BNB Fishing mag | Nov 2019

Concerns for mangrove jack

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November 2019

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Gold Coast producing Flathead Classic 2019 Mixing it up in Moreton Bay Offshore action Hectic hook-ups at Hinchinbrook

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11

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 1

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Page 2 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

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Inside this month Flathead Classic

P18

Offshore action

P21 Mangrove jack

Fishing Mackay

P52

P46

OUR COVER

WAZZA SCHMIDT landed this absolute cracker of an 88cm flathead for Team Bush ‘n Beach Young Guns during the 2019 Gold Coast Flathead Classic. Turn to Page 18 to read ROBERT PAYNE’S Team Wilson Flatty Classic wrap-up.

Ben Collins Daniel Tomlinson Kacie Hubbert Jo Hendley, Lily Rochelle

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E TUR FU

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* continued P4

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ground and adding new marks to the book.

Something that never fails to amaze me is the number of isolated rocks and reefs in the middle of nowhere.

In one instance, we ran over an awesome-looking rock covered in bait and fish, and the first drop on a bottom basher and whole squid saw Grins connect with what we both thought had to be a red.

We were quite surprised when a 90cm knobby graced us with its presence.

The next drop saw yours truly connect to another solid fish on the float line, and after a quality tussle an 85cm snap slid into the net.

Both these fish were extremely lucky to be tagged and returned to the water, as I believe most people think snapper are quite tasty!

I couldn’t bring myself to keep one that big when I still have coral trout fillets in my freezer.

I also donged a 60cm pearlie off the same rock before getting blown away by three big AJs. We decided to spend the rest of the day sounding for new ground and were pleasantly surprised to find heaps of rises, broken bottom and individual rocks.

These were all promptly marked ready for next time.

I’m hoping I find a break in the weather to get to Double Island again before the end of the year.

My fishing time off South Passage has been quite limited due to work and school commitments.

ATI ON

snapper and other prized bottom fish such as red emperor and pearl perch.

Common fishing partner Grinner and I still haven’t been able to crack a legal DI red but we have been rewarded with awesome consolation prizes in the form of trophy snapper and big pearlies.

We have spent a lot of time sounding for fresh

CI

The grounds offshore from South Passage Bar and Double Island Point have both fished really well for a variety of bottom and pelagic species.

I have mainly been concentrating on hunting

SEQ Young Gun

by LACHIE BAKER

O

M

Y lovely editor Dan Tomlinson recently sent a message asking me to pen a small wrapup on the current offshore fishing situation, which I must say has been going off in many instances.

N

FIS

AS

S

Southeast Queensland offshore options

PRO TE CT

The author with a cracking knobby taken on a float line. How’s the mug on it!?

SEQ offshore options....................by Lachie Baker...................................P3 Moreton Bay roundup.................by Brian Webb......................................P7 Flathead fever...............................by Sean Conlon....................................P9 Jacks, jewies, flathead..............by Keith Stratford...............................P11 Game Fishing................................by Barry Alty.......................................P13 Spring fishing.................................... by Scott Van Burck.................................P15 Timing the tides................................ by Darren Rama.......................................P16 Gold Coast offshore action........by Heath Zygnerski...........................P17 Flathead Classic wrap-up............ by Robert Payne.......................................P18 Whiting on surface......................by Brad Smith.....................................P19 Epic fishing tales.........................by Gavin Dobson................................P20 Ballina.................................................. by Brett Hyde............................................P21 Clarence River jewfish...............by Tye Porter.......................................P22 Pelagic playtime..........................by Grant Budd.....................................P23 Bli Bli Barra Park............................. by Sean ‘Skip’ Thompson.....................P24 Tuna time in Hervey Bay............by Tri Ton..............................................P27 Fresh bait works............................... by Joel Johnson......................................P28 Bundaberg Region.......................by Brad Young....................................P29 Finding fillets..................................... by Bill Corten............................................P30 Bunker Group reefs......................... by Greg Lamprecht.................................P32 Mixed Moreton Bay action.......by Mick Clutterbuck.........................P34 Bowen Fishing Classic..........................................................................................P34 Boating & Marine..................................................................................P36-38 Insights into boat insurance.....by Nautilus Marine...........................P37 Paddling on Somerset dams........ by Dan Owbridge....................................P39 Charter Directory.................................................................................. P40,41 Readers Forum..............................................................................................P42 Capricorn Coast............................by John Boon......................................P43 Hinchinbrook fishing trip.............. by Lachie Baker.......................................P44 Rocky barra sessions..................... by Mick Clutterbuck..............................P45 Gladstone Region........................by Gary Churchward.........................P46 Some days are diamonds..........by Jason Kidd.....................................P46 Big fish at Stanage Bay..............by Pee Wee.........................................P48 Hinchinbrook News....................by Team Crackajack.........................P49 Estuary queenfish............................ by Brett Parks...........................................P50 Pennefather River adventure....... by Craig Tomkinson................................P51 Gulf mangrove jack issues........by Dave Donald..................................P52 Crocodiles of Cape York................ by ‘Billabong’ Bazz Lyon.......................P53 Cape York turns it on...................by Matt Potter.....................................P54 4WDing........................................................................................................................P56 Recipe.............................................by Melissa Frohloff...........................P56 Camping..........................................................................................................P57 Puzzle page....................................................................................................P57 Fires – the good, the bad...........by Paul ‘Chief’ Graveson.................P58 Caravanning adventure..............by Todd Eveleigh...............................P59 Monduran barra...........................by Jamie Bein.....................................P60 Glenlyon Dam................................by Brian Dare......................................P61 Fishing in the wild west............by Neil Schultz...................................P62 Trading Post..................................................................................................P63 Subscription form.......................................................................................P64

HIN G T R A D E

T

HE newly imposed fishing regulations are still a hot topic of debate at boat ramps, pubs, campgrounds and in parliament.

Both the recreational and commercial fishing sectors are continuing to come to terms with the regulations that came into effect on September 1, 2019.

As a result of these new regulations, the commercial seafood industry body is concerned jobs will be lost.

However, changes needed to be made to ensure the sustainability of fish stock, so the government has made a stand on the issue.

If you can take a step back and look at it from a different point of view, I’m sure these changes will pay dividends in the long run.

When that is, I don’t know.

I’m not even sure the government knows, but doing nothing was not going to ensure the sustainability of fish stocks, and that is the aim of these new regulations.

I think the regulations could have gone further in some areas, with more traceability of commercial fish stocks a worthwhile idea so we know exactly where all our fish are going.

Especially if the fish caught in Queensland waters are boing sold in other states or overseas.

This sort of information is critical to manage and implement quotas.

As a life-long resident of Queensland, I would hate to think the new boat limit on snapper has been imposed partially due to the fact snapper are being sold overseas, thus impacting on the biomass of the species.

I also support Brian Dare’s question, which he has asked in his article on Page 61: Why no maximum for Murray cod?

Like barramundi, these fish are worth more alive than dead and the big trophy fish are something thousands of anglers want to chase, so removing the maximum seems ludicrous.

You’ve also got to remember, anglers targeting these trophy fish are prepared to buy new rods, reels, lures and much more specifically to tangle with one of these iconic Australian fish.

These purchases, along with boat, trailer and car registrations, a fishing licence (if in NSW), fuel to get to the fishing location, accommodation and the like all help to keep this country’s economy moving.

This is especially so for those small towns out west, which at present are in the midst of a terrible drought.

So why not try to get people out there and spending money?

If all the big trophy fish are gone due to the removal of the maximum size limit, this is not going to happen.

Unfortunately for both the commercial and recreations sectors, I don’t think there will be any immediate change to the new regulations, whether in tidal or fresh waters, so we really need to adhere to them and hope they are enforced.

And I would still love to see much heftier fines, the loss of boats and/or imprisonment for repeat offenders or people who are blatantly breaking the rules.

I’m sure if the latter was an option, fish stocks would bounce back much quicker!

Ben Collins

August/September prizewinner

Congratulations to Colin Harper, Springwood who was the lucky winner of the Zeikel tropical getaway and gear valued at $2500!

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 3

A first cast special.

A thumper pearl perch taken while fishing for reds off Double Island.

Southeast Queensland offshore options * from P3

Grinner with a 54.8cm red emperor. If he had caught it the following week the fish may not have been quite so lucky.

However, I managed to have an awesome afterschool session during a break in exam block.

The very first cast saw a nice 85cm snapper belt the plastic on the way down.

These fish are awesome fun on 20lb spin gear.

I must give credit where it’s due.

I have been running a 12-30lb Venom Spin rod from the Wilson stable.

It has copped an absolute roasting over the past two years and still goes hard.

I popped a tag in the 85cm fish, grabbed a few pics and let it power off.

That marked my sixth snapper over 80cm tagged for the season.

It will be quite interesting to see any data gained

from recaptures.

The next cast saw me hook an enormous longtail tuna.

I don’t throw estimates around very often but after seeing it multiple times and fighting it for over an hour, I am confident in saying it was well and truly 30kg.

It was completely spent after the fight and my mate was leaning over the side ready to grab its tail when it finally chafed through my 20lb leader.

It sat there stunned for a second before slowly cruising off.

The fish was easily 130140cm long.

My mate and I looked at each other almost to say ‘you’re kidding me’.

I wasn’t overly upset as I feel tuna are a bit of a vermin species but

it would’ve been nice to land a trophy after a long fight.

After this we gathered some livies and hit a reef in deeper water on the hunt for samson fish and other brutes.

On the first drop I deployed a yakka that got inhaled just off the bottom.

Before long a solid goldspotted cod came to the surface.

I tried to vent it and let it go but it simply would not go down.

It didn’t go to waste though, as I gifted it to an older family friend who has given up fishing due to health problems.

I nailed a solid tuskfish on the next drift, which I shook off beside the boat and let free.

I was in no desire to keep anything because I

still had tasty reefies in the freezer at home.

It seems yellowfin tuna and dolphinfish have begun to turn up between the Sunshine and Gold coasts.

I am planning to go out for a look the second we get a break in the weather.

I haven’t caught either of these species, so I believe it’s time to go and have a crack.

This warmer weather means the east Australian current’s northern stream isn’t too far away.

This will hopefully bring bulk numbers of pelagics right to our doorstep.

I’d love to pop the Sea Jay Bulldog or Striker’s marlin cherry this season, as it’s been a long time coming.

Until next time, tight lines and sore arms.

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Page 4 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

A solid cod that fell to a live bait.

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Largest-ever native fish breeding program plans to create modern day Noah’s Ark

T

HE NSW Government is embarking on an ambitious plan to create a modern day Noah’s Ark as it kickstarts the state’s largest-ever fish breeding program ahead of what is expected to be a horror summer of fish kills.

Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall recently inspected the NSW Government’s flagship fish hatchery at Narrandera where efforts are under way to breed millions of native fish species, including the iconic Murray cod.

Mr Marshall said more than 100,000 Murray cod had already been bred this season, with additional investment to allow the Government to breed over 2.5 million native fish each year.

“Last summer we saw millions of native fish species perish and all indicators are this summer is going to be even worse,” Mr Marshall said.

“Our native fish such as

the iconic Murray cod are precious and that’s why the NSW Government is getting on the front foot to protect them ahead of deteriorating conditions this summer.

“In the past few weeks the Government has managed to breed more than 100,000 baby Murray cod from just 20 of the species

that were rescued from Menindee earlier this year.

“Thanks to additional investment as part of the NSW Government’s $10 million Fish Rescue Strategy we’ll now be able to breed around 2.5 million native fish species each year.

“These fish will grow

in a network of hatcheries across the state and will mean we’re in a position to restock our rivers with millions of native fish when conditions improve.

“With soaring temperatures and record low rainfall, we can’t stop mass fish kills, but we can ensure we preserve and

protect our native species and save them from an ecological disaster.”

As part of its Fish Rescue Strategy the NSW Government is also undertaking fish rescue and relocation efforts and deploying aerators to key areas of the state’s river system. www.dpi.nsw.gov.au

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RUHLE Knowledge and taste underpin TRAILERS Australia’s best fish and chips

T

HE battle for Australia’s best fish and chips for 2019 has now been settled, with Tobin Fish Tales in Townsville taking the crown.

Competition for the Australian Fish and Chips Awards saw almost 40,000 consumers cast votes for their favourite in the People’s Choice category.

With the leaders established from that pool, judges then traversed the country tasting the people’s choices in each state and territory before settling on their final decision for this year’s winner.

Tobin Fish Tales, based in Townsville and run by Andrew and Renae Tobin, despite being a smaller shop, punches well above its weight and really stands out from the crowd according to the judges.

So, what gave Tobin Fish Tales the edge?

Their whole approach!

Starting with the basics, the fish was cooked to perfection, the chips crunchy and seasoned well.

The range of seafood is local, with some of it even

Photo: NSW Department of Primary Industries

caught by the owners.

The staff are attentive and knowledgeable and provide a wealth of information to customers about the seafood they sell.

Owners Andrew and Renae both have PhDs in fisheries science and Andrew is a commercial fisher with over 20 years’ experience.

It seems likely that wealth of knowledge has paid off!

What the anonymous judges said “Their staff were not only friendly but knowledgeable and really helpful, guiding us with suggestions for the best fish for each cooking method,” one judge said.

“They also had some of these suggestions up on their menu.”

“The fish really tasted fresh and the cooking method did not overpower the actual taste of the fish,” another judge said.

“Their flyers say ‘Tobin Fish Tales - every fish has a story - Tobin Fish Tales brings you first class fish & chips and fresh seafood. We are a complete

chain - we catch it, we slice it, we cook it, we sell it. We are commercial fishers. Our seafood products are sustainably sourced and processed instore.’

“This clearly shows!

“Their food tasted great.

“The service and store was welcoming and friendly and they provided choices with information on all of them.”

Fisheries Research and Development Corporation GM Communications,

Trade and Marketing Peter Horvat said one of the driving forces behind running the Fish and Chips Awards is helping educate consumers about seafood, the industry who supply it and to help other fish and chippers improve what they do.

“The Tobins’ whole philosophy is what we hope all stores will aim to do,” he said.

“Obviously not everyone is going to get a PhD in fisheries science, but they

can always improve on how they do things.

“The shop won the best Fish and Chips Award because they got the basics right.”

The Fish and Chips Awards is now in its third year.

This year saw over 2000 shops compete, which translates to about 40 percent of Australia’s fish and chip operators taking part in the competition, which has been growing year on year.

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Page 6 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

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Kevin with a good size mack tuna.

Moreton Bay roundup W

ITH summer almost upon us, pelagic activity in Moreton Bay has started to increase.

Schools of doggy or school mackerel (minimum size 50cm, possession limit 10) were around all winter but their numbers should increase as the water temperature rises.

Finding them is often the hard part.

Often you can be fishing for reefies and they will pop up not far from you while you’ve got rods and baits set deeper in the water column.

The best way to start searching for mackerel is to look for birds.

Areas like the eastern side of Green Island across to Peel, up past the Amity Banks and further north off the Sandhills, Rainbow Channel and the shipping channel beacons present likely locations to start.

You can also try the top and bottom of the Pearl Channel and the Measured Mile down to Mud Island.

I always have a rod set up with a chrome slug when traversing Moreton Bay during summer.

Tuna action has also increased as more bait enters the bay.

At this time of year it’s mainly very small whitebait that enters the bay.

Longtails remain in the bay during winter but their migration generally starts in spring and continues into summer when better numbers show up.

I find trolling the shipping, Pearl and Rainbow channels with a paravane or downrigger the best way to start finding them.

On the odd occasion they pop up off Peel Island and the edge of the Amity Banks.

When you find mack tuna there is also the possibility of longtails feeding below, so drop a slug below the surfacefeeding tuna and you could be lucky.

Or you could be lucky and find a school of longtails busting the surface as you cross the mid bay towards the Sandhills, but their main feeding habit is to herd bait up against the side of channels.

Spotted mackerel (60cm minimum, limit five) usually don’t turn up until after Christmas, and for the past couple of seasons their numbers have declined.

Maybe they are being hit

Moreton Bay

by BRIAN WEBB

harder by the pros further north?

The best area to find feeding spotties would have to be Hervey Bay. You won’t find them hanging around beacons, as they’re mainly found attacking bait balls.

The only trouble is 70 percent of bait ball attacks are from tuna.

A few larger snapper (70cmplus) are hanging around.

Some stay in the bay during summer but squire will be your main catch, and don’t be afraid to fish the shallows on dusk and dawn in 3-4m of water.

Just remember the 35cm minimum length and possession limit of four per person with no more than one over 70cm / eight per boat with no more than two over 70cm (with two or more people on board).

And of course, be aware next year there is a closure on snapper fishing from July 15 to August 15.

Most of the big snapper spots are guarded secrets, but try the western side of Peel Island from the beacon at South West Rocks up to the green zone, Green Island, the Wellington Point drop-offs, Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef and Mud’s eastern side along the 10m contours.

Remember St Helena Island is a green zone.

Some isolated wrecks and bommies can be found around the Measured Mile.

If you’re lucky you could find snapper on the Captain Neilsen wreck.

Also look from Curtin Artificial Reef up to Bulwer ledge and check a few rocky areas

along the shipping channel off Bribie Island.

I have often caught tuskfish in this area.

You never know with snapper, they can turn up anywhere on isolated coffee rock if bait is around.

The Brisbane River has produced reasonable snapper over the past few years.

Even the rock wall out front is now producing regular snapper and a few cod.

I once saw a school of snapper swimming around inside the wall, but sneaky trips fishing inside have been curtailed due to the patrols in the area (there is a 30m exclusion zone around the shipping terminals).

If fishing the terminals, stay wide and cast back towards the pylons.

Plastics have been doing the most damage in the river.

The northern end of Harries produces better when less boats are around, which means a midweek fish.

The same applies to Mud and the West Peel Artificial Reef.

Mid-week I like to drift at Mud and Harries.

As a matter of fact I like to drift on most trips because you can cover more ground and don’t make any noise compared to pulling the anchor all the time.

If you’re in a tinnie, put some carpet on the floor to stop the noise.

The exception is around the Measured Mile where I’ll anchor off the wrecks or coffee rock structures and berley up.

This area fishes well into the evening, but you need GPS marks for most of these struc* continued P8

Bream from in close at Mud Island.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 7

Rogers landed a big Moreton Bay snapper.

Small blackspot tuskfish are being taken around the Rainbow Channel and Bulwer.

Multi-species Moreton Bay roundup * from P7

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tures because you’ll see very few people fishing this area.

I have just bought some VibVib Power Bait 6”-7” lures in Herring and Blue Mackerel to try because they look so lifelike when used in the water with a slow retrieve or troll.

I will let you know how they go.

You have to be out there early before the sun is up or on dusk with an incoming tide.

If anchoring, you need to berley, use big baits and light weights on Mustad Penetrator hooks.

Give them time to settle down after all the ruckus you make when anchoring.

Squid are still in close around rock walls on the western side of the bay for land-based fishos.

You can usually find them by sight fishing at night with a good headlamp.

For boaties, try the weed beds near the entrance to the Rous Channel, Fishermans Gutter and Blue Hole.

Be aware the limit for squid is now 50 per person excluding tiger squid.

So if the fish aren’t biting, try for squid while on the eastern side of the bay so you don’t go home empty-handed.

Just remember the green zones in the area.

You’re best to check out the marine park maps online and get the GPS coordinates for reference.

Don’t forget the northwestern corner of Peel is also a green zone.

There are also some go-slow areas around the entrance to the Rous and north due to the dugong population.

Venus tuskfish (minimum 30cm, combined limit of six in total of all tuskfish species) are about and numbers will increase during summer.

The same applies to blackspot tuskies, with areas like Peel, the Rainbow Channel, the Bulwer ledge and the edge of the shipping channel off Bribie good for a look.

Venus tuskies are more a by-catch species in the bay but you can target them using crabs.

Cranka Crabs often

work, as do soldier crabs and small rock crabs.

If targeting the big blackspots, forget the light gear.

You must go heavy with 50lb braid and 40-50kg leaders.

Even then you could be busted off if you connect.

For these brutes, there’s no better bait than legal size sand crabs.

Note that tuskfish are a different species with different limits to parrotfish.

On the whiting side of things, plenty of divers (no size limit, possession limit of 50) are around.

The northern side around the cockle banks, south of the Sandhills, Fishermans Gutter and the weed beds in the Rous.

Most of the good summer whiting (23cm minimum, limit 30) are being caught around the Jumpinpin and Nerang River, but still have a crack at the Banana Banks, off Wynnum and around Caboolture, Hayes Inlets and Scarborough Reef.

The Pine River is another place to try.

Remember there is a limit of 50 bloodworms per person and steer clear of the green zones off Woody Point, Bramble Bay and Beachmere.

We’ll soon be coming into prawn season.

A few have been caught of late, with Hayes Inlet and down towards the Logan River places to give an early season try Prawns now have a possession limit of 10 litres per person / 20 litres per boat (with two or more people on board.

Cast nets must not exceed 3.7m from the point of rope attachment to the net lead line or the bottom of the lowest pocket of the net, and the mesh must not exceed 28mm.

With the water warming, more grass sweetlip (30cm minimum, limit 10) start to turn up.

A few have turned up off Mud, the northern end of Green and the Wello shallow reefs.

They are better fished for in the hot summer months when the humidity is high.

Don’t fish right up on the shallows, instead on the edge of the drop-offs.

Cast your plastic or bait

onto the shallows and slowly bring it back over the drop-off for a better chance of finding them.

While chasing grassies or snapper, you are a chance of snagging a moses perch (25cm minimum, limit five) but they are not around in big numbers.

While we’re on the subject of shallow water fishing, bream (25cm minimum, limit 30) are around in fairly good numbers.

In the bay, try Mud’s eastern side in very close near the small creek or the northwest corner near the spit.

The Brisbane River also produces bream at times along the rocks wall and entrance to Bulimba Creek.

I’ve been using Cranka Crabs and casting right up against the rock walls.

If you’re on the eastern side of the bay, look around the rock wall near One Mile and the pylons at Dunwich.

A friend went out during the week around Dunwich and Bird Island and got onto a few nice barred grunter (40cm minimum, limit 10) on plastics.

If you’re after a feed of sand crabs (11.5cm minimum, limit 20), try the deeper water on the western side of the Pearl Channel, the deeper water around the northern side of Mud towards the Brisbane Rd beacons and even north of the Measured Mile.

For mud crabs (15cm minimum, limit seven per person / 14 per boat with two or more people on board), look in the Brisbane River, boat passage, Caboolture River, Nudgee Creek, and the smaller creeks south of the Brissie, but we desperately need decent rain to flush them out of their holes.

When crabbing, each person on board is allowed four pots with clearly marked name tags on the pots and name and address on the 15cm lightcoloured float.

If you tie your rope to an overhanging branch, you need to have a name tag attached to the rope.

If you catch a muddy and the flap is soft, the crab is usually empty as isn’t hasn’t long since moulted.

Look for crabs with darker shells.

Some people look for the Maltese cross on the underside of the belly.

If by chance you get nipped by one, hit the top of the claw with something hard and they usually release, but not before causing a bit of pain.

A few flathead (dusky 40cm minimum and 75cm max, limit five; all other flathead 30cm minimum, limit five). have been caught at the southern end of the boat passage, around Boggy Creek and the mud flats off Wynnum, the eastern side of Green and Wellington Point.

However, the Caboolture and Hayes inlets, the sandbank off Scarborough and Bribie Passage have produced better numbers.

A couple have also been caught around Coochiemudlo Island, the mouths of Lota and Tingalpa creeks and the shoreline between Cleveland Point and Lota Creek.

Please remember to let the big females go.

Some spangled emperor (45cm minimum, limit five) have been caught in the Rainbow Channel north of the Myora Light and along the Wello dropoffs and around Green,

but better numbers have come from Curtin up to Bulwer by fishing the drop-offs.

Jewfish (75cm minimum, limit two) have come from near Boggy Creek, the 10-14m dropoff near the terminals, Mud’s eastern side and Goat and Bird islands.

Live baits and big plastics are the only way to go.

The threadfin salmon (65cm minimum, limit five) in the river have gone quiet but are still worth a try around the pipelines, Clara Rocks and further upriver near Newstead.

Livies have produced the better numbers.

Boggy Creek usually holds baitfish.

As a side note, the sand pumping jetty at the Gold Coast Seaway will be closed from mid-October until May 2020 for renovations.

Please be aware of all the Fisheries size and possession limit changes and visit qld.gov.au for the full list.

Here’s some final beach fishing rules for your information: Tailor 35cm min, limit 20; dart 30cm min, limit 30; pipis limit 30; beach worms limit 30; yabbies limit 100; three fishing lines per person with a maximum total of six hooks.

Match the hatch for success.

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Harry with a flathead caught on a Zerek Tango Shad.

Scott and his first-ever fish on a lure – a 45cm flathead hooked on a Zerek Bulldog Crank.

John caught his personal best 81cm flathead on light line trolling a Zerek Tango Shad in 60cm of water.

Flathead fever for takers of tuition courses

I

CAN’T believe it’s November already.

This year has absolutely flown by.

Similar to last month, the weather hasn’t really played the game, so I haven’t been out on the water too much.

Southern Moreton Bay

by SEAN CONLON

With a bit of family time and the Gold Coast Flathead Classic in the mix I’ve only been able to get

A few sharks have been about lately. Big bull sharks are around, as seen here on the Lowrance HDS.

a few anglers out on the water.

The days we have had on the water have mostly been with fishos who have done the off-water course and then come out and put it all into practice on the water.

These trips have been reasonably productive, with the anglers learning a lot and getting a few nice fish along the way.

I recently had John and his son Harry out for a

day on the water.

They didn’t want to do the off-water course, instead opting to jump straight into it and chase flathead around Cabbage Tree Point and Jacobs Well.

On the day we had a rising tide until 9am.

So we left Redland Bay at 6.30am to fish the last two hours of the run-in tide.

We moved through a few techniques of casting plastics.

We cast Zerek Flat Shads and Live Flash Minnow Wrigglys around the mangrove lines and trolled hard-bodies on

top of weed banks around Cabbage Tree Point.

The fishing wasn’t on fire but we picked away and got a few fish from 45-50cm using these techniques.

As the tide started to fall after 9am, we began trolling Zerek Tango Shads in areas where the water was running off the banks, and John was lucky enough to hook a decent fish.

Unfortunately where we hooked this fish there was one crab pot in the vicinity and of course the fish headed straight for it and wrapped the line around the crab pot float. * continued P10

Greg with a nice bay island squire of 45cm caught on a Zerek Flash Wriggly.

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Flathead fever for takers of tuition courses * from P9

I quickly told John to open the bail arm on his reel to take the pressure off the line and we pushed over towards the float on the electric.

With a bit of teamwork we got the line off the float and John was able to flick the bail arm back over and keep fighting the fish.

We were only using 4lb braid with a 5lb leader and 10lb tippet, so we had to take it nice and easy.

The big girl gave John a great fight in about 60cm of water but after a bit of coaching and patience she was on the surface.

John had just landed his PB 81cm lizard.

It was a great way to finish a morning session.

The boys learnt a bit about the area, caught a few fish on different techniques and John got his PB lizard, all before 11am.

Another client I had out was Greg who came out from Roma and did the off-water course on Friday night before we headed out on Saturday morning and put it into practice.

We chased a few flatties early but unfortunately they did not want to play the game, so as the tide increased and started to run a bit harder we decided to chase squire/ snapper around the southern Moreton Bay islands using a few different techniques we had discussed the night before.

The fishing was a bit

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tough but we managed to catch a few small squire trolling Zerek hard-bodies on rubble ground.

The biggest fish of 45cm was caught drifting the rubble ground and working Flash Wrigglys.

Scott was another client to come out for an onwater tuition session.

Scott had predominantly done bait fishing but hadn’t had any luck lure fishing, so it was a bit of a learning curve for him.

He did the off-water course and then we went out on the water to learn more about the southern bay islands.

We headed out from Redland Bay around 6am, checking a few areas, and I showed him where the snapper rubble grounds were.

With a bit of sounder work using the SideScan and DownScan, the Lowrance HDS picked up a few wrecks and rocky areas.

By this time there was enough water on the banks, so we went and chased flatties on Zerek Bulldog Cranks against the mangrove line.

After three passes on a bank no longer than 100m Scott had his first-ever flathead on a lure.

Not a big fish but a nice model of 45cm.

We got a few more flatties for the morning, checked out new areas and got Scott trained on some different techniques.

He can now take out his own boat with more options when he hits the water.

On another note, I fished the Gold Coast Flathead Classic again this year with Ben and George as team Bush ‘n Beach.

On the first day we stuck to our plan and were running 15th in a field of over 200 teams, but unfortunately we didn’t quite stick to our plan over the next two days and did a bit more driving around than we should have.

We finished in the top 60, which was unfortunately not the result we wanted.

However, we had a great time and a bit of fun fishing with mates and buzzing around in the boat looking for fish.

I have to say a big thankyou to Ben for sorting everything out and allowing us to have a great few days of fishing.

As we all know with our jobs and lives, we are time poor, so if you can learn

more to optimise your time on the water, then why not?

Remember: knowledge is the key.

If you’re interested in any of off or on-water

tuition classes or you just want to do a charter, don’t be afraid to give me a call on 0432 386 307 or send me an email at seancon lonsfishing@hotmail.com

You can also check out the Sean Conlon’s Fishing Charters and Tuition Facebook page.

Until next month, stay safe on the water.

Scott with a bit of by-catch. This bream took a Zerek 90mm Ripper Diver. It’s amazing what size lure these aggressive little predators will attack.

Ben with one of team Bush ‘n Beach’s better fish from the Flathead Classic. The team didn’t catch heaps but had a lot of fun catching the ones they did.

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Ash scored this solid cod off a rock bar fishing a prawn imitation rigged snagless.

A small baffle creek jack caught by the author.

Jacks, cod, flathead and jewies the prime prospects N OVEMBER is a good month to target a range of species from the Tweed River to the Sunshine Coast.

Mangrove jack and estuary cod will be very active this month, with regular afternoon storms firing both species up.

The flathead spawning season on the Gold and Sunshine coasts will still be going strong, but it should start to slow towards the end of month with rising water temperatures.

November is also an

Local Luring

by KEITH STRATFORD

excellent month to target jewfish in the Brisbane River.

I’ve had great success targeting school size fish in the 80-100cm range during October and November in previous years.

These fish are great fun at this size, especially when targeted on light gear.

It can be very hard to predict their size when

hooked, with 80cm fish putting up the fight of a metre fish and metre-long fish fighting like a fish much under their size.

The good news is plenty of smaller fish have been around over the past year or two and the fish that were 70-80cm have now pushed into the 90cm range.

These are real trophy

fish for any angler and it’s amazing that we have good numbers of these fish to target on our doorstep.

It can take a lot of effort to work these fish out in the Brisbane River and you can never be 100 percent confident you are going to catch one every trip, no matter how much time you spend on the river.

I prefer to target the Brisbane River jewies on soft plastics and soft vibes.

The fish like to feed in * continued P12

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 11

Jacks, cod, flathead and jewies the prime prospects * from P11

Ashlee’s cod swallowed a 4” Holt Swim Prawn.

deep water, especially during daylight.

Water depths between 6m and 15m present a common range in which to find a hungry Brissie River jew.

I spend a lot more time targeting these fish during daylight hours and concentrate more on tide times rather than time of day.

Though I have caught

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jewies on all stages of the tide in the Brissie River, I find the last two hours of the run-out tide and the first hour of the run-in to be the most productive.

A lot of anglers say the best time to catch a jewie is when the tide is completely slack.

I find this to be the worst time to catch them.

It might work well with live baits, but when trying to convince a jewie to eat a lure, I find it very difficult.

I think it’s because the fish move out from their ledges and pylons on a slack tide and get a lot more time to see what they are going to eat.

When they spend too much time looking at your lure, the less chance you have of them eating it.

When the current is running, they need to make a quick decision on whether they are going to let it swim by or race out and eat it.

The bite will generally be a lot more aggressive when the tide is running as they need to make sure they don’t miss their next meal.

I rarely use a soft plastic rigged with less than a 1/2oz jig head in the river due to the depth of water.

I either start with a Berkley Gulp Crazy Legs or prawn imitation lure.

At this time of year the prawn lures often outfish a Crazy Legs.

If I don’t get a bite on the first drift, I’ll try the other plastic and see how that goes.

Jewies often hang under rock ledges, wharves and around pylons, so one or two drifts isn’t enough to

make a call on whether the fish are there or not.

I rarely ever see the fish I catch from the rock ledges on the sounder, so don’t think it’s a waste of time fishing an area if fish aren’t showing on the sounder.

I find vertical jigging to be the most productive way to fish for jewies in the river.

It also helps reduce the number of snags you will get when fishing around rocks.

An electric motor makes the job a lot easier and helps you keep directly on top of the lure.

Once the lure gets behind the boat, you will catch a lot less fish.

Jigging along the wharves is a lot easier.

Soft vibes work very well in this area, as there are very few snags to contend with.

They are a very easy lure to fish due to their weight.

A simple slow lift and sink is all that is needed to get a bite.

If you can see fish on the sounder and they won’t bite, try mixing the retrieve up.

A scent can also help.

Zerek Fish Traps are most anglers’ choice when choosing a soft vibe and rightly so.

They are the best vibe I’ve used and just keep working on fish in all locations.

The hook-up rate is generally very good on a soft vibe due to the two sets of trebles.

Quite often one of the trebles will come free during the fight and pin the fish on the outside of the head, giving the fish no chance of getting off.

Mangrove jack will be very active this month.

The water temperature will well and truly be up and hopefully a few

afternoon storms come through to fire them up.

The water is still very clean at the time of writing, which makes it a bit more difficult to track down good numbers of jacks.

Try the deeper snags for the best results, especially when the sun is high in the sky.

I recently did a trip to Baffle Creek with my partner Ashlee.

I hadn’t fished the area for about 15 years.

Unfortunately, we had car problems and didn’t get to do as much fishing

as we’d hoped.

We had one good session close to our campground where I got a couple of small jacks and Ash picked up a nice cod.

Prawn imitations outfished all other lures, with a 4” Holt Swim Prawn the standout.

The water was also really clean, with everyone complaining about how hard the fishing was because of it.

Some decent rain will certainly make the fishing a lot better.

I hope to see you on the water.

The 4” Holt Swim Prawn worked well on the Baffle Creek jacks and cod.

A small Baffle Creek jack taken by the author.

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Solid flatties will still be around this month. Chris Stratford jigged up this 73cm fish.

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Fishing – a personal journey I don’t remember it but photos don’t lie.

I lived in Dunedin, New Zealand during my early years.

I have vivid memories of buying thruppence worth of cat food and sitting on the Dunedin wharves all day.

On a good day I would be thrilled to catch a small trevally or a leatherjacket.

How times changed.

From the ages of 10 to 15 I lived in a small town called Reefton at the western foot of the NZ Southern Alps.

It was so named because of the discovery of alluvial and quartz reef gold in the late 1800s.

It even had the first hydro-electric power station in the southern hemisphere.

When I lived there, gold mining had ceased and the town had a population of 2000 and seven hotels no less.

Reefton was 80km inland from the somewhat inhospitable seas off Greymouth, which were never fished in those days, except by commercial boats.

I lived about 100m from the Inangahua River, which ran through the town.

This river was well stocked with brown trout, as were others nearby.

So guess what my next fishing experience was?

Luckily, the biggest and best hole with the most trout was at my back door.

I fished with either overhead casting gear or wet or dry flies, whichever was most appropriate.

I would habitually lead the Acclimatisation District with around 300 takeable trout per season.

My biggest were 6lb on the baitcaster and 9lb on fly.

I learnt a number of lessons that would later be of great benefit to me when I started fishing for marlin.

I often fished with a friend who was a bit of a wanderer.

He would have 20-25 casts in a pool, and if he hadn’t caught anything move upstream, repeating the process in the many deep pools on the river.

I inevitably stayed in the one pool with the most and biggest trout.

When the fish got active I was in the right place, so I almost always outfished my friend.

Lesson: spend your time where most of the fish are or are expected to be.

I noticed that when it was reported to be raining in the headwaters of the river the trout became very active. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Game Fishing

by BARRY ALTY

They could somehow sense a flood was coming and that it would be very hard to feed during it.

When flooding, the river would turn a muddy brown from dirt and the stains of native beech leaves, making feeding near impossible.

Later in life, I also found marlin would get more active when barometric pressure dropped ahead of a storm, and similarly after the storm had passed When the river was in the early stages of flooding, live worms and frogs were the best baits because they were being washed off the banks as the river rose.

Lesson: if possible, fish with whatever bait is present.

Thus, during clear water days and the high sun I fished with minnows because the trout were eating small fish.

In the evening when insects were falling in the water it was wet flies.

When fishing with minnows, the two most productive colour combos were red/black/gold and green/gold.

Coincidently, these are two very good colour combos for marlin.

The cockabullys, the main bait species in the river, were grey/white with a little black.

The river was named after Inanga, which is the Maori word for what we know as whitebait.

This river was apparently full of them before the gold miners started emptying their cyanide tanks into the river.

However, a few hardy ones were still there and when they were running white was the most productive colour.

Always match the hatch.

My next fishing experience began after I had moved to Auckland.

My fiancé and I with another couple visited Russell in the Bay of Islands for a holiday in 1965.

We usually had drinks and dinner at the famous Duke of Marlborough Hotel.

Its main bar featured numerous pictures of marlin, which at that stage I barely knew existed.

They looked exciting and big.

In those days the Bay of Islands Swordfish Club had a gantry on the wharf and would post on a blackboard what was being weighed that afternoon, which boat and ETA. We would go down to the wharf and watch the weigh-ins.

I thought this looked pretty exciting, so we

chartered a game boat for a day.

We didn’t see any marlin but caught a number of mid-sized kingfish on lures.

That was all a terrible mistake because I was hooked.

And now I’m writing this 54 years and millions of dollars later!

Every year a group of four of us would charter a boat and spend five to seven days living aboard and cruising around the areas from the Poor Knights Islands out of

Tutukaka to Cape Karikari in the north.

We fished famous areas like Taheke Reef, Ruahine Reef, the Ninepin, Bird Rock and the Cavalli Islands with legendary captains like Jack (Father) Brittain whose son Chris I fished with in later years, Snooks Fuller, Curly Lynch and Willie Oliver.

We were spectacularly unsuccessful on these various trips.

I think we caught one striped marlin, one mako shark and one hammerhead shark between us.

But we always had a great time with the camaraderie and the expectation of catching something.

Then in 1984 I moved to Bougainville Island; administratively part of Papua New Guinea, but geographically part of the Solomon Islands.

It is five degrees south of the equator, so is hot every day and technically in the doldrums, so not much wind except for during frequent afternoon thunderstorms.

This place was a true boater’s paradise, with crystal-clear waters and numerous offshore islands.

The island features lush jungle down to the water, calm bays and beaches fringed with palm trees and coral reefs. * continued P14

Before sadly losing his battle with cancer on August 19, Barry Alty was busy writing articles for Bush ‘n Beach. With the consent of his son Brett, we will be publishing Barry’s final articles over the next few months.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 13

Fishing – a personal journey * from P13

These fish were caught at the Dunedin wharf in New Zealand. Every day in Dunedin was spent at the wharf. Thruppence for bait from the butchers, a shilling each for a pie and drink for lunch. Those were the days. This was the crew’s best catch ever, as you can tell by the smiles. Photo and description: Trevor Alty

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There was a very active gamefish club with about 40 trailer boat owners among its membership.

There was no marina on the island and I had a MerCruiser-powered Haines Hunter 600C. The principal species targeted were sailfish and it was impractical to bait fish because of the prevalence of sharks.

So we all fished light tackle for sailfish as our prime species and spanish mackerel as the food species.

We became quite adept at catching them on 4-6kg tackle using lures in a time when Gamakatsu SL12 hooks weren’t yet available, so we were using a less efficient hook setup.

My eldest son Brett was 12 when we moved there and he became very interested in fishing.

We had a few remarkable experiences…

One day we had a quintuple hook-up of sails with just the two of us on the boat.

There were at least 10 jumping and we had no idea which ones were on which lines.

The result: two cut off and three fell off.

On another occasion we had a double hook-up of 85kg yellowfin on 15kg line, again with only the two of us on the boat.

Brett pulled his hook after about an hour and I fought mine for roughly an hour and 45 minutes.

It was getting late, there

were no beacons on the reef entrances and we couldn’t raise anyone on the radio.

So I put the reel drag to ‘sunset’ with the intention of getting the fish or breaking it off.

Well I couldn’t break the line from the rod tip.

All I did was loosen most of the roller guide bindings on the rod.

I was using a simple braid rod bucket and with the pressure on it the rod kept twisting sideways, hence wrecking the bindings.

In the end I broke the line by hand with a glove on.

Man it’s hard to break even 15kg because of the stretch in mono.

Another thing I still remember vividly was when we were hit by lightning.

It initially hit the radio aerial, which disintegrated and then it flashed to the aluminium windscreen surround, burning a hole in it and exploding the glass.

Unfortunately, it also flashed to my head.

I was blown out of the helm chair and wound up on the cockpit floor next to the engine box.

I was unconscious initially and bleeding like a stuck pig from lacerations where the fibreglass from the aerial and glass from the windscreen had hit my head.

I also had two badly ruptured eardrums and had lost my middle ear balance, so when I tried to stand, I promptly fell down.

Nevertheless, my family was on board, so my wife took over driving and Brett used a fire extinguisher to put out the wiring that was burning.

We were now outside the main reef in a thunderstorm with about 70m visibility, a radio that had melted and a compass that had been depo-

larised/demagnetised or whatever.

Luckily the main engine kept going and as luck would have it we stumbled across another boat, which was coincidently owned by the chief financial officer of the company I was running.

No less than Paul Wells, now of Wellsys Tackle.

On sighting his boat, the main engine cut out, so he towed us in.

However, when we got to the ramp no one knew how to operate the manual release valve to get the stern drive leg up, so I jumped in the water and did the job.

My wife then drove the rig home but couldn’t back it into the boat port on the big tandem-axle trailer, so it was left to me again.

The damage to the boat was quite extensive.

In addition to what’s already mentioned: the ammeter was blown out of the dashboard, the bilge pumps were blown, the electric fridge was blown, the electric-start paraffin stove was blown, a push/ pull anchor light switch was blown completely out of the dashboard (taking a chunk out of my leg on the way to taking a chunk out of the inside of the transom), the stator was burnt out, two fuses on the engine were blown and the wiring between the ignition switch and batteries was burnt out.

Within half an hour of the boat arriving home, the mechanics from my company were there.

They had heard through the grapevine and “couldn’t leave the boss’s boat with salt water in it”.

Somehow they hotwired it and flushed the engine and leg.

A week later they had the engine going again without the benefit of any MerCruiser parts.

They just adapted things and rewired the stator.

Following this I was off to the medical clinic to have the glass and fibreglass removed from my face and around 40 stiches inserted.

I was then attending the clinic every two days for six months so my ears could be cleaned.

There was concern about infection, particularly in the middle ear, so I was on big doses of ampicillin, to which I am now immune.

There were some interesting aspects to life on Bougainville; principally self-reliance.

The game fish club had its own tackle shop with a full range of Yo-Zuri skirts, line, hooks and lures.

It was open every Tuesday evening.

Because many of the members were new to fishing, the club would have regular ‘show and Tell nights.

The topic might for example be rigging lures.

Members would be encouraged to bring their rigged lures and one of the more proficient members would show everyone how to do it properly.

This was something missing in clubs I joined since.

There are few dealers for anything on Bougainville, so if something was wrong with an engine or its components, my mechanics couldn’t just pop down to the dealer and buy a new one.

They fixed it.

For example, I once did an oil seal on the universal shaft and it scoured the shaft.

My mechanics just lathed a new one.

Their only question was what the best material was to use.

In the end they ‘borrowed’ what they wanted from Morgan Equipment who were servicing the Komatsu R180 haul trucks.

On another occasion, my carburettor, a Rochester 4MV Quadrajet, was flooding and stalling.

I was told just bring the carby and intake manifold in and the guys would fix it.

One week later “put this back on the engine boss and she will be OK”.

I was amazed it worked fine.

I asked Leo my chief mechanic how they had done it because they didn’t have time to get a repair kit (gaskets, springs and so on).

Leo said: “We get specs from Rochester by telex, pulled the carby to bits and put it back together by the specs with new bits. A good job for the apprentice. He learnt how to make springs and gaskets.”

I was stunned.

We used sliced-face straight-running lures on Bougainville when fishing light tackle.

There was little wind, so they stayed in the water.

Off the Gold Coast where there is quite a lot of wind we mostly use pushers or chuggers because they stay in the water better.

Though we do use some weighted SFSR. Another interesting thing was my mechanics worked out my 4.2-litre four cylinder alloy block MerCruiser engine was actually half a GM truck engine.

So they ordered GM parts and couldn’t understand why the same part from Mercury Marine was so much more expensive.

It was during this period on Bougainville Island that we started travelling to Kona, Hawaii to fish.

A real learning experience to be continued next month…

Photo: Kelly Dalling

GOLD COAST | FRASER

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

www.fishingmistress.com Page 14 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

The author loved his game boats.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Tommy Van Den Bogaerde captured a cracking snapper. It’s been a strong season for these fish.

Spring fishing serves up the goods

MAKING CHOPPY

FEEL LIKE GLASSOUT

nC hanges to Fisheries regulations not universally popular

I

T would appear the writer of last month’s ‘Offshore’ column is not a charter operator off the Gold Coast.

I feel the writer should not be indicating the closure of the snapper season will not hurt our operations and needs to look at the Gold Coast holiday season before commenting.

July to August is part of our busiest winter season and to cut snapper and pearl perch out of the catch is detrimental to more than just charter operators.

There are the tackle shops, bait and ice suppliers and even accommodation providers, along with many other small business operators.

Does the Gold Coast then buy imported snapper to satisfy the public?

There is already too much imported fish on sale, do we add another species?

Visitors to the Gold Coast know it is snapper season and yes the charter operators know the species needs to be preserved for the future, but a more sensible approach would be to allow one snapper to be kept per person during this time.

As pearl perch are not caught in large quantities, we could also restrict the numbers allowed to be kept, as well as alter the size limit, which has been implemented.

Fisheries Queensland has not considered the dire restrictions this moratorium will cause to

Fish the Deep

by SCOTT VAN BURCK

the charter industry.

Instead they’ve jumped in guns blazing without considerable consultation with all.

Fisheries has to face the problem of not only implementing this month-long ban but also supervising the recreational fishers as they take the illegal catch home.

There are insufficient staff to monitor what is caught currently, with the government struggling to monitor those overfishing the stock.

It must be remembered that any snapper caught will not be successfully returned to the ocean ‘to live another day’.

Most will perish and be nothing but dinner for the shark population.

The problem to be faced over that month will be the charters and recreational fisher who fish the close reefs and take large quantities of tailor, flathead and smaller species, thus reducing their numbers to unacceptable levels.

So in this situation there are currently no winners, just small businesses being brought to the brink with little or no income.

On a brighter note, the weather and fishing have been positive for both the charter operators and recreational fishers

Australian Olympian Chris Wright made light work of this mulloway.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

during spring so far.

The outer reefs of the 50 and 42-fathom grounds have produced quality snapper, amberjack, kingfish, the odd samson fish, mulloway and the best eating fish in the ocean, pearl perch.

Cobia have been caught on the inner reefs.

Our regular fishers returned to find optimism was the order of the day, taking home quality catches of various varieties, with snapper being the main request from customers.

Seasickness didn’t stop the many Chinese visitors and regular fishers capturing quality amberjack and kingfish, which are their preferred species for sashimi.

Soy sauce and wasabi combined makes for very tasty sashimi.

September and October school holidays brought those wanting warm weather, quality fishing and theme parks for not only the young but also the young at heart to the coastal strip.

To have the charter operational most days of September was incredible.

Though the early mornings take their toll, the quality fishing outweighed the negatives.

As the whales wave goodbye and head for Antarctica, the coastal waters will warm and fishers will see a change in target species.

Mahi mahi should arrive, as will mackerel.

Quality reef fish will be captured too, but the challenge of a marlin is the request of many over the summer season.

The Gold Coast Flathead Classic is over for 2019, and congratulations to all winners.

Local Gold Coast Sport Fishing Club member Eddie Ketly snaring the largest flathead for the second day of competition at 91cm.

This made it the most memorable catch in his fishing career so far.

Christmas will be upon us next issue, so start hinting at what fishing items you want in your stocking!

Happy fishing.

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Bass are starting to feed as water temps rise.

Grant with a nice morning jack.

Snapper are hanging around even with temps rising.

Best captures come by timing the tides

J

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Page 16 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

November, being the last month of spring, brings plenty of good news for those who like to chase summer species offshore, inshore or in fresh water.

Offshore from the Gold Coast has proven unpredictable, though people are still getting captures of snapper and kingfish.

It won’t be long before dolphinfish and mackerel make their much-anticipated return.

That will mean dusting off the trolling and live baiting gear from last season.

Inshore fishing hasn’t disappointed with the variety on offer.

Mangrove jack have started showing up, with the water temp already surpassing 24C in the rivers.

I have had success fishing a few techniques, but using soft vibes and deeper-diving hard-bodies has resulted in the best captures.

I try targeting deeper holes and using soft vibes around the bottom of the tide.

At low tide I feel most fish will not be able to access their preferred structure to ambush bait, so sitting in deep water and waiting for fish to swim past would be what they consider an easy meal.

That’s why hopping metal and soft vibes in river bends and deeper holes near bridges has worked so well.

Any soft vibes from 65120mm are working best on the jacks.

I’ve also had luck fish-

Nerang Rooster Report

by DARREN RAMA

ing the edges and rock walls.

These can be an easier option for those who’ve just started targeting jacks with lures because there isn’t as much accuracy needed as opposed to pontoon fishing.

I like to use hard-bodies from 75mm that dive 2-4m deep.

That way I can ensure the lure is down around the rocks.

When fishing rock walls for jacks I prefer to use a rod with about 20-30lb line and matching leader.

The benefit of fishing rock walls is the by-catch of trevally working the edges, cod living in the rocks and flathead sitting on the bottom trying to camouflage and waiting for something to come off the edge.

The Gold Coast Flathead Classic has been and gone, with great results from a lot of teams.

Often after the Classic people give up on targeting flathead when they are in fact still around in good numbers and can make for a good day out.

Fishing deeper water near bars and river mouths with soft plastics seems to be a common way of catching a lot of flathead.

In saying that, using bigger lures on the flats is still working.

The trick is trying early morning, preferably on a weekday so you avoid the bulk of the boat traffic and have clean water in the shallows.

Consistent boat traffic

Small jacks are already out in force.

muddies up the edge of the banks, making it harder for the flatties in the shallows to identify your lure.

Freshwater fishing has been quite productive in a number of dams.

In the past few weeks I’ve fished in Hinze, Wyaralong and Maroon dams.

The three dams required different techniques but the fish were in high numbers.

In traditional form, the bass in Hinze Dam have begun to sit up on the trees, making for a good edge bite on jerkbaits and small spinnerbaits.

Wyaralong is a relatively new dam but quickly gaining popularity for its population of hardfighting bass and sadly the invasive species it also harbours.

The dam is popular for anglers targeting pest species like carp and tilapia due to their willingness to take baits, which makes for great fishing for kids.

And being species you can’t return to the water, targeting these pests teaches kids the importance of trying to benefit an ecosystem and help the natives thrive.

Something that has caught most lure fishers by surprise is their readiness to take lures.

Using gear as light as 4lb makes for awesome fun.

One question that gets thrown around a lot is what lures to use to target carp and tilapia?

I can’t really say there is one, as I have caught them

on soft plastics, divers and vibes.

However, I have found using curl tail plastics and letting them sit on the bottom for a few seconds longer than normal is a good way to pick up carp.

These fish primarily suck food off the bottom, so putting your lure there helps to work with their natural feeding behaviour.

Maroon is a great little dam and its small size allows you to explore the whole place in a short time.

It has a variety of banks, from weed flats to timbered edges and rock ledges, making it easier to

decide where to start.

I found success fishing soft plastics and vibes on the edges of the weed but also in the timber.

Slow rolling 3” soft plastics with paddle tails was a quick favourite.

A mixture of bass, golden perch and aggressive spangled perch were on the chew.

The combos I usually take to these bass dams are 2-4kg setups with 4-10lb braid and leader to match, just adjusting to the conditions I hope you can get out before the summer holidays and get into good fish.

A big estuary cod caught offshore.

A few Maroon Dam fish found off one point.

Though the Flathead Classic is over, flathead fishing is still firing.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Keep a keen eye on sea surface temps

S

PRING is well and truly in the air.

As we start to see air temperatures rise, we’ll also have sea surface temperatures climbing, and with this will come the pelagic fish that get everyone frothing.

With mackerel not far away, everyone will be watching the water temperature, because once it hits 23C mackerel fishers come out of hibernation.

Until then, plenty of snapper and pearlies will keep everyone entertained and they should continue to fire as long

Gold Coast

by HEATH ZYGNERSKI

as the current stays wide.

The fish have schooled up ready to spawn and I’ve found that despite having hundreds of snapper sitting under your boat, they are very reluctant to take a bait.

This is the same as having great shows all over the reef and not being able to turn a reel.

It gets very frustrating.

In the creeks and rivers,

Brandan was happy with this quality pearl perch.

mangrove jack have been caught in a great start to the season.

Horses are regularly being taken.

They really have become an iconic estuary sportfish and the rate of catch and release is high despite them being excellent on the chew.

One of the things to come out of the new Fisheries laws is the new in-possession limit for snapper.

So you can go and catch your limit of snapper and put them in the freezer, then once the closed season rolls around you can be prosecuted for being in possession of a notake species.

Common sense tells you this should not be the case, yet on several forums I’ve seen people ask this question and they have been answered by a Fisheries representative stating they are contravening the legislation.

What is even more concerning is some representatives are stating the possession limit only applies when you are fishing for them.

So there seems to be plenty of confusion all round.

What is not confusing

is this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to more stringent and intrusive regulation of our fishery.

To be honest, it is simply becoming too hard, so I think I’ll spend my time targeting other species and areas.

The local bars are going to be very interesting this summer, especially if we don’t get any good flooding rain to clear their throats.

Tweed River Bar is still shallow in the mouth and a few hundred metres out, and extreme care

needs to be taken.

Currumbin Creek Bar is a mess and a real concern for the upcoming mackerel season given the number of boats that use it.

Not only that, the VMR crew has next to no chance of getting out on less than half a tide.

Tallebudgera Creek Bar is narrow and shallow.

It will stay like this despite being dredged.

The Seaway is good apart from the shallow sandbanks to the north.

Squealing reels to you all.

Mitch landed this nice pearlie on a jig.

1770 produced the goods for Jason.

ACTIVE TRANSOM

www.bnbfishing.com. au

TRUE SELFDRAINING DECKS

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 17

A Jumpinpin flathead measured and ready for release.

Scott Fleming boated a quality flathead.

Flathead Classic 2019 wrap-up I

’VE been a bit quiet on the writing side of things, with work once again taking precedence over fishing, and the days I made it to the water being nothing short of shockingly below average.

Flathead are photographed and measured with the angler’s details for verification.

Persistence paid off for John, with a great little flathead caught casting the edges of the weed beds.

What can I say but that was an absolutely crazy and unusual lead-up to this year’s Gold Coast Sportfishing Club Flathead Classic.

Northerly and westerly wind dominated the weather patterns, the water around the Cabbage Tree, Jacobs Well and Jumpinpin areas where I usually fish was filthy and on top of that, that horrid snot weed reared its ugly head a couple of weeks before the Classic.

To say I was struggling to find fish was an understatement and to be totally honest my hopes in producing a worthy result for my team, Team Wilson, were somewhat dashed.

My pre-fishing consisted of checking the waterways from just north of the Pin through to the Nerang River, and I will put my hand up to say I didn’t land a fish some sessions and landed only one or two on others, with the best day being six with Leeann and the kids on board.

Dirty water that resembled my morning coffee plagued regular spots and a lot of time was spent just

Kord and a great point scorer hooked during the comp.

Page 18 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

Leeann with one of a number of nice-sized flathead landed prior to the competition.

Low tide is the most productive time to be fishing for flathead, though at comp time, you have to be competent fishing all stages of the tide.

Fishing Competition

by ROBERT PAYNE

motoring around trying to pinpoint the cleaner water without even wetting a lure.

Time was spent using different coloured lures, fishing both the shallows and the deeper water, but mostly time was spent looking for new ground.

I also don’t believe in flogging an area prior to the Classic and will often just arrive at an area, have a quick flick or troll and if I catch one, continue to the next spot.

It’s also important to head out onto the water and fish the periods when it’s hard to catch a fish.

Anyone can catch fish at low tide.

It’s when the tide is up that the thinking hats have to be put on to work out how and where to target fish during the ‘quiet’ stage of the tide.

It’s no secret what lures my team uses and in conjunction with Wilson Fishing, we regularly commit ourselves to online seminars, podcasts as well as talks in tackle shops and the like to help other anglers catch fish.

Lure wise, Zerek Tango Shads in 50mm size are used for trolling, with 4.5” Flat Shads and 65mm Fish Traps the two go-to lures in my tackle box for casting and jigging.

Team Wilson didn’t have a chance to pre-fish together, however, I spent three days fishing with teammate Kord Luckus for a miserable total of eight fish!

We headed into the Classic with low expectations and if we pulled off six fish per day in competition mode, we would have been happy.

On the plus side, the fishing had been tough for most people but teams were producing good numbers.

What a turnaround we experienced on day one.

Team Wilson is adaptable when it comes to different techniques and over the years of fishing

together we have come up with strategies to fish diverse areas.

With southeasterlies giving us favourable conditions, we began the competition strongly.

Working as a team in these comps is so important, and Kord Luckus, Scott Fleming and I have gelled together quite well, fish together well and most importantly really enjoy the fishing.

Kord was the first to brain the fish on his favourite lure, the 50mm Tango Shad in colour BL with luminous crazy eyes,

so Scott and I had to follow suit.

Only problem was there was only one other BL Tango in the boat, so I rummaged around the boat for the marker pen and before long, we were all in the game landing fish.

After such a poor prefish, we were delighted to have caught enough fish to be placed in fifth position, 700 points behind the Lowrance Black & Whyte Boyz who are a team that consistently do well at the Classic. * continued P19

The Zerek Tango Shad was the go-to trolling lure for the winning team.

Wilson teammates Scotty and Kord with a decent flathead taken from the shallows.

Not a big fish, but at comp time, every capture is important.

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Guide to snagging whiting on surface

G

’DAY everyone, in this month’s article I will chat about a technique that although has been around a fairly long time, is still clouded in mystery.

That is, catching whiting on surface lures.

The main reason this whole concept holds some mystery and disbelief is us older anglers were taught that whiting are only bottom feeders.

This is basically correct in most cases, but with some wizardry in choosing the correct lures, locations and technique, they will readily rise and repetitively smash a surface lure.

Lures The concept of whiting on surface was discovered by using small standard cup-faced poppers and they still work well, but

Gold Coast Guide

by BRAD SMITH

in recent years the first choice of lures has been stickbaits.

Through trial and error I have found Bassday Sugapen and MMD Splash Prawn lures the way to go for the best results.

Locations Choosing the correct areas to succeed with this technique is of utmost importance with the main thing to be looking for being very shallow water as I have found that they won’t rise in water that is over a metre in depth.

Preferably my favourite depth is between 100mm to 500 millimetres in depth.

The shallows or flats as they are known should also hold the correct feeding environment for the whiting for example yabby holes, the edges of sea grass beds or in some spots shell grit.

The good thing about finding these areas which are in most rivers is that the land-based anglers can even find spots without the need for a boat or kayak.

Technique The best technique for getting the fish to rise is commonly known as walking the dog, which involves casting out and retrieving the lure with

A thumper whiting caught on a Sugapen in MB16 colour.

your rod tip held reasonably low while incorporating a small left to right twitch of the rod tip.

This technique makes the move in a smooth and continuous motion that makes the lure spit water from the face of it at the same time, which imitates a fleeing terrified prawn.

The technique in its purity does take a degree of co-ordination, which comes quickly for some anglers, but others might struggle at first and pick it up with practice.

When I have a client on my boat who might have a bit of trouble, I always tell them to loosen their grip of the rod, relax and try not to overthink and it will happen.

It is also important when the whiting start to follow and attack the lure on the surface that you keep your composure and keep the lure coming with the same speed and action.

If you strike, you will pull the lure away, or if you stop they will often go straight back to the bottom.

The exciting thing about this technique is when it’s done right they will pursue the lure right up to a rod length away from you, which is a visual rush.

Tips A couple more tips to follow might help you with success: the water must be reasonably clear so they can see the lure.

It also helps if there is a bit of wind that will break up the surface tension of the water.

I think the slight break in surface tension helps to hide the lure and mask its true identity.

Thanks and I will talk again next month.

Mick Molnar, the owner and designer of the MMD Splash Prawn with a nice whiting on the new Ghost colour.

This quality whiting smashed a Bassday Sugapen over a shallow yabby bank.

Flathead Classic 2019 wrap-up * from P18

Day two and we continued to consistently land fish and concentrated our efforts in the area from Millionaires Row to FiveWays, keeping the fishing area contained to a small section to eliminate travel time between productive spots.

Team Wilson had a miserable start a few years back when we started fishing up north due to a good session the day before.

Come comp day, we were burnt badly and though we caught a bloody good snapper, the flathead eluded us.

Once bitten, twice

shy, so we cut the travel time and concentrated on having lures in the water.

We were quite surprised to learn we had made it up the leader board to first position on day two, which meant a few teams had a bad day, not that we minded.

Day three was going to

Team Wilson celebrated their second time as champion overall team of the Flathead Classic.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

be make or break, with 10 teams in contention for first position as the score board was exceptionally tight.

Once again we consistently caught fish, this time trolling over weed beds.

When trolling these areas, it’s important not to stir up the bottom with your prop because this can have a detrimental effect on the catch rate.

Having had the most abysmal lead-up to the Classic ever, we managed to hold onto our lead and take out champion team, with Kord making the top 10 in the anglers line-up.

It was a tight contest to the end, with only 442 points between first and fifth position.

Thank you to Graeme Wilson from Wilson Fishing for having faith in our team, the Gold Coast Sportfishing Club for putting on this amazing event and all the other anglers who took part.

The kicked-up tails on Splash Prawns help to add a water-spitting action the whiting like.

Bradh's Smited Guiding Fishs Tour

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www.bradsmithfishingcharters.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 19

The jewfish found by the surfer on the beach.

How far would you go for a fish?

I ’VE been enjoying Paul ‘Chief’ Graveson’s articles on some of the legends he’s known.

Mohamad fishing the south wall of the Brunswick River.

Here in Brunz, we’ve got one of our own very

Jason with a moses perch.

well-known characters.

Mohamad isn’t just known to the fishing community, virtually everyone in town knows him.

Most mornings and afternoons you will find him perched on a rock on the south wall catching a fish.

Like all fishos, he has plenty of good yarns but is famous for one in particular.

This happened a few years back but to my knowledge Mohamad is still the only fisher to hook a jewfish from the south wall and land it on the north side of the river mouth.

This story possibly has to go down as the best effort to land a jew in history.

Thirty minutes after hooking the jew in flood waters off the south wall, the jew still had a heap of power left and headed past the end of the north

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Tweed to Byron Bay

by GAVIN DOBSON

When showing someone the photo, they inquired how the jew died and jokingly Mohamed said it choked on a surfboard. wall, fouling Mohammad’s line in the rocks of the north wall in the process.

Getting his mate to hold the rod, Mohamad raced back to the carpark and commenced to drive to the north wall.

This involves going back out through Brunswick Heads to the highway bridge, through Ocean Shores to New Brighton and then up the rough North Head Rd. Once this trip of about 10km was completed, he still had nearly a kilometre run ahead of him to get to the end of the north wall.

Getting knocked by the waves, Mohamad found the line and brought it to the top of the wall and began handlining the fish while his mate on the south wall wound up the slack.

At one stage, Mohamed had to climb to the top of the light tower and pass the line over.

Still not co-operating, the fish headed into Seagull Rocks, a shallow rock platform 100m or more to the north of the north wall.

Following the line, Mohamad entered the water washing over the rocks and somehow emerged with a solid jewfish firmly in his grasp.

The story has become part of history here in the Brunswick region and most locals would have heard it before.

More recently, as in last week, Mohamad acquired a jew in the simplest of fashions.

On one of his south wall sojourns, a surfer alerted his attention to the fact there was a jewfish sitting on the beach where the rocks meet sand.

Strolling down, the fish looked in good condition.

Mohamad did a careful

inspection, looking for a reason for death but could find none.

The fish had only just died by Mohamad’s observations, so he filleted it and he and the surfer shared the spoils.

A further autopsy revealed no hooks or injuries inside, so the cause of death is still a mystery.

Mohamed has now acquired a jewfish in the hardest of ways and the easiest of ways.

This latest story went around town pretty quickly too.

In the photo he took with the surfer, it looks as if the surfer’s board is coming out of the jew’s mouth.

When showing someone the photo, they inquired how the jew died and jokingly Mohamed said it choked on a surfboard.

When I heard the story, it had changed to choking on a kid’s kickboard.

Anyway, Mohamed is as honest as the day is long and the fact is the jew died for no apparent reason.

Maybe its time had just expired.

Before I move on, I will tell you Mohamad’s fishing philosophy.

“Kill only what you can use and there will be plenty for everyone.”

On the fishing front, things are hard, as is usual in spring.

If you have a boat, the offshore windows are only small and your best bet in the rivers is upstream.

On recent river cruises, the number of fish I’m seeing caught are testament to this.

I have seen good bags of whiting hanging over the sides of boats and they are big fish too.

School jew are being caught upstream in the holes on vibes and plas-

tics, though the vast majority are undersized.

Mangrove jack are very slow but I never get too excited about them in the Brunz until November.

They generally come on earlier in the Tweed River.

The usual spring suspects of flathead and small bream will jump on hooks this month.

The trevally I reported last month disappeared but will surely come back soon.

Once again, head upriver and find the herring schools on your sounder in the holes or on the downstream side of riverbank snags on the run-out tide.

The river is packed with herring, so the predators won’t stay away for long.

Offshore, the amazing snapper run on the deep reefs continues.

It will wane this month and the current will make things hard but if the stars align there should be enough action out there to make the trip worthwhile.

Unfortunately, it’s a long run just to get out there and find two knots or more of current.

The good news is I can finally report a few snapper showing up on the closer shallow reefs.

The local reef has been producing nice reddies, with the odd knobby and jew.

The shallow reefs out from New Brighton and South Golden Beach are producing much of the same, with the snapper being of slightly better class.

Shallows towards Black Rock have had snapper and while I haven’t heard of any jew, they are probably there too.

Windarra Banks has had a patchy run of late, with snapper catches ranging from fantastic one day to nothing the next.

Just make sure you are there on the good days, problem solved!

When you work out how to do that, let me know.

November is historically kingfish month on Windarra, but they are enigmatic creatures these days.

Still, I wouldn’t go out there without a good supply of livies and jigs. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Requesting rain on Northern Rivers

H

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

I can’t believe I am about to say this given I live on the NSW Northern Rivers – but oh my goodness we need some rain!

Now I know plenty of others places around the state and entire country need rain, however, given this has to be one of the wettest places in the country, things have to be pretty dry for me to say that.

My only hope after this long dry spell is we don’t have the drought broken by a flood.

Everyone has suffered enough with the drought, and now some areas are dealing with horrific bushfires, so please Mother Nature, go easy with the rain when you decide to finally drop it on us.

On the plus side is the fact I have not seen the water in the Richmond River this clear in a very long time.

So clear in fact that we are already seeing a good run of blue swimmer crabs.

Normally we don’t see

Ballina Bait & Tackle

by BRETT HYDE

blue swimmers in these numbers until it is almost Easter, the bulk of the summer rain and floods have occurred and the river has had a chance to clear.

I think we will see an increase in their numbers if we don’t cop any major flood events for summer, so get out there and make the most of it.

Mud crabs have been a little disappointing in contrast, and I think a bit of fresh in the river would get the mud crabs moving around more.

Like the blue swimmers, I think the muddies will improve in numbers as the summer goes on and the water temperature continues to climb, so get your gear cleaned up ready to go.

Both North and Emigrant creeks are going to see activity over summer, along with the main river between the Burns Point Ferry and Rileys Hill.

Please remember you

can’t use crab pots from the mouth of the river up to the Burns Point Ferry, including North and Fishery creeks.

You are permitted to use witches hats/dillies in this area though, and you are allowed four per person.

I think the best bet to catch a fish in the river at the moment is to move around and cover some ground.

The long dry spell has meant the water is very clear and the fish seem to be spread over a much larger area than we are used to.

Bream are in better numbers along the rock walls, and seem to be spread from the RSL club all the way to Rileys Hill.

Flathead are slowly making their way down the river, but better numbers are upriver between Pimlico Island and Broadwater.

Early morning they seem to be up a little shal-

Brad with a nice bar cod from the wide grounds off Ballina.

lower and sitting on the sand flats, but as the days heat up it will be a better option to push out into the deeper water where it will be cooler for them.

The usual baits such as white and blue pilchards have worked best, but it will be worth trying metal blades and larger soft plastics to help you stay closer to the bottom and in the strike zone for longer.

Given the super-clear water, I would stick with the more natural colours until we see a little rain and some colour in the water.

The beaches have not seen any great improvement over the past month.

We are still only seeing a handful of flathead, bream and whiting on most beaches.

Worms and pipis have been working on bream and whiting, while flathead are still showing interest in white pilchards and mullet fillets.

I have heard of a few captures of tailor in the past couple of weeks, but they continue to be very quiet, as they have been all winter.

Usually we see a run of better than average tailor over summer, and while their numbers aren’t as good as in winter, the quality of the fish usually makes up for the lack of numbers, and I am hopeful this is the case this year.

Pilchards and cut baits such as mullet and bonito are good options for these larger-than-average fish, particularly when trying your luck at night.

Offshore has been fishing fairly well of late, with quality fish coming from the 32 and 48-fathom lines and beyond.

The current has started to increase for summer, but it is still at a level that isn’t making it impossible

to fish just yet.

Good-quality snapper and flathead have come from the 32s on both baits and lures.

The northern 48s are holding quality pearl perch that have been taking live and dead baits.

The FAD is out for summer, but as yet has only produced school-sized mahi mahi.

Once the current and water temps really pick up we should see an improvement in their numbers.

Funnily enough, the current that has started in closer still hasn’t shown up out wide, and some boats have been pushing out to the continental shelf to get the odd day in before the current really picks up for summer.

A mix of kingfish, flametail, bar cod, gemfish and blue-eye trevalla have all hit Eskies of late, but you will have to make the most of it before the current kicks in and wrecks the party out there for another summer.

Well that’s all from me this month.

‘Til next time, tight lines!

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The author with his PB bass from the Richmond River at 52cm to the tip.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 21

This small hairtail was not as big as the 1.8m fish Mischa caught a few years ago but was just as tasty.

Mischa snared this 15kg jew on a small hard-bodied lure well inside the Clarence River in ginclear water.

Jewfish spread throughout Clarence River

F

ISHING during the past month here at sunny downtown Iluka has been fair to middling for the most part, with average catches of the more popular target species such as bream, flathead and tailor taken regularly from the beaches and breakwalls.

The author’s Wilson Live Fibre RLF30 8-10 spin rod fitted with a Daiwa Exceler 650DA spooled with 12kg Monoflex line easily handled this 14kg fish.

Both the Iluka and Yamba breakwalls have fished well for solid bream on flesh baits such as mullet strips and half blue pillies, with Brisbane angler George Landberg leading the way by catching a quality fish of 1.64kg.

Other locations to provide good bream during the past month have been the first and second Bluffs here at Iluka, the Quarry area at Yamba and the beach at Shark Bay north of the second wash-out.

The only downside at this time of year can be the fact that a lot of the bream, while long in length, will be in poor condition after spawning

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www.issuu.com/bnbfishing Page 22 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

Just Jew

by TYE PORTER

during winter.

Most of the local beaches and headlands have produced reasonable catches of chopper tailor around the 1-2kg mark, with much bigger fish hooked on lures at the point of both breakwalls with both hard-bodied minnows and soft plastics accounting for fish.

Inside the Clarence River, Mischa and I were blessed to fish the winter jew run right into October, which is something I have not done before, however I put it down to the fact the flat-tailed mullet were very late heading back upstream this year, so the jew hung around naturally enough.

We have been having a ball catching jew ranging in size from 50cm to 16.5kg from several spots well inside the river mouth using a variety of minnow and soft plastic lures.

What we have noticed is that due to the scarcity of bait this late in the season, we will usually only hook one fish from each spot each night and it will nine times out of 10 be on the very first cast.

We sure have been clocking up the kilometres by fishing spot A and then driving 20km or so to spot B, but hey, it’s been a load of fun and something new.

We have also had to downsize our minnow lures to entice a bite on many nights while other nights we just stuck to soft plastic lures, but either way we still caught fish most nights we fished.

I snared a nice 14kg schoolie on a 6” Storm paddle-tailed shad, and as you can see by the pics, the little bugger scoffed it big time.

We started using these plastics over 10 years ago along the river side of the Iluka breakwall and have caught countless jew of all sizes on them.

We initially used them by casting and letting them sink and then doing the traditional jig, pause and wind motion but after a while I realised this was not necessary.

Due to their large paddle tail, simply casting out and slowly retrieving as I would a hard-bodied minnow was just as effective.

Unfortunately, the importers do not bring in the 6” version anymore (only up to 5”), so I am forced to import them myself from TackleDirect in America.

When I rang the importer and asked why they don’t bring in the 6” shad, I was told there was no call for them here.

So I then asked why I can’t buy them off the shelf in Australia like I once could and he said it was because they must have all sold out.

Egads, if that makes sense to you then can you please let me know what I am missing, because he contradicted himself in 15 seconds flat.

Mischa has been landing fish between 50cm and 14kg on a 6” paddle-tail plastic made by Yamba angler Mark Pirie who sells them under the name of MadZ Lures, so you could do worse than look them up on Facebook or the net.

Hairtail and estuary cod are two species Mischa has fluked on small MadZ soft plastic while flicking for jew in the Clarence River, so with any luck a hungry little mangrove jack might be on the cards this summer.

Normally at this time of year I would be drowning baits along the river side of the breakwall for a jew, however I have decided to do some exploring in the river instead, primarily with soft plastic lures, as I have a few theories I have been meaning to test out.

As usual, the Bluff has seen the bulk of the action in the jewfish department over the past month, with nice fish to 12kg taken during the low tide at dusk.

This should continue through summer as the shoals of white pillies move along the beaches.

While flathead are around in the river in good numbers, there have been very few re-

ports of whiting taken.

It can only be a matter of weeks before these tasty little critters turn up in droves.

Those anglers who prefer to chase luderick are still catching the odd small fish in the river, however most of the action through summer occurs around the wash of the headlands where the fish can be seen in the waves in their hundreds.

November sees the start to the local offshore mackerel season when catches of the smaller spotted mackerel begin to be taken in the shallow water areas just off Woody Head and 99 percent of the fish will be taken on the troll at first light.

Unfortunately, it won’t be until late-December before the larger spanish

mackerel make an appearance and with a bit of luck the odd small tuna as well.

In recent weeks good jewfish, trag and snapper have been boated up at Black Rocks when sea conditions have allowed boaties to get out, while south of the bar around Minnie Water snapper to 8kg have been boated on blue pillie baits.

With the warmer weather upon us, the top end of the Esk River is fishing well for bass and estuary perch on lures, while downstream of the bridge is fishing well for flathead.

All in all, things are looking good for a feed of your favourite species, so get out and get among them.

‘Til next month, safe fishin’.

This 14kg jewfish engulfed the author’s 6” Storm shad.

This view shows the author’s soft plastic pinned firmly into the roof of a jewfish’s mouth.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Pelagic playtime on the forecast

N

OVEMBER is a great time to start planning for the month ahead as we move towards my favourite time of year: pelagic time.

For now, you can still expect to find a few big lone spanish mackerel patrolling the coastline from Double Island Point to Mooloolaba.

If you have a kayak and are yet to target spaniards, use a whole bonito, slimy mackerel or garfish on a troll rig.

Out wide towards Double Island, the bigger boats have been catching a mixed bag of species not often caught around Noosa including amberjack, goldband snapper, saddletail sea perch, nannygai and red emperor.

Looking for deepwater marks and balled-up bait is key.

Quickly dropping live, big slab baits or drifting them over marks is a great way to get the bite from the bigger fish.

This is the land of big fish and big bust-offs, so go in well equipped.

High-speed jigging is also a great method to target some of the hardest-hitting monsters in the ocean.

In this area PE3 is the lightest you should try, with even the smallest amberjack wearing out anglers not used to this explosive method of fishing.

Sharks can also be a problem, so lighter outfits often let fish dictate the fight and as such get crunched.

Take a look at the various high-speed jigs around 100-200g like the Palms Slow Blatt Long, which can be worked fast or slow.

These pair well with 4/0-5/0 single assist hooks like VanFook or Decoy and 40lb-plus leader.

For the remainder of us in smaller craft, North Reef has been holding good-sized jewfish in solid numbers.

These fish will take a wide range of baits including live, slab and stripped presented on a snelled rig, with 7/0-9/0 Mustad Penetrators a favourite.

Another way to target these fish is on slow jigs like the Black Magic Flipper Jig or Palms Slow Blatt Oval during lighter current days.

The Flipper Jig has a great sliding action during its descent and certainly gets the attention of these and many other species including cobia and big snapper.

You would do well to upgrade the hooks to something larger like a 4/0 twin assist from Decoy.

On the subject of snapper, we are seeing solid fish about and again these fish are taking both baits and lures.

If drifting out here, be sure to throw some soft plastics in the 5”-7” size range.

You will need jig heads up to 1.5oz and 6/0-7/0 hooks. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Sunshine Coast

by GRANT BUDD

With a pair of Polaroid glasses on you can often sight cast to tuna and cobia that pass close by. Hooking one of these is a real thrill when land based and it will certainly get the heart rate up and blood pumping.

During lighter currents, be sure to break out the humble pilchard floater because this will secure any midwater fish, which tend to be bigger.

In closer, Sunshine Reef is showing good-sized coral trout, grassy sweetlip, venus tuskfish and of course snapper.

Sunshine Reef has been popular for smaller craft during the stronger wind days because on the trip home the wind is usually behind you.

Out here, a mixture of styles work very well and 20-30lb outfits keep it light and fun for lure anglers using smaller soft plastics and 3/8-3/4oz jig heads or jigs in the 40-80g range.

If bait fishing and dropping livies, then 50lb or greater is recommended because the reef can be an unforgiving place, especially when that fish of a lifetime latches on.

Sunshine Reef covers a wide area and as such drift fishing is very productive.

Having a gang hooked pilchard floater out on light wind days can result in a very wide range of species picking up your offering.

If the currents are light enough, then using a steady stream of berley can make the difference between success and failure.

Be sure to pick up some pellets, tuna oil and aniseed oil to get the fish on the chew.

The headlands are a great place to throw larger stickbaits in both floating and sinking styles.

With a pair of Polaroid glasses on you can often sight cast to tuna and cobia that pass close by.

Hooking one of these is a real thrill when land based and it will certainly get the heart rate up and blood pumping.

It is important to have a rod around 8’-10’ in length and a reel with at least 500m of quality eight-strand braid to cope with the blistering runs.

Take a look at Penn Prevail rods for surf and rock fishing because they have a long and slim grip and a mix of tapers to suit multiple styles of fishing.

Using a metered braid here certainly helps with knowing just how much line the fish is taking, so

you don’t panic unnecessarily.

If you’re after a fine PE braid for casting, take a look at Sunline Siglon.

This is a great braid for distance casting because it is super fine, with high breaking strains available.

The rivers are alive, with mangrove jack on the catch list of many anglers in the area.

These hard-hitting red dogs will find any weak spots in your gear or you, so be prepared to go into battle.

I am sure you have mates who have landed a big fish on 6lb gear, but in general, go in hard and crank up drags because these fish will bust you up and take you to the cleaners quick smart.

To find one of these fish, Noosa has a wide range of potential places to explore.

From the Noosa River mouth towards Lake Cootharabah you can cast or slow troll hard-body lures, cast soft vibes and soft plastics and of course fish live and dead baits.

Night-time fishing can be very productive because jacks will often break from cover under a night sky.

This is where slowtrolled paddle-tail plastics like the Z-Man 4” SwimmerZ rigged weedless can pay off and cope well with big bites.

Be warned though, a jack will know how to get home and fast even if it is dark.

Moving away from the mighty red dogs, some sizeable flathead are still in the system.

These fish are generally found in the lower part of the river and up to the mouth of Lake Cooroibah.

You can also find flathead throughout Lake Weyba and the various sand flats surrounding the area as well as the Frying Pan on the North Shore.

Flathead are generally the first fish caught by anglers using lures and they will respond well to trolled hard-bodies like Zerek Tango Shads and Ecogear SX60s.

They can also be caught at night-time when targeting jacks.

The better places to find them are where there is a good source of light from street lighting, public jetties or houses

with flood lighting.

Flathead are drawn in by the baitfish attracted to this light, so pick a good vibration-style lure like the Molix RT Shad and use heavier leader of 20-30lb just in case you get a jack.

For the daytime anglers, bream and whiting are firing up and present multiple opportunities throughout the river system.

From the Frying Pan to the dog beach and even up as far as Lake Cooroibah, these fish provide great fun on light gear and surface lurers.

The MMD Splash Prawn is proving popular for the light tackle brigade, as is the Ecogear PX55.

These lures bring fish out from almost anywhere.

When twitched across the flats, be sure to be on the lookout for an angry pack of whiting.

For bait anglers, a simple running sinker rig and red whiting tube above your hook is the go for a fresh feed of whiting.

Away from the rivers, the fresh water has provided anglers with a shot at bass, yellowbelly and saratoga.

The early morning bite has proved a great time to chase fish on surface, with first light a quieter time before the crowds arrive.

For lure anglers, the Lunkerhunt Phantom Spider and slow-rolled Chasebaits Wiggle Bombs have been smashed by big surface hitters as well as.

Once the sun rises, this is when suspending jerkbaits are best deployed and the Jackall Squirrel is no stranger to getting smashed on the pause.

Working the edges and standing timber is often overlooked by visiting anglers, so be sure to give this a try if you are first to arrive as boat traffic often scares fish off.

If the wind is up, using smaller tailspinners jigs like the Jackson IGA Jig will turn the fish on.

The vibration and small size often proves irresistible.

These jigs usually get inhaled, so squashing the barbs allows for easy hook removal and quick fish return.

Don’t forget to check conditions before you go, such as dam levels and any closures.

Lastly, make sure you buy a Stocked Impoundment Permit Scheme permit and enjoy this month on the water!

For all the latest information, bar and fishing reports, jump onto fish ingnoosa.com.au Drop into Davo’s Tackle World, Davo’s Boating and Outdoors in Noosa and Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle in Marcoola for all the right equipment, bait and advice to get you catching fish.

Be sure to follow us on Facebook too.

Tight lines and bent spines!

Kim Mcleod boated a beauty of a snapper.

Mat Craig with a trevally from the river.

A bumper mangrove jack on surface for Nick Swan.

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The author’s boys with gear ready for an evening at Bli Bli Barra Park.

Youngest son Josh with a big fish.

Bli Bli Barra Park – challenging and fun

F The author’s eldest son Mattie with his first-ever barra hooked 1m from shore.

The author caught a big bad old bream.

Barra Creek has about 1500 barra in it.

Page 24 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

OR many years, my impression of the Bli Bli Barra Park, based simply on some false assumptions, was it was another ‘fish farm’ where the fish would just jump on the hooks.

Where was the challenge and fun in that, I thought.

I’d heard that about a barra farm up north where you can keep the fish you catch, so why should this place be any different, right?

Wrong.

It wasn’t until some persistent pleading from my 13-year-old madkeen fishing son Josh this year, and even more so after his mate caught his first barramundi from the park at the start of the September school holidays, that I finally gave in.

I am very pleased I did.

After jumping onto the website and Facebook page and reading more about the place, my opinion started to change.

‘Maybe these fish aren’t so easy to catch after all’, I thought.

I soon decided to get

Sunshine Coast Barra

by SEAN THOMPSON

All fish in the park are catch and release. In terms of the barra, they are not fed by the staff and rely on pellets and bait from anglers and natural bait and fish in the water to sustain them. on the phone and have a chat to one of the experienced employees to find out about the park in more detail.

I also wanted to know whether it was warm enough for the fish to be ‘on’, now I knew the place was a more challenging catch and release fishery.

After the chat with Dave at the park, I lined up for my sons and I to give the place a try during both a day and a night session to get a good feel for the place and be able to report on it properly for you our readers.

Location The Bli Bli Barra Fishing Park is located at 367 David Low Way, Bli Bli. It is easily accessed just off the Sunshine Motorway to the north of the Maroochydore River bridge.

It is also co-located with the Bli Bli Watersports Complex.

Given the proximity to each other, a good option for a day out with family or mates could be a morning session at the aqua park followed by lunch and then an afternoon session spent fish-

ing at the Barra Park.

Or even an afternoon at the aqua park and a night session on the barra.

For families, the barra park also has a little kids’ playground and plenty of shelters for young kids and those just coming along to watch.

Barra and other species Apart from barramundi, the park also has a few other fish that turn up in catches such as huge bream, the occasional whiting, flathead, mangrove jack and even mud crabs.

There is even a resident mulloway and a monstrous mysterious cod.

All fish in the park are catch and release.

In terms of the barra, they are not fed by the staff and rely on pellets and bait from anglers and natural bait and fish in the water to sustain them.

The park will restock up to a couple of times a year if the fishing and numbers start to fall off.

The seasons According to Dave, the ‘best’ fishing days at the park are overcast humid days with a bit of wind chop, or dark moonless nights.

October through to about the end of April can see the most action, coinciding with the hottest months, but that said, the fishing improves in September and is good through to the end of May. For this reason, the park sometimes offers a great winter deal where you can fish as much as you want through winter for a cracking price.

People still catch fish during this time, it is just a matter of working out where and when.

For current prices, jump on the website (blibliwa tersports.com.au), but at the time of writing a three-hour adult session was $36, $49 for all day or $39 for an awesome three-hour Friday or Saturday night session.

Private sessions with up to 10 people are also available and kids’ prices are lower.

When you compare those prices to the fuel southeast Queenslanders would buy to chase them in any numbers further north, that is damn good value.

The fishing and gear Given the size of the fish on offer (with a handful of magic metreplus fish in the lake), it is pretty amazing they will take such a tiny pellet and are generally able to be landed on a tiny hook.

However, there are some essentials to learn first.

You have the choice of bringing your own rods and tackle or using those supplied.

The rods supplied are light 2-4kg outfits filled with 6lb line and they do catch fish.

However, I chose to bring our own specialist outfits after checking with Dave on recommended line strength.

Dave recommended two different outfits de* continued P25

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Bli Bli Barra Park – challenging and fun * from P24

pending on your bait (or lure) choice.

We stuck with baits for these first couple of sessions to get us all on the board with our first and/ or biggest barra for my two sons and I. For light line fishing with pellets, we brought along light 7’ graphite rods in the 2-4kg range.

We used 2000-size reels and I was eager to give my soon-to-be publicly released Alvey Orbitor SR-60 a workout on the barra.

Our lines were spooled with Platypus P8 braid in 6lb and we used a slightly longer than usual 3m 8lb fluorocarbon trace to help ensure the fish didn’t see the brightly coloured braid.

Braid is a great option to watch your line on the water and to control the fish with less stretch.

At the business end of the line, we stuck with what works at the park and that is no sinker and tiny size 10 Mustad Bronze French hook.

As it was explained to us, the hook colour is very important during the day to disguise it against the colour of the dark brown pellet.

We also brought along two heavier outfits that we set in rod holders to target bigger fish in the ‘Big Boys Pond’.

These were baited with 1/0 suicide hooks through the tail of a whole pilchard.

We used slightly heavier graphite rod outfits (47kg) and 2500-3000 size reels spooled with 15lb Platypus P8 braid and 20lb fluorocarbon leader.

Once again, I chose the slightly bigger new Alvey Orbitor SR-80 rated to 8kg.

I used fluorocarbon leader because unlike mono it sinks and has the same refractive index as water, which means it is near invisible under the water.

Mono leader on the other hand floats and can reflect sun, making it more visible to the wised-up fish.

Tips and tricks First things first.

Be sure to stop and listen very closely to the advice handed out by the likes of Dave at reception.

There are no guarantees of fish, but if you listen and follow the tips, you are in with a very good chance.

The park is divided into three main areas.

Barra Creek, which has about 1500 barra of a smaller average size (5070cm, though we caught fish up to 86cm).

Big Boys Pond, which has about 100 bigger fish from 70cm to over the metre mark in it.

And Middle Lake, which is a more exposed part of the park just past the no-fishing zone and connected to the waters of the Aqua Park.

During our day session, James gave my boys and I some great tips and this was followed up by excellent advice on a night session with Dave and his son Warrick, who both know the lake and creek like the back of their hands.

From their advice and experience, these were a few of the things we gleaned from our sessions.

Presentation of the pellet on the hook is critical.

As you will be shown by the staff at reception, you want to ensure the shank of your hook is flush along the flat part of the pellet, with the eye of the hook inserted in the pellet.

You do this by lining up the shank of the hook to the flat base and use thumb pressure to slide the hook carefully into the pellet.

If the eye of the hook and line stick out at angles to the pellet, forget it.

These fish are smart and they will rise to your pellet but swim away, choosing other pellets without the obvious line and hook.

Wind and location As mentioned earlier, having a bit of wind chop on the water during the

day can definitely be an advantage.

The reason is you want to bring the fish to the surface to feed by throwing a few pellets on the water.

When fish start taking the pellets, it excites other fish and makes for the perfect time to throw your pellet where the fish have hit the surface.

On bright sunny days with not much wind (as we experienced on our first day session), this can make it tougher to fool the fish.

In such situations, choose more exposed locations with any sort of chop on the water and also fish towards the bank where the wind is pushing bait (and the pellet).

Likewise, choosing shady spots under the mangroves or overhanging trees can be a good option with the sun overhead.

When the park first opens of a day, late in the afternoon and at night the fish can be found very close to shore in the shallower and slightly warmer water.

Choose some spots near the mangroves and toss pellets to get the fish rising no more than 1-2m from shore.

Likewise at night, it can pay to throw your set baits very close to shore, but be sure to check them from time to time due to sneaky bait-stealing muddies!

Results Well I must say, my boys and I absolutely loved our sessions, with all three of us achieving our first and/or PB barra.

We concentrated on Barra Creek during the day and Big Boys Pond at night.

I’d recommend those chasing their first barra or taking kids to concentrate in Barra Creek due to the bigger numbers of fish in there.

If you have a great day and get a few, or are making a return trip, you can try your luck on the bigger fish, albeit in fewer numbers, in Big Boys Pond.

While we might have liked to have caught a few more fish (we did get smoked on 8lb line in the creek a few times), we were ecstatic to land fish to 7.5-8kg and well into the 80cm range.

The challenge of losing a few and wanting to land more will see us back at this awesome park.

I was also pleased to put my new Alvey Orbitor spinning reels to the test on these hardfighting fish and I am pleased to report that even the smaller SR-60 model (rated to 6kg drag) handled three 7-8kg fish without missing a beat.

These are beautiful high-quality reel and in my humble opinion will match the legendary Alvey brand name perfectly.

So if you want to organise a special birthday or Christmas present for yourself or family, practice your lures or techniques for wild barra further north, enjoy a special day out with your kids or parent, or even a mates’ day out, do yourself a favour and get along to Bli Bli Barra Fishing Park.

For more tips and reports, be sure to check out my Ontour Fishing Australia Facebook and Instagram pages, and listen in to ‘Bridge to Bay Sunday’ on 99.7 Bridge FM where I talk fishing of a Sunday morning sometime between 9am and 11.30am.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 25

Noosa Fish Headz Borumba Dam competition wrap-up W HAT a great weekend Noosa Fish Headz enjoyed at Borumba Dam.

Close to 300 fish were caught including eight yellowbelly and seven saratoga we know of, as some of the anglers didn’t record smaller fish.

A field of 68 anglers competed in near-perfect conditions.

Some cracking fish were hooked across the categories as detailed in the tables.

I can’t thank all the anglers enough for making the event a success.

I’d also like to give a big hand to our sponsors as follows.

Grainger/Chris and Justin (photography and media).

Chasebaits Australia – such an awesome company and based in Noosa.

Pete, Annette and the team at Davo’s Tackle World Noosa – they have been our major sponsor since day one of Fish Headz.

Daniel and Kacie from Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine for helping us

promote our event through their awesome mag and social media platforms.

Pro bass fisher and allround great bloke Callum Munro from Untapped Fishing Expeditions.

Pete and Jim from Lake Borumba Caravan & Camping Grounds – they donated a $250 camping voucher and hosted our

fish custom app to run the event next year, so we will have concise reporting and try to better this year’s catch.

Thanks again to all the above and we look forward to the next one to be held on the last weekend of July 2020.

Grant Pawson Noosa Fish Headz

event with their fantastic facilities, making sure we were well looked after.

And of course my wife Nicola Pawson for cooking 100-plus bacon and egg rolls and sausages and making sure the crew was fuelled up for a day on the water.

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Page 26 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

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Mav-man battled tuna and trevally on a family trip. Check out the smile!

Joey proudly showed off his son’s catch. Mawson beat his dad in the queenfish stakes this day.

Tuna time in Hervey Bay

W

OW, what a cracking start to spring!

It’s tuna time in Hervey Bay. A great change from the deep fishing that makes up most of winter.

Regular schools of longtail and mack tuna popping up on the surface made life in September and early October very nice indeed.

To make it sweeter, angry surface lure crunchers were often playing the game.

Seeing pelagics leap clear of the water on your topwater presentation never gets old.

I was fortunate enough to encounter plenty, but also fortunate enough to still have rather mild weather as the northerly wind began to roll in because the tuna preferred to hang wide.

School mackerel are still not as abundant as I would like, but at the time of writing have been found more commonly where I can sneak a few here and there between the tuna.

Metal slugs sunk deep and spun fast are the ticket for these toothy critters.

I expect a few spotties soon too.

I hope the mackerel help the bigger species round up bait balls like last year, with some rather cool by-catch of marlin, cobia and GTs making the days a bit livelier.

You will more often see longtail and mack tuna patrolling bait balls harassed by mostly mackerel.

Big fish do not get bigger by expending energy.

If they can be lazy and browse while chowing thanks to the hard work of others, they most certainly will!

Remember, smaller mackerel species can be quite fragile, so exercise www.bnbfishing.com. au

Fraser Guided Fishing

by TRI TON

care if you target them purely for fun.

The rigours of sportfishing can easily damage them.

Use a single hook to aid in hook-up rate too.

Trebles mash up their soft jaws and gills, leaving them maimed and probably destined to be shark food.

If you intend on not eating them, do not lift them out of the water because it will tear and break their mouths.

Try to shake them free boatside.

Trebles make quick and gentle shake-offs very difficult.

When we hit mackerel mother lodes, I make sure we all run single hooks.

And as we approach the bag limit if we are keeping them, I stop taking fish that have clean hookups and mouths and gills intact.

I know full well we will come across plenty of damaged fish to fill the quota.

But if there are other fish to chase, I recommend leaving the mackerel.

Particularly if you are not willing to take the damaged fish home for a feed.

I do not chase mackerel as sportfish, unless it’s our final option.

Catch a few for a feed or to get the monkey off the back, then it’s off to catch something that pulls serious string.

Needless to say, my neighbours and I often find mackerel fillets on our dinner tables.

Please be respectful and responsible.

Another species of spring is marlin.

Hopefully a good year will be had on the marlin after a few very sad sea-

sons inshore from Fraser.

And if it is a good year, I hope some of us have improved the game and learnt better fish handling skills.

I am not keen on catching fish with broken bills (from previous encounters) or watching 15kgplus fish being hauled into a boat (by the bill) while thrashing wildly.

It’s not good for fish and potentially not good for the boat and angler.

Use heavier tackle, let them take the first run and then subdue them fast.

Spin rods rated from 30-40lb will handle most marlin in the Fraser Island inshore region.

If you need a picture out of water, have everything ready, including which way to face the subject, before you bring the fish into the boat.

One person can lift most of the Fraser marlin, but you must support the weight evenly.

If the fish needs two people to lift, use two, and if it’s too big, leave it in the water.

Dragging it over the gunwale by the head is not good for the fish, and neither is laying it on the hot deck.

It’s best not to let it touch any dry fabric or clothing at all.

Promoting catch and release is great, just don’t be a loser and release dead fish, be it a marlin, cobia or little school mackerel.

Trolling skirts is the go for most trips, not sight casting.

However, being prepared and sharp at any moment is key when the moment arises.

Some days we may cast at eight or more marlin, while on others you are

lucky to have a fleeting chance.

Some fish are angry and will eat multiple times.

Other times they will sniff and swim away.

And of course it’s now warmer, so be shark aware.

Move on if you are getting hammered.

Ming and a solid longtail. Many tuna are coming on surface lures like this Feed Spear 30g.

Joey with a nice cobia that still had pretty markings on it.

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Fresh bait works wonders over school holiday rush

S

CHOOL holidays are often a time of the year when I lie low and avoid the crowds, but when the Queen’s Birthday long weekend lands within the school holiday period, it’s rather hard to pass up some kind of extended getaway.

A quality tarwhine and whiting caught off the beach on a recent trip to Double Island Point.

So having been invited on a camping trip to popular Double Island Point, we packed the ute with all the essentials for a trip to some unexplored areas us.

Picking one of the busiest times of the year was never going to be ideal, but it’s not often you get an excuse to be camping and fishing over the weekend and into a Monday!

We headed south from Bundaberg towards Rainbow Beach where we soon jumped onto the beach and continued our journey along the pristine Coloured Sands coastline.

After crossing inland past Double Island Point, we struggled to find a camp with the hundreds of campers flocking to this area for the weekend and holidays, but we found a spot in the end and were quick to rig the rods.

I wasn’t sure what to expect fishing these waters and by no means am I a diehard beach fisho, but I knew enough and had the right gear to get us started.

The coastline was riddled with gutters but due to the fairly flat beach these gutters were really

Bundaberg Offshore

by JOEL JOHNSON

only accessible at low tide.

We attempted to catch some beach worms but they were few and far between, so stuck to metal lures hoping for a dart or even a tailor, but with only a small dart to show for our efforts, we resorted to a cold beer by the beach to pass the time until the tide was right next.

The following morning, we decided to explore Double Island Point lighthouse and some more local landmarks.

With unfavourable tides again during the afternoon, I set out to fish at daybreak the next morning.

First light arrived and I was on the beach at prime time, with the last couple of hours of the run-out tide and beautiful light wind.

I began fishing with a small metal lure but after sinking my feet into the sand I soon felt a shell beneath my feet and sure enough, it was a pipi.

Jackpot!

I downed my rod and went at it, collecting pipis to use as beautiful fresh bait in the fishy-looking gutter before me.

It didn’t take long using my feet and digging in just-wet sand to shin-deep water to collect my bait, finding them 10-30cm beneath the sand.

You simply dig with your feet or hands until you feel one, it’s as easy as that.

Pipis are a very sustainable source of bait because they are easily kept alive and therefore you can always release the unused bait alive, as opposed to most other types of bait that are already dead or have a very slim chance of surviving on release.

So with a handful of good-sized baits, I changed my rig and cast out.

It wasn’t long before I hooked up and I was not surprised as the gutter I was fishing ticked all the boxes.

It had a shallow bank up-current to one side, pushing any kind of food source into the deeper channel or gutter that was also fed by the surf break behind it.

I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d hooked at first but I wasn’t complaining, as a fish was a fish at that point.

I was stoked to see it was a good-sized tarwhine, a fairly common catch off the beach.

The fishing was quite dull over the slack of low tide as expected, but the incoming tide brought plenty of small dart, another couple of tarwhine, bream and a

good-sized whiting.

What a difference fresh bait makes!

As I’ve said many times before, if you match what the fish will be eating, you’re almost guaranteed a bite.

If you cast out some frozen shop-bought squid in an area that would rarely inhabit squid, don’t expect the fish to be interested.

If they’re actively on the hunt for beach worms and pipis, give them what they want, just with a hook in it…

So on the final weekend of school holidays, combined with a public holiday bringing hundreds upon hundreds of camp-

ers, many of which cast a line through that time, we still managed to catch a couple of quality fish.

Catching fish on any given day is great, but in those conditions I definitely called it a win in my books, with fresh bait to thank.

You don’t need to be an expert, but with the basic principles of ‘matching the hatch’, knowing what areas to look for and fishing with reasonable-quality tackle, there’s no reason you can’t land quality fish.

You just need to follow these two steps to get you started: Step 1 – Pack the rods; Step 2 – go fishing!

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Fresh pipis are exceptional bait off the beach.

A nice whiting hooked on a freshly caught pipi.

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Page 28 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

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Brodie showed off a nice trout. Check out the glassed-out conditions.

Brodie with a nice pearlie from the deep water.

Weather window opens at long last

A

FTER sparse oppor t un ities to fish offshore, the recent September school holidays saw several windows of opportunity open for those able to head offshore.

I was lucky enough to spend some time at Agnes Water/1770 through a couple of these windows of favourable weather and enjoyed good fishing.

As I had a young and inexperienced crew, I made the decision to stay well inside the boundary of the Bunker Group while those with more experienced crews took the chance to head further out near Sykes Reef and the likes, which is about an 80km run each way.

Tides are a significant influence when fishing offshore, especially around the full and new moons where the larger tidal range sees the tidal stream/run sometimes making fishing very challenging.

When the tide is running hard, usually through the middle two hours of the tidal run in and out, the fish seem to hold close to the bottom and structure to keep out of the strong run, and its often hard to excite them to bite.

When the tide is running hard, it is a challenge to keep your bait on the bottom.

Early in the first week of the holidays the tides were falling off the back of a waning full moon.

While the tides still presented a challenge, the use of a parachute anchor helped slow the drift of the boat, making fishing possible.

On our second trip out, a few more days had passed and the tides were building to the approaching new moon.

This saw the tidal range increasing again and the timing of the bar crossings becoming more important.

For those anglers who have not been to 1770 www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bundaberg Region

by BRAD YOUNG

recently, be aware the entrance has changed and no longer hugs the rocky headland in the initial approach from out to sea.

There is a set of lateral marks (red and green) positioned in what could be described as ‘midchannel’ just inside the bar.

This leaves boaties with the challenge of identifying the deepest water for entering/departing the mouth of Round Hill Creek.

In the time I was in the area, seas were relatively calm and it was quite easy to transit the bar both into and out of the creek.

Some vessels ran aground by attempting to cross the bar at half tide or less.

Of course, in more serious seas, the bar crossing would be more hazardous and require extreme care.

Just a quick safety reminder: It is compulsory to wear a life jacket when crossing a designated coastal bar in an open boat less than 4.8m in length; and if you are under 12 years old (from 12 months old and up to, but not including, 12 years old) in an open boat less than 4.8m in length and under way.

On our two trips offshore we targeted sweetlip, tuskfish, cod and hussar and were successful in our endeavours.

We were envious of those who headed further east as their bags of redthroat emperor were impressive.

Mind you, our journey was about 70km return and theirs 160km return.

Another weather window opened at the end of the second school holiday week over the long weekend, frustrating those, like me, who were destined to pack up and

head home rather than go offshore again and make use of the good weather.

Those who could take up this opportunity were well rewarded with pearlies, trout and lipper.

Best baits for these trips included large squid, IQF pilchards, cuttlefish and fresh fish flesh.

Fishing Round Hill Creek Between opportunities to head offshore, Round Hill Creek provided estuary fishing options for anglers.

Fresh bait in the form of yabbies and beach worms proved most effective.

Yabbies were not prevalent in the downstream sections of Round Hill Creek this year and required access to the areas upstream of the marina for success.

There was a nice bank up near the Five Ways.

Beach worms were also available to anglers adept at removing them from the sand.

While no expert, I am able to catch beach worms with my normal strike rate usually in the ratio of one missed worm: one head only: one worm.

I was able to catch enough worms for a couple of fishing sessions.

Both beach worms and yabbies are excellent baits for the large whiting available on the banks in the evening.

I have a goal set for next year to catch worms and then use them to fish low-tide gutters along the surf beak with light gear for whiting, bream and flathead.

Both mud and sand crabs were also available this year.

My son Lachlan deployed his four pots and was disappointed at finding them ‘raided’ by those

who thought they needed/ deserved the crabs more than him.

He was even more disappointed when one of his pots was taken.

I simply cannot understand why someone would even contemplate touching/taking something belonging to someone else, but have to simply believe karma will take care of things.

Bundaberg estuaries fishing well The popular estuaries in the Bundaberg area have also fished well of late.

The Burnett River has produced jacks, as has the Kolan River.

Three-tooth jewfish have been found in the Strathdees area of the Burnett as well.

The Kolan has been producing nice bream.

Shout out to East Bundaberg Engineering/ Almac Trailers Over the period of my stay in 1770 I had the misfortune of damaging a crossmember on my boat trailer, forcing me to leave the boat moored in Round Hill Creek overnight before making a quick trip into Bundaberg for repairs.

Peter and the team from East Bundaberg Engineering did a great job both in fitting me in at short notice and in the quality of the finished product at what I believe was a very reasonable price.

Thanks Peter and the team!

Next month I will provide some feedback on two products I have had the privilege to test: a set of SICUT Knives and the FG Wizz, a ‘gadget’ designed to make tying my favourite knot, the FG knot, quick and easy.

Stay posted!

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…

Results of a short offshore trip off 1770.

A short trip yielded a mixed bag despite a hard-running tidal stream.

This lucky 54cm red emperor was released after the photo.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 29

This trout fell to a 7” jerk shad.

The author got lucky with another red emperor.

Jason Driver with a redthroat caught on a Zerek Fish Trap.

Finding fillets in a freshened-up favourite

W

E had run out of fillets at home, so decided to use that as a good excuse for a boys’ fishing trip away, but in reality it was a trip with a purpose in tribute to a good friend who is no longer with us.

George Baumber with the best coral trout of the trip.

Jamie Horne landed several large grassy sweetlip of this calibre.

This time we took a very special boat I had been renovating for a month, a Cruise Craft Explorer 685 named Prime Time.

She had belonged to a very good friend Chris Barnard and had sadly spent a lot of time growing sad on a marina rack since Chris passed away two years ago.

His last offshore trip was out to the Capricorn Bunkers with George and I on Reel Affair in March 2017, describing it as his best offshore trip ever.

By coincidence, I acquired Prime Time from Chris’s wife Helen and set to work on a massive makeover and made a few small modifications with the intention of giving her a new long-term lease of life that Chris would have been proud of.

The name Prime Time has been retained too as it had special significance to Chris and his friend George Baumber of Wynnum Marine fame and be-

Offshore

by BILL CORTEN

sides, it has a nice ring to it for its intended purpose.

I needed to buy a solid trailer to put under this graceful lady and after plenty of research settled on buying a Sea Trail trailer from Lytton in Brisbane.

What really impressed was the quality of what they build and their willingness to make some minor changes to deliver a heavy-duty trailer that fitted under the 685 like a glove.

With 15” wheels and top-of-the-range stainless callipers matched to 12” stainless rotors, it tows like a dream on the highway.

It is a pleasure to launch and retrieve a heavy boat so easily and single handed too, thanks to the solid axle rollers and the fact the boat is also supported on the keel rollers.

For the record, it was the in-depth knowledge and experience of Ray and Matt Dial at Sea Trail that gave me the confidence to proceed with them, and the way they adjusted the trailer to make it a perfect

The author was very pleased with the setting up and performance of the Sea Trail trailer.

Page 30 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

fit and move the suspension to get the balance and tow ball weight just right after it was loaded with fuel and gear was the absolute icing on the cake.

After what seemed an eternity, Prime Time had some sea trails on the bay and after calling in the marine electronics experts from Trymax Marine Electronics to properly calibrate and fine-tune the auto pilot, it was time to take her offshore.

It was only fitting that Helen Barnard came along on that trip as well as George.

My old retired chemist mate and fishing tragic Alan Jarvis came along for the ride too.

It was pretty bumpy despite a good forecast, and now with a simulated load as though we were doing a three-up extended reef trip, it handled the seas easily and with some minor adjustments it was riding at the high standard enjoyed in Reel Affair.

It was a nostalgic day and before she knew it, Helen, who had been enjoying time at the helm, took us out through the northern end of the bar in what was her first crossing at the helm.

When it came to the fishing, clearly she hadn’t lost the knack she has always possessed, nailing the best pearl perch of the day too.

With the trials successfully completed, it was time to take advantage of a brief window in the weather, and with George and Chris’s good mate Russell Burnett on the crew we headed to Turkey Beach the following day to do a bit more exploring on the Capricorn Bunkers.

Typically, we stopped off in the shallows near Sykes Reef for a cracking session on redthroat, parrotfish and hussar.

Out deeper, we drifted one of our favourite narrow ridges and I got lucky with a nice red emperor and the guys got into large redthroat and stonker parrot before the bite slowed right down.

We headed up the road a few kays, stopping at interesting features and ended up at a huge bait ball on a deep pinnacle that was home to maori

cod on steroids and a good variety of reef fish.

The night was spent out in the open on the pick in 60m over rubble ground.

After weathering several hours of 15-knot northerlies, we woke to a fairly calm sea and a reasonable fish bite period.

One maori cod spat a large prawn out of its mouth when it came aboard and this had us wondering about the extent of life on the bottom in this location.

We opted to venture further inshore that morning and explore new areas and weren’t disappointed.

The wind had turned

northwesterly by now and we were pleasantly surprised at the solid and sustained fish bite in what the locals call the least favourable fishing wind.

To further defy logic, the quality of the fish was excellent and George in typical style iced the cake by landing a 66.5cm pearl perch in only 51m of water and backed it up a little later with a 15kg amberjack in the same depth when we ran over a big bait school on a small piece of hard bottom.

Eventually the fishing slowed as expected and it was time to head back * continued P31

George struck again with a 66.5cm pearl perch from the inshore grounds.

Helen Barnard with an excellent Moreton Island pearl perch.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Finding fillets in a freshened-up favourite * from P30

to the ramp before the tide got too low and spend some time filleting a great feed of fish.

For the record, we took a couple of spare jerry cans of fuel, and with the long-range 370-litre tank in Prime Time we still got home with well over 200 litres of fuel on board, giving us an unprecedented range for more exploring.

We spoke fondly of Chris and his friendship a lot on that first trip and reckon he would have been very proud of how everything performed and with the results.

As luck would have it, George and I headed back to Turkey Beach shortly after to do an overnight trip on the inshore grounds with Jason and David Driver in their 33’ cat.

The brothers are nuts on fishing in the same vein as their dad was and disappointingly for them, had the cat out of the water for close to two years while it underwent a big renovation.

We had been kept up to speed with progress over that time and while we appreciate how these things tend to soak up more time and money than originally expected, we were as keen for a fish with the boys as they were to show us how well she now performs.

With their mate Jamie Horne along too, it was easy fishing five people, even though they are all big boys.

We enjoyed the smooth magic carpet ride Jason provided by sitting the cat high on the water at its sweet spot speed, allowing the water to travel cleanly and much more efficiently than it used to under the bridge deck.

The weather was calm and the slow drift on the neap tides made for a different approach.

The boys have a great knowledge of the area and they all fished really well.

As they correctly suggested, the deeper edges had the better-quality fish on the day and it was a matter of occasionally moving around and using the 588 Furuno to its true

potential to settle on the next spot to drop.

One of the things we agreed on was to get out of the comfort zone of doing the same old, same old, so we ended up trying areas they may only fish at night during the day instead and working around more to find the fish instead of sitting on the anchor and letting them eventually come to us.

It was surprising how well the inshore areas fished, with the hussar a better quality than we get out deeper, the trout fairly well spread about rather than being concentrated in pockets as well as the abundance of cracking grass sweetlip.

All this was in addition to the quality redthroat and parrot in the area.

At one stage the day was so calm and water so clear we could see fish on the bottom in 20m of water and we were catching fish right through the middle of the day when that location would normally be avoided.

When things were quiet, David and Jason worked their plastics and jigs very hard.

There were some spectacular hits, bust-offs and frustrating moments, but they persevered and managed the best-quality fish at the quiet times and cracked some PBs of their own along the way.

Jamie landed some of the best grassies on baits and George landed the best trout of the trip on a single Mustad circle hook.

It was fun watching the

struggles as rods were bent up because it all added up to a great day of fishing for fun and enjoying good company without taking anything too seriously.

Later in the arvo the boys said we were moving on to one of their favourite ‘later in the day spots’.

We anchored on this one and waited, but it was the David and Jason show, using their large secret baits as the grassies and redthroat moved about in waves as they predicted.

It all came to an end too quickly and we headed home content with 15 knots of northeaster up our tail while the magic carpet ride continued.

I must say, those big cats do revel in a sloppy following sea.

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This prawn was promptly put on a hook after it popped out of the mouth of a maori cod.

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www.escape2fish.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 31

Bunker Group reefs bring big rewards

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Offshore

by GREG LAMPRECHT

fish the northern Bunker Group region, we decided to leave from Boyne Island/Tannum Sands.

This location is a six to seven-hour drive north of Brisbane, a great alternative to 1770 and the same distance as Turkey Beach.

It’s less distance by water if you’re fishing the

Brady Seng not only caught his first red emperor but upgraded to this fish while fishing a small isolated rock wide of Sykes Reef.

northern end of the Bunker Groups reefs and the ramp has a huge carpark, pontoon, 24-hour service station close by and a decent-sized town that has everything you could want.

The channel out of the river can be pretty shallow in spots but it’s well marked with beacons, making navigation pretty easy.

We headed out in fantastic conditions and aimed for the area past Innamincka Shoals, which is about a 65 nautical mile (120km) run.

As we headed up the inside of the outer reefs, I ran over a really good show of fish at 25 knots on the Furuno FCV295.

I was pretty excited with what I was seeing on the sounder and quickly positioned the boat for our first drift.

All the crew dropped baits while I sent down a Zerek Flat Shad plastic on a custom-made 2oz jig head.

As soon as my plastic touched bottom it was inhaled and I quickly sunk the hook into a really solid fish.

The Wilson Venom 1550lb spin rod was loaded up beautifully and seeing

WADDY POINT - FRASER ISLAND

Though a lot of trout can be caught around the shallow reef systems, some of the better trout are taken in deeper water while chasing red emperor and other species.

line peel from the reel on your first drop is a great way to start the trip.

That feeling got even better when a beautiful red emperor hit the surface.

Though I’ve caught lots of reds over the years, catching them with alternative methods like plastics is highly rewarding.

This trip I had my dad Terry, mate Brett Seng and his son Brady come along and Brady was super keen to catch a red because he had never caught a legal one before.

After several hussar and maori cod Brady finally nailed his first legal red, which was not only satisfying for him but also me.

It’s awesome when you see a red virgin pop their cherry with a smile from ear to ear.

Brett soon followed with a red and cracking coral trout while Brady and I got into nice trout using plastics and Zerek Fish Trap vibes.

With the fishing slowing, we continued our way up past Innamincka Shoals where I would begin searching for new ground.

After about three hours of searching I wasn’t finding small isolated rocks like I had hoped to, so I started making my way south, checking on older spots I had found in the past.

One large 10m-high rock had a lot of fish life on it and it wasn’t long before rods were buckled over on a range of quality fish.

Dad and Brett were using pilchards, mullet and hussar fillets, while Brady and I continued to use plastics and Zerek Fish Trap vibes, which were getting smashed every drop by coral trout, coral cod, coronation trout, tomato cod, hussar and maori cod.

Brady had one fish take him back into the reef and bust him off, but three drifts later I nailed a nice trout and to my surprise it had the plastic and metre of leader Brady had lost 20 minutes earlier hanging out of its gob.

That was cool to see.

Brett managed a nice

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goldband jobfish, which was a first for him, and not long after he was doing battle with another quality fish that was going hard with big jerking head shakes and pulling plenty of line.

As it came up from the clear blue depths, we called it for all sorts of species but it surprised us all when a beautiful long-nosed emperor hit the surface.

This was another first for Brett.

The long-nosed have a big powerful tail and a long pointy head and are more commonly caught in north Queensland waters, though we have caught the odd nice one off Fraser Island and the Breaksea Spit region over the years.

After more quality Trout were caught, the bite slowed and with the northerly breeze kicking in we decided to make the run to Broomfield Reef to get out of the wind for a good night’s sleep.

We managed redthroat emperor and squid in the shallows that night but got busted off by plenty of unstoppable fish that kept us on our toes.

The next morning we were blessed with glassed-out conditions and went wide to an area where I’ve caught reds in the past.

The type of red ground I look for at the Bunker Group region is the same as what I look for anywhere I chase reds – small isolated rocks/reefs.

I find the reds tend to move around a lot more on the Bunker Group, so a rock that could hold reds one day may not the next.

I sounded various spots and noticed none were holding many quality fish, but I was seeing the odd individual fish spread out all around the rocks, so knew we would have to be patient and drift baits around the vicinity of the rocks to get results.

We began drifting over rocks and Brett managed a coronation trout and school-sized red straight up.

Dad followed with a cracking coral trout and big pearl perch to start the morning while I continued to use a Zerek Fish Trap vibe and nailed maori cod after maori cod, along with another nice coral cod, but overall the fishing was slow.

We persisted on a couple of spots that looked promising but the hussar were smashing baits quickly, so this is where you really need to use large flesh baits or big squid to allow the reds time to find the bait.

Brett got baited one drop, so dropped down one of my rods that had a large squid head on it.

Once again the hussar were smashing the bait and just when you’d think there couldn’t be any bait left, Brett sunk the hooks into a cracking fish and the Venom rod loaded right up.

The fish gave him plenty of grief and after lots of * continued P33

www.bnbfishing.com. au

COMPETITION DATES Terry Lamprecht and a big pearl perch caught while chasing red emperor in 60m of water with a mullet fillet for bait.

The author nailed this nice red emperor on the first drop using a 7” Zerek Flat Shad plastic in Fat Betty colour.

Bunker Group reefs bring big rewards * from P32

powerful runs a beautiful black-lipped red hit the surface and was safely netted.

Next drift we put another big squid on my rod and gave it to Brady to drop down.

I explained to Brady the importance of not striking at the smaller fish biting at the bait and waiting until you feel several heavy tugs before striking and sinking the hooks.

It wasn’t long before he did exactly that and the Venom rod was once again buckled over and the concentration took over as he battled a nice fish.

Looking over the side, I could see a nice red coming to the surface and it was a good upgrade to his first-ever one he caught the day before.

Brady did a good job of allowing the red to eat the bait for a while before sinking the hooks because all three ganged hooks were in its stomach.

After plenty of smiles and pics, I decided to chase pearl perch on the 100m line because we were happy with the catch of reds, trout and other species we had on board.

After a bit of sounding around I located some fish and had a few drifts, which resulted in beautiful 3-4kg pearl perch coming over the side, with Brady getting a new PB. Happy with the results, I went looking for new ground for a couple of hours both in the deep and shallow waters when I came across one very small rock that had a few fish on it.

This resulted in a couple more reds, trevally and tomato cod before we decided to start making our way in, fishing various spots along the way.

Unfortunately, the trip home in the car wasn’t so good when we broke a trailer spring on the highway not long after leaving Tannum Sands.

I put a post on Facebook asking if anyone in the area could help with a new spring and the response completely blew me away.

I received over 100 messages and calls offering help in all different ways.

A mate Shane Wolff called to tell me of a place in Gladstone that was open on that day (public holiday) and would have the spring I needed.

I also had Gordon Tri-

plett from Garmin get me in contact with Darren from Curtis Coast Marine who was going to open the shop for us to fix the problem if needed.

It’s great to see the fishing community come together and help a fellow fisho in need and I can’t thank everyone enough for the support that was offered.

After it took four hours to fix the broken spring we were back on the road but an hour later blew a tyre just to add to the drama for the day.

They say bad things come in threes and five minutes from home I hit a wallaby, which did a bit of damage but at least we got home safely after nearly a 13-hour journey.

Until next time, tight lines.

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Brett Seng was rewarded with this red after using a large squid head and waiting for the red to find the bait after hussar smashed it to pieces prior.

The author pulled this trout up on a Zerek Fish Trap vibe and found a plastic and jig head in its mouth that Brady had lost 20 minutes beforehand.

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Brett Seng with a beautiful long-nosed emperor caught on a 10m-high rock in the northern Bunker Group region.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

The author caught this coral trout on a 160mm Zerek Fish Trap vibe in Flying Bear colour. This one lure lasted the entire trip and caught more than 30 quality fish, with the majority hooked while the lure was falling to the bottom.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 33

Mixed action in Moreton Bay

F

OR a change I ended up being in Brisbane for a couple of weeks and twice had a free day in the middle of the week.

The weather gods were smiling the first time out, so I decided to head further south in the bay than I normally do for a bit of exploring.

I checked out a few places, mainly sounding around and marking spots to come back to at a later date.

After a few hours it was time to actually wet a line, so I headed up to the Moreton Island Sandhills to see what was around.

I’m pretty well versed with this place now, so decided to check some spots I haven’t fished for years to see if any fish were still there.

Well the answer was yes, and I managed a decent bucket of winter whiting

This wobbegong was taken in the crab pot and released unharmed.

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before calling it a day.

On the next free day the weather was pretty ordinary, so I decided to stay close to Brisbane and work crab pots for sandies with mate Niel Trubshaw.

While I’ve done plenty of fishing in the bay, I’ve rarely dropped a pot, so this was a big experiment.

We ran eight pots and didn’t really have a clue where to drop them but took a punt anyway.

The first pot we lifted had good weight but felt over the top for sandies.

It was easy to see why when it came to the surface as it contained a 90cm wobbegong shark that was quickly released unharmed.

We ended up with about five keepers and another smaller wobby that was again released before we called it quits.

The most recent trip was a solo one because it was a really late decision to go.

I dropped in four pots on the way out just north of the shipping channel and left them there undisturbed for a few hours to soak.

I headed off to the Sandhills with a plan in mind to fish deeper water for whiting, trying to locate bigger fish.

Normally I fish up to 5m deep but this time I looked around the 7m mark.

The trip over was a little bouncy but got better the further I went.

The fish were there on the first drop but I had to keep moving around to stay on them.

Size was good, with a few in the XXL range when it comes to winter whiting.

Trying to mix up the bag, I had a bait out on a gang under a float hoping for a mackerel.

While they weren’t around, it did attract some big squid but I could not

entice one to my net and had one drop off a squid jig.

With a decent catch in the Esky, I thought I might head south towards the old oyster leases and look for a flathead on plastics.

The water was crystal clear and I just couldn’t draw any interest when I spotted a couple of squid cruising on the surface a bit of a distance away.

I quickly tied on a jig and motored over on the electric, then fired a few casts their way.

They had a look but didn’t seem too interested in the pink and pearl jig, so I changed up or rather down, tying on a smaller size 2 jig in green.

This did the trick as first cast one turned and smashed it.

The water near the boat soon looked like an oil slick as it spat its ink before heading onto the ice.

The other hung around the back of the boat but understandably didn’t have any interest in the jig again.

That was it for me, so I set off to pick up the pots.

Yep, another wobbegong that was released as well as four solid sandies that would end up in sandwiches.

I’m keen to head out again as I’ve now ordered some old-school squid skewer-type jigs to give a go through a pillie.

I will keep you informed.

Next meetings The next club meeting will be held on Monday, November 4 and then again on Monday, December 2.

Meetings are held at The Club Manly (bowls club) located at 26 Faine St, Manly.

All interested parties are more than welcome to attend.

Until next month, safe boating.

A nice productive trip to the Sandhills and north of the shipping channel.

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Page 34 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

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Bowen Family Fishing Classic wraps up for 2019

W

ELL the great weekend of family, friends, fishing, food and fun for 2019 has now wrapped up for another year.

The organisers of the Bowen Family Fishing Classic have now caught up on many weeks of lost sleep and are evaluating the new additions to the program.

This year saw the addition of a free fishing and boating seminar, play to learn activities for the littlies and a sensory circus workshop for the kids.

And instead of an eating competition, cake deco-

rating activity was added for the kids and proved very popular as they got to eat their creations.

Though anglers didn’t have the option of donating their catch this year, the upside is we know they got to enjoy the best Bowen has to offer in fresh fish.

The heavy fish were a little scarce because the wind kept anglers with smaller boats or families closer to shore.

However, the $77,000 worth of prizes had to go home with someone and many happy faces were photographed with the

host of prizes donated by local and regional businesses.

The biggest fish for the comp was a spanish mackerel weighing 20.2kg.

The women once again shone with their fishing and weighed in great catches.

Getting out on the water is known to help with stress levels and just makes some people feel better and shows anything is possible.

Hence recreational fishing is a great Australian pastime for all ages.

The Bowen Family Fishing Classic was one the very first events to include juniors and has had a full junior comp since its inception in 1991.

The entertainment this year was second to none and a show you’d be sorry you missed.

The lead singer of the Australian INXS tribute show was definitely channelling Michael Hutchinson when the band performed late on Saturday night.

Revellers danced, sung along and enjoyed the music that took the world by storm by turning rock, pop and funk into a cutting-edge, danceable style.

The afternoon’s music program had Graham Howle who was vocally mesmerising and authentic and the local talented Dee Jays Dance School brightened the crowd both visually and musically.

As day turned to night, the three-piece band Hybrid from the Whitsundays

let everyone sit back and enjoy the sunset with moving and energetic tunes.

A14, the seasoned cover band played their captivating performance with many a patron enjoying the pub/modern rock into the night.

A laid-back Sunday on the shores of Port Denison started out with a fun run and brekkie beachside before the weigh-in kicked off at 10.30am.

The ever-popular and fun but controversial dash for cash for both male and female patrons on the foreshore went off at 2.30pm, as did a lure casting comp with The Barefoot Fisherman Dave Hodge as host.

Local band Headrush entertained the crowd as anticipation built before presentations.

The senior lucky entrant winner of the $37,140 boating package was Tailah Jensen of Bowen who bought two tickets

herself this year instead of her dad buying them.

The junior lucky entrant winner of the $6940 boating package was Jemima Deveroux of Townsville whose family had just returned home after participating in the weigh-in.

Both winners will no doubt will be taking to the water very soon.

The Classic crew sincerely thanks all sponsors, from the 22 major sponsors to the smaller businesses who are struggling in Bowen but still support this event.

A very small but dedicated band of volunteers brings the event to the shores of Bowen every year and the efforts of these dedicated and stressed few cannot go unrewarded.

So please, get in touch with anyone you know who gives up their time and their families and say thanks for a great weekend!

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 35

BOATING & marine

Don’t get into a knot over rope types L

EADING marine products retailer Boating and RV, which has stores at Capalaba, Slacks Creek, Tingalpa and Townsville, has joined with Bush ‘n Beach to bring you a regular column with some serious information and news about general boating products.

Way before Tarzan started swinging his way through the African jungle canopy on natu-

ral vines, seafarers had crafted magnificent ropes from all sorts of materials including hemp, manila and cotton, specifically for use in boats.

Coupled with a clutch of great knots like the bowline, the figure eight, the rolling hitch, the sheet bend and others, they quickly learnt some ropes were better at some tasks than others.

Today there are the natural fibre ropes like sisal

and manila as well as the synthetics like nylon and Kevlar – the choice and combinations are virtually limitless.

But what do you need on your boat?

Well that depends on what you are trying to achieve – anchoring, lashing, securing, rescuing, winching or a dozen other functions.

Here’s a quick overview and some very rough price indications noting that in

general terms, rope gets much cheaper the more you buy – perhaps even less than half its price per metre, if purchased in a bulk coil.

As another rule of thumb, the greater the diameter of the rope, the higher the price for that particular material.

There are of course further variations according to the quality of the rope.

Those variations can sometimes throw a price

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choring, nylon makes a good emergency tow line if you need to assist another vessel. It doesn’t float and can be strand or braided. Cost for shorter lengths is about $2.30 a metre for 10mm diameter.

• Silver rope is made from polyethylene and is much cheaper than nylon.

It is normally sold in a three-strand lay and has good abrasion resistance.

That, along with being a relatively cheap rope, also makes it a good choice for anchoring. Silver rope floats and also has pretty good resistance to ultraviolet rays. The price is about $1 a metre for 10mm diameter.

• Polypropylene and polyethylene ropes are often brightly coloured with many uses. Polypropylene varies greatly from the very cheap, smaller diameter three strand often bought in hardware stores and supermarkets to be used as crab pot and camping lines, to thicker versions. Polypropylene (which is also used in car bumpers due to its capacity to spring back into shape after a low-speed nudge) has roughly twice the strength of silver rope for a given diameter. It also floats. On the downside, it has poor UV resistance. This material is very economical at around 50 cents a metre for 10mm diameter. Polyethylene eight plait is common for ski lines around 8mm diameter and selling for roughly $1.50 per metre. It is light in weight, resistant to rot, floats and is a good all-rounder.

• Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene rope (UHMWPE) can be brightly coloured and flecked.

It is an extremely tough plastic with great resistance to abrasion and friction. It doesn’t stretch much either, which, in combination with its other characteristics, makes it ideal for use on yachts (where it is called a halyard, a sheet, an outhaul, a downhaul – virtually any word other than ‘rope’).

The colour and fleck options make it perfect for recognising as the rope for a particular job when there are other ropes nearby.

“Grab the blue-fleck, not

the red fleck” might be a captain’s call to a boating novice. UHMWPE is a quality rope and therefore is not cheap, often retailing at about $4 per metre for 6mm diameter.

• Venetian blind cord is a plaited polyester rope with myriad uses. It is particularly good for teaming with a small stainless snap hook to use as a lazy line connecting a reel to a grab rail when trolling for pelagic fish. Being stiff, the cord doesn’t flap a lot and stays out of the way when someone makes a hasty grab for the rod. Venetian cord has high strength and good UV resistance. It is also available in a variety of colours and tends to be in the smaller diameters – typically around 3mm.

• Sisal and manila ropes are twisted and give a good grip on themselves with natural fibres. That makes them handy for general uses, camping, tug-of-war games on the beach and so on. The artycrafty types in the household might like to make them into coil mats to make a contrasting background when photographing fish – that’s a style of photo which features strongly in Ern Grant’s Guide to Fishes book.

Both are good-looking ropes for those wanting a natural look in marine decorations. Prices vary a lot but think in terms of $1.20 per metre for 10mm diameter.

Obviously, there are many other types of rope available as well, but they are probably not quite as relevant to Bush ‘n Beach readers.

For example, the double braid polyester and prestretched polyester ropes have high UV resistance and are a popular choice for yachting applications.

They lay well when being tidied up on a yacht and don’t stretch much which again, makes them a great choice for yachts.

And there’s also the Kevlar rope, which is a very high strength braided rope that is a great choice for racing yachts where huge strain is imparted on them. No surprise that Kevlar rope is seriously expensive.

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guide wide open and similarly, so does the overall quality and consistency of the rope over a given length.

• Nylon rope is pretty handy for anchoring small boats because it combines strength with the capacity to stretch, which makes it less likely to snap.

For those same reasons, as well as the fact there normally would be a fair length of it on board if it were being used for an-

S

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Page 36 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

www.bnbfishing.com. au

BOATING & marine Insights into boat insurance

B

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

The scenario Personalisation – where everyone not only wants to be an individual, they want to be seen as that.

And be it the tailormaking of cars, coffees or cruisers, it’s on the rise.

In some areas, boating has become a moving kaleidoscope of colour, design expertise and statement of intent.

Perhaps none more so than in the case of boaties who go chasing piscatorial predators.

Just adding a contrasting stripe to the boat doesn’t seem to cut it anymore for some boat owners.

For them, it’s got to be a full dramatic boat wrap, or CAD-CAM-CNC cus-

tom marine flooring and side decks, or better still, both.

Fang-bearing snapper and mangrove jack, ready to slice through bait schools, marlin and yellowfin tuna out of some bygone Jurassic era, the artwork on many boat wraps is stunning.

The clear message is many fishos are totally serious about fishing and want others to know it.

With a prolific boat wrapper like Bonza

Graphics advising a wrap might range from $1250 for a 12’ tinnie to $2000 for a 5m fibreglass boat and perhaps $3000 for a 7m vessel, it’s well worth checking whether or not your specialist marine insurer will cover the cost of the custom work.

If your boat is not new and the wrap is being added some time later, make sure you check with your marine insurer to see where you stand in terms of insurance cover for the wrap and/or trick flooring before you have them installed.

Specialist marine insurers like Nautilus understand what boat wraps are – they can advise you of your options in terms of protecting them within the constraints of your policy.

Your insurer might be happy to add them to your cover but understandably, might also require accurate photographs of the work and a copy of the paperwork confirming what was un-

dertaken and how much you paid for it.

The wraps are very durable according to Bonza’s Pete Macgregor – that’s his vessel pictured here – but they do have a finite lifespan.

And that raises one of the key points explained regularly by specialist boat insurers like Nautilus Marine – materials deterioration is a slow but normal process.

Therefore, wear and tear and gradual deterioration is not covered by insurance.

However, if your vessel is damaged in an accident – and we’re not talking about a rub mark to the boat caused by wave action against the pontoon where you left it so you could retrieve your car and boat trailer – you’re covered.

If your boat is stolen one week after you bought it new, complete with your graphics and Machine It SeaDek custom flooring, it will also be covered.

That’s provided of course you nominated those accessorised features when you filled out your marine insurance application form and you had supporting evidence to confirm their installation.

In all cases, marine insurance is about defining the goods and events to be covered; an application to cover them being made to a marine insurer like Nautilus; that company then accepting the request for cover; and then policy requirements being completed in full including payment of the premium.

Simply applying to an insurer for marine cover does not automatically grant you cover.

The application has to be accepted and you have to be issued with the insurer’s product disclosure statement which overrides anything said, understood to have been said or which was not said in terms of the policy.

As with all things,

check your policy to ensure all components are covered by your insurance – not just the boat, motor and trailer.

As always, any special conditions and excesses should always be explained clearly in your insurance policy’s PDS. Check your PDS 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 answering your boat insurance questions of a general nature and will be offering a great bimonthly prize to the best questions received.

The prize is a Nautilus Marine merchandising pack comprising a collapsible chiller bag, handy marine sports bag and 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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BOATING & marine

Three deals on Mercury FourStrokes

M

ERCURY is pairing unbeatable engines with unbeatable offers.

The sun is starting to break through, so to help get everyone back on the water for a stunning summer, Mercury is – for the first time – offering a trio of great deals across its amazing FourStroke range from 3.5-150hp.

Deal one: Save up to $900 on 3.5-60hp FourStroke engines.

Deal two: Free SmartCraft rigging on 75-150hp FourStroke engines.

Deal three: No deposit 4.99 percent Mercury Finance on 40-150hp FourStroke repowers.

Even better, the mighty 150hp ProXS is included in Mercury’s summer deals for the first time, as are all SeaPro and ProXS models in the relevant horsepower categories.

When repowering with 40-150hp FourStrokes during the program, customers can pair the fantastic saving with a first-class no deposit 4.99 percent Mercury Finance rate.

All three deals only run until November 18, 2019,

so move fast if you want to secure your saving.

For owners looking in the 75-150hp range, SmartCraft rigging can make all the difference to your boating experience.

SmartCraft gauges bring all your vessel’s information together onto one simple-to-navigate device – including speed, rpm, trim, depth, alarms, water pressure, fuel flow and so on – as well as allowing control of specialist systems such as Mercury’s Active Trim.

Through this program: • 75-115hp customers receive a free SC1000

SmartCraft tachometer rigging kit; and • 135-150hp customers will get a free VesselView403 SmartCraft rigging kit.

Both kits include remote cables and all other relevant components.

SmartCraft gauges give you all the vital information that you need to improve performance, stay safe and protect your amazing new engine.

Backed by decades of marine power innovation and product leadership, Mercury FourStroke outboards deliver legendary per-

formance and forwardthinking technology.

Mercury engineers, the best in the business, have designed the FourStroke range to deliver no-compromise performance, fuel efficiency, reliability, innovative features and smoothness to ensure maximum fun and maximum confidence.

They simply make boating better.

To benefit from any of these three great deals, contact your nearest participating Mercury dealer today.

Visit mercurymarine. com for details.

GO FOR SOME QUALITY TIME. Time spent out on the water with your family is far too precious to risk with anything other than the absolute best in marine engineering.

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Page 38 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

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K AYAKING & canoeing Paddling on Somerset region dams

I

F Brisbane is known as the River City, then Somerset Region must have to be Queensland’s Lakes District, though a little different to the one in Cumbria, northwest England.

Wivenhoe and Somerset dams are Queensland’s third and fourth-largest dams respectively, and the lakes they form are fantastic boating, fishing and of course paddling destinations.

At only one to 1.5 hours’ drive from the CBD, they are right on Brisbane’s doorstep to visit for a weekend on the water.

The following is a quick guide to what the area has to offer.

Lake Somerset is the northernmost dam and the smaller of the two.

It is fed by the Stanley River and feeds into the top of Lake Wivenhoe.

Construction started in 1935 but was not completed until 1948 due to World War II. Somerset’s primary function is to supply water to Brisbane and the Gold Coast and it’s also used for flood mitigation and hydro-power generation.

In addition to its functional requirements, Somerset is an excellent recreational lake and has been providing the residents of Queensland with great outdoor adventures for over 70 years.

Though it is a regular power boat dam, Somerset still provides excellent paddling opportunities once you move away

Canoeing

by DAN OWBRIDGE

For the more adventurous, there are options for extended journeys on the lake. Some of our favourites are paddling from Hamon Cove up to Sandy Creek Gorge and return (27km) or paddling from O’Sheas crossing to Logans (40km). from the nominated skiing areas.

It does have over 4300ha of surface area after all!

Public launch areas are available at Kirkleigh on the northwestern side or the Spit on the southwestern corner near the wall.

The Spit is my preference out of the two as it gives better access to the more mountainous and scenic banks of the southern part of the lake.

Camping is available at Somerset either from the caravan park at Kirkleigh or the private campsite at Camp Somerset on the southeast corner.

For me, however, without a doubt the best way to access Somerset is via the boat ramp at Westvale Rd on the Stanley River as it enters the top of the lake.

The birdlife is incredible and the scenery among the standing timber on the banks and in

the water is spectacular.

The speed limit in this area is six knots, so conditions definitely favour paddle craft.

Between Somerset and Wivenhoe are the Stanley River and the confluence of the Brisbane River.

This area is fun to explore and offers river paddling with the advantage of year-round steady water levels.

Access to the Stanley River below the dam can be had at the Somerset Park Camp Ground, though you must be a paying guest at the campsite to access it.

Alternatively, access to the upper Brisbane River can be had at O’Sheas crossing.

O’Sheas is a great place to launch from and explore the top reaches of Wivenhoe and the Stanley and Brisbane rivers.

The access is good to the water and is limited

A typical day on Lake Wivenhoe.

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to paddle craft only.

If you’re keen, it’s possible to paddle from here all the way along Lake Wivenhoe.

Lake Wivenhoe is the larger of the two lakes and the southernmost.

It is fed by the Brisbane River and the run-off from Somerset Dam. Built in 1985, it was designed as a flood mitigation dam but also serves to provide water supply and hydro-power through Splityard Creek Dam. Best part about Wivenhoe?

It’s speed limited to six knots!

Wivenhoe has four main access points for paddlers (five if you include O’Sheas) that cover primarily the southern part of the lake.

Access on the western side is via Logans Day Use Area and Hamon Cove.

Access on the eastern side is from the Billys Bay/Hays Inlet or Branch Creek launch sites.

Both are located in the Billys Bay general area.

Each of the access points offers a different experience on the lake.

The eastern launch sites offer the more scenic paddles accessing the cliffs and wooded terrain above Billys Bay, while the Logans launch provides access to either Captain Logan Creek heading west or McGraths Bay heading east.

For the more adventurous, there are options for extended journeys on the lake.

Some of our favourites are paddling from Hamon Cove up to Sandy Creek Gorge and return (27km) or paddling from O’Sheas crossing to Logans (40km).

I guess it depends how keen you are!

Camping at Wivenhoe is limited to Captain Logan Campground beside the Logan Day Use Area.

It is, however, a great campsite and gives access to some of the better parts of the Lake.

You have the ability to launch paddle craft directly onto the lake from the campgrounds.

For more information about recreational activities on Somerset region lakes, we recommend accessing the recreation guides from Seqwater at seqwater.com.au/ locations-and-guides or contacting the Somerset Regional Council visitor information centres at Fernvale, Kilcoy and Esk. For more information about paddling in the region, feel free to contact me at onetreecanoe.com Happy paddling!

Sandy Creek Gorge on Lake Somerset (a platypus was spotted).

Paddling on the upper reaches of Somerset from Westvale Rd.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 41

On a recent trip with my sons Kade landed this 88cm beauty 10 minutes after catching his new 75cm PB fish.

A trip to remember.

Andrew

Young Calvin fished with his Dad in the bay at Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory to catch this trevally.

Chris Arnold

Nathan and Cassie Vitanza were visiting family in Proserpine.

They had a bit of time to burn so decided to throw lures in Goorganga Creek to try their luck. Nathan’s an old hand and had caught barra there before but in the past few years hadn’t had much luck.

While he again drew a blank he was well and truly shown up by wife Cassie who caught and released this nice 55cm barra. This was Cassie’s first-ever barra and she was understandably stoked with her catch. Well done.

Mick Clutterbuck

On a recent family outing in the Pumicestone Passage my three-year-old daughter got her very first fish.

It was a healthy little bream and just as the bream was, my little one is now hooked, asking every day when we are going fishing next.

A very proud Dad right here.

Geoff Dolby

My PB Gold Coast tailor was caught land based, sight fished and on a fresh strip of pike.

I observed dark shadows under the lights attacking small baitfish, so attached an unweighted yellowfin pike strip to a single hook and used a slow wind technique.

The fish was landed in the net as the line broke and I estimated its length in the mid-70cm range.

It was a freakish catch and one I’ll never forget.

Andy Sparnon

I caught this nice barra recently in the Hinchinbrook Channel.

Matthew Stagg

I landed this chunky mangrove jack in the canals.

Chris Anderson

Jacob Freiberg with a topwater Moreton spanish mackerel.

I sight cast to this saratoga using a DStyle Reserve topwater lure.

Paul Lake

Hey guys, I thought I’d share this amberjack I got recently out of Mooloolaba.

It was caught on a Storm Gomoku PE2-4 rod with 20lb line and a Shimano Sustain 4000 reel.

Kirk Fox

Chris Green captured a nice Bribie Island flathead.

This solid kingfish was a pretty special land-based catch for Logan Harvey.

This 135cm Copeton Dam cod was captured on a Jackall Gigantarel.

Josh Usher

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 Page 42 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

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Team Humminbird/Minn Kota took out champion team of two for the 2019 WTF competition. The author, Cassee Evans, Amanda Boon and Tony Williams.

Cassee’s first-ever barra caught three hours after kick-off during the WTF event.

Hot weather and action on the Capricorn Coast

I

T’S a great time to be alive here on the Capricorn Coast, with nice warm days and beautiful water temperatures.

Hopefully we can get some decent weather to do a few family trips to Great Keppel Island.

Snorkelling, squidding and light fishing is generally the order of the day.

You can’t do a Keppel trip without pulling into the Hideaway for some refreshments and lunch.

The view from the seating area is top notch.

So what’s been happening on the fishing scene?

Well as we know, saltwater barramundi are officially off the hit list as of November 1.

Do you put the barra gear and tinnie away in the shed to collect dust for three months?

The answer to that question is a big heck no!

The number-one species I chase in the closed season is king threadfin salmon.

If the Fitzroy River doesn’t get a fresh flush, then this will be the place to put some time in.

Not long ago I was doing some searching in the river and came across two huge schools of 1.2m-plus threadies.

One of the schools would have had 200-300 fish in it and I have never seen them in these locations before, so it pays to allocate time to searching.

Once again, this closed season I’m going to pour some time into targeting the Cap Coast mangrove jack population.

Last year things definitely didn’t go to plan.

I had missed opportu-

Capricorn Coast

by JOHN BOON

nities, epic bust-offs and a list of by-catch a mile long.

I ended up getting one in the end but further training is required.

Mud crabs will be starting to move again with the warmer weather, so make sure you’ve got a few crab pots on board when hitting the local estuaries.

Fisheries Queensland officers have been out in force, so make sure you brush up on the new fishing regulations.

I always have a supply of fish frames in the freezer for when I want to go crabbing.

If you don’t have that luxury, then you can get some frames from the local seafood co-ops.

If you’re chasing crab bait outside of business hours, whole mullet from the servo will do the trick.

I like to add a bit of mullet to the fish frames I’m using because mullet is really oily and I believe it makes a difference.

At this time of year, I would be pushing pots up the back of gutters and moving them in with the tide.

I would drop a few others in the main channel just to see if any crabs are hanging in deeper water.

Check and move your pots every hour or two.

Keep an eye on the tide sizes.

A number of people jump on social media complaining about pot theft but in fact they can often just be washed away

with the tide, especially if a log gets caught in the rope.

Around the full and new moons, it can pay to place them out of the run.

If you have big, heavy pots, you can anchor them out in the tidal flow.

I see a lot of pro pots in these areas in the Fitzroy.

It’s always a good idea to look where the pros are placing their pots because this can give you an indication on crab movements.

Those guys are in the know.

On the offshore scene, the buzz going around is the juvenile black marlin in the area.

John Hankae from Guided Sportfishing DownUnder has been running charters targeting these ocean speedsters.

John has been targeting them in areas only a couple of kilometres offshore, which is well in reach for the small tinnie brigade.

I got one a few years back by accident while floating a live bait out for a mackerel.

It was awesome fun, with the little black putting on a magic show.

If you would like to book a charter to target them, make sure you get onto John via the Guided Sportfishing DownUnder Facebook page.

Women That Fish comp wrap-up Back in September we had the WTF Women That Fish Barra Classic.

Over 80 women cast and

Amanda Boon (wifey) with a nice barra caught during the WTF comp.

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trolled the water to foam, looking to hook the famous Fitzroy barramundi.

I skippered my wife Amanda and sister Cassee as a team of two competing as Team Humminbird/Minn Kota.

I had a look around the river in the two days prior to the comp and the prefish was bloody awful to tell the truth.

My sure-fire spots were turning up doughnuts when the fish should have been biting.

I only hooked three tiny rats in two days… this was going to be one tough comp.

Cassee had never caught a barra before and we didn’t have time to do any practice before the big day (or two days).

We hit the water on the Friday before the sparrows even thought about farting.

One thing I will give Cassee is she was super keen and excited because she doesn’t get to fish that often.

It took her only three hours to get her first barra (it was a tense three hours for the skipper though) and she was over the moon.

It was a respectable 63cm, so not a bad way to kick off her barra career.

We persisted in what appeared to be next-level tough conditions.

Other competitors were also mentioning how tough the bite was.

I told the girls it was going to be a grind, so keep those lures in the water.

Amanda’s turn came late in the afternoon not far from knock-off.

It was a tense fight as we were fishing around some pretty hectic timber.

I think she breathed a sigh of relief once it went into the net.

It was about the same size as Cassee’s, which completed a really tough day.

We later found out only 14 barra had been landed for the first day.

That’s a lot of women casting for little result.

I believe it had something to do with the 20 knots of westerly wind funnelling straight down the river.

Day two and the weather was a bit kinder.

The westerly was still blowing but no where near as hard.

Cassee got our team off to a good start, with a

barra on the deck not long after kick-off.

She followed with another not far from the bottom of the tide.

It was the start we were hoping for.

We tried a location change to try to keep the bite going and it almost paid off, with Cassee pulling the hooks on a good barra.

We then high-tailed it back to the sweet spot for the run-in tide.

We had a cast at every barra marking on the sounder and every bit of structure but couldn’t get the bite we were after.

With about a couple of hours to go, we finally struck gold by finding barra schooled and active.

What happened next almost broke me.

I absolutely hate making mistakes that are under my control.

I rigged up a lure for Amanda to fish with but I only had one Decoy treble to upgrade the hooks when I needed two.

So I just changed out the front one.

As fate would have it, Amanda hooked up only a short time later to a good fish that peeled a firm drag.

The fish won its freedom and Amanda wound in the lure to find that the back treble had been squashed.

A harsh lesson right there.

I could have removed another treble off a different lure, but I was in a hurry.

A costly mistake.

Cassee soon hooked up next to another solid barra pulling string.

It was tense moments as * continued P44

Quality muddies will start to move again this month.

Humminbird Mega Imaging showed a nice ledge covered in barra.

Cassee Evans with the team’s best barra for the comp at 77cm.

Guided Fishing DownUnder has been enjoying great marlin action.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 43

The second of two barra taken off the same snag in as many casts.

A Z-Man Pop FrogZ-caught red dog. The topwater boof never gets old.

Glen with a thumping golden trevally that smacked a 160mm Zerek Fish Trap.

Happy days on annual Hinchinbrook holiday

R

ECENTLY team Baker made the drive to Lucinda in far north Queensland for our annual holiday, planning to fish the waters surrounding Hinchinbrook Island.

A trout caught on the Zerek Absolute Shrimp.

Snag bashing the estuaries, popping and jigging the blue water and stickbaiting the reef flats were on our mind during the 19-hour drive.

Along for this trip were our close family friends who have made mention in previous articles.

Team Beard had never experienced the fishing far north Queensland has to offer, so it can be said they were all buzzing with excitement to get lines in the water.

Staying at Hinchinbrook Resorts Lucinda like al-

A nice jack caught on a Berkley Gulp Shrimp plastic.

Action on the Capricorn Coast * from P43

we boated our biggest barra for the comp at 77cm.

Amanda finished the comp in style by boating the final barra.

After landing that one, the fish moved on and the siren sounded.

The presentation night was once again a lot of fun, catching up with old mates and meeting new ones.

The beers flowed and the crowd relaxed.

Kalana Thomas did a fantastic job being MC for the night as it was her first time.

In fact, the entire WTF committee should take a bow as the effort they put in is outstanding

considering they also fish the comp.

Here’s our results for the 2019 WTF comp.

Our Team Humminbird/Minn Kota took out champion team of two.

Amanda finished eighth and Cassee finished third in the individual category.

We came runner-up for champion team overall, only missing out on the win by 8cm… so close.

I’m super proud of those two women and the effort they put in.

They never gave up and kept casting even when the going was tough.

They got to experience all the emotions that come with compe-

Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

tition fishing.

The highs of putting fish on the deck and celebrating and the lows of pulling hooks on fish, getting snagged during bite periods and a whole list of others.

During the two days, 44 barra were landed.

Highlights below: • Champion team of one: Chasin Tails.

• Champion team of two: Humminbird/Minn Kota.

• Champion team of three: Bluefin Sports Barra Slayers.

• Overall champion team: Chasin Tails.

• Champion angler – Tracy Chelepy.

• Biggest barra: Shelly Newton – 83cm.

Fishing Trip

by LACHIE BAKER

ways, we arrived on a Friday afternoon around 1pm and were eager to get fishing.

We were greeted with a stiff 15-20-knot southeasterly wind and far from ideal lure fishing tides, but decided to go for a punt.

Tide charts indicated very little movement, which sucks for snag bashing because fish get fired up when the tide is ripping through their home.

We launched at Dungeness and started heading up the Hinchinbrook Channel.

We hit a few different spots along the way for a slow start of one cod and a trevally.

There were signs of jacks around, such as a few half-hearted strikes and follows but they weren’t overly keen.

We decided to sound around and find bottom to fish on in the channel as fingermark are a fan of small tides and clean water.

We checked out some of their usual haunts and were slightly disappointed.

After scrounging up a couple of bits and pieces we decided to return to the ramp.

We knocked together a quality feed and rigged up the rest of the gear for the following morning.

We planned to run up to a new creek we hadn’t been into before, so after some Google-Earthing we were confident enough to approach the new system with a plan.

The following morning saw us leaving the ramp around 6am.

On the way to the creek I ran over a nice rise in the passage, which seemed to have fish sitting off the back edge off it.

I spun around and sounded back over the mark and it was absolutely loaded.

First cast with a 110mm Zerek Fish Trap saw a 40cm fingermark pick it up on the drop.

Team Beard was beside us and they also scored a small fingermark and some goldspotted cod.

My mum was next to hook up.

Her Fish Trap got absolutely slammed by a cracking fish.

Her reaction wasn’t fast enough and before any of us could intervene the fish was gone.

We plucked a few more cod before it was time to start heading up the creek.

Our expectations weren’t too high because the current was barely trickling, but we gave it a go and started flicking lures and plastics towards some OK-looking timber.

We started out with a few cod some small jacks.

I landed a 40cm jack and some mid-30s but nothing extraordinary.

We kept picking our way up the creek until the action slowed right down.

We ended up tagging 28 fish for the session, which wasn’t a bad start.

Over the next few days the tides were still too small for our liking but we ground it out.

It was tough but we managed to tag 90 fish.

We had been gifted some howling southeasterly winds but still knocked off a few barra and jacks.

Our usual creeks that have gone gangbusters in previous years had completely changed due to the immense flooding at the start of the year.

We now found bulk sandbanks and siltedup corners, which made many deeper systems seemingly too shallow to consistently hold fish.

Some old haunts, however, still held great fish.

One corner that has produced big jacks for us over the past few trips

stayed true to form.

On the first cast with a Pop FrogZ surface plastic saw a big jack charge out and mow it down.

A few casts later it was smacked again.

A rat barra and a number of cod also made their way over the side.

We got as far up the creek as we could in Striker before turning around and coming back.

The sun was setting when we called it an arvo.

Another 25 fish tagged bumped the number to 115.

Finally a break in the weather revealed itself for the Saturday, Sunday and Monday of our first week.

We planned to go around the front and into Zoe Bay on Saturday, visit the Palm Island Group on Sunday and head to Walker Reef on Monday.

We left early on the Saturday morning to muck around Hillock Point for an hour or so before heading towards Zoe Bay and starting on a mark where we had caught reefies as well as big golden trevally before.

The small rock produced grass sweetlip, cod, moses perch, stripeys and grunter.

The fishing went quiet, so I began to sound around the mark looking for fish sitting on flat country, and within one minute of sounding I found a large school of fish sitting in the middle of the water column.

I dropped a Fish Trap back onto them and it was intercepted on the way down.

I knew straight away what it would be: a big golden trevally.

Last year when I first encountered these goldens I

was totally under-gunned, with only 20lb spin gear and a 6kg rod.

This time, I was ready for them, running my vibe on a 40-60lb Venom Stickbait rod, 10,000 ATC Vigour and 50lb braid.

Goldens over a metre long still play up an absolute treat on this gear.

The big trev surfaced just behind the boat and was safely netted.

I was pumped.

We had to cut our session short because we were on a tide deadline to get into the creek at Zoe Bay. We had an awesome swim at the base of the falls followed by a hike to the top, which produced one of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen.

Once we made our way back to the boats, Jason and Liam both said they were keen to drop the rest of their family home and head back out.

I put Striker back on the trailer back at Lucinda, grabbed my gear and raced back down the pontoon to jump in the Beards’ Sea Jay. We flew back out to our spot and found the fish not far from the original mark.

We couldn’t get them to bite, which was fair because it was the middle of the afternoon.

Deciding to go for a quick fish around the rocky headlands, I had a theory there may be trout around the deeper bommies.

This was a great idea and within the first five minutes Liam and I had both caught just-legal trout.

They were lucky to be returned with a tag.

We kept poking our way * continued P45

The sand cay at Walker Reef. Such a spectacular spot.

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Happy days on annual Hinchinbrook holiday * from P44

down the headlands, nailing heaps of stripeys, cod and other ooglies plus another couple of small trout.

I thought we had given the goldens enough of a rest to come back and hit them again, and I wasn’t wrong.

First drop saw Jason connect with a cracker on a jig.

He got it all the way to the boat and into the (very small) net.

I scooped it and dropped it onto the seat in the back of the boat.

While we were all highfiving, the fish managed to kick hard and flip itself onto the transom.

Before any of us could react, it busted the jigging assist hook and fell into the drink.

We were speechless.

I blamed myself for not ensuring it was on the deck but the boys didn’t seem too fazed, as they were more than confident we would get another chance.

It wasn’t long before we found the fish again.

I hooked up straight away on heavy baitcast tackle and handed the rod to Jason because I felt so bad for losing his fish.

After a 20-minute tussle the fish was just under the boat and we had colour: it was big and silver.

A sickening ‘pop’ was heard just as I was about to grab the net, and we all cracked the shits as we were 0/2 at this stage.

Upon inspection of the leader, we found it had been chafed off above the lure, with scuff marks down the entire remaining part.

We hooked this fish on a shallower edge of the reef, but when we checked the GPS it showed during the fight we had drifted off the reef into deeper water.

Obviously at some stage during the fight it had rubbed on the sharp rocky edge, popping the 50lb fluorocarbon.

I swiftly tied on some 80lb Schneider mono to avoid more rub-offs.

Over the duration of the fight, Liam and I had been paying close attention to the sounder, and as we drifted around after the fish we noticed a couple of scattered schools of fish, which we marked.

It then clicked to me what I should do differently.

I had a new plan in terms of boat positioning and we were greeted with immediate success.

It was now Liam’s turn to hook up.

Once again he was connected to a solid fish.

The fight was nearly over when his line went slack.

He was left with nothing but a glimpse of the big golden straight under the boat before his hook pulled.

It was really starting to look like amateur hour.

At 0/3 we were running shocking odds.

I finally got an opportunity to hook up but I could tell straight away it wasn’t a golden.

It took one blistering run and then came to the surface for a jump.

A cracker queenfish launched clear, showing off some cool acrobatics before Liam grabbed its tail and hauled it into the boat.

The following drift saw Liam’s Fish Trap get crunched again.

After a tense battle we finally boated a golden.

Liam was absolutely pumped, seeing as it was his first one.

A quick tag and photo saw the fish back in the water and kicking off strongly.

The sun had just fallen over the majestic Hinchinbrook Island, and with darkness encroaching we decided to scoot for home.

All in all, it was an awesome day.

The following morning we ran down to Orpheus and Fantome islands.

It was more of a family day than a fishing session but we had a muck around on some of the bommies in the 15-20m depth range.

We plucked a heap of small reefies such as grassy sweetlip and cod, as well as getting roasted by some large trout.

After snorkelling around the pristine coral for a few hours, we made the call to go for round two on the goldens.

It didn’t take long as I picked one up on the very first cast.

What ensued was absolute madness.

Both boats were seeing double and triple hookups on goldens, queenies, spanish mackerel, giant herring and other bottom fish.

I nailed three big queenies in three drops, coming on both jigs and vibes.

I also hooked two metreplus goldens that I let my mum and sister wind in.

My old man was next to hook up.

His weapon of choice was a 160mm Zerek Fish

Trap and my PE8 GT popping setup.

Watching him drill a 105cm golden on such heavy gear had me in stitches of laughter.

Almost every fish we wound up would have a school of mates following.

After a non-stop actionfilled afternoon, the sun slipped over the back of the mountains and it was time to head back.

Our alarms went off early the next morning as this was the day we planned to head to Walker Reef.

We were greeted with a glassed-out ocean for the roughly 50km journey.

Upon arrival we found schools of fusiliers getting harassed by GTs. First cast of a popper saw it belted by an absolute monster that didn’t find the hooks.

We began exploring the reef flats where Dad scored a nice spangled emperor and his first stickbait-caught trout.

We slayed heaps of stripeys and other ooglies but ultimately it was pretty quiet for us.

The three boats that followed us out all seemed to be having a good session.

Some nice trout and lipper were getting caught in the deeper water but we didn’t bring much bait with us, so stuck to flats fishing for little success.

There is an awesome sand cay located at the northern end of the reef system, and we were all busting to have a stroll and feed on it.

After lunch we mucked around a bit longer in the deeper water for a couple of small reds but the fishing was far from red hot.

Stefan Slomka nailed a barra in the salt.

105cm of stamina. They just don’t give up.

While I know they are far from what most would call a ‘decent’ barra, I still love catching them because they fight hard and put on an entertaining aerial display.

Dad pulled a nice jack from the same log and I managed a big goldspotted cod on the next snag down.

We then decided to call it a trip and head home to start the long process of packing.

This is always the hardest part of the trip, as none of us want to leave but unfortunately life goes on.

We ended up tagging 215 fish for the trip, which wasn’t too bad considering the amount of time we spent fishing and the trying conditions.

I am returning to Hinchinbrook in late November for Schoolies week, so watch out for that article as it should be a cracker.

Until next time, tight lines and sore arms.

A metre-long queenie that put on an awesome aerial display.

The best barra for the trip hooked on a suspending hard-body.

The author with a quality golden taken on the 110mm Fish Trap.

Rob Slomka with a Rockhampton barra.

Rockhampton barra trip for the Slomkas

T

AKING advantage of the warmer weather and school holidays and wanting to get a fish in before the saltwater barra closures, Stefan Slomka and his son Rob decided to take a trip north to Rockhampton for four days and try their luck.

They’re pretty regular visitors there these days and seem to have nailed the spots and techniques to consistently bag a few.

The first day on the river they elected to get some livies before heading off to drown a bait or two.

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On the way back in we decided we would hit the goldens one last time because the weather was turning nasty the following day.

Again they chewed their heads off, but this time I tried a 90mm Bone Dash vibe, which worked to great effect.

The Beards departed the following day blown away by the fishing on offer in the Hinchinbrook region.

It was great to have our close family friends along for the ride.

The wind had really picked up, which made the fishing quite tough.

Fish became lethargic with the cooler weather and weren’t committing to eating our lures.

Over the duration of the week we managed to rack our tag numbers up to 180.

With the inaugural 4lb comp being held on our last weekend at Hinchy, we decided to cut our trip short by a day because the boat traffic was starting to annoy us.

On our final morning we fished in the same creek as the first day.

We tagged a heap of jacks, cod, fingermark and pikey bream in the side arms.

We were on our way out of the system when I spotted bait getting smashed in a snag.

Shooting straight over to the area, the first cast saw my FishArt 75mm Magnus jerkbait scoffed by a better-than-rat barra.

It went 65cm on the brag mat and was promptly tagged and thrown back.

The following cast saw the lure creamed again by another barra of almost the same size.

They found decent livies with the cast net when things suddenly got interesting.

Stefan had cast out the net and was letting it sink when something under it exploded.

He knew it was decent as it struggled to free itself, with Stefan finally winning and pulling in a metre-plus threadfin salmon.

With enough bait in the live well, they set off to one of their spots.

Not to be outdone and wanting to do it the ‘right way’, Rob soon chimed in with a 90cm model of his own, but

this time with line and hook.

He also bagged two nice barra at 60cm and 78cm.

Stefan could only manage one but at 75cm he was still pretty happy.

They dropped an additional four barra due to getting a little close to the snag they were targeting.

Day two and they were back on the river at the same spot, this time deciding to fish a little further back so as not to spook the fish sitting deeper off the main snag.

Rob again won the

day numbers wise, with three between 65cm and 75cm, while Stefan landed two, one in the low70cm range as well as a stonker going 120cm.

The big fish proved a lot of fun but was released boatside because he didn’t want to bring it in and possibly injure it.

A great fish but just short of his PB of 125cm taken in April.

For day three they headed to an old favourite creek at Port Alma but the prime snag they fished previously had broken up and with not much doing there they motored back to

the river.

They bagged a couple, with Rob taking a new PB at 81cm.

Day four and already having enough barra, they decided to take Stefan’s brother for an exploratory trip in the channels at Port Alma to chase fingermark.

They found a couple of schools and after a decent session ended up with a nice blue salmon and four fingermark to about 50cm for their trouble.

I’m definitely taking them up on the offer of a trip in future.

Mick Clutterbuck

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 45

Barra closed season but plenty of other species about

T

HE first day of November is a sad one because the saltwater barra closed season starts with it.

The sharp end of a jack – the last thing many baitfish see. This one took a Zerek Fish Trap hopped over a rock bar.

Fingermark will be a fantastic option while barra season is closed. A live mullet was the downfall of this one.

However, the closure is also a good thing because it gives these great fish a chance to breed and for their numbers to increase.

On the upside, loads of other fish species are there to take their place, and with the increasing temperature, mangrove jack will be high on many people’s lists.

Plenty of these fish have been hitting lures meant for barra.

A slight change in size and technique will see your jack strike to catch rate increase.

Locations you fish may have to change depending on where you normally chase barra.

If you target them in deep open water you will need to look at fishing heavier and shallower structure to get out of their zone.

You will need to downsize your lures, with the best sizes for jacks from 75-100mm.

Tarpon are great fun to catch. Sam pulled this one from a big school on a small metal blade.

Gladstone Region

by GARY CHURCHWARD

You may need to look at fishing weedless, with standard jig heads getting snagged more often.

The new weedless Zerek Fish Trap is hotly anticipated for this reason, allowing you to now fish with a soft vibration bait through a snag without the cost or frustration of snagging and losing lures.

Afternoon and morning surface fishing for these fish is rewarding.

You will get fewer strikes but the ones you do are spectacular and visual.

Drifting live baits into heavy structure with the tide is an extremely effective way to target jacks.

Make sure you’re ready because the hit from a jack on a live bait close to structure can be vicious.

Tight drags, good reflexes and gear and tackle up to the job is needed, otherwise the battle will be over before you get a chance.

Another good option is to use a float and give the live bait enough line to sit just above the snag.

If you find live baits are not getting any attention, don’t rule out a fresh cut bait or pilchard because these have saved many a session for me when all else has failed.

Structure you target can be anything from manmade rock walls and pylons to fallen trees and natural rock bars.

Typically I would have more luck fishing from natural structure like timber and shallow rock bars, but you can get greatsized fish from deeper locations too.

Tackle you use is up to you, with both spinning

gear and baitcasters OK. Leader size depends on the structure you’re fishing.

For heavy timber and rock bars, I would recommend fishing slightly heavier.

When around mangrove fringes and isolated rock bars you can get away with light lines.

Another species found commonly through summer is fingermark.

You will encounter the odd fish when fishing structure for jacks.

They are more commonly targeted on lures and baits in deeper sections of the rivers and around rock formations in the harbour and nearby islands.

Grunter will still be caught in good numbers on fresh strip baits and live herring or smaller 2.5”-3.5” prawn or fishimitation plastics.

All our systems have gravel bars, which make for the best spot to start chasing them.

You will also catch the

odd one when looking for fingermark in deeper locations.

Blue salmon will have slowed.

You will still be able to find small schools feeding, they just won’t be in the same numbers as in the cooler months.

Large schools of tarpon are moving around the systems and some of these fish have been in the mid to high-60cm bracket.

At this size they really put up a great fight, with long hard runs and impressive aerial displays.

They haven’t been fussy and are taking vibes and plastics, the trouble is staying connected to them with their hard mouths.

Because they have a raspy mouth, they have been wearing through leaders quickly when they grab lures on the drop and take off.

The Fitzroy River and Port Alma are good options for threadfin salmon now the barra are a nogo, with large schools and some horse fish moving through the system.

Flathead are still biting well, and expect as

we move into the warmer months that larger fish will move into deeper water.

Plenty of school-sized fish will be on the flats and edges of sandbanks through the harbour and around the mouths of the creeks and river.

Bream will slow during summer, though there will still be enough around for those who want to chase a feed.

Awoonga Dam is firing for barra with the jump in temperature.

As the water temperature increases, I would expect the fish to spend more time in deeper water.

They will be moving back onto the flats and weed banks to feed during the cooler low-light periods of early morning and late afternoon into the night.

You are likely to come across a few salty barra when targeting the species mentioned but please treat them carefully and release them in the best condition you can to help build future stocks.

Cheers and happy fishing from Gladdy.

Phil with a nice jack from the Calliope River hooked on a Sakami Vibelicious.

Some days are diamonds W

f

Jason Kidd

0457 254 740

Page 46 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

ITH the saltwater barra closure in place on the east coast as of November 1, we are lucky to have so many options available to small boat anglers.

Sometimes deciding what to target or which way to go is the hardest part.

Fantastic grunter move into the estuaries and in good numbers.

Add to this many other estuary species firing and a fishing trip working the mud flats sounds very appealing.

Another option is pelagic action for GTs, diamond trevally, tuna and so on.

Anglers can test their gear and have a great sportfishing trip.

For those anglers who can’t go three months without the feeling a mighty barra on the end of their line, three awesome impoundments full of massive barra are located within an hour’s drive of Mackay.

Fishing Mackay

by JASON KIDD

On a recent trip for some guys from around Canberra, after a few days of terrible weather the stars aligned and the weather played the game.

This gave us an opportunity to venture out of the estuary to the close inshore shoals and bounce micro jigs around to stir up some pelagic action.

Leaving half an hour before first light got us on the broken grounds at the perfect time.

The sun’s first rays began touching the water at the same time as our lines and it wasn’t long before one of the boys’ rods folded to the water, * continued P47

Patrick Junior with the first of many metre-plus diamond trevally.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Joe was stoked with his best grunter in years.

Patrick Senior with a cracker early morning grunter caught on a micro jig.

Some days are diamonds * from P46

with line screaming in the other direction.

There is nothing like the sound of line peeling from a quality reel early in the morning and when it happens in the first five minutes, you start to think you are in for a good day!

These grounds have supported countless species in recent trips, so picking what has taken your lure by the way the fish fights is always fun.

The first fish to show interest in the jigs were cracking grunter, with three or four coming to the boat in no time, the

best of them well over the 60cm mark.

These are the same schools of grunter that start following and feeding on the biomass of herring present in the estuaries.

The action then stepped up a level as the jigs found monster diamond trevally.

While these fish are fairly clean fighters usually not looking for structure to escape, they really know how to test your gear and anglers’ patience.

Over the next few hours, all aboard caught several great diamond trevally, most just over metre mark.

They are fantastic sportfish to catch and make for absolutely awesome photos, especially in the morning light.

Going from grunter to diamonds is going to the next level when it comes to fighting abilities, as is going from diamonds to giant trevally.

Giant trevally are renowned as one of the best fighting fish on the planet, and the fish we hooked next was living up to its reputation, trying on several occasions to find its way back to the structure and freedom.

Using a 6000 size spin reel and landing a 20kg-

plus GT on relatively shallow grounds is a fantastic angling effort.

It took well over 15 minutes to get a visual on the fish and another five or more to get the awesome animal on board for a few photos and a safe release.

A great moment for the angler watching the fish you had been battling swim away safely to be caught another day.

All fish caught were released, including the quality grunter that started the morning’s action.

Some days on the water everything just falls into place, and this was one of those special days.

This 20kg-plus giant trevally had Saint sweating getting it back to the boat.

A metre-plus diamond trevally looking awesome in the day’s first light.

IT’S NOT HARD TO SEE WHY SO MANY PEOPLE ARE

y a k c a M Hooked on

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 47

Big baits for big fish at Stanage

H

I all, here’s hoping the fish are biting in your neck of the woods this fine November.

The Nord crew and their snapper catch.

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It’s excitement-plus for the township of Stanage Bay, with the boat ramp nearing completion.

It has been a long time coming but looks absolutely amazing and very user-friendly for any size boat.

The access road into Stanage is looking good, and with ongoing maintenance it’s a pleasant drive in.

Shame we can’t get the rain we need to green it all up and make the scenery just so.

Not long now until the Christmas rush, so this is a great time to head in before the traffic and get your spot if a peaceful holiday is what you’re after.

A friendly reminder that Stanage Bay Marine and Accommodation has room available for boat storage if you want to park the boat up and return at a later date.

Mud crabs are scarce.

Fishers are having to go a long way up the creeks and as far as Long Island to get a decent haul, but even this can be like winning the lottery.

Don’t let this be a deterrent though, as you won’t know unless you have a try.

Nearby creeks have a consistent supply of bream and salmon, which are nothing to turn your nose up at.

Smaller cod species are being caught around the rockier sections of Quail Island and if you’re trolling lures or cruising the

Stanage Bay

by PEE WEE

coastline in smaller vessels, head south and try for tuskfish, stripies and cod.

Further afield around the Marble and Percy Isles is proving challenging, with little to show of late.

It’s still worth a day trip to take in the natural beauty of the area and make the most of the fine weather.

The usual quality fish are there such as nannygai, snapper, sweetlip and coral trout, the catches are just fewer than normal.

Ideal bait is a combination of squid, pilchards and big mullet strips.

Big bait, big fish!

Whales are beginning to thin out but it’s still not too late if you want to see a magnificent display.

If you’re boating, continue to keep your wits about because you never know where they’re likely to pop up.

Oysters can be found on the rocks, so it’s worth

going to pick some off the Islands or try Flat Rock at low tide.

If in doubt, check with a local as they may steer you in the right direction (if they’re keen on giving away their secrets).

The campgrounds are pretty quiet at present but will begin to get busier as the holidays roll around.

With summer around the corner, make sure you

are ready to take on the heat.

Bring on the storms, as they may entice our muddies out of hiding and perhaps make November an extra-entertaining month.

Quota has been met for the local Jew Hole, so this is now a no-take area, however, you can still have fun with catch and release.

You’ve always got options to keep you busy and the boat wet at Stanage.

Enjoy your month, stay safe and we look forward to seeing your brag photos soon.

A sweetlip haul for the Wellsy crew.

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For more information contact Darryl 0437 436 980 Page 48 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

T

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Many anglers consider the eye of the baitfish to be a strike trigger to predators and the eye on the Big EyeZ makes for a big trigger!

Features of this series include a realistic sculptured fish head profile and bulging 3D eyes,

along with the proven ‘head lock’ grub keeper system to make rigging easy and lock your soft plastic in place, including Z-Man 10X Tough ElaZtech plastics.

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Dylan opened the account by catching his first mangrove jack on a Z-Man plastic.

Campbell enjoyed the fight given by this spanish mackerel.

Hannes and Christoph won the battle with a decent GT.

Barra and jacks biting well in the heat n Saltwater barra closed season starts November 1

A

BIG g’day to everyone and I hope this finds you well.

This month has been an interesting one both inshore and offshore, but let’s start with inshore.

Barra and jacks have been active, with both biting well on lures and live baits.

The barra are proving quite adept at freeing themselves after they have been hooked, making for some disappointed faces aboard the boat.

The fact they’re biting is a good sign, however the closed season in tidal waters is fast approaching, beginning on November 1.

We’re starting to see nice jacks and anglers are waiting in anticipation of that huge hit and the make or break battle that ensues in the race back to the fish’s lair.

Hinchinbook News

by TEAM CRACKAJACK

Most we manage to stop, but some big units are able to win, and a couple even had to be coaxed out of the mangroves using the lure retrieval pole as a last resort.

Fingermark, grunter, queenies, tarpon and the ever-present estuary cod have all given a good account of themselves this month.

While trialling new grounds, we’ve been rewarded with at least a dozen grunter and a small GT coming from the mouth of one little creek, with nice numbers of feeding barra

Aiden with a cracker of a fingermark.

Tim landed a nice barra.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

found in another.

There is no shortage of new places to explore throughout this amazing expanse of water, with the only problem being caught out by the tides in some areas when you’re on a hot bite and forget to check the time – it happens!

All in all, it’s been a good month throughout the Hinchinbrook Channel and we look forward to the next couple continuing to produce good sizes and numbers of iconic and hard-fighting fish.

We’ve seen a few more days offshore that we’ve been able to enjoy without the wind and waves, while others were forced to seek the shelter of the islands, just so we could stand steadily enough to cast lures or soak baits.

Lures were the winner this month, with the fish preferring stickbaits and poppers over bait.

Our customers found some very nice GTs and mackerel on new grounds.

Nothing gets the blood pumping more than watching multiple GTs going at a big popper, then having a big mackerel jump clear of the water and miss it by millimetres, before finally a big GT connects.

It’s heaps of arm-stretching fun.

It is also great to see the smiles on the faces of those who have put in the hard yards chasing them and come up with the rewards.

With the good weather, we utilised the time to explore more parts of the reef with mixed results.

Coral trout, redthroat emperor and rankin cod were found, along with spanish mackerel, spangled emperor, sweetlip, GTs and of course, a few more sharks.

There have been good numbers of small bonito breaking the surface of late, but the schools are skittish and difficult to get close enough to throw more than one cast at before disappearing and surfacing in the distance.

The schools have varied from very small, what appear to be only five or six breaking the surface, to football field sized while feeding.

And while we might not be seeing good returns in catching them, it means good schools of bait must be present.

This should ensure plenty of other hungry predators are able to be targeted throughout the grounds.

If you would like to see more pictures of what’s being caught around here, extra images can be viewed on our Crackajack Sportfishing Adventures Facebook page.

If you are planning on visiting the area in the next couple of months, be sure to slow down and keep an eye out for the cane trains around the

road crossings.

While some of the crossings are quite noticeable, others are merely signposted, with vision sometimes limited of the trains’ approach.

Well, stay safe, and until next month, may the wind stay low and the fish count high.

Rowan got into the barra action.

A quality GT caught by Rowan.

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The author boated a solid queenie on a popper.

Mark with his first queenfish.

Estuary queenfish sessions

W

Check out the bite mark on the tail. A very close call with the taxman.

The author with a nice specimen.

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Page 50 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

ITH the dry season in north Queensland comes a welcome return of a very feisty visitor: the queenfish.

The cooler months see other species shut down, but the queenfish’s arrival heralds the start of a frantic few months of heart-in-mouth action.

Popper fishing is the most exciting way to chase them.

Targeted at the lower ends of the tides, queenies can provide spectacular reel-screaming sessions.

In the estuaries, you will find specimens up to around the metre mark, and on light gear you have to work hard to land these beauties.

And while chasing the queenies, a very handy by-catch is of course the giant trevally.

These fish are legendary for their pulling power, and again on light gear make for some entertaining fishing.

The bigger specimens head out to the reef, but GTs of considerable size can be caught in the estuaries.

Recently on the water I was out with a client when we had a shark try to take on a queenfish I had just hooked.

The queenfish did a complete 360 around the shark and narrowly avoided being taken.

It was great viewing just metres from the side of the boat.

Fifteen minutes later when the fish was finally photographed and released, the water exploded about 20m from the boat… the taxman had come to collect his dues.

Besides putting up a spirited fight, queenies also put on pretty impressive aerial acrobatics, coming out of the water up to half a dozen times during a fight.

Unfortunately, they tire themselves out comprehensively on light gear, and reviving them takes some time and effort.

Fishing Cairns

by BRETT PARKS

This time of year we also see big quantities of blue-tailed mullet enter the estuaries, sometimes in their thousands.

And while they won’t take a lure, you can from time to time find queenfish swimming in their vicinity.

You can see a nice fish in the photos taken in

this manner, also note the scarring near the tail on this fish.

Your popper retrieve needs to be fast and aggressive, making short, sharp rips to move plenty of water and keep the lure on the move.

The idea is to attract attention.

Stop the lure and they

lose interest very quickly.

One frustrating aspect of this style of fishing is the number of fish that come right up to the boat and peel off just as the lure is taken from the water.

As the weather warms we’ll start to target other species such as barra (until the November 1 closed season) and jacks.

However, I’ll still look forward to next year when the queenfish grace us with their presence once again.

Shane caught this little GT on a popper.

Smaller trevally are great fun on light tackle.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Ripper return to Pennefather River

H

I, it’s Craig To m k i n s o n here.

It had been two years since I last towed my boat to Weipa and I was so looking forward to going.

With all the prep work done, I finished work on Friday, packed my gear and was ready to go by Saturday.

I was waiting for my mate Dave to show up on Sunday arvo but I called him in the morning and he said he couldn’t make it until Tuesday.

I was annoyed because we had planned this for weeks, so I said sorry Dave I am going without you.

By 10.30am I had fired up the new GoPro Hero7 Black our family bought to record our trips away, gave my wife a kiss and said see you in a few weeks.

With that, I was driving out the gate and heading north.

It took a few days to get to Weipa.

The slowest part of the trip was between Musgrave and Coen.

I had not seen the Peninsula Development Rd that rough in years.

For a 30-40km stretch I had to let all the tyres on the 80 Series LandCruiser and boat trailer down to 25psi and was in first and second gear high range, just poking along so I did not break anything.

It took me over two hours to do that section of road.

In one other spot I came in a bit too fast because the road had improved so much.

I went into a creek crossing and there was a big rock right in the middle of the road about 70cm high.

The four-wheel-drive went over it no worries but the boat trailer did a big jump in the air as it went over the rock and it tore off the brake line, so I had no brakes on the boat trailer.

Other than that, the road was fantastic.

Later that day I pulled in at Weipa looking for parts but none were available, so I called my mate Darren who was coming up in a few days and he said he’d bring the bits up for me.

I got fuel and tucker and headed out to Pennefather River.

At the end of the red road I let my tyres down to 10psi because all my friends who had been up and back said it was the softest they had seen the sand on the beach and around Penny.

I headed out the track to the beach and did not look like getting stuck anywhere.

The old 80 and boat trailer just rolled over the sand like it was not there.

I made my way up the 7km of beach and past the locals’ huts into the www.bnbfishing.com. au

Fishing Trip

by CRAIG TOMKINSON

campground at the river mouth.

Man things had changed since I was last there.

Cyclones Penny and Trevor had given the place a flogging.

I drove along and found Bob Gentleman and Rod Harris camped where they always do.

It was great to see them again.

We had a cuppa and then the two old buggers helped me set up my camp in the same spot I have camped in for years.

That only took a couple of hours with lots of banter and a few more cuppas.

I set the boat up, hooked up the battery and fuel filter and fitted the sounder and GPS into its box, as I take them out for the road trip up and back.

The next day Rod and I went for a fish and caught a few for a feed, so I had fresh fish for lunch.

It was great to be back.

Over the next few days I took one of the boys fishing with me each day, catching blackspot tuskfish, fingermark, grass sweetlip, stripies and heaps of other fish.

We’d just keep a little feed and let the others go.

It’s only 10m of water at the deepest, so they release well.

Mick Hallet and Troy turned up and camped on the sand near me.

The boys got bogged in Mick’s 79 Series LandCruiser towing his 5.2m Quintrex Renegade loaded with gear.

The boat trailer’s small skinny tires were like a plough, but they finally made it in after a few hours of digging and letting more air out of their tyres.

They waited two days for a good shady camp site to free up.

When I drove in I could have camped anywhere as only Bob and Rod were present, but over a few days all the campsites filled up.

Eventually the boys moved in and set up their camp 80m from mine.

Meanwhile, my mate Matt McCullum had turned up from Cairns.

He had driven from the Sunshine Coast to Cairns and then got a lift from Cairns to Weipa with his mate who had bought a charter boat in Weipa.

He spent two days fishing around Weipa and then came and camped with me.

We fished up Janie Creek way for a few days and caught nice fish including tuskfish, cobia and fingermark, but the fishing was slow compared to other years.

Matty fished up the Pennefather River with Bob and they caught

mangrove jack and barra.

He also flicked lures and soft plastics around the river mouth for trevally and queenfish.

He was having a fat time in paradise.

Meanwhile, my mates Darren Thorn and Mark Waters turned up they camped with Mick and Troy.

After a week, Matty got a lift back to Weipa with a lovely couple Nick and Jen who were travelling around Australia for two years and heard of Penny after being camped at Bathurst Head for a few days.

Rod was having troubles with his 80 Series as it had done the rubber bush on the harmonic balancer.

We took it back to the red road and an RACQ tilt tray picked it up and ran it to town.

About $850 later it was fixed, so I ran him to town and he picked it up.

He was happy it was fixed but was unhappy with the price.

Sitting around the campfire one night with the boys, a plan was hatched because the fishing was slow in close.

I said we could take the two 5m boats and do a run up the coast towards the Cottrell River and camp in our swags on the beach for a few nights.

We all said great but Mick, Troy and Darren said they couldn’t because they were having troubles with their freezers.

They did not have enough solar and batteries to run them all properly, so had to run their 2kVA Honda generator and Darren’s 80-litre Engel was not working on 12V. The plan was instead to head up 50km and fish Kerr Reef.

On the west coast of Cape York, the wind starts southeasterly and then turns east, then northeasterly.

Around midday it drops out and then within 20 minutes it turns 25 knots from the southwest.

So if you go north, you have to be home by 1-2pm or you get flogged.

Otherwise, you have to wait until dark when it drops off.

Darren and I fished out of my 5m tinnie and Mark, Mick and Troy fished out of Mick’s tinnie with a 115hp fourstroke Yamaha on the back and Nick and Jen used their 4.2m tinnie powered by a 30hp motor.

On the first day Nick and Jen got away in the dark and we followed them.

The boys came up later as they were lots faster than us.

We all got there within a few minutes of each other, just after daylight.

Kerr is a big lump of reef, so it took a while to suss it out.

I had been there five years ago, so had marks from where I caught fish and we started there.

The fishing was slow, with just the od small fish caught at first.

We fished right around the reef, but around 11am the tide changed and started running out, so we shifted to the northern end of the reef, which was copping the flow.

I anchored in 12m of water with the reef rising just behind us, we put out some berley and things fired up, with good trout, blackspot tuskfish and grass sweetlip coming over the side.

We brain spiked and bled them before putting them on ice with a bit of water in it to cover the fish.

It was great fishing, the best we had enjoyed all trip.

By midday we pulled the pick, went and saw the others and we all headed back.

We got back within a few kilometres of camp and began blowing 25 knots from the southwest.

Thank goodness we left when we did.

It took a while to clean all our fish but it was a great day.

Nick and Jen had come to Penny to stay a few days but ended up hanging around for nearly two weeks.

Penny is that type of place.

They said they were going in a couple of days and asked if there was any chance we could all head back to Kerr Reef.

We were all keen, so the next day as the weather looked good we headed north again.

The fishing was much better right from the first drop but then died for Darren and I by midday.

The other two boats had caught great fish and headed back to camp.

Darren and I stayed until dark and lucky we did because we got great fish

in the arvo session.

We got back to camp around 8pm.

The next day we cleaned our fish and then the day after Nick and Jen headed off.

A few days later, Darren, Mark, Mick and Troy were leaving, so after 20 days at Penny I packed up too and headed home with the boys.

My son has edited my GoPro footage from the trip and you can view it on YouTube by searching for ‘Craig Tomkinson Cape York’.

‘Til next month, be safe on the water.

Darren and a just-legal trout from Kerr Reef.

Matt landed a lovely golden trevally.

Darren Thorn caught a nice fingermark.

Matt McCallum with a nice cobia.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 51

The bizarre watery world of Gulf mangrove jack I F there’s one species that holds a very special place in sportfishers’ hearts, it’s got to be lutjanus argentimaculatus, the mangrove jack.

A prime jack like this is sure to put a smile on any fisher’s face! Mick Boehm revisited his old haunt of Weipa to find a beauty like this. Unfortunately, jacks are no longer as prolific as they were when he lived in the town a decade ago.

John landed this beauty in a river near Aurukun, south of Weipa. Numbers in this area have also been affected by the fish trawlers targeting spawning stocks

Now that jack’s a real prize! The author dragged this nice fish on fly from a set of snags in a tug of war that had his TFO rod agonisingly close to destruction. Give these critters half a metre and it’s all over!

Steve Wust with a jack taken while walking a freshwater stream on the Cape. The effects of fish trawling will also impact on the number of fish working their way up to the headwaters of rivers.

Page 52 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

This handsome, brick red-coloured ball of muscle is the bully boy of the mangroves, an ambush expert powered by a broad tail, an operator so smart, it’s already heading back to its snaggy home by the time the angler has registered the strike and taken in the humping boil.

It’s a species spoken of in reverential terms by those who are captivated by its aura and mystery, such that it sometimes leads to an almost obsessional relationship by those particularly afflicted.

I was fishing with a couple of good mates while camped on the Escape River just south of Cape York when we stumbled on jack ‘heaven’ at a creek junction I’d never fished before, circa 1994.

The deep corner was stacked with fallen timber and three lures were sailing towards various logs before anyone said a word.

As soon as the lures moved, a maroon-coloured hoard raced out of the conglomeration and fought between themselves to get to the offerings first.

Three rods slammed down as a chorus of happy expletives filled the air and our motley crew tried to prompt buzzing neurones into working the various muscles required to counter the blitzkrieg!

Wayne and I managed to keep our fish away from the mangroves but there was a huge “SHIT” from Pete as his line floated in the breeze.

Now Pete’s a big bloke but he moved like a man possessed, throwing his rod to the deck and picking up a second already rigged rod in a single movement.

Before our two fish were anywhere near the boat, he had already hooked a second jack and, this time, managed to steer it clear of the logjam.

Wayne and I were almost hysterical at Pete’s antics, and were still laughing days later.

I seem to remember another three or four jacks being extracted from that hole but anything following that initial burst was definitely an anticlimax.

There’s plenty more where that came from!

Jack encounters tend to stick in your memory, probably more so when you get to my age, where short-term images are sometimes hard to come by but the days of old are as clear as crystal.

Perhaps the somewhat unique importance of our mangrove jack popu-

Fishy Issues

by DAVE DONALD

lation somehow reached the commercial fishingfocused brains of Queensland’s fisheries managers as, for once, an important recreational species was acknowledged as needing special attention when it came to management regulations.

Somewhere around the end of the 1990s, the species was given a size limit of 35cm and a bag limit of five, not only to recreational fishers but commercial fishers as well.

As far as I am aware, no other Queensland species has been awarded such across the board protection.

There was plenty of kudos given to our Fisheries department at the time, particularly by the Australian National Sportfishing Association.

Mangrove jack headed the ‘fighting factor’ list in that organisation’s scoring system, a sure sign of how greatly they were respected by members.

The feeling was that, for once, Fisheries had got it right – though that was countered by the myriad times they’d gone the other way!

Fast forward to a meeting of the Gulf of Carpentaria Fisheries Management Advisory Committee held in Cairns in 2005.

The meeting had been its usual heavy going – lots of bureaucratic waffle for very little outcome – when a Fisheries inspector known to me appeared at the door and gave me a small wave.

I excused myself from the table and met him in the corridor outside.

The officer (who will remain nameless) then told me a disturbing story.

After complaints from concerned fishers, he had visited a large Cairns seafood retailer to find a large tray of mangrove jack on sale, including a proportion of fish below the 35cm size limit.

When questioned, the proprietor was able to tender a receipt from a fish trawler that was currently operating in the Gulf of Carpentaria using Weipa as its base.

The inspector was unsure of what action to take.

I headed back into the meeting and raised the issue as soon as an opportunity arose.

The furore that followed led to the meeting being adjourned and several senior Fisheries managers reaching for their phones on the way out the door.

When the meeting was reconvened by the chairman half an hour later, most of the stakeholders

were shocked to be told that, as the trawler was operating under a Commonwealth-issued permit, its catch was not subject to Queensland state regulations!

The next hour of that meeting was pretty boisterous, as I remember, but in typical bureaucratic fashion, the managers calmed the disgruntled participants by promising to immediately seek legal advice on the anomaly.

At the following GULFMAC talkfest, almost a year later, we were informed legal resolution of this ludicrous situation was ‘too difficult’.

That ridiculous situation remains until this day.

If you think that’s absolute bullshit, then wait until the bizarre story of Gulf fish trawling is added to the mix!

In the mid-1990s, fish trawling was introduced into Gulf waters outside the 25 nautical mile limit of Queensland/Northern Territory state control on a strict ‘developmental’ basis.

A developmental fishery normally operates for two years before being carefully reviewed and given a red or green light.

Over two decades later, these trawlers still operate under ‘developmental’ status, in blatant contempt of accepted management guidelines.

But wait, there’s more!

Fish trawling in Queensland/Commonwealth waters comes under the umbrella of a shadowy body known as the Queensland Joint Authority, a loosely managed combination of federal and state bureaucrats.

How can I accuse that body of being ‘shadowy’?

Well, I sat on its Advisory Committee for two years and spent the entire time trying to ascertain what the bloody heck was going on.

There were piles of misinformation and double speak but rarely any hard information.

Any questioning of the developmental issue was carefully deflected to ‘maybe next time’.

Fish trawler by-catch estimates always fell just below the ‘critical’ stop fishing level.

However, it was the fate of the Gulf coast’s mangrove jack that most concerned the community of Weipa and I. Tags recovered from a trawler catch revealed mangrove jack from Gulf coast rivers were travelling up to 70 nautical miles offshore to spawn in huge breeding aggregations.

These extremely vulnerable fish were then being scooped up, tonnes at a time, by trawlers targeting these schools.

Jacks on the east coast have a structure that provides protection during spawning events – the Great Barrier Reef.

The Gulf, in comparison, has very few large expanses of high reef, putting any offshore breeding populations in a very dire situation.

I was repeatedly rebuffed and patronised when I tried to bring the large catches of mangrove jack to the attention of the Joint Authority.

When the incident in Cairns highlighted the very serious nature of this exploitation, any semblance of a straight answer was carefully evaded.

It was an absolutely insane, ludicrous situation!

How could you have a Queensland Fisheries manager at one desk down in HQ Brisvegas saying mangrove jack were vulnerable and deserving of special limits when the Joint Authority Manager a couple of desks away was allowing open slather.

Yet the pair are still there in that office supposedly managing our fish stocks professionally.

Excuse if I use the term again – bullshit!

The story doesn’t stop there, of course.

The Weipa community has repeatedly broached this ludicrous situation with ministers, politicians and bureaucrats since, on one occasion receiving personal assurance from a visiting minister that the issue would be vehemently pursued once he arrived back in his office.

He was never heard from again!

There’s certainly a very strong smell where the Gulf’s mangrove jack are concerned.

Perhaps it’s the remains of the plundered spawning aggregations floating to the surface and continuing to haunt our dreams.

Or maybe it’s the somewhat obscure fact that the company owning the fish trawlers is a major election contributor to both sides of our state parliament!

There are definitely no winners here!

Only significantly less mangrove jack along the west coast than there were 20 years ago.

Only a vulnerable species that may be close to endangered.

Only disgruntled fishers who no longer get the opportunities they once had to tangle with this iconic species.

Management?

Or monumental environmental vandalism?

You be the judge! www.bnbfishing.com. au

Crocodiles typically bask during the cooler winter months.

The freshwater crocodile is easily recognised by its narrow snout.

Crocodiles of Cape York I

N his book Down Under, American author Bill Bryson claims the one animal that instils fear into Australians is the crocodile.

Our estuarine crocodile is a huge aquatic predator that certainly has a fearsome reputation for ‘taking’ humans, even though such ‘attacks’ are actually quite rare.

They absolutely have to be respected!

Talking to people visiting Cape York, it seems crocs are of interest to everyone.

Most would like to see some of these iconic reptiles on their trip, while a few just want to stay right away from them.

Being wary of crocodiles is a natural instinct, and certainly nothing to be ashamed of.

The reality is visiting crocodile country is much safer than many realise, so long as you follow a few basic but important rules – and have a reasonable understanding of these incredible creatures.

I was involved in some of the first-ever crocodile research and surveys in Queensland, and have continued to be so over the years.

The reality is the more we learn about crocodiles, the more we realise what little we know about them.

This article is intended to share some authentic and hopefully interesting knowledge about these reptiles.

Crocodiles were around many millions of years before the dinosaurs, and understandably are superbly adapted for hunting and living in the wide range of aquatic habitats they occupy.

For example, the scutes on a crocodile’s back are naturally engineered to allow them to move through the water with minimal disturbance.

They also act as solar panels, absorbing the sun’s heat, which in turn heats the blood flowing through them.

Every scale, and an even stronger sensory organ in the lower jaw, detects movements by other animals in the water nearby.

This of course helps crocodiles locate prey in dark conditions.

Crocodiles also feature an extra, transparent eyelid to help them see under water.

Very handy!

Lingual glands on the crocodile’s tongue expel salt from the body when they are living in saltwater habitats. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Cape York by ‘BILLABONG’ BAZZ LYON

The freshwater crocodile is the smaller of the two croc species that occur in Australia, and only inhabits Australia.

As their name suggests, freshies manly inhabit freshwater rivers and billabongs, but they can also occur in brackish water.

Easily distinguished by their narrow snout, they grow to about 3m, however 2m is more common for a large male.

Male crocodiles always grow longer than females.

Freshwater crocodiles are not generally regarded as being dangerous to humans unless interfered with.

They certainly have a head full of sharp, pointy teeth to defend themselves if needed.

However, the main purpose of these teeth is for grabbing and securing the fish they mostly feed on.

As part of our research, we once flushed out the stomachs of quite a number of freshies to see what they had been eating.

The tell-tale crucifix bone of catfish was very commonly found, along with remains of bony bream and archerfish.

A couple of larger crocs had also eaten ‘darters’, a type of waterbird similar to a cormorant, and even Arafura file snakes – an aquatic snake with rough skin like a file. T he largest freshwater crocodile we ever caught was 2.5m long.

It was living in a turkey nest dam on a cattle station near the Gulf township of Croydon.

Amazingly, this croc was feeding only on small fish up to about 15cm long.

Freshwater crocodiles are very smart with their breeding habits.

The females lay their eggs (five to 25) in a sandy riverbank in lateJuly/August, and these usually hatch in November – before the flooding associated with the imminent wet season happens.

This strategy eliminates the risk of the developing crocodiles in the eggs from drowning, except when the occasional very early wet season happens.

Along with their estuarine crocodile relatives, female freshies assist their young in entering life in quite an unusual way.

Around hatching time, each mum visits her nest each night, and when she

eventually finds the young emerging from the nest, she carries them down to the water’s edge in her toothy jaws.

This is a very unusual level of parental care for a reptile.

The estuarine crocodile, otherwise known as the ‘salty’, grows to at least 7m in length and is found in other parts of the IndoPacific region as well as Australia.

Neither common name is accurate, as ‘salties’ thrive in fresh water and occur well upriver away from any estuaries, along coastlines and even on islands.

They are opportunistic feeders.

Anything that can be grabbed or taken down is fair game, though many authorities believe humans are not key prey.

Otherwise, they would be pulling people in left, right and centre.

Again, catfish seem to make up a fair part of the diet for crocodiles living in rivers, though all fish may be eaten, including turtles, birds, pigs, dogs and even cattle and horses, depending on the size of the crocodiles.

There are plenty of reports of low-flying birds and bats being plucked out of the sky, and flying foxes in particular seem to be a favourite.

Estuarine crocodiles don’t need to feed every day, or even every week, and can actually live for months without eating much at all, though not for prolonged periods.

Current research being undertaken by the University of Queensland and Australia Zoo in the Wenlock River on Cape York shows that some large male estuarine crocodiles have distinct home ranges within a river system, while others are more nomadic, nearly always moving about.

Breeding females generally have a smaller home range than the males.

Around the start of the wet season, they will leave ‘home’ country to move to a breeding location often tens of kilometres away.

There, they build a nesting mound out of vegetation and soil on a river or swamp bank, and lay about 55 eggs that hatch three months later.

The females stay around the nest to defend it from predators during the incu-

bation period, and typically lay in a muddy wallow for much of this time.

Big wet seasons will see many nests drowned by floodwaters, especially in Queensland’s low-lying Gulf country.

Crocodiles also have amazing navigating abilities, and relocation of ‘problem’ crocodiles rarely works, as the crocodile can easily find its way back to its original home.

The most famous example of this is ‘Weldon’, a 4.2m crocodile captured in the Wenlock River by Steve Irwin and his team back in 2003.

Fitted with a satellite tag, Weldon was relocated by chopper to the east coast of Cape York and tracked as part of a research project.

Using ocean currents to help save energy, Weldon unerringly made his way to the tip of Cape York, then swam down the west coast and back into the Wenlock to exactly where he had been caught.

The best time to see these remarkable reptiles is during the cooler months when they bask in the sun on riverbanks.

At night you can also see their tell-tale ruby red eye shines with a good light (held in front of your eyes).

Some people claim crocodiles ‘eat out’ all the fish.

Not so.

Whereever you have large populations of crocodiles, you have healthy ecosystems and the best barramundi fishing.

The Northern Territory is the classic example of this.

It features the highest populations of estuarine crocodiles in the world, and yes, the best barra fishing!

Apex predator crocodiles play a vital role in keeping their aquatic ecosystems balanced, though the way this happens is yet to be fully revealed.

The Department of the Environment and Energy has ‘Croc Wise’ safety information readily available on signage, brochures and their website.

In a nutshell, being croc wise is basically about staying out of the water and camping and bank fishing well back from the water’s edge.

It is also vital to not discard or leave fish frames or other meat/bones lying around where they will attract scavenging crocodiles – especially at the water’s edge.

Crocodiles will even travel some distance from

water to find such ‘fast food’.

The attack on beachfront campers at Bathurst Bay in 2004 was triggered by previous campers burying fish frames in the sand, enticing the crocodile up the beach.

Otherwise, you can follow the movements of many of the crocodiles tagged by the University of Queensland and Australia Zoo on australiazoo. com.au/conservation/pro jects/tracking/crocodiles These interactive tracking maps have been developed by Dr Ross Dwyer and Prof Craig Franklin from UQ and make for super-interesting viewing.

They are part of the largest-ever study into estuarine crocodiles.

Until next month!

A mud-camouflaged crocodile in the Wenlock River.

Even large crocodiles are not always easy to spot.

Sometimes basking crocodiles are a little harder to see.

find us on facebook • Win prizes • Post your brag • Chat to readers shots and writers • Join in on the fun • See who’s catching banter what • Have a laugh

www.facebook.com/bnbfishing Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 53

When they are on, they are on! Barra doubles.

The crew for ‘Cape York 2019- Beer and Barra Classic’.

Cape York turns it on

I

N the previous edition of BNB I penned an article on preparations for our annual week-long fishing pilgrimage to chase barra in the upper reaches of one of my favourite Cape York river systems.

Another barra double!

Nev and a nice barra from the fresh.

This year’s trip (held in late-September) was titled the ‘Cape York 2019Beer and Barra Classic’.

A lot of planning goes into these extended trips, as we travel significant distances into remote areas (500km) by trailer boat from Thursday Island and crews need to be completely self-sufficient for the week.

Cape York is a wild place and shouldn’t be underestimated, as mistakes can be costly.

We spent the day prior to the trip doing final checks and attempting to pack all supplies somewhat systematically while considering weight distribution, as we would be carrying a lot of additional fuel, ice, food and other supplies.

We had three other boats joining us for this trip.

My crew consisted of my old man Gary, father-in-law Neville and 11-year-old nephew Axel who were all keen to bag a barra.

This year we actually had a couple more factors

Smoke on the water. Cruising Cape York as a bushfire burnt over sunset.

Page 54 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

Cape York & Torres Strait

by MATT POTTER

in our favour such as better tides, moon phase and even the water temperatures had increased.

The long-awaited departure date finally arrived and we set off across a treacherous stretch of water known as the Endeavour Strait, which was named in 1770 by Captain James Cook after his own ship.

Despite the wind being up, the current was running hard in the same direction, which meant conditions were reasonable.

We have experienced this crossing far worse in years gone by.

After a 4.5-hour journey, we had reached our destination.

We unpacked the boats, set up camp, cracked another beer and took in the surroundings.

I’ve fished this river many times, so I was confident traversing the maze of sand and rock bars to access some of the better barra fishing in the upper reaches.

We had a high tide early morning and late afternoon, which would allow us to venture into the fresh, fish the low tide and then slowly work our way back downriver with the incoming tide.

We were up early the first morning.

After a quick coffee and brekky, we pulled the boat to the shore using the stern line (this is croc country), dragged in the anchor and motored straight upriver with one of the crews following closely behind.

I had marked out the channel the previous year, so little time was wasted navigating the shallow river.

It is a hard decision to drive past so many fishylooking snags.

However, I had a plan in mind and knew I wanted to spend more time in the upper reaches because this is where we had found the better fishing and it is just such a magic part of the world as the scen-

ery changes and the banks change from mangroves to palms.

After a slow start, I set up a troll run along a bank where we had found barra in years gone by.

We were using a couple of Classic Barra Ghost 10’ divers and it didn’t take long for the old man to hook up on a nice barra.

Unfor tunately it wrapped him around a snag and despite doing our best to free it, the first round went to the barra.

Next to hook up was my 11-year-old nephew and he did a great job with the rod, soon bagging his first barra at 66cm.

It was high-fives all round.

We dropped another fish before I decided to quietly anchor where we had re-

ceived all the hits.

We peppered the snags with a couple of my favourite lures including the Ghosts in Casper colour and the ever-reliable Gold Bombers.

It wasn’t long before the second barra was in the boat.

This fish to my nephew was released after a few photos.

What followed was a barra session I won’t forget and it almost seemed like a fish a cast, so long as you could land your lure in an area about a metre square.

I was stoked because everyone on board was bagging nice barra from 60-80cm.

The highlight of the session was a double hookup with my nephew as he boated a solid 74.5cm model and I was very happy with my 86cm specimen. * continued P55

Axel was stoked with his first of many barra for the trip.

The author and his nephew Axel with the results of a barra double that measured in at 74.5cm and 86cm.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Cape York turns it on once again * from P54

While I was using my trusty Shimano Curado 200HG baitcast reel (which I will happily cast all day), the rest of the crew were knocking over great fish on 4000 Shimano Siennas, which are such great little reels, particularly for the price ($45!).

Our hot session slowed, so after a quick lunch we set off, casting our way downriver.

We anchored at a rock bar and threw a few flesh baits for a mangrove jack using 5/0 Big Gun Mustads, 60lb Black Magic leader, 30lb Platypus braid on 4000 Sienna reels and Shimano Raider 601 Barra Spin rods.

We managed a couple of cod and the old man scored a nice jack.

One of the other crews anchored nearby and the sledging began because they hadn’t had

Teamwork makes the dream work. Another barra boated.

The author’s father Gary Potter with a nice barra at 72cm.

This 78cm slab of chrome was pulled from a rock bar on a Gold Bomber.

any luck on the barra.

Before pulling anchor, I decided to cast a Gold Bomber around the rock bar.

I briefly hooked up to a solid barra that spat the hooks.

Soon everyone was casting lures and it was my father-in-law, Nev, who boated a solid 68cm chrome saltwater barra.

I followed with a jack on a Gold Bomber and then a beautiful 78cm barra that put on a great show in front of the other barraless boat.

The other crew yelled a few choice words, pulled anchor and took off, much to our entertainment.

Of course, I continued to remind them of what they had witnessed over the VHF. We worked our way back to camp, pushing through thick smoke from a bushfire that had broken out on the other side of the river.

Back at camp we discovered a dingo had been through the camp and helped itself to any food items that weren’t packed away, mainly bread and snacks left on the camp table.

A few beers around the campfire topped off a great day.

The following day the forecast was set to drop out, so again we were up early.

We headed to a reef about 20 nautical miles away.

Despite some great shows on the sounder, we had little reward for our efforts, only boating a couple of nannygai, trout, sweetip and brassy trevally.

The weather picked up and we punched into a nasty chop back to the river, trolling up a couple of school mackerel as we entered the river.

A thumping GT of about 25kg also provided some great entertainment.

The wind was set to really kick in over the next few days, with a strong wind warning issued.

I often use the satellite phone to get regular updates and it brings peace

of mind when exploring remote areas.

With the news of strong wind on the way, it was back to chasing barra and we headed back upriver the following day.

I find that once a couple of fish are located, an effective strategy is quietly anchoring because it allows you to really target where the fish are holding and allows everyone to have a fish.

Another reason I often anchor is my 7m Fisher isn’t the ideal barra boat and the cabin often catches the strong 25-knot gusts, making it challenging for whoever is on the wheel.

A 4.3m tinnie with a Minn Kota would be ideal, but that said, this method of fishing was proving successful.

The barra were really firing and we bagged another 24 barra to 80cm in a two-hour window of madness.

I managed a quadruple hook-up with all three of my crew and it was a redhot session I won’t forget.

We released all the fish because freshwater barra aren’t regarded as great table fare and we were just grateful for the experience.

A Queensland grouper got in on the action and stole a few fish at the side of the boat, which certainly got the heart racing and was a surprising sight so far upriver in the fresh.

Once the fishing slowed, we switched to plastics because I assumed the fish may be sitting deeper.

Things fired up again and we boated another half dozen fish on prerigged white Squidgy Slick Rigs before things went quiet.

I was feeling pretty elated with the fishing we had experienced and it was great to see my old man, father-in-law and nephew boat great fish.

The next day was a lazy one around camp because all crews were buggered and we needed to ensure we had plenty of fuel in case it was a rough journey home across the Endeavour Strait.

We checked the crab pots

Gary Potter boated this healthy barra on a Squidgy Slick Rig.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

(which had been smashed by nurse sharks), flicked a few lures for queenfish along the campsite and kicked back with a beer and reflected on the fishing we had experienced.

We decided to pack the boats on the high tide that afternoon so we didn’t have to carry gear as far the next morning and could depart for home on first light.

The run home was surprisingly good.

With schools of northern bluefin and mack tuna busting up, it was difficult to drive past them.

We caught a couple of tuna on the home-made butter knife lures while the other crews caught up.

Nev also managed a spanish mackerel that hit a Rapala X-Rap Magnum 30.

The nephew was stoked to spot a couple of crocs on the way home.

Despite the wind, the conditions were fair because once again the current was in our favour and the 7m Fisher ate up the chop.

We arrived home satisfied but completely buggered with a huge cleanup ahead.

Do the miles and get the smiles!

Check out videos and more photos from this trip on our Fishing Missions- Northern Australia Facebook page.

Gary bagged a jack.

Nev landed a spanish mackerel on the run home.

Nev pulled this barra from a rock bar.

Axel with a freight train GT caught at the river mouth.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 55

4WDING & off - road

Toyota expands availability of advanced safety T OYOTA has introduced four new advanced safety features to its Fortuner range, including hightech crash avoidance capability and technology to help drivers stay in the desired lane.

The move means Toyota vehicles representing 89.5 percent of its sales are now available with these key features from the Toyota Safety Sense suite of advanced technologies.

This includes 97 percent of Toyota’s passenger cars and more than 85 percent of its SUVs and light-

commercial vehicles.

Toyota vice president Sales and Marketing Sean Hanley said the company plans to move beyond 90 percent as soon as possible by further expanding the availability of advanced safety technologies as new or updated models are introduced.

“This year, we expect to deliver well in excess of 200,000 new Toyota vehicles in Australia – and a substantial majority will be equipped with potentially life-saving features that can help prevent and mitigate col-

lisions,” Mr Hanley said.

“Fortuner is just the latest vehicle in our range to offer crash avoidance and lane-keeping technologies – features that are already standard in top-selling models as diverse as HiLux, Corolla hatch, Camry, Kluger and HiAce. “It has achieved a fivestar safety rating.”

Fortuner’s pre-collision safety system uses a forward-facing camera and radar that can detect vehicles and pedestrians day or night and cyclists during the day.

Newly adopted lane-

departure technology in Fortuner is designed to help prevent accidents.

When the system detects the vehicle may deviate from its lane, it alerts the driver with visual and audible warnings and vibrates the steering wheel.

If necessary, it can provide steering assistance through the braking system.

Fortuner also gains a high-speed active cruise control to maintain a suitable distance from a vehicle ahead when travelling above 40 km/h, and roadsign assist.

These two technologies are linked.

When the RSA detects a speed-limit sign that is different to the pre-set cruise-control speed, the driver can use steeringwheel switches to reset the vehicle speed to match the new speed limit.

In a further upgrade, Fortuner GX joins the GXL and Crusade variants in having a colour 4.2” screen displaying key driving information in the instrument cluster.

The new safety and convenience features result in price increases of 2.3 to 3 per cent – though the RRPs are between $3700 and $4200 lower than when the Fortuner nameplate was introduced in 2015, due to a late-2017

price realignment.

Seven-seat Fortuner is powered by a 130kW, 450Nm 2.8-litre four-cylinder common-rail directinjection turbo-diesel engine.

Mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, its fuel use is just 8.6 litres/100km.

Every Fortuner is equipped with an air-conditioned cool box, Bluetooth connectivity and audio and phone controls mounted on the steering wheel.

Extra equipment for GXL variants includes keyless smart entry and start, roof rails, fog lamps, privacy glass and downhill assist control.

Top-of-the-range Crusade has additional fea-

tures such as leatheraccented interior, power tailgate, climate-control air-conditioning, bi-LED headlamps, 18-inch alloy wheels and a power-operated driver’s seat.

Every Fortuner is covered by Toyota Service Advantage capped-price servicing at a maximum of $240 per service.

Visit toyota.com.au to learn more about the Fortuner range.

Fortuner manufacturer list prices GX

$45,965

GXL

$50,790

Crusade

$58,290

Premium paint (all grades) $ 600

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f

Tomato relish Ingredients: • 800g cherry tomatoes • 200g capsicum, finely diced • 2 shallots, finely sliced • 2 cups white sugar • 1 cup white vinegar • 1 tbsp dried chilli flakes • 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard • 1 tbsp curry powder • 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated • 1 tbsp cornflour • 1 lime Method: 1. Cut cherry tomatoes in half.

2. Put tomatoes in slow cooker. Add capsicum, shallots, sugar, vinegar, chilli flakes, wholegrain mustard, ginger and cook on low for three hours, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove lid, use a masher to break down the tomatoes.

Add curry powder and juice of one lime.

4. Mix cornflour in a dish with enough water to make a paste.

Add to slow cooker and stir to thicken the tomato relish. Put lid back on the slow cooker and simmer for another hour.

5. Remove pot from slow cooker and allow to stand and slightly cool.

6. Sterilise jars in hot water.

Spoon tomato relish into warm jars and fill. Turn jars upside down for one minute and then upright to seal jars.

Allow to completely cool.

Notes Serve with cured meats, crackers, cheese or a side to a breakfast dish such as last month’s Breakfast Muffins recipe.

Prep time: 10 min | Cook time: 4 hours | Makes 6-8 cups www.bnbfishing.com. au

C AMPING & outdoors Shu fly don’t bother me – Royal Robbins Bug Barrier Expedition Long Sleeve Shirts

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 57

C AMPING & outdoors

“OMG” says the author, just smell this damper.

Garrett enjoyed the outdoors lifestyle with this camp setup on Stradbroke Island.

Fires – the good and the bad H

I all, southeast Queensland and northern NSW have endured a terrible fire season and my heart goes out to those who have felt the harshness of Mother Nature.

Enjoying the holidays was Corina with a Yabba Creek catfish.

The author was so proud of grandson Jack with his PB whiting.

Page 58 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

Some have lost property and livelihoods, but one thing is for sure, the Australian landscape will return with fresh regrowth and the burnt scars will fade into the greenery.

It will once again provide us with the beautiful campsites and outdoor activities we have grown accustomed to in this region.

It’s important to return and use these same areas to keep up the economies of many of the small towns that rely on tourism dollars.

On a personal note, I’m one who loves an open fire while camping and the thought of a camp oven damper cooked on the coals just takes the outdoor experience to another level.

Unfortunately, when enduring the recent dry conditions combined with strong wind, fire bans have been required for the safety of campers and of course local properties.

I understand the disappointment this creates but please take a moment to realise the potential of danger.

I hear a lot of comments from campers saying “this is a bit over the top” or “what, is it a nanny state?” but when authorities take precautions, it is for a reason.

At these extreme times you’ll probably find the simple act of slashing paddocks or using any equipment such as brushcutters has also been restricted.

One steel blade engaging with a rock can create a spark to start a devastating bushfire.

It really is that easy.

I travel about 100km a day on country roads and still see roadside fires started from discarded cigarette butts out of moving vehicles.

All I can say is please be careful and understand the possible devastation that can be caused

Outdoors

by PAUL ‘CHIEF’ GRAVESON

from this action.

When the rain comes and the fire bans have been lifted, authorities and campgrounds are usually happy for you to enjoy that open fire.

With that said, I’m going to keep the camping dream alive and look at one of my favourite camping experiences of making a camp oven damper and my steps for success.

First thing to know is how your camp oven works.

The most simple and basic rule is your camp oven will cook from the top down, so remember this and with the following steps you should produce a consistent and delicious damper.

Damper is an iconic dish prepared by our early swagman, drovers and bushman and was an important resource in their everyday dietary needs.

We’ve been talking of the dangers of fires, so let’s look at the positives, because good coals are essential in achieving success.

Build your fire and let it burn to produce those coals needed to supply your heat source.

I always clear a small area beside the main fire to assist in my cooking.

My method is to move some of the coals from the fire onto that cleared area I have created and place the camp oven on top of the coals.

At this stage the oven is empty and I’ll take the time to mix up my mixture and let it sit while the oven is heating.

Flour, water, a touch of salt and the secret ingredient: icing sugar.

The icing sugar just gives the damper a beautiful sweet taste, especially when accompanied by a spread of butter and your choice of either syrup or honey.

Going back to the oven heating on the coals, sprinkle a good coating of

flour on the bottom and let that brown.

This is a critical part of your success.

If that flour burns, so will your damper, as the flour is your indicator of the heat present in the oven.

When the coating of flour turns golden brown, take the oven off the coals and place it on the dirt, then throw in your dough mixture, close the lid and cover your oven with a good layer of hot amber coals, so it begins to cook from the top down.

Remember the colour of the flour on the bottom of your oven?

That colour will indicate the bottom colour of your damper.

Golden brown flour means a golden brown base.

Burnt flour simply means a thick burnt base.

Believe me, this simple rule will have you producing consistent, beautifully textured damper.

I like to leave the oven cooking for about 35 minutes before lifting the lid to check.

Ten times out of 10 I’m greeted by the most lightly goldened piece of heaven, with an aroma to draw in any nearby campers.

You may stick a knife in to see if it’s cooked right through.

You might decide to give it another five minutes, but either way, this fresh damper eaten around the campfire sure takes some beating.

Cleaning up afterwards has a basic set of rules.

I’ll wipe out the inside of the oven while hot with a paper towel and coat it with a thin layer of vegetable oil before storing.

Now I’ve discussed the cooking method, let’s back track and have a closer look at preparing that dough.

I’m going to stick with the basic recipe used by our early Australians, except for the icing sugar

additive, but you could go total Flash Harry adding onion, bacon, garlic and mix in butter or milk instead of water – the possibilities are endless.

My damper mixture doesn’t require too much attention to detail, but traditionally a few simple rules need to be followed.

My number-one rule is throw it together and do not knead the dough.

Just as a guideline, use two and half cups of selfraising flour and a good pinch of salt.

Add a heaped teaspoon of icing sugar and then just keep adding water and stirring with a clean piece of wood until the mix holds together without sticking to the sides of your bowl.

Wham, bam, done.

I’ve attached a picture of Quick-Lock Bag Sealers distributed by Anrise Imports in Caloundra.

They are perfect for camping and keep your food fresh, dry and air-

tight, and you’ll probably come across them at many of the camping shows in southeast Queensland.

Try this traditional damper recipe and see if you have the success I do and enjoy just how easy it really is.

I’ll be preparing quite a few of these next year while Tonia and I take off on a 12-month adventure surfing, fishing and hunting all over Australia.

Stay tuned to find out what we share on our journey.

I hope you made use of the school holidays in September/October and had a ball.

I know of a few PBs taken by holiday-makers including Corina Nucifora with her biggest catfish from Yabba Creek and my own grandson Jack who landed his trophy whiting while camping on Stradbroke Island.

Enjoy our great outdoors and try that damper.

Cheers, Chief.

As the flour turns when making damper, take the oven off the heat as it’s ready for the dough.

These Quick-Locks are perfect for camping.

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C ARAVANNING & adventure

Florence Falls.

Wangi Falls.

Legendary Litchfield National Park C ONTINUING our Aussie adventure, we headed to another epic Northern Territory National Park: Litchfield.

Litchfield National Park is amazing and a great family camping destination, with plenty of great campgrounds within a short drive from one another.

We decided to base ourselves at Florence Falls Campground.

This area is nestled on top of a hill, which gave us a nice outlook and breeze on most days.

It was only a short stroll from the campground to Florence Falls, with about 130 steps the only challenge to access the stunning waterfall and deep pool to swim beneath the falls.

It really is a stunning waterfall but unfortunately was very crowded while we were there.

If you continued past Florence Falls you’d find a lovely walking trail that took you up to Buley Rockhole, which is really the creek that runs back over Florence Falls.

Buley Rockhole was also very crowded, so we walked downstream from Buley towards Florence Falls along the creek where you could find your own piece of paradise, with numerous spa pools you could sit in and enjoy the cool flowing water and tranquil surroundings.

About 40km to the west of Florence Falls is another very popular waterfall, Wangi Falls.

This is much grander in scale because the waterhole below the fall is simply massive.

It pays to be at these more popular falls early in the day to try to avoid the day trippers coming out of Darwin and of course the tour buses that operate in these areas.

A nice walk takes you through a tropical rainforest section with plenty of bird life and flying foxes among the canopy.

This leads to the top of Wangi Falls and offers a www.bnbfishing.com. au

Caravanning

by TODD EVELEIGH

nice lookout over Litchfield and below into the plunge pool, but unfortunately you cannot swim at the top.

One of our favourite parts of Litchfield was Sandy Creek Falls (Tjaynera Falls).

This is a bit of a drive, not so much in distance (about 35km from the turn-off), but it was a real four-wheel-drive track to access the area, with numerous creek crossings over hard rock bottoms.

You need a vehicle with a bit of ground clearance to get in and out of the creeks and navigating rocky outcrops.

Along the drive we saw some amazing termite mounds the size of the car and in some areas they looked like cemetery headstones.

We also passed numerous billabongs.

Because Sandy Creek was a bit harder to access, it didn’t have as many people there, which is why I think we found it more beautiful than the other falls.

We pretty much had it to ourselves, with just one or two others around

while there.

The water was a lovely cool temperature and to swim across the plunge pool and sit under the waterfalls looking across and up the escarpment later in the afternoon really was beautiful.

A little slice of Litchfield paradise to ourselves.

Another of our favourite spots was Greenant Creek (Tjaetaba Falls), which is a sacred bit of waterway for the traditional owners.

If you follow the track to the end you’ll find a viewing platform that looks over to the falls.

But if you make the effort and walk another 150m you can stand and look over the top of this waterfall and Litchfield.

This very special place felt like it had a bit of magic about it.

Another spectacular outlook later in the afternoon was Tolmer Falls.

You couldn’t swim here because the rock pools were 50-75m straight down in a gorge, but it really was a beautiful place on sunset just to look across at the falls and gorge and watch all the colours slowly change

as the sun went down.

On the other end of the spectrum, one of the disappointing places for us was Surprise Creek Falls.

I think the surprise was there weren’t any falls, and when we arrived after travelling quite a rough bit of road, the rock pools were quite stagnant and green.

I am sure earlier in the wet season this place would be absolutely amazing.

Litchfield National Park has had a lot of money spent on it, with fantastic man-made walking paths and staircases to access the waterfalls and great camping facilities.

Because of this, some people rate Litchfield higher than Kakadu.

The additions are great to allow people of all ages and fitness levels to access these areas but I think this has taken away a little of the beauty of the place.

It is not so natural in places anymore and has a high number of tourists and tour operators frequenting the area on a daily basis from Darwin.

Please don’t get me wrong, it is still a simply beautiful place and mustsee for everyone.

Being so close to Darwin, you can see quite a bit of it in just one day.

Surprise Creek Falls.

But I do love the national parks that have been kept natural and are a little harder to get in and out of because this gives you that genuine feeling of being out in nature and seeing it in its raw natural beauty with less human impact.

This is probably why Sandy Creek Falls was our favourite, as it was left untouched.

So if you are ever in Darwin, do yourself a favour and hire a car to get out there.

Do a day trip to Litchfield and see some of these beautiful falls yourself.

The most popular ones are accessible by 2WD car but if you have the time, take three days and a 4WD to allow you to get into the more remote areas and enjoy the natural beauty the park has to offer.

There are no national park fees to access Litchfield, only camping fees to stay there, which can be paid to the campground caretakers.

You can get an idea of pricing through Wikicamps or the NT National Parks website.

You cannot book online, so it’s best to get in early prior to lunchtime.

Downstream from Buley Rockpool. The author’s private rockpool.

Sandy Creek Falls.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 59

CatCh barra Catch more barra at Lake Monduran W

ELL again it’s time to write about how I fish our world-class barra fishery at Lake Monduran.

at Lake MonDuran

To pick up where I left the last article, I have found over the years things don’t change too much from season to season.

The only thing I believe changes is where you will find the fish.

Let’s say we are moving into winter.

The barra will move down the dam to spend time in a place that suits them, finding what makes them happy.

The other thing is bait numbers may drop off (not breed), so this may be why they move.

Garfish seem to go into hiding in the cooler months.

Barra will always be where the bait is.

While we don’t like to be out there when the wind is blowing from the south and west, learning to fish these winds will help you catch more barra in the long run.

At this time of year I fish the northern and eastern banks but getting the wind direction right is important.

The barra don’t really go into hiding but the cooler months slow how quickly they digest food.

They will still take lures but you really need to be right in the strike zone, unlike in the warmer

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Guide to Monduran

by JAMIE BEIN

months when they will chase your lure to eat it.

The lures I use don’t change much from winter to summer.

As we move into the warmer months, the bait starts breeding more often and the barra start to move back up the dam as the wind starts to blow from the southwest to southeast of a morning.

We sometimes need to move around looking for the barra in this scenario because it is such a big shift in wind direction.

Reading the wind wrong can mean getting one or two barra or getting eight or 10 barra for your morning.

But then when the wind moves from the southeast to the north, you need to go looking in different spots again because they follow the wind.

Barra don’t stay in one spot all their lives, rather moving all the time.

You may cast your lure at a log under the water and get a barra, but that fish won’t have a permanent residence there.

This is unlike Murray cod, which will find a log or rock in the water and live there until they die or get caught and taken.

As a rule, you can keep going back to that spot and catching the same Murray

cod time after time.

Something that makes it hard to catch barra is boats moving into where you’re fishing using the petrol motor, which often shuts the fish down.

Too much banging on the floor or side of your boat will make fishing harder than it needs to be too.

During school holidays finding somewhere to fish may be hard, but taking your time the night before and working out a plan of where you’re going to fish the next day is a very good idea.

Working out more than

one plan is also great to have just in case someone is where you wanted to fish or the wind moves without warning.

I find that the why they feed is a big thing so what I do is have different lures on my rods.

I then try different retrieves to see what they want, and the one that gets hit the most or hooks the most barra is the one I use.

But once worked out, that’s when the fun can start.

I’d also like to say don’t put your net in the water too soon as this will spook your hooked fish and it will try harder to get away.

I like to wait until the barra comes up on its side, then net it.

I don’t pull it out of the

water too quickly as this will see your barra in a better state and helps the recovery of the fish.

Make sure your brag mat is wet and don’t spend too long getting the hooks out.

Then get some quick pictures and spear your fish back into the water.

As you can see in the photo, Wayne’s first Lake Monduran barra went 90cm and was hooked on a B52.

These fish don’t like to be contained so they fight bloody hard to get away.

But the strike is so exciting because they just smash and run with the lure.

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A B52 lure was tempting for this barra.

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DAM LEVELS CURRENT AS OF 14/10/2019

DAMS

PERCENTAGE

MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT Atkinson 5 5 5 5 5 5 Awoonga 79 78 76 75 73 73 Bjelke-Petersen * 8 7 6 6 5 11 Boondooma * 32 31 30 29 28 27 Borumba * 95 95 96 95 93 88 Burdekin Falls * 100 100 99 95 93 87 Callide * 50 48 47 45 42 41 Cania * 74 72 71 69 67 64 Coolmunda * 10 9 8 6 5 3 Dyer/Bill Gunn * 4 3 3 3 3 2 Eungella * 100 100 101 100 100 99 Fairbairn * 21 20 19 18 17 15 Glenlyon * 9 9 9 9 8 3.5 Hinze 94 93 93 92 90 89 Julius 96 93 90 88 86 84 Kinchant * 86 87 86 86 81 76 Leslie * 7 7 6 6 6 6 Macdonald 102 102 103 101 98 92 Maroon * 78 76 75 73 70 64 Monduran/Fred Haigh * 80 78 77 76 74 72 Moogerah * 63 60 57 53 49 45 North Pine/Samsonvale * 71 69 69 68 65 63 Peter Faust/Proserpine * 81 80 79 78 77 75 Somerset * 77 76 78 76 72 69 Teemburra * 100 100 101 100 99 98 Tinaroo* 100 97 95 92 88 82 Toonumbar 71 67 61 62 57 48 Wivenhoe * 58 56 55 53 52 50 Wuruma * 87 86 85 83 78 76 Wyaralong 91 90 89 88 87 87 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.

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Page 60 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

A spectacular sunset while cruising home.

Wayne with a healthy Monduran barra.

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Glenlyon Dam’s best bait fishing spot.

A scene from the wall at Glenlyon Dam when at 4 percent capacity. Still plenty of fishing water and depth.

Why no Murray cod maximum?

S

OME anglers like myself have sometimes been called Murray cod tragics, oneeyed, one-minded realists and so on.

I have a love for fishing river systems that hold cod.

It’s the fact you are at one with that special location and the enjoyment of going out to see just how good your ability is at catching that ace icon.

The recent Murray cod size limit change was not taken lightly by Fisheries management.

It was decided upon due to up-to-date research where people get their hands dirty, which won’t happen pushing buttons on a computer in an office.

Someone out there is going to say: “What about those big cod in the rivers breeding?”

Well, you don’t get cod or kids out of grandparents or ‘oldies’ for want of a better word.

I suggest you get on your keyboards and search for the following three reports.

1. Biology and population status of Murray cod in the northern MDB: summary report.

2. Building a stronger, more resilient and sustainable Murray cod fishery in NSW: summary report event four and event five.

3. Population structure of Murray cod.

This last study is ongoing (to 2021) in two northern Murray-Darling Basin rivers before and after the implementation of a 5575cm harvest slot size.

It’s a lot to type and much more to read, so print it on paper and take your time.

Importantly, this is the only hands-on science done on cod to date.

The format is now being used across four states to study the cod.

Take special note of cod breeding sizes and cold water in river systems during crop watering seasons.

A bit of history on the above.

Back in 2003/2004, I made a point to talk to a bloke called Glen Wilson who was staying at our park.

He was doing some studies on small river fish in our local streams.

Glen was from the University of New England www.bnbfishing.com. au

Glenlyon Dam

by BRIAN DARE

(Armidale) and was the professor in charge of the ecology section.

He had a team doing their thesis on the biology of fish in the northern Murray-Darling Basin.

The things Glen talked about got me thinking I needed to know more.

When it came time for Glen to write the study, he gave me a wooden plaque with a baby cod in a glass test tube and a thankyou on the plaque.

It has pride of place in the lounge room at home.

Glen showed and talked about purple-spotted gudgeons, hardiheads, smelt, carp gudgeons, rainbowfish, glassfish and so on.

Some 12 species in the food chain for our large fish in the Murray-Darling including cod, yellowbelly, silver perch, catfish and spangled perch.

I didn’t mention river blackfish but they are up here and it’s important the locations of this fish remain under wraps at this stage.

In 2006 I was given the phone number of Dr Stuart Rowlands who at the time was flat-out getting the east coast cod back into the Clarence River system, working from the Grafton CSIRO station in conjunction with NSW DPI Fisheries.

It was not until 2008 that we actually got the study on the Dumaresq River as I had a couple of setbacks on getting funding for the projects as some people didn’t get behind the format.

I was lucky enough to meet with the Queensland Murray-Darling Committee from Toowoomba who offered some funding, which was $12,000 that would cover two research trips under the format I had put forward.

It was later $56,000 in total.

Special mention goes to Steve Brooks who helped with the application forms for the research projects, a good friend.

I’ll also thank Dr Peter Kind, Dr Stuart Rowlands, Dr Gavin Butler and Dr Leo Cameron who along with Dan Smith ran the electrofishing boat as required.

As mentioned, we now have 13 years of information thanks to the above biologists’ input.

This project also had help in collecting the information thanks to anglers who had an infectious passion for cod.

It’s what you call citizen science.

Talking cod There are two different results for two types of waterways – one river, the other storage or dam.

The river results speak for themselves.

They’ve been mismanaged and we have bores operating still, but no allocations of water.

Cod and other species are stressed and to fish for them right now would only make it worse in what waterholes are left in our rivers.

I hear people say “we only catch and release on the rivers”.

If that’s the case, then why are we only finding cod 50cm and under on our research trips.

Keep in mind when reading the aforementioned publications that the most recent information in from July 2018.

Our last research trip in May 2019 is yet to be written up.

Wait until you read it!

What of our study site?

Flogged to bits by others who found out about the location and practised so called catch and release.

“51cm – it’s pan size, keep it!”

Read the reports, look at the size structure and age and then read about the dams or water storages.

Glenlyon Dam Glenlyon, along with Copeton Dam and others, is a place to fish, ski and paddle.

What do we know about the cod in the storages?

Well let’s look at a 16.518kg fish.

This is an eight-yearold animal, which can be confirmed by Dr Rowlands and Dr Wilson as I sent the otoliths to their Grafton research station.

It has also been done on larger fish but I used 100cm as a guideline.

Dr Wilson was not told what size the fish was but it was viewed at UNE and he confirmed it was

eight years old.

As for those big cod in the dam, well they are replacing themselves, as is the case in the rivers.

Keep in mind that as the water drops in our dams you are going to see competition in the water.

I have seen cod over 120cm in Glenlyon and I’m sure you have seen the photos in this very magazine.

I want to ask you the angler to think about the following.

If you catch one of these big fish, you are about to pull that fish out of the water.

Are you going to keep it to eat or let it go?

If you plan on releasing it, do so in the water.

Photos taken of the fish in the water are better than those where it is out of the water for seven minutes for that special shot.

Have you eaten Murray cod?

People will tell you it tastes fatty, but that is inaccurate.

If that’s the case, it was not treated with respect when being dressed to eat.

It’s in the filleting!

Glenlyon was sitting at 3 percent capacity at the time of writing but still fishing well.

Where is the rain!?

Terry Marshall scored a cod on his Garra Lures.

Mick McKinney-Smith aka ‘Mr One a Day’. He landed a 90cm, then a 78cm and finally a 93cm cod in three consecutive days.

GLENLYON DAM TOURIST PARK A great place to fish!

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Ph: 02 6737 5266 E: glenlyondamtouristp@bigpond.com Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 61

The renowned Ivanhoe Crossing in the Ord catchment is a great-looking spot to wet a line. Naturally, because of its ease of access, fishing pressure is very heavy.

Fishing in the wild, wild west A

T the time of writing, I’ve just returned from my annual late-winter/early spring road trip.

Western sooties, aka Jenkins grunters were loath to take a lure without serious coaxing. This one, however, decided to tackle a barra lure. This colouration was typical for the sooties in the Kimberley.

During the previous couple of years, we (my wife and I) have headed south to enjoy a spot of trout fishing in the fresh

The Vic River Roadhouse is a top spot for fuel, a feed or even an overnighter. The author and his wife called this little dust bowl home for a couple of days, enjoying the isolation.

The Fitzroy River was well populated with ‘mud geckos’. The section the author explored was home to the cool little freshwater variety.

One of the icons of the Kimberley. Very impressive boab trees are a feature of the landscape.

Page 62 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019

Fishing for Sport

by NEIL SCHULTZ

and spinning for salmon in the surf.

For something completely different this year (under instructions from the aforementioned spouse), we headed to warmer climes.

As you might imagine, during a lifetime of wandering around the great Australian outdoors, there aren’t too many regions we’ve not visited at least a few times.

One area we’d not yet seen was the Kimberly in northern Western Australia, so that was the location for which I made the considerable logistical plans involved for a visit.

In a departure from our normal modus operandi, we decided to fly for the first legs of the trip, from Brisvegas to Perth, then on to Port Hedland.

Being an iron ore export shipping facility, Port Hedland isn’t on too many tourist itineraries.

The only reason we commenced our road trip there was so we could participate in the local 5km run on the Saturday morning to tick another parkrun venue off our list.

Leaving Port, we ventured 800km south for a few days of bush walking and wildlife spotting at Ningaloo and Cape Range National Park – a stunning place.

During those few days and several following, we spent plenty of hours staring up the highway and visiting a few out of the way spots like Eighty Mile Beach and the Broome Bird Observatory without wetting a line.

Though we travelled thousands of kilometres of roads in northern WA, we didn’t wet a line until we were within an hour or so of the Northern Territory border.

Ivanhoe Crossing, a short drive from Kununurra, is a gorgeous location with clear running water even at the peak of the dry season.

The only drawback is it turned out to be everybody’s secret fishing spot,

so we found it sees very heavy angling pressure.

As is my usual habit, I walked away from the access point until I no longer saw ‘moron droppings’ on the bank before getting serious.

For my efforts, I managed a decent tarpon and a few other jump-offs before running out of daylight and returning to the vehicle away from the attentions of any resident crocodiles.

Once over the border and into the Northern Territory, we encountered more rivers and turned our attentions from red rock gorges and boab trees to fishing.

Heading east after crossing the border, we bypassed the popular fishing and tourist stop of Timber Creek, looking for somewhere less visited.

Our chosen overnight stop was the Victoria River Crossing, about 80km upstream of Timber Creek.

Here the ‘Vic River’ as it is known, was a series of freshwater pools, separated by stretches of rounded stones that turned out to be a little tricky underfoot.

Well upstream from the usual haunts of saltwater crocodiles (never say never), it was here I decided to go for a decent hike in search of sooty grunter.

While walking upstream in the early afternoon, the hot winter sun (32C) was on the water and there was little fish activity.

A few hungry freshwater longtoms chased the lure back to the rod tip, as did a couple of curious archerfish, but no strikes or hook-ups could be coerced.

Chunky diamond-scale mullet (liza vaigiensis) could be seen feeding in every pool, but they are obviously not a lure proposition.

After sweating and stumbling my way upstream for a few hours with no joy, except for jumping a handful of freshwater crocs from un-

derfoot, I turned to head back towards the vehicle.

Wandering along without casting, I made good headway to within a couple of pools from my starting point, where the change of angle had the river in the shadow of a bluff that formed the far bank.

Here I stopped to study a small school of fish that didn’t look 100 percent like the mullet I’d seen earlier.

At first glance they looked more like sooties in body shape, an appearance that became more convincing the longer I watched them.

My first cast to the school had all half a dozen fish turn to follow the lure for a couple of metres before turning away.

Their reaction was one of curiosity rather than aggression, following at a sedate pace without rushing towards the lure.

Good visibility allowed me to follow the movements of the fish as they patrolled the near edge of the pool over dense aquatic vegetation.

Cast after cast was largely ignored by the fish before an unseen sooty blasted from the deeper water to belt the lure.

Almost as soon as the strike pulled a bend into the rod, the fish bolted into the thick mats of plant on the riverbed.

Now my quarry was solidly anchored in the salad and I looked like losing my one and only 2 Deadly lure (the brainchild of Lance Butler).

Firm pressure applied through the rod eventually eased the fish from the vegetation, followed by a high rod angle and a rushed haul to the sand at my feet.

Happy with having avoided the loss of my lure, I was buoyed even further with the realisation that this was a new species for me.

A lifetime of fishing fresh water in the eastern states has included many hundreds of encounters with several species of grunter including the common sooty grunter, small headed grunter, coal grunter and Tully grunter.

The western grunter, commonly known as (yet another) black bream or Jenkins grunter was one species I’d not chased during my previous trips to the NT, so was very happy with this capture.

Apart from colouration, the Jenkins grunter was very similar in appearance to the sooty of the east coast and just as dogged a fighter on the end of a line.

Now the sun was below the horizon, blind casting produced a few more sooties for me before darkness and mozzies ushered me back to the comfort of camp.

Before the sun had appeared the next morning, I was back on the Vic River, this time close to camp where the river was an unbroken ribbon of silver in the darkness.

Feeding activity could be seen periodically as unseen fish noisily took insects from the surface.

Many would have been archerfish, but I did manage to land another sooty by flicking a shallow-running Predatek MinMin towards the splashes.

As the light level increased, I could see schools of small sooties milling around a large snag pile and one large individual cruising the shoreline.

Cast after cast was placed in front of those fish without any of them hitting the lure.

Eventually I gave up on them and tied on a 4” barra lure to work the large pool in which I was fishing.

About half an hour later there w as a bow wave racing to the spot where the lure landed.

The strike was a foregone conclusion, but the hooks pulled from the fish shortly after the hook-up without giving me the opportunity for an ID. Next cast went to the same spot to be grabbed by something smaller, that this time stayed pinned, revealing itself to be another sooty.

We were due to head further east, so a halt was called to the fishing to enable us to be out of camp before checkout time. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bush ‘n Beach merchandise FOR SALE & WANTED CRUISE CRAFT EXPLORER 600 (2002) powered by 175hp Yamaha Saltwater Series two-stroke and sitting on a Redco Sportsman trailer. Fitted with dual batteries, Lowrance sounder/GPS combo, brand new snap out (removable) carpet, folding rear lounge, cabin canvas door, cabin bunk centre infill cushion, bimini with clears, full extension and rocket launcher, new VHF radio, custom Cruise Craft baitboard with lid, large in-floor kill tank, deck wash, three months’ warranty, remainder of boat and trailer registrations and safety gear package.

Won’t last long at $39,990. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au CRUISE CRAFT RESORT 6 STERNDRIVE BOWRIDER (2007) powered by a MerCruiser fivelitre MPI V8 with only 191 hours! Redco galvanised trailer with electric brakes, spare wheel and carrier, Alpha One leg with four-blade stainless steel prop, dual batteries, bow cover, tonneau cockpit cover, bimini top, indy wake board tower, two wakeboard racks, cockpit table, Clarion stereo system, Lowrance fishfinder, GME 27mHz marine radio, safety gear package, three months’ warranty. Price dropped – now only $39,785! Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au CUSTOM SPEEDMASTER (2017) powered by Yamaha VMAX SHO VF250LA-FO and capable of over 125km/h! Less than 50 hours of use and never been raced. Brand-new Easytow tandem trailer, SeaStar hydraulic steering and jack plate, custom SeaDek flooring, 190-litre underfloor fuel tank, stainless ski pole, Hotfoot foot throttle and travel cover. Very quick social boat, great for scaring your mates. $48,990. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au HAINES SIGNATURE 493F - Suzuki 70Hp EFI 4S, Dunbier braked trailer, Lowrance 7Ti colour GPS/ Sounder, Fusion stereo, GME VHF radio, Bimini top, Storm cover, 2 pedestal seats, Rear lounge, Unplumbed bait tank, Rocket launcher. A sensational package from the Haines stable! @ $27,995 tow away – John Crawford Marine Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964 www.johncraw fordmarine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322.

HORIZON 420 ALLROUNDER PRO SC – Yamaha 30Hp ES 2S, Dunbier boat trailer, Upgrade painted hull (sunburnt orange), Simrad colour GPS/Sounder, Structure scan transducer, GME 27MHz radio, Bimini top, 2 pedestal seats, Bait board. Unbeatable value at $10,995 tow away - John Crawford Marine Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964 www. johncrawfordmarine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322.

LATE-MODEL USED ALUMINIUM BOATS WANTED from Quintrex, Stacer, Ally Craft, Stessco, Bar Crusher, Bluefin, Brooker and Clark – Make selling your boat simple and hassle free - Cash or Consign – John Crawford Marine Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964 www.johncrawfordmarine. com.au Ph. 3890 2322.

POLYCRAFT 410 CHALLENGER – Fantastic plastic open tiller, Mercury 40Hp EFI 4S (2016), Sea-Link boat trailer, Lowrance colour GPS/Sounder, Bait board, Cockpit lights, 4 rod holders, Bow casting platform. The perfect alternative to a tinny & gr8 value @ $12,995 tow away – John Crawford Marine Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964 www. johncrawfordmarine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322.

QUALITY USED FIBREGLASS BOATS WANTED from Haines Hunter, Signature, Cruise Craft, Baysport and Whittley – Make selling your boat simple and hassle free - Cash or Consign – John Crawford Marine Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964 www. johncrawfordmarine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322.

QUINTREX 370 TRAVELLER (2007) with Yamaha 15hp two-stroke on folding Real-Ezy trailer. A bargain at $3800. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au

ORDER FORM Item

Size (S-3XL)

Qty

Cost

x $35

Polo Blue/Gold

x $35

QUINTREX F390 EXPLORER - Fork nose hull, Evinrude ETEC 30Hp electric start and PTT, only 26 hours, Oceanic trailer, Lowrance sounder, Padded seats, Bimini top, Inshore safety pack, Ready to go fishing! @ the now reduced price of $9,495 tow away! – John Crawford Marine Queensland’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964 www.johncrawfordma rine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322.

Polo Navy/Red

x $35

Polo Navy/Gold

x $35

T-Shirt Stone

x $18

T-Shirt Lt Grey

x $18

T-Shirt Blue

x $18

STACER 359 PROLINE HULL ONLY (2014). The perfect ‘roof topper’ – super light yet big enough for good stability and comfort. Two Blueline clamp-in seats, floating floor, registered until October 3, 2019 and three months warranty. Just $1400. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wyn nummarine.com.au

one size Beanie Black Subtotal $

STACER 379 PROLINE ON REDCO TRAILER (2015) without motor. Great little tinnie suitable for use as a roof topper or normal tinnie. Trailer comes with 12 months’ rego. Perfect platform to build on. $2500 or add a brand-new Yamaha four-stroke for extra $$. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au STACER 399 SEASPRITE (2018) with Yamaha 30hp two-stroke on Redco galvanised trailer. Yamaha 24ltr fuel tank, Lowrance HOOK5 sounder/GPS plotter, navigation lights and switch panel, four bow bimini top, carpeted low floor and fuel tank rack, heaps of rod holders, safety gear package, tie-down strap, balance of boat and trailer registrations, three months warranty and guaranteed title.

Priced to go at $8490. Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wynnummarine.com.au STACER 429 OUTLAW TILLER STEER (2016) with Yamaha 40hp three-cylinder two-stroke motor on Stacer galvanised trailer. Plumbed live bait tank, two pedestal seats, Yamaha 24-litre fuel tank, bimini top, bow-mount plate, safety gear package, tie-down strap, motor support bracket and three months warranty. Such good value at $12,990.

Call Wynnum Marine on 07 3396 9777 or visit wyn nummarine.com.au WANTED – LATE MODEL USED BOATS. Cash or consignment. When you buy a used boat from Karee Marine you know it has been through our workshop and checked over. A RWC is given with each boat sold. We have a fully insured undercover showroom so your boat will not be left out. Call Darren at Karee Marine today on 07 3875 1600.

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

Tuition with Bill Corten – successful offshore fisherman and commercial skipper

YALTA CRAFT 1800 (2013) powered by Suzuki DF115 four-stroke with 145 hours. Dunbier trailer, bimini canopy, front and side clears, full-length bunks, full-length rear lounge, full Garmin instruments, VHF radio, Lowrance HDS-7, hydraulic steering, live bait tank, nav lights and bilge, compass, motor serviced and ready to go, trailer comes with RWC. $38,990 tow away. Call 07 3888 1727 or visit brisbaneyamaha.com.au

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

Offshore fishing courses: • Comprising a night of theory and a full day’s practical training on offshore reefs • Finding reefs • Locating different fish species • Bait rigging • Shallow and deep reef fishing techniques • Using a full range of rods and reels • Sounder and GPS instruction • Offshore anchoring • And much more

Contact Bill Corten T: 07 3286 3647 M: 0447 233 247 0447 ( a f f a i r ) E: reel_affair@yahoo.com Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2019 – Page 63

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WHY CRUISE CRAFT? POWERED BY YAMAHA - FACTORY FITTED FOAM FILLED - STRONGER, QUIETER, SAFER COMPLETE COMPOSITE CONSTR UCTION - NO WOOD! ZERO TOWING RESTRICTIONS - NOT OVER WIDTH!

QLD DEALERS NTH QLD Townsville Marine 43 Ingham Road, Bohle QLD 4818 sales@townsvillemarine.com.au 07 4774 3777

SE QLD Wynnum Marine 31 Fox Street, Wynnum QLD 4178 info@wynnummarine.com.au 07 3396 9777

www.cruisecraft.com.au

SPRING SAVINGS TO GET YOU ON THE WATER!!

McLay 651 Crossover HT

FROM JUST

355/week*

$

Mercury 200hp 4-stroke

Mclay 611 Crossover HT

FROM JUST

291/week*

$

Mclay 591 XL Sportsman

Mercury 150hp 4-stroke

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

• Plate alloy • bait board • Live bait tank • Deck wash • Electric winch • Duel batteries • 190-litre fuel tank

Stessco Renegade 440

Mclay 441 Fortress TS

FROM JUST

117/week*

$

Mercury 60hp 4-stroke

FROM JUST

124/week*

$

Stessco Gulf Runner 490

• Ski pole socket • Live bait tank • Redco dual-axle trailer • Bimini • QLD regos plus more

FROM JUST

146/week*

$

Northbank 660C

$POA

Mercury 90hp 4-stroke

SPECIAL!

• Front cast deck • Live bait tank • Full pod transom • Painted • Stessco trailer • QLD regos

UNBEATABLE UNBEATABLE

NEW!

OPTIONS AVAILABLE!

• Hydraulic Steering • Anchor well - Bow Sprit • Under floor storage • 250-litre fuel tank • QLD regos

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 g/kWh

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

Mercury 75hp Big Tiller

• Full plate construction • 80-litre fuel tank • Alloy cast deck • 4mm plate bottom

340

340

330

330

320

320

310

310

300

g/kWh

Mercury 115 ProXS

FROM JUST

124/week*

$

Stessco Bowrider 520

FROM JUST

• Extended fishing deck • Live bait tank • Deck wash • Offshore safety gear • Dual-axle trailer • QLD regos

Mercury 60hp 4-stroke

• Full plate construction • 45-litre fuel tank • Alloy rod holders • Live bait tank

139/week*

Mercury 150hp 4-stroke

Mclay 491 Fortress TS

• Live bait tank • Live well • Front and rear cast decks • Dunbier braked trailer • QLD regos

$

FROM JUST

226/week*

$

DELIVERS UP TO 14% BETTER CRUISE SPEED ECONOMY

300

290

290

280

280

270

270

260

260

PREVIOUS MERCURY FOURSTROKE 1.7L

BSFC dyno testing; data is an average of 60%-80% rated PREVIOUS NEW MERCURY NEW MERCURY engine speed based MERCURY MERCURY OPTIMAX OPTIMAX on standardMERCU ICOMIA emissions test.

FOURSTROKE 1.7L 2.1L 11 115hp 2.1L 115hp 115hp

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

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

1776 Ipswich Motorway, Rocklea | Call 07 3875 1600