BNB Fishing mag | Nov 2018 by bnbfishing

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Fine-tuning for flathead Teaching kids how to fish Hinchinbrook Island trips Big bass in Lake Borumba Comprehensive guide to hooks Tips for targeting mangrove jack

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November 2018 Print Post Approved PP100001534 Volume 29, Number 11

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9 771832 451001

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 1

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Inside this month Hervey Bay

Gold Coast

P22

P30

Hinchinbrook

P52

by SEAN CONLON

is able to catch fish. For kids, fishing gets them away from the gaming consoles and into the fresh air on the water. Kids are like little

OUR COVER

BRANDON GOSBELL landed this awesome 86cm flathead during the Gold Coast Flathead Classic. The fish ate an unweighted 9” soft plastic rigged on 20lb braid with 30lb leader. Check out the Flathead Classic wrap-up on Page 20.

Ben Collins Daniel Tomlinson Ben Collins, Gabi McCaig 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 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 23. See subscriber offer on Page 68 to go in the draw to win one of four super Salt-Away starter kits valued at $100 each!

sponges and soak up all the information you can give them. This makes them easy to teach. Often the articles we write revolve around technical things, usually to do with lures, lines, rods and reels. For kids who are just starting out, the basics of fishing will definitely be beneficial in the long term. Begin with teaching them how to tie a simple blood knot, what size sinkers and hooks to use and how to cast properly. These are the fundamentals. Other things I like to let kids know is fresh bait is best. Even if it’s frozen, it still has to be frozen fresh. You don’t want rubbish bait. And if going to collect fresh bait, one of the easiest methods is to get the yabby pump out and pump fresh yabbies. Next is bait presentation. It doesn’t matter what you are chasing, whether trolling fresh bait for spanish mackerel or putting a yabby on for whiting and bream in the river, bait presentation is very important. I was very lucky my father taught me all these simple techniques when I was young. As I got older, he taught me about looking at the water and seeing where the current lines and back eddies were, and explain how the fish would sit around this moving water. All this advice helped

ATI ON

Southern Moreton Bay

Fishing is one of those great sports where it doesn’t matter whether you’re big or small, have a disability or are able-bodied, are female or male, young or old – if you learn enough and put in enough time and effort, everyone

HIS month it’s all about the kids.

Fishing with kids..........................by Sean Conlon....................................P3 All about hooks............................by Brian Webb......................................P7 Tips to outfish your mates.........by Sean ‘Skip’ Thompson..................P9 Fish n Chicks.................................by Syl Cron..........................................P12 Places to take kids fishing........by Mark Templeton...........................P14 Wilson Fishing puzzle page......................................................................P15 Flathead rebound.........................by Leeann Payne...............................P16 Sportfishing...................................by Barry Alty.......................................P18 Gold Coast coming to life..........by Darren Rama.................................P20 Flathead Classic wrap-up.........................................................................P20 Readers Forum..............................................................................................P21 Options on Gold Coast................by Brad Smith.....................................P22 Brunswick Heads........................by Gavin Dobson................................P23 Ballina round-up.............................. by Brett Hyde............................................P24 Change on the way......................by Gary ‘Squidgie’ Palmer..............P25 Just Jew.........................................by Tye Porter.......................................P27 Tuna on Sunshine Coast.............by Peter Wells....................................P29 Hervey Bay.....................................by Tri Ton..............................................P30 Pondering snapper......................by Craig Tomkinson..........................P31 Regulating reef fishing...............by Joel Johnson.................................P32 Offshore success.........................by Bill Corten......................................P34 Bundaberg Region.......................by Brad Young....................................P35 PNG fishing trip..............................by Wayne ‘Youngy’ Young...............P36 Boating & Marine..................................................................................P38-43 Boat Review..................................by Daniel Tomlinson.........................P40 Boating Gear.................................by Daniel Tomlinson.........................P42 Insights into insurance...............by Nautilus Marine...........................P43 Kayak Fishing................................by Mick Clutterbuck.........................P44 Canoeing the Clarence...............by Dan Obridge..................................P45 Charter Directory.................................................................................. P48,49 WTF comp report.........................by John Boon......................................P48 Gladstone Region........................by Gary Churchward.........................P49 Hindhinbrook fishing trip...........by Keith Stratford...............................P50 Fingermark and jacks.................by Todd Eveleigh...............................P51 Hinchinbrook holiday.................by Lachie Baker.................................P52 Stanage Bay..................................by Pee Wee.........................................P54 Beach cooking.............................by Jase Andrews...............................P55 Recipe.............................................by Melissa Frohloff...........................P55 Dealing with pests..................... by Neil Schultz...................................P56 4WD review...................................by Paul ‘Chief’ Graveson.................P57 Road trip to Winton.................... by Craig Tomkinson..........................P58 New caravan................................ by Brad Young....................................P59 Exploring Cape York.................. by Matt Potter....................................P60 Monduran Dam............................. by Donna Gane..................................P62 Borumba Dam bass.....................by Callum Munro...............................P63 Freshwater Impoundments.......by Matthew Langford.......................P64 Westbook Creek...........................by Noal Kuhl.......................................P65 Glenlyon Dam................................by Brian Dare......................................P66 Trading Post..................................................................................................P67 Subscription form.......................................................................................P68

This year, team Bush ‘n Beach Fishing Magazine comprised me, George Mole and BNB scribe Sean Conlon. While we didn’t actually get to pre-fish the event as a team, we did put in a few hours of research on the water in pairs, identifying where the flathead were holding. Unfortunately, just before the event the commercial netters gave the resident flathead population a working over, with big numbers coming out of the Broadwater and southern Moreton Bay system. This made the event a little tougher than we’re used to and saw us using a mix of techniques over the three days. As per usual, the old Polycraft was chock-a-block full of lures including countless Zerek Tango Shads, Lively Lures, Atomic Hardz, Z-Mans, SlugGos and the list goes on. The first day of the comp saw us throw a massive array of lures in different colours, but each angler soon had their favourite and that is what predominantly stayed on our lines for the following two days. Thankfully, a few of our plans came together and we finished ninth overall out of 300 teams and seventh in the three-person team section. While we were secretly aiming for a top-10 finish, we were ecstatic to actually pull it off as plenty of top anglers fish the comp. However, the event is not just for the top anglers, as there is a strong focus on juniors and women getting into the sport too, and the lucky draws on the final night don’t even require you to catch a fish to win big. I’d like to thank all the organisers and fellow sponsors for making the Flathead Classic the fantastic event it is. If you haven’t fished it before, put it on the bucket list. On the freshwater scene, there is an upcoming workshop for Queensland, with a freshwater fishing and stocking workshop being held at the YMCA Camp Leslie Dam from November 3-4. One of the aims of the workshop is to develop an action plan for Queensland’s world-class freshwater fishery as well as a sustainable stocking policy. Other items such as carp control, habitat improvement and future steps will also be covered. For more information on the event, jump onto bnbfishing.com.au Ben Collins

FIS

Begin with the basics when fishing with kids

P63

PRO TE CT

Max with a flathead caught while learning how to troll Zerek Bulldog Cranks.

HE Gold Coast Flathead Classic is one of the premier fishing events on the calendar and it was awesome to be part of the competition again as a sponsor and competitor.

Borumba bass

HIN G T R A D E

September prizewinner

Congratulations to Liam Windsor who has won a new-release Evakool IceMate 60-litre icebox valued at $359!

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 3

Noah with a whiting hooked on a fresh yabby in the Logan River.

George with Team Bush ‘n Beach Fishing Magazine’s best flathead from the Flathead Classic at 69cm.

Even Dad got a whiting or two in the Logan.

Begin with the basics when fishing with kids * from P3

This young fella caught a nice flathead on a trolled Zerek Bulldog Crank.

build me into the fisher I am today. With the fundamental knowledge Dad gave me, I was able to add lures into my fishing and by fishing with both bait and lures I am now able to fish a broader tide spectrum, which has allowed me to be more productive on the water in the limited time we have out there. Getting back to the kids, the simplest form of fishing is using a nice light fibreglass rod with an Alvey or eggbeater reel,

The BNB crew was pretty happy with George’s prizewinning abilities.

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moretonbaycharters.com.au Page 4 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

WITH SEAN CONLON

12lb line, a whiting hook, 50cm of trace, a swivel and a sinker about the size of the end of your little finger. Pump some yabbies with the yabby pump on a sandbank (the kids love it) and then use your yabbies in the area where you pumped them. If yabbies are around, whiting, flathead or bream are usually in the area too because they’re looking for yabbies to eat. When you’re first starting with the kids, try to keep things as simple as possible. I get a kick out of catching a few of these fish with my young fella Max. Now that he more thoroughly understands fishing, he has started using lures a bit more. I am now teaching him how to troll lures for flathead and he’s getting results, so he’s enjoying that, but like all kids he’s not so worried about catching big fish, rather catching lots of fish. So if the lures are not producing fish, we go back and do a bit of bait fishing because he gets bored pretty easily. When you take kids fishing, it needs to be about them. If they’re happy, you’ll be happy, but you need to start with the basics. Some of you reading this may not have had the privilege of your father or someone else teaching you how to do all this, but nowadays you’ll find plenty of stuff on YouTube to get you started. If you’d prefer the hands-on approach, spend a bit of money and go on a charter to have the guys on the charter teach you these things. That’s one thing that separates our Moreton Bay Charters from big offshore boats. We take anglers out with their kids and teach them how to fish. We even pull up on the bank and show them how to pump a few yabbies. Our charters are not all about catching fish but also learning. Over the past month Warren has done a few

charters just like this, so I got him to write a bit about what he’s been doing. Warren’s report With the weather tough on recent charters, I decided to fish the Logan River. I headed down there to do something different with two customers on board (Saul and Finn) and my son Noah. We pumped yabbies on low water in the morning and then went to chase a few bread and butter species like bream, whiting and flathead. A northerly wind was blowing about 20 knots once we pumped a few yabbies and headed to some spots I fished as a kid. These locations produced quality whiting and flathead. Even though we had to fish through the catfish, it was all worthwhile. At the end of the day, even when the wind was blowing the guys went home with a great feed of fish. With the fishing so productive in the Logan River on the weekend, I decided on the Tuesday morning to take Helen, Steve, Fergus and Henry there. We pumped yabbies, which was great because the kids had never experienced anything like that. As we got closer to the sandbank, I saw a couple of nice flathead lurking in the shallow water. Once we pumped enough yabbies for the day’s fishing, I decided to troll a couple of Zerek Bulldog Cranks down the edge of the bank where I had seen the flathead. After trolling about 30m we had our first lizard in the boat at 65cm. With that one going in the cold box, we proceeded to troll another 100m and landed two more solid fish. As the water covered the bank, we went back to yabbies, which produced a couple of nice whiting and bream. At the end of the day, we had a good feed of whiting in the Esky and a few solid flathead had been

released to swim and fight another day. It’s great to see the kids getting out there and enjoying their fishing. Thanks for that wrap-up Warren. Remember folks, yes we run our fishing tuition on lures for different species in the bay but can also do fishing tuition for beginners. On another quick note, we competed in the Flathead Classic last month and I was lucky enough to fish with Ben Collins and George Mole as the Bush ‘n Beach Fishing Magazine team. The boys fished extremely well. We had a bit of a game plan, which was basically just fish the two-hour tide difference between the Jumpinpin Bar and Cabbage Tree Point. The fishing wasn’t easy but we had one goal and that was to each catch one legal fish per hour. We were lucky enough to exceed that and after two and a bit days of fishing we came a respectable ninth overall, which I think is not too bad for three guys who didn’t get to fish together before the event.

We all thought a top10 finish was fantastic but young George got his name called out in the lucky prize draw and believe it or not got second prize and won a boat. So all in all we had a fantastic few days of fishing including plenty of laughs, hitting some sandbanks (good on you Benny) and George won a boat to top it all off. I have to say thanks to the organisers for putting on another great event. You never know, the boys might ask me to fish it again next year. If you’d like to join us for a charter on the 6m boat, call Warren on 0433 732 310, or if you’d like to go on the 4.3m boat or learn more about our fishing tuition course ‘Ticking all the boxes’, phone 0432 386 307 and catch more fish, more often in Moreton Bay. We also have a few Facebook pages now. There’s the same one as always: Moreton Bay Fishing Charters; as well as Sean Conlon’s Fishing Tuition and Charters; and The Bay and Estuary Guided Fishing. Until next month, stay safe on the water.

If you haven’t pumped yabbies before, this is what they look like.

Get the kids pumping yabbies – they love it!

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Changes to spanner crab closures

UEENSLAND’S annual closed season for spanner crabs will be longer and start earlier under changes recently announced by Fisheries Queensland.

The closure, which applies to commercial and recreational fishers, will now run from November 1 until December 15. Fisheries Queensland Director of Management and Reform Kimberly Foster said the closed season had been extended by 15 days to provide greater protection to spanner

crabs during spawning. “By shifting the closure dates, commercial fishers will also have access to the fishery in time to supply the valuable Christmas market,” Ms Foster said. “Until now, spanner crabs were off-limits from November 20 to December 20 every year.” Ms Foster said amendments to the spanner crab closure were developed in consultation with industry and based on the best available science. “Closed seasons prevent people from fishing at

certain times of the year to protect valuable breeding stock, allowing species to replenish for future generations of fishers to enjoy,” she said. The closed season for spanner crabs applies in all Queensland waters. For more information on spanner crabs and closed seasons, visit fisheries. qld.gov.au, call 13 25 23 or download the free Qld Fishing app from Apple or Google app stores. You can follow Fisheries Queensland on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@ FisheriesQld).

Photo: Fisheries Queensland

Appeal for information about illegal take of protected lungfish

ISHERIES officers investigating the unlawful take of protected lungfish on the Brisbane River at Gregors Creek are seeking assistance from the public.

Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol District Manager Brett Depper said a Toogoolawah resident found 12 dead lungfish at the Alf Williams Bridge on Gregors Creek Rd on Sunday, October 14. “The lungfish, which are a protected no-take species in Queensland, seem to have been caught and discarded on the riverbank,” Mr Depper said. “Based on the state of decomposition, the lungfish had probably been there for the past week. “We are asking anyone with information to come forward,

Dr Ben Diggles officially recognised for outstanding contributions in advancing recreational fishing

U EENSLA N D Sportfishers recently held its sportfishing festival in Bundaberg with more than 80 anglers from across Queensland fishing, socialising and enjoying the annual official awards ceremony.

The Ron Dempster Award is the most prestigious of honours presented on awards night, which is bestowed upon an individual for their outstanding contribution to the enhancement of recreational fishing in Queensland. Queensland Sportfishers president Nathan Johnston said, “We are excited to announce this year’s Ron Dempster award recipient is Dr Ben Diggles.”

“Ben has been passionately working away at a variety of initiatives in the past two decades that have no doubt contributed to enjoyment and enhancement of sportfishing at the state, national and international level.” The list of Ben’s achievements during this time is as varied as the fish found in our waterways. These include fish health and disease studies, supporting development of Squidgies S Factor and other fish attractants, developing an environmental standard for fishing tournaments, improving and promoting speciesspecific iki jime (a brain spiking method of harvesting that delivers unde-

niable quality in seafood), helping reinstate oyster reefs in Bribie Passage and promoting ecosystem restoration through OzFish Unlimited. Ben joins a long list of high-profile recipients including Vic McCristal, Bruce Alvey, Hon Bill Byrne, Alf Hogan and Marina Hoare. Queensland Sportfishers applauds the achievements to date and looks forward to the opportunity of working collectively with Ben into the future on initiatives that advance recreational fishing in Queensland. You can learn more about the Ron Dempster

Award at ansaqld.com.au/ ron-dempster-award About Queensland Sportfishers The Queensland branch of the Australian National Sportfishing Association has recently adopted Queensland Sportfishers as its promotional name for ease of communication and awareness. The Queensland branch of ANSA is a not-for-profit organisation made up of affiliated clubs and members who promote sport, conservation and integrity in angling. Find out more at face book.com /Q ue ensla nd Sportfishers and ansaqld. com.au

whether they have direct knowledge of the offending or if they saw people camping in the area and can give a description of vehicles. “Members of the public can call the 24-hour toll-free Fishwatch hotline on 1800 017 116 and provide information anonymously if they wish.” Mr Depper said the maximum penalty for taking a protected fish under Queensland fisheries laws is $130,550. “If a protected fish is caught, it must not be removed from the water and should be released immediately and not intentionally or recklessly injured, damaged or subjected to undue stress,” he said. You can follow Fisheries Queensland on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@FisheriesQld).

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What you need to know about hooks

OOKS are the most important part of your tackle.

A good sharp and strong hook is vital when trying to catch fish including snapper. When that fish bites, you really want it to bite a hook that is constructed strongly enough to withstand the pressure that will be exerted on it. Of course, the other part of the equation is the hook must be sharp enough to penetrate the often hard and bony mouth of the fish. Myriad hooks are on the market and they come in many different shapes and sizes. Hooks such as the standard suicide work very well and are the most popular for snapper fishing. Circle hooks are also quite effective because you don’t need to strike at the fish, the hooks are designed to hook the fish themselves. If you do strike, you inevitably end up missing the fish and pulling the hook from its mouth. Another type of hook is gang hooks, which are generally crimped together into sets of two, three or four and long enough to suit the bait being used. In the past, sets of 4/0 Mustad gang hooks were my preference for snapper fishing and I used them for quite a while. More recently, I have started to use 4/0 Mustad Big Guns on a snooded rig consisting of two hooks spaced about 15cm apart. Using rigs like this takes away all the metal of a ganged rig and allows the bait to float naturally in the water column rather than being stiff. The hooks can also be set and hidden better in the offering because the big fish are smart and will only attack bait that looks as natural as possible. Another good thing about this rig is the final hook can be threaded through the bait several times before it is set. This allows the inspecting fish a few goes at it and means the bait is not easily ripped from the hooks. The top hook is set at the top of the bait and guides the

Moreton Bay by BRIAN WEBB

bait as it descends in the water column. When looking for hooks, you walk into a tackle shop and in front of you is a huge array of sizes and variations. Confused? Well hopefully this article will help de-mystify the hook display and help you decide the hook you need for the fish you are targeting. Hook sizes The numbers that define hook sizes can be confusing, but the system is actually very simple. Hook sizes are based on a nominal hook size of zero, and hook sizes with a number followed by a zero increase in size as the number goes up. For instance, a 4/0 hook is one size up from a 3/0. Hook sizes not followed by a zero decrease in size as the number increases. So a size 4 hook is smaller

than a size 3 hook. While most hook manufacturers follow this basic numbering system to indicate the increase or decrease in size of each hook within an individual pattern, there is unfortunately little standardisation in overall sizes. For instance, a 4/0 Mustad may not necessarily be the same size as a 4/0 Gamakatsu hook. Most fishing writers in books and magazines appear to assume Mustad hook sizes when recommending hooks. Trebles follow this sizing convention, that is, a treble is described by the size of any one of the hooks. So a 4/0 treble is made up of three 4/0 hooks. Extra-strong hooks Hooks marked ‘2X strong’ or 2X are made from wire as thick as the next size up. * continued P8

Circle and J hooks.

Stainless and octopus hooks.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 7

What you need to know about hooks * from P7

Snooded and snelled rigs.

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A 3X hook is as thick as a hook two sizes up. These hooks are designed to provide as much strength as a hook one or two sizes up in situations when a smaller hook is required. As an example, a 2X 4/0 hook has a wire thickness and strength of a 5/0 hook, and a 3X 4/0 hook has wire thickness and strength of a 6/0 hook. Extra-strength hooks are often used when live baiting to avoid having too much hook visible to the fish. They are also useful on lures where using a bigger hook would kill the action of the lure and make it less attractive to a fish.

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Extra-long hooks Unfortunately, the other common X standard doesn’t particularly apply to hook length, with a 2X long hook either possessing a shank twice as long as a standard hook of the same size, or a shaft the same length as the next size up hook. The only way to overcome this confusion is to check the manufacturer’s sizing charts. X long hooks are mostly used in fly fishing. Hook point variants Hooks come in nine point variants and all are designed to achieve different objectives. A knife-edge point is designed to cut into flesh and bone, and is useful for most hard-mouthed fish. A needle point is pretty much what it sounds like. Needle points have good penetration, however needle points do not cut once in the fish’s mouth and are less likely to cut their way out. Barbless hooks are just that and can be in any point variant. Micro barbs have very small barbs and are mainly used for trout fishing. Short barbs have a barb nearer the hook point than on a standard hook. Beak hooks see the point of the hook curve up towards the shank, in front of the barb. Kirby or reversed hook points are points that curve away at an angle to the shank and they are said to provide a better hook-up rate as the point does not get deflected.

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Strictly speaking, a kerbed hook point bends out to the right of the shaft and reversed points to the left. Forged hooks have the sides of the shank and bend flattened once the shape has been made, which makes them much stronger than standard hooks but a lot more expensive too. Circling back to barbless hooks, they possess some unique advantages and some the commercial fishos have homed in on. In a hot bite it is easier to remove a barbless hook and easier to remove residual bait, and therefore you can get another bait back into the water much more quickly. And the first time you sink a barbed hook into a part of your body and have to go through the drama of having it removed, you will become a barbless devotee. How big a hook is enough? First a quick dive into trout fishing. Dyed in the wool saltwater fishers are often amazed at the large size of trout that can be caught on seemingly tiny hooks. The same can be true in salt water as those who use small keeper hooks will attest. Regularly snapper are caught on 1/0 or 2/0 keeper hooks. It is not a huge jump to think of the size of a 12/0 big game hook hanging out the jaw of a marlin – size is relative. As a general rule, I use a hook that suits the size of my bait, rather than the size of the fish I am targeting. However, the fish I am targeting determines the bait size. If using a whole pillie, a

4/0 or 5/0 is the norm. Stainless or not? The prime reason for purchasing stainless hooks is storage as they will not rust as fast as non-stainless hooks when in the tackle box. However, other factors should be considered. Stainless hooks are often softer than non-stainless and for this reason tend to bend out more easily. Stainless hooks don’t stay as sharp, but can be easier to sharpen. They don’t degrade as fast underwater and in fish. They are more expensive. The rule that must be observed when storing unused hooks, stainless or otherwise is to never store used hooks with unused hooks, especially saltwater hooks. I try to keep new, unused hooks in their packets and only take out what I think

I need for the trip. Even fumbling about with wet hands in a packet of hooks can set off rust and corrosion. Save those little packets of desiccant drying powder that come with pills and many electrical products, as they are great to put in hook containers, tackle and lure boxes. If you do sharpen hooks, you need to bear a number of factors in mind. Sharpening produces heat, and too much heat will reduce the temper of the hook, which can soften the point and lead to points bending over or breaking off. It is important when sharpening hooks to use a slow stroke with a file or stone. Be careful not to remove too much metal from the point, as there is a fine line between a sharp point and a weak point.

A jig head hook.

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Hook dimensions.

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Tips to outfish your mates W HILE fishing is a sport of relaxation and a great way to unwind and take in the environment around you, it can also bring out the competitor in all of us.

While fishing competitions aren’t my thing, a bit of fun banter and rivalry with close mates or family is great sport! Hence our mantra has always been: “Bag your mates, not your limit!” It is true that sometimes luck can play a part in fishing captures, but most times there is a valid reason why one angler catches more fish than another. As the old saying goes, 10 percent of the fishers catch 90 percent of the fish… or maybe that

Fishing Tips

by SEAN THOMPSON

is 15 percent these days with social media sharing and technology, but either way, some people consistently catch more fish than others. This two-part series explores a number of areas where, if you apply the tips and techniques, you should stand a good chance of outfishing your mates on a regular basis! Preparation Good anglers prepare well, whether for a one-off session or a big trip. Preparation can take many forms including research, checking gear,

Whiting are one fish where getting your topwater lure to them first from the bow of the boat can pay dividends.

making rigs and packing efficiently. Research might sound boring but can be the difference between a very average session and a very good one. This research might involve studying maps of the area, reviewing your fishing diary if you have fished the area before, checking in with locals or online on the latest fishing reports and studying the forecast to know what sort of wind and water conditions to expect. Checking your gear before your trip is in my mind one of the biggest reasons why some anglers catch more fish than others. This might sound a bit odd, but if research leads to you all fishing the same areas, a bit of pre-trip planning can go a long way when you are hooked up or just trying to hook up. Some of my pre-planning tips include: • Checking rod guides for any nicks or cuts and ensuring they are replaced if needed; • Checking the drag and anti-reverse on all reels and if the drags are ‘sticking’, get them serviced before the trip to avoid any

unwanted bust-offs; • Replacing any line that has either been extensively used or is more than a couple of years old; • Topping up any spools of braid or mono to within a couple of millimetres of the lip of the spool to ensure long casts; • Checking your tackle box and removing any rusty hooks and swivels, and topping up your tackle boxes with required tackle; and • Ensuring you have a sufficient range of lures, reels and rods to cover the fishing scenarios you plan to tackle during your trip. Making rigs is another pre-trip necessity if you want to have your line in the water rather than mucking around making up rigs while the fish are hot to trot. It is for this reason I make up rigs for all the fish I plan to target on the trip. This might mean anything from wrapping bait rigs around pool noodles or placing them in small snap-lock bags, or prerigging a number of soft plastics on various size jig heads and putting them back in the packets to ensure they don’t dry out. Finally, packing efficiently simply means making sure your tackle boxes or bags/crates of gear are sorted in such a

* continued P10

The author’s son wisely chose the inside rod closest to the creek mouths when trolling recently.

Alex with a nice estuary cod pulled from under the shade of a jetty before his mates had time to do the same.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 9

The author’s son got onto the bow quickly on this day and caught seven fish in seven casts at a drop-off.

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Study the beach carefully before jumping in ahead of your mates to choose the best spot.

Tips to outfish your mates * from P9

way that you know where everything is and you have easy access to what you need when the fish are on. I carry a number of my rigs on me in my shoulder bag or backpack to ensure I am mobile and can move from gutter to gutter or quickly retie in the event of a break-off. I also keep my ‘mother ship’ of other gear separated in my own plastic crates and tackle boxes in the back of the four-wheeldrive to ensure I can quickly access my gear when I change plan and get back in the water quickly. Locations and positions Sometimes anglers not catching fish will complain to their mate that they are fishing in ‘the best spot’. This may be by ‘luck’ or the switched-on angler may have purposefully chosen a particular area of the boat, shore or beach to fish from. So where are the better

locations? Let’s start with fishing from a boat, particularly when drifting or using an electric motor to cast lures at structure along the bank or flats. The ‘best’ location in such circumstances is normally at the front or bow of the boat. Why? Simply, the boat is normally drifting in the direction the bow is pointed, which means the person at the front of the boat gets first dibs on the new ground being covered. This isn’t a guarantee you will catch the fish you come across but it does tip the odds in your favour. Choosing the best location to fish from the shore or beach gutter can be a bit trickier, but some things can be done to put the odds in your favour. As a general rule, you want to be looking for the best structure in your location. Structure can take many forms including rocks, fallen trees, a gut-

ter or deep hole, a channel marker, floating log, sand spit or jetty or bridge posts, just to name a few. For example, if you are fishing off the beach for whiting, don’t make the mistake of casting out to the deepest part of the gutter. Instead choose the ‘blind’ end of the gutter where it is hard up against the beach. Cast just behind the waves breaking on the shore, or if the shallow gutter has a close back bank, cast just behind that back bank and retrieve up onto the bank. All these locations are where the fish are targeting worms and pipis. Another example is a jetty or marina. Just the other day my son and his mates were casting a little too far away from the jetty, so I told them to tighten up their drags and lightly drift their baits underneath the jetty where it was both shady and the posts were covered in oysters.

Slide traces are used to get big baits in to deeper water, by clipping the slide clip to your line and shaking it down to where your grapnel sinker lies. Baits that generally are too big to cast out are ideal for sliding. Most popular place to use this method is off deep water points, where one targets big sharks with either a dead or live bait. Edible species are also targeted with the slide trace, namely GT, Jewfish, Kingfish, Queenish, Spanish Mackerel, amongst others. TYPICAL BITE When using big baits one stands a better chance of hooking bigger fish and generally the bite is felt with a heavy pull or sometimes, slack line, do not strike, simply drop your rod tip and reel in to the fish. Striking too early will result in burn off, often line peels off the reel with great speed as the fish makes a strong run. Some fights can last for many hours, the trick is to save as much energy so that you have enough power to pull when its most needed... TIPS Always check your knots, make sure your hooks are sharp and that you have enough line on your reel to handle your species. A .50 to .55mm abrasion resistant mono is recommended for sliding, any line with thinner diameter is susceptible to burn off. Always make sure the slide clip runs freely and is facing to where your sinker lies. Sliding baits is easier off a high vantage point, or if you are sliding with current into deeper water. Try making your bait as drag resistant as possible with the hooks standing proud when baited. The use of a grapnel sinker is very important as big baits need anchorage in strong current; the bigger your bait, the heavier your sinker needs to be.

Page 10 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

The first young fella to do so was quickly onto a lovely estuary cod that was lurking in the shadows right under their feet. Likewise, during the heat of a summer’s day you can get one up on your mates by casting your lures or baits to the shady side of a creek or river flanked by trees or boulders on the bank. Again, it is all about cover or protection for the fish. Be sure to direct your casts right under or directly beside any structure such as fallen trees or rocks, or anywhere the current is being diverted around structure because eddies or still water will form behind this diversion and that area will hold bait and therefore fish. On the other hand, sometimes you and your mates might be fishing very similar water sideby-side in a gutter along the beach.

If you are bait fishing, you can try berleying directly in front of where you are fishing if the sweep or current isn’t too strong to take your berley away. For example, if fishing with pilchards, you can chop older pilchards into fine pieces. You will be amazed at the difference this can make and it can also lead to more variety, with bottom feeders such as flathead seeking out your berley. The other thing you can do is add scents to your bait or vary your retrieve or tackle, but this is covered in more detail in part two. Next month in part two: finesse fishing, noise, retrieval techniques and more. In the meantime, jump on my Ontour Fishing Australia Facebook and Instagram pages.

Making up rigs prior to your trip will mean you have your line in the water when the fish are hot to trot.

The author with a flathead hooked by casting ahead of the bow.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 11

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Lockie was stoked with this freshwater jewfish.

Andy Sparnon scored a solid mangrove jack.

Amy Smith with her blackspot tuskfish.

The rains have flushed the estuaries and mangrove jack are on the bite. Fresh chicken strips have been the bait of choice for a few successful anglers. For others, it’s time to get the Alvey out and hit the beach with family or mates. Fish n Chicks is currently running a ‘Selfie with your Alvey’ giveaway and my goodness have we seen some amazing old beauties come out of the shed, including inherited reels passed down over generations and still as good as they day they were bought. These tough old reels are definitely the go when hitting the beach for a fish. Stay tuned for the winner of the giveaway in

SEQ Round-up by SYL CRON

next month’s article. Ken Howard is 64 years young and has been fishing almost his whole life. When he’s on the beach he will only use an Alvey. Ken caught a mackerel from the beach in Bowen on an 8” Alvey reel. The brass and copper reels in his photo were scored back in the ‘90s when a man was about to toss them in the bin.

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The author’s team at the WTF comp.

Ken has also been servicing his own reels for over 30 years. I recently attended the WTF Women that Fish Barra Classic in Rockhampton. This was a two-day fishing competition with 72 female competitors in 43 teams. With over $35,000 worth of prizes given away, this is a competition I will be returning to. Unfortunately, I was not lucky enough to catch a barra but I gave it my best shot, fishing for 23 hours and flicking lures, vibes and soft plastics. I met many other keen fisherwomen and lots of laughs were had. The lucky winner caught 15 barramundi measuring 8.62m in total. Andy Sparnon from CoastfishTV believes some of the best fishing to be had is from land. Gold Coast canals and land-locked lakes can produce desirable species such as giant trevally, cod, tarpon, giant herring and one of the most sought-after recreational species of

the past few years, mangrove jack. Andy likes to chase jacks at night around bridges and pontoons. These fish respond well to both live baits and chicken strips lightly or free weighted. The jack pictured measured in the 50cm range and was caught at Hope Island on the Gold Coast. Lachlan Wood is eight years old and loves fishing. His love of the sport comes from his dad Glen and pa Lyall. Every year since he was born he has been to Fraser Island for an annual fishing adventure and his love of fishing has continued to develop. At every opportunity, Lockie is in the backyard practising his casting or tying knots for his rigs. The picture of Lockie is from Lake Maroon, and Lockie was first awake at 5am and keen to go. In the boat with him were his dad, Ben and Dallas, who have now nicknamed him ‘Captain Questions’. Caught with worms, the fine specimen was a 47cm freshwater jewfish. Even if Lockie doesn’t catch anything, his attitude is still positive. Amy Smith is another eager fisherwoman who is on the water any chance she can get. Recently Amy managed to land the blackspot tuskfish pictured in Moreton Bay. Until next time, remember to stay safe and tight lines.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 13

Perfect places to take kids fishing

LOT of families and new people to the area come into Tackle Land at Sandgate asking where they can take the kids fishing.

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I know Brisbane City and Moreton Shire councils have invested a lot of resources into family friendly areas to make fishing a more enjoyable experience. In my own family, whenever we arrived at our fishing spot, the very first thing the kids needed was a toilet. I am sure it is something programmed into their DNA: ‘Arrive at destination and check out facilities, even if you don’t really need them’. Also, it needs to be somewhere the kids won’t get too bored if the fish are not biting. So, with this in mind I have checked out a few local spots that are family friendly and with facilities the kids will approve. Shorncliffe Pier has some of the most up-todate family friendly facilities, a covered area on the pier about two-thirds of the way out, which is awesome for wet or hot days, and modern toilets at the start of the pier so the kids can go before they head out.

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If the fishing is a bit slow, an awesome play area away from the traffic with plenty of climbing areas and basic rides and slides will keep them amused. A large shaded area for picnics is nearby with free gas barbecues for cooking lunch. Parking can be limited but you’ll find plenty of room in the drop and go zone and further parking up on the road. This would be my number-one family location to visit. Redcliffe Pier also has toilet facilities at the start of the pier and an undercover area about halfway out. No real playground area here, and limited shaded spots, but the beach is right there where the kids can have hours of fun. Nudgee Beach is off the beaten track a little, but the drive is worth it, with great toilet facilities, barbecues and a play area for the kids. You have access to a small jetty and also the mouth of the river and great beach access areas. You need to be mindful of the green zone that forms part of the Nudgee Beach area. Baxters Jetty at the mouth of Cabbage Tree Creek is another location with brand-new toilet facilities and a great little barbecue area. Again, no play areas, but the wide-open spaces for the kids to run around should ensure a great night’s sleep. A great little takeaway shop sits opposite the jetty, so leave some funds for their cod and chips special. All these areas have easily accessible disabilityaccess toilets. If you want more great advice on how to survive a fishing trip with the kids, check out the article on our website at tackleland.com. au/kids-fishing-basics

Young Tyler Browne recently met up with the crew from Schneider Fishing Lines and Stewart from Australian Monofil (Platypus Fishing Lines) and was given the opportunity to road test Schneider’s Fluorocarbon Leader and the new P8 braid from Platypus. This is what he came up with after several weeks of dedicated fishing, er, I mean testing (well that’s what he told his parents!). Choosing lines – by Tyler Browne So many different types of fishing lines are on the shelves that it can become confusing. When choosing a new line I consider whether the thickness and strength of the line suits the area and situation I will be fishing.

I’ve recently been testing the new Platypus P8 braid in 8lb, which is extremely thin and therefore casts like a dream. With this braid I can cast my light lures a long distance over the flats. So, if you are looking for a line that will help you cast a long way, you should look for a thin braid with optimal strength for what you are targeting, whether over rocks or sand. If you’re going to fish around really rough country, you’d do better with a thicker braid that will cop a bit more punishment. When it comes to choosing leader, things are a little different. Leaders are mostly made from fluorocarbon, but you can also find them in monofilament. These two different types of lines have pros and cons. When using fluorocarbon it is important to lubricate the knot because

any heat can damage the line. Fluorocarbon is almost invisible when in the water, which makes it very difficult for fish to see and enables you to fish in really clear water more efficiently. Monofilament, alternatively, is not as sensitive to heat, and although very tough will break under pressure. This makes it ideal for fishing around rocks. Unlike fluorocarbon, monofilament is much more visible underwater, which does not make it ideal for clear water situations. The leader I am using now is 10lb Schneider Crystal Clear 100% Fluorocarbon, which is working a dream while targeting flathead. It is not too heavy and is clear enough to fool the flatties. I hope this has helped you with your choice.

Will boated this flathead at Cabbage Tree Creek.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 15

Flathead rebound strongly after Flatty Classic

HOUGH the 2018 Gold Coast Flathead Classic has been and gone, Rob and I, along with the kids, have still been out targeting this species with a vengeance, with a few lessons learnt from the Classic.

Cade Luckus turned 16 on the day the Flathead Classic started and kicked some goals in the senior section.

John has been trolling up lovely sized flathead on the shallow-diving Tango Shads.

The ‘snot’ weed that has been around the Jumpinpin area has made trolling a bit of a nightmare in places, with this weed having a tendency to stick to lures like glue. The secret has definitely been to find clearer water. Some days we can troll an area with ease, only to find the next day that a lure can’t be kept in the water in the same location because of this weed. It can get pretty frustrating. Flathead numbers are going to remain strong for another month or so and as long as the weed doesn’t hinder your casting or trolling, shallow areas are ideal for targeting this species. Areas that usually produce include the flats around Gold Bank, Pandanus Island and Tipplers Island, Tulleen Island and the Never Fail Islands. To the south, the Aldershots, Brown Island and the flats around Crab Island hold plentiful numbers of flathead. When fishing the flats, no matter where you are, always be aware of the

Scott Fleming with a great-looking tarpon caught while pre-fishing for the Flathead Classic.

4am starts are OK when you get to fish with the good blokes from Team Wilson. John was in his element!

Page 16 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

Fishing Australia by LEEANN PAYNE

tide and how much water is under your boat, especially on a run-out tide. Fishing larger holes in these areas can be productive, with some only accessible when the tide is high. The channels leading out from Cabbage Tree Point and Jacobs Well also hold a lot of flathead, so don’t just zip through these areas to the likes of North or South Stradbroke islands. Make a couple of stops in likely looking areas such as drains and weed beds, but in particular always look for bait, whether on the sounder or the surface. If the bait is nervous, no doubt something higher on the food chain is lurking beneath and just about to have a feed. Casting lures into these areas is a must. Don’t think 30cm of water is too shallow because flathead and other species will be swimming in this depth. When it comes to chasing flathead, we’ve often found that if numbers are not on the flats, the deeper water is usually worth fishing. Casting is a very productive way of catching a fish, however at times it’s also a good idea to troll, just to cover a bit more ground. When trolling, concentrate on having the lures hitting bottom, and if they don’t, change lures. I’ve mentioned before the Mustad Fastach Clip, which is a simple piece of tackle that allows lures to be changed very quickly without cutting and retying the leader. Heading a bit further north, the eastern side of Crusoe Island is worth casting, though you will find a bit of submerged timber in the area. A tackle back/lure retriever is worth its weight in lures and the cost of one can be recouped on the first one or two lures you save. We have saved thousands of dollars in lures over the years thanks to these devices. Heavier-weighted lure retrievers are ideal to use in deeper and faster-running currents. Places like Jumpinpin Bar or the Seaway can be considered for flathead, however if you are mindful of your sounder, you can find deeper areas along some of the islands that can be successfully fished by jigging lures such as Zerek Fish Traps. You can’t really find a flathead on the sounder as you would a barramundi or tuna, but the sounder is an important tool that will show bait, structure and depth. The kids have been out

quite a lot recently, with John even keen on 4am starts to fish with the Team Wilson boys. He is addicted to fishing already, though we generally hit the water around the stages of the tide that are most productive so as not to bore the kids too much. Better fishing for flatties can be had towards the last stages of the run-out and first stages of the runin, which are certainly peak times to be targeting flathead. Both our kids can cast reasonably well, though at times they aren’t all that accurate, but that’s OK. The casts and retrieves definitely aren’t textbook stuff but hey, what fish reads anyway? As long as the lure is in the water, there’s always a chance of hooking a fish. On our most recent trip casting Zerek Flat Shads in the shallows on the banks along Tipplers Passage, we were rewarded with a very proud parent moment when John hooked his very first flathead while casting and retrieving. His cast was beautifully long on the flats we were drifting and moments after the Flat Shad landed, he mentioned his line was

heavy and he had a fish. I wasn’t really listening and thought it was probably just weed but lo and behold I quickly had to make a dash for the landing net when the 53cm flathead came into view next to the boat. The little fella couldn’t stop smiling or saying “I’m so proud of myself”, and I’m finding it’s the kids’ fishing milestones I really love nowadays. With the Flathead Classic done and dusted, the wrap-up was not so good for Team Wilson who came in at 11th overall, which was not bad for 280 teams, but still Rob’s team would have loved to have done a bit better. A big shout-out goes out to Cade Luckus and Dominic Cerasa who fished together in Wilson Juniors. Cade pre-fished with his older sister as he didn’t have a boat licence and on the first day of competition when he turned 16, he had to go to Queensland Transport to get his boat licence to fish the comp legally. Fishing in our Cross X Country car topper, Cade came 36th in the senior angler category, and with over 600 senior anglers competing, I believe that’s a mighty awesome achievement. His teammate Dominic came fifth in the junior angler category and overall they came a very respectable 37th.

Considering that Cade and his mate Dominic aged 15 were fishing by themselves and are still in Year 11, the effort they put in was nothing short of mammoth. Jumpinpin area After the Flathead Classic finished recently, we have lots to report. This past week saw flathead to 95cm being caught around Tipplers Channel, Tiger Mullet Channel, along the banks and a few big fish in the deeper water near the end of North Stradbroke Island. Casting soft plastics and fishing around the bottom of the tide in the shallows and the deeper water around the high tide worked the best. Some good-sized jewfish were caught in the deep water at the end of North Straddie using larger grub soft plastics and live pike. Quality whiting have been hooked on the banks opposite Cabbage Tree Point and the Slipping Sands, and it’s also worth a try for whiting in the lagoons at the end of South Stradbroke. Try for bream around Crusoe Island on the eastern side and off the jetty at Jacobs Well in the evening. A few muddies are being caught in the upper Pimpama River, and sand crabs in Tipplers Channel (overnight is best).

John with his first fish caught while casting by himself.

The shallow-diving Zerek Tango Shad in Fat Betty colouration has been working well for John.

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Ethan Hoggard landed a sailfish on spin gear.

Learning how to fish successfully Alisa Schofield on a little black.

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Photo: Kelly Dalling

GOLD COAST | FRASER

Call Capt Brett Alty 0417 766 734 E: captainbrettalty@bigpond.com

www.fishingmistress.com Page 18 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

HIS series of articles will focus on fishing for blue marlin but will address other species too.

I will start at the logical place, which is the start. The biggest problem with game fishing is learning how to do it with a high level of success. It is obvious that all the world’s knowledge is in books, these days the internet, and in people’s minds. Unfortunately, marlin don’t write books and I haven’t come across a good ‘how-to’ written by anyone yet. Most people are introduced to game fishing by a friend who invites them out on their boat, usually on a ‘share fuel’ basis. This is good, but in terms of learning you need to evaluate the expertise of your friend and consider what you are learning. Some people are selftaught, but this is the hard way and full of trial and error; mostly the latter, and very frustrating, often causing people to lose enthusiasm for game fishing or give it up entirely. Consider the following. In any field of sporting endeavour are rank amateurs, good amateurs, excellent amateurs, and professionals and Olympians. The higher up the scale the person you are learning from, the faster you will learn, the better you will become, and more successful you will be. It is very worthwhile to join a club. The cost is miniscule compared to what you will spend on rods, reels, lures, fuel and boat maintenance. In my experience, clubs will have among their members those who are pre-eminent in terms of knowledge and success. Don’t be afraid to pick their brains. Most experienced and expert anglers are prepared to share knowledge willingly. Offer to deckie for them on their boat, or invite them out on yours. Anything to gain access to their knowledge. Consider chartering too. Charter boat captains and crews are at the top of the tree of knowledge and experience, so learning

Sportfishing by BARRY ALTY

from them is the fastest and best way. A daily cost of $2000/2500 doesn’t seem too much when you share it between a few of you

and consider how much you will learn in a short time. It may actually be a cheaper path to success than spending thousands

trying to teach yourself or trying to learn from friends who don’t know much. The thing is, they don’t know that they don’t know, but think they are experts, just not as lucky as others. On the charter boat * continued P19

A Mistress client got a look at his marlin.

Ethan scored a barrel of a yellowfin tuna.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Learning how to fish successfully * from P18

you will learn how to rig lines and lures properly, where to put lures of various types, where to fish, what signs to look for, how to tune sounders so they mark fish and thermoclines, what drag settings to use and how to fight fish properly, easily and effectively. Ask plenty of questions and observe what is happening. You are paying for lessons and usually a successful fishing day. I have been game fishing for 53 years, initially with dead baits in New Zealand, but for the past 34 years almost exclusively with lures, except when fishing dead baits in Cairns or live/dead baits when targeting little blacks. The captain of Mistress, my son Brett, has been game fishing for 34 years

and has been skippering charter boats for the past 26, with experience in Cairns, Perth, the Gold Coast and Fraser Island, as well as New Zealand, the Bahamas and the Maldives. He has also driven privateers in Papua New Guinea, Cabo San Lucas and California. Both of us charter overseas for seven to nine days every year. We do this so we can fish with those we consider the best in the world. Captains like Teddy Hoogs, Bryan Toney, Chip Van Mols and Boyd DeCoito in Kona, Hawaii and Alan Card in Bermuda. By doing this, we get to see if they are doing anything better than us and to continue learning. Generally it confirms we are right up there with the world’s best in terms of our fishing techniques

and methods, but we always learn something, because even with our combined experience we don’t know everything and are still learning. The ‘something’ we learn is often minor, maybe a 1 percenter like how to easily catch another tuna bait when trolling one live at 11-12 knots. But 1 percenters add up over time. Or maybe we’ll pick up something significant like an extraordinarily successful new lure. Last year in Kona we learnt a new lure hook rig that changed our rig of the past 30 years and has in combination with the lures we are using produced strike/hook-up ratios in the low-90 percent range and strike/tag ratios in the low-80s. Hallelujah! In the next article we’ll talk lure origins, designs and actions.

Maryin Morgan with her first-ever fish: a spanish mackerel.

About the author

ARRY Alty is owner of the Gold Coastbased 50’ custom charter boat Mistress, skippered by his highly accomplished son captain Brett Alty.

Captain Brett and some nice coral trout for dinner.

Mick Stewart and captain Brett with a 300lb mako shark.

Barry is a highly experienced and very successful angler who commenced his game fishing career 53 years ago in New Zealand. Since then he has fished on the Gold Coast and at Cape Moreton, Fraser Island, Townsville, Cairns and Perth, and internationally in locations including Bougainville Island and Rabaul in Papua New Guinea. In PNG he fished with his friend and well-known lure maker John Lau. Other overseas locations fished by Barry include Kona, Hawaii, Mauritius, the Bahamas (Bahamas Billfish Championship), Islamorada, Florida Keys, Bermuda and Prince Edward Island.

Barry has tagged and released three species estimated at over 1000lb: black marlin (10), tiger shark and Atlantic bluefin tuna. Barry’s tournament wins have been numerous, with the most notable achievements being the Yorkeys Knob (Cairns) Makaira Bullfight three times out of four and the Hervey Bay Game Fishing Club Tournament twice in three years (on both occasions against fleets of 40-odd boats). Barry has received The Billfish Foundation Award for releasing the most black marlin in the Pacific Ocean on nine occasions and the same award for the most blue marlin on two occasions. He has also achieved a Billfish Royal Slam (releasing all nine species of billfish) and is a recipient of the International Game Fish Association’s Gil Keech Award for Outstanding Heavy Tackle Angling Achievement. Barry is one of only five anglers to have achieved this prestigious double. We look forward to seeing more of Barry’s articles.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 19

Gold Coast waters coming to life N OVEMBER seems to be when people start to plan their Christmas holidays and what they are going to achieve over the Christmas period.

The author with his first koi carp.

Grant scored his first Mary River cod.

A pink Zerek Tango Shad caught this flathead’s eye during the Flathead Classic.

Lately we have experienced a few days of solid rain, which should benefit our waterways as we needed a good flush to move the bait around and get the fish active. The discoloured and flowing water gives them a bit more confidence to feed, making targeting any species on lures a little easier. Coming off the back of the Gold Coast Flathead Classic, people are continuing to get good size flathead in solid numbers. The flathead are a bit all over the place this year, with a few in the deep and a few in the shallows, but the common theme for success was finding bait and fishing the dropoffs, either by casting or trolling. Another thing I found a little surprising was the super-light and small lures and gear that seemed to work well. It wasn’t uncommon for competitors to use 4-8lb braid and leader. In our estuaries, trevally are starting to fire. Fishing surface lures early of a morning and late of an afternoon near drains and points has attracted the likes of trevally on surface lures. A comfortable trevally outfit is a 2-5kg rod of about 7’ with a 2500-size reel and 6-12lb braid. Surface lures from 60100mm are ideal. Mangrove jack are start-

Nerang Rooster Report by DARREN RAMA

ing to claim a few lures, especially around bridges with deep rock walls towards the slack tides. They don’t mind cruising around and looking for a meal, rather than focusing on maintaining an ambush point in the current. Trolling is working along deeper edges with strong current. Anglers using 3-4m divers with the bib bouncing over rocks and staying close to the strike zone have enjoyed success. Lately I have been quite interested in fishing Wyaralong Dam. The fishing diversity is amazing and a variety of different techniques have enticed the fish. Despite being a new dam, the fishing on offer excites me, especially for what is to come! The bass fishing is awesome because all the fish are very healthy and can be caught by finding schools on the sounder or with simpler techniques like slow rolling spinnerbaits off the edges. The dam is also stocked with Mary River cod, which don’t mind taking a spinnerbait as well. But surprisingly, a form of fishing that is starting to become popular and is a great thing for our waterways is targeting carp and tilapia. These are both introduced species and need to be disposed of after capture because they ruin

waterways and eat absolutely anything, stripping our natives of their food source. The thing that makes them interesting is the carp can often be seen in the shallows looking for a meal. This visual aspect allows you to cast a small lure right in front of their face, and to add to the fun, you can use fly fishing gear. I use a 4wt rod and 8-12lb leader depending on the terrain. There’s something about watching the fish’s actions and seeing them eat the fly that makes it so much more enjoyable. And they fight bloody hard too!

Carp have big paddle tails and don’t give up until they are landed. Tilapia can be similar in that it’s still a visual technique, except when these fish breed they make little nests (generally a circular sand hole) and tend to get aggressive if something comes too close to their nest. So watching these fish pick up your presentation and setting the hook is great fun. If fly isn’t the thing for you, that’s fine, as conventional fishing still works. Just use small 2” soft plastics with a light jig head and the results will be similar. Both these fish can also be caught using bait, so is something you can do with the kids. Best baits are earthworms and live shrimp. Hinze Dam has been fishing well, with bass

up to 50cm coming on spinnerbaits and jig spins fished right up in the timbers. I have been using 16lb braid and leader and found the more trees I have my lure bumping over, the more success I have. It goes without saying but the odd frustrating snag comes with this technique. But when the fishing outweighs the snags, it doesn’t matter! Saratoga are starting to fire up again, being caught in the top metre of the water column. If you’re planning to go on holidays soon, hopefully you can get a fish or two. And if you’re looking for somewhere to holiday, it’s worth considering the southeast coast as all waterways have something to offer!

A nice bass for Chris.

2018 Flathead Classic wrap-up

A The top three senior anglers Jason Swain, George Sands and Adam Barnes. Photos: Gerry Nicholls Photography.

Julie Morrow was the happy winner of the major prize boat supplied by Surf Coast Marine.

Page 20 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

FTER three days of fun in the sun (and sometimes rain), the 2018 Gold Coast Flathead Classic has been run and won by Team Sands, led by top-scoring senior angler George Sands.

Managing to put together an impressive 3925 points, Team Sands fended off all comers in the hotly contested fishing comp’s 25th year, despite battling with some adverse conditions and lower fish numbers than previous years. A mammoth effort from a two-person team saw Team Viper Strike come home in second place with 3763 points. Rounding out the top three was Team On Strike with 3242 points. These are exceptional results considering flathead numbers were 760 down on last year at 4909. Some anglers suggested this could have been due to the unusually cool weather, while others surmised the area had been thoroughly worked over by professional netters leading up to the event. In any case, that’s still a

substantial number of flat fish to be captured over three days. Of those caught, 2067 were legal-size fish (4075cm) and this year they had a penchant for soft lures, with 3083 fish coming on soft plastics (up on last year), 1823 on hard-bodies and three on fly. As for which colour was the most successful, the theme continued from last year as white lures enticed 1517 fish, pink lures captured 815 fish and green 691. In terms of individual scores, as mentioned, George Sands was the highest-scoring senior angler after tallying 2361 points. Right behind him was Adam Barnes on 2260 points, and the top three was rounded out by Jason Swain who scored 1694 points. Female anglers turned out in force for this year’s Classic, but it was Megan Savas who topped the list with 643 points. Melinda Henderson was hot on Megan’s heels with 638 points. Finishing third after a stellar comp was Brooke

Frecklington with 575 points. This year’s event also saw a strong contingent of junior anglers, with Drayzen Allen the top-scoring junior after amassing a very impressive 1061 points. The second-placed junior was right on Drayzen’s heels – Hayden Swain catching 980 points of flathead. Reuben White wrapped up the top three in the junior section with 604 points. While flathead is the event’s target species, the Gold Coast’s fertile waters offer up plenty of other fish as by-catch and prizes are awarded for the largest examples of several species, as follows: The largest mulloway was a 105cm model boated by Luke Geale, the biggest trevally measured 60cm and was hooked by Clinton Cook, the longest tailor was 57cm long and landed by Greg Livingstone, the biggest estuary cod was 56cm in length and caught by Jake Sleight, a 37cm whiting was enticed by Ben Howgego and Ryan Kitto scored a 42cm bream.

The Flathead Classic is well known for the incredible prize pools in its lucky draw comps, and this year was no exception. Two major prize boats were given away this year; a Quintrex 420 Renegade side console as first prize and a 420 Renegade Tiller Steer as second, both powered by Evinrude ETECs and supplied by major sponsor Surf Coast Marine. Julie Morrow was the lucky winner of the side console, while Bush ‘n Beach Fishing team member George Mole won the tiller steer boat. With a prize pool in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, many other entrants also walked away

as happy winners of awesome gear including sounders, rods, reels and more. You’d be hard-pressed to wind a harder-working crew than those who put the Flathead Classic together, so a massive thankyou must go to the event organisers and of course the invaluable sponsors. Without one or the other, running this premier annual fishing competition simply would not be possible. For any more information and for the full results and photo gallery, visit flatheadclassic.com. au or jump on the Gold Coast Flathead Classic Facebook page.

2018 Flathead Classic team champions Team Sands.

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I hooked this longtail tuna off Wathumba Creek on Fraser Island on my daughter’s little Shimano Sienna combo and a Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ 4” in Opening Night colour. Anthony Lee

Hi Ben, A nice mackerel and snapper caught by my wife Michelle and I on a recent trip to Burrum Heads. Cheers, Craig Allan

Max is five years old and captured his first GT in the Maroochy River on the Sunshine Coast. It went 58cm. Andrew McDonald

Hi Ben, Here’s a picture of my daughter Caitlin with her first big fish she has caught: a 9kg tuna hooked off Rooney Point Fraser Island. She reeled it in all by herself! Great magazine, keep up the good work. Thanks, Sam Drummond

My eight-year-old son Tom caught this 73cm snapper at the mouth of the Brisbane River on 10lb braid. It was by far his biggest fish to date. Regards, Scott Richard Went up to Karumba and my mate got his first barra 20 minutes in at the first spot. The fish measured 95cm. We caught plenty of fingermark too. All hooked using 20lb braid and 40lb mono leader. Michael Reader

A 2.5kg, 58cm grunter bream landed while fishing for jewfish near the Logan River mouth. Tye Haylen-Corfe

I landed this barra from my kayak near Calliope. Jonathon Roberts

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.

■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum ■ Readers Forum www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 21

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Bradh's Smited Guiding Fishs Tour

This whiting was landed by Wolfgang on a trolled Micro Mullet lure.

November options on Gold Coast G ’DAY everyone, in this month’s article we will discuss some options for finding fish in our estuaries during November.

The water temperature will rise to about 25C, which means the typical

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Page 22 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

Fish the deep holes this month for jewies like this one caught by Gav.

Gold Coast Guide by BRAD SMITH

winter species including bream and tailor will slow down while mangrove jack and whiting fire up. Mangrove jack are without doubt the biggest bucket list fish targeted in the Gold Coast and Tweed River region and you need quality equipment, good planning and a fair degree of time and patience to catch them. I suggest a 6-10kg rod loaded with 20lb braid and 30lb leader being about as light as you should use while targeting this species. The first thing jacks will do once hooked is make a lightning quick and powerful attempt at busting you up in the extreme structure where they wait in ambush of unsuspecting prey. Fishing in very heavily structured areas around snags, bridges, rock walls and jetties early in the morning and late in

the afternoon and night around the tide changes will increase your chances of success. Jacks will readily respond to a variety of lures as well as dead or live baits including herring and mullet as long as you fish them tight to structure. Whiting is another species that really starts to make its presence felt this month and all through the coming summer months. This species is one I hold in high regard for a hard-fighting nature relative to size when targeted on very light equipment. As with most species, whiting can be targeted on a range of lures and live baits. When it comes to targeting them on lures, all you need is a very light 1-3kg or 2-4kg rod loaded with nothing heavier than 6lb braid and a variety of small lures. Some of my favourite whiting lures for trolling are small diving lures such as Zerek Tango Shads, my own Brad Smith Lil Mates, Pontoon21 CrackJacks, O.S.P Dunks and Lively Lures Micro Mullets. The key when trolling for whiting is you want the water to be a bit discoloured and the lures must continuously bounce and tap the bottom. If you look at the lures listed above, they are all 50mm or less in length and will allow you to troll in water from less than a metre up to 4m in depth, which gives you a variety of depths to explore. When trolling for whiting, you can also expect to catch flathead because these lures are my preferred choice for trolling for flatties too.

Drifting the edges of channels and deep holes with small metals blades bounced close to the bottom will also produce whiting. However, my favourite way to catch whiting is fishing with surface lures over shallow flats in rivers and creeks. Small poppers work well with this technique but my favourite lure for the job is the Bassday Sugapen, which is a stickbait or pencil popper that is retrieved with a walk the dog technique created by twitching the rod tip during retrieval, giving the lure a left to right movement across the water. Watching a school of good-sized whiting com-

peting against each other to crash the lure off the surface is fantastic visual sport. If you choose to use bait for whiting, you can’t go past live worms and yabbies, once again fished with light equipment. Some anglers seem to think mulloway can only be targeted during the cooler winter months but I have great success at catching them in November and through summer. Fishing the deepest holes in the rivers with lures and live baits around tide changes is the key for catching these big apex estuary critters. Thank you for reading and I look forward to talking again next month.

The new Bassday Sugapen 58 surface lures are going to be fantastic for targeting whiting this summer.

Flathead will be present this month, with this one taking a liking to a trolled O.S.P Dunk lure.

This whiting was hooked while fishing the shallow flats with a Bassday Sugapen surface lure.

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Curious catches at Brunswick Heads

HE estuaries are the place to go at the moment as offshore fishing has been hard.

The local shallow reefs are almost barren and the current is roaring out wide. In the rivers, the summer predators are starting to hit full steam as the water warms each day. It’s great to see the showers of baitfish in the shallows and up against the snags as jacks, big flathead, trevally and the like launch into the schools of glassy perchlets, herring and poddy mullet. Schools of white pilchards are moving in the lower reaches too and this attracts plenty of attention, mostly from tailor and trevally but also small queenfish and even little mack tuna and bonito. I caught some nice whiting and bream while fishing with yabbies recently along the lower walls of the Brunswick River and in the harbour. The afternoon session produced 10 whiting and four bream, so I was very pleased with the feed. Every spring, long toms come into the rivers and are a serious predator on the flats. I haven’t caught a lot over the years. They aren’t really a de-

Tweed to Byron Bay by GAVIN DOBSON

sirable target species but are a fun incidental catch as they snake their way back to be unhooked. I’ve seen some megafat ones about 90cm long over the years and mostly I have caught them on yabbies while whiting fishing, but I have also hooked them on metal slices and spoons. The one in the photo was about 60cm long. They are awesomelooking fish and come with serious attitude. I was wading the flats at Fingal many years ago and caught a long tom only about 30cm long. I dropped it back into the water after removing the hook and it swam away a short distance then suddenly turned and charged, biting me on the calf. A similar-sized fish also bit me on the leg when I was prawning one night after it apparently took offense to me shining a torch on it. No damage was done but I reckon a 90cm specimen could cause puncture wounds and abrasions. Anyway, enough about long toms, because the real story here is good whiting are starting to be caught at Brunswick Heads.

Not heaps yet but definitely worth the effort. I was doing a river cruise the other week and some young boys on a sandbank proudly picked up a very large whiting they had just caught to show off to the boat as it drove past. They were excited and rightly so as it was definitely brag-worthy. One of the lads held the fish over his head when suddenly the fish kicked out of his grasp and landed in the ankledeep water. Both boys made a desperate dive and came up empty. They were gutted and as we drove further away I could see they were getting into a bit of an argument and a scrap. If I had to guess I’d say the boy who dropped the fish in the water wasn’t the one who caught it in the first place! I’m seeing good whiting in the shallows on my cruises. Around Mangrove Island above Ferry Reserve Caravan Park is always a likely place to spot whiting and I see people surface popping for them in this area quite often. Flathead are a bit slow at

present but they’ll turn up. Mangrove jack, the best fish in the river, are making a start at Brunswick Heads. They are always a bit slower to get going in the smaller rivers, as they’ve been on the bite in the mighty Tweed River for a while now. I’ve always thought there isn’t much point chasing jacks in the Brunz until November. Likewise, mud crabs are a bit slow here. They won’t start to re* continued P24

It’s whiting time again and you can’t say no to a feed of these beauties.

Only an accidental capture but long toms sure are awesome-looking critters.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 23

Wild weather signals summer n Reef fish n Whiting n Flathead n Bass

ELLO and welcome to this month’s edition of BNB.

Bream are a year-round proposition in the estuaries. The quality varies from season to season but some are always hanging around.

Curious catches at Brunswick Heads * from P23

ally fire until after the Christmas rush but don’t let that put you off chasing them before Christmas as you will still get a feed, especially if there is some good storm activity. As mentioned, offshore fishing is a bit hard at present but you might scratch up a feed somewhere. Out at Windarra Banks there should be some kingfish getting around this month. The fight far exceeds the feed from these fish in my opinion, but some people like them so go for it. Live baits and knife jigs should stir them up and they like a bit of current running too.

While you are there it’s always worth a drift for a snapper and trolling might produce a mack tuna or bonito. Further out, the reef fish will be there but it’s up to the current whether you can fish for them or not. The FAD off Cape Byron might start producing a few mahi mahi this month. Let’s hope so because they can certainly save a trip when you get out there and find the current running too hard to fish the bottom. Traditionally, we should be seeing cobia on the close reefs north of Brunswick Heads this month but you’ve been listening to me moan about the lack of these

fish for years now. Squire and snapper are very scarce on our shallow reefs, so I wouldn’t be counting on them for a feed but you might get a couple while you are also fishing for a jew, moses perch, maori cod and anything else that will help make up a mixed bag. Hopefully over the next couple of months I can find some chopper tailor and bonito to try to get a few mackerel baits in the freezer. Several pike wouldn’t hurt either and neither would some big slimy mackerel. This always feels like a worthwhile exercise for me at this time of year when things offshore are a bit quiet.

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Well the weather over the past month has certainly been rather unsettled to say the least. Strong wind, swell and some afternoon storms with the distinct threat of hail have all signalled the fact that summer, while not producing stinkinghot days just yet, is most definitely here already. The fishing offshore has been a little difficult over the past month, with that strong afternoon wind having kicked in. Add to this some heavy current out wide pushing down from the north, which is affecting an area from the 48-fathom line and out as far as the continental shelf. While this heavy current makes the fishing conditions difficult, it will concentrate the baitfish, which in turn will usually fire up the kingfish and amberjack. This push of strong current has meant that the 32 and 42-fathom lines have most definitely been a more popular and easier option to fish of late. Some quality pearl perch and tuskfish have come from the north 42s and the better numbers, as well as better quality, of snapper and flathead have been showing up on the southern 32s. Slow-pitch jigs and soft plastics in brighter colours have had the most success of late, but as we all know, this can change at the drop of a hat. Mullet, squid and live yakkas have been the pick of the baits to try. While the current has picked up, the water temperature hasn’t, and is still fluctuating between 19C and 20C. This is a little low for this time of year, but it hasn’t stopped the mahi mahi and small kingfish from moving in to the FAD and the wave-rider buoy area on the 32s and setting up camp.

Ballina Bait & Tackle by BRETT HYDE

At least the flathead and bream are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing at this time of year. Live baits such as slimy mackerel and yakkas have both tempted some of these mahi mahi, but as yet the better-quality models have not shown up. Over the next month or so I expect to see the better fish being captured in this area and also out a little wider on the stronger current lines. When they do show, it will be worth trying vibes, soft plastics and even trolling pilchards or skirted lures around the buoys as the better fish will often sit well away from them, hoping to strike some unsuspecting baitfish that has been separated from the school. Back in the Richmond River, we are starting to see reasonable numbers of whiting showing up during the run-in tides. This is a little out of the ordinary, as the whiting seem to prefer the larger tides as we get closer to Christmas, as opposed to the slightly smaller tides we experience at this time of year. The other thing a little out of character is the water temperature is on the low side and has been hovering around 20C for a while now. The whiting would typically prefer this to be a bit higher, but I for one am not complaining that they

have arrived a little early and am sure that by the time this edition hits the stand that the weather patterns for whiting will have sorted themselves out. For now, I would concentrate your efforts in the lower reaches of North Creek, and in the main river from the mouth up to the Burns Point Ferry. At least the flathead and bream are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing at this time of year. Flathead have been responding nicely to hardbody lures trolled around the sand flats and on the edges of drop-offs. The run-out tides have been a little more productive because the water has been a bit warmer. Brighter colours have been particularly effective, but on grey and overcast days darker colours have been just as good. Zerek Tango Shads, Atomic Shiner 45s and 60s and Taylor Made Tiny Nugget or Nippy Shrimps have all tempted at least a few fish over the past couple weeks for those wishing to troll. For those anglers wanting to cast and retrieve, TT Switchblades, Ecogear ZX blades and Daiwa Double Clutch 70s and 95s have all been great options. White and blue pil-

chards have been the pick of the baits, and anglers keen to slow roll those baits across the flats have done a little better than others. Bream have been making their way up the river, with better numbers of fish showing up from the rock wall above the ferry all the way to Wardell Bridge. Prawns, mullet fillets and squid have been popular bait choices during the run-up tides. Small hard-body lures such as Jackall Chubbys and Atomic Cranks have worked in more natural colours like Pink Eye Suji, Ayu, Muddy Prawn and Ghost Gill Brown. The recent bit of rain brought some of the frogs out to play and consequently the bass have decided to have some surface fun with frog imitations. Z-Man Finesse FrogZ rigged with a weedless hook have been super popular this year and they are going to account for plenty more fish before summer is over. Most of the surface activity has been during the low-light periods at sunrise and sunset, but during the day plenty of bass have been taken on football-head jigs with a crawdad plastic trailer on them. Bassman Spinnerbaits makes awesome football jigs and swim jigs, with both having a weed guard so you can throw them in super-snaggy country and be pretty confident you will get them back. By adding the soft plastic trailers including ZMan TRDs, Z-Man Turbo CrawZ or Keitech Crazy Flappers, you give the jig extra body or bulk but also realistic-looking claws and extra fish-attracting action with the claws waving around, and the bass just can’t resist an easy feed. Well that’s all for this month’s edition. ‘Til next time, tight lines!

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Flathead just love topwater poppers in the shallows.

A good bag of bream all released to fight another day.

Change on the way for Evans Head n Caravan Park upgrade n Guide to flathead

UST think about it: the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the Minister of Finance is happy and you could ask for no more, then someone comes along and kicks sand in your face… bugger, it was a good dream.

Evans Head was a family friendly place where we could all walk through town and access the beach, but that is about to change, with the caravan park building a fence to lock us out and the caravans in.

Evans Head by GARY ‘SQUIDGIE’ PALMER

The park is now run by NSW Crown Holiday Parks Trust and residents have given a lot of mixed reviews. We used to have a beer at the pub, walk out of the main bar or lounge and straight across the road to the river front and in three minutes you’d be at the caravan park.

Mums and dads would have a counter lunch at the pub with the kids, and then walk out of the hotel and down to the river for a swim. Well not anymore. Not with this mob taking over and closing off most of the areas from the RSL or surf club. The new caravan park owners need to remem-

ber this was a family friendly town and is also classed as South Casino, South Kyogle and South Lismore. Families from all over the Northern Rivers have been using the park for generations and to have someone come in and cause so much grief is very disappointing. Some feel they have lost their holiday park due to it now being too dear for them. Evans Head wants to be a family friendly town, not just for the rich and

famous, but for everyday mums and dads to enjoy. Evans Head is losing its identity with the old public school being demolished, though a petition is going around trying to save it. With the caravan park upgrade, the jury is out waiting on how it all turns out. I hate it. Evans to me should be a town where you can walk down the street and meet and greet mates, * continued P26

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www.frogleysoffshore.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 25

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some people love. Anyway, enough of that. The fishing in the area has been very good. Bream, flathead, jewfish, whiting, crabs and bass are being captured in the rivers, out in the deep blue, snapper, trag, jew and parrotfish are being boated, and out even wider when the tides let you, bar cod are on offer. You may have to put in the hours but that’s fishing; don’t expect to just toss in a line and have fish climb all over it. That happens once in a blue moon, but if you do your homework you will be able to scratch up a feed or three. Remember fresh is best, so go to the Evans Head Fishermens Co-Op or Evans Head Sports & Marine for your bait. Alternatively, head down to the bridge and catch a few herring. To me, herring are the duck’s nuts as live or cut bait. For jewfish, I would try to get some fresh squid from the tackle shop or Co-Op. Flathead are one of my favourite fish and if you work out where they hang out you may be able to get a feed. I know I can get a feed of flathead with little hassle as I fish for them a fair bit, but for the weekend fisher it can be hard to get them because standing on a bank and casting out is really not going to work. Let me help you. Whitebait, baby blue pillies, frogmouth pillies and prawns are ideal for catching flatties. Use two or three small gang hooks depending on the size of the bait. Make sure the bait is straight and make it look real as nothing is worse than seeing mushed-up or bent baits on a hook. Try to make it look so good even you would eat it. When I’m walking the banks, I look for sand bars, walls, any debris like downed trees, run-off areas and river mouths. Sometimes you find areas that are locked in at low tide, such as the backs of walls. Ballina has a great one on the south side and Evans a good one at the island on the north side. Here you just walk in and cast in ankle-deep water, but don’t just cast and leave, you need to cast and slowly wind in. Keep casting and fan your casts. Remember to check your bait and make sure it’s not mushed up after casting. If your bait is fresh, it should stay on your hooks and turn to mush. There’s no need to whip your cast, just slowly cast

and make sure you don’t destroy your offering. I love bridge fishing, but at Evans the walkway railing is so high I need to bring a 20-litre bucket to stand on. If you’re 5’ or smaller, you too will need something to stand on, but don’t let it stop you because bridge pylons are flathead heaven thanks to the baitfish that love these areas. Pylons are feeding stations and the old saying applies: find the bait and you’ll find the fish. On the run-out tide I cast as close as I can to a pylon. At Evans you have a deep channel and a shallow channel, so position yourself in the middle of the walkway to allow you to cast either in the deep or shallow. I pepper the deep with whitebaits and depending on the run use a sinker that will let my bait run along the bottom of the channel. This way I cover all areas. In the shallow area I do the same but sometimes no sinker is needed, or if it is, a 000 ball is all you need. Just make sure your bait is moving. Once the bait is straight out in front of me I slowly wind in. I do most of my bridge fishing at night and after midnight when no one is around. This way you can fish to your heart’s content without anyone tangling you up. I have caught a lot of good fish at and around the Co-Op but you need live bait. Some of the flathead caught there are monsters. The mouth of the harbour is another good spot and the walls leading up to the harbour can be brilliant but you need to fish the change of tide. The sand outside the RSL is another spot where flathead lay and I have caught plenty of fish there. All these spots will fish great for whiting as well. Remember, f lathead love a feed of whiting. If I’m in my boat, I will be 20m off the bridge pylon casting my offering beyond it and slowly winding it back past the pylon as close as I can. This will normally catch fish but sometimes bloody bream spoil your offering. If you are into catching bream, you can get some very big ones. The warmer weather is here and that means the fishing just gets better. Don’t forget to slip, slop, slap and wear a hat. ‘Til next month remember: limit your kill, don’t kill your limit. Tight lines and smelly fingers. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Large schools of small jellybean mack tuna were present along the Iluka wall during the first two weeks of October. Fish this size are perfect to cut into strip baits for big tailor.

Good size jew could still be found inside the Clarence River well into October as long as you knew where to look.

Jewfish numbers in good health on Clarence Coast

EGARDLESS of what all the jewfish doomsday theorists would like you to believe, I can assure you jewfish numbers here in the Clarence Valley are very healthy indeed, as good numbers of fish continued to be landed during October.

As long as you have a basic idea of how, where and when to fish or are prepared to listen to those who do know, you will get among the jew this month. November though to March are the months to drown a fresh whole octopus along the river side of the breakwall during the slack high and the first couple of hours of the run-

Just Jew by TYE PORTER

out in the middle of the day. If that is not for you, then get out to your local breakwall a couple of hours before dark and get a dozen live yellowtail or use whole or stripped squid during the same tide at night. I love slow rolling 6” paddle tail soft plastics at night during the low tide change or during the day if a bit of coloured water is coming out of the river. Off the beaches, don’t hesitate to swim a live

tailor or mullet either day or night for big jew or use live beach worms for a feed of school jew. From the headlands, lures generally account for the majority of fish landed. Minnows, feathers and soft plastic lures are all capable of getting you onto fish day or night. Inside the estuaries, live herring and sand mullet are the pick of the baits during summer, while soft plastic lures and hard-bodied minnows are

the other option. South Grafton angler Tom Grantham boated a 6.32kg school jew on a soft plastic well upstream at Brushgrove, so they really are spread far and wide throughout the system. The fact of the matter is regardless of the wind, rain, sun, tide, moon or time of day, there is always somewhere to catch a jew. Gulmarrad jewfish addicts Graham and Fran Dowsett have been giving their pet rock on the breakwall a miss lately but have continued to catch plenty of quality fish from the local beaches during the rising tide at night.

Several top fish to 25kg were taken from Lovers Point at Yamba on lures, while the gutter along the ocean side of the Yamba wall yielded a handful of fish to 18kg, also on lures. Inside the Clarence River, quality fish around the 14kg mark were landed on live mullet and a few small just-legal schoolies were taken on soft plastics from the old ferry approach here at Iluka and up at Browns Rocks. This month should see whiting numbers begin to increase inside the Clarence River and along the open beaches, and never be too shy to use a live

Pan-sized flathead should become plentiful this month from the shallow gutters along the beaches.

* continued P28

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 27

2018/19 NSW Recreational Fishing Trust Grants awarded

HE NSW Department of Primary Industries recently announced which projects will receive a share in $15 million from the Recreational Fishing Trust to improve recreational fishing in NSW.

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NSW DPI Group Director, Recreational and Aboriginal Fisheries Peter Turnell said the DPI received more than 100 grant applications for saltwater and freshwater recreational fishing projects. “The successful grants support a wide range of new and ongoing initiatives,” Mr Turnell said.

“Key projects include new fishing platforms and fish-cleaning tables across the state, a NSW Fishway Strategy and increased funding for community projects to restore fish habitats to improve fish stocks. “In addition, there is funding for recreational fishing education, research, compliance, artificial reefs, fish stocking, fishing workshops and the Fishcare Volunteer program. “These projects will benefit fishers throughout the state, as they will be implemented in a variety of coastal and regional locations.

“This a great outcome for the state’s recreational fishing industry, which adds about $3.4 billion to the state’s economy each year and accounts for more than 14,000 fulltime jobs.” NSW Recreational Fishing Trusts are funded through the sale of recreational fishing licences. “The grants program is another way the NSW Government continues to reinvest this resource back into the sector to help it further develop,” Mr Turnell said. “The DPI encourages funding applications from anyone, including fishing

organisations, universities, councils, community groups and individuals. “The funding of under $10,000 for small projects or more than $10,000 for large projects can really make a difference to your local community.” Applications for projects commencing in 2018/19 and beyond were reviewed by the Recreational Fishing Trust Expenditure Committees. A list of the successful grant applications can be found at dpi.nsw.gov. au/fishing/recreational/ recreational-fishing-fee/ licence-fees-at-work

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Page 28 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

legal size whiting as bait for a jew. The first two weeks of October saw huge schools of little mack tuna move in along the Iluka breakwall chasing white pillies, which was a bit of fun. The upside being these really little macks are great for cutting into strips for big tailor because their skin is not hard and tough like the bigger fish. Offshore catches have been dominated by snapper in recent weeks, with Iluka angler Alan Hepper leading the way with a big knobby that tipped the scales at 9.5kg. Peter Jamieson of Yamba fished a bit wider off Yamba for nice pearl perch around the 7kg mark while Dubbo visitor Brad Carlow fished up at Black Rocks for jew to 13kg. As is usually the case, the beach at Shark Bay

will provide anglers with a feed of bream, dart and tarwhine, with the odd nice schoolie if you are lucky, and lots of flathead will be taken on soft plastics from the shallow gutters. In last month’s issue I mentioned how when landing jew from the headlands I like to put them in a rock pool prior to release, but I failed to mention that during the hot summer months you need to check the temperature of the water as some rock pools tend to heat up badly, which will kill any fish put in them. This month will see the first appearance of spotted mackerel of the season in the shallow waters off Woody Head, then the countdown will be on until their bigger spanish cousins turn up. Until next month, safe fishin’.

Gulmarrad angler Fran Dowsett caught and released this nice school jew off the beach using sliced squid as bait. Photo: Graham Dowsett

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Tuna special on Sunshine Coast by PETER WELLS

good part in angling technique and the way these fish feed. If a storm is on the way, the barometric pressure starts to rise and they feed more aggressively. Live bait is best in the rivers and poddy mullet and herring are perfect. Dead baits such as salted bonito fillets fished unweighted at night in the slow current can also be deadly. Big flathead are also plentiful at the moment, and pushing towards the magic metre mark. Soft plastics including Keitech Easy Shiner 4” and

specially designed to hold big worms. Whiting, dart and bream are found throughout most gutters and in great numbers along the beaches, making for great fun for the family. Look for lower water gutters and fish a couple of hours either side of the low tide. Peeled prawns, worms and yabbies are perfect baits. Don’t forget to check in to fishingnoosa.com.au for all the latest info on fishing and bar crossings. The knowledgeable teams at Davo’s Tackle World Noosa and Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola can provide you with the right equipment, bait and advice to ensure success!

Ben Forgan with a chunky longtail tuna. Photos: fish ingnoosa.com.au

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nuts and gear is flying all over the place. When targeting tuna, always motor upwind and switch your engine off. This ensures the big fish are more likely to come close to the boat. Do not steam straight into them because they will go deep and pop up 200m away, leaving you chasing the fish all day. Areas to try on higher tides are Halls Reef, off Teewah and beyond towards Double Island Point. Jew Shoal and close in near Sunshine Reef are hot spots too, as is heading south towards Castaways Beach and the gutter around the shark nets. Moving into the estuaries, the Noosa and Maroochy rivers have seen quality whiting up to and over 40cm. In the Noosa River, areas worth targeting are the dog beach and the Frying Pan, with fish falling for a range of surface walkers including the extra-small Bassday Sugapen and Atomic K9 walker. The Maroochy River has seen great fish caught around the Black Banks and Chambers Island. The most productive baits are live yabbies, beach worms and pipis. This is the time of year when it is all about the mighty mangrove jack. Jacks are the ultimate river predators, living in snags, under structure, around rock piles and pylons where many hours are spent trying to lure them from their snaggy homes. Having gear that will handle these brutes is part of the equation in successfully extracting one. The other part is having lightning-fast reflexes and trusting your knots. Fishing with good-quality braid is a must and ideally it should be around 15-20lb. Using an FG knot from your braid to 20-40lb fluorocarbon leader is important. If throwing lures, the Daiwa Double Clutch, Lucky Craft Pointer and the Zerek Tango Shad are all great options and available in suspending presentations. Suspending lures ensure the lure will hang in front of the fish a bit longer, often enticing a savage hit. The weather also plays a

Z-Man Trick SwimZ have both produced great fish. If you can’t get them on 4” baits, then use big plastics up to 6”-7” that are normally reserved for offshore fishing. On the beaches, we are starting to see quality tailor being taken around the river mouths and along Noosa North Shore. Whole pilchards and salted bonito fillets fished at night on Tru-Turn Strip Bait Rigs have been responsible for the larger fish. A few jewfish are also on the cards at this time of year, with most fish hooked on the open beach at night between Peregian and Mudjimba. The best way to snag one of these big beauties is by using 4/0 Tru-Turn Worm hooks, which are

T EN M

We saw cracking longtail or northern bluefin tuna and the odd spanish mackerel showing up last month, so the season ahead is shaping up to be a great one. Longtail tuna are one of the greatest fighting fish we are lucky enough to encounter in southeast Queensland and pound for pound these fish display unmatched stamina. The most popular method for targeting these fish is casting metal slugs or chrome lures into the bait schools. This works and is the easiest way to tangle with one, especially if you just want to tick one off your species list. A more explosive way to target tuna is by using floating stickbaits of 120180mm or more in length. Casting these lures requires rods close to 8’ in length. The Shimano Grappler PE4 is a great rod, and coupled with an 8000-size reel lets you pack enough 30lb line to win most battles. With long rods, you can send these lures out the back and beyond any 30g slug to really get among the fish. This is particularly useful when the fish manage to stay just out of the normal 30-40m cast range. When fishing for tuna, I think all lures including slugs should have their hooks upgraded to inline jigging singles, with the Decoy Sergeant my preferred choice. A single hook gives better penetration and has only one pivot or tow point which treble hooks do not have. Treble hooks can cause all sorts of dramas, with the second hook usually foul hooking the fish during the fight. This causes the fish to come in side-on and lengthens fight times. Tuna will often overheat during lengthy battles and blow their gills once boat side or in the boat, so if catch and release is your thing, choose single hooks every time because in-water releases are far easier and quicker. Another important thing to remember is treble hooks make a huge mess of a tuna’s mouth, making release next to impossible. An exposed treble can easily find an uncovered foot or bare hand when a boated tuna decides to go

Sunshine Coast

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Ruben Helling got into the action and scored a solid mack tuna.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 29

A nice longtail on a surface lure for Carina.

John with a lovely golden trevally.

Preparing for charter fishing n Techniques n Gear n Species

ITH an increase in surface activity on the Fraser Coast during spring, I find myself hosting many new guests.

Darren scored what he wanted! Thanks Darren for supporting Bush ‘n Beach and the author’s business.

Often they have had very little experience with this style of charter. It’s lures only, and with little to no trolling involved it can be a bit daunting, particularly when the unsettled weather of mid-spring is thrown into the fray. There’s not much you can do to practise fighting

A solid cobia for Jared. A great effort on a light rod.

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Fraser Guided Fishing by TRI TON

fish or fishing deeper waters in windy conditions. But you can definitely polish your casting game. Please understand that casting a heavier rod is different to flicking a light stick. The rod action needs to be smooth and powerful, with a big emphasis on the bottom hand levering to load the upper half of the rod. You must generate the power in a heavy rod, otherwise the cast will fall well short or spray wide of the target. Even some well-seasoned anglers get it wrong. Springtime weather can often be a bit ghastly, so prepare as best you can and as usual, a hat, sunglasses and sun-safe clothing are the basics. Often overlooked is footwear. I strongly advocate for wearing enclosed footwear. You can buy all sorts of shoes that are designed for fishing and watersports, but I just buy light sneakers with a good tread pattern on the outer sole. Once the tread gets a bald spot, I toss them out because they become a bit hazardous. Thongs are not good footwear because they slip between your foot and the deck. Bare feet are marginally better than thongs, but the grip factor is a problem with bare feet. When you are running around a wet deck, you need to be surefooted. I have seen anglers fall and slip even when moving quite small distances. Luckily I have not had any major incidents on the boat, but I think it is partly to do with my intolerance of inappropriate footwear. Closed shoes will also protect you from fish, hooks and other potentially hazardous objects. Another minor factor is seasickness. If you are unsure about seasickness, take good tablets, not some random herbal thing.

Good ones readily available at chemists are Travacalm and Kwells, which will make you a bit parched and drowsy as a side effect but don’t be alarmed. Try to sleep well the night before, eat a moderate-sized breakfast and keep looking out to the horizon once on board. Luckily it’s not a big problem for our tours because it’s usually only chop we experience, not big rolling swells. As for tackle, if you are at all unsure, please just use the guide’s gear. Nothing is worse than bringing something inappropriate and having it clutter the vessel. Most guides will talk you through lures if you wish to bring some of your own. Generally one day of fishing will find you using no more than five lures, with only 50 percent being effective, so take note. My pet hate is gear strewn all over the vessel, because it’s hazardous, and the more you change lures, the less time you are in the water. In certain places I have a regimented method for hooking the fish. Deviate from my plan at your peril!

A fisho’s dream

Sometimes I find anglers with little experience but some skill best because they can replicate what I require and are more open minded. Now for a brief report on the fishing. Tuna have been slow to show and when they do appear, they are fussy as hell. Both mack and longtail tuna are here, with longtails marginally keener to chew. Plastics retrieved at speed are usually the key. I expect fishing to be easy at this time of year, so it’s slightly concerning to experience this pattern. Tuna are a massive feature of spring fishing, and I think it will be a trying period of fishing in November. At the time of writing, sharks have really started to show. They moved in over the space of a week or so. Even small trevally are taken well before seeing colour and these pesky sharks will mean the end of our light-tackle fun and deep fishing certain reefs will no longer be part of the tours until next winter. It certainly was fun to target smaller trevs and occasionally hook larger fish on leaders of around 20lb. During this winter’s tough bite, sometimes the lighter tackle was the key to boating good fish.

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Pondering the snapper population

I, it’s Craig To m k i n s o n here.

The weather is warming and so too are the nasty storms, so clean up your yard and prune your trees back away from your house and shed. If you are heading out fishing, keep an eye on the Bureau of Meteorology radar on your phone and look out for big anvil cloud thunder heads in the distant sky. I have ridden out some nasty storms over the years and I hate them and stay away from them if I can. Reef fishing will get tougher from now on, with the run out wide kicking in and the sharks getting thicker as they follow the mackerel, tuna and bait schools that start turning up. I have read that the snapper stock is down around 20 percent now. While this might be

Comment by CRAIG TOMKINSON

the case off Brisbane and Moreton Bay, I have not noticed much difference off Double Island Point in the past six years since I stopped pro fishing and was mainly skippering charter boats up until recently. Off DI when I skippered Baitrunner the clients used to catch just the same number of snapper in close as out wider, and when I would slip out the front of DI in my 5m tinnie with my mates we’d go chasing grass sweetlip and pearl perch but the snapper would drive us mad most times. I reckon snapper are overrated to eat and usually try my best not to catch them, and if we do I always give them to my mates to take home.

Out of Noosa, the snapper in close have remained much the same. You won’t catch too many through summer but their numbers are better during winter. Out on the Hards and Barwon Banks areas they are around in almost the same numbers year round, just deeper in late winter. However, if changes need to be made, I believe the legal minimum size limit should be lifted to 40-45cm, with a slot limit up to say 55-60cm. The bag limit could be dropped to one in Moreton Bay and maybe two elsewhere. A closure for pros during the few weeks of spawning wouldn’t be a bad idea either. If that cannot be worked out, further reduce the catch quota. If the current system has not worked, snapper require more protection before it’s too late. I have not been fishing or crabbing in a long time but will start crabbing again soon.

Lowrance unveils new Elite Ti2 series

OWRANCE, a world-leader in fishing electronics since 1957, recently announced the nextgeneration release of its powerful yet affordable fishfinder/chartplotter family, Elite Ti2.

Delivering enhanced high-resolution sonar functionality, wireless networking and Bluetooth call/text message display, the Elite Ti2 gives anglers access to features previously reserved for Lowrance’s premium HDS family of displays. Here’s what’s new with Elite Ti2… Active Imaging Sonar Active Imaging Sonar rethinks what anglers should expect from a fishfinder. Offering industry-leading clarity without sacrificing range, it delivers unmatched image quality of structure, fish and bot-

tom composition. A three-in-one sonar solution, Active Imaging combines Lowrance CHIRP sonar with Side and DownScan Imaging, allowing anglers to quickly search fish-holding structure, and enhances FishReveal with higherlevel clarity and target separation. Simple to use, without the need to change frequencies while fishing in most conditions, the Active Imaging 800kHz setting provides crystalclear detail with uncompromised range. For anglers needing to see farther than 36m, Active Imaging can also operate at the 455kHz frequency. Wireless networking Now featuring full connectivity without the hassle of cable installation, Elite Ti2 offers anglers the ability to wirelessly

share sonar and charting between two displays, as well as sync waypoint data, and the display’s network configurator allows for quick and easy setup. Bluetooth calling and text notifications Offering greater convenience on the water, Bluetooth notifications on Elite Ti2 allow anglers to keep their phones stored in a safe location while still receiving incoming call and text notifications. Android features include incoming text message display and reply, new message and message template creation, and access to message history and call logs. iOS features include display of incoming text messages and call log. Navico CEO and president Leif Ottosson said, “Our Elite Ti Series has been a favourite among

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 31

Keeping reef fishing regulated n Offshore trip chasing pelagics and snapper

N Queensland we’re blessed with a beautiful coastline riddled with an array of spectacular fishing destinations along the way.

Sandy Johnson scored a great-sized snapper.

Many of these fishing gems have the mighty Great Barrier Reef to thank, giving those fishos lucky enough to wet a line from Bundaberg to far north Queens-

Leeah Bahr with a solid mack tuna hooked on a live slimy mackerel.

A massive longtail tuna that put up a great fight on 80lb tackle aimed at mackerel.

Bundaberg Offshore by JOEL JOHNSON

land the opportunity to catch the beautiful fish that inhabit this coral reef. There’s no denying that these species exist beyond the Great Barrier Reef, but being the world’s largest coral reef, it makes an immense contribution to some of the world’s best fishing. One thing that goes hand in hand with fishing the Great Barrier Reef and its surrounding coastlines and islands is our responsibility as fishers to follow the rules and regulations involving the fish and creatures that call it home. One of these regulations relates to coral reef fin fish closures that occur as a way of taking fishing pressure off the fish as they spawn. These closures have the same principle as the barramundi closed season, however only take place for a number of days over a specific moon cycle rather than months. Of course, the coral reef fin fish closures will always land on the days with the best weather forecasts, but it’s still no excuse to bend the rules. What do you do in these circumstances, you might ask? Well that very question was rolling through my head during the closure taking place in early October, where a gap in the windy weather finally landed on the weekend. After getting my hopes up about planning a trip to the outer reefs, I re-

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membered the closure. I won’t deny my disappointment but I’m not one to break the rules when it comes to something I’m as passionate about as fishing, so I came up with a plan B that would still get us out there with our lines in the water, but respected the limitations of the coral reef fin fish closure. Obviously not all fish are included under the coral reef fin fish heading, but it does include most fish that call the reef home. This left us to target pelagic species and some bottom dwellers such as snapper, which are known to hang around off Bundaberg in October. I had a destination in mind and a target species, so early Saturday morning my girlfriend Leeah, mum Sandy and I set off, travelling just under 40km from our launching destination of Burnett Heads. Before arriving at our fishing spot, I took us to an area that hosts large schools of slimy mackerel through most of the year. After some sounding around and bait jigging, we had the bait tank stocked with some prime offerings for snapper and pelagic species such as mackerel and tuna. We arrived at our destination and began our first drift. I deployed two live baits, one completely unweighted rigged on ganged hooks with around 20cm of singlestrand wire trace, and the other rigged with the same trace but a 9/0 circle hook and a small ball sinker to cover a second level of the water column. We also sent a couple of live baits down towards the bottom to target the elusive snapper, which after just two drifts gave us our first hook-up. Sandy was onto something decent that was taking good lunges towards the bottom, but it didn’t end there. My overhead rigged with a lightly weighted slimy was smashed and screamed off in the rod holder. The chaos had begun! It was a mad scramble for Leeah who was managing lines, deck clutter and the landing net all at once, but what a rush it is when this takes place. Sandy fought her fish towards the surface where Leeah landed it in the net. It was a fantastic-sized snapper, measuring in the low-60cm range!

Meanwhile, the spool of my Shimano Torium was looking rather low on line as whatever had eaten my live bait had obviously decided it was heading for the horizon. The fish showed little signs of tiring either, continually taking runs and not giving me an inch of line. I was suspecting a goliath-sized spanish mackerel based on the size of the live bait it ate and the speed at which it ran, but anything was possible. After about 15 minutes of fighting on 80lb tackle we got a glimpse of the fish and discovered it was actually a massive longtail tuna. But as soon as we saw the fish, it was off on another few laps of the boat. Once the longtail was under the boat and on its side, it was nearly impossible to make progress on the incredibly powerful fish. After several attempts at grabbing the fish’s tail and getting nothing but a face full of tail-generated splash, we finally got the tuna aboard with an all-round team effort landing it in the end. We took some quick photos and after attempting to weigh it (which maxed out my 25kg scales), got the fish back in the water as soon as possible. A PB for me and seeing the brute of a fish swim off strongly was an added reward. The fun wasn’t over however, and some school mackerel made for great enjoyment on light tackle. Shortly after, a bustup began beside the boat and in seconds the overhead buckled and Leeah was quick to jump in for her turn at the action. The fish again did laps of the boat and was behaving similarly to my previous fish, giving Leeah a great fight. This time the fish tired slightly faster, but still made for heart-pumping action. The fish was indeed another tuna, but this time a great-sized mack tuna. What a guts, engulfing a large slimy mackerel just as my longtail did. We landed the epic fish and after a few snapshots it was also released to swim another day. We headed home after a few hours of action, feeling like we had made the most of the coral reef fin fish closure by catching a variety of pelagic fish species. Though it is tempting for some people to ignore the rules involving closures, it’s vital to let the fish spawn to ensure we still have the opportunity to get out and catch plenty in future. www.bnbfishing.com. au

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 33

Tide Times Sponsored by

AUSTRALIA EAST COAST - BRISBANE BAR

Ashley Corten landed a 67cm red emperor. Note the glassy conditions in the background.

George Baumber, aka ‘King’, struck again with a solid pearl perch.

Working hard to ensure offshore success

OLLOWING my comments last month on the snapper review and other related fishery reviews, I just want to thank those who have contacted me in support.

WADDY POINT - FRASER ISLAND

Page 34 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

We’re certainly in for a period of change with how our fishery is managed and a lot of people are concerned about the future of our fisheries and want to see the right changes made to ensure future sustainability. The coming year will be an interesting one as the process gathers momentum. We’ve seen memorable fishing trips offshore in the past month, with nice snapper caught before they taper right off at season’s end, but one particular trip sticks in my mind because of a fish caught on the day and what it meant to the lucky fisher who landed it. This was during a charter for the deep sea group from the Blue Fin Fishing Club from Inala that I did in conjunction with Mat Hubbard, who skippered his Moreton Island Fishing Charters boat Prestige. It was a club competition and Mat and I worked hard for the crew on each of our boats to ensure they all had a great day offshore. After an initial burst of fish for both boats working entirely different areas for the day, the bite slowed for the rest of the morning and then fired very strongly in the afterlunch session. Both boats stayed out longer than expected to take advantage of the good afternoon bite as the crew hadn’t had a lot of trips lately. Working with Mat is good because he doesn’t have an ego and we don’t compete with each other, rather just keep our heads down and cover whatever distance is required to give our clients the best shot at being happy at day’s end. One of the crew with me, Ben Freeman, got lucky that day and scored his

Offshore by BILL CORTEN

fish of a lifetime, a nice big mulloway that tipped the club scales at 20.71kg that evening back at their clubhouse weigh-in. It was a long shot during a mid-morning quiet period when I decided to bite the bullet and head down around the bottom end of the Cathedrals to see what we could rustle up. We found a nice clump of rock that had some bait in residence and enough evidence on the sounder to warrant putting the entire crew down with livies. As it turned out, only one big fish took the bait and it was the start of a big workout for Ben. He and I had just put a new beefed-up rig on his rod and we knew the knots, leader and Mustad circle hooks were in perfect order and the rest just revolved around Ben’s technique. The key to success on these big fish is to not put too much hurt on very early in the fight after the initial hook-up, but to put enough on to ensure the fish doesn’t rub the gear out on the structure on the bottom. Clearly this was no ordinary jewie and it put on a huge run, not wanting to allow Ben to turn its head, and was really thrashing about aggressively down deep. It was tempting to apply more drag pressure but the braid and the whole rig were already somewhere close to maximum strain when the surging runs eventually slowed down. For Ben it seemed like an eternity until we saw colour near the surface and then relief as the fish was brought aboard. This was one hell of a trophy fish and it was high fives all round and then back for another drift, but this was the only jewie we caught that day. Ben paid some penance for landing that jewie though, as shortly after he hooked another big fish

that turned out to be a very large shark he got right to the surface before we released it. It’s fair to say he was really buggered after that double and was content to let the rest of the crew try their hardest to hook their own big fish. The postscript is Ben’s jewie topped the club record for the species that evening and is also a South Queensland Amateur Fishing Clubs Association record for Queensland. A great effort and a very happy Blue Fin member. On another note, it’s not often I manage to get our son Ashley out offshore these days as he is so busy with his own career and everything else that goes on in life. He had some weekday holiday time recently where we found a good day of weather. Because it was the coral reef fin fish spawning closure, we opted to fish south of the closure area and headed out on a day trip east of Wide Bay Bar for some species of reef fish he doesn’t get to tackle with much at home. It is a big day to head out of the Wide Bay Bar at first light, fish the whole day, return through the bar right on dark and then drive home, but there was a one-day window available and we went for it. Ash enjoys George’s company and he’s always good for a fishing trip, so we picked up ‘King’ along the way to make our own luck. A lot of storms had been around and the weather a bit unstable, but what the heck it was a glassy morning and worth heading east. The fishing wasn’t so fantastic with a lowish barometer, but we still managed a good feed. Ash was happy with achieving his goal of the day, a nice red emperor that went 67cm, and George landed two very

good pearl perch. Ash managed to mostly stick with his preferred theme of coral reef fin fish and caught his bag limit of parrotfish, his best rosy jobfish to date and other mixed species. On the same drift where the rosy jobbie came from, George got into a bigger fish before eventually getting sharked close to the boat. The disappointment on his face was obvious as he only landed the head of a very large rosy jobfish that easily would have been his best yet. The sharks were prettyheldthick, so we moved

on, chipping away as you do. It was slow fishing and we had to move about a lot but by day’s end we had a good enough feed to keep us happy without making gluttons of ourselves. We were still something like 45km from the bar when we could see some big storms dumping rain back towards where we had come from that morning, and we could even hear occasional thunder. Staying out as long as we could, we hit the bar sometime after 6pm to allow the storms to clear. The downside was the

* continued P35

Ash with a rosy jobfish that added variety to the box.

Ben Freeman captured a jewfish that weighed 20.71kg on the scales.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Offshore window opens

ANY Bundaberg locals speak about our area being located under a dome as approaching thunderstorms split and pass either side of the city area.

Luckily, we enjoy our fair share of good weather. A few windows of opportunity opened recently and I was lucky enough to organise a trip offshore to make the most of it.

Bundaberg Region by BRAD YOUNG

We were actually camping at 1770, so had plenty of fishing locations to choose from. The major hurdle, timing our crossing of the now very shallow bar, was relatively easy on this occasion as we had settled

The healthy-looking box of fish for the day predominantly comprised large tuskfish and frying pan snapper.

Judy with a cod caught on one of the other vessels with which the author was fishing.

NOTE The bar at the mouth of Round Hill Creek is extremely shallow and, depending upon the moon phase, may require a crossing time to be at least a minimum of 90 minutes either side of the low tide. This challenge for visiting boaties, together with the recent loss of one of

the local tourist vessels plying to Lady Musgrave Island, is having a negative effect upon the Agnes Water/1770 area. If you have the oppor tunit y to support a petition reques ting the dredging of this area, please add your name and support the cause.

on a later start at 6am and an estimated return at 3pm. As we left the boat ramp and made our way to the mouth of Round Hill Creek, I logged on with VMR Round Hill as always and then pointed the bow eastward for the grounds we were targeting. I am a financial member of both VMR Bundaberg (VMR 488) and VMR Round Hill (VMR 477), more so to support their work and commitment to boating safety, but also as a safeguard should I have difficulties and require assistance when fishing offshore from Bundaberg or 1770. The usual sloppy conditions just outside the mouth were soon left behind and we made our way into a relatively steady swell at 35km/h. On our previous trip, we had been able to set a comfortable speed to lob over the swells but also had a nasty one every five minutes or so where there was no back to the swell, leaving the hull ‘belly flopping’ on the backside of the swell. After about 75 minutes of running time we were in the area we wanted to fish. Nothing too special was seen on the sounder, just a large area of gravel and rubbly bottom. Two other boats we were accompanying were already fishing and had put some fish in the box. I set the Furuno gain to match the water depth (usually 10 percent of the depth) and started searching for signs of fish. It was not long before I found good shows and ensured the crew were baited and ready before swinging the boat around and dropping the throttle back to try to place us above the show on the sounder. Our first drift would provide me information regarding our direction of drift to enable better boat placement on subsequent drifts. Trevor, Tony and my son Lachlan had their lines baited and ready to go and

Working hard to ensure offshore success * from P34

sector light at Hook Point was out of action and we couldn’t see the swells breaking on the outer end of the bar as we came through, so the radar was very useful in picking them up and staying safe. On the dark of the moon, the radar proved invaluable in staying www.bnbfishing.com. au

away from anchored yachts inside Inskip Point, measuring distance to the flashing beacons and allowing us to maintain a comfortable speed, knowing no vessels were near us that could have been travelling without lights, as so often happens on Moreton Bay. A good trip for Ash

who fished as well as I’ve ever seen and a great experience for him driving the boat home through the bar and all the way back to Tin Can Bay in the dark. It’s not always about the numbers of fish, it’s also about the journey and how you read situations and handle yourself along the way.

only needed the ‘nod’ to signal them to drop their lines over the side and prepare for a bite. The first fish boated was a solid tuskfish followed shortly after by another. We were also landing large baldy bream. As the fishing action dropped, I had the crew keep their lines up and went back to the starting mark, placing the boat in prime position for the next drift using the last drift line as a guide to boat placement. We were fishing a falling tide about seven days prior to a new moon and just two days prior to the first 2018 coral reef fin fish closure. Our drift-fish-reset pattern continued for several hours, with more solid tuskies coming aboard, joined by some 35-38cm hussar and frying pan snapper. When our drift lines went a little quiet, I moved to a new area and started a new pattern. We were fishing with pilchards, cuttlefish heads and squid as well as flesh baits from some of the baldy bream we had caught. Best baits for the tuskies seemed to be the flesh baits, with the hussar preferring the squid. Terminal tackle was a traditional paternoster rig with two loops and a number 8 sinker at the bottom. Hooks varied from size 1 to 4/0. We pulled the pin around 2pm to head back to the creek, with the return journey taking a little under an hour as we were now running with the swell and conditions had moderated while we were on the water. Lachlan (11 years old) often skippers (under my supervision) for the return journey, a strategy aimed at slowly skilling him up for the future. In fact, on this trip he skippered us through the entrance into the creek using the lateral marks as a guide as well as the crumb trail on the plotter. I logged off with VMR Round Hill and we headed back up the creek to the ramp. In five years Lachlan will be eligible to get his boat licence and I am hoping he will be well skilled by this time. Next task will be to teach him how to log on/ off with VMR. In the end, we had a great trip and brought back a nice box of solid tuskfish, big hussar and frying pan snapper with a couple of cod for variety. Filleted, we ended up with 2.5kg of fish each. As always, I can be contacted via the Bush ‘n Beach website, by email at fishnboat@bigpond.com or post at PO Box 5812 Bundaberg West Queensland 4670. Until next month…

COMPETITION DATES COMPETITION

DATE

LOCATION

2018 Bundaberg Toyota Golden Barra

Nov 1- Lake Monduran – Jan 31, 2019 lakem.com.au/goldenbarra

Lions Mary Valley Nov 3-4 Family Fishing Classic

Lake Borumba – Glenn 0427 276 933 E: gympielions@gmail.com

Zerek Barra Tour Round 1 Nov 19 Round 2 Nov 20 Round 3 Nov 21 Round 4 Nov 23-24

abt.org.au Kinchant Dam Teemburra Dam Peter Faust Dam Peter Faust Dam

ABBT* Bass Nov 24-25 Cania Dam – Russell Nowland Grand Final 07 4165 4286 or 07 4167 8183

2019 B.A.S.S. Australia Feb 1-3 Nation Round 1

Glenbawn, NSW bassaustralia.com.au

Boondooma Feb 9-10 Yellowbelly Fishing Competiton

Boondooma Dam – Terry Allwood 0400 860 122

Back 2 Tanga 11 Mar 2-3 Moreton Bay Game Fishing Club mbgfc.com.au B.A.S.S. Australia Mar 8-10 Nation Round 2

Somerset Dam bassaustralia.com.au

B.A.S.S. Australia Apr 5-7 Nation Round 3

Lake St Clair, NSW bassaustralia.com.au

Moura Muddy Apr 20-21 Water Classic

Dawson River, Moura – Zelma Lewis 07 4997 1932 E: m.a.f.s.g@bigpond.com

Boyne Tannum May 3- 5 Hook Up

Gladstone – 0428 743 474 boynetannumhookup.com.au

B.A.S.S. Australia May 10-12 Boondooma Dam Nation Round 4 bassaustralia.com.au B.A.S.S. Australia Jun 7-9 Nation Round 5

Cania Dam bassaustralia.com.au

Tweed Coast Marine Jun 8-9 Cabarita Beach – Stephen Greenback Fishing Comp Duffield 0421 052 135 lionsgreenback.com B.A.S.S. Nation Jul 19-21 Round 6

Glenbawn, NSW bassaustralia.com.au

B.A.S.S. Nation Championship

TBA bassaustralia.com.au

Aug 30- Sep 1

*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 2018 – Page 35

Epic PNG fishing mission H I everyone, earlier in the year I spoke about bucket list trips and I have just completed one I would love to share.

Casey was well pleased with her best fish of the trip.

Good barra are a welcome by-catch while black bass fishing.

S S E N D A M R E B MOVEMSide Consoles on

420 RENEGADE

$16,900 50hp, electric start, power trim & tilt, 12 mths rego, inshore safety gear (Hurry 1 Only)

490 TOP ENDER

Chasing black bass in Papua New Guinea is something most fishos dream of. This trip was to the Fly River and while the fishing can be slow at times, when it fires it is mind blowing. Just getting there is an adventure, involving a flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby, an overnight stay in PNG’s largest city and capital, a domestic flight to Kiunga, and finally a small charter flight to meet the mother ship K2O. The K2O was moored 250km up the Fly River in remote Suki. During the charter flight we saw the large swamp areas that feed the small creeks, and it is these creeks that hold some of the best fishing. Over the next six days we would fish a few of these creeks in the Fly, Strickland and Herbert rivers looking for the iconic black bass. The main rivers are too large with deep and fast-flowing muddy water that is way too dirty to hold good fish, especially after a very poor wet season last summer. Locally referred to as black water, the cleaner swamp water holds large numbers of tilapia, which make an easy meal for big aggressive black bass. The black bass congregate to feed where this black swamp water enters the creeks through small drains. We fished from four wellequipped tenders with comfortable seating for the long days fishing with an experienced guide who knows the area well. While the main style of fishing is slow trolling lures along the snaggy banks of the creeks, casting lures and large vibes can be very successful at the mouths of the drains. Black bass have a reputation for being super-aggressive and extremely hard-fighting fish, and after our first couple of encounters we soon understood why. During the trip, we had bibs ripped out of lures, lures broken in half, hooks pulled off lures and tail sections of lures pulled apart. It was extremely important that all lures were wired through from bib to tail hook to help prevent the utter disappointment of losing a big fish,

Fishing Trip

by WAYNE ‘YOUNGY’ YOUNG

which inevitably happened. My best bass for the trip was 18kg or 40lb for us old fellas, and it tore the front hook off the lure. The wire holding the back hook on had been torn through the body of the lure but it held together long enough to land the fish. In the dark tannin-stained ‘black water’, lures that have a good rattle inside work best. Our favourites were the 15+ Barra Classics and Rapala XRap Magnum 15s. It also paid having some lures that dived to 3m and others that dived to 6m because water depth varied from spot to spot. We fished in water from 2-6m deep. The best lure colours seemed to be lighter options such as

Bleeding Mullet and White Redhead as well as bright fluorescent colours but we had a range of colours on hand. Each day or two, the mother ship moved to a new area as even though we were fishing a very remote area, the fish would wise up to what was going on and the bite would shut down, just like here at home. Our guides Jed, Fikai, Mea and Billy were used to this and would hit a snag for an hour or so and then leave it for a couple of hours so as not to spook the fish too much. The fish were so aggressive that even if they did not eat the lure, they would bash it with their head to chase it from their area. Getting a good hit and not * continued P37

Casey with a more golden-coloured black bass.

Not a long fish but a very fat one caught by the author.

$40,690 90ETEC, 9”Sounder/GPS, Bimini Top, Bow Mount plate, 12 mths Rego, Inshore safety gear (Hurry 1 Only)

590 FRONTIER

$64,990 150HO, Custom paint, Dual Console, 9”Sounder/GPS, Bait board, Bimini Top, Transom Door, Catch & Release (Hurry 1 Only)

Page 36 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

The author with the best bass of the trip at just over 40lb or 18kg.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

The local creeks had plenty of small 70cm barra.

Epic PNG fishing mission * from P36

hooking up was common, as was finding face scales on the lure from where the fish had headbutted it. If this happened, the guides would immediately run the lure back through the same spot because the fish would be super aggressive the next time the lure came through. The gear was no lightweight estuary outfits, rather 15-30lbrated rods and reels that could

be anything from Shimano Stradics right up to top-of-therange Stellas. Baitcasters were popular with the fishos who liked to do a lot of casting. Wilson Venom Black Bass rods and Shimano Calcutta reels were a common choice. Line class was minimum 50lb braid and 80lb leader. Anything lighter and we were really giving the fish the upper hand. It was not uncommon to have

K2O is the mother ship used on the black bass trips.

The author was lucky enough to catch a PNG tiger fish this trip.

fishos using 100lb braid and 120lb leader and still getting busted off. Just remember, using too heavy a line can lessen the swimming action of the lure. This trip improved our knottying abilities, and with these fish putting tremendous pressure on both leader and lure knots, the FG knot was recommended as a leader knot. All lures needed standard hooks and rings removed and upgraded to 65lb split rings and 6x strong hooks. Black bass were not the only species encountered, with big barra, saratoga, snakeheads, marbled goby and even a PNG tiger fish caught. The K2O mother ship was a great home away from home. Air-conditioned with hot showers, toilets and a beer fridge, it was just what we needed after a hard day’s fishing. The on-board chef made sure we were all well fed with meals as good as you would get in a restaurant. The trip was not cheap but when you realise the mother ship came from Port Moresby with a full crew, did two backto-back trips and used between 11,000 and 12,000 litres of fuel, you can understand the pricing. We did our trip with Wild River Fishing PNG. Have a look at the company’s Facebook page for more info on trips, as both lodge trips and mother ship trips are available. Would I do it again? The answer is definitely yes. It was a fantastic fishing trip but an even bigger adventure, and the locals and the country were amazing.

MAKING CHOPPY

FEEL LIKE GLASSOUT

STACER.COM.AU

For more information contact your local Stacer dealer: Boondall | Northside Marine 2294 Sandgate Rd, Boondall Q 4034 Phone: 07 3265 8000 info@nsmarine.com.au northsidemarine.com.au Bundaberg | Adrians Marine Centre 28 Ritchie St, Bundaberg Q 4670 Phone: 07 4153 1819 adriansmarinecentre@bigpond.com adriansmarinecentre.com.au Gladstone | Curtis Coast Marine 40 Chapple St, Gladstone Q 4680 Phone: 07 4972 0135 sales@curtiscoastmarinecom.au curtiscoastmarine.com.au Gold Coast | White Water Marine 10 Hinde St, Ashmore Q 4214 Phone: 07 5532 4402 sales@whitewatermarine.com.au whitewatermarine.com.au Noosa | Laguna Boating Centre 16 Project Ave, Noosaville Q 4566 Phone: 07 5442 4872 info@lagunaboating.com.au lagunaboating.com.au Sunshine Coast | North Coast Boating 264 Nicklin Way,Warana Q 4575 Phone : 07 5493 9376 sales@northcoastboating.com.au northcoastboating.com.au Wynnum | Wynnum Marine 31 Fox St, Wynnum Q 4178 Phone: 07 3396 9777 info@wynnummarine.com.au wynnummarine.com.au

Just getting into the creeks to fish was an adventure at times.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 37

BOATING & marine

Navico launches C-MAP Embark, the latest in nautical navigation technology

AVICO, the world’s largest manufacturer of marine electronics, recently announced the launch of C-MAP Embark, a nautical navigation app designed to refresh the planning, cruising and fishing experience with a clear aim in mind – to make it simpler. C-MAP Embark is powered by map data from official hydrographic offices. This data is continuously updated and augmented from thousands of data sources to help complete gaps in coastal and inland water bodies, provid-

ing C-MAP Embark users with exceptional clarity where it matters most. Updated monthly, the maps work across multiple platforms to ensure users always have the most current charts on smartphone, tablet or PC. The charts show all the information needed to navigate safely, while displaying a clean and clear, user-friendly view. The maps are also designed to be ‘smart’ – adjusting colour and contrast automatically depending on the light, so boaters will always be able to read them clearly. For fishing enthusiasts,

C-MAP Embark features a contour mode, which offers a high-resolution bathymetry view, helping users target the best fishing spots. Navico CTO Sean Fernback said, “With the launch of C-MAP Embark, we have vastly improved the planning and navigation experience of any cruising, sailing or fishing trip.” “By providing users with the right information before, during and after their time on the water, they can be confident in the choices they make and enjoy a more stress-free journey, wher-

ever they decide to go.” C-MAP Embark maps are intelligently designed to show users the most important information at any given time, so they can discover new places safely and confidently, just like a local. The app will offer helpful tips and provide information about local marinas, harbours, beaches, shops and much more. With C-MAP Embark, users can also help other boaters nearby and share exciting new places and routes with friends – simply create a place or a route and press share; it’s that easy.

Users travelling to an area without internet or cellular data coverage can upgrade to Premium and download offline maps and weather to stay safe wherever the on-water journey leads. Planning and tracking can also be synchronised as soon as internet or cellular data is accessed. C-MAP Embark is now offering users a free twoweek trial – available to download today from Google Play and the App Store. Discover more at lightmarine.c-map.com/ mobile/c-map-emba rkapp

Lightweight Simrad HALO24 revolutionises dome radars

NNOUNCING the Simrad HALO24, an innovation in pulse compression radar.

Stacer’s 589 Crossfire is perfect for the entire Patriot Games family

TACER, Australia’s premier aluminium boat builder, has teamed up with Patriot Games for one of the most extreme outback adventures yet.

Patriot Games follows a family of five across Australia’s most remote country, putting Stacer boats, Patriot Campers and Ram Trucks through the ultimate test in an action-packed reality TV series. With such a big family, Patriot Games chose the Stacer 589 Crossfire because it is a great crossover family and fishing boat with a capacity of six people so the entire family can enjoy time on the water together. The Stacer 589 Crossfire is ideal for longer trips through rough water because it is equipped with the lat-

est Revolution Hull, designed to charge further to more remote fishing spots. Think of the Revolution Hull as the drivetrain of the Ram Supertourer. It is rugged with strong pressed alloy sheets, it is smooth with a sharp entry, and nobody does it better than Patriot Campers and Stacer Boats. The Crossfire range comes standard with an insert for a ski pole/bait board. While water sports are not ideal for croc country where the Patriot Games crew is exploring, this is a fantastic option for families who want to go fishing and do tow sports. Australia is hot, we all know it, so we take our Eskies seriously. The Crossfire has

Page 38 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

room for a 100-litre Esky under the casting platform. With a model to suit every boater, the Crossfire range now offers a line-up of 469, 499, 519, 539 and 589 sizes, all available with a side or centre console configuration. Maximum horsepower ratings range between 75hp and 150hp (depending on the model), ideal for getting to the fishing spot first or pulling kids around for water sports. Boaters will now receive a larger side sheet that will create increased freeboard, an alloy live well with viewing window, fully welded side decks, a scupper drainage system, a grab rail on the console, Seatread on the transom and underfloor storage.

Patriot Campers founder Justin Montesalvo said, “The new 589 Crossfire from Stacer is in a league of its own – that tinnie is built solid!” “It’s the perfect aluminium boat for the family weekend, serious estuary fisher or hard-core adventurer wading through crocinfested waters or chasing pelagics off the coast up north – there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing it in!” Season two of Patriot Games is currently airing on Channel Nine from September 16 to December 23. Catch up on Nine Now at 9now.com.au/patriotgames For more information on the Crossfire range, contact your local Stacer dealer or visit stacer. com.au

HALO24 combines the performance and reliability of Simrad’s award-winning radars with the advantages of innovative technology, a new profile and lightweight design. Boasting 60rpm highspeed rotation at distances up to two nautical miles, an industry first, the Simrad HALO24 dome radar allows for increased safety and improved performance. The extremely fast refresh rate is excellent for high-speed and short-range tracking, particularly useful for search and rescue and law enforcement vessels. Offering high-quality short, mid and longrange detection capability, up to 48 nautical miles, HALO24 is designed to process multiple ranges simultaneously for advanced, instantaneous dual-range performance. In addition, the radar

features Simrad VelocityTrack Doppler technology that provides instant visual feedback on the motion of radar targets in relation to the boat – colour-coding approaching vessels for high visibility while de-emphasising diverging targets, as well as MARPA functionality, increasing situational awareness and decreasing the risk of collision. Navico Group CEO Leif Ottosson said, “The HALO24 dome radar was designed with the latest innovations in radar technology.” “With our products, it’s vital we offer something no one else has – with the HALO24 boaters will get unparalleled radar speeds, an easy user experience with multiple viewing modes, and an advanced feeling of safety with all potential hazards visible on screen.” The lightest 24” Pulse Compression radar dome on the market, the low-profile Halo dome offers different power level options, ensuring high-speed radar cover-

age when and where it is needed. In a matter of seconds, the radar will boot from low-power standby to full functionality in any mode – harbour, offshore, weather and bird. Incredibly easy to use, the radar will optimise up to 18 different parameters for each predefined mode, ensuring the ultimate view. The new Simrad HALO24 pulse compression dome radar is priced at $3599 and currently available from authorised dealers in the US and Canada, with Australian distribution to follow. An Ethernet-connected Simrad multifunction display or radar control unit is required for operation, and a heading sensor and GPS receiver are required for MARPA target tracking. For more information on the HALO24, radar bundles and accessories, or the brand’s entire line of professional marine electronics, please contact 1800 NAVICO or visit simrad-yachting. com

www.bnbfishing.com. au

BOATING & marine Join in on the Mercury FourStroke revolution with up to $1150 in savings

T’S time to join the Mercury revolution and get out on the water this summer.

Unbeatable savings of up to $1150 are now available on selected 2.5-115hp Mercury FourStroke outboards. By acting quickly, boat owners will also be able to take advantage of Mercury Finance’s very competitive loan rate of just 3.99 percent (comparison rate) for 40-150hp repowers… so why wait? Even better, the Mercury FourStroke revolution savings offer is available to recreational and commercial customers and

runs until November 23, 2018. Boat lovers won’t just save money – they’ll enjoy the best marine power technology on the water. Mercury FourStrokes lead the market with world-class, cutting-edge engines that deliver reliable starting, fantastic fuel efficiency, smooth operation, electronic fuel injection, tougher components, a total commitment to corrosion protection and the availability of SmartCraft digital monitoring on selected models. Mercury has been perfecting its unique FourStroke technology for

decades, always leading the way by making its outboards lighter, stronger and more reliable yet still able to produce the power and performance

Mercury is famous for. Simply put, Mercury FourStrokes set the standard the competition is still trying to match, and now is the perfect time for boat

lovers to join the revolution. For additional information, visit the Mercury Marine website at mercu rymarine.com.au

Horsepower

Savings

Horsepower

Savings

2.5

$75

$750

3.5

$175

$750

$175

$800

$175

$900

$175

$900

$250

$900

9.9

$400

100

$1150

$600

115

$1150

$750

Lowrance goes ‘LIVE’ with new flagship fishfinders

OWRANCE recently announced the release of its new high-performance line of fishfinders/chartplotters, HDS LIVE.

A significant leap forward in fishfinding technology, HDS LIVE delivers powerful realtime sonar, charting and connectivity features including Active Imaging, LiveSight, Genesis Live and LiveCast smartphone integration. Active Imaging sonar See structure and cover with a new level of refined detail and at a range unmatched by any other structure-imaging technology with Active Imaging. Offering industry-leading clarity without sacrificing range, it delivers

www.bnbfishing.com. au

unmatched image quality of structure, fish and bottom composition. Active Imaging threein-one sonar combines Lowrance CHIRP with SideScan and DownScan Imaging, allowing anglers to quickly search fishholding structure, and enhances FishReveal with higher-level clarity and target separation. Active Imaging two-inone sonar includes Side and DownScan Imaging and is perfect for use with a separate traditional sonar transducer. Simple to use without the need to change frequencies while fishing in most conditions, Active Imaging 800kHz provides crystal-clear detail with uncompromised range. For anglers needing to

see further than 36m, Active Imaging can also operate at 455kHz. Active Imaging enhancements – including greater resolution, a cleaner 3D view and a new Custom Depth Shading feature – are coming to existing StructureScan 3D modules in late-2018 through a free software update. LiveSight sonar Sonar interpretation made simple, Livesight sonar delivers the most detailed views of fish, down to every turn and flip of the tail, as they swim in and around cover. You’ll be fishing in realtime as you watch fish react to your lure, see how they are relating to structure and gain insight on what will work, what

won’t and what to do next. Perfect for drop shotting, vertical jigging or lure tracking in front of your boat, LiveSight helps you pinpoint fish locations, so you’ll know whether the fish are actively feeding. Mount the transducer in a front-facing position to cast towards the fish, or mount it in a down-facing position to do some vertical jigging below your boat. When using LiveSight forward in conjunction with the Lowrance Point-1 GPS antenna, an innovative on-chart indicator shows the direction the transducer is pointed, allowing anglers to line up on a waypoint or pinpoint the structure they are trying to fish. Genesis Live charting Delivering real-time, custom-mapping capabilities, HDS LIVE harnesses the power of Genesis Live charting, which uses digital depth to create depth contour overlays on charts. Incredibly easy to use, users can control contour transparency, density of contours drawn on the screen up to unprecedented 15cm intervals, depth and safety shading colour palettes and more. Charts can quickly and easily be saved to an SD card for continuous use.

LiveCast Smartphone Integration HDS LIVE allows anglers to display important fishing information and entertainment from their smartphones on their 12” and 16” sunlight-viewable displays. Users can view their smartphone in full-screen or split-screen windows via HDMI connection, allowing them to stream video, view Google Maps and fishing data on the HDS LIVE touchscreen – all while their phone is safely stowed. HDS LIVE features a stunning new low-profile design with edge-to-edge glass; a SolarMAX HD screen; bracket, flush and rear mounting options; user-programmable keys; and an optional fully programmable Bluetooth remote. Available in 7”, 9”, 12” and 16” display sizes, HDS LIVE pricing (RRP) is as follows: HDS-7 LIVE $1549; HDS-9 LIVE $3249; HDS-12 LIVE $4649; HDS-16 LIVE $6299; LiveSight TDX $1145; and Active Imaging TDX $275. For more information about the all-new, highperformance Lowrance HDS LIVE, the complete line of Lowrance marine electronics, or to locate an authorised Lowrance dealer, please visit low rance.com

MORETON BAY BOAT TRIMMERS

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• Boat repairs & fitouts • Bait tanks • Transom rebuilds • Fuel tanks • Consoles OVER 20 YEARS FABRICATING AND WELDING ALUMINIUM

CUSTOM TRANSOMS 20-75hp $750 75-150hp $890 150-225hp $980 Freight can be arranged Australia wide

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 39

BOATING & marine Ride very smooth thanks to an 18.5-degree deadrise. Running photos: Yamaha Motor Australia

Punch out of the hole with the 90hp Yamaha four-stroke was impressive, as was cornering ability without cavitation.

Chunky beam carries a long way forward, giving the 520 Side Console a ‘blunt’ profile and affording excellent interior space.

Superb Sea-Rod 520 Side Console F ORMOSA Marine is certainly one of the more innovative boat-building brands operating today.

Seat nudged forward due to Active Transom but once seated, controls fall easily to hand and 660mm-wide console provides some protection.

Page 40 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

In the 20 years since its inception, the business has gone from strength to strength and the Formosa range has continually expanded, including adding the Sea-Rod sub-brand to its portfolio in 2011, with a plethora of innovations along the way. I recently found myself on the Tweed River checking out several Formosa Sea-Rod models. One of the boats that really piqued my interest was the Sea-Rod Classic

Boat Review

by DANIEL TOMLINSON

520 Side Console powered by a 90hp Yamaha four-stroke and sporting the brand’s unique ‘Active Transom’. I’ve discussed the Active Transom in more detail on Page 42, but it essentially utilises self-supporting folding transom doors for unparalleled access between the deck and water. Formosa boats have always appeared ‘big’ for their size, and this V2 Plate Hull example

was no exception. Measuring 5.4m from bow roller to stern, possessing a substantial beam of 2.4m as well as serious depth in its 4mm-thick side sheets, the Sea-Rod 520 Side Console certainly makes its presence felt. This becomes immediately apparent on the water too, with the sheer interior volume of what many would deem a ‘bay’ boat making it feel impervious to waves and ready

to hit the high seas at the drop of a hat. However, it’s here I should reiterate I was testing the ‘Classic’ version of the model. Sea-Rods are offered in two versions in most sizes, either Classic or Offshore, and as the name depicts, it’s the Offshore models that are better suited to heading through coastal bars and tackling the deep blue thanks to features including a self-draining aluminium deck. The Classic version as tested and photographed here makes do with a marine-grade ply floor covered in typically hard-

wearing marine carpet. Something that quickly became clear while using the 520 Side Console as a photo boat was its exceptional stability both under way and at rest. Sea-Rod’s unique fourchamber counterbalance water ballast system is to thank for the level playing field at rest, while under way the chambers rapidly empty and pass the baton to a properly sorted hull design that nails the smooth and dry brief. In fact, I can happily report that in my time spent aboard the Sea-Rod 520 Side Console, barely * continued P41

www.bnbfishing.com. au

BOATING & marine

Superb Sea-Rod 520 Side Console * from P40

a drop of spray made it over the gunwales, despite some ‘enthusiastic’ driving and playing up for photographs. Seated behind the 660mm-wide side console, I certainly didn’t cop any salt water to the face or hands, even when cracking along at wide-open throttle into and across a sharp Tweed River chop. Speaking of throttle,

when wound right out with two people on board and powered by an extremely fresh 90hp Yammie (just one hour on the clock!), the 520 Side Console nudged 57km/h at 5700rpm, which I found impressive considering this rig is rated to a whopping 140hp. Yes you read that correctly, 140hp on a relatively lithe (650kg dry) open boat. Wow, I would absolutely love to take one of these

for a spin with Yamaha’s awesome 130hp fourstroke on the back. It would certainly make for a power-packed combo. As it was, both Jeff (Boatsales) and I were really impressed with the rolling punch this setup displayed and were actually surprised the top speed wasn’t higher – it felt quick. The way it launched from a happy cruise at 4000rpm and 38km/h out towards that top speed

Sea-Rod’s water ballast chambers doing their thing and providing exceptional stability at rest.

was genuinely impressive and I don’t think many owners will find a 90hp outboard lacking on their 520, unless really loaded with gear and people. We know from previous testing that Yamaha’s 90hp four-stroke also delivers incredible fuel economy, so the savings at the bowser will definitely be appreciated by those who opt for the smaller motor. Range anxiety isn’t something likely to be encountered too often, however, with the 520 Side Console fitted standard with a capacious 115-litre underfloor fuel tank. Equally accommodating on this boat is storage, and on the test day I was pleased by the number of options available around the deck, with rear side pockets, a kill tank and two massive storage hatches in the casting deck. Of note was the flat floor under the casting deck, which enabled the larger bow hatch to swallow an 80-litre Esky and allowed it to sit level and out of the way, freeing up maximum deck space for fishing endeavours and

moving around the boat. In summary, with safe and predictable handling, a soft and dry ride, excellent stability at rest and a uniquely versatile transom area, it’s easy to recommend the Sea-Rod 520 Side Console. It makes perfect sense as an affordable and bulletproof (4mm alloy all round) bay and estuary boat, yet won’t disappoint those who like to duck offshore either. Fit and finish throughout is exemplary, and if you’d like to get up close and personal with the Formosa build process, swing by the factory located on Brisbane’s bayside at 188 New Cleveland Rd, Tingalpa. For any more information on Yamaha’s worldclass outboard range, visit ya ma ha-motor.com. au and to see the full Formosa range, head to formo samarineboats.com.au The test rig was supplied by Gold Coast Boating Centre, so jump on gold coastboatingcentre.com. au or call 07 5576 7388 to organise a test drive of a Yamaha-powered Formosa today.

Optional kill tank of a good size. Carpeted ‘padding’ minimises noise under way.

Very deep casting deck happily swallows 80-litre Eskies.

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GOLDCOASTBOATINGCENTRE.COM.AU Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 41

BOATING & marine

Formosa Marine Active Transom U NIQUE design features are a hallmark of Formosa Marine boats, and the recently released Active Transom on the Sea-Rod range is no exception.

Folded flat, the Full Access Active Transom effectively becomes a rear casting platform. Non-slip coating ideal for wet feet when boarding.

The smaller of the two doors quickly folds down to allow easy access in and out to the boarding ladder.

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Active Transom is effectively Formosa’s way of saying: “Set up the back end of your boat how you’d like it.” You’ve got four transom options to choose from: Full Access, Dual Access, Single Access and Closed Access, and the names are fairly self-explanatory. The Full Access option (as pictured) has Sea-Rod’s unique folding transom door and folding platform for the ultimate water and motor access, fishing platform or lounge deck out the back. Dual Access has a folding transom door on either side, giving double the access for the family and ideal for diving. The Single Access option includes a single folding transom door and storage, allowing room for accessories such as a folding back seat. Closed Access enables greater storage and would suit hard-core offshore

Boating Gear

by DANIEL TOMLINSON

fishos who want security in big seas. I found the Active Transom a cinch to use on the Sea-Rod 520 Side Console, with two sturdy latches locking the folding doors against a couple of padded keeper plates when set to the upright position. Once lowered, a non-slip coating made the Active

Transom a pleasure to walk over, ensuring easy access either side of the central bait board/bait tank. I really approved of the Formosa design team’s decision to add padding to surfaces that would normally rattle and clang when under way if left as a metal-to-metal contact area.

That’s thoughtful boat building. The only possible drawback of the Full Access Active Transom in the smaller 520 model is I found the seating position was nudged closer to the steering wheel/side console to allow the transom door to fold down. Not a real issue, and until I folded the transom down, I had noticed the close seating position but hadn’t figured out why it was so. I’m sure in the larger sizes there would be more

than ample room between seat and transom. Integrating almost seamlessly into the boat, the Active Transom is a stunning innovation from Formosa Marine that shows out-of-the box thinking and genuine craftsmanship. Don’t be surprised if you see similar designs popping up on other boat brands in the near future. To take a further look at the awesome Active Transom, visit formosamarine boats.com.au

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BOATING & marine 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-to-understand and helpful tips on protecting their boating assets.

The scenario Trolling might be frowned upon in social media circles, but when it comes to boating, it’s the latest ‘must-do’. Bow-mounted, transom-mounted, independently piloted or GPSinterfaced, Bluetoothed, spot-locked, foot controlled, thrust controlled, heading sensor-interfaced, auto deployment enabled… there’s seemingly no end to the levels of simplicity or sophistication that can be selected with electric trolling motors. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a kayak on a mountain lake, a diminutive

tinnie picking its way through the mangroves or a 7m bluewater centre console hovering over an isolated pinnacle laden with reefies, electric trolling motors are racking up sales at a great rate of knots. From just over a couple of hundred dollars to thousands and thousands – the options and the prices continue to flow in an ongoing stream. But the key question remains: Where does your newly acquired electric motor sit within your marine insurance policy? Chances are, unless you’ve been in contact with your marine insurer, it doesn’t. Marine insurance specialist Nautilus Marine therefore is issuing a very timely reminder to owners of electric trolling motors – contact your insurer immediately and confirm where you stand. Be prepared to detail

how it is mounted – is it bolted to one of these special foredeck side brackets or does it have wind-on screw threads that straddle the transom? How much thrust does it have, what is its power, is it a simple ‘drop on’ or does it incorporate a selfdeployment system? How much did you pay for it and where did you buy it? Do you only use it on your boat, or someone else’s as well? Check with your insurer whether accidental damage caused by striking an underwater object is covered under your marine insurance policy. You might find some insurance companies, those that do not specialise in marine insurance policies, have no idea what you are talking about. But those specialising in marine Insurance like

Nautilus Marine, certainly will. And when you are discussing your purchase with them so the electric trolling motor can be added to your insurance coverage, remember to include any batteries as well. Elaborate electrical layouts comprising several heavy-duty marine batteries with wiring and charging management systems can add substantially to the sum that needs to be covered under your insurance policy. Was that battery system installed by an appropriately qualified tradesperson and if you did it yourself, are there any ramifications of that? Would it be acceptable if a marine dealership checked and certified the system as being okay? What is your level of coverage if something goes wrong with the

batteries and they cause damage to your boat? These are important questions to ask in what is a relatively new and expanded addition to the world of boating. Likewise, did you have a mounting pad specially added into the foredeck of your fibreglass boat to accommodate the motor? These are costs that also need to be considered to ensure you have

the level of coverage you require. 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 Prize Package Nautilus will also be an-

swering your boat insurance questions of a general nature and will be offering a great bi-monthly prize to the best questions received. The prize is a Nautilus Marine merchandising pack comprising a collapsible chiller bag, a handy marine sports bag and a cap. 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.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 43

K AYAKING & canoeing A chunky grunter for the author.

The author’s vessel for the day.

Theodolite Creek excursion

HIS year has been crazy busy for me and I’m sure I’m not Robinson Crusoe when it comes to that.

Small trevally were everywhere in Theodolite Creek.

The author picked up a solid flathead.

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www.issuu.com/bnbfishing Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

Being away every week of the year for work takes its toll on those little things you always love to do and unfortunately fishing is one of the first casualties for me. I’ve barely been out this year, with my boat seeing more rain than salt water, and that is really saying something as up until recently we’d been without rain for some time. Prior to the rains, I decided to head up to see the folks in Childers and throw in a trip to Woodgate to spend a morning on the water at Theodolite Creek. The plan was to take up the fishing kayak and cruise the flats doing a bit of fly fishing and then throw a few plastics and small hard-bodies around some of the smaller branches. The night before leaving, I spent a few hours preparing my gear. As it was only going to be a short session, I didn’t really need much. Rod wise, I had my trusty Samurai Reactions in 101 and 203 mounted with a Daiwa Sol 2500 and Fuego 2000 respectively. The fly outfit was a TFO 9’ 6wt rod, small Sage 6wt reel, intermediate line and home-made tapered leaders. The tempters packed this time around were a small selection of clousers, a couple of pink things, Gulp Fry in pumpkinseed and Atomic Hardz Crank 38s in Shallow and Mid depths. I headed up the next day and got to the creek with about three hours of the run-out left to go, which was exactly what I was after. This gave me time to walk a few of the yabby flats, waving the wand to flatties and bream, before

Kayak Fishing by MICK CLUTTERBUCK

hitting some of the deeper isolated holes to see what had decided to stay around. Tip time: you pick up many tips and tricks over the years but one of the best when it comes to fly fishing is to make sure you pack the fly rod… enough said. Plan B immediately kicked into action and instead of fly on the banks it was plastics. First cast I was on to a small flatty, followed shortly by a small trevally. I landed a few more of both species, but with no size to either. The trevs, however, are great fun on 2lb fluorocarbon straight through, so give it a go if you get a chance. Many small creeks don’t get much of a look in once the tide goes down because access is pretty limited if you only have a boat, even if it’s a small one. Kayaks and canoes open up access to these locations as many are only sanded at the mouth and once inside open up and are quite navigable, with plenty of deep holes to probe. I paddled down to one of my favourites, tied the kayak to a mangrove and worked the area from the vantage of the bank. Once again plenty of trevs were around and this time I was getting them on

hard-bodies. The hole was pretty deep, so I went to plastics with a 1/16oz head looking for what was on the bottom. The first flatty I landed was around 55cm, with a second a few casts later slightly bigger at 57cm. A nice silver jew was next in the net before things went quiet. I travelled further up, finding another spot worth a try and this time the bream were home. Though not very big, it was another species to chalk up for the day and once again fun on the light gear. After another hour or so it was time to travel back to the ramp, pack up and head for home. I had another couple of casts at the first hole on the way past, getting a few more hits but no conversions. It was probably one of the most enjoyable ses-

sions I’ve had there for some time, with the weather perfect, a slight breeze and scaly things biting. The Theodolite system, like many others all through the state, is relatively small but well worth the time and effort to explore. As stated previously, small creeks may look inaccessible at low tide but if you have a closer look you may be surprised. This being said, I’m not sure how keen I would be trying this from Gladstone north on account of the mud geckos. I think I’ll stick to something higher above the water line for those areas. Next meetings The last club meetings for the year will be held on Monday, November 5 and then Monday, December 3 at The Club Manly (bowls club) located at 26 Faine St, Manly. Come along and check out the new digs and meet the members. Until next month, safe boating.

A straightened hook was the result of an encounter with a big grunter.

Flathead were the order of the day in a small creek.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

K AYAKING & canoeing

Clarence River adventure A

NYONE who is an enthusiast, no matter what the pursuit, has a bucket list.

A list of absolute ‘mustdo’ activities that have to be experienced before you die. High on my personal bucket list was the mighty Clarence River. I have now in part ticked that one off my list! The Clarence is, according to size and volume of water flow, the secondlargest river system south of the Tropic of Capricorn. It flows from the border ranges near Tooloom and empties some 395km later into the Pacific Ocean near Yamba. Along its journey south and east it collects water from 24 major tributaries including notably the Nymboida, Mann, Orara and Timbarra rivers. It flows through country as diverse as rocky gorges and mountain ranges near its source to wide-open flood plains dotted with farmlands at its mouth. It was the section below the rugged mountains of its junction with the Mann River that interested us and is the topic of this article. When setting out on any journey through territory not previously experienced, it’s important to properly research in advance and make an achievable and manageable travel plan. Fortunately for our group, a very detailed canoe trail map series published by the Clarence Valley Council and NSW Department of Lands (w w w. mycla r e n c eva lley.com) provides maps, launch sites, camping and river conditions for 195km of the Clarence, Mann and Nymboida rivers. Our plan was to do a two-day, 50km downriver trip on the Clarence River from the Gorge Camp-

Canoeing by DAN OWBRIDGE

ground to Copmanhurst (sections 7 and 8 of the Canoe Trail Map Kit). This section involved traversing river conditions varying from wide slowmoving pools to class 1 shallow gravel riffles and some class 2 rapids. What more could you ask for? We planned to break our journey with an overnight stay at Lilydale Campground, which meant we had to carry enough gear to camp overnight and be completely self sufficient for two days on the water. Selection of paddle craft for this trip was very important. We needed a boat that was capable of carrying (in our case) gear for two people, manoeuvrable enough to handle class 1 and 2 rapids but also efficient enough to move at a reasonable pace through the long wide pools between rapids. We chose a 15’ canoe for the trip, with the other guys paddling 13’ sit-inside plastic kayaks. Both choices had pros and cons, but on the whole were good solid performers. So, with plan, gear and boats chosen, we set off on our adventure. Our launch site was the popular Gorge Campground, located on the river just below the Clarence Gorge. To say the countryside in this area was spectacular would be very much selling it short. The drive into the campsite showed rocky treelined ridges strewn with granite boulders that would make a diesel locomotive blush.

Made it! Relief after running Gordon Brook falls.

Lunch anyone?

www.bnbfishing.com. au

It turned out to be a very accurate preview of what we would experience on the water later that day. Our leg for the day was a 30km run through some of the most spectacular country Australia has to offer. From putting in at the Gorge Homestead, we wove our way through crystal-clear water dotted with huge outcrops of granite. The banks were lined with gums and bottlebrush trees and varied from gently rolling green hills to rugged cliffs. It truly was living up to our expectations. The river was at first relatively easy to negotiate, with a clear path between the large outcrops of grey rock, and as we progressed further downstream and the frequency of these outcrops increased, it became more challenging. This was exacerbated by the low water levels on the river from the current drought. This was particularly noticeable as we entered the sections above Gordon Brook, which contained a series of class 1 and class 2 rapids. The lower water levels meant that a path through the boulders was often not clear or contained insufficient water to clear the rocks on the riverbed. We found ourselves having to line the boats (pull them through with ropes) in sections that would normally have been navigable. While this added some delay to the journey, it certainly didn’t take anything away from the sheer beauty of the river or the excitement of running a remote body of moving water. There were plenty of opportunities to have a laugh as one of the other boats in the group would suddenly lurch up after hitting a submerged rock the size of a council bus. The crystal-clear water made it hard to judge whether they were 2” or 2’ below the surface. The latter part of the day found us entering into flatter terrain typified by large slow-moving pools separated by shallow gravel riffles. Here again the low water meant we were unable to travel over the rocky bottom without exiting the boat and dragging it for a few metres before reentering and carrying on. The last section before Lilydale Bridge frustratingly saw an increase in these shallow gravel runs and meant we didn’t reach the campsite until

just on dark. Lilydale Campground is a free campsite located right beside the bridge and along the bank of the river. It has flushing toilets and, in the section where we pitched camp, plenty of shade from trees along the bank. It was quite busy during school holidays, however we had no trouble finding a quiet spot right on the riverbank to hang our hammocks for the night. The second leg of our journey was an easy 20km run from Lilydale to Copmanhurst. The river here was similar to the last stage of the previous day’s paddle, and we found ourselves more regularly stretching out and getting the boats up to a good pace on the wide deep sections. The scenery did not disappoint and we saw an abundance of birds, turtles and fish. The water clarity made turtle spotting one of our favourite pursuits on this trip, with plenty around. This section is an easy class 1 paddle and would suit novice paddlers wanting to experience a longer downriver paddle on moving water. The only thing to really watch out for are the series of railway iron posts in the river bend immediately before arriving at Copmanhurst. These are fairly easily avoided if you are aware they are there. We arrived into Copmanhurst at 1.30pm after a relaxing day on the water and set off to retrieve our drop-off car from the Gorge. By 5pm that afternoon we were back in the caravan park unpacking gear, enjoying a refreshing beverage and discussing which section of the river we would tackle next. Based on our experience of these sections, we most certainly will be tackling the other six sections of the Clarence Valley Canoe Trail. It is at this point I need to stress our party consisted of four experienced paddlers who had previously paddled on moving water. Some sections of the Clarence Canoe Trail are only suitable for experienced paddlers and should be treated with respect. The river can be very unforgiving and is often in very remote areas where help could be many hours away. The preparation required is definitely worth the effort as the reward is paddling on some of the most pristine waterways in our country. For inexperienced paddlers, a number of guide services run on the river and offer the opportunity to experience various sec-

tions in a controlled environment. I recommend you add this amazing river to your personal bucket list. For more information about this trip and other similar locations, feel free to contact One Tree Canoe Company at onetree canoe.com

All packed and ready to leave from the Gorge Homestead.

A typical view for the first river section leaving the Gorge.

The end section of class 2 rapids at Gordon Brook.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 47

Amanda Johnson with the biggest barra for the comp at 88cm.

Amanda Boon (the wifey) with an 87cm barra.

WTF a big success

ACK in September we had another successful WTF Women That Fish Barra Classic.

How’s this for a major prize random draw? Brent Riley of Rifen Marine on the far left with the lucky prize winner and the WTF committee on the right.

Humminbird Mega Imaging finding the barra in the pre-fish.

The amazing WTF committee consisting of Kalana Thomas, Shara Van Haeren and Tracey Chelepy.

The committee held the event over a Friday and Saturday so after two big days on the water, locals could use Sunday to recover and relax and those who had travelled from afar had plenty of time to get home. Speaking of the committee members, they certainly had their work cut out for them when it came to picking the tides. None of the ‘spot-on’ tides fell on a weekend, so the tides chosen were the best of a bad bunch. For those who don’t know the rules of this allwomen barra competition, I shall briefly explain. If you want the full rundown, you will have to sign up for next year’s comp to see what all the fuss is about. The aim of the game is to catch as many barra as you can on lures over a two-day period. The barra are laid on a supplied brag mat and you must have your name lanyard and daily token in the pic for it to count. All barra are measured, photographed, recorded and released. It’s that simple. This year, Bill and

Champion angler Helen Maclean and hubby Quintin on the right and sponsors Dave Rapley from Woceye Custom Rods and Steve Pill from Barra Jacks on the left.

Page 48 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

Competition Report by JOHN BOON

Shirley Sawynok from Infofish returned for the tagging side and also to run the brand-new app Track My Fish that everyone used to send in their fish info. To my knowledge, everything went well and a live photo gallery meant you could view all the captures. Super cool. The Track My Fish app has a big future, so just remember that name. Here’s another awesome side to the rules, women are the only ones who fish, but you can have a male skipper. Yep, you can bring along a workhorse to net, unhook and be your personal slave deckie. This was my first year as a skipper for my wife, Amanda. Would we still be married at the end of it? Only time would tell. A good five days prior to WTF game day, most participants were watching the weather. There was a 25-knot change due on the first day of competition and if it’s one thing old pink eyes doesn’t like, it’s change. Counting down four, three and then two days to go, the forecast didn’t change one bit. Well it looked like I was going to be trying to find barra spots out of the wind for wifey to have any chance at snagging a barra or two. The pre-fish actually went pretty well. I had a couple of sneaky spots where I was sure the fish would bite. They weren’t easy spots to target but we would make it up as we went. Registration night came around quickly and it was great to see a good turnout with plenty of excited participants throughout the crowd. Forty-two male skippers, 72 mad-keen fisherwomen and 43 teams (one

team skippered themselves). The teams were introduced on stage as they received their goody bags, which consisted of comp shirts, tagging and recording gear, plenty of fishing gear donated by selected businesses and of course the rules. The rego night wrapped up quickly as everyone was keen to get some shut-eye and prepare for the following two days. Most teams were on the water early, including us. Our campaign didn’t start well, as the first two barra Amanda hooked up on managed to throw the hooks. Our confidence was a little depleted but we pressed on. It didn’t take long for her to get another chance, with a good fish pulling string on a small vibe hopped across the bottom. It was hooked on light gear, so the fight took a long time. Just when we were thinking king threadfin with no jumps and the fish staying deep, a quality barra hit the surface and went into the net. We were pumped. Amanda let out a cheer and a high five for a team effort. The barra went 87cm on the mat and was quickly tagged and released. Nothing like a good barra to get morale back in the right direction. That was the only joy we had before the 25-knot change came through around midmorning. We headed for some protection out of the wind and began targeting smaller fish. We could see them on the Humminbird side-imaging sounder. After only a few casts Amanda hooked up to a feisty barra. It was in the net quick smart and we had another high five.

Next cast she hooked up again. The action was coming thick and fast. This time it was a dusky flathead. Not the right species but still tag-worthy. Another few casts and a small chrome missile took to the air. Imagine the wife’s disappointment when the barra jumped over the landing net and spat the hook. The ‘you idiot’ look was shot in my direction. “Yep, sorry bout that sweety,” was all I could reply as I put the net away. That was it for day one. Day two started in similar fashion, with Amanda dropping a good fish on the first cast of the day. We only lasted until midmorning because the early mornings had caught up with the wife and she decided to pull the pin. It was a mistake on my behalf with the early starts, but I was very proud of her considering she only chases barra once a year. It was my first year as skipper and it was a learning process for me also. I’ll be able to make a few adjustments for next year to make the event even more enjoyable for Amanda. Throughout the event was one very bright shining star. Helen Maclean fished with husband Quintin and landed 15 barra for a total of 8.62m to take out champion angler and first in the team of one category. That’s an incredible result considering the tides were average and the weather poor. Mika Jane came in second with six barra totalling 3.96m. Champion team of two was taken out by Team Bigfish, with four barra measuring a total of 2.6m. Champion team of three was won by Team ALL RS with one barra at 59cm. The Secret Spot Bait & Tackle smallest barra prize was won by Shae Parker at 31.5cm.

The biggest barra for the comp went to Amanda Johnston at 88cm, which was a great effort considering the conditions. My wife Amanda Boon went really close, only falling 1cm short with her barra coming in at 87cm. I’m very proud of you sweety (brownie points for sure). Biggest overall other species was a king threadfin that stretched out to 74cm captured by Toni Westaway. The other species category was very interesting. The species included flathead, grunter, cod, king threadfin and blue salmon. It kept the girls on their toes waiting for those barra bites. A total of 58 barra were captured for the event, measuring just over 35m combined. That’s a fantastic result considering the wind was horrendous. The women did a fantastic job and a big shoutout has to go to the male skippers, or ‘net bitches’ as their cool WTF shirts stated. It’s a big job to sit in the boat for two days and not cast a lure. If this sort of competition sounds right up your alley, then make sure you follow the WTF Women That Fish Facebook page to stay up to date with the next event. You can also view a more in-depth look at the results as I’ve only outlined a few in this article. The WTF committee consisting of Shara Van Haeren, Kalana Thomas and Tracey Chelepy should take a bow for another well-run barra fishing competition. A very big thankyou to all the sponsors – your generosity doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s very hard to get the message across just how fantastic this event is and how much fun stuff goes on. There’s only one thing left to do and that is to participate in the 2019 comp. See you all there. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Phil caught this threadfin in the Fitzroy on a Zerek Fish Trap vibe.

Hayden Sharpe has been catching plenty of good size cod on hard-bodies.

Plenty on offer other than barra T HE east coast saltwater barramundi fishery is closed until February 1 for another year but we have plenty of other sportfish to chase around the region.

Species including mangrove jack, fingermark, blue and threadfin salmon, queenfish and trevally as well as bread and butter fish like flathead, bream and whiting will all be around in good numbers. Mangrove jack have come on the chew in a big way with the rising temperature and storm activity. Deeper submerged timber and rock bars have been my most consistent areas to target and 3” and 4” paddle tail soft plastics and 90mm vibes have worked best. Both the Boyne and Calliope rivers have plenty of rock bars that sit in 5-10m of water and are ideal for vertical jigging with plastics and vibes. Shallower snags and mangrove fringes are also giving up a few fish, with 75-100mm hard-bodies and weedlessrigged plastics doing the damage. Fingermark are still a common capture through the region, with Gladstone Harbour and the Calliope River the most consistent locations. Rocky points in the harbour are holding bigger fish and vibes are working the best. Concentrate around the back

Gladstone Region

by GARY CHURCHWARD

eddies and non-tidal flow side for cracking results. The large schools of blue salmon will be decreasing as they break off into smaller schools. The odd larger fish will still be on offer as they move through. Again, targeting deeper sections in the Calliope River and harbour with plastics and vibes will get the best results. If you find a few fish feeding in the shallows, hard-bodies will work well and even a popper or other surface lure will get some attention. Threadfin salmon are hard to target in Gladstone, with Port Alma and the Fitzroy River holding fantastic numbers of these fish. Huge schools are moving though the river, with the city section the best place to start. Finding the fish on the sounder is the easy part, it’s getting them to bite that can be hard. Persistence is the key and changing lures and keeping the lure in front of the fish will see you catching a few. If you can find a switchedon school you can catch many quickly. This makes the Fitzroy River a viable fishing option now

through the barra closed season, just for targeting threadfin salmon. Port Alma can fish really well for grunter, fingermark, blue salmon and black jewfish. You will come across a few barra when targeting these species, so please handle them with care and release them quickly. Queenfish and tuna will be found around the shipping channel towards the entrance to the harbour and feeding birds are a giveaway for where to find the tuna. Try looking around current lines and pylons for schools of queenfish and then mix up your retrieve techniques and what you’re throwing until you find what they are willing to take. The more common fish including flathead, whiting and bream will still be active in their typical locations. Barra can be landed in Awoonga Dam during the closed season and the dam has turned it on of late, with multiple fish caught per session. The size of fish is slowly on the rise, with 80-90cm fish becoming more common. It won’t be long until Awoonga is fully back to its best.

If you’re after a way to understand how to fish the dam, try booking a charter with Gladstone Fly and Sportfishing. Justin can offer you many different options and you will come away with better knowledge of how to consistently catch fish there. Contact Lake Awoonga Boating & Leisure Hire for options on boat hire as well as kayaks, stand-up paddleboards and barbecue boats to enjoy the lake over the hotter months. Remember, barra can’t be targeted over the closed season, and if you catch them when targeting other species, quickly return them to the water. Cheers and happy fishing from Gladdy.

Mangrove jack will be on the chew. This one took a vibe fished over a deep rock bar in the Calliope River.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 49

Ross Stratford landed this nice fingermark on a live herring.

The author jigged this fingermark out of some nasty rocks. It ate a 7” Berkley Gulp Jerk Shad on a 1oz 8/0 jig head.

Hinchinbrook Channel a fertile hunting ground

I N C H I N BROOK Channel is one of my favourite places to wet a line.

The author nailed this solid red jack on a Berkley Gulp Crazy Legs cast tight into a rocky outcrop.

Ross Stratford got stuck into a few jacks by casting pilchards into the shade of a small creek.

I hadn’t visited the area for a number of years so I was pretty excited to revisit this amazing place recently. My old man moved to Townsville a few years ago and I’ve been trying to get up there ever since. After a bit of planning and organising, we set a date and organised some accommodation. The plan was to stay at Lucinda and fish the Hinchinbrook Channel for a few days before heading back to Townsville and having a look at one or two of the local rivers. The old man found a house on Airbnb that suited us perfectly. It was a big house along the waterfront overlooking the 6km-long jetty the area is famous for. I flew into Townsville around 10am and my dad collected me from the airport before heading back to his place to hook up the boat. With the gear loaded and Eskies packed, we were on our way. My stepmother Debbie also came along for the trip and for a bit of relaxing. The wind was up when we arrived at Lucinda, so we chose to fish a few of the creeks fairly close to the ramp.

GTs of this size were keen to eat a small plastic in the shallows.

Page 50 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

Fishing Trip by KEITH STRATFORD

We set up some crab pots in likely looking areas before searching for snags to throw lures into. You don’t have to look too far in the creeks and drains around Dungeness to find fishy areas. The first snag we saw just down from the boat ramp had a barra feeding amongst it. We found a great-looking edge with lots of fallen timber and bait but the wind was making it hard to get a good drift going. The old man’s tinnie is fairly basic and doesn’t have an electric motor, so we did a bit of tree bouncing while casting Prawnstar Juniors deep into nasty country. My Prawnstar was the first to get nailed by a barra and it was a good one. It didn’t really give me any chance around the barnacle-encrusted timber and had my 40lb leader blowing in the wind in no time. A short time later, my second Prawnstar Junior was belted and once again the barra won. By the time I rigged up again and repositioned the boat, the big run-in tide had picked up and, combined with a howling wind, made it really difficult to get a lure into the strike zone. We decided to pull the pin on the lure casting and try a bit of bait soaking in the trees. We hooked several average fish on pillies cut in half and got drilled by some nice jacks but it was getting late and time to head back to the house for a few cold treats. The next morning we checked the pots at first light and discovered they had all been checked and raided. The grubs didn’t even close the pots back up. We pulled the pots out and got the boat out of the water and headed north to Fishers Creek to target the creeks and main channel around that area. We pulled some trevally and cod off a couple of

snags not far from the ramp before heading out to the main channel to fish a deep rocky area that often holds fingermark and other species. The channel was completely glassed out, with bait schools rippling everywhere. It looked really fishy and it wasn’t long before my spin setup was buckled over and peeling line. It turned out to be a nice little fingermark around 45cm. That was to be the smallest fish I hooked over the next hour. I lost count of the number of bust-offs and was getting very low on jig heads by the end of it. In the strong current I was running pretty heavy terminal gear. The depth ranged from 10-25m, so I went for a 1oz jig head with a 7” Berkley Gulp Jerk Shad. I was using a G.Loomis GL2 rod paired with a 3000-size Shimano Stella. I was pretty under gunned and had the rod stretched to its limit on several occasions. The biggest fingermark I landed was only 65-70cm, but I lost some real horses among them. My dad wasn’t really keen on getting stretched by one of these brutes as he was recovering from an injury, so he was happy to watch and net the fish. We left the fish biting after a hectic session so we could make it back to the ramp before the tide dropped too low. Unfortunately, we left it a bit too long and ended up having to wait for the tide to start coming back in. We found a small creek coming off the main creek heading back to the ramp and decided to kill a bit of time throwing pilchards to the shady edge. I use this same technique in the creeks around Tin Can Bay with devastating results, so was keen to see if it worked as well around Hinchinbrook. We didn’t have to wait

long, with the old man getting stuck into solid pikey bream. The jacks and cod soon got in on the action too. We ended up landing half a dozen jacks off the bank in the one spot along with a heap of cod and bream. A few of the jacks were nice fish over 40cm, so they ended up in the Esky. The fish went off the chew when the tide got too high, but in any case it was time to get back to the ramp and head to the house. The next morning, we got to Fishers Creek ramp before first light. The plan was to head back to the fingermark spot and make sure we returned to the ramp before it dropped too low again. We checked the pots on the way out to the channel and found they had been raided again. That would be the last time the pots were left in overnight. The action was slow out in the Channel, with the tide barely moving. Small plastics cast into the shallows got plenty of action from some nice little GTs, but the fingermark weren’t keen on biting with the slow tide. A big school of herring was sitting in the shallows, so I threw a net over the fish to allow the old man to drift some livies while I jigged plastics. On the first drift he hooked a solid fish on a herring and did well to

keep it out of the nasty rocks. This was his first fingermark and he was pretty happy with it. Unfortunately, it was the only one we got. I got busted off by big fish a couple of times but the current never picked up enough to get the fish active. We made it back to the ramp before the tide got too low this time. The weather was perfect on our final morning, so we went out the front to fish the jetty. It’s a long way out to the end but I have caught some good fish there on previous trips. It was pretty quiet this time, with very little bait or surface activity around. I hooked one big fish that I got up off the bottom for a while, but then it woke up and took me back into the pylons. We had to be out of the house by 10am, so left the jetty and its oversized inhabitants and set for home to clean the boat and head back to Townsville. It was great to get back to Hinchinbrook, even if it was only for a few days. It’s a place you never get sick of going to and the scenery makes it even more special. Next time I will pack some heavier gear to stop a few of those jumbo fingermark. To see a video of the action, head to the BNBFTV YouTube channel.

Check out the footage by searching for BNBFTV Small fingermark were happy to eat big lures jigged in deep water.

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Fingermark and jacks on the menu

NOTHER saltwater barra season is over for three months up here in Hinchinbrook.

It was a great year for barra around here, after that much-needed flood in March. It really gave a big boost of fresh recruitment in the Hinchinbrook Channel, with strong numbers captured throughout the year. But barra being barra, one day we would catch 15-20 in a session and the next day they wouldn’t eat, despite us seeing plenty of flashes and follows underwater. On the good days, we enjoyed fantastic surface fishing action casting Lively Lure Ziggys across the shallows early of a morning and late of an afternoon. With the closure of the barra season, our inshore charters are concentrated around lure casting for mangrove jack and chasing big fingermark in deeper water. The hot and balmy

Hinchinbrook News by TODD EVELEIGH

weather at this time of year sees the jacks fire up in all the little coastal creeks north and south of the Channel, as well as in some nice snaggy creeks running off the Hinchinbrook Channel. We’ve been casting Lively Lures Mad Mullet 2.5” Deeps to the snags and always fishing the pressure point side of the snag (the side the current is hitting). You will find the better jacks will be off the end of the snags and will hit the lure as it reaches its maximum diving depth. The start of the spring tides with an early morning low of around 8.30am is the prime time to fish for mangrove jack at Hinchinbrook. It pays to be on the water at first light and fishing the run out to low water, which can see cricket

Matthew with a serious Hinchinbrook fingermark.

score catches of quality jacks. They can be temperamental too, and instead of biting on the last of the run-out they will fire up on the first of the push-in. So some mornings when you think you have got it all worked out they just won’t bite until the first of the run-in tide. The other species on fire right now is fingermark. With fingermark, it’s about spending time on the water sounding the 5-12m depth zone and looking for any little rocky ledge, boulders on the bottom or even big trees washed down the river after the floods. All these structures can hold cracker fingermark at times, so realistically you just have to put in the time on the water to find these little locations. And I do mean little, with some of these rocks only a metre by a metre in size. But with the right combination of tidal flow, depth of water and bait congregation, you know the fingermark won’t be too far away. Once you find these spots, you need to be persistent in fishing them and working out what tides are best for the fish to bite on. Some of the best baits for fingermark are live squid, mud gut herring

and large greenback herring. A simple paternoster rig with a 7/0 wide-gape BKK hook lightly pinned through the hood of a squid is effective. With the greenback and mud gut herring, I like to pin them through the nose. I prefer the nose because usually a fair bit of current will run in these locations and it helps keep the bait tracking straight in the current and looking natural. When lure fishing for them, vibes are fantastic, as are soft plastics because you can get the weight just right to stay in contact with the bottom. It’s then simply a matter of positioning the boat by spot locking over the top of the structure and fish, dropping your vibe or plastic to the bottom and working it slowly in the bottom metre and a half of water to get the bite. Just remember, fingermark suffer badly from barotrauma and are very slow-growing fish, so if you plan on catching and releasing them, please try to catch them in water less than 8m deep to give them the best chance of survival. If you continually catch and release them in deep water you are just killing them, even though they look like they swim off strongly. The Fisheries Queensland website has insightful footage of fingermark that have been captured and released in deeper water where none have survived. Please just take what you need if you choose to keep a feed. If you want the thrill of the fight, and let me tell you, they really know how to pull, target them in shallow water so these beautiful old fish can live another day. So there you have a couple of species to target other than barramundi. Good luck! Until next month.

Fraser was pleased with his fingermark catch.

Fraser’s mangrove jack put up a torrid fight.

A sizeable jack for Makoto.

A lively Lures Mad Mullet was this mangrove jack’s undoing.

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CheCk out our new website >>> CraCkfish.Com Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 51

The author’s first jack of the trip made for an epic surface strike.

The breathtaking view from the top of Zoe Bay. The hike was well worth it.

Hinchinbrook holiday fishing H

I all, sorry for not contributing an article in last month’s edition.

The author with his best jack of the trip taken on a soft plastic.

I was quite busy with school and work commitments. It’s amazing how quickly time flies. It feels like not too long ago I was in the same position I am today, reflecting on another awesome trip away to Hinchinbrook Island. I feel homesick and would do anything to be back up there casting lures

A chunk of an estuary cod that inhaled a Zerek Fish Trap.

Fishing Trip by LACHIE BAKER

for mangrove jack or jigging up ooglies around the front. Unfortunately, this year Team Baker was plagued with an unrelenting southeasterly wind, which hung in for nearly the entire two weeks we were there. Despite the wind, my old man and I fished hard and managed to put away a few quality fish. Apart from the ever-present cod and grunter, we managed some really nice jacks and fingermark. Barra were quite scarce, which surprised me after the levels of rain recorded for the region earlier in the year. We found a few schools of barra but they seemingly had lock jaw as we couldn’t get a bite out of them. My guess is the cooler water temp didn’t help. We had two days where the wind wasn’t howling and while we didn’t manage to execute our planned 80km run out to the reef, we were able to explore some areas around the offshore islands. One day turned out to be extremely frustrating, while the next totally the opposite. We arrived on a Friday afternoon after two days

By the end of the fight with this fish the author was seriously regretting dropping 20lb gear.

Page 52 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

of driving from Brisbane. The memories from trips gone by came flooding back, and we were all very excited. I have to give credit to my mum and little sister, as they fished harder than a lot of seasoned fishers I know, and for two people who only go twice a year, they did OK. To kick off our fishing for the trip, we ran up Hinchinbrook Channel to a favourite creek of ours. The tide was absolutely perfect and we were full of anticipation. I made a danger cast over the back of a log, moved my surface plastic once and had a solid jack come up and crunch it. My thumb jammed down on the spool and I leant back hard. I had nearly forgotten how hard jacks go, no matter their size. I let the powerful Wilson Venom Crankbait baitcasting rod do what it does best, and I was relieved to have the 42cm fish in the boat. The afternoon wore on and apart from a few cod and a couple of surface strikes (without the fish finding hooks) it was a bit quiet. On the next day, we headed to another favourite creek right at the top of the Channel. The Hinchinbrook Barra Bash tournament was on the same weekend we arrived, so we were trying to find a spot without many other boats fishing. We also noticed the water temp had dropped nearly 2C since the previous afternoon, which put quite a dampener on our spirits. We started fishing anyway and were pleasantly surprise to land a solid 43cm jack within the first five casts. Again it wasn’t a monster but I was happy to kick off with my main target species. We plugged away, fishing the last of the run-out tide and half tide up, poking our way further and further upstream. I managed another three

jacks all around the 40cm mark and my old boy put away a couple of jacks himself. This, as well as a dozen cod and half a dozen grunter meant it was starting to look like a bit of a slow day until yours truly landed two really solid fingermark. Rounding a corner, I noticed a big cut out in the bank with water eddying around it. One cast with a 3” Gulp Shrimp was all it took to entice a 49cm finger. A short fight saw the fish in the boat and I was pretty happy considering this was a PB creek fingermark for Hinchy. A little further upstream was a deep bank with a fallen tree submerged in the water. We marked a few fish on the Humminbird Mega Side Imaging and once again I threw my faithful little plastic to where the fish were sitting and came up tight on another solid fish. I saw a flash of orange and silver and knew straight away it was another finger. This time it nudged 50cm but I wasn’t complaining with another upgrade to our creek PB fingermark. The rest of the arvo didn’t really fire for us, with the howling southeaster kicking in and making fishing tough. Twenty-eight fish for the day wasn’t to be sneezed at though, we were just happy to be getting into a couple of tropical species. The next few days were a blur of sessions averaging 20 fish per day, which

is much slower than our usual 40-fish average, but accounting for the conditions, I think we did well. I managed to knock off some more jacks as well as two rat barra, which were hardly a consolation prize after sitting on schools of giant barra for hours without a bite. They can and will test any angler’s patience. The Friday of the first week saw a slight break in the weather, dropping out to 10 knots during the day. Dad and I seized the opportunity to run out to the offshore islands in search of coral trout, GTs and other bluewater fish I love catching. En route we couldn’t help but stop to sling some lures at endless schools of mack tuna feeding on the surface. Some really solid fish were among them, with 5-6kg models the average size. We didn’t waste too much time casting stickbaits at these line-burners, as we were more interested in trying to catch real fish. The area we had scoped out on Google Earth months before looked awesome, with a nice coral edge and bulk baitfish holding on top of it. We were sure we would catch fish here. Unfortunately, the tides weren’t in our favour, as I like fishing these areas on the run-up tide and the tide was running out, but we had to play with the cards dealt to us. Apart from a few stripies and cod we didn’t see any trout, so we continued * continued P53

The author with the standard 40cm Hinchinbrook jack.

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Hinchinbrook holiday fishing * from P52

down to a big pressure rock on the corner of the island, which I was sure would hold a GT. After slinging a big popper around on my PE8 Venom popping gear I was well and truly tired, and going back to PE5 stickbait gear seemed like a much nicer option. We found some more reef flats where we managed a few rat GTs of about 50cm as well as a heap of stripy sea perch. I also managed one baby trout, which meant at least we had caught our target species. One frustrating incident was when we were retrieving a snagged lure and I spotted a giant blackspot tuskfish cruising along in shallow water. Stupidly, I didn’t have a leader tied on my lighter rod, as I would’ve rigged up a crustacean-imitation lure in a flash and sent it away. I simply had to watch the fish bob on by. We went and threw more poppers around and then moved back to the area we started in, as I was confident we would find fish here on the run-in. Within the first couple minutes of casting I spotted an absolute dinosaur of a trout sitting on a sand patch between two bommies. I impatiently let fly with my lure, hoping to land it a few metres behind the fish and work it in front of its face. In my excitement I threw the lure too hard, and could see it was going to sail well past the target. I put my finger on the spool in an attempt to slow it down and managed to land it straight on the fish’s head, which immediately spooked it and sent it in the other direction. By this stage I was really frustrated, because trout on the flats is up there with my favourite fishing styles, and to be struggling so hard compared to last year’s awesome session on them was very disheartening. We continued down the edge and managed another small trout as well as some other ooglies. To make my day even worse, I hooked a giant GT that ran me around

half a dozen submerged rocks. We attempted to chase it and managed to untangle the line from all bar one rock. With the fish still screaming the other way, I was just about to free spool my reel and jump in to untangle the line when the braid wore through and popped off. I was shattered and we decided to call it a day. The following day was our only other day of good weather for the whole trip, and we decided a family trip round to Zoe Bay was a good idea. Planning to have a fish on the way back, we packed some rods into the rod locker. Once at Zoe Bay, we started the hike through the jungle to a majestic waterfall. The pool below the falls is packed with jungle perch, which are all too keen to smash anything that falls into the water. I was hand feeding them march flies that were attempting to bite me, and watching the perch rise up through the crystal-clear water and belt them off the surface was a cool sight. My sister, Dad and I were keen on a walk to the top of the falls, where one of the Great Northern beer ads was filmed overlooking the water. It was a challenging hike in thongs but we made it to the top and the view was absolutely breathtaking. Photos wouldn’t do it any justice, but let’s just say it was bloody terrific. Back in the boat, on the way home we stopped on a pinnacle east of Zoe Bay. First drop with a Zerek 110mm Fish Trap lure saw it get absolutely creamed. My first call was big cobia by the way it was fighting, as it had one long run and then came to the surface, then went back down to the bottom and slugged it out down deep. After feeling some distinctive tail thumps, I started to think it was fighting more like the juvenile golden trevally I get back home in local Moreton Bay, so my call changed from cobia to golden, and I wasn’t wrong.

A hard-body-eating red dog for the author.

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A hairy 20-minute fight on 20lb braid, leader and a 3000 size Shimano Stradic saw a beast golden surface, and I couldn’t have been happier to see it hit the deck. It measured 95cm on the brag mat and was quickly tagged and released. After fighting that fish on 20lb, I decided I was a little under-gunned, so stepped it up to my 50lb stickbait rod and 10,000 size ATC Vigour reel. First drop saw me slammed by a 70cm goldspotted estuary cod, which I didn’t let take an inch of line and wound straight to the boat. On the following cast I felt a good fish pick up my vibe on the drop, so I flung the bail arm over and struck hard. This fish played up in the same way as the first golden, except I had a lot more control over it on the heavy gear. Within five minutes I had another giant golden on the deck, this one nudging the magic metre mark and I was rapt. Again, after a tag and photo the fish was back in the water and swimming away strongly. The rest of my family were dropping fresh baits for crimson snapper, grass sweetlip and other reef species. My mum got smashed by a really solid fish that buried her in the reef. Reacting quickly, I grabbed the rod off her, pulled back as hard as I could and managed to drag a solid 50cm grass sweetlip out of the bottom. Interestingly enough, it already had a tag from last year in it. The data showed it had grown 11cm in 12 months, which was really interesting to say the least. I kept vibing for another half an hour before I had a couple of quick drops with bait. I managed four crimson snapper in as many drops before we had to run home because the breeze was picking up. The tides were average for the next few days, and we wasted a whole day sitting on a school of shut-down barra at Hecate Point. They just wouldn’t bite. It got to the stage where we could actually feel our vibes bumping over their backs, which was really disheartening. We had a session in one of the creeks on the island where we managed at least 50 fish for the morning. There’s a special feeling you get when you’re fishing under giant mountains with jagged rock escarpments poking out of the jungle, and it really makes you appreciate the scenery and your surroundings that little bit more. While the majority of fish were cod, we caught

two little jacks at 30cm long and spotted one of their big brothers trying to eat the lure out of a hooked fish’s mouth. We could even hear its jaws chomping down in an attempt to grab the lure but it was spooked by the presence of the boat. As the tides improved towards the end of the week, we had two good sessions in our two favourite systems where dad and I wrangled nice jacks on both hard-bodies and plastics. The surface scene had really shut down with the drop in water temperature, so I reluctantly put down my Z-Man Pop FrogZ and stuck with what was working. It was probably a good thing for my mental health because I was becoming extremely annoyed at the number of half-hearted strikes I was getting, and when the fish actually chose to commit the weedless hook wasn’t exposing itself. How I was missing fish was beyond me, but hey, we all get unlucky sometimes. Along with the jacks were countless cod and grunter, as well as the odd blue salmon for something different. In some cases we found the fish were much more willing to take a small plastic hopped along the bottom than a hard-body rolled along the front of a snag, so I stuck with either a 70mm Zerek Live Shrimp Hot Legs or a Gulp Shrimp to keep the tags popping. The final day was upon us and the weather was forecast to improve drastically. Five-knot variable wind had us very excited for a potential day at the reef to round the trip out. We were planning to venture out to Trunk and Walker reefs about 60km off the coast, but once we got around the front we were greeted with a stiff 15-knot northwesterly. We thought we would stick in close and see if * continued P54

A rat barra taken by casting a Zerek Barra X Pro

A 50cm fingermark taken by the author with the help of a side-imaging sounder.

The author’s sister and father with two jacks from a double hook-up.

An awesome fish from an awesome day – it doesn’t get much better than that!

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 53

Exciting times at Stanage Bay

I everyone and here’s cheers to another month of exciting fishing adventures for you all. Speaking of excitement, Stanage Bay has been full of it over the past few weeks. I’ll start with a huge thankyou to Coast Guard Thirsty Sound, RACQ Capricorn Helicopter Rescue Service and Queensland Police Service for their efforts in searching for and locating an upturned vessel with two occupants in Stanage Bay waters. Both occupants were rescued and thankfully are unhurt. No doubt they have come out with a ripper story to share. Don’t forget to pay your membership and/or make donations to these worthwhile establishments because without them we’d all be in a world of hurt. The school holidays brought crowds to Stanage from all over.

Douglas with a solid jewfish.

Stanage Bay by PEE WEE

Most families were eager to try their luck and knowledge at the wellknown Jew Hole. The Jew Hole is firing after a slow and steady start, beginning to show off some of the monsters it’s renowned for. Don’t forget your heavier lines to avoid telling the story of the one that got away. Rough seas put a dampener on the spirits of those hoping to get out and chase our beautiful reefies, but the creeks are still full of life in the form of bream and salmon. Prawns are the winning bait of choice, and holiday-makers have been lucky enough to catch them off the bank at Porters Creek, while boaties have scored a catch around Quail Island. Muddies are going through their quiet time,

so are a bit trickier to locate. Hopefully they will be doubling in size soon. The first of two coral reef fin fish closures has been and gone, and the second will be occurring from November 5-9, so take this into consideration when planning trips for November. Information on the closure can be found at daf. qld.gov.au It’s definitely well worth the research. Plumtree Store is going through exciting new upgrades and from what I hear some surprises are in the mix, so check out the store’s Facebook page for updates. Stanage Bay Marine & Accommodation has more clothing, bait and tackle in stock, especially heavier line and rigs to suit the bigger fish species that

should be getting around as we speak. The council is still working on the road in and making great progress. At least half the journey in is now pleasant. The other half not so much, but it’s all part of the holiday fun. Whales are still about and making their way back down the coast, so it won’t be long and they’ll be gone for the year. A blessing to some. If you’re camped on one of Stanages beaches, keep an eye out for nesting turtles as they tend to nest between November and January. Please be respectful and give them space. Although one sector of marine life may be quiet, another is always ramping up, so it pays to bring a variety of gear to Stanage. It’s one bit of paradise where the options are endless. Take care on the waterways and catch you next month.

Hinchinbrook holiday fishing * from P53

Jaxon captured a good size cod.

Rahni proudly showed off her bream.

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Page 54 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

it would die down, and while we were waiting we managed to knock off another solid goldspotted cod as well as more crimsons and grunter. Dad also got absolutely smoked by an unstoppable beast of the deep, which I called for either a big grassy or a trout. I enjoyed a hot little session on micro jigs, accounting for a heap of rat GTs between 45cm and 50cm in length as well as other reef species. These were all great fun on baitcasting gear until I hooked what I believe was either a giant cod or potentially a large GT, as it nailed my jig off the bottom and took off at a rapid rate of knots before I straightened the hooks attempting to stop it. We made the call to run back in, grab our creek gear and head up the Channel for the afternoon because the wind was not easing in the slightest. In fact, it was actually freshening to 20 knots. My oh my, did the weatherman get it wrong. The afternoon was a series of unfortunate events, with yours truly straightening a 100lbrated snap swivel on a giant jack. After retying and having a sulk, I started casting again until we came to the very last snag in the creek. This particular snag has always produced big jacks for us, and I land-

ed my lure in the perfect spot over the back of the log and began to wind. Roll, roll, roll, crunch! I was on and then I wasn’t. Before I could do anything, it had me well and truly buried. The rear treble had been caught in the log and essentially ripped the other treble out of the fish. I was devastated, defeated and destroyed. I will be back next year and can assure you that fish won’t get away if I get another shot at it. After a sad boat trip home, we packed up and were ready to leave the next morning, which is definitely the worst part of the trip. In total we tagged 200 fish and threw back another 100 without tags because we had run out. Not one fish was kept

during the whole trip. Dad and I both chose Venom Baitcasters and spin rods from the Wilson stable for our creek fishing. We run between 20lb and 40lb braid and 2550lb leaders. In terms of lure choice, I like hard-bodies around 75mm in length and diving to at least 3.5m, as they get down in the fish’s faces and usually the fish won’t hesitate. Hinchinbrook is truly

a magical place and I would recommend it to all fishos. The drive is well and truly worth it. Stay tuned for next month’s edition as I will hopefully have a positive report on my time spent fishing the Rocky Barra Bounty. Hopefully the Rockhampton barra play nicer than their Hinchinbrook cousins. Tight lines and sore arms.

Glen scored a nice jack on a plastic.

A baby trout taken on a stickbait in some awesome country.

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C AMPING & outdoors

From barra to queenfish: beach cooking 101

HERE’S nothing better than sitting around an open fire, on a beach in the middle of nowhere, cooking up some fresh fish you just caught with your best mate – an activity we’re very familiar with on All 4 Adventure.

We’ve mastered the art of cooking on the fly, so now we’re sharing recipes, methods and secrets to beach cooking that are not only simple to execute, but will leave you fighting for seconds! When most people think of bush tucker, they tend to go with the idea of having to scavenge for witchetty grubs and wild berries, but that’s not all there is to it. If you’re setting up camp near a beach or mangroves, why not give cooking a whole fish or

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some mud crabs a try? Plenty of us know how to snag a few good catches but usually lack the knowledge on how to cook them on the go. But before you cast that ever-so-satisfying first line, you’ll need to get a low and slow fire going. Cooking with fire can take a bit of trial and error but knowing where to set up and how to select the right type of wood can remove some of the guesswork. As a rule of thumb, I avoid cooking on the beach with an open fire and instead use solid coals. This makes all the difference because it’s easier to control the temperature. You’ll need to find some hardwood timber to get the fire started to heat up the coal.

The more solid the timber, the more heat it will produce, meaning you’ll save on fuel in the long run. Make sure you heat up enough coal to completely cover a large fish, and don’t leave your mates waiting too long for a feed, so keep your fire out of the wind to get that fish cooking faster. As you’re waiting for the coal to heat up, make a nice bed of leafy green branches for the fish to cool on later. Keep an eye out for rock samphire or purslane, both of which are easily found in seaside and coastal areas, and best of all, they’re edible as well. Time to get cracking on that fish. Ideally, if you’re looking to feed more than just yourself, you’ll be wanting to catch a larger fish, like a 3-5kg trevally or queenfish. Queenfish are often found in mangrove channels and tidal estuaries, and it’s not uncommon to snag a 10kg catch. As for lures, a quick and erratic retrieve should do the job – you’ll likely pick up trevally or maybe even mackerel and salmon when targeting queenfish. Since queenfish and trevally don’t freeze well, they are not generally considered great table fish compared to other species such as barramundi. However, they can definitely hold their own in taste when they’re fresh off the line and cooked over some hot coals. Preparation is easy, simply place the whole uncleaned fish onto the heap of coals and cover it completely so it not only cooks faster but enhances the rich, smoky flavour.

Don’t scale or gut the fish to allow it to cook in its own juices and act as foil to stop the coals from contaminating the meat. After a good 30 minutes or so, a quick check with a knife will tell you if it’s cooked or not. Gently poke the tip of the knife through the thickest part and lift up the skin. If it’s undercooked the meat will still be translucent. Once the fish is juicy and slightly flaky, it’s time to pull it off the coals and nestle it on the bed of leafy greens. Simply peel back the top layer with a knife, pick the meat away from the bones and chow down. Make sure you don’t forget the salt and pepper! To change things up a bit, grab a tin of crushed tomatoes and mix it in a bowl with the fish meat. If you’re still feeling a bit peckish, you might want to consider adding some good old mud crabs to the menu as this bush tucker is also easy to cook over coals. Simply place the whole mud crab onto the bed of coals and cook both sides for about five minutes. This allows the crab to cook in its own juices and gives the meat a smoky taste. You’ll know it’s cooked when the crab has turned orange all over and juices are bubbling out of the shell. All that’s left to do is crack it open and dig in! And there you have it. Two simple but tasty recipes you can knock out without following any detailed measurements or having to dig out a heap of equipment from the back of your truck.

With little cleaning up to do, you can spend more time knocking back a stubbie or two and having a yarn with your mates. For more information on All 4 Adventure, visit al l4adventure.com Jase Andrews

by MELISSA FROHLOFF

Whole grilled fish Ingredients • 1 whole fish, 40cm in length • Bush spice seasoning • Oil Method 1. Scale and gut fish. 2. Make diagonal cuts on both sides of the fish. 3. Smear fish with oil and sprinkle with bush spice, rubbing the herb mix into the a.

4. Put fish in barbecue grill cage. Place cage on open fire over a bed of coals and cook for 15 minutes a side or until cooked. Tips This is the simplest and tastiest way to cook any whole fish on the campfire, resulting in a herb-crusted crispy skin and a flesh that is smoky and moist. A fingermark was used as the basis for this recipe.

Prep time: 5 min | Cook time: 30 min | Serves 2 Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 55

HUNTING & archery Another threat to the bush

LOVE the wide brown land in which we live and all its native fauna.

The bad guys. This pair of Indian mynas was harassing a pair of white pygmy geese, trying to drive the geese from the nest hollow.

A modern air rifle is more accurate and safer than a rimfire. Educated mynas require a concerted effort including full camo gear and pre-dawn stakeouts of feeding and watering locations.

The great majority of the population too, are deeply patriotic and, though at times we may not be enamoured with our politicians, we do love our country. It isn’t the man-made environment that ignites our passions. As you are reading a publication titled ‘Bush ‘n Beach’, it stands to reason you are a fan of the great outdoors. Like many of you, I spend the majority of my leisure hours enveloped by wild Australia. Whether I’m kayaking a tiny stream, speeding over the swell as the sun first appears, hiking through rain-forested mountains or cruising an outback highway on a Harley, appreciation of the Aussie landscape is an integral part of the pursuit. Those of you who are keen observers of nature will have noticed all is not as it should be in the bush. I’m not referring to global warming here, but something tangible and undeniably real: introduced pest animals. Popular media has reported the damage inflicted upon our natural fauna by a couple of the more easily disliked feral species including cane toads and wild pigs. Incredibly, the same media concerns are loathe to mention the threat posed by a couple of the most detrimental pest animals. This month, we’ll look at one of those species, the Indian or common myna (acridotheres tristis). As its name suggests, the myna is native to southern and southeast Asia and

The good guys. This noisy miner is a native honey eater species and should not be confused with the introduced myna.

Page 56 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

Wild Australia by NEIL SCHULTZ

was a popular pet with British expatriates when India was still part of the empire. Released in Victoria in 1863, originally brought in as a pet, it is thought to have later been released to control insect pests in market gardens (as if native birds don’t eat insects). If you read ornithological texts, the myna is mainly found around Sydney, with a few sparser populations around Melbourne and southern Queensland. During my travels I’ve seen them in abundance right along the eastern half of Australia from Victoria to Townsville. Literally millions exist through country NSW, Queensland and the ACT and, contrary to what the encyclopaedias state, they do occur west of the Great Divide (and in great numbers). They are not, however, present in the dry interior, possibly due to the lack of nest hollows. In Australia, the Indian myna has been declared the greatest threat to arboreal wildlife after land clearing (reread that and let it sink in!). In 2000, the International Union for Conservation of Nature listed the myna among the 100 most invasive species in the world – one of only three bird species on the list. You may be wondering how such an innocuouslooking little bird could be considered such a villain. Study their behaviour for a while, especially during the springtime breeding season, and you’ll be shocked. These are very territorial birds that will aggressively defend their turf, though that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Mynas are hollow nesters, meaning they build their nests in tree hollows, just like many of our native bird species. Unlike most natives, however, the mynas will gang up on larger birds and harass them until they abandon their chosen hollow. This aggressive group behaviour is the reason the myna poses such a significant threat to our natural environment. Not only do these birds take over hollows in which they nest, they’ll even kill chicks of other

species from nests they don’t later use. Along with the greater majority of our parrot species, many native owls, kookaburras, dollarbirds, nightjars, several duck species, pardalotes, kingfishers, treecreepers and even pygmy geese nest in tree hollows. All the aforementioned species are displaced by mynas claiming nesting hollows. It doesn’t stop with our native bird species, either. Possums, several glider species, all but a few bat species, geckos, some snakes and skinks also rely on tree hollows for shelter and protection from predators. Southeast Queensland has 87 bird species, 35 reptile species and 55 mammal species that will use tree cavities for nesting and/or shelter. You can see from those numbers that the potential impact of the myna is indeed significant. Solutions In the good old days, prior to 1996, when every other kid growing up in rural Australia had an air gun, some readily available control was at hand. Living in the bush, it is that method I find most effective to remove mynas from blue gum hollows in my paddocks. This form of management, using today’s highly accurate air rifles, is safe, inexpensive, effective and, most importantly 100 percent species selective. I use air rifles for the safety factor. When shooting into tree tops, any pellets that either pass through the target (or

miss), quickly lose velocity and fall to the ground without travelling beyond my boundary fences. Mynas are incredibly cunning birds and if subjected to hunting pressure, quickly learn to avoid close contact with humans. I’ve observed (on numerous occasions) native birds taking up a hollow within days of my removing a pair of mynas in the early phases of nest building. Despite working exceptionally well for my small rural holding, shooting is not really practical for large farms, nor public parks or urban areas. Here, trapping with species-specific traps is by far the most effective method of control. Traps are not readily available yet, but you’ll find good plans on the internet that the average home handyperson can build. Trapping programs have been quite successful in Canberra, where through a public education campaign the majority of residents were made aware of the problem and its solution. I was recently chatting to a pest species manager from one of the local councils about mynas. He related a story of how one of the councils in the Sunshine Coast region had employed myna traps in some parks. When returning on one of his daily checks, the council officer was met by an irate resident who proudly advised he had released the ‘poor innocent’ birds and the council employee should be ashamed of himself for trapping them. Amid a tirade of abuse, the poor council employee

tried in vain to explain that the birds in question were a feral pest species. What he perhaps should have done was take the person’s rego number and reported them to the police for releasing a prohibited species into the wild. The fines for such an act are hefty. That incident highlights the need for a concerted public awareness campaign about the threat of the myna. What can we do as individuals to lessen the damage done by these feathered ferals? Don’t feed them On a small scale, we can all lessen the opportunities for mynas to score a free feed by not leaving dog or cat food out where birds have access. In rural areas, mynas take advantage of feed freely available in horse yards and cattle feedlots. Cleaning up spilled feed under animal feeders can help reduce the freebies available to mynas. Protect nesting hollows Cutting down dead trees to heat homes in wood heaters is not environmentally friendly anyway, and by leaving in place standing dead trees, especially eucalypts which are full of nesting hollows, you are protecting the survival of our native wildlife. Install nest boxes In areas lacking natural hollows, native wildlife will readily make use of man-made nest boxes. If you do install a nest box, keep it monitored and evict any mynas that take up residence. It is, however, imperative you learn to distinguish the introduced Indian myna from the totally unrelated, native (and completely protected) noisy miner.

Installing nest boxes can reduce competition for nest sites. However, to prevent them aiding the Indian myna population, evict any introduced species that take up residence.

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4WDING & off - road

How’s that Isuzu D-Max? H

I all, often you read reports on new vehicles but rarely do you hear how a vehicle has fared after years of everyday use and sometimes abuse.

I bought an Isuzu DMax 4x4 crew cab new in 2013 and it has now celebrated its fifth birthday. This vehicle has been used in a country environment as a tow vehicle for recreational purposes and at other times a tractor around our property. It’s carried heavy payloads and dragged trees over undulating hills, carried a chemical spray unit into sketchy areas, been covered in mud inside and out and at times had the floor pans looking like kids’ sand pits, but it has responded to every command it’s ever been asked to perform and still scrubs up with a bit of TLC. Five years down the track, here’s what I can honestly say about my truck. This vehicle has been kept stock standard except for the tyres and aftermarket towbar and I replaced the tub with a trayback, which is far more user friendly while on the land. My D-Max now has 220,000km on the clock, which I believe gives me the right to make a few basic calls on performance and durability (two allimportant factors worth considering when making that initial purchase). The vehicle has been maintained to the manufacturer’s schedule, and service costs have been the only out of pocket costs incurred, except for a $22 belt for the air-conditioning unit. The original clutch remains untouched and performs like it did when new. The smooth delivery of power and torque from the three-litre turbo diesel engine has allowed me to get off that clutch and let the motor do what it is made to do: work. I have never been in a hurry to get things done, I’ve just worked with the vehicle. Those who know the original state of my property would testify to the scrub and lantana that existed, which has mostly been cleared with a decent chain and this truck. Not to mention the sizeable trees I’ve dragged to work areas to split into fence posts and rounds. My wife has been constantly bewildered and at times dismayed at what I’ve expected this truck to do and I must say with a big smile on the dial: it has performed. You would have to wonder what this truck looks www.bnbfishing.com. au

4WD Review by PAUL ‘CHIEF’ GRAVESON

like now and its condition. I have received a number of positive remarks and feedback regarding how well this vehicle has retained its overall appearance. I was so pleased when buying the D-Max to see the heavy vinyl floor coverings, which were very important to me. Whether you’re in and out of the vehicle while opening and closing gates in the pouring rain or using the vehicle as a tool bench while fencing or doing maintenance, you can try to keep the mud, cow manure and sand out but it is impossible, so carpet in a truck is simply a big no-no for me. With the vinyl floor, I vacuum out the worst when dry and then scrub the vinyl and it keeps coming back like new. In fact, the whole interior and door trims have just been treated with the occasional coat of Armor All after a wet wash down and the D-Max interior has held up extremely well. I’ve never bothered with the add-on costs for paint or interior protections from dealers and have always been sceptical of the benefits. My previous vehicle (a Holden Rodeo/Isuzu) was 12 years old and treated exactly the same way and the dash and interior were in excellent condition with no fading or cracking when I sold it. And I might add, the Isuzu motor was as strong as ever. I know when other farmers and land owners get together for a cold refreshment, four-wheeldrive utes are often on the topic list and you get to hear the ins and outs of most purchases and I know these vehicles are getting the same typical treatment as my D-Max. I often hear of interior roof linings sagging around the cab, broken window and door handles and minor cosmetic damage within the first two years. The only problem I’ve encountered with the DMax is my driver’s seat fabric wearing out. And to be honest, being cloth I should have placed heavy canvas seat covers on it. Constantly getting in and out of the seat while working and soaking the seat with wet pants has taken its toll on the fabric and foam membrane. It’s something I could not hold Isuzu accountable for.

I’ve also smashed two front windscreens through bush travelling and have found them easy and inexpensive to replace, which is a point well worth considering when you look at some of the top-of-therange vehicles with lanechanging sensors built into their windscreens. Replacing one such window could run to thousands of dollars. I’ve always bought white trucks because the duco is so easy to maintain and repair. I’m no expert on auto finishes or paints, but I can share the predicaments of reversing into trees and travelling through lantana or heavily overgrown tracks and the groaning screeches branches make down the side of my truck. How good is it when you hop out to assess damage and can’t find a mark? I’m so happy that after five years the paintwork on my truck still comes up a treat with a touch of polish and has appeared to wear well with its solid and quality coating. I thought I’d share these points with you instead of the jargon and technical specs relayed by the experts on a new vehicle. I felt one man’s honest and simple appraisal may be something

worth considering. Would I recommend my son to put his hardearned cash into an Isuzu D-Max? The answer is yes, without hesitation. I would like to add I have no affiliation with Isuzu, just a well-deserved respect for the vehicles the company produces and the D-Max I drive. Once again, don’t forget about our Lions Mary Valley Family Fishing Classic on November 3 and 4 at Lake Borumba. Come and see why I love the Mary Valley region so much. Cheers, Chief.

The author finds the tray much more user friendly for carrying kayaks, surfboards and motorbikes as well as performing general farm work.

The author and his sons with truck and bike looking for a bit of fun high in the Amamoor State Forest.

One of the author’s favourite pictures of his D-Max perched on top of a hill on the NSW property Jackalls Hyde.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 57

4WDING & off - road

The author at Ilfracombe machinery alley.

Cork Station.

A family road trip to Winton

D The author’s 1990 1HZ 80 Series clocked up 700,000km near Tambo.

The old Gidgee hut on Cork Station the author used to stay in when hunting. Unfortunately it burnt down around 1990.

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URING the recent school holidays my wife Donna and I and our four kids Magregor, Troy, Gavin and Lauren headed out west to look at the dinosaur fossils around Winton.

Though Donna and I had both been out in this country in our earlier days, the kids had never been there. Donna and I had the four-wheel-drive and van packed a few days before we left on Saturday, as I was working up until Friday night. Then on Saturday morning we all hopped in our old 1HZ 80 Series LandCruiser with our 1983 Jayco pop-up van in tow. We headed out through Kingaroy and then pulled up at Chinchilla for smoko, then continued on to Miles and Mitchell and pulled up for the night about 10km before Tambo at one of the many road train rest areas. We parked the 4WD and van out of the way so the

4WD Trip by CRAIG TOMKINSON

road trains could come and go without us being in their way. The rest areas have good clean toilets now, which is better than the old days of everyone visiting a tree. It was a prickly shock to our kids as all our footwear had some sort of burr stuck in the soles, which we had warned the kids about at the start of the trip. Everyone had to ensure they put shoes on once out of the van. We had a quiet and uneventful night camped on the side of the road, with lots of zebra finches and other small birds flitting on the ground and in the trees around us. At nightfall it was quite hot and we slept with the top half of the van door open, but by morning it was cold and we were under the doonas.

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0401 221 596 Page 58 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

The next day we headed off to Winton but around Blackall I looked down to check the gauges and noticed the old 80 Series was about to click over 700,000km, so I pulled up and took a photo. I would love to say everything is original but the old girl has had new bearings through most things. We pulled up at IIfracombe as this town has one of the best machinery displays I have ever seen, 500m or more of old tractors, graders, horsedrawn gear and bore drain ploughs right alongside the road. It was great and our kids loved checking it out for the cost of a few gold coin donations. After a couple of hours we headed off towards Longreach where we fuelled up and had a feed. We arrived in Winton around 4.30pm and found a caravan park near the BP servo with a cheap powered site at $35 for all of us. We set up the van and were relaxing in around 10 minutes. Donna and I could not help but notice another couple of camper trailers had pulled up at the same time as us and were still going with set-up 20 minutes after us, and they did not put up a big camp. Lauren wanted to go for a swim in the park pool because the temperature in Winton was quite hot, but it turned out the pool water was freezing. Instead our little mermaid played in the wading pool no more than knee deep. The next day we were away and out to the first Age of Dinosaurs tour 22km southeast of Winton. It was a great drive.

As you come off the flat country and go over the jump-up, the view back is unreal. It cost us $170 for the family for a pass to do the Age of Dinosaurs tour and the tour at the Lark Quarry (which we would do next day.) We spent around four hours here doing the guided tours. We all enjoyed it and learnt so many things about Aussie dinosaurs. I highly recommend it. We headed back to Winton to buy a couple of bags of ice because on this short trip we used a 60-litre icebox to keep our tucker cold. Maybe on our next trip away I will look at buying a 60-litre upright 12V fridge/freezer so I won’t need a fridge slide and I’ll set up a solar panel on the roof for it. In the early days I used to have a couple of threeway upright Chescold fridge/freezers but over 25 years of use they stopped with age and they had been very hungry on 12V power. The new compressortype fridges are so much better and more efficient. Once we bought the ice, we headed off the 102km towards Lark Quarry and planned to camp at the Old Cork Homestead waterhole on the Diamantina River that night. The road was freshly graded and it was very loose and bulldusty gravel. I pulled up and put my hubs in and drove in highrange 4WD. I like to do this because it is better on the back tyres and rear diff as the power is transferred to the front diff as well. And I reckon the vehicle handles better in highrange 4WD when towing on gravel roads. It was a great drive out towards the quarry. We turned off a few kilometres before the quarry

and headed towards Cork Station. Pulling up at the top of the jump-up, we took more photos of the spectacular views out over the plains. I had not been out this way for 23 years as my mates and I used to hunt pigs on Cork Station from 1982 into the ‘90s when old Arthur Wallis was manager. In those days we would take out fresh veggies from home, strawberries, Gunalda paw paws and a carton of beer as well as a couple of fresh loaves of bread and a paper from Winton. Mrs Wallis would cook tea for us at the station at night and Arthur would give us enough meat for our trip. We camped at the old Gidgee hut, which was built beside an artesian bore. Arthur told me the bore took months to put down, saying it was 1300m deep and was flowing at 9600 gallons per hour. At the time it had been running like that for over 70 years. The station changed hands in the ‘90s and Rob Banning bought it. Back in the mid-‘90s I called and got permission to go out one more time. My dad, a mate and I went back out, met the new owner and stayed for a week or two hunting pigs and having a fat time. Rob came and visited us where we were staying at McBrides hut and said we were welcome back any time. I called up to go out again many years later and was told by his wife that they didn’t allow hunters on the station anymore, which was a shame, as we had great times hunting on Cork for over 10 years. Anyway, back in the present, as we drove along the road on a big open * continued P59

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4WDING & off - road

A black checker plate waistline gives the van a distinctive look.

Capacity for two jerry cans (fuel or water), two gas bottles and a DO35 hitch.

New caravan is simply Brilliant

FTER many years of camping and then ‘graduating’ to a camper trailer, we began looking for a caravan to meet our needs and increase the comfort and facilities level a little.

Our Lifestyle Camper, one of the originals built in 2005, has taken us through the Red Centre via the Plenty Highway, touring for three months through Western Australia/Gibb River Rd/ Cape Leveque, four weeks criss-crossing Tasmania as well as numerous trips across Queensland including Diamantina Lakes, Blackdown Tableland and Cape York. We recently started searching for a new van that would meet our needs and be able to provide us access to the places we wanted to go. My wife and I had decided, after much research and looking at new vans and ones in caravan parks,

Caravanning by BRAD YOUNG

that we wanted a smaller van with a single axle and off-road capability. We were looking in the 17’6” to 18’6” sizes. Our growing children (11, 15 and 20) would be relegated to swags because we did not want to buy a bunk van for five or so years and then have to resell and start again. I used information on the “Lemon Caravans & RVs in Aus” Facebook group to complete further research as well as perusing various web searches and reviews. In the end I found one caravan that seemed to stand out from the rest in terms of high build quality (no issues reported by owners), off-road capability and well-appointed fitout for a reasonable price. On Facebook I had also

joined the Brilliant Caravans Owners Group to garnish even more information. The van we ended up buying was a Brilliant Cobra XL 18’6” (the Cobra part is a link to the owners’ Thai heritage.) We took the time to visit

the factory in Melbourne to check build quality and to see these vans being manufactured. This is when we met Peter and Mei Vang, the owners of Brilliant Caravans. Peter supervises the building of every one of the 10 vans they construct each month while Mei runs the office, communications and colour choices. We have just enjoyed two weeks based beachside

at 1770 Camping Ground and enjoyed every minute of our stay and loved the comfort and convenience of our van. If you want further information before next month, drop me a line at fishnboat@bigpond.com, PO Box 5812 Bundaberg West Queensland 4670 or give Mei a call on 03 9357 6581. Stay posted for more info next month.

Two spares ensure you won’t be left hanging off-road.

The author’s new Brilliant Cobra XL 18’6” caravan and tow vehicle.

A fantastic family road trip to Winton * from P58

plain I could see Cork Station homestead in the distance and it brought back so many great memories of hunting on the 500,000-acre station with my mates and dad. It was another 50km or so to the river and we arrived with enough time to find a camp, put the van up and have dinner while hundreds of galahs had a drink from the river behind us. We would have liked to have spent more time there. The next day we packed up and drove up to the old Cork homestead (now in ruins) and took some photos before heading to

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the Lark Quarry to do the tour, which was fantastic because it is the only place in the world where you can see dinosaur stampede footprints. What a flash complex it is today. Back in the early ‘80s it was just a big tin shed over them and we just walked up and saw them for free. In any case, it was great to take our kids out to see them at this new facility. From there we drove back to Winton and on the way the air-conditioning in the 4WD stopped working, which was a bugger because it was hot. We went to the Waltz-

ing Matilda Centre for a few hours, which was was great value at $60 for our mob. I feel it’s a must-do if in Winton. After that, we drove back to Longreach where we stayed the night in a caravan park at a cost of $52 for a powered site. The following day we visited the Qantas Founders Museum, which was good value at around $60 for all of us. We spent a few hours there but didn’t do the 747 tour and wing walk as at $124 each it was way too dear for all of us. We would have loved to go over to the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame

and have a look around and do an old coach ride, but at $32 each to get in and then around $120 each for the show, dinner and coach ride, it was too expensive for us. Leaving there, we headed off to Alpha to visit our friends Darren and Jenny Thorn. On the way to the museum that morning we had been passed by fire trucks and police with sirens going off and heading out towards Ilfracombe, and as we got closer to the town we found the road was detoured around it. We later learnt the town’s shop had unfortunately burnt down.

We arrived at our friends’ place around 3pm and our intentions were to stay a few days but somewhere along the trip Donna had picked up a sore throat and cough, so we changed our plans and only had a cuppa, chatted for a couple of hours and headed

off to Emerald. From here we made our way back to Rockhampton and then home the next day. It was a great trip. We did 3280km and the old 80 Series never missed a beat, other than the air-con needing more gas.

The old girl was using 14 litres of fuel per 100km, which I think is great. Hopefully during the next school holidays I will get to take the family on another awesome Australian holiday. ‘Til next time, be safe when travelling.

Camped at old Cork waterhole on the Diamantina River.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 59

The author with a barra taken on the 120mm Classic Barra in Casper colour.

A stern line is a vital piece of equipment when anchoring in croc country.

Exploring Cape York E

VERY year I lock in a handful of days during the September school holidays to venture down the west coast of Cape York from Thursday Island and camp at one of my favourite locations.

Neville Harrison held a longtail tuna taken on the author’s butter knife jig.

Gary Potter with a red emperor and golden trevally.

Page 60 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

This year the crew consisted of my old man and father-in-law and we had another boat following us, which isn’t a bad thing in terms of safety. The week prior to the trip was spent doing welloverdue maintenance on the boats and fishing gear. We packed a toolkit, a well-stocked first-aid kit, checked our safety gear and ensured the satellite phone was charged. It was important to ensure our safety gear, such as life jackets, was easily accessible because it would be no use to us if we couldn’t get to it quickly in an emergency. We then packed our camping and fishing gear and sorted the ice, fuel and food. While I enjoy bush cooking, I also like to take a few pre-cooked meals such as spaghetti bolognese because it is quick and easy to reheat. We were all set for an early departure, however the weather wasn’t looking great and I woke at 4.30am to the wind howling a good 30 knots. Now ordinarily we might have reconsidered going at this stage, but with other commitments taking up our calendars, we set off knowing it was now or never. Having said that, we were also confident that both boats and crew were up to the task of crossing the Endeavour Strait in very average conditions, having done it many times before. It was a lumpy one-hour ride and once we reached the Jardine River, the mainland offered protection. We hugged the coastline as we ventured several more hours south. Though it was still somewhat choppy, it was nothing compared to what we had just been through.

Cape York & Torres Strait by MATT POTTER

When we finally reached our destination, we unpacked the boats and set up camp. The afternoon was spent flicking a few lures and exploring a nearby creek. A 7m plate boat certainly has its advantages but it isn’t ideal for flicking these shallow creek systems. We persisted and managed a couple of cod and barracuda. When we returned to camp, we found a flatback turtle digging its nest at the campsite, which was a great experience. The following morning after brekkie we decided to play around the mouth of the river, trolling and flicking Classic Barra lures and faithful Gold Bombers. While we managed a couple of queenfish and barracuda, the fishing was again slow and low tide meant we couldn’t venture far. I walked into a small creek and cast netted mullet for live baits. I decided to grab the baitcaster and flick a small drain, and after a handful of casts landed a little barra on a Gold Bomber. I soon hooked another

but it managed to spit the lure. The boys floated out livies from the boat and caught a couple of queenies. We soon worked our way upriver with the incoming tide through the maze of shallow sandbars. Once past the sandbars, the water deepened and we cruised upriver several more kilometres. I’ve spent many hours fishing this particular river, so was familiar with the sandbars and rock bars and layout of the river. I bypassed a lot of quality snags and went straight to an area that has produced good numbers of barra in years gone by. These Cape rivers are so scenic and wild.

I love seeing the mangrove-lined banks turn to palms as you move into the brackish water. It is still tidal and because we were near the top of the tide I knew the fishing would be tougher. I began fishing by working a 120mm Casper Classic Barra around a few snags. This lure had outfished all others the previous year, so I had high hopes. After a dozen or more casts I hooked up to a nice barra and after a short but intense fight I had it in the boat. The fish measured in at 70cm, I took a few snaps and returned it to the water. The crew was hungry for a barra of their own, so after working the snags over we pushed further upriver and passed the other crew who had just boated * continued P61

The author boated a nice barra in the brackish water well upriver.

Heading upriver, the vegetation changes from mangroves to palms as the water becomes brackish.

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Exploring Cape York * from P60

a Queensland groper, a protected species that was quickly returned to the water. We threw the lures out the back and set up a little trolling run that resulted in a nice queenfish that put on a great aerial display. Good fun but not the target species. We noticed a saltwater crocodile of about 1.5-2m sitting up high on a bank and went over for a closer look. While most crocodiles we encounter take off long before we get near them, this guy didn’t move and we were able to get quite a good look at it. I worked a deep junction and while the barra were sounding up, they had lock-jaw, which was frustrating and after many casts using an assortment of hard-body and soft plastic lures, we began heading back downriver. I decided to again flick the snags where I had caught my barra earlier. First cast resulted in another barra at around 65cm. Retrieving a couple of snagged lures surely spooked the fish and being in a larger boat we needed to get going and head back out past all the sandbars and make it to camp or we would be spending the night up the river. We cruised back to camp, taking in the sights of the Cape before anchoring the boats. We always run a stern line and allow a lot of slack rope so the boat can swing naturally with the tide. When we want to get to the boat, we just pull it

into the bank. This is pretty important in croc country. When I bought the Fisher 700 Maxi, I also bought a Manson Supreme Anchor from Whitworths. These anchors are awesome, have been surveyed by Lloyds Register Marine and Shipping and are the first production anchor to be given the super high holding power rating. I sleep soundly knowing the boat will still be there in the morning. With the tide running hard, the other crew had issues with their sand anchor dragging and had to re-anchor many times. The fishing was proving tough up the river. That evening, I called my wife on the satellite phone to touch base and get a weather update because we were hoping to push out the front to chase a few reefies but the wind had been howling. She confirmed what the long-range forecast had shown – it was dropping out at lunch and would be a good afternoon to head out the front. We woke up to a glassy morning and after a lazy breakfast started to sort the boat. The plan was to play around the river mouth and then head out 10 nautical miles to an area that had fished well in the past for an arvo session. We certainly got the plan wrong and by the time we were organised the wind had come through and the glassy seas were now choppy. It seemed we weren’t winning but we pushed on to some other marks that had produced large-mouth

A flatback turtle laid its eggs near the camp.

nannygai in the past but we struggled to even get a bite. A school of longtail tuna (northern blues) broke the surface nearby and Nev boated a nice fish after a solid battle. The tuna schools are generally much thicker and this small school soon disappeared and we moved on. With persistence I found a bit of ground that produced solid grass sweetlip. I continued to sound around and eventually came across a nice show and dropped down live mullet I had cast netted earlier in the day. My old man and I both came up tight on a couple of solid fish and he managed a nice golden trevally while I bagged a school size red. We managed a few more sweetlip, another red and some solid golden trevally that were returned to the water. The Furuno sounder with the through-hull transducer reads beautifully at speed. On the way back in I ran over interesting ground and spun the boat around to have a look. I dropped down one of my home-made jigs created from a stainless steel butter knife and on the retrieve got slammed. I soon had a big cobia at the side of the boat before it realised it was hooked and took off on a massive run. After 15 minutes I thought I had it beat but the hooks pulled and a few choice words were said. We then continued back to the river. As we entered the river, we spotted a massive 4mplus croc only 30m from the camp and got within a few metres of it before it disappeared off the bank and under the boat. It certainly pays to not get complacent because these animals are always watching, even though you may not see them. Everyone was certainly on their toes after that. We sank a few beverages as the sun set across

This is living. The crew enjoyed a cold beverage and a Cape York sunset.

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the Arafura Sea and later threw red emperor and grass sweetlip on the coals for dinner. This is living! The next day we fished our way back in choppy conditions and managed several large-mouth nannygai, sweetlip and filthy catfish. With a big clean-up ahead, we wrapped it up and headed for home. The fishing had been a lot tougher than previous years but we certainly had a blast catching a variety of species in what is a pretty special part of the world. We now move into a very exciting time of year. The build-up to the wet season brings more weather windows and opportunities to fish the east coast of the Cape, which has been off-limits for seven months due to the prevailing southeasterly trade winds that blow 20 knots-plus from May until November. You can view footage from this trip on my Fishing Missions- Northern Australia Facebook page.

Neville with one of several golden trevally boated.

Million Dollar Fish launches with five times the bounty

HE fourth season of Million Dollar Fish has kicked off in the Northern Territory, with a game-changing five barramundi worth one million dollars now loose in the waters of the Top End.

Anglers keen to reel in a barra during Australia’s richest fishing competition will also have extra time to put their skills to the test. This year, the Million Dollar Fish competition has been extended until March 31, 2019 to include the all-important run-off after the wet season. Home to the world’s largest population of barramundi, this season of Million Dollar Fish sees more fish than ever on the run in NT waterways, including 100 barramundi with $10,000 prize tags alongside the five barra tagged with the milliondollar jackpot. A new charity category has also been introduced, with 20 fish worth $5000 to be split equally between the angler and one of three Territory-based charities, so the odds have never been better to win. Tourism NT’s deputy chief executive officer Andrew Hopper said the Million Dollar Fish competition was helping to secure the Territory’s

place among the world’s most-renowned fishing destinations. “The Million Dollar Fish competition has helped boost the NT’s reputation as one of the best places in the world to fish and season four has been extended with more chances to catch a prize-winning barra,” Mr Hopper said. According to cricket great and Million Dollar Fish Ambassador Matthew Hayden, Million Dollar Fish is the best fishing tournament in the world, in the world’s best fishing location. “It’s the people’s fishing competition,” he said.

“Chasing a barramundi in the NT is no easy feat, but the reality is it’s not like a marlin where you need a great big boat or game reels. “The Territory’s peak barra fishing season is always spectacular and I think everyone should experience the thrill and adventure of hooking an iconic NT barra.” Mr Hayden said once the first Million Dollar Fish was caught, the remaining four would revert back to $10,000 bounties. “And, if the Million Dollar Fish hasn’t been caught by the end of March, the season will

be extended until September 30, 2019 for the major prize only,” he said. “All 125 tagged barramundi have been released in Top End waters around Kakadu, the Tiwi Islands, Katherine, Darwin and Arnhem Land and it’s anyone’s guess where the first one will pop up.” The competition is free to enter and participants must pre-register online at milliondol larfish.com.au to be eligible for cash and sponsor prizes. For full competition details, please visit mil liondollarfish.com.au

Former Australian international cricketer and NT ambassador Matthew Hayden. Photo: Keri Megelus/ntnews.com.au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 61

Bountiful options around Bundaberg

AKE Monduran has had a great year, with many good fish caught over the different seasons including some monster bass and enormous barramundi.

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Dennis Harold with his world record 44.62kg, 134cm long, 107cm girth barra caught from his kayak at Lake Monduran in 2010.

NEW LOCATION Pop in on your way to Monduran Dam for all your tackle needs – easy parking with boats! 26 Mulgrave St, Gin Gin (next to fire station)

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Page 62 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

Now we have entered the closed season for catching barramundi in tidal waters, we are fortunate to have 63 impoundments in Queensland we can fish throughout the year. Lake Monduran is one of the most southern barra lakes and has become well known and regarded as the gateway to barra country. Only 5km off the Bruce Highway and 20km north of Gin Gin, Lake Monduran is easy to access. Both in Gin Gin and at the lake you can find suitable accommodation readily available, though it pays to pre-book during holiday times. As the waters warm and the air temperature continues to rise, anglers will witness an increase in aggressive behaviour of barramundi in the lake. We have heard of numerous sightings of baitfish chopping the surface and hundreds of birds feeding upon them. Lake Monduran has no shortage of food for the large population of fish it is home to. As the summer sun projects through the water, we see a rapid change in water colour. Monduran’s water will now take on a green hue because of the photosynthesis occurring with vegetation growth. A good rule of thumb is to use a lure that has colours matching the water, so a lure with a dark green back would suit fishing at

Monduran Dam by DONNA GANE

this time of year. White and clear lures will stand out against timber structures and rocky areas throughout the lake. Don’t forget to go back to basics when stalking barra. Look for the birds because they love to tell you where the fish are. The areas with warmer surface temperatures are great spots too. Barramundi like warmer water, especially when basking in the sun charging their solar panels for an evening feed. Barra are built with good night vision and they are extreme hunters that rely on currents to intensify their pelagic behaviour. This month you will need to confirm your Christmas holiday destination and make the appropriate bookings.

Lake Monduran offers world-record barra action and very large bass. If you want to see other species, that is not a problem because Gin Gin is an easy drive to a number of other great fishing grounds. For example, 1770 is only an hour and a half away, and Burnett and Elliott Heads only an hour. Lake Paradise, 30 minutes’ drive off the highway heading south, is a great skiing and recreational boating lake. The Kolan River has a number of good-quality boat ramps and renowned fishing and crabbing spots. We have so many good reasons to holiday in our local area! With too many to list, a few attractions include zoos, historical trails, an

Rory and a mud crab.

aviation museum and numerous activities and fun for the entire family. The Bundaberg region has wonderful produce, with incredible localcaught seafood, fresh fruit and veggies. The Bundaberg Rum distillery and Bundaberg Brewing Company are well worth the visit, with comfortable tasting areas and lots of product knowledge to share. When you arrive in Gin

Gin, please call in to our store and Les will advise you on whatever you wish to know. Our local knowledge is unsurpassed and we can help with sending you to the top spots to fish or crab, be it salt or fresh water. We are located on the Bruce Highway southbound between the fire station and Tyrepower, near the middle of town.

Casey captured a 57cm bass.

Rory with two good-sized flathead caught in the Bundaberg region.

Bundaberg Toyota Golden Barra Competition – Lake Monduran

NEW competition has started on the shores of Lake Monduran in the Bundaberg region.

The Bundaberg Toyota Golden Barra Competition is totally unique and is the first of its kind in Australia. The thing that makes this competition so unique is the major prize barra are actually coloured: one gold and one white. These coloured barra are extremely rare because only around one in two million spawned barra turn out a different colour from their siblings. Thanks to Jason Coe of Jardini International, we have had the opportunity to buy two of these rare barra for the competition. The venue – Lake Monduran Lake Monduran has about 5340ha of water surface area at 100 percent and an average depth of 11m when full, making it the fourthlargest in Queensland. This lake’s habitat is ideal for the life of barra-

mundi, with tens of thousands of trees, weed beds and lily pads extending the entirety of the lake’s shoreline and seemingly endless river arms, bays, points and alcoves providing the perfect environment for this iconic species. This is the reason barra grow to be huge at Lake Monduran and in proof of this, the lake boasts a current worldrecord barra that tipped the scales at 44.6kg and measured 135cm when it was caught by kayaker Denis Harrold in 2010. Now, anglers will get an opportunity to catch two of the rarest barra in any Queensland impoundment as well as three tagged silver barra, and if that isn’t special enough, there is a hefty prize pool of $40,000 worth of cash and prizes to go with them. To secure the major prize of $15,000 from Bundaberg Toyota, budding barra hunters will need to land the rare golden-coloured barra. Sponsors have also donated great prizes for any

angler who catches one of the five tagged barra. The prizes are as follows: • First prize (golden barra): Bundaberg Toyota $15,000 cash. • Second prize (white barra): boat, motor and trailer package supplied by Polycraft Boats, Bundaberg Marineland and Oceanic Trailers valued at $9000. • Third prize (silver barra): Viking Kayak Profish GT with Bixpy Jet Motor valued at $3599. • Fourth prize (silver barra): Humminbird Helix 10 Mega SI sounder supplied by Tackle World Bundaberg and valued at $3000. • Fifth prize (silver barra): Wilson Fishing prizes to the value of $3000. To add to the major prize of $15,000 in coldhard cash for the angler who catches the Bundaberg Toyota Golden Barra, Rapala Lures Australia is offering a further $5000 worth of Rapala lures and equipment. To claim the extra Ra-

pala package, all you have to do is catch the prized barra on a Rapala lure and take a photo of the lure in its mouth. To add to the second major prize, Rapala is offering $2500 worth of Rapala equipment to the lucky angler who catches the white barra, with the same rules applying. Registration into the competition is completely free, so follow the links below and read through the terms and conditions to be part of this awesome fishing competition. The comp will start on Thursday, November 1, 2018 and finish on Thursday, January 31,

2019 at midnight. Anglers can fish anytime through this period. To be eligible to claim the prizes, anglers must produce tag information and details and submit photos to the Lake Monduran Holiday Park Office. For more details, terms and conditions of entry, please visit goldenbarra. com.au or visit the Bundaberg Toyota Golden Barra Facebook page. Alternatively, you can contact the office staff at Lake Monduran Holiday Park for further inquiries regarding the comp, camping and accommodation on info@lakem. com.au or 07 4157 3881.

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DJ with two big Borumba bass.

A 48cm Lake Borumba chunk.

Big bass firing at Lake Borumba O VER the past month the spring bite has really come on.

The fish have either moved from the deep water and up into the shallows or are suspending out near deep timber. I’ve been out to the dam on a couple of occasions with a few clients trying to get them onto absolute cracker bass. I had Merv Hughes call me asking if I’d take his good mate DJ out on an Untapped Fishing Expedition. DJ is from South Africa and had never caught an Australian bass before. Merv had told him all about Borumba, saying it’s one of the best places in Australia to catch big bass and saratoga. As you could imagine, DJ was pumped. I picked him up from Noosa around 5am and got started on the hourlong trip into the Mary Valley. DJ couldn’t believe how untouched and unspoilt the Noosa area is, especially the Mary Valley region.

Freshwater Luring

by CALLUM MUNRO

Going over a few of my favourite areas, we found several schools. This is where it got exciting. When arriving at the dam, we came across a few pretty-faced wallabies and even a deer. What a great way to start a fishing trip. Once on the water, we headed up to one of my favourite rock walls in the start of the Yabba Arm. Casting TN60 Jackalls in Ghost Wakasagi, the

The author and owner of Untapped Fishing Expeditions got DJ onto some crackers.

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key was to land the lure as tight to the bank as possible and slow roll it out for 10 cranks, pausing and letting it free fall back down for five seconds. This was continued all the way back to the boat. We don’t just wind the lure straight back to the boat because the rock walls in Borumba are very deep and the fish will move deeper the further from the bank they get. It is imperative you let the lure free fall about 5m off the bank so it stays in the fish’s face. That is exactly what DJ did, getting his casting eye in after the first 20 minutes. He could cast his lure tight to the bank and start this retrieve. He landed four bass using this method. While only small, he had captured his first-ever Australian bass. After this, we headed into deeper water trying to find suspending fish we could target with Berkley Gulp soft plastics in the top of the submerged trees. Going over a few of my favourite areas, we found several schools. This is where it got exciting. I reckon catching these fish is by far the most fun you can have when bass fishing. It’s such an adrenaline rush hooking bass in the

tops of submerged trees and is a go hard or go home style of fishing. I explained to DJ how hard it is to hook bass on soft plastics while showing him the retrieve. When slow rolling soft plastics, bass will come up and start to bite the plastic. The worst thing you can do at this stage is strike. Let the fish load up, then strike. This took me a while to learn back in the day, but DJ was all over it. The boat was spot locked in about 12m and the bass were holding in 4.5m. We were using 1/2oz Berkley Dam Deep jig heads rigged with Berkley Jigging Grubs in Pumpkinseed. We would cast them out, count to eight and then start to wind. It’s all about keeping the lure in the fish’s face. When using a 1/2oz jig head, it’s easy to keep the plastic at the 3-4.5m mark, and when you’re using a Berkley Gulp, the fish don’t let go. We had an absolutely epic 30 minutes, catching 10 fish including four over 45cm. DJ was pumped and so was I.

I absolutely love what I do. Taking people out to this amazing dam and teaching them how to target Australian bass is unbeatable. They can then go home and use the techniques I’ve taught them to successfully catch Australian bass. If you’d like to come out to the dams and join me on an Untapped Fishing Expedition, check out un tappedfishing.com.au or call 0412 887 651. Also, you can now book a charter with me through Borumba Deer Park.

The smile says it all.

A small bass to get the ball rolling on an Untapped Fishing Expedition.

LAKE BORUMBA A MUST-DO EXPEDITION!

LLUM MUNRO

GUIDED BY CA

info@untappedfishing.com.au

0412 887 651 Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 63

The Ezzy clan took advantage of a great bite on Lake Boondooma.

Clayton and Keith with the spoils of a great session on the deeper flats of Boondooma.

South Burnett dams boast hot spring bite

A report.

One of the biggest yellowbelly for the author in recent years came from Lake Somerset.

The author with a thumping yellowbelly.

NOTHER cracking month of fishing has gone by since my last

The lakes’ edges and deeper flats have really come alive, with cracking fish caught at both Bjelke-Petersen and Boondooma dams. It’s a great month to be on the water because the temps are comfortable and rising while the fishing is red hot. No matter what type of fisher you are, the dams in the South Burnett region have something to offer. Boondooma Dam Boondooma is a well-known big bass fishery and this month has seen it live up to its reputation. Good numbers of big bass and yellowbelly have been caught all around the dam using a variety of techniques. If you’re a keen lure fisher, the best place to start is on 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 by casting lipless cranks, spoons, plastics and spinnerbaits. I like throwing an Olive colour 3/8oz Bassman Spinnerbait tight to the edge, letting it sink to the bottom and using a slow wind back to the boat, with a couple of rod shakes in between to entice a strike. In the warmer months, the

y Guided b g f o rd n a L t t a M

Australian Freshwater Fishing Charters 0408 658 592 | australianfreshwaterfishing.com Page 64 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

by MATTHEW LANGFORD Freshwater Impoundments

fish respond well to a reaction lure, so keep that in mind when casting to a bank. Mix up your casts and retrieve speed and adjust to what you’re getting your bites with. I like to ‘burn’ or quickly crank a lure back occasionally to get the fish to hit aggressively. If you’re doing this, hold on to your rod because the bite is usually hard and fast. Some cracking golden perch and bass have been caught over the past month from the edge, so it will pay to start this way early on your day out. The best way to keep catching quality is to move deeper as the day heats up. The bigger bass have been caught on the flats later in the morning as the wind and warmth start to increase. Areas such as the Junction through to Pelican Point have been productive, as well as Death Valley, Barbers Pole bank and the main lake points near the dam wall in 9m of water. Make sure you check with the kiosk if you’re unsure of the names of areas in the dam and the staff will be sure to help out. I like targeting the ground just wide of the flats as it starts to drop off into deeper water. I’ve been finding the fish have been sitting on these ledges and are usually more willing to bite. Ambush points like this are great spots for our predatory bass. The best techniques on the flats and ledges have been slow-wound spoons, 1/2ozrigged plastics in darker green or fluorescent colours and 1/4oz and 3/8oz blades in silver or gold hopped or slow rolled along the bottom. Bait fishers have been bringing in 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 been starting 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 just started to pick up with the consistent warm weather.

Find them around the rocky edges using rockmelon, pumpkin and dog biscuits. Lake Barambah (BjelkePetersen Dam) Bjelke-Petersen Dam has been making anglers happy, with bass coming up from the deeper flats and creek beds to feed heavily on the edges. Most anglers have been reporting great sessions, with cracking bass and yellowbelly among them. The fish aren’t afraid to hit anything that resembles a baitfish. Consistent warm weather can be thanked for this ‘reaction bite’ and it’s only going to get better and better, the further we move towards summer. The best methods for getting among the action is to position yourself 40-50m from the bank and casting towards a good rocky edge, letting the lure sink to the bottom before starting a slow and consistent wind. I’ve found the best lures have been lipless cranks, spinnerbaits, tailspinners, 1/2ozrigged plastics, jerkbaits and blades cast up near 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. Likely areas to target are all over the dam, from the dam wall right through to the shallows up the back. Trollers are having luck along the edges of the dam using

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 using live shrimp, salt water yabbies and worms fished closed to the bottom. Red claw are also on the comeback as the water warms. Fishing charters I’ve had the pleasure of taking clients out to a number of dams over the past month and apart from Boondooma and BP a couple of dams require a mention for their fishing potential. Lake Somerset has produced consistent catches of big bass over the 3kg mark. Not only are the bass big but the yellowbelly are gigantic. Lake Cressbrook near Toowoomba has also produced a large number of quality fish but you really need to know where to look. Bass over 2kg are regular catches and good numbers of all size fish are being caught consistently. Don’t forget you can book a fishing charter with me on BP and Boondooma dams and many other dams in Queensland. If you’d like a great day out and all the info and knowledge to catch bass and yellowbelly in our great dams, make sure you give me a call on 0408 658 592 and I’ll be happy to take you out for a great day’s fishing. You can also check out aus tralianfreshwaterfishing.com Until next time, tight lines and bent rods.

Soft plastics are productive in BP Dam.

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An interesting look at Westbrook Creek

E S T BRO O K Creek was formerly known as Campbells Creek, after John Campbell who established one of the first pastoral runs on the Darling Downs in 1841.

Many creeks in the area were named after the first settler’s family. Successive poor seasons forced John Campbell’s station to be sold a number of times after settlement. In the 1880s, the Government Land Succession Act broke up the sheep station run monopolies and the creeks were rechristened in favour of the original station run. Westbrook Creek has its genesis west of Toowoomba City, below the newly developed Wellcamp Airport, and was originally fed from spring water. It merges into Gowrie Creek about 5km southeast of Oakey. I remember as a kid that sealed roads in the area were often submerged under clear flowing spring waters because the headwater country sits over countless aquifers. This natural flooding disappeared in the mideighties and hasn’t been recorded since. This could be due to more bores being sunk as the land around Westbrook Creek turned from natural grassland to tilled soils full of sorghum, silage and wheat crops. Westbrook Creek, above the merging point of Gowrie Creek, was often crystal clear and on occasional summer afternoons, a fishing outing with family on a friend’s property ensued. The trip from the main road to the creek was an experience in itself. We would drive a few kilometres along the cultivated paddock headlands before descending into the 1km-wide plateau grassland surrounds. We then arrived to large flat creek bank openings to cast into the deep water holes that dropped 5m straight down from the bank edge. In this location were a number of large lagoons about 50m long and 10m wide, bracketed by tall impenetrable phragmites grass and the odd willow

Darling Downs by NOAL KUHL

In the early ‘70s, the local farmers took a fancy to stocking these clear water retreats with brown trout. The trout were transported from Victoria and three days later offloaded at the bus station in Toowoomba before being released into the lagoons of Westbrook Creek. tree rooted at the ends. A narrow 2m-wide and 5m-long passageway connected the pools, which were usually choked with aquatic plants. Beautifully coloured yellowbelly were caught around the willow trees as the 10kg line was dipped into the cool waters, weighed down only by bloodworms skewered on a 2/0 hook, which allowed the bait to move in the slow but detectable current. Golden perch love a moving bait, and often the current pushed the bait closer to the trunk and overhanging leaves, which shrouded the secrecy of a capture. Silver perch were also about and were an established species. I remember quality specimens being landed on the translucent Norman plug lures. As the lure shimmied on retrieval in the clear waters, the reflective strip housed within made various iridescent colours sparkle as it swam along the edges of the tightly formed reed banks. This probably imitated rainbow fish that were a common sight while gathering shrimp from pots submerged alongside the tall bankside grasses. Eel-tailed catfish were a regular treat, with dazzling shades of brown with black dots forming a perfect camouflage against the earthen bank surrounds. The occasional 10cmlong purple-spotted gudg-

eon was met with curiosity as somehow it was large enough to take a worm on a 2/0 hook. In the early ‘70s, the local farmers took a fancy to stocking these clear water retreats with brown trout. The trout were transported from Victoria and three days later offloaded at the bus station in Toowoomba before being released into the lagoons of Westbrook Creek. Surviving fingerlings were noted in the following 1974 flood when specimens were observed wriggling on top of the flattened reed beds. It was noted: “There were strange-looking fish around 6”-8” long coloured brown with black dots.” That was the last recording of the trout presence on the Downs, as the lagoons soon shrank or dried up in the droughts of the ‘80s and pumping creek water to farms went from occasional to constant. With such a wide lowland riparian zone, Westbrook Creek was notorious for the displacement of large numbers of stranded native fish after a flood. Getting a chance to rescue them became impossible in the black boggy soils that stretched several hundred metres either side of the low sloping basin that acted like quicksand. Many a farm animal remembers to keep its distance during the wet. Westbrook Creek has

After each flood of Westbrook Creek, further erosion is created with the loss of more valuable topsoil. The local solution is to plough back over where you can.

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been continually well stocked in places from the 1990s, with the odd small Murray cod and silver perch being caught, though carp seem to suit the sediment-clouded lower reaches. In 1865, a surveyor was sent to study a site for a proposed railway line from Toowoomba to the west, passing Oakey and Dalby. It was noted in the surveyor’s handbook that Westbrook Creek just south of Oakey between Gowrie Creek junction and Oakey Creek junction: “Was over 100 yards wide for over three miles and resembled more of a river than a creek.” Until the early 1930s, Westbrook was still over 100 yards wide at the present site of Mason Bridge and a boat shed on the crossing point offered wooden boats for hire for a shilling. In this location the creek narrowed to about 5m due to the tilling of soils in the riparian zones where flooding collapsed the unsupported banks. A small cement one-lane vehicle crossing was installed and replaced in the early 70s with a proper towering two-lane traffic bridge that had the local council boasting it was flood-proof. The first flood it faced was in 1974 and some humble pie had to be swallowed by the engineers when floodwater covered the bridge! Willow trees freely established in the ‘60s, creating an unbroken green umbrella sentinel upstream from the bridge as far as the eye could see towards Toowoomba. The trees housed copious numbers of water rats and it was a common sight to see their pelts pegged to the abandoned electricity line crossover points until the ‘River Trust’ stepped in and uprooted the trees. Willow tree root balls, once dislodged and dragged up the bank, were observed with large concentrations of eel-tailed fingerlings and other native species scrambling off with the receding water to hide in the halfexposed empty tree root mud holes. The next major flood in 1982 smothered the barren landscape and again furthered the siltation process to narrow Westbrook Creek even more with further erosion and missing topsoil. Native fish stocking continues, and fingerling releases and fishing access are usually accessed at the bridge points due to the creek being the widest and most accessible at these intersections before 2-3m black soil vertical escarpments block any further foot treks beyond. The native fish caught here are small but pleasant, with the local kids venturing down from town on a pushbike with fishing rods clamped in aerial formation at the rear.

Not all bad news after the devastating flood of 2010-11 including the ‘inland tsunami’ of Toowoomba. A lot of the silt deposits were swept away, widening and deepening Westbrook Creek to once again contain the permanent pools of water that had disappeared about 30 years prior.

Mason Bridge is often used as a flood marker (railings can be seen outlined) and as a socialising point for the locals, with farmers gathering on the right and the curious townsfolk on the left. The floods of 2010-11 were comparable to the record flood of 1956. The water flooding this bridge was merged 2km upstream from Gowrie Creek that collects on the left of Toowoomba, while Westbrook Creek collects from the right.

Known once by the local anglers as the ‘lagoons’, these pockets of paradise are barely recognisable today. They offered great fishing sessions prior to the mid1980s.

After the 2010-11 floods, native fish like this silver perch returned in larger numbers due to the creek becoming deeper and wider and no doubt some structure added from upstream debris collected around the headwaters of the Great Dividing Range.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018 – Page 65

All-waters fishing permit the key for QLD

OR what it’s worth, here are my suggestions for improving fishing in Queensland.

School Holiday fun. Gail Hannah with pleased grandson Grayson Modystak of Kingscliff.

They all revolve around the introduction of an all-waters fishing permit. At a cost of $35 per adult for an annual permit, or $10 for a week, this permit would collect $30 million dollars annually from recreational anglers. Think about what that money could fund. For a start, we could build the coastal boat ramps that local councils cannot afford and the state government has proved unwilling to pay for. Then, how about a $5 million dollar grant each year for the Great Barrier Reef? With an all-waters fishing permit, the recreational angler could supply much-needed funding to help protect this national treasure.

DAM LEVELS CURRENT AS OF 16/10/2018

DAMS

PERCENTAGE

MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT 11 Atkinson 8 5 5 5 5 97 Awoonga 95 95 93 92 90 22 Bjelke-Petersen * 21 20 19 17 17 41 Boondooma * 39 37 36 34 37 100 Borumba * 100 99 99 96 100 99 Burdekin Falls * 97 92 88 82 73 76 Callide * 73 71 69 67 64 97 Cania * 95 94 92 90 89 43 Coolmunda * 41 40 39 36 29 5 Dyer/Bill Gunn * 5 4 4 4 3 100 Eungella * 99 98 97 96 93 26 Fairbairn * 25 24 22 21 19 50 Glenlyon * 50 49 48 46 44 100 Hinze 98 96 94 92 96 95 Julius 93 91 89 85 83 86 Kinchant * 87 85 79 72 65 11 Leslie * 11 10 10 10 9 102 Macdonald 103 101 99 98 109 99 Maroon * 97 96 95 93 92 99 Monduran/Fred Haigh * 98 98 96 94 94 89 Moogerah * 87 84 82 79 77 89 North Pine/Samsonvale * 87 85 83 80 80 72 Peter Faust/Proserpine * 70 69 68 65 63 77 Somerset * 77 78 78 77 77 98 Teemburra * 98 98 96 92 89 97 Tinaroo* 95 91 88 82 76 100 Toonumbar 100 99 93 90 101 77 Wivenhoe * 75 74 73 70 70 98 Wuruma * 97 96 95 94 99 98 Wyaralong 97 96 96 95 95 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.

Glenlyon Dam by BRIAN DARE

Queensland recreational fishing trust Of course, with fund-raising comes the responsibilities of managing those funds, which I would suggest requires a trust. A group of people comprising representatives from angling groups would need to meet regularly to ensure the trust funds were managed wisely. It would be the selected delegates’ job to talk to coastal clubs and groups, and local councils, about each community’s boat ramp and parking needs. I would suggest four members from each of the following organisations, two members of each from the south of the state, and two from the north: • Queensland Game Fishing Association; • Australian Maritime Safety Authority; and • Freshwater Fishing and Stocking Association Queensland. We would also need two Queensland Seafood Industry Association members to sit in on all meetings. Potential income and spend Under this scheme, Queensland’s 850,000 recreational anglers could provide $300 million dollars over the next 10 years. This does not include funds raised from interstate or overseas visitors. The scheme would be selffunding, with no cost to local councils or state governments, and provide funds for real improvement to Queensland’s communities. I defy any politician to come up with a better idea. Future needs After ramps and parking had been delivered to Queensland communities from the funds raised by the scheme, future funding could well provide for the future purchases of boats, trailers and 4x4s for use by the

government of the day. Fish-aggregating devices, stocking of saltwater species, research, and management are all areas the scheme could support. What you need to do As a recreational angler, this could be your last chance to achieve something like this. Next year we have elections in Queensland and a possible one million votes is a big carrot for any party, major or minor. We could offer the votes to whoever would commit to setting in motion such a scheme. The Newman Government’s

MRAG report asked something like this, and while noted by the Labor Government it was not taken up. A scheme like an all-waters fishing permit would not be a tax; it is something our communities need. Take this article to your local member and ask him or her to read it. Ask your local fishing mates to photocopy this three times and pass the story and the idea on to their fishing mates. Shove it under the noses of both shadow members of state parliament and local members. Get them to commit to this written request and get it printed in your local newspaper. Be proactive and push, and we may actually get what we want!

$30 million a year… where would it go? $3,500,000

Scheme administration costs

$18,000,000

Salt water

$3,500,000

Fresh water

$5,000,000

Great Barrier Reef

Lachlan and brother Brayden Hill of Goondiwindi with a healthy cod.

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

14 CABINS bookings necessary

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

Ph: 02 6737 5266 E: glenlyondamtouristp@bigpond.com Page 66 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

This 97cm cod was boated after dark by Mitchell Petrie of Tenterfield.

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To:............................................................................................................................... From:.......................................................................................................................... Page 68 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2018

Devil in the deep blue sea a rare sight V IDEO footage of a rare, protected fish in water almost twice the depth it is thought to inhabit has raised questions about how marine life is responding to climate change and how much we really know about the deep ocean.

Marine biologists from the University of Wollongong have taken the first verifiable recording of a rare, protected fish in water almost twice the depth it is thought to inhabit and two kilometres further down the continental shelf than previously recorded. The finding of the eastern blue devil fish (paraplesiops bleekeri) well outside its published range raises questions about how some fish species are responding to climate change as well as the need for scientists to work more closely with fishers and citizen scientists to corroborate or rewrite what is known about fish that inhabit deepwater reefs. Eastern blue devil fish are rare and endemic to coastal reefs along eastern Australia. Their bright colours and relatively small size (adults grow up to 40cm long) make them attractive to the aquarium industry and as such they have been protected under NSW Fisheries laws. Using video cameras dropped on the ocean floor with bait attached – devices called baited remote underwater video stations – researchers from UOW, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and the NSW Department of Primary Industries have been able to survey habitats that are too deep to dive and in any conditions. They have the added bonus of being able to observe for hours at a time without human interference. PhD candidate Lachlan Fetterplace, from UOW’s School of Biological Sciences, said the rare sighting was part of footage that formed ‘failed’ sam-

ples of what was supposed to be surveys of sandy ocean floor habitat in a 75km stretch of NSW coastline between Jervis Bay and Bawley Point. The eastern blue devil fish was spotted at a depth of 51m and 2km further down the continental shelf slope than previously observed; well outside its published range of depths of less than 30m. “We dropped the cameras onto what was thought to be a sandy bottom and instead found uncharted reef with overhangs and crevices,” Mr Fetterplace said. “Normally this footage would be stored on hard drives and left to gather dust at the back of a lab. “Perhaps because the seascape was so interesting, we went through the entire hour-long video sample and there it was, the unmistakable electric blue colouring, white stripes, and shy emergence of an eastern blue devil fish from a crevice to investigate a baited camera.” The researchers report in a paper published recently in the European Journal of Ecology they know of no historical records in Australian museums or databases of eastern blue devil fish from deeper than 30m. Commercial fishers are unlikely to come across them due to a combination of their protected status and the complex terrain they inhabit, which is avoided for fear of damaging nets. A confirmed capture from a depth of 48m on a charter fishing boat of an eastern blue devil occurred off the coast of Sydney in February 2018 and recreational fishers have reported on online fishing forums of accidentally catching eastern blue devils on reefs known to be in waters deeper than 40m. “If the range of the eastern blue devil can be further corroborated down to at least 50m and potentially well beyond, this would

significantly expand the known habitat of a rare and protected fish,” Mr Fetterplace said. “This knowledge can help give conservation measures for this species the greatest chance of success, while also benefitting the management of deeper offshore reefs.” Mr Fetterplace said climate-driven range shifts have been documented globally and it is feasible that eastern blue devils and other reef fish may be shifting their range both in latitude and depth as they seek cooler water. But without further sampling of deeper reefs on the continental shelf, the extent and range of the deeper populations of eastern blue devil fish, and how they and other reef fish are being affected by climatic changes in an ocean warming hot spot, will remain largely unknown. The paper also extends the depth range of several other species. Samples from 17 other locations turned up immaculate damsel, red morwong, mado, whiteear, silver sweep and crimson-banded wrasse in large numbers and well outside their published depth range. “The knowledge fishers can provide is potentially significant in corroborating scientific observations and increasing sampling effort of rare species and deeper-water research will greatly benefit from collaborating with fishers and citizen science programs,” Mr Fetterplace said. “These sightings remind us yet again how little we know of the deeper oceans, and the dangers of restricting conservation and management efforts to well-studied shallow, coastal and relatively ‘accessible’ environments. “Many other reef fish species probably occur on deeper reefs in Australia and in coastal waters globally and we are simply not yet looking deep enough.” www.bnbfishing.com. au

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A sportfisher ’s dream

E N I R A M T A Y A W IVE A

DR 0 0 0 , 68

• Mercury 150hp Pro XS 4-stroke • Deep V (21 degrees) • Removable bait board • Wide reverse chine • Electric motor mount

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UNBEATABLE UNBEATABLE g/kWh

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

115HP CRUISE SPEED 115HP FUEL CRUISE EFFICIENCY SPEED FUEL EFFICIENCY MERCURY’S NEW 115HP VS. CURRENT FOURSTROKE VS. CURRENT AND OPTIMAX FOURSTROKE AND OPTIM FOURSTROKE 340

340

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310

300

g/kWh

Tourna

ole

Cons e r t n e C 0 0 9 ment 1

DELIVERS UP TO 14% BETTER CRUISE SPEED ECONOMY

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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. 2.1L 11 FOURSTROKE 115hp 1.7L 2.1L 115hp 115hp Photos for illustration purposes only.

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