HE water temperature at Somerset Dam is starting to reach a more comfortable level and a lot more boat traffic is beginning to hit the dam. This water temperature has also made the fishing a little more consistent. Increased boat traffic affects the fishing but given the dam’s popularity the fish seem to be surprisingly resilient. Midweek is obviously the best time to catch some fish, however don’t be deterred by good weather and the prospect

Somerset Dam by ANDREW MITCHELL

of sharing the waterway with some skiers. The fish have been caught on a very wide variety of lures lately and I expect that to continue. While other dams seem to suffer from high boat pressure, the regularly high numbers of boats on Somerset will see fish hitting the decks on even the most popular days. It just takes a bit of

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Page 66 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

thought and some room from the ski boats, but that might be asking too much (30m, people, not 3m!). I recently spent a couple of hours on the water with two customers, showing them some gear. While the fishing wasn’t red hot, we consistently caught fish not even 200m from the boat ramp on a weekend and 30C-plus day, with ski boats around. I’d be willing to bet that one ski boat owner was taking great pride in believing he was ruining our day by driving past about 10m away at full noise on more than one occasion. The joke was on him though, as within a minute of him driving past each time we would catch fish. While that is not the norm, it can and does happen. This was backed up only a week later while fishing with a few good mates in the same area. A couple of boats were again pushing the 30m rule (it is actually law, not just courtesy) and we didn’t have immediate success after they would drive past but we caught fish all afternoon with boats driving all around us. If I’m being honest, I think the fish respond more negatively to what some fishers do than what skiers and jet skis do. If you see a couple of boats fishing an area, find a different spot. There are a few reasons for this but unless the fish are biting their heads off, you’re probably only going to make the fishing worse for the existing boats. Extra boat pressure, sounders pinging, hatches in boats opening and clos-

ing and waves slapping on hulls are all factors that add up against you and the other anglers. The only thing you will generally achieve is ticking the other anglers off. At least keep a reasonable distance, way more than the 30m I’ve been referring to, if you must do this. When fishing, don’t throw the same lure all the time. I know confidence is a big thing while fishing, however unless you’re catching a fish a cast you will be able to find another lure that will work as well. This may not affect you on the day you’re fishing but if a school of fish sees the same lure day in and day out and something unusual happens each time they see that lure, do you really think they will keep eating it as freely? Bass may not be smart but I’m not sure they are that stupid, well most of them anyway. They aren’t barra either; you can’t sit on a point or mark and have different fish push through all day. I’ve found specific schools of 10-15 bass on tiny marks. The same mark two weeks later once again had a small school of 1015 bass sitting on it. I couldn’t get them to bite but I’d be willing to bet they were all the same fish. These fish know what bait they’ve been eating and it won’t take them long to work out when something isn’t right. If you have a bass in a fish tank and feed it the same thing for two weeks, then leave it a couple of days and put a lure in without a hook, it will probably eat it pretty quickly if the lure is the right size and shape. I bet it won’t eat it so quickly the next time you put the same lure in the tank, whether it’s a week or two months later. Warmer temperatures bring warmer, more consistent water temperatures for both people and fish. Generally you will catch fish more regularly (not necessarily more fish) as the temperature increases. At other times of the year you might catch 50 fish in a day and nothing the next weekend, while at this time of year it’s more likely you will catch an

average of 15-20 fish each time you go out. Before you crucify me on the numbers, I said average. You might do better and you might do worse. What really interests me is when I get a few reports during a day that the dam fished quite ordinary and then I hear one person captured 20-30 fish. What did that person do differently? The most common answer is usually silence, but they come around after a while. I get all sorts of answers and in the majority of cases the angler has come up with a reason for catching the fish. It’s not so much their reason for the fish biting that I’m interested in, it’s their thought pattern, their will to come up with a method to get the fish to bite. Generally, it’s not that the fish weren’t biting, it’s that we the anglers were not good enough to come up with something to get them to bite on the day. If someone is catching fish, we can only really come up with excuses as to why it didn’t work out for us. Rather than making excuses, it seems those who think about what they can do about it on the water get more consistent results. Try a different colour, different retrieve, different depth, different angle, different technique and then try a new spot. It’s these thoughts and trials that will make you more successful. The dam is too big to cover entirely in one day, so check with your local tackle shop or us at Somerset Fishing Tackle to learn about the more popular techniques, lures and retrieves that have been working and where. Just be prepared to adapt and think on the water! Bert and Ernie had the magic of TV to get the fish to just jump into their boat with the call of “Here fishy, fishy, fishy, fishy!” You won’t have such luck on the dam but now is as good a time as any to get out there, and with some thought you can change a good day into a great day. I look forward to seeing you on the water, mainly because that means I’m on the water too! www.bnbfishing.com. au

South Burnett dams boast hot edge bite

NOTHER cracking month of fishing has gone by since my last

report.

The lake edges and deeper flats have really come alive, with excellent fish caught at both Bjelke-Petersen and Boondooma dams. November is a great month to be out on the water because the temperature is comfortable and the fishing red hot. No matter what type of fisho you are, the dams in the South Burnett region have something to offer. Boondooma Boondooma is a well-known big bass fishery and the past month saw it really live up to its name. Good numbers of big bass and yellowbelly were caught all around the dam on a variety of techniques. If you’re a keen lure fisher, the best place to start is the edge. Look for rocky points and weedy edges with a bit of structure and you’re sure to pick up a fish or two casting lipless cranks, spoons, plastics and spinnerbaits. I like throwing 3/8oz Bassman Spinnerbaits in Olive colour tight to the edge. I let the spinnerbaits sink to the bottom and employ a slow wind back to the boat with a couple of rod shakes in between to entice a strike. In the warmer months the fish really respond well to a

Freshwater Impoundments by MATTHEW LANGFORD

reaction lure, so keep that in mind when casting to a bank. Mix up your casts and retrieve speeds and adjust to what’s getting you the bites. I like to ‘burn’ or quickly crank a lure back occasionally to trigger the fish into hitting aggressively. If you’re burning a lure, hold onto your rod because the bite is usually hard and fast. Outstanding golden perch and bass have been pulled from the edge over the past month, so it will pay to start here if you’re out early. The best way to keep catching quality is to move deeper as the day warms. The bigger bass have been caught on the flats later in the morning as the wind and heat increase. Everywhere from the Junction to Pelican Point has been productive, as has Death Valley, Barbers Pole and the main lake points near the dam wall in 9m of water. Be sure to check with the kiosk if you’re unsure of the names of areas of the dam and the staff will be happy to help. I like targeting the areas just wide of the flats as they drop into deeper water. I’ve been finding the fish sitting on these ledges are usually

The author and Mick Johnson scored a couple of big bass from the deeper flats of Boondooma using Nories Wasabi Spoons and winding them slowly along the bottom.

Young Harry Goldie with a thumping bass from BP Dam.

more than willing to bite. Ambush points like these are great for predatory bass. The best techniques on the flats and ledges have been slowly retrieved spoons, 1/2ozrigged plastics in dark green or fluorescent colours, 5/8oz spinnerbaits rolled slowly along the bottom and 1/4oz and 3/8oz silver or gold blades hopped or slowly rolled along the bottom. Bait fishers have scored consistent catches of yellowbelly, bass and eel-tailed catfish in the timbered arms. The best baits have been live shrimp, saltwater yabbies and worms jigged off the bottom. Trollers have started to pick up good numbers of golden perch in the arms of the dam using deep-diving hard-bodies. Make sure you have a lure retriever handy because you’re bound to get caught in the timber eventually and this device will save you money. Red claw have started to pick up with the consistent warm weather. Try around the rocky edges using rockmelon, pumpkin and dog biscuits. Bjelke-Petersen Bjelke-Petersen Dam has seen many happy fishos, with the bass coming from the deeper flats and creek beds to feed heavily on the edges. Most anglers have reported great sessions with cracking bass and yellowbelly among them. The fish aren’t afraid to hit anything that resembles a baitfish. The consistent warm weather can be thanked for this reaction bite and it’s only going to get better the further we move towards summer. Best methods for getting among the action are to look for rocky edges, position yourself about 40-50m from the bank and cast towards the edge, letting the lure sink to the bottom before starting a slow consistent wind. The most productive techniques have involved lipless cranks, spinnerbaits, tailspinners, 1/2oz-rigged plastics, jerkbaits and blades cast to the edge. Realistically, if you throw your favourite lure to the edge for long enough, it’s bound to get smashed by a hungry bass or yellowbelly – the fishing is just that good at the moment. You can find fish anywhere

from the shallows to the back of the dam. Just look for a rocky edge, sit out wide and cast towards the bank; it’s truly that simple. Trollers are having the same luck by trolling the edges with deep-diving hard-bodies. Most trollers won’t have to go far before hooking a fish or two. Bait fishers are in much the same boat, with fish coming from most locations close to the bank on live shrimp, saltwater yabbies and worms fished close to the bottom. Red claw are also on the comeback as the water warms. Dam news A recent weekend saw the opening of the Kingaroy to Murgon Rail Trail, so if you’ve had enough fishing at the dams or you’re looking to do something different, I would highly recommend riding the trail. It takes you through some of the best locations in the South Burnett and you can do it all at your own pace. Accommodation is available at BP and Boondooma, so if you’re staying overnight, don’t hesitate to give us a call and we’ll have you resting comfortably. Until next time, tight lines and bent rods.

Dean Thompson and a beautiful yellowbelly pulled from the edge on a spinnerbait.

A solid toga from the edge.

The author with a cracking bass landed by casting and burning spoons off the edge.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 67

Ellis did well in tough conditions at Moogerah Dam to land this Australian bass during the school holiday camp. Ellen, Sophia and Tony were all onto the Hinze Dam bass during the St Margaret’s weekend.

Family fishing fun in SEQ dams

HE warmer weather has certainly arrived and freshwater fishing in impoundments is also warming up.

The author had a sneaky fish and hooked a solid yellowbelly.

Sara picked up the catch of the school holiday camp with this impressive yellowbelly.

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Sports Tuition recently hosted a school holiday camp for eight to 12-yearolds at Moogerah Dam. It was incredibly hot, and to top it off, the wind was blowing a gale. The conditions meant it wasn’t possible to fish for the first two days, however, an opportunity for a quick fish presented itself on the final morning of the camp, and although the conditions were still very ordinary, there were surprising results. My expectations were minimal, but as it turned out, the fish were on the bite for the whole morning. Don’t ask me how, but I even managed to drop a bait for about a minute and ended up catching a nice yellowbelly. I’m normally pretty busy looking after the kids on the water, re-rigging and helping with bait, so it was a little bonus to be able to have a quick drop and pull up a quality fish. The students picked up yellowbelly, Australian bass, eel-tailed catfish and spangled perch. Due to the strong wind and white caps on the water, the students kept close to shore and the fishing session was conducted from Sports Tuition’s fleet of electric-powered canoes. The canoes are very stable and move nicely through the water, so it was only a quick drive to the nearest structure where the students started to target fish using 1 ball paternoster rigs with live shrimp on size 4 Mustad Big Mouth hooks. It’s always great to see the excitement of young students catching fish, particularly if it’s their first-ever fish, which happened to a number of participants on this camp. After the school holidays at Moogerah, it was back to Hinze Dam for

Freshwater Fishing by STEVE WILKES

St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School’s annual father and daughter fishing weekend. St Margaret’s commenced these weekends with Sports Tuition in 2011. St Margaret’s has an amazing school community. The weekends are always enjoyable to be a part of and everyone gets in and helps. The girls did a fantastic job of breadcrumbing the fillets, but prior to that it was a team of dads who were prepared to get in and help with the fish filleting. Over the weekend, the group fished the upper reaches of Hinze from Sports Tuition’s electricpowered boats. The catch was predominantly Australian bass but one yellowbelly was landed as well as an eel and a few eel-tailed catfish. The girls were excited and it was quality father and daughter time, that’s for sure. Before the fishing even commenced, one thing I loved seeing was the girls

checking the shrimp traps each morning. It was quite muddy on the edges and it was refreshing to see the girls with mud all over them, without a care in the world and loving it. A few shrimp were caught in the Wilson opera house style traps, which were later engulfed

by some hungry fish, so the girls experienced the whole process from catching live bait to catching fish and finally preparing them for a meal. The fish are certainly on the bite at Hinze and this month will be no different. Get out and make the most of the last of spring. November is one of the best months of the year. Exciting fishing times are ahead at Hinze, that’s for sure.

Craig and Cate landed this healthy-sized bass around the base of some timber in the far upper reaches of Hinze Dam.

Mike and Lucy hooked a solid yellowbelly during the St Margaret’s father and daughter weekend at Hinze Dam.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Summer temperatures signal sizzling action

PRING on the Darling Downs has seen the arrival of summer temperatures along with long and hot dry days. The waterways have remained coolish though, meaning native fish can still be inactive. Bait fishing is preferred and a warm day is necessary to get some action. We saw similar conditions around this time last year and it wasn’t until late February that you could cast into a stream with confidence using lures. Diving and spinning lures can occasionally work during the middle of the day when it is really hot, though bait fishing will undoubtedly

Fresh Water by NOAL KUHL

be more reliable. Most native fish tend to slow their eating habits during the cooler months and live off stores bulked up during the ‘gorge and horde’ periods of summer and autumn. Predatory fish rely on baits such as shrimp and yabbies to survive, and these species go into hibernation over the cooler periods. Finding them in abundance is difficult during spring. A friend recently invited me to the local stream and I decided that starting any

With summer almost upon us, action in the local creeks on the Downs will be heating up for fish such as this golden perch caught by Chloe Vlietstra.

earlier than 10am would be a waste of time. It was 10.40am when the first nibbles were noted. Worms are usually the go for native freshwater fish and you should keep your rigs simple for better results, meaning 10lb main line with a 2/0 longshank hook will suffice. Very rarely are sinkers required because three or four worms dangling from a hook adds enough cast weight. The worms just have to be pinned in several places, allowing a lot of wriggling movement to attract

yellowbelly – they love a moving bait and winding in your line very slowly improves the odds. The last worm pinned needs to cover the hook point and stationary lines should be checked every 20 minutes or so. If you wind in and find the point uncovered, there is a good chance your bait has been sampled, so rethread a worm over it before casting out once more. Very rarely have I caught a yellowbelly on a hook with the point exposed. If sinkers are needed due to excessive river flow, a running sinker presents the best approach because it offers less resistance for native fish to be wary of.

Sarah Wolski muscled in an eel-tailed catfish that put up a good fight on light gear.

Tomas Sutton held a quality yellowbelly caught on worms while fishing among dense submerged timber.

Sarah Wolski with one of the rarer Murray-Darling Basin eel-tailed catfish that once thrived throughout the system. They can still be caught regularly in isolated rehabilitated streams.

Rain brings welcome relief I T was good to see some rainfall over the October long weekend.

Even though it was only 30mm, it was still welcomed by all. As usual, it rained while most were packing to head home and it poured on those who arrived to set up for their October fishing trip. A lot of Cowboys supporters had the purples (not the blues) as they walked back to camp with heads held low. We nearly didn’t get to see the game due to a technical error made by yours truly. It’s what happens when you forget to connect the coax cable to the set top box to make it work. Blank screen, blank head. As for the yearly Ballina RSL v the Lismore Workers Fishing Club, the Lismore club has actually started to give Ballina a bit of a fright. Wait until next year. Heaviest fish of the day went to Tony Konya with a cod, the champion woman was Anna Konya (purple supporter), champion

Glenlyon Dam

by BRIAN DARE

junior was Hayden Smith and Earl Vincent took out the open champion award. The overall winning club was Ballina with a total of 499.6 points, while the Lismore crew came in with 422.4. Meanwhile, back at the coal face we are seeing an outflow of 200ML a day downstream, which is an environmental flow for cod breeding and has the storage heading to 72 percent capacity. Yellowbelly are starting to rack and stack along the weed beds out from the edge of the bank in Glenlyon Dam. Using shrimp for bait, you’ve even got the chance of netting a couple of free ones as they swim up alongside the baitcaught fish. Most bait anglers do the right thing when collecting shrimp for bait, bringing their leftover fish frames back to the cleaning table bin. We had some grubs

Some of the great yellowbelly weighed in at the comp between Ballina and Lismore fishing clubs.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

throw their frames into the river, which is our locals’ water supply for domestic use and the like. I had a yarn to the locals about putting a camera up and bringing the fish frames back to put them in the offenders’ car via open side windows (education). It is lure time in the Northern Rivers/Darling Downs region. As of mid-October, all cod will be feeding because the breeding season is all over by the end of the October long weekend, however the closed season in the rivers lasts until November 30. This is a more civilised time of year to be fishing Glenlyon in the early morning, with no frost, no fog and without seven layers of gear. At 4.30am you will find keen anglers floating around the campsite like one-eyed ghosts with their headlamps on. It is also a good time to fish until about 9pm. If on the water in the dark, keep in mind those running lights on your boat. Right now we are seeing forward thinking taking place in regards to the northern Murray-Darling river systems. With our recent research carried out on Murray cod, change could soon be the talking point thanks to our freshwater doctors of biology along with the great help of our NSW

and Queensland biologists. I’ve been getting calls at 6am from my old friend Dave Downie from 101FM Logan City with the usual have a dig at dairy format that Mr Downie had years ago with 4BC. That is my Saturday morning sleep-in belted for six, so to speak. If you have any questions you want answered by Dave or myself, tune in and give him a ring on 101FM to talk about freshwater fishing out west. During the radio show I will try to cover some of the legendary dams out our way and how they are fishing.

Hayden Smith of the Lismore Workers Fishing Club with a solid yellowbelly.

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The MinMin strikes again. In a lifetime of fishing, this is the only large brook trout the author has seen, a trophy specimen that had him very satisfied. The view alone makes spending time on Mount Beauty Pondage in the Hobie worthwhile. That is Mount Bogong, Victoria’s highest peak, in the background.

Tourist’s guide to still water trout A This plump 35cm hen brook trout sped across the flats to run down a shallow MinMin in Rainbow Trout pattern. Both the Rainbow and Brown Trout colour schemes on the MinMins have been top producers for the author in streams and lakes from northern NSW to Tassie.

S I write this article I have the fan on full bore and am still sweating, with the outside air temperature hovering at 42C.

The weather during the past couple of weeks has been a staggering change from our late-winter cold spell and it is hard to be-

Fishing for Sport

by NEIL SCHULTZ

lieve that just a week earlier, temperatures nudged zero in the mornings. During that last blast of winter, I was in northern Victoria on a whirlwind road trip that naturally

Insights into boat insurance

USH ‘n Beach has brought Nautilus Marine Insurance on board to expand the fine print and provide readers with clear, easy-tounderstand and helpful tips on protecting their boating assets.

The scenario You used to run a Garmin 126 GPS so you could navigate to your favourite offshore fishing spots, but you’ve since upgraded to a Garmin GPSMAP 7410. And you used to own a Lowrance X85 sonar on your boat, but now it’s a Furuno FCV-588 with Rezboost. So where do you now sit with your insurance? The answer Very comfortably if you’re with a specialist marine insurer such as Nautilus Marine and you’ve contacted the insurer to advise of the upgrades. When you add equipment such as an electronics upgrade running into thousands of dollars, it is important to immediately advise your marine insurer. That way the insurer can manage a ‘variation

of equipment’ note to your insurance policy and make any necessary adjustments to the value of property covered. If you fail to notify your insurer of the changes, you will probably run into difficulties if things ever go pearshaped and you wish to lodge a claim. It’s a simple exercise these days to make that variation. Ordinarily, you would just make a phone call or send an email noting your policy number and details of the new equipment purchased and installed. Providing evidence of the purchase, such as a sales and/or installation invoice will help to ensure there are no misunderstandings about the model and value of the new equipment installed. Your insurer might progress the amendment over the phone and then send a confirmation note, or you may be sent a variation form to fill in. Irrespective of how it is managed, always ensure you have confirmation of you having advised your insurer of

the changes and that the insurer has confirmed those changes in writing. Years ago, people buying a boat for fishing used to think in terms of boat, motor and trailer as the key components and therefore, the key items to insure. Today, it very frequently is boat, motor, trailer and electronics. And when you think of electronics, don’t forget to include the mapping card sitting in the SD slot of your GPS plotter. Similarly, it is not uncommon these days for a recreational fishing boat to have two or more transducers. Remember to include them all when advising your insurer of the upgrade you have made. As with all insurance policies, always check your product disclosure

document and if you have a query, ask for clarification. If you need further information, you can contact Nautilus Marine Insurance on 1300 780 533 for any boat insurance requirements. Win a Nautilus Marine rod Nautilus will also be answering your boat insurance questions of a general nature and offering a great bi-monthly prize to the best questions received. The prize is a custombuilt 15kg Nautilus Marine-branded overhead 5’6” light game and reef fishing rod crafted by Gary Howard and featuring Fuji guides, a graphite reel seat and roller tip. Each rod has a retail value of about $300. Just email your questions to qld@nautilusin surance.com.au

Any advice contained in this article is of a general nature only and may not apply or be right for you as it does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any advice provided in this article, you should consider the appropriateness of the advice having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.

Page 70 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017

had a couple of boxes to be ticked on the fishing list. Beach fishing for Australian salmon at Eden was successful and we’d made the transition from the coast to the high country in search of trout. Our visit coincided with closed season in rivers and streams for trout but the lakes are open to fishing year-round. The first tiny pond I fished was the Dredge Hole right in the Victorian alpine village of Harrietville. This was once an old gold mine, now transformed into a recreational fishing lake that is stocked annually with pan-sized trout. While we were driving across the ranges, we were lucky enough to experience a decent snowfall. In Harrietville at lower altitudes those same clouds were delivering (cold) steady rain. I decided to walk around the pond, casting a lure from any accessible spots just to wet a line. The cold and drizzly conditions may not have been to the trout’s liking because I could only manage one half-hearted visible follow, though there might have been others I could not see through the gloom. As I skirted the far side of the pond, the rain progressed from drizzle to a steady shower of large drops. By the time I’d made one circuit of the pond, I was wet through, so decided to do my best imitation of a sane person and call it quits for the day, heading back over the

hills to Mount Beauty. Mount Beauty is a reasonably large town that ironically isn’t on a mountain, instead being in a picturesque valley only 600m above sea level. Fishing is available within a stone’s throw of the CBD in the town’s water supply lake known as Mount Beauty Pondage. This lake is actually part of the Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme and is the regulation pondage below the West Kiewa power station. Next morning, the clouds had vanished so I launched the Hobie and spent a lazy hour trolling a shallow-running minnow around the fringes of the pondage. Time was the pressing factor, with another day of travel planned. Just as I spotted the first fish feeding along the northern edge of the lake, I had to pack up and leave. Our visit to northern Victoria had been mainly a sightseeing excursion, taking in the snow of the Australian Alps. Heading north into NSW, the next body of water I wanted to check out was Lake Jindabyne, about 60km from the regional hub of Cooma. Jindabyne had been kind to me during past years, with rainbow trout responding to lures cast from the shore when the rivers were closed to fishing. This lake is also very well stocked with unique species such as Atlantic salmon and brook trout, both being regular captures for lucky anglers. Thinking back, the very first fish I caught in Lake Jindabyne was a brook trout taken while spinning from the shore right in front of the caravan park. Conditions were perfect on my recent visit, with

clear skies and still air making strolling along the shore of Hatchery Bay very pleasant. Polaroid glasses allowed me to spot a decent-sized fish cruising slowly in the shallows ahead, so my favourite shallow Predatek MinMin was cast into its path. Success was instantaneous, with a smaller unseen fish grabbing the lure almost on splashdown. Pleased would be an understatement of my state when a nice hen brook trout swam into the landing net. A few happy snaps were taken before she was slipped back into the lake to grow into one of the trophy specimens Jindabyne produces. Within half an hour the larger fish was back patrolling close to the shore and this time my lure wasn’t intercepted by another fish. Line stripped from the reel against a fairly light drag, set to prevent the tiny hooks of the MinMin from pulling out of the fish’s mouth. The long, slow-tapered rod soaked up the lunges as the fish bolted every time it was brought into the shallows. When at last it was in the net and identified, I couldn’t contain a delighted outburst. Here was a very chunky male brook trout, what is likely to be a once in a lifetime fish for a Queenslander who is an occasional visitor to the lake. Brookies are notoriously difficult to target, even in Tassie where there are species-specific lakes stocked with them. Over the moon with this fish, I was content to wander back to camp to prepare for a couple of days on the road to get home. www.bnbfishing.com. au

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Polo Blue/Gold

x $35

STACER 399 PROLINE PAINTED (2012) powered by Mercury 30hp four-stroke. Loads of extras. Superb buy at only $9990. Ref # U001806. Northside Marine – Ph 07 3265 8044.

Polo Navy/Red

x $35

Polo Navy/Gold

x $35

T-Shirt Stone

x $18

STACER 429 SEAWAY (2015) powered by Yamaha 40hp four-stroke. Many extras. Huge price reduction now only $17,900 ono. Ref # U001795. Northside Marine – Ph 07 3265 8044.

T-Shirt Lt Grey

x $18

STACER 589 OCEAN RANGER – 2015 pakage, Yamaha 130Hp EFI 4S low hours & balance of factory warranty, Stacer alloy trailer, Lowrance colour GPS/Sounder, Lowrance VHF radio, GME stereo, 135L U/F fuel tank, Plumbed L/B tank, Rocket launcher & loads more! $54,995 - Call the team at John Crawford Marine today Ph: 07 3890 2322 www.johncrawfordmarine.com.au

one size Beanie Black Subtotal $

T-Shirt Blue

x $18 adjustable

Cap Blue/Grey

x $15 x $12

+ $7.95

Postage & handling per order

Free postage for orders over $80 TOTAL

PAYMENT DETAILS

STESSCO ALBACORE 550 (2017). As-new 2017 Stessco Albacore 550 centre console powered by a Mercury 115hp 2.1-litre Command Thrust four-stroke that’s done only 11 hours. Features include Garmin colour sounder/GPS, GME UHF radio, custom T-top, dual batteries, bait board, full flat floor, underfloor fuel tank, 3mm bottom and 3mm plate sides, offshore safety gear including EPIRB and Dunbier trailer. Save thousands at $42,990 drive away. Call Trevor at Karee Marine today on 07 3875 1600.

Cheque

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__ __ __ __ / __ __ __ __ / __ __ __ __ / __ __ __ __ Credit Card Number: Expiry Date: _______ / _______ Signature: IN STOCK NOW

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WANTED – LATE MODEL USED BOATS. Cash or consignment. When you buy a used boat from Karee Marine you know it has been through our workshop and checked over. A RWC is given with each boat sold. We have a fully insured undercover showroom so your boat will not be left out. Call Trevor at Karee Marine today on 07 3875 1600.

IN STOCK NOW

WHITTLEY VOYAGER 580 (2002) powered by a MerCruiser 220hp V6 and riding on a brand-new duel-axle Swiftco trailer (never been in water). Features include bunk cushions and in-fill, 40-litre freshwater tank, 130-litre fuel tank, sink, portable stove, folding table, dual batteries, front spotlight, Lowrance Elite-7, deck wash, EPIRB and camper covers. This could be a great weekender or fishing boat the whole family can enjoy. Drive away today at $29,990. Call Trevor at Karee Marine today on 07 3875 1600.

Do you want to know more about bar crossing & offshore ﬁshing?

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY A unique opportunity for a lifestyle change and to become involved in the inshore charter fishing industry in southeast Queensland. Long-established business with a history of repeat customers. Sold as a going concern with training for the right applicant. Sale includes one 6m and one 4.3m boat, both in survey with current certificates of operation as well as all marine parks and fisheries permits, fishing gear, existing phone number, full website and future bookings. Call now to take advantage of this rare business venture: 0438 565 966.

December Edition Copy Deadline – Advertisements must arrive NO later than November 13, 2017

ALL ADS MUST BE PRE-PAID 1

Cost per insertion: 2 lines $15, $1.10 per line thereafter. Contact details must be included in ad.

Address: ___________________________________ __________________________________________ State: __________ Postcode: __________________ Phone:_____________________________________

Tuition with Bill Corten – successful offshore ﬁsherman and commercial skipper

Bar crossing courses: • Hands-on experience crossing ossing sing coastal bars safely • Direct supervision p masterin mastering all bar crossing skills • Fine-tuning of skills in bbreaking swells wells an and white water • On-water training in the safety of a Cruise Craft Explorer 685 ﬁlled with upright buoyancy to naval architects’ speciﬁcations • Overcome your fears and learn vital skills as part of an onwater course

Offshore ffshor shore fishing fi ng co courses: •C Comprising mprising sing a nnight of theoryy and a ffull day’ss practical training raining on ooffshore reefs • Finding reefs • Locating different fish species • Bait rigging • Shallow and deep reef fishing techniques • Using a full range of rods and reels • Sounder and GPS instruction • Offshore anchoring • And much more

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www.bnbfishing.com. au

Contact Bill Corten T: 07 3286 3647 M: 0447 233 247 0447 ( a f f a i r ) E: reel_affair@yahoo.com Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2017 – Page 71

Subscription offer for November* Subscribe this month for your chance to win your choice of Okuma g gear ear to the value of $350!

Humminbird SOLIX now available in Australia

Valued at

350

w w w.okuma.com.au k m au * Valid until November 30, 2017. Picture for illustration purposes only.

SUBSCRIPTION FORM ■ ONE YEAR $50 (inc. post)

Receive 12 issues delivered.

■ TWO YEARS $95 (inc. post) Receive 24 issues delivered.

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■ YES, please send me two free BNB stickers Send your cheque, money order or credit card details for $50 or $95 (inc. GST) to Bush ’n Beach and your copy will be mailed direct to you for the next 12 or 24 months. We’ll advise you when your subscription runs out. Return completed form to: Bush ’n Beach Fishing PO Box 387, Cleveland 4163 ph 07 3286 1833 or fax 07 3821 2637 or go online www.bnbfishing.com.au

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HE revolutionary Humminbird SOLIX Series combines 12” and 15” displays with Cross Touch Interface, MEGA Imaging, CHIRP Digital Sonar, AUTOCHART Live with vegetation and bottom hardness mapping, Bluetooth connectivity and i-Pilot Link navigation

The biggest news in fishfinding sonar for 2017 is, quite literally, ‘big’. For decades, Humminbird has led the fishing world by putting new tools and innovations in the hands of anglers to help them find and catch fish. Now, Humminbird has combined its best features and placed them into one fishfinder, the SOLIX. Offering the biggest display in the brand’s history – up to 15” – the SOLIX boasts technologies designed to make locating fish easier. A truly revolutionary product, SOLIX delivers game-changing sonar, imaging and mapping capabilities in the largest fishfinder Humminbird anglers have ever seen. In true Humminbird fashion, these technologies are packaged in an easy-to-use interface and system that can make any angler better. Unprecedented screen innovation SOLIX is setting the bar for the angling sonar category in display size with two variations of 12” and 15” screen models. Both come standard with Humminbird’s Cross Touch Interface, letting anglers operate the unit via touchscreen or keypad, all while customising the screen with up to four independent viewing panes. Cross Touch allows anglers to use the SOLIX either as a touchscreen or with the keypad for easier control in rough water conditions. Individual panes can be zoomed or moved to different screen locations based on angler preference or fishing situation. Never-before-seen image clarity SOLIX units come in two versions. One is equipped with

GPS and CHIRP Digital Sonar, the other adds Humminbird’s gamechanging MEGA Imaging. This is the first Down and Side Imaging technology to enter the megahertz range with performance that’s nearly three times greater than traditional 455kHz frequencies. It results in the clearest, sharpest imaging returns ever. Anglers can choose MEGA Side Imaging for an incredible view to the left and right of their boat, while MEGA Down Imaging gives crystal-clear pictures of what is beneath the boat. Both carry a range that covers the most popular fishing depths. When asked to explain MEGA Imaging, Humminbird product manager Shaun Clancy said, “The screen detail is so defined that in some cases you can literally see individual fish and make out their head or tail in the sonar shadow.” “Natural bottom structures including rocks and stumps almost look like photographs, while manmade structures such as shipwrecks, road grades or sunken bridges offer up imagery down to the individual beam. “After people see it, they just can’t believe it.” All SOLIX models include CHIRP Digital Sonar, firing more pulses than traditional transducers over a given period. More pulses means more information, improved target separation and superior image clarity at greater depths. The next generation in mapping Also standard on all SOLIX models is Humminbird’s expanded AUTOCHART Live technology that creates and saves structure maps on any body of water. AUTOCHART Live identifies and maps depth, bottom hardness and vegetation. Anglers know that fish relate to depth, weed lines and transition points in bottom type – for example where a soft, muddy bottom transitions to firm sand or rock. By collecting all that

data on an AUTOCHART Live map, Humminbird helps anglers keep their boat in the strike zone on productive structure. Fishing takes another huge step forward when AUTOCHART Live is used in conjunction with i-Pilot Link from Minn Kota. With both technologies co-operating, anglers can tell their Minn Kota trolling motor to ‘follow’ a specific AUTOCHART Live contour at a set speed, and with the press of a button the boat will precisely follow the exact path. Now, anglers no longer need to guess where fish-holding structure is located. They can precisely follow the weed line, bottom hardness or depth contour and stay within easy casting distance of their target. Unsurpassed connectivity Bluetooth is built into every unit, allowing anglers to sync smartphones to the on-board SOLIX. Text messages, missed calls, signal strength and other notifications appear right on the Humminbird display, so phones can stay safely in pockets where they belong for hands-free fishing. It creates a flawless onboard network of electronics and connectivity. For plug-and-fish networking, high-speed ethernet provides easy connectivity to Humminbird 360 Imaging, Minn Kota i-Pilot Link, Humminbird CHIRP Radar and additional SOLIX or select HELIX units. The new units are fully compatible with Navionics maps. Versatile mounting options SOLIX owners can mount their large Cross Touch screens inside the boat dash, on the included gimbal or directly to an optional RAM mount for multi-directional viewing. Humminbird R&D director Mark Gibson said, “SOLIX is the combination of decades of dedicated development in everything from the transducer to the touchscreen.” “It’s the best of the best and the most advanced fish locator ever created.” www.bnbfishing.com. au

THE WORLD IS 71% WATER.

The ocean is your playground, explore every corner thanks to the power and reliability of the Mercury 75 - 115hp FourStroke. Choose your own adventure and your Mercury will take you there. Learn more at mercurymarine.com.au

See your authorised Mercury Marine Dealer today. BRISBANE Coorparoo Marine 57 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo Q 4151 P: 07 3397 4141 E: info@coorparoomarine.com.au W: coorparoomarine.com.au

BUNDABERG Adrians Marine Centre 28 Ritchie St, Bundaberg Q 4670 P: 07 4153 1819 E: adriansmarinecentre@bigpond.com W: adriansmarinecentre.com.au

GOLD COAST Onshore Marine Horizon Shores Marina, Woongoolba Q 4207 P: 07 5546 2480 E: onshoremarine@ozemail.com.au W: onshoremarine.com.au

BRISBANE Karee Marine 1776 Ipswich Motorway, Rocklea Q 4106 P: 07 3875 1600 E: sales@kareemarine.com.au W: kareemarine.com.au

CAIRNS Aussie Marine 5 Hannam St, Bungalow Q 4870 P: 07 4033 8800 E: sales@aussiemarine.com.au W: aussiemarine.com.au

INNISFAIL Coastal Marine & Outdoors 178 Edith St, Innisfail Q 4870 P: 07 4061 8272 E: joel@coastalmarine.net.au W: coastalmarine.net.au

BRISBANE EAST Manly Harbour Marine 570 Royal Esplanade, Manly Q 4179 P: 07 3893 2199 E: info@manlyharbourmarine.com.au W: manlyharbourmarine.com.au

CAPALABA Mikeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Marine 9 Smith Street, Capalaba, Q 4157 P: 07 3390 3418 E: admin@mikesmarine.com.au W: mikesmarine.com.au

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

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

EVERTON HILLS Holt Marine 25 Queen Rd, Everton Hills Q 4053 P: 07 3353 1928 E: info@holtmarine.com.au W: holtmarine.com.au

SUNSHINE COAST North Coast Boating 264 Nicklin Way, Warana Q 4575 P: 07 5493 9376 E: sales@northcoastboating.com.au W: northcoastboating.com.au

BRISBANE NORTH Cunningham Marine Centre 23-25 Snook St, Redcliffe Q 4019 P: 07 3284 8805 E: ian@cunninghammarinecentre.com.au W: cunninghammarinecentre.com.au

GOLD COAST Nitro Marine 34 Smith St, Southport Q 4215 P: 07 5532 5812 E: sales@nitromarine.com.au W: nitromarine.com.au

TOOWOOMBA Water Skiers Warehouse 91-93 Neil St, Toowoomba Q 4350 P: 07 4637 9511 E: info@waterskierswarehouse.com.au W: waterskierswarehouse.com.au

Award-winning McLay Alloy Boats from New Zealand McLay McLay 651 Crossover HT 611 Crossover

$POA

Mercury 200hp 4-stroke

$83,990 DRIVE AWAY

McLay 591 Sportsman

$63,990

Mercury 150hp 4-stroke

DRIVE AWAY

Mercury 135hp 4-stroke

• 5mm bottom • Drum winch • Electic toilet • Bunk extensions • Bolster seats • Rear lounge and more

• Bait board • Kill tank • Deck wash • Dual batteries • Dunbier dual-axle trailer • Safety gear and heaps more!

• Bait board • Kill tank • Deck wash • Dual batteries • Dunbier alloy trailer • Safety gear and loads more!

Gulf Runner 490

Breezaway 440

Renegade 440

$33,990 DRIVE AWAY

Mercury 90hp 4-stroke

$24,000 DRIVE AWAY

Side Console

$23,990

Mercury 50hp 4-stroke

DRIVE AWAY

Mercury 60hp 4-stroke

• Full pod transom • Reverse chine • Live well • Bait tank • Electric motor mount • QLD regos plus more

• Custom bimini • Nav lights• Dunbier braked trailer • QLD regos • Smooth water safety gear for ﬁve people

• Live bait tank • Live well • Painted sides • Dunbier braked trailer • QLD regos

Fisherman 449

Sunseeker 510

Fish Hunter 459

Side Console

Centre Console ONE ONLY

DRIVE AWAY

Mercury 50hp 4-stroke

• Best value • Front cast deck • Live bait tank • Dunbier trailer • Smooth water safety gear

$37,600 DRIVE AWAY

DRIVE AWAY

Mercury 60hp 4-stroke

• Live well • Underﬂoor fuel tank • Dunbier braked trailer • QLD regos

• Nav lights • Bunk cushions and inﬁll • Custom bimini • Dunbier braked trailer • QLD regos • Safety gear

UNBEATABLE UNBEATABLE

115HP CRUISE SPEED 115HP FUEL CRUISE EFFICIENCY SPEED FUEL EFFICIENCY MERCURY’S NEW 115HP VS. CURRENT FOURSTROKE AND OPTIMAX VS. CURRENT FOURSTROKE AND OPTIM FOURSTROKE g/kWh

MERCURY MERCURY 75-115HP 75-115HP FOURSTROKE FOURSTROKE RANGE RANGE

$21,990

Mercury 90hp 4-stroke

340

330

320

310

300

g/kWh

$18,990

DELIVERS UP TO 14% BETTER CRUISE SPEED ECONOMY

300

290

280

270

260

PREVIOUS MERCURY FOURSTROKE 1.7L

BSFC dyno testing; data is an average of 60%-80% rated MERCURY PREVIOUS NEW MERCURY engine speed based NEW OPTIMAX MERCURY MERCURY OPTIMAX on standardMERCU ICOMIA emissions test. FOURSTROKE 115hp 1.7L 2.1L 115hp 115hp 2.1L 11 Photos for illustration purposes only. SU SC N ATA

IPSWICH ROAD

DS T

WIC

D OA

SERVICE RD Randolph St

IPS

WIC

IPS

Blackd own St

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