BNB Fishing mag | Nov 2020 by bnbfishing

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From the Bush ‘n Beach Fishing Editor

T was good to see new fisheries reforms announced on September 30, pertaining to the Queensland commercial fishing industry. These reforms, which come into effect on September 1, 2021 will ensure the sustainability of the industry and fish stocks. New reforms for east coast trawl fisheries state existing east coast and Moreton Bay otter trawl fisheries are divided into five management regions, with effort limits established for each region. The reason for this is because the five regions have different primary target species, allowing for better, more tailored management of the target species: • Northern region – tiger prawns • Central region – tiger prawns • Southern offshore region – eastern king prawns • Southern inshore region – scallops • Moreton Bay – multiple species. I still question why we have trawling in certain parts of Moreton Bay. Despite improvements to reduce by-catch, it still happens, as does the destruction of seagrass and other marine habitats.

These days, groups in Australia such as Oz Fish are replanting and restoring seagrass, because it has been destroyed over the years. I applaud this organisation and the effort it puts in to helping marine ecosystems. Though I think prevention is better than cure, hence why I believe the reforms on trawling need to go further, especially in certain parts of Moreton Bay. This is not a pro bash, as I have said numerous times before, we need them, but I do still think tighter and stricter controls are required in particular areas. Hopefully, this will happen sooner rather than later. Net-free zoning is another subject that needs to be further addressed, but it seems to be an ongoing battle up a very steep hill. With the election in October and COVID dominating the press, it is hard to know where each party or person stands on certain issues, in particular the recreation fishing industry. This might become clearer as we get closer to voting day – one can only hope. A lot of emphasis has been put on construc-

tion bringing us out of the massive debt we are currently in – maybe similar efforts could be made to support the Australian marine industry. If we want the building of quality boats to continue locally, this is something the government needs to look at. Time will tell. QR codes As mentioned in last month’s editorial, we are bringing you more digital content in the form of videos. In this edition there are several QR codes, which you can simply hold your phone over (in camera mode) and you will be prompted to view the video online. In the digital version, these will play automatically in the viewing platform. As always, we want your feedback, so if we are on the right track, please let us know. Additionally, if there is something you would like to see, let us know that too and we’ll see what we can do. We have received heaps of positive feedback regarding the new format, which is awesome to hear. Fishing Aside from my time exploring the waterways and a bit of casual casting with the kids

up at Noosa, which is always fun, I’ve struggled to spent bulk time on the water fishing. I guess that’s what happens when you have young kids, though we have done more boating of late. To remedy that situation however, as soon as I finish penning this editorial, I am literally throwing rods and gear into a friend’s car (the ‘silver bullet’) and

heading to Fraser Island for a spot of beach fishing. Fingers crossed there will still be a few tailor and dart around! Ben Collins

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MICHAEL LARTER was stoked with this 83cm flathead caught on the Gold Coast, in a competition no less! You can read all about it in BEN SMITH’S article on Page 32.

NEXT EDITION: November edition will be on sale in newsagents from October 23. NOVEMBER SUBSCRIPTION PRIZE: See subscription form on Page 95 to go in the draw to win one of seven How to use an Echo Sounder/ Fish Finder books valued at $50. SEPTEMBER PRIZEWINNER: Congratulations to Garry Ledlie, Taylors Beach; RV Elworthy, Nth Bundaberg; and Ken Hossack, Redland Bay who have each won an Okuma Avenger 3000 spinning reel and BNB beanie pack valued at $81.95.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 5

November 2020 contents

Big jewfish in Brisbane River. . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Brian Webb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P8 Beach, bay and estuary options. . . . . . . . . . . by Sean Thompson . . . . . . . . . . . . . P14 Knowledge is the key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Sean Conlon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P16 Mixed Broadwater species. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Clint Ansell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P22 Tackling Moreton Bay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Mark Templeton . . . . . . . . . . P26 COVID can’t be blamed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Bill Corten . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P29 Tips for trophy Gold Coast fish . . . . . . . . . . by Ben Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P34 Summer species show up early. . . . . . . . . by Darren Rama . . . . . . . . . . . . . P38 Waiting for mackerel mayhem. . . . . . . . . . by Heath Zygnerski . . . . . . . . . . P40 Brunswick bream, snapper biting . . . . . . . by Gavin Dobson . . . . . . . . . . . . . P44 Warmer weather fires up river species. . . . by Brett Hyde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P46 Lessons from Lisa Simpson. . . . . . . . . . . . . by Tye Porter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P47

Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .P52 How to rig and fish weedless plastics. . . . . . by Justin Willmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P58 Jack just around the corner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Keith Stratford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P60 Little Shark Cat that ate up the sea . . . . . . by Craig Tomkinson . . . . . . . . . . P62 Getting ready for pelagics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Grant Budd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P64 Tuna turn it on in Hervey Bay. . . . . . . . . . . . by Tri Ton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P68 Awesome Agnes Water/1770 angling. . . . by Brad Young . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P70

Early Seventeen Seventy raid . . . . . . by Mick Clutterbuck . . . . . . . P71 Readers’ Forum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .P72 Charter Directory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P73 Canoeing Curtis Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Dan Owbridge . . . . . . . . . . . . P76

Closed season choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by John Boon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P78 Stanage Bay back in business. . . . . . . . . . . . . by John Glanford . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P80 Pretty in pink – tarpon tricks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Brett Parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P81 Life after barramundi closure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Dave Donald . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P82 Stunning southeast Cape York. . . . . . . . . . . . . by Bazz Lyon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P85 Diving into Deepwater National Park. . . . . . by Paul ‘Chief’ Graveson . . . . . . . . P87 Recipe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Melissa Frohloff . . . . . . . . . . . P89 Bass and saratoga shine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by Robbie Rayner . . . . . . . . . . . . P90 Daring to be different at Glenlyon. . . . . . by Brad Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P91 Fishing action set to heat up. . . . . . . . . . . . by Brian Dare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P94 Sensational springtime surface strikes. . . by Neil Schultz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P95 Trading Post. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P96 Subscription form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .P97 Page 6 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

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

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Ben Collins The BNB Team Jo Hendley, Lisa Jones Bob Thornton

Bush ‘n Beach Fishing magazine is published monthly by Collins Media Pty Ltd ABN 43 159 051 500 ACN 159 051 500 trading as Collins Media. Phone 07 3286 1833 Email: ben@collins.media PO Box 162, Wynnum, Qld 4178 PRINTER: Spotpress DISTRIBUTION BY: Fairfax CORRESPONDENTS: Editorial contributions are welcome, as is news from clubs, associations, or individuals; and new product news from manufacturers. Entire contents copyright. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. It is the responsibility of advertisers to ensure the correctness of their claims and statements. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the publisher.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 7

Tim Vincent and his river jewfish coming in at over 1m.

Targeting big jewfish in Brisbane River Darren with a nice jewfish.

Poddy mullet and live prawns are the bait of choice for catching jewfish.

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HE Brisbane River is home to a huge array of fish including bream, flathead, snapper, cod, king threadfin salmon and jewfish. The trick with the river is knowing how and where to target these species. In this article I’ll cover how to catch big jewfish, as there are less soapies around later in the year. It is very important to keep an eye out for baitfish, deep holes and drop-offs as this is where the fish will be holding. Areas to try include Cameron Rocks, Clara Rock and Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges (formerly the Gateway Bridge). The mouths of Boggy Creek, Bulimba Creek and Breakfast Creek are also worth checking out. Even the mouth of Norman Creek will produce jewfish on occasion. Drop-offs around the container terminals and across the opposite side the river are prime

Moreton Bay by BRIAN WEBB

jew locations. There are many lit areas throughout the river all the way up to St Lucia, therefore moving from light source to light source will help you find fish. Jewfish and threadies are attracted to these areas while chasing bait. If fishing the Port of Brisbane, be aware of the 30m-exclusion zone around the terminals. The minimum size for jewfish in Queensland is 75cm with a possession limit of two, and in the areas outlined above you will catch soapies through to jewfish over 1m in size. Larger jew can be caught all year round but the best times are from winter through to December. Prime bite times are overcast days, early morning, dusk and at night time. Aim to drift over deep edges, drop-offs, holes and along rock walls.

If the tide allows, a simple rig of a running 2-ball sinker straight to a 6/0 or 7/0 circle hook should do the trick. Though if the tide is pushing hard, you may need extra weight or a downrigger to keep your bait in the strike zone. An electric motor can also be an advantage when chasing these fish as you can control your drift. If using braid, have at least about 1.5m of 40lb fluorocarbon leader. Be sure to check your bait every 10-15 minutes, as there is nothing worse than having the line in the water for half an hour or more with no bait on it. It is also important to set your drag light – I set it around 1.5-2kg. Live bait such as poddy mullet, herring and prawns are a few of the best baits for catching jewfish and these can be found in the river. * continued P9

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Targeting big jewfish in Brisbane River * from P8

Places to try for poddy mullet include the area from the mouth of Boggy Creek to the small bay near Luggage Point (also called the poop chute), and the mouths of Bulimba and Norman creeks. There are a couple of mullet varieties that enter the river, so all you have to do is remember gold is good – gold spot or fleck on the gill cover or near the pectoral fin. This will help distinguish them from sea mullet, as their size limit is a minimum of 30cm. Pike, which are another good bait, can be found around the Coffee Pots in Brisbane Rd. If anchoring, I use ber-

ley to attract baitfish, which in turn will attract predators and increase the chances of attracting a river snapper. I use two rods when anchored or drifting, both around 6’ in length – one rod is a 4-6kg matched with a Shimano Stradic, and the other is a 6-8kg with a 4500 Shimano Baitrunner. The river has an abundance of structure, so it is vital to sound around for bait. The fish won’t be far away and an electric motor will increase your chance of holding in an area, while not making too much noise. I usually anchor to the side of any hole or rock wall and cast

back to the edges. When using livies, the electric comes in handy, keeping you near the edges of drop-offs or deep holes. You also have a good chance of catching threadfin salmon around lights by using the above tactics. Another method of catching jewfish is to use plastics in natural colours such as the ZMan 7” MinnowZ, 8” StreakZ and 10” HeroZ. I have also tried the 5.5” Zerek Live Mullet swimbait – these are cast towards holes or drop-offs using a skipping movement, and are brought back across the drop-off, along the terminals or into deeper holes. When fishing around

lit areas, use lightly weighted 6” Storm RIP Curly Tail, paddle tail lures and Z-Man ShrimpZ or Zerek Live Shrimp – these are a few plastics that will produce.

The addition of a Pro-Cure Bait Scent is equally important – I usually use Mullet Super Gel. Colours depend on the weather – dark for dark * continued P10

The smile said it all – Tri Bell happy with his big river jewfish.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 9

A soapie hooked on a plastic off Cameron Rocks.

Luke Lispet nailed this river threadfin salmon.

Targeting big jewfish in Brisbane River * from P9

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nights, bright on bright nights and occasionally, glow plastics at night on 1/4oz to 1oz jig heads, depending on depths and tides. You need to get the lures down and keep them moving. When using soft plastics at night, I work the top half of the water column. My thinking is if a fish is near the bottom looking up and sees a soft plastic cruising by, there’s a good bet the fish will go for it, especially glow in the dark lures. If a spot has been identified as a deep hole or shallower area adjacent to deep water, this will best be targeted an hour either side of the change of tide – high or low – depending on the spot, and in some spots it may not matter. It’s amazing how often you’ll get the bite smack on the tide change. And while I do have a preference for high tide, low tide can still produce. Though the most productive times are during the night, followed by dusk and dawn on tide changes. Chasing jewfish in the river has been a challenge and being able to catch them consistently

has been hard work. Glimpses of success every now and then keeps me keen to stick at it. Learning to read your sounder and having confidence that your lures or bait can get them to bite is a big part of catching jewfish in the Brisbane River. I have found my better sessions to be on or around the new moon and with a run-out tide, and if you can score these conditions together with an early morning start, even better, as jew tend to bite better early on. Other areas I’ve had success are the dropoffs around the northern side of Peel Island, the top of Macleay Island and the crossroad beacon near Goat Island, off Dunwich. The river also has plenty of options for

land-based fishing too – with a light rod, reel and a couple of good plastics, you stand the chance of being rewarded with a solid catch. Be on the lookout for jetties, rock walls, pontoons or lit areas that can be legally accessed. Fishing for jewfish is a challenge at any time but live poddies, herring, pike or live prawns will give you a better chance. A friend of mine has even caught them on fly! So go out and give it a try – you may be pleasantly surprised. The Whyte Island and Pinkenba ramps are close by and both give you quick access to the port, or you can launch from Colmslie (get some prawns) and work the lit areas towards the bridge and then the port.

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Beach, bay and estuary options around Brisbane

Berley Gulp Sandworm soft plastic lures in Bloodworm colour are a great option on winter species still available.

The author with a nice bag of winter species caught with his nephew in 3.5m of water.

Spring is a great time to chase flathead before the water gets too warm. Page 14 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

S I write this article, the socalled Queensland winter species of tailor, winter whiting and bream are still fishing well. These were still available during October, though the schools will start to thin out. For winter whiting, I find the schools can move around a bit as the seasons change and the water gets warmer. For this reason, I GPS as many fish as I can during a session and then change the name of one of the waypoints in the centre of them to the month and year. On my trip the other day, I searched for ‘winteries’ in my waypoints and then selected a corresponding month from previous years I’ve caught good numbers. I have snared these fish in fair quantities right up to Christmas Eve, though the schools do spread out in summer. In my most recent winteries session, the fish were in water of about 3.4-4m, around the top of the tide. As usual, drifting produced the most fish for us, because of a preference for moving bait. My mainstay baits of red-dyed frozen worms and 2” Berkley Gulp Sandworm soft plastic lures in Bloodworm colour do the trick. I run these on a paternoster rig with a sinker on the bottom and the two droppers of about 15cm sitting higher

Fishing Tips by SEAN THOMPSON

off the bottom, to help avoid hooking weed as you drift. When it comes to tailor, bigger fish are replacing fewer schools and these make top targets with flesh baits such as a strip of bonito on gang hooks. The fishing has been hot and cold at times for tailor this season, but the good news is – at the time of writing – numbers were good off Ngkala Rocks at Fraser Island, and my son and I got onto a few nice fish recently from South Stradbroke Island. The usual rig involves a short 25cm trace to 3x size 4/0 Tru-Turn gang hooks. These are not only great for ease of putting hooks on – with the swivels in between the hooks – but the bent cam design of the hooks is brilliant for better hook-ups, as they turn upwards with any pressure. Then I run a 70cm longer trace up to another swivel, to avoid line twist in my Alvey reel. I run a 6-9 ball, depending on the conditions, and I cushion its impact on the bottom knot by running a soft bead between the sinker and the bottom swivel. In addition to these species, spring options such as flathead have

been fishing very well around estuary mouths and should continue to do so. Trolling or casting lures has been productive around low tide. Unfortunately, as the weather warms up, strong northerly wind kicks in, which brings dirty water and weed, and that makes things tougher, especially for trolling lures. Choose your day, calm wind and low tide – even better on weekdays without the boat traffic. Another great option for spring is summer whiting from the beaches and entrances of the big bays off the tips of the four big Queensland islands. Several of the beaches have been on absolute fire recently, particularly up around Teewah Beach, with fish to 43cm. Night fishing in estuaries for whiting has been successful too, especially on their favourite bait of live bloodworms. For those keen on chasing a few northern species closer to home, the barramundi fishing at the Bli Bli Barra Fishing Park has been getting better as the weather warms. As I’ve said a few times, this place is addictive. It presents a chal-

* continued P15

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The author’s son Josh with one of the tailor he scored from South Stradbroke Island recently.

The barramundi fishing is improving as the weather warms.

Beach, bay and estuary options around Brisbane * from P14

lenge, as these fish are no sitting ducks – unlike parks further north where the fish are caught and kept. Night fishing sessions on the weekend should be up and running

from October 30. The bay’s shallow reefs are a good option as the water warms for species such as sweetlip, parrotfish and tuskfish on fresh baits or soft plastics. Snapper are still

about, though in fewer numbers in the shallows. Finally, what would a Queensland spring be without a feed of crabs? Sand crabs are showing in more numbers and will continue to

improve through November. Set pots for mud crabs after a bit of rain, in and around mangroves and rock ledges on foot, or near creek entrances and deep muddy ledges in the estuaries by boat.

I hope this helps you catch a nice mixed bag of species. For more tips and tricks, jump on and like my Facebook page On tour Fishing Austral ia or follow the same name on Instagram.

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Knowledge is the key n Maximising your time on the water

I You always expect to catch a couple of fish when the Lowrance looks like this.

Simon’s dad with a fish caught after learning how to read tides in different locations when fishing with lures.

HAVEN’T written much lately because there hasn’t been a lot going on around the southern bay islands. I’ll choose my words carefully, but in the areas that fish with the techniques I use, the fishing has been just a little slow. The activity has started to pick up and there are a few more fish around the place, so hopefully it’ll get more consistent in the coming months. Applying a more targeted approach with select techniques on the right part of the tide, with a particular species in mind, has definitely caught more fish lately. I haven’t had that much time on the water this month, but even so I have managed to pick up quite a few nice southern bay fish on lures.

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0432 386 307 seanconlonsfishing@hotmail.com Page 16 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

WITH SEAN CONLON

Southern Moreton Bay by SEAN CONLON

There were a couple of days that stood out over the past month. The first was after I made a decision to chase small snapper with Dave around the bay islands. We had planned to head towards the Jumpinpin area and chase flathead, but conditions were better for squire, and I’d had success in the same area last year. We headed to the spot that I thought would have plenty of fish, however when we got there the tide wasn’t quite right for what we wanted to do, so we waited patiently for the tide to reach the depth we were after. If we hadn’t got any sort of action from the fish after about an hour, we would have packed up and headed down to the Pin. We cast a few soft plastics around for a while with no action but, about 45 minutes in, the tide was getting to the right depth and I hooked-up to a nice fish, which Dave followed up by nabbing a reasonable 52cm squire. And it didn’t take long for Dave to hook-up to another quality fish. We were having a lot of fun fighting small model snapper because we were using only 6lb line. Over the years, I’ve found that in this particular area, once you go up to 8, 10 or 12lb line, the fish become quite finicky and they

won’t look at your offering, so we were fishing as light as possible. With that said, it took a while to get the fish to the net, but Dave played it well and before long he had another nice 40cm squire in the net. We kept casting in this spot for a couple of hours and caught a lot of slightly undersized fish around 33cm in length to just legal size of around 35cm, which we returned to the water unharmed to fight another day. Then Dave put in a nice cast and hookedup to a great fish that got the drag on his ATC Virtuous 2000 screaming – it was an awesome fight on light gear. After only a short time we had another sizeable 52cm squire in the boat. We caught a few more undersized fish successively, but then – as with all good sessions – everything slowed right down as the tide changed and a northerly breeze pushed in with the sun rise. The rest of the morning session was quite slow, so we returned to the harbour at 11am and agreed it had been a great morning. The other memorable session I had this month was with two fishers down towards Jumpinpin, when chasing a few flathead. The fishos wanted to learn about different * continued P18

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 17

Knowledge is the key * from P16

The author got this nice little snapper casting a soft plastic into a school of fish spotted on the sounder.

Maxy with one of the several snapper he caught casting soft plastics in southern Moreton Bay.

areas to target flatties and a few new techniques. Simon and his dad â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who normally use bait and had previously had very limited success with lures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; wanted to work around Cabbage Tree Point in Jacobs Well. I organised the day to coincide with a couple of reasonable sized tides to show them how to navigate through that area. I also showed them a few places where flathead were likely to be found, and we trolled with hard-bodies and casted soft plastics. On this particular day, the fish didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want the soft plastics and we could only get a reaction out of them by trolling hard-bodies, but the fishers picked up quite a few nice fish to take home for tea and had learned a lot along the way. A good day was had by all of us. I was lucky enough

to have a short session with my young son Maxy. We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t particularly want to get up bright and early to head out fishing on the day, and we checked that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d have the right tide needed to target a few squire at around 9.30am. So, we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hit the water until 9am, which is considered a bit late for chasing this particular species in the southern bay. We stuck by our decision that if the tide was right, the fish would still be there. We got to the area and, after having a little sound around with the Lowrance, we spotted a few fish on the bottom. We deployed the electric, put the spot-lock on and started making a few casts. It didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t take too long before we were catching a few undersize fish, which is still good fun on light 6lb gear. After a short wait, I hooked-up to a nice fish that gave me a

good little battle on the light tackle and Maxy scooped it up in the net. It was a strictly catch and release day, so while we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t measure anything, we were sure it was around 45cm. Max took a couple of quick photos and then we released it. We had a great session over the next hour or so and we caught plenty of just legal and slightly undersized fish. Max got himself into a few nice southern bay island squire, which were all around 3840cm. These fish gave him a great fight on the light gear and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m always a proud father to watch him catch a few fish, but before long the tide started to slow, and everything stopped biting. I said to Max we should try to get a couple of flathead, now that the tide was right to chase them. He was pretty keen * continued P20

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Simon caught this flathead when fishing with lures.

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Maxy was pretty happy with his 68cm flathead caught on a 38mm Zerek Bulldog Crank.

Knowledge is the key * from P18

to give it a go, so we moved over to an area a few hundred metres away that usually holds a few lizards at this time of the year, and we started casting a few plastics around. It didn’t take long before I was lucky enough to pick up a fish around 50cm on a Zerek Live Flash Minnow Wriggly and, after a few quick photos, the fish was released too. We put a few more casts in but we didn’t get any more fish, so I decided to tie on a couple of crankbaits and see if we could tease a couple up. We made a few trolling passes for nothing and, though there was a bit of snot weed around which made it a little more difficult, on the third pass young Maxy told me he was snagged.

I corrected him and told him he’d hooked a decent fish. This fish hooked in only about 400mm of water, so I gave him a bit of stick on the light gear, but he soon had the fish under control and in the net. It was a solid 68cm flatty, which was also released to fight another day after a couple of quick pics. A northerly breeze had pushed in and it was getting a little bit tricky to fish this area. We had already had a nice day out on the water, so we decided to head home. We got back to the pontoon and I was glad to have had such a great day with my young son. By targeting a few fish on the right side of the tide, even though it wasn’t early in the morning or late in the afternoon, we still man-

aged to snag a couple of respectable models. Anyway, hopefully the fishing down this way will pick up over the next few months and become more constant. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t any fish down here. It’s just that they’ve been a bit tricky to catch at the moment and I much prefer it when we can get consistency in fishing sessions and catches, but it will pick up. Until next month, stay safe on the water and if you’re interested in any of our off the water or on the water tuition classes, or you just want to do a fishing charter, don’t hesitate to give me a call on 0432 386 307, email seanconlonsfishing@ hotmail.com or check out the Facebook page Sean Conlon’s fishing charters and Tuition. www.bnbfishing.com. au

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 21

Mixed species on offer

Paula with a nice flathead caught on Samaki soft vibe, her first fish on a lure.

Gold Coast Seaway to Sundale Bridge. Page 22 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

OVEMBER is the final month of spring and a good time to target a range of species in our local estuaries on the Gold Coast. Flathead are still available, before they commence spawning over summer, while sand whiting can be caught at night in the Nerang River and over yabby banks during the day. Both these fish will readily rise in the shallows to grab surface lures such as MMD Splash Prawns, if you wanted to try this exciting form of fishing. However, in busy waterways it pays to get out there early prior to the water traffic shutting the fish down. Once this happens, fish deeper areas for

Broadwater Guide by CLINT ANSELL

better results. Mangrove jack are set to become more active this month too, as well as various types of trevally. If you haven’t previously caught a jack, the best way currently is with a whole mullet fillet on a single Mustad Hoodlum hook cast at the base of a bridge pylon or rock wall. In terms of gear, use a snapper type rod and reel spooled with 50lb Platypus Platinum monofilament line, with a sinker big enough to hold on the bottom. You can also add a soft glow bead above the hook.

Gold Coast Seaway to Ephraim Island.

This rig is simple but will give you the best chance of getting a bite. Then it is all up to you. La Niña has officially been declared this summer, which means floods are likely. While the rain will temporarily interrupt fishing plans, it is an absolute godsend for the rivers that need a rejuvenating flush. If or when this happens, it may make targeting jack tricky, but the downstream reaches will still be productive locations. Though we can worry about this when it happens, right now there has been a prolonged lack of rain. As an estuary charter guide, I’ve noticed how clear the water gradually becomes over the months, and I’m always on the lookout for dirtier and deeper water to fish. One of my favourite fish to chase are the humble winter or diver whiting. These plucky little lure munchers are present in big schools all year around the Gold Coast and the Gold Coast Broadwater. These fish generally grow no bigger than 30cm, have no size limit and a bag and possession limit in Queensland of 50 per person, though I believe it’s totally unnecessary to keep that many. Carefully scaled and filleted they make a delicious feed battered and fried, and complement a catch of flathead, squid and flounder nicely. I have marked the best * continued P24

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www.tohatsu.com.au Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 23

AFL legend Luke Hodge with son Cooper and a nice size tuskfish. Alex caught and released his very first ever mulloway on a Samaki soft vibe in Ghost Bait colour.

Mixed species on offer * from P22

Reece with a nice flounder on a Broadwater charter with dad Cameron.

areas to fish for them in the southern Broadwater on the maps in this article. Basically, they love sitting in deeper channels and drop-offs. As for other whiting, they feed most aggressively during tidal flows and are easily caught on yabbies, worms, and small metal vibe lures. My favourite vibes are the Ecogear ZX and Pro Lure blades.

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Alex with his first ever giant trevally, which he caught on a Samaki soft vibe in Ghost Bait colour.

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Page 24 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

Tom did very well catching plenty of fish on lures. www.bnbfishing.com. au

New Fish Trap colours

HE range of colours in Zerek Fish Trap lures has expanded, with the release of the Dark Ale and Dry Lime colours added to the 65, 95 and 110mm models. Dark Ale has a clear body filled with gold fleck and striking black back and tiger stripes. It is aimed at species such as barramundi,

threadfin salmon, flathead, snapper and more. Dry Lime is a semitransparent green with silver flecks, and has been requested by many northern barramundi fishers, however it will also appeal to fish around the country. Available now, the new Fish Trap colours can be found at your nearest tackle store.

Measured Mile mackerel

HE Measured Mile has been producing good school mackerel and the odd spotted mackerel. The weather looked good on a Friday recently, so we decided to jig Halco Twisty and 20g Raider metal

lures around the beacons. We had mediumsized rod and reel combinations and scored a few undersized schoolies. After that, we floated a pilchard on a 30lb line out the back. Soon a 68cm school-

ie chomped down on our ganged pillie. It took a big first run and then did a few large circles around the boat. After a short fight, we had my personal best school mackerel in the boat. Harper Ayre

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Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, November 2020 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Page 25

Jet boated an absolute beast of a 65kg yellowfin tuna after an epic 50-minute battle.

Tackling Moreton Bay n Pelagics n Snapper n Flathead

W The taxman appeared to lower his rates for Drew, taking only a small slice of his snapper.

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E certainly had the weather turn on for a week or so during the recent school holidays and the fish even decided to play the game as well. Adam and Jet headed off Cape Moreton with a couple of friends on one of the better days to do a bit of trolling around. They found big mahi mahi in plague proportions and had to move a few times to avoid them. It was a good thing they did because not long after ditching the excess baggage, young Jet hooked-up an absolute screamer that decided to go deep on the first run. Jet didn’t even get a chance to take his jacket off as the huge beast kept the pressure on. After a 50-minute epic battle with the brute – cooking with his jacket on and not letting up for a second or

Northern Moreton Bay by MARK TEMPLETON

even thinking of having a break – Jet boated an absolute beast of a 65kg yellowfin tuna. I talked to Jet’s dad Adam and he ran through the battle sequence blow for blow.

You could tell how proud he was of Jet, starting and finishing the job at hand without help, which was there if needed. I know I’ve hooked* continued P28

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Tackling Moreton Bay * from P26

Darcy managed to have his arms stretched by a cracker longtail tuna – a few feeds out of this fish.

up a couple of what I thought were monsters over the years but looking at that beast, I think Jet has put myself and a few others to shame. At age 16, Jet has done an outstanding job with his catch, and I dare say that over the next few years he – and his adventures of chasing the big game out there – is going to be one fisher to follow. We will keep you posted, and we hope your arms return to their normal size soon Jet! Moreton Island was a destination for many families over the school break, and young Tori did just that – hitting

As you can see by the smile on his face, Tori did a great job. Page 28 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

Moreton Island with the family to chill for a few days. Any keen young angler knows that you can only relax for so long before you need to wet a line – Tori included. He headed to the jetty and got stuck right in. With a smile on his face, Tori did a great job. Job done Tori. Now you need to hit up the flathead and bream along the SandgateBrighton foreshore! As we all know, when you head out to Moreton Bay, there is a fairly good chance that the taxman will pay you a visit. Drew and his father Wade took a trip out to the usual spot in the bay, but in true fashion the snapper didn’t get the memo and failed to turn up. After cruising to a couple of other spots, they finally started to turn the reels and captured a couple of quality snapper. I don’t know if it was because of Drew’s age but the taxman had appeared to lower his rates and took only a small slice of his snapper. Good one Drew, and you came away with more than the rest of us normally do. Dave from Sandbar Charters managed to take a day off and hit Pumicestone Passage to troll a couple of the new Nomad lures on the market. Dave said the conditions may not have been

perfect, but the Nomad Styx Minnow did the damage on the local flathead population. If you want to have a crack at an estuary charter, jump onto Sandbar Charters on Facebook. Overall, the Moreton Bay region has been turning all the right cards for our local fishos, with cobia, snapper, yellowfin tuna, dollies, great whiting and flathead making for fantastic action. Darcy managed to get out and have his arms stretched a bit with a cracker longtail tuna – quite a few feeds will be coming out of this monster. Generally, it doesn’t matter if you’re boating on Moreton Bay, taking a charter or if you have been land-based, we are seeing cracker catches being taken and many from our younger anglers. There are numerous awesome female anglers out there who love to wet a line, and I must say from experience these fishers put many seasoned piscators to shame on countless occasions. So, if you have a female angler partner, friend, best mate or a junior angler who you feel should be represented, send a photo to Tackle Land of them with their catch and a bit of a story – we’ll do our best to put them in the spotlight. Until next month, be safe and fish hard. Maintain the passion! www.bnbfishing.com. au

COVID can’t be blamed for condition of local waterways

n Snapper n Pearl perch

Dan Williams was all smiles with the quality of this pearl perch from 85m off Moreton Island.

ECENT trips offshore have seen more days of slight current, which has resulted in good snapper being caught on the 29, 33 and 35-fathom reef lines. While I haven’t had snapper success beyond this depth lately, the quality of pearl perch in depths anywhere from around 75-105m has more than made up for this. Float lining for better snapper has been essential and what worked very well for me were the Klik sinkers. Made by a Brisbanebased company, a Klik sinker is of a hinged clam shell type design that opens to allow it to

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Offshore by BILL CORTEN

be slid onto the line and clicked together without the need for knots. If the sinker size is too big or too small, simply open the sinker hinge and replace it instantly – without the need to cut and re-tie the leader. A large strip of mullet or a large squid half hitched in place onto a single 8/0 Mustad UltraPoint Demon circle hook to make the bait swim, and fed a considerable distance down the water column with the bail arm open, has been the deadliest float-lining technique

on snapper. Paternoster rigs of the triple surgeon’s knot variety have been the go on pearl perch and black spot pigfish found out deeper. Of particular concern for anyone who has tried to head out to the South Passage Bar from Manly – and this region throughout the year – has been the atrocious placement of the navigation aids. More to contend with in the Rous Channel, eastwards from the junction of the small * continued P30

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 29

COVID can’t be blamed for condition of local waterways * from P29

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boat channel past the Chain Banks, where it links with the Rous. From that point outbound it is fair enough to expect a change in channel location from the always slowly shifting sand banks in that area, which is precisely why the area is marked with buoys not beacons. In September 2019, Maritime Safety Queensland officers were acknowledging the need to do serious navigation aid relocation in the Rous Channel, and despite occasional prodding, nothing has happened in that regard until a few weeks prior to penning this article. And what was been done was a partial job, with more attention required in the Rous. The buoy relocation in the Rous had been let go for so long, several navigation aids are now in the middle of sandbanks and others are sitting way out in the middle of the channel. It was so bad that a few of the green starboard buoys had to be passed on the opposite side intended, where the deeper water was – one is still way off the good water. In particular, as a result of the starboard buoys sitting over sandbanks, it was not uncommon to see vessels aground, waiting for the tide to rise and float free. Those skippers were simply following the navigation aids and were blissfully unaware of their incorrect location until – whoomp – they ran aground. Ironically, there was mention in the press re-

cently about the number and types of marine incidents that had occurred in Queensland waters, and skippers were reminded of their obligations. I would think that MSQ also have an obligation to more frequently relocate their navigation aids when the situation requires, keeping their thousands of marine stakeholders safer. In this case, their inability to meet their obligations has been the cause of quite a few marine incidents, and the recreational and commercial vessel community deserve better. Though, I am unsure how they would categorise those particular incidents in any future report. Has the bloke who said we couldn’t go boating during the early days of COVID – and had his edict overturned by his own Minister the same day to allow ‘fishing for food’ – been asleep at the helm when it comes

to servicing the needs of boaties who use the Rous Channel? Surely the pandemic can’t be blamed for this situation being allowed to get so out of hand. If it was a shippingrelated matter, it would have been done pronto. But typically, nonshipping matters often seem to fall well down the pecking order. Everything that has been neglected by governments of late tends to be blamed on COVID, but this situation is ridiculous and farcical because it has such a simple fix. To give MSQ a little credit, they recently made several changes to three of the most critical starboard lateral marks and the situation marginally improved in the most critical areas. However, after several weeks and at the time of writing, I am yet to see a Notice to Mariners issued in respect of those placements.

* continued P31

The author with a recent early morning snapper, caught float lining a Klik sinker rig. www.bnbfishing.com. au

COVID can’t be blamed for condition of local waterways * from P30

Apologies if this is an oversight on my part. Interestingly, a new channel has formed from the second starboard buoy heading east in the Rous, past the sand island that has formed opposite Amity, linking directly to the northern end of the Rainbow Channel, and it is a considerably shorter distance to the bar if using this ‘channel’. Unfortunately, it is in the turtle and dugong protection zone, where vessels must stay in a not-planing attitude. If you can’t plane through there, it really isn’t a worthwhile

shortcut for most people because they would be risking a fine if caught planing in that zone, so efficiency for small vessels is being hindered by red tape. MSQ and Marine Parks are aware of this and both agencies have given a verbal indication that they would support the placement of navigation aids to mark this channel, but there is a huge impediment to removing the not-planing status of that area, even though much of the channel is deeper than 2m at low tide. Obviously, both agencies need to work together to overcome this hurdle and deliver

a common sense outcome. Further, in some parts of the Rous Channel, the deeper water is now eating across existing turtle and dugong protection zone boundaries, meaning boaters planing through the deepest available water are in theory breaking the law and risking a fine. While Marine Parks have been very reasonable in its attitude to this, it does acknowledge the need for more flexibility in legislation to alter boundaries on as-needs basis when sand banks and channels shift. Let’s hope there is a victory for common sense, and something happens soon.

Bruce Davis fed an enormous amount of line to tempt this snapper from broken rubble ground.

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Tips for trophy Gold Coast fish

n Snapper n Flathead

W Flathead can be found around the Pig Sties, Kalinga Bank and the Gold Coast Seaway.

Jig heads in the 0.75-1.5oz range, 7” plastics and soft vibes account for many big model flathead.

Page 34 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

ITH big flathead on the minds of many southeast Queensland anglers, it’s an obvious choice to try a few new spots and techniques. It’s the best time of the year for chasing that monster or even a new personal best. So many new plastics, hard-bodies and vibes make their way to the shelves of tackle shops every year, and the attraction of nailing the big one on a lure is definitely on the list of things to do this month. Quite a number of boats will be fishing the popular areas and a few of the biggest flathead competitions are run at this time as well. The deep-water jigging technique in areas such as the Pig Sties, Kalinga Bank and the Gold Coast Seaway are always very popular – it is a super effective way of getting hooked-up to a 70, 80, 90cm or even larger fish. The best times to fish are as the tide run slows, so that the lures stay vertical under the boat. A bow-mount electric motor is a gun tool for controlling

Gold Coast by BEN SMITH

the drift, especially on days when the wind picks up. Slow lifts of the rod tip and a drop back to the bottom are all that are required to attract fish. Make sure you can feel the lure working. Spooling with 8-10lb braid is a good start, and a 10lb or occasionally 15lb fluorocarbon leader about 1m or so in length is

all that’s needed. Ensure you have a sensitive graphite rod and a reel with 2kg of super smooth drag. Remember to rip a little off in your hand every now and then to make sure it hasn’t stuck. Bust-offs happen because of stuck drags. Jig heads in the 0.751.5oz range and 7” plastics are good op-

* continued P36

The author scored an awesome couple of snapper, which are in abundance from Cape Moreton to the NSW border. www.bnbfishing.com. au

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 35

Tips for trophy Gold Coast fish * from P34

Bailey Smith with a nice model snapper.

The author was successful chasing monster flathead.

tions to start with. Soft vibes also account for many big models. Remember to let the lure make contact with the bottom. The hit is often on the pause and when lifted is mistakenly thought to be a snag, but it is essential that once you feel the hit, get the hook set and keep good contact with the fish during the fight. They have the ability to roll on the hook and spit it if you don’t keep a tight line. The sight of a 90cm fish boat side is amazing and one you will happily never forget. Remember to be very gentle with them and let them go safely after a few photos. On the blue water scene, unsurprisingly

snapper are still in good numbers from Cape Moreton all the way down to the NSW border. There are good size fish anywhere from 40-85m depths and we’ve been able to catch a worthy brace of pinkies on all of our recent trips. The key is not so much the place but the timing. Everyone wants your GPS mark and when they go to fish there, it turns out to be a dud. The mark isn’t the key to success. Timing is everything. It is way more important to follow the moon and tide phases, and make sure you’re there when fish are hungry. Fishing at good bite times will produce significantly better results.

This is so essential and there are fishing apps or angler almanacs to assist. Also, it helps to learn to use your sounder, even if you need to pay and do a course – it will be a good investment. Once you know how to use it, you can go find your own new ground. Spend the time to find fish quietly and patiently. It will always produce bigger and better fish than a mark that other boats have smashed all week. And as you probably already know – good quality fresh, frozen or live baits all work well, so make the extra effort to use it. Finally, have a heap of fun and enjoy your fishing.

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Page 36 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 37

This nice coral trout made it past the sharks – others were not so lucky.

Double hook-ups of golden trevally on plastics worked with long pauses were common.

Summer species show up early

n Fishing trips to Hervey Bay

The author’s personal best bludger trevally.

T’S already November and it seems summer is here in full swing, with warmer water species taking centre stage in southeast Queensland. Mangrove jack have been terrorising our canal and natural structure systems, while offshore we are now seeing mahi mahi and yellowfin tuna and they are showing up in

A surprise pennant trevally caught fishing a jerk shad soft plastic. Page 38 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

Nerang Rooster Report by DARREN RAMA

plague proportions. With COVID-19 and our first year without the Gold Coast Flathead Classic since 1993, we are still seeing a good amount of better size flathead due to reduced pressure, and this year most anglers are having more consistent sessions. A lot of bigger flathead have been caught by those using larger plastics, glide baits and swim baits imitating large mullet or whiting cruising the flats. It seems the larger flathead find it hard to resist a big and easy meal. Using a big lure can make it quite tricky when deciding what sort of rod to use, but a popular choice is long swimbait baitcasters intended for cod, as they will pitch big lures out with no issues. Although spin gear can do it too, make sure the rod’s cast weight is

within range of the lure. For our jack fishing, it seems fishing rock walls early on with a mixture of plastics and hard-bodies has been the way to go. But with water continually warming and jack thriving more and more everyday, we are seeing our pontoons, bridges and retaining walls becoming key holding points for jack. Over the years, due to the respect anglers have for these fish, the quantities of mangrove jack appear to be growing. Considering they are brilliant on the chew, it’s incredible and wonderful to see the number of people thinking about the conservation of this fish and releasing them for other anglers to enjoy. I have been doing quite well fishing deeper rock walls just slow rolling 4” paddle tail soft plastics in various * continued P40

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 39

Waiting with bated breath for mackerel mayhem

n Trips north to Seventeen Seventy

Mitch with a good-sized snapper caught of the 36-fathom line.

Andy was stoked with a decent tuskfish caught drifting.

S we head into summer, the fish on everyone’s lips is mackerel. Anglers are already waiting with bated breath for the imminent arrival of the oceanic speedsters. We’ve started to see a few wahoo arrive and we’ve had a good run of doggy mackerel in the Gold Coast Broadwater recently, which is super unseasonal. I personally haven’t been out on the water lately, but my young bloke Mitch and his

Summer species show up early * from P38

models and colours. Hard-bodies are starting to work better as the activity of fish increases. Over the past few weeks I was fortunate enough to try my luck aboard a Hervey Bay charter. Fishing Hervey Bay is always a spectacular experience, not only is the fishing amazing, but when the scenery along the inside of the Fraser Island comes into view, it’s always a moment to remember. We tried multiple techniques that all paid off. Metal jigs and jerk shad soft plastics in 5-7” sizes were a hit for different species of trevally and accounted for a few tuna as well. We worked that we

had to keep mixing up techniques to get them to bite, but once we worked out when they liked it aggressive or subtle, it was a matter of spending more time hooked-up than fishing! Further out we were fortunate enough to find a few healthy coral trout and goldspot trevally, but we also lost a few fish to the resident sharks of the bay. Back to reality on

the Gold Coast. We will also see a return of good numbers of bigger bream in the canals, which make for awesome surface fishing. Good results can come from using plastics weighted lightly or left unweighted around pontoons too. So hopefully this month you’re able to get out there and experience a slice of the awesome fishing that is on offer!

Gold Coast by HEATH ZYGNERSKI

friends have been doing OK around the traps. Snapper are still about, with good numbers of fish sitting in deeper water of around 36 fathoms or more. As long as the current doesn’t hit us too soon, these fish should hang around for a few more weeks yet. An early run of pelagic species has seen a few schools of mahi mahi and wahoo turn up unannounced. These have been sporadic but should be a more regular occurrence as water temperature starts to climb. I don’t know what to expect this summer with mackerel. We did OK with spotted mackerel early on, but they seemed to move off quite quickly.

Spanish mackerel were fairly consistent though, which kept fish on the table. In the estuaries, mangrove jack have woken from their winter slumber and already decent fish are being caught, with live bait being your best bet for a fish. The local bars have all had a heap of sand move in. Tweed has that bank at the back, which is catching the swell, and inside the bar is getting shallow too. Currumbin has been shocking and I’ve had concerns just getting to the bar, let alone going over it. Rather than the big boat, the tinnie may get a regular work out considering the run up from * continued P41

A mangrove jack that smashed a plastic along a rock wall.

Page 40 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

Mitch and a nice little trout. www.bnbfishing.com. au

A satisfying emperor to go with the perfect conditions.

Jason caught this solid pearl perch off Seventeen Seventy.

Waiting with bated breath for mack * from P40

Tweed Heads, and depending on conditions. Tallebudgera Creek is ordinary, with sand right across the face. The Seaway is the best bet, as per usual. Our fishers have had a couple of trips north to Seventeen Seventy and have been doing relatively well. It’s good to be rewarded for your efforts, considering it is about a seven or so hour drive from the Gold Coast, so you really do need to plan for the trip to ensure you have a good weather window. A quick run saw the anglers come back with a mixed bag of fish, and a few coral trout and redthroat emperor came over the side. The fishos hookedup to a few good fish they thought were reds, which dusted them up, and in true red fashion then went off the bite.

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Not to be deterred, the oil slick conditions kept their enthusiasm going. Having not fished that far north, I’ve been told of anglers getting themselves a bit lost, with the many green zones. Ignorance is not an excuse and at least one other boat we know of got caught by aerial surveillance sitting just inside the green zone. It turned out to be a very costly mistake for the angler and crew. It just goes to show that it is better to be cautious than risk a fine. Also, the sharks are apparently not too bad up there at the moment, and the anglers only had to move once to get away from the taxman. As water temperature rises, we will see blue cobalt water move in, and with it the fish will come. Until next month, bent rods to you all.

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 43

Brunswick bubble but bream, snapper biting

LOVE spring. It can be a hard time of the year to fish offshore but with the weather warming up, I feel inspired to get into the estuaries and chase a few of the summer critters that prefer warm water. Of course, mangrove jack are high on most fish wishlists, and while I don’t chase them nearly as hard as I used to, they are still my favourite fish. This coming month is a great time to look for red emperor, as the water temperature will

Tweed to Byron Bay by GAVIN DOBSON

begin to rise dramatically in the mid to upper reaches. The recent winter and spring season crossover threw up several good fishing species, but two were standouts. In the rivers, bream dominated in both numbers and quality on the Brunswick and Tweed rivers. Offshore, both regions produced awesome snapper fishing.

Though initially, snapper fishing was very slow inshore at Brunswick Heads. In fact, very slow was an understatement. Last month, I reported that a few were beginning to filter in and since then a few good knobbies and squire have been kicking around, from the local up to Black Rocks. While mostly taking live and fresh baits

Snapper took a while to come in close but hopefully they hang around.

Bream are still in good quantity and size in the lower reaches of the Tweed River. Page 44 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

caught on location, the good old pilchard has worked just as well as anything else. Lucky the snapper turned up because everything else in close has been very quiet. Jewfish are rare enough that you may as well fish for them in your backyard – you’ll catch just as many and won’t have to wash the boat! I’m sick of saying there are no cobia, so I’ll get off that horse. As opposed to offshore, jew are getting around in the river as they tend to do in spring. I have mentioned them a lot over the past few years, and as Brad Smith has his finger on that pulse more than I do and has been giving red hot advice in his articles, I’ll leave the details to him. Trevally species are moving back into the estuaries, which is awesome as they are one of my favourite estuary sportfish. I don’t mind them for a feed either, particularly giant trevally because their flesh is a little less red. Though even the darker flesh models are good – fresh or as sashimi. Back to the bream I mentioned earlier. Normally, the numbers drop off by mid-spring but lucky for us they are still going strong and sizes have been getting better as the late season continues. The lower reaches of the Tweed around any of the rock walls are fishing well for bream and a few should start moving upstream very soon. The same can be said at Brunswick Heads, with

the lower reaches producing thumping bream and plenty of them. With this article deadline looming, I suggested to Keira that we head down to the harbour to catch a bream for a photo. She was keen as always and while I didn’t think it would take long, it was much quicker than expected. She flicked the bait in with only a tiny sinker running right to the hook and a dozen big bream came racing out from under the jetty, and she hooked the one pictured. It put up a great fight on light tackle but Keira got the better of it and we released it after the pic was snapped. Job done! I asked Keira if she wanted to keep fishing but she said there was no point hurting the fish for no reason. Often the first bream is the easiest to catch and they shut down after that but I threw in a little bait as berley and the bream continued to smash it. With the bubble now extended to include Brunswick Heads, the place was packed over the long weekend and theoretically, the bream should have been shier but they were clearly hungry. We left them to eat the rest of the bait for free. I hope this amazing run of bream continues for a while longer. The offshore snapper run should continue because often, when they come in late, they can hang around until Christmas. Let’s hope so and let’s also hope for good gaps in the weather. www.bnbfishing.com. au

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 45

Warmer weather fires up river species

PRING has certainly kicked into gear on the north

coast. You can always tell when summer is just around the corner because without fail, we see lovely calm mornings followed by consistent northerly wind in the afternoons. It happens with amazing regularity, and I guess the only thing to be happy about is that there are no boxes of chocolates or surprises here ladies and gentlemen – you know exactly what you’re going to get. We have had many lovely warm days, but these have been followed by a few cool evenings, so I don’t think it is time to pack the hoodies and jumpers away just yet. Not to mention the fact that we have not even seen the start of the rainy season that awaits us. The warmer days have meant the water temperature has jumped up a couple of degrees over

Ballina Bait & Tackle by BRETT HYDE

the past month. This has helped a number of species in the river and has fired up prawns and other food sources as well. The main beneficiaries of the warmer weather have been the flathead. We have continued to see better numbers of this species in the lower reaches of the river recently. The warmer conditions pushed a few of them into slightly deeper water, which has meant several of the lure brigade have had better success using heavier jigheads, as well as vibes and metal blades. Mullet fillet and pilchard have been the best bait to use, particularly during the run-out tides. The warmer conditions have also encouraged trevally to come out of hiding. The better numbers

have been landed between Pimlico Island and Broadwater of late, but we should start to see a few in North Creek as well very soon. As you would expect at this time of the year, luderick have dropped off in numbers, but bream have still been quite solid, with quality fish showing up from time to time around the break walls, with the bulk of fish between the ferry and Broadwater. The water quality from Wardell to Rileys Hill has been slightly murky, though this hasn’t seemed to put bream off their food at all – it has meant that any bait with plenty of smell has worked a little better than others. Pilchard, mullet and chicken or mullet gut have all been producing fish in these areas. Concentrate your efforts along the rock walls and try to cover

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a bit of ground because bream will be moving upriver and will be fairly spread out too. A couple of species that don’t seem to have responded as quickly to the improvement in water temperature are whiting and mud crabs. I do suspect that the less than stellar numbers of each of these around at present is more an indication of the smaller tides we have at this time of the year, rather than the warmer water temperature. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are whiting and crabs to be caught, but they are certainly not setting the world on fire. I am pretty confident that next month I can give you a very different report on these species, and I would certainly get your crab gear ready and sharpen your whiting hooks, so you are prepared when they do show up. With the lack of rain, bass seem to have moved further up the river over the past month. The better numbers of fish seem to be from Swan Bay to Coraki and beyond in both directions. Warmer weather has meant that a number of fish have come on surface lures from poppers or frogs, to fizzers and stickbaits. As is usually the case, this has either been early morning or late afternoon. And as the morning goes on, it’s worth trying Z-Man ChatterBaits or spinnerbaits.

With the water quality being fairly good at present, I would be sticking to more natural colours, unless we get a significant amount of rain in the very near future and water quality drops. Offshore has responded rather well to the increase in water temperature too, with good numbers of mahi mahi currently hanging around the fish aggregating device. As you would expect, plenty of fish have been landed on live bait, though a few have taken a liking to skirted lures being trolled around fairly slowly, as well as several smaller soft plastics and vibes. Brighter colours have been working a little better lately, but I would make sure you have a mix of colours with you, in case you have a cloudy or overcast day the next time you are out. We have still seen reasonable numbers of snapper on the close reefs, but as each day goes on the numbers appear to be dwindling. I’m not sure if this is from fish moving out to deeper water or because there are less boats fishing in close at this time of the year. The 32-fathom line has been producing quality tuskfish, flathead and snapper. And with the current remaining steady, better fish have come on live bait, as well as Daiwa Kohga Bayrubber Free jigs or octo jigs in brighter colours. * continued P47

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Lessons from Lisa Simpson and a unicorn n Dealing with finicky feeders

Mischa with his 11.1kg jewfish taken on a toy rod and a small Alvey reel.

LEARNT early in my jewfish targeting career that they can be finicky feeders at times, especially when using live bait such as mullet. By that I mean, one day jewfish will swallow the bait right down into the gut and the next they will slam it and kill it all within seconds. In the 1980s, when there would be a low tide during the day, just before dark in Mobbs Bay at Ballina I would catch sand mullet and keep them alive in the back of my fourwheel-drive until after 12.30am in the morning, when all the other anglers had left to catch the last ferry home.

Warmer weather fires up river species * from P46

The 48-fathom lines have been producing quite a number of quality pearl perch as well as kingfish. Squid or mullet fillet have been the pick of bait, and if you are keen to fish this wide, I would do it sooner rather than later because I’m expecting the current to pick up substantially very soon. Lennox Heads 48s have been a little better than those south lately, so I would

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recommend starting there on your next trip out. Finally, I wanted to give everyone a heads-up if you are thinking about coming to Ballina and are planning to fish the south break wall – NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service have erected a large gate, which has been locked to prevent anyone from driving out to the wall. The gate is back at the Mobbs Bay area within the Richmond

River Nature Reserve and has been put in place because the road leading out has narrowed from erosion and is dangerous, apparently. Hopefully they get it rectified sooner rather than later. Anyway, please be aware of this as you will have a reasonable walk out and back if you wish to wet a line out there. Well that’s all from me. Until next time – tight lines!

Just Jew by TYE PORTER

Then I’d go out to the wall and fish the runout tide until daylight. My standard live bait rig then – and now – for mullet was two 10/0 Eagle Claw hooks, with one pinned behind the back of the neck and the other underneath the fish above the anal fin. Most times jew will take the bait, as you’d expect them to, but there’s always the odd occasion that they would either very quickly just take the mouth of the mullet and let it go or slam it really hard and kill it – in both cases it all happens so quickly that I hardly have time to strike. One night when they were in their finicky feeding mood, I decide to swap my two 10/0 hooks for two 1/0 trebles and, as soon as I felt the fish touch the mullet, I struck and bingo – fish on! Now sure, I still miss the occasional fish but gone forever are the long nights of utter frustration. Back to 2020. Recently, Mischa and I were fishing for jew with his girlfriend Rebekah and our mate Ted McLean, and the jew were having one of

their finicky moments – both Ted and I missed a couple of fish each. After an hour or so of Mischa’s smart-aleck comments about us being too old and slow, I challenged him to take one of his 3/0 trebles off his hard-body lures and fish how I used to years ago. Mischa eagerly took up the challenge but upped the ante by saying he could catch one on his kid’s toy Lisa Simpson rod – Rebekah had picked it up on the side of the road in a council kerbside rubbish pick-ups – that he now used to jig live herring with. Fitted to the rod was an Alvey A550 reel, with about 80m of 15lb line and no more than 20m of 30lb backing. Ted and I nearly fell off our chairs laughing. The challenge was on. I swear that rascal had not had bait in the water for more than ten minutes when he yelled out that he was on, and within a further ten minutes he had a 11.1kg jewfish flapping at his feet! Well, to say that Ted and I haven’t lived that moment down to this day would be an understatement. * continued P48

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 47

Rebekah snagged this tarwhine around Goodwood Island on a worm bait while fishing for whiting.

Lessons from Lisa Simpson and a unicorn * from P47

You saw it here first folks, Mischa in the infamous unicorn onesie.

Yamba angler Guy Hemmers continued to land good fish offshore with one effort resulting in this nice kingfish. Page 48 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

We probably never will, but it definitely rates as a ‘you had to be there’ moment, and we are both glad we were. The Lisa rod is now officially in retirement and hangs proudly on Mischa’s wall. A couple of weeks after, Ted called in for a coffee before we headed out to the breakwall for a fish, and we were talking about the rubbish on social media and people complaining how hard it was to catch a jewfish. Mischa mentioned that one bloke had even said catching a unicorn would be easier than catching a jew. No sooner had the words come out of his mouth when his girlfriend Rebekah came into the room – wearing a unicorn onesie. I quipped to him that that was exactly what he needed to wear to catch a jew because if you wanted to catch a

unicorn, you should at least dress like one. As we were getting into the car to leave for the wall, Mischa came out and jumped in wearing – you guessed it – Rebekah’s onesie. I tell you now that if Ted and I not already had our seatbelts on, we would have fallen out of the car laughing. In short, the night ended up with Ted and I scoring our usual zilch diddly-squat nothing, but of course Mischa ended up snaring an 11kg fish on a soft plastic lure – while wearing the now infamous unicorn outfit.

After these two events, I can definitely say 11kg jew are absolutely dumb beyond belief, I am forever thankful that it was pitch black on both nights, and finally that ‘arse beats class’ every time, hands down. On the fishing front the big news is that whiting have finally moved into the Clarence River in large numbers and while most anglers fish for these tasty critters during the day, I prefer to fish for them at night, when the smaller pickers are less prevalent * continued P49

This Lisa Simpson rod has been retired since Mischa landed an 11.1kg jewfish on it. www.bnbfishing.com. au

There is a ‘catch’ in this!

HE second edition of How to Use a Fish Finder is now back in print. I have updated a section in the book on bottom discrimination – it took me four months to work out how to write and explain it! So why did I do it? Fishers can spend many hours with their eyes glued to the sounder screen looking for fish targets on the display, and often when they find a fish school they get excited, drop down a line and don’t get a single bite! Why?

It could be because it’s not feeding time. When feeding time comes around, demersal fish will often head straight down to the bottom to forage for food, that’s why they are called bottom feeders, and several of these fish will find food sifting through the sand, filtering out invertebrates and small fish. Other fish will spend their time foraging in cracks and crevices on rough bottoms in reef, and a few will even be lying on muddy bottoms camouflaged and waiting for prey or a lure to swim by.

A lot of these fish will not be detected on your sounder, as they are positioned too close to the bottom for that to occur. The updated edition explains in detail how to discriminate different bottom surfaces that potentially hold fish. You don’t need a special bottom discrimination sounder to do this, you just need to know how your sounder works! For more information or to order your copy today visit how touseafishfinder.com

John Adams

Lessons from Lisa Simpson and a unicorn * from P48

and a much better sized fish on average will be encountered. Tailor have been patchy off the local beaches in recent weeks, however there are plenty of fish around the 1kg mark to be had by spinning the headlands at first light and late evening. Offshore catches are still being dominated by snapper and teraglin but by the end of the month, the first reports of spotted mackerel should begin to filter in. While on the topic of pelagics, at least one longtail tuna had been boated off Woody Head each month through winter, and it looks as though the odd fish decided to stay and not make the usual migration north. Anglers who use soft

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plastics for jewfish are over the moon at the news that Shimano Squidgies lures have begun to make their famous drop bear plastic again. However, I believe the 13cm lure everyone used to use will be replaced with a 15cm model. Brett Hyde at Ballina Bait and Tackle has ordered heaps of them in various new colours, so give him a call on 02 6686 2527. This month concentrate on the break walls for the jew of your dreams, using bait such as live mullet or yellowtail and dead bait similar to octopus and squid. Or perhaps try spinning the headlands with a mixture of 6” paddle tail soft plastic lures or a hard-body minnow.

Don’t forget, if you want to have a crack at catching a jew off the headlands with a feather, my handmade white and red, and white lures are available exclusively at Ballina Bait and Tackle. Stay safe and enjoy your fishing.

Using a 3/0 treble in Mischa’s live bait instead of a single hook worked a treat.

Rebekah Ellis of Iluka had a ball catching quality whiting at night on live worms. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 49

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Free boating festival

RGA N I SE R S of the southern h em i sph e r e’s premier marine event are very excited to announce a precursor to the 2021 Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, with the Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival scheduled to take place November 13 to 15 at the vibrant

Marine Village. Presented by SCIBS, the Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival aims to whet the appetite of marine enthusiasts in the wake of SCIBS 2020 being postponed. The event will showcase a broad range of impressive exhibitor displays across both land and water, with some of the biggest names in the Australian marine industry expected to make an appearance. As Gold Coast residents continue to back local businesses and

bolster the economy, the Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival will focus on supporting the region’s marine industry, with southeast Queensland brands among those invited to display the latest in boating and fishing. The free three-day event will be open to the public, with ticketing and access details to be released closer to the event date, as organisers work closely with health officials to ensure the event complies with COVID-safe practices.

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Fishing and trailer boat brands sign up

HE wheels are turning with preparations underway for the Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival! The three-day event, scheduled from November 13 to 15, has already attracted an exciting range of exhibitor bookings since the event was announced

only weeks ago. A host of big names in the fishing and trailer boat segment have confirmed their attendance, with the likes of Australian Marine Centre, Game and Leisure Boats, Nautique Central, Surf Coast Marine, Cobalt Boats, Hurricane, Sailfish Catamarans,

Nitro Marine, Whittley Marine Group, Magbay Yachts and Northside Marine on display throughout the vibrant Marina Village. SCIBS sales and partnerships manager Dominic O’Brien said, “The level of industry support has been very gratifying.”

“Exhibitors have secured sites on both land and water, which reflects industry desire to showcase the best the marine sector has to offer. “The festival will feature every segment of the boating lifestyle, with a range of impressive displays from sailing boats, motor yachts, mono and multihulls, to fishing and trailer boats, leisure crafts, and new gear and gadgets.” Managing director Greg Nickerson said they were extremely happy to hear that Sanctuary Cove announced a marine event for late 2020. “With the cancelling of all other boat shows this year, an opportunity to display our great range of boats to a wider audience is welcomed,” Mr Nickerson said.

“While the boating festival will be on a smaller scale compared to a traditional SCIBS format, I believe it will bring fantastic crowds to the world-class Sanctuary Cove facility and we are very much looking forward to participating.” We look forward to welcoming you to the Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival this November. To ensure the safety of all patrons, visitors must pre-register their attendance at sanctu arycoveboatshow.com. au/boating-festival Registration and access details will be released closer to the event date, as organisers work closely with health officials to ensure the event complies with COVID-safe practices.

Huge range of boats on display at festival

ARINE enthusiasts will be spoilt for choice at the upcoming Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival, with a big line-up of day, sport, fishing and leisure boats, as well as sail and power catamarans signing up for the event. Popular brands and manufacturers confirmed in the 20 to 40-foot category on water include Axopar, Whitehaven Mo-

tor Yachts, Nautique, Newport Island Gypsy Boats, Game and Leisure Boats, Grady White, Regal, Caribbean, Integrity, BRIG, Cobalt Boats of Australia, Clipper Motor Yachts and Magbay Yachts Australia. Sales and partnerships manager Dominic O’Brien said visitors will experience well-known brands and new models across every segment of the boating lifestyle.

Page 54 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

“The event will feature an impressive range of Australian and international brands that service all ends of the market, with a highly soughtafter segment of vessels on water ranging from those that are slightly bigger than a trailerable boat, but smaller than a 60-footer,” Mr O’Brien said. “Whether mono or multihull, sailing or power, sport or day cruising, fishing or ski-

ing, there will be something for everyone, and we’re looking forward to showcasing our spectacular marina to both visitors and exhibitors.

“The Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival is significant being the only boat show on the Australian calendar * continued P55

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Huge range of boats on display at festival * from P54

this year, and we are proud to be able to support the wider marine industry with a smaller, yet meaningful and safe event.” The striking Regal 33SAV by Game and Leisure Boats will headline their display at the boating festival, with the ultimate fishing and family crossover cruiser being offered at a once only demonstrator clearance price of $499,000, around $150,000 below replacement value. Game and Leisure

Boats managing director Graham McCloy said, “We’re really looking forward to the Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival as it will be the first time in 2020 that the industry can be involved in a show that’s all about visitors, and we’re excited to display a selection of the latest releases from Grady White and Regal.” “There is no better place for the industry to come together after a challenging year than Sanctuary Cove.” Save the date this No-

Don’t miss AMC’s range of boats on display at festival

USTRALIAN Marine Centre will be exhibiting a range of boats from premium manufacturers such as Aquamaster, Bar Crusher and Signature, powered by the best 4-stroke Suzuki and now Mercury outboards. Be quick to secure the last stock available for 2020, or do a deal on a new motor for your current boat! AMC have always had a presence at the major boat shows, and we love to exhibit the latest models available

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to the public from the best manufacturers in Australia. AMC have now added Mercury outboards to their range, and Mercury have been at the forefront of the outboard world for many years. Their product range is vast and with the new V6 and V8 selection available suit AMC’s range of boats to a tee! AMC will have unbeatable deals on our range of boats and motors, so if you are not there, you will miss out! Rod Elliot, AMC

vember to attend the Sanctuary Cove Boating Festival and to experience the boating lifestyle – visitor registrations will be opening soon!

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Jeff Wilton with a mangrove jack on a weedless rigged Z-Man EZ ShrimpZ.

Lubin Pfeiffer from The Full Scale - Fishing Adventures with a TT Lures SnakelockZ pinned barramundi.

How to rig and fish weedless plastics

HE weather is warming and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re starting to see more bass, barramundi and mangrove jack photos popping up on social media. Many of the images feature a soft plastic and a weedless jig head locked firmly in the jaw hinge of the fish, making it difficult for it to throw or dislodge the jig head during the fight. Many species â&#x20AC;&#x201C; including those mentioned â&#x20AC;&#x201C; love structure

Tackle Tactics by JUSTIN WILLMER

such as weed, lilies and timber, so fishing these areas with traditional lures can translate to snags, lures fouled with weed and lost gear. Weedless rigged soft plastics come into their own in these scenarios and can mean not only more time fishing, but more fish landed. I fish a wide selection of Z-Man 10X Tough

ElaZtech soft plastics when weedless rigging because they have three main advantages over traditional soft plastics. First, when rigging weedless you are only securing a small section of the plastic in place, and the 10X Tough durability ensures it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t tear away easily when casting hard and when the fish strike the

Paul Chew with a TT Lures SnakelockZ rigged barramundi on a Z-Man Scented ShrimpZ. Page 58 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, November 2020

lure, allowing more fish to be caught on a single soft plastic. Second, the plastic is extremely soft and flexible, letting the hook clear much more easily when a fish strikes and increasing the hook-up rate. Finally, the plastic is naturally buoyant, meaning you can rig weedless and unweighted to fish the surface or weight the soft plastic to fish a required depth. When rigging this style of plastic, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s important to use a jig head that has a keeper designed to stop the plastic from sliding down the hook, such as the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;chin lockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; keeper from TT Lures â&#x20AC;&#x201C; found on the ChinlockZ, ChinlockZ Finesse, ChinlockZ Snagless Weight System, SnakelockZ, SnakelockZ Finesse and NedlockZ EWG. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take a look at each of these jig heads, why we might use them and what species may be the target. For surface fishing, the ChinlockZ has the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;chin lockâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; keeper but no additional weight on

the hook, allowing you to easily swim the soft plastic across the surface. This is a popular option for rigging frogs to fish on the surface for bass, mangrove jack, barramundi, saratoga, Murray cod and other species that feed off the top. This setup is ideal for buzzing lures across the top of weed beds and among lilies, reeds and timber. The strikes can be brutal, so be ready to keep the fish out of structure. This weightless jig head is also popular for swimming crustaceans, and paddle and curl tail plastics across the surface or walking jerkbaits over structure for the aforementioned species. It is even used in larger sizes in open water for species such as kingfish. The ChinlockZ is available in a finesse version as small as a #4 for tiny plastics, right through to a 12/0 for fishing large plastics. * continued P59

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How to rig and fish weedless plastics * from P58

A little weight may need to be added for casting distance, especially when the wind is up, while also allowing a slow natural sink to the presentation. This is where the ChinlockZ SWS comes into its own. The belly weight on the bend of the hook provides the additional weight required for casting and creates a natural, slow and horizontal sink. Anglers often use this jig head on frogs, while it can be rigged on virtually any plastic, such as sinking crustaceans into the mangroves for barra and jack, fishing a paddle tail around the weed beds for barra or bass, and even fishing heavy weed for flathead. The ChinlockZ SWS is available in a 2/0 to 12/0 to cover bass and flathead to barra and kingfish. If you wish to add more weight or move the weight to the front of the jig head, check out the SnakelockZ or SnakelockZ Finesse – again available from a

tiny #4 hook through to an 8/0. This allows you to weight your plastic to fish deeper and, with the Z-Man plastic being buoyant, the plastic will stand up off the bottom as if it is alive. You can rig virtually any plastic on this range of jig heads and fish it where you would not normally be game to cast. The SnakelockZ features a stainless-steel quick twist wire attachment on the head weight, which lets you mix and match head weights and hook sizes to suit your chosen plastic, target species and the environment you’re fishing. This is a go-to option for anglers targeting all of the snag dwelling favourites such as bass, jack and barra. Finally, the NedlockZ EWG is designed for fishing the Ned Rig System, whereby the natural buoyancy combines with a mushroom style jig head to create a rapid stand up of the plastic to attract fish and trigger strikes.

This jig head features a custom heavy-duty #1 black nickel hook that is ideal for rigging 2-3” finesse plastics for bass, bream, flathead and more. Fish the snags, hop it through the weed and you should find yourself hooked up to bass, yellowbelly, bream and flathead among others. If you’re keen to unlock the snags and access fish holding in there, check out these options and give weedless rigging a go. Additional tips would include scenting up for a more solid strike and hook set, and if you are getting bites but not hooking up, hold the pauses on the bottom shorter and keep the plastic moving a little more to encourage a solid corner of the jaw hook-up. This style of rigging should see you getting the plastic in and out of some crazy structure with minimal chance of fouling or snagging – when the fish eats it though, it’s over to you! See you on the water…

This flathead was securely pinned on a TT Lures NedlockZ EWG and Z-Man TRD BugZ. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Ready to fish the snags with a TT Lures SnakelockZ weedless jig head.

The latest weedless option – a TT Lures NedlockZ EWG.

Jeff Wilton and a mangrove jack caught on his goto Z-Man Finesse FrogZ 2.75” and TT Lures 1/12oz 2/0 ChinlockZ SWS.

A barramundi pinned on a weedless rigged Z-Man DieZel MinnowZ. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 59

Jack just around the corner n SCF competition report

Phil with a 38cm bream caught during the SCF competition.

S a general rule the month of November will mean very hot days for southeast Queensland. And the hot weather translates to the water temperature rising in rivers and creeks, so mangrove jack will be in full swing. Jack are a very popular target at this time of year. Their aggressive nature, speed and bad at-

One of the sharks captured that helped take out the shark category.

The author and a nice mangrove jack taken on a Zerek Fish Trap. Page 60 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, November 2020

Local Luring by KEITH STRATFORD

titude can see anglers getting very addicted to chasing the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;red dogsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; during warmer months. The rivers and creeks were very clean at the time of writing. This can make getting a bite from a jack much more difficult. Scaling down the gear youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re using is one way to hook more fish, but it can also see you getting busted off a lot more. Targeting jack at night is another way to get them to bite while the water is clean. Jack move around quite a bit at night and leave their crusty homes to feed on baitfish. Fishing around lights that are shining into the water can work really well. The lights attract the bait and the bait attracts the fish. Jack wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be far away, especially if there is good structure, such as bridge pylons or rocks. I have heard the Bureau of Meteorology mention that we are in for a wet spring, so hopefully the rain turns up this month and we can look forward to excellent jack action. SCF competition This year my friend Phil and I fished the SCF competition based on the Sunshine Coast. There are plenty of categories to try and win in this comp, and

we decided to chase a range of species instead of trying to take out the biggest. We had a good game plan leading up to the event, but the weather was terrible. Fishing started at midnight on the Friday and our strategy was to try the Bribie Island Bridge for a few species, but with wind gusts of over 30 knots blowing straight up Pumicestone Passage, it was nearly unfishable. The next morning, we pulled the pin on the passage and moved to the Caboolture River, which was the southern boundary for the competition. It proved to be a good move because during the morning we nailed a couple of jack, flathead, bream, more flatties and a small jewfish. After dark, we decided to chase sharks. There was a realtime online scoreboard to check and see what catch was needed to be top of each category. Only one shark had been caught at that point, so we floated out a couple of pieces of freshwater eel. We missed a heap of small sharks that night due to the heavy gear we were using. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve caught a lot of sharks in the Caboolture River over the * continued P62

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The amazing little Shark Cat that ate up the sea

ITH November around the corner, we might be in for an early flood or good rainfall soon. I am sort of torn – I want the rain because it fills my tanks, and flushes out the creeks and rivers. The fishing in close off Noosa and Double Island is great at the moment.

The author with a crab.

Ryan in his 5.56m Shark Cat.

Jack just around the corner * from P60

years, with a few solid bullies among them, so I didn’t want to fish too light. We gave up after a couple of hours and had a sleep. The next morning was nice and calm, so we had another go at chasing sharks and caught two small models in the 90cm range straightaway. The rest of the morning was spent chasing a threadfin salmon or

another small jewie. As both were unsuccessful, we pulled the pin and went to the presentation held up the coast at Nightcap at Waterfront Hotel. The presentation was entertaining, with plenty of drinks and laughs flowing. I ended up taking out the shark section and Phil missed out on the bream section by one centimetre. We also won the best video for the

Page 62 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

competition and took home a new GoPro. The prizes are excellent in this competition and you can take it as seriously as you want. Several excellent fish were caught over the two-day event. If you want to see the results, jump on their website and have a look. We had plenty of fun and I’m sure we’ll be back next year to have another go.

Noosa to Fraser Coast by CRAIG TOMKINSON

But if we get a flood in November, the mud crabs leave the big lake and head down the Noosa River. There are way too many ‘share’ farmers down there for me to risk putting my crab pots in. Fisheries need to do a blitz and clean the thieving lowlives out – like they have at Tin Can Bay. As you know, the run out wide of DI and Fraser Island has kicked in, though it’s still worth a try in case it’s not running that day for whatever reason. The whales are heading home, thank goodness. But the pelagics will show up soon, which means more sharks. Big storms will start to come through bringing more northerly wind, so overnighters will be harder to do. On the fishing front, I did one trip offshore since coming home from Weipa. My friend Ryan Kaukiainen, who used to come out with me when he was younger and I was pro fishing, has bought his first boat. He now owns a 5.56m Shark Cat with canopy and clears, and twin 90hp 2-stroke Yamaha outboards on the back. Ryan had to do a bit of work to the motors as they were running rough. He pulled the carburetors off both motors

and gave them a clean, which made the motors run super sweet. He then changed the leg oil on both and sorted out the wiring before he fit his GPS and Furuno FCV-628 sounder, and new VHF aerial on top of the canopy to get distance at sea. With that done, we did a few trips on the Noosa River and up to Tin Can Bay to build confidence in the motors. And we fit the right propellers again, as it came with two sets. The previous owner had 4-blade alloy props on it and the motors couldn’t rev out, but it came with two old stainless steel 3-blade props. Ryan put them on and – you little ripper – it was hitting the correct revs per minute and became a totally different boat, with heaps of power out of the hole. We loaded up his 3L Toyota Hilux, hooked the boat on and headed to Tin Can Bay. We dropped the boat in and went down the bay at 23 knots – the Shark Cat purred along nicely. We crossed the bar and though it was blowing 10-15 knots northeast, we were doing 18 knots straight into the wind while I was sitting down! I love Cats. We didn’t go far – only about 40km – because we wanted to see how much fuel it burned. * continued P63

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Ryan and his children with a few of the fish we caught.

The Shark Cat that ate up the sea * from P62

It took me a while to sort the sounder out – it had that much clutter coming though once the gain was turned up – and it didn’t help that Ryan left the book at home. I must say, compared to the 585, 587, 295 and 1150s, it was a crap sounder to use, but that may have been due to where the transducer was put for this trip. I played around with it for a long time and it was useless – the transducer was stuffed and I could not get any power out of it. For a 600 watt RMS sounder, it was pathetic and I barely got it sensing the bottom. We did a few drifts catching a couple of tuskfish, then we anchored up and I put out a berley trail for Ryan’s first drop. He hooked-up to a good fish that I thought might have been a nice red emperor. He had actually landed a good snapper. With a steady stream of hussar, tuskfish and undersize fish being caught, we chipped away for a nice feed. We shifted around

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that area sounding out new and old spots. It got dark quickly and because both of us were exhausted, we went to bed early. Which was a first for both of us – not having to worry about making a pay on an overnighter or finding fish for clients at night. It was fantastic! Next day we fished around the area a little more but the run had kicked in, so we worked our way back towards Double Island where things were super slow. The day went so fast that we came back close off the bar because Ryan wanted to make sure he did his first inwards crossing as skipper in the daylight. We anchored up, put out a berley trail and started catching yellowtail scad on our lines, so Ryan dropped a jig down and loaded them up. He caught a few strings using livies and I used a big half slab with the head cut in half. Within no time, we were landing good grass sweetlip and snapper. But with daylight fading fast, and even

though fish were just coming on the chew, we pulled the pin and headed in. At that time, it was blowing 15-22 knots northeasterly and the little Shark Cat just ate up the sea – crossing the bar at 25 knots with no bad habits. In fact, it’s the best boat of its size I have been in, and being only 18’ that amazed me! I love Cats. Until next time, be safe on the water.

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Flathead are still making an appearance and Tyler Egan was happy with this 90cm model.

Nick Swan caught his 49cm mangrove jack with a Keitech Swing Impact Fat paddle tail plastic in the Maroochy River.

Pre-summer warm up getting ready for pelagics

OVEMBER is a great time to start planning for the next month as we head towards my favourite time of the year – the pelagic run. This year things are set to be quite different, with La Niña being the driver for a better than average pelagic season. For now though, expect to find a few big spanish mackerel patrolling the shallow coastline from Double Island towards Mooloolaba. If you have a kayak, a whole bonito, slimy mackerel or garfish on a troll rig and a short length of single strand wire is the go-to rig. Double Island often produces a mixed bag of species not often caught around Noosa. These include amberjack, goldband snapper, saddletail sea perch, nannygai and red emperor. At times it is well worth the effort to load the trailer and drive to Tin Can Bay. This makes for a shorter boat ride if Wide Bay Bar doesn’t

Sunshine Coast by GRANT BUDD

scare you and conditions change. It is the land of big fish and big bust-offs, so go in well equipped with 40-60lb gear. High-speed jigging is a great method to target amberjack and trevally, which fight all the way to the boat. In this area PE3 is the smallest diameter of polyethylene fishing line you should use, as even the smallest amberjack will wear out anglers not used to this method of fishing. Sharks can also be a problem and lighter outfits don’t let you apply the pressure required for lifting fish up quickly. Take a look at the various high-speed jigs around 100-200g, and switch out stock hooks for Decoy DJ-78 Middle Pike on slow jigs and DJ-79 Long Pike assist hooks for knife jigs. Slow jigs also work very well here while

Page 64 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

drifting and as always upgrading the hooks is essential, as are long 3m or more leaders to cope with getting rubbed up against the reef. For those fishing local, North Reef has been holding a great mixed bag of species, with jewfish around the 1m mark. These fish will take a wide range of baits including live, slab and strip on a snelled 7/0 octopus circle hook and 60lb leader. Another way to target these fish is on slow jigs, with the Samaki Ribcage an option for deeper water. The new Hot Bite Raptor Slow Fall jig would be great for lighter PE23 outfits fished in shallow water or during a light current run. If drifting out near North Reef, be sure to use soft plastics in the 5-7” size range. You will need jig heads up to 1.5oz and around 5/0-7/0 hooks to

suit most styles. For a lighter current, be sure to break out the humble pilchard floater, as big mid-water snapper, cobia, tuna and mackerel frequent this area. In closer, Sunshine Reef is showing goodsized coral trout, grass sweetlip, venus tuskfish and of course snapper. Sunshine has been popular for smaller craft during stronger wind days, as the consistent southeasterly wind is usually behind you for the trip home. Out here a mixture of styles work very well and 20lb gear is perfect for smaller soft plastics, 3/8-3/4oz jig heads and jigs in the 40-80g range. If bait fishing and dropping live bait, then 50lb or greater is recommended because the reef can be an unforgiving place, especially when the fish of a lifetime latches on! Having a gang-hooked pilchard floater out on light-wind days can result in a wide range of species picking up your offering.

If the current is light enough, using a steady stream of berley can make the difference between success and failure. Be sure to pick up pellets, tuna oil and aniseed oil, and mix it with sand for best results. The headlands are a great place to have a few larger stickbaits in both floating and sinking styles and anything in the Nomad range is a great starting point. With a pair of polarised glasses, you can often sight cast to tuna and cobia passing close by. Take a look at PENN Prevail II Surf Spinning 9’6” rods for rock and heavier lure casting up to 150g. Match this with a Shimano Ultegra 5500 long cast reel and you have a great combo when loaded with a high quality 30lb braid. Also along the surf line, you can expect to find a continued run of small dart and early morning will provide lure anglers with giant trevally, which push * continued P66

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Pre-summer warm up getting ready for pelagics * from P64

baitfish into the surf zone and smash them. You may pick up a mackerel from any of the rocky areas, with the middle groyne in the Noosa River occasionally providing anglers with this species and many other fish on the right day. Mangrove jack are on fire, and anywhere from the mouth of the river towards Cootharabah will provide a mul-

titude of locations. Try any points, rock bars, deep holes and mangrove edges – to name a few places these fish are likely to hang out. Many anglers will cast or slow troll hard-body lures, cast soft vibes, flick soft plastics and fish live and dead baits. Night fishing can be very productive because jack will often break from cover under a night sky.

Corey Scholes showing off a nice giant trevally.

Be warned though, a jack will know how to get home and fast. It should be noted that many anglers see these fish as prized sportfish, with most returned only to be caught again and again during the season. Mangrove jack have to head offshore to breed, so please consider your bag limits before keeping them. Bigger flathead are still showing up, and are generally found in the lower part of the river and around the mouth of Lake Cooroibah. You can also find these fish throughout Lake Weyba and the various sand flats surrounding the area, as well as the frying pan on the north shore. These are generally the first fish caught by anglers using lures and they respond well to trolled hard-body lures such as Zerek Tango Shad and the shallow Samaki Redic. Flatties can also be caught at night when targeting jack.

Craig Mullet with a 70cm snapper snagged off Coolum Reef. Page 66 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

The better places to find them would be where there is a good light source from public jetties or houses with flood lighting. Baitfish are attracted to this light, so a paddle tail plastic such as a Keitech Swing Impact Fat in Sight Flash colour with a slow roll will succeed in hooking-up flathead. For daytime anglers, bream and whiting are firing up, and a few great locations are from the frying pan to the dog beach. The MMD Splash Prawn is proving popular for the light 2-3kg tackle brigade, as is the smaller Bassday Sugapen 58mm with a short 50cm leader. Surface lures can bring fish out from almost anywhere. When skipped across the flats, angry packs of whiting can suddenly appear, so it’s a good idea to always wear polarised glasses for this style of fishing. We stock a huge range of Costa frames and the glass lenses are second to none. For bait anglers, a simple running sinker rig and a little red whiting tube above your hook is the go for a fresh feed of whiting. The freshwater has provided anglers with a shot at bass, yellowbelly and saratoga. And early morning has proved a great time to chase bass and toga on the surface, with 12lb leader the lightest and 16-20lb perfect for big models. Weedless rigged ZMan FrogZ and small MinnowZ on weight-

less hooks allow for great surface presentations, as these plastics float. Once the sun rises, suspending jerkbaits are best deployed and the Jackall Squirrel is no stranger to getting smashed on the pause. Working edges and overhanging trees are often overlooked, so be sure to give them a try if you are finding the bite a little tough. If the wind is up and the bite has died off, using smaller tailspinner jigs such as the Jackson Iga Jig will turn the fish on because the vibration and small size tends to be irresistible enough to trigger a reaction bite. These jigs often get inhaled, so squashing the barbs down will allow for easy hook removal and quick return. Don’t forget to check for current conditions online before you head out, as upgrades and algal blooms can result in temporary closures. While checking the conditions, don’t forget to purchase a stocked impoundment permit. For the latest information, log onto fishingnoosa.com.au for upto-date bar and fishing reports, and don’t forget to 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. Enjoy this month on the water! Be sure to follow us on Facebook and remember, tight lines and bent spines!

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Dave hooked a nice tuskfish on a Palms Slow Blatt Cast Oval micro jig lure.

Tuna turn it on in Hervey Bay Lorinda and a typical spring longtail tuna.

Dave jigging again, this time snaring a tasty moses perch.

Gordie was happy with his fat mack tuna.

> Hervey Bay > Fraser Island > Sandy Strait

T the time of writing, tuna have slowly made a start in the bay. Though the catches have been quite patchy and not in substantial numbers, there have been enough all the same. The majority are mack tuna, though a few longtail have made their presence felt in mixed schools, with most fish being less

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Fraser Guided Fishing by TRI TON

than 90cm in length. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be put off because the odd big fish has been around too. The bait they are feeding on is quite small and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not in copious quantities, so they are not fussy eaters â&#x20AC;&#x201C; yet. Small surface lures and soft plastics have been key for hooking up. Without the tuna, I would have had a few tough days because sharks had set up camp where I had previously been catching fish on deep presentations. So, I had to buckle down for a few tours and work the fish I saw on the Lowrance. Because occasionally, the fewer the numbers of fish, the lesser the chance of a shark taking up residence too. Even then, you never

know when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be taxed. Working your butt off against wind and wave, every bite counts, and to lose a hook-up to sharks can be demoralising. Being positive and having a laugh will help keep you motivated. On a recent tour, I had a group of fishers who insisted we go out in tough fishing and weather conditions. I agreed, not knowing their ability or durability in rough weather. But they were forewarned and were willing to accept the terms the weather had dealt us. We lost an early bite to a shark at the end of the fight â&#x20AC;&#x201C; it was a large trevally. We left the sharks and found a few very flighty tuna. I decided it would be * continued P69

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Tuna turn it on in Hervey Bay * from P68

better if I found another surface school though was not rewarded, which was fine because tuna had been found out wide and the wind was hiking up. I relocated in close to Fraser Island and we were fortunate to find fish worth targeting. It took a little time to actually hook one, however we lost that fish too – it simply wanted its freedom. After what may have been an hour, we boated one nice trev, pulled hooks on a few more and eventually a shark found our final hook-up. The last fish was actually taken on its very first run! Credit to the fishos who remained positive and in good humour, it was a long grind. But they endured, enjoyed the session and were more educated at the end. I was very happy to see a five-star review from them and a promise to come out again. By early November, we should see spotty mackerel joining the tuna. Mackerel can be a lifesaver because they are not as fussy as tuna usually. However, they are definitely not a species I would target consistently as a sportfish, because I find them a little fragile. I tend to target mack-

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erel with metal lures and a single hook. But the use of finegauge single hooks will minimise harm and increase hook-ups. De-hooking tools will help you quickly flip fish off boat side and they work extremely well on single hooks. I will usually keep any damaged fish if it’s of size. I look for compromised gills, jawbones and eyes. Try to take care of our resources, because no one else will.

Lorinda’s nice golden trevally on a Palms Slow Blatt Cast Oval micro jig 60g.

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Photos are of Percy and David who both enjoyed successful offshore trips and were proud of their catches.

Awesome angling options for Agnes Water/1770

R O U N D 130km north of Bundaberg, the twin towns of Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy provide a range of great fishing and recreational opportunities. The small township of Agnes Water provides access to a patrolled surf beach for swimmers and board riders, a long beach with beachworms to catch and gutters to fish and a small shopping precinct. And Seventeen Seventy provides excellent access to a large estuary system, to offshore waters and the islands of the Bunker Group. Over the recent school holiday period, I spent time enjoying this area and, although the weather was not kind for offshore fishing for much of my stay, I was able to head offshore on two occasions. Unfortunately, I had other commitments on the other occasions when weather conditions were favourable but I know – living close to the area – that there will be more opportunities in the near future. Agnes Water The main Agnes Water Beach is bordered by two rocky headlands, with the surfing and swimming area

Bundaberg Region by BRAD YOUNG

usually located close to the southern end. This provides a very long stretch of beach to the north, where beachworms can be caught and where there are often neat low tide gutters to target bread and butter species such as whiting, bream, tarwhine and flathead. Pipis are available for bait occasionally too. This stretch of beach is an ideal area to introduce young anglers to beach fishing, especially when conditions are good, as the small low tide gutters are easily accessed. Other benefits include no snags and plenty of beach area for the kids to play on if they become bored with fishing. With such a long stretch of beach available, it is not unusual to see a beach cart being used as a ‘base’ for fishing equipment and refreshments as anglers make their way along the expanse, moving from one gutter to the next. The best gear for this area is a light action surf rod and an Alvey or spinning reel spooled

Page 70 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

with 6-10lb monofilament line rigged with a regular trace of around 30-50cm in length. If you’re unable to source your own beachworms or pipis, include yabbies – which can be pumped from Round Hill Creek – or purchase bait from the tackle shop at Agnes Water, such as prawns and beach worms. Round Hill Creek estuary Round Hill Creek provides a range of fishing options for the shorebased angler and small boat owner, with plenty of rocky shoreline to target as well as sandy stretches of beach and bank. If you have access to a boat or choose to hire one, there are many sand and mud banks with drop-offs and other features that provide plenty of fishing options. The best baits are those you can source yourself such as yabbies. A range of bait choices can be provided by the Agnes Water 1770 Bait and Tackle shop, along with – and best of all – advice and tips for fishing the local area.

I usually purchase my bait here and have always found it to be fresh and of high quality, particularly the IQF pillies I use offshore. The option to drop the pots in and try for a mud crab is also available in the estuary, though my son had two pots taken over two days in the recent holidays. They were located up small mangrove alleyways, so they wouldn’t drift. One was a fairly dodgy pot, while the other was new – most likely taken by a person who believed they deserved the crabs more than Lachy. They say ‘a secret can only be kept by two people if one is dead’, so I believe that the people who behave like this are ‘known’, and that this behaviour is ‘acceptable’ to those who know. It is interesting conduct and I guess simply reflects their upbringing or needs. I was taught – and teach my children – ‘if it’s not yours, don’t touch it’ and ‘if I need or want it, I work for it’. Ocean access at Seventeen Seventy Round Hill Creek gives access to the waters offshore and includes the Bunker Group of islands around

60km offshore. Take care at the mouth when planning to cross the bar, and always log on with Volunteer Marine Rescue Round Hill. There are many options and starting marks available for those new to the area. Again, Agnes Water 1770 Bait and Tackle is a great starting point for information and supplies, right down to the latest marks for bait jigging off the entrance of the bar. Offshore fishing options begin outside the bar, with trolling along the rocky headland providing mackerel and other pelagic action. Between the mainland and the Bunker Group is a large expanse of water that does fish well if you locate good bottom features, or head to one of the many starter mark locations such as the Banana Gutter. For those heading further offshore, the islands and reefs of the Bunker Group are the pick. As always, I can be contacted via Bush ‘n Beach website, by email at fishnboat@bigpond. com or via post at PO Box 5812 Bundaberg West Queensland 4670. Until next month…

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Early Seventeen Seventy raid I AN and Stefan decided to do an early raid to Seventeen Seventy, fishing midweek as a precursor to the annual BNB Trophy competition in September. The main target was to be big red fish – but anything from up there was going to be more than welcome in the Esky. The weather was awesome, though the fishing on the first day was a bit slow at best. Yet, they did land a couple of decent red emperor and few other bits and pieces to keep them interested for the following day. Wednesday the dial was turned up right from the get go. Fish were jumping in the box from all directions including two school reds that came up in quick succession. Ian wasn’t as hot on the camera as he was on the fishing rod but he finally managed a couple of shots that incorporated Stefan’s head – though he’s still to be convinced these looked any better. Time ticked on and the fish kept coming when Stefan’s line was smashed by something of size, which left him thinking it was a shark. He thought of busting it off but was talked into bringing it up to check by Ian – probably to tire him out a bit too as he was being taught a bit of a lesson at the time. After a 15-minute battle on a 30lb line, up popped a nice cod – much to everyone’s pleasant surprise. Next drop on almost the same spot and bang, off it went again.

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Power Boat Anglers

by MICK CLUTTERBUCK

The fish fought the same way, leaving Stefan certain it was another cod. With one already in the Esky, he was about to bust it off when again Ian stepped in and convinced him to at least get a glimpse of colour to see what it was first. Job done – Ian sat back down in the shade of the canopy to watch Stefan strain, wheeze and complain until the leader hit the rod tip. Stefan looked over the side expecting to see another big cod but instead it had morphed into the best red emperor of the trip so far. Showing the speed and zip of a much younger man, Ian quickly had the fish in the net and on the deck, which was just as well as it was barely pinned, hooked high on the cheek. It looked like it had sideswiped the bait but no one cared when it was safely in the Esky. The fishers cast a little longer and finished with a nice haul including five red emperor to 9.5kg, coral trout and three different species of cod, to name a few. With time on their hands and the conditions remaining perfect, they did the tourist thing and had a look around, with a spin around Fitzroy to give Ian a feel for the place. With summer nearly upon us, it’s probably time for those who’ve had their boats sitting dormant for a while to dust them off and book a service with your lo-

cal marine dealer for a little tender loving care. Plan and book in early because trying to get a boat in for a service at short notice is practically impossible. Besides the fixed workshops, a number of quality mobile marine mechanics are around these days and the convenience of having someone come to you can be a very handy option. While on servicing, don’t neglect your trailer. No one want’s to be the person sitting on the side of the road wondering which way the wheel went and why they didn’t spend the extra $100 to replace the wheel bearings – we’ve seen it too many times. Also, if you haven’t already, give some thought to joining your local Volunteer Marine Rescue or Coast Guard – chances are you won’t need them but if you do, it’s cheaper to be a member than not. Trust me, I know after breaking a steering ca-

ble near Moreton Island and having to get a tow home. Next meetings Please note that meetings are now held on the first Wednesday of the month. Be at The Club Manly (bowls club), 26 Faine

St Manly at 6pm for a 6.30pm start. Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday November 4. Feel free to come and join us to see if it’s for you. Until next month, safe boating.

Ian was happy to sit back and ‘coach’ Stefan on the finer points of battling big fish.

Five of the best red emperor were landed, all over 9.5kg.

Stefan put in a great deal of effort fishing off Seventeen Seventy. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 71

A nice 73cm queenie caught in Pumicestone Passage on a 3.5” Z-Man GrubZ and 8lb leader. Harry Schofield This big snapper was caught off Cape Moreton. It went 81cm and took a pillie. Geoff Creagh

This Murray cod was caught trolling Glenlyon Dam in my kayak only 100m from the boat ramp. Length was 118cm and it took around 30-40 minutes to land. Samuel Harman

My personal best from Lake Monduran from early October. It went 94cm and was landed solo! Hard to get a pic when you are on your own, but finally got the phone to work, with slimy barra hands and voice command! Andrew McDonald

To have a photo of your catch featured in Readers’ Forum, simply email ben@ collins.media with a goodquality picture, your name and details or hop onto our Facebook page and send us a message. Caught this nice 55cm estuary cod as bycatch on my kayak while fishing for mangrove jack in the Coomera River using a Chasebaits Flick Prawn a few weeks ago. Chris Gartner

Page 72 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

After years of fishing Moreton Bay for whiting, I was invited to go fishing with my son Jason in the Coomera River for mangrove jack. I was delighted with this beauty! Carmen Jackson

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KAYAKING & canoeing

Solar Coaster anchored in the inlet at Yellowpatch.

Yellowpatch is Curtis Islandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best kept secret

HEN people think of Curtis Island these days, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s often in association with the new coal seam gas plants that have been erected there. And while the trio of plants certainly dominate the view of the island from Gladstone Harbour, it is by no

Canoeing by DAN OWBRIDGE

means typical of the rest of this large Curtis Coast feature. Curtis Island is the northernmost and largest of the group of islands that make up Gladstone Harbour. It is the third larg-

est island in Queensland and, excluding the developments on the southern end, largely untouched. The island is perfect for fishing, camping, four-wheel driving, hiking and boating, and

Cape Capricorn Lighthouse at the entrance to Yellowpatch. Page 76 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Bush â&#x20AC;&#x2122;n Beach Fishing, November 2020

due to limited access to the island, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll easily find a spot away from the crowd. There are four main camping areas on Curtis, but by far the standout for me is Yellowpatch. A remote campsite located on the northeastern tip of the island, Yellowpatch is tucked in behind Cape Capricorn. It is accessible only by boat and is instantly recognisable by its distinct large yellow sand blow, from which it derives its name. Camping is on a sheltered beach to the east of the sand blow, in among a stand of native hardwood trees. This very enticing spot is frequented by anglers who use it as a base to fish or crab in

the adjourning estuary. The other common visitors to Yellowpatch are cruising sailors such as ourselves. The anchorage in the estuary, once youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve successfully navigated the mouth, is deep and sheltered. It is a perfect place to layover for a few days or even a few weeks. It was here, at the foot of Yellowpatch itself, that we anchored up. You may recall in an earlier article I wrote about my brotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 40â&#x20AC;&#x2122; solar-powered catamaran. This trip found us once again at sea on the Solar Coaster. We travelled from the mouth of the Boyne River, around the southern tip of Facing Island and up the east* continued P77

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KAYAKING & canoeing Yellowpatch is Curtis Island’s best kept secret * from P76

ern side of Facing and Curtis islands to Cape Capricorn. Our plan on arrival was to do a little bit of fishing, a little bit of hiking, a little bit of canoe product testing and a huge bit of next to nothing. All in all, the perfect recipe for an escape from the rat race. We had brought with us two new canoes to test on this trip – the square stern Kingfisher 14’ and the Sprite 11 pack canoe with a new recliner-style fishing seat fitted. Both canoes were designed for the fishing market and we wanted to wet a line in both to see how they performed in an estuary environment. The square stern Kingfisher 14’ in particular we wanted to evaluate as a potential tender to a large boat such as ours. It’s a tough life occasionally having to go to beautiful places and mess around in boats, but we survived it. The two canoes performed admirably and will be added to our One Tree Canoe lineup, hopefully in time for Christmas. The fishing during our trip was consistent, if not particularly fruitful.

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We did manage to land enough bream and flathead to provide a couple of meals, but we certainly weren’t returning home with a freezer full of fillets. I suspect the empty freezer was more to do with the skill level of the anglers rather than the availability of fish to be caught. The water in the estuary was so clear, we could see to the bottom in most places and there appeared to be no shortage of fish down there. Having decided that fishing perhaps was better left for others, we took the obligatory hike up the sand blow. It’s quite a hike to the top, but well and truly worth the effort! The view of the islands to the north extends to the Keppel Group and includes the rugged Hummocky Island. The backdrop of crystal-clear blue water against the golden yellow of Yellowpatch itself – spectacular! The birdlife in the area was quite prevalent and we were lucky to see whistling and brahminy kites circling overhead – bet they caught more fish than we did. The hiking in the local area at Yellowpatch was a little limited due

Testing new boats was such hard work.

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* continued P78

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 77

Yellowpatch is Curtis Island’s best kept secret * from P77

to the surrounding salt pans. However, if you’re feeling energetic, it would be possible to hike through to the eastern shoreline of Curtis Island and up to Cape Capricorn Lighthouse. We weren’t feeling that active! The real attraction of Yellowpatch is its attractiveness. It’s a wonderful place to drop anchor and unwind for a few days. The kind of spot where you can grab the boat and buzz around for a few hours or cheerfully sit and watch the world go by. Anyone who has had anything to do with yachties will know that come 4pm its time for happy hour. Out come the cheese platters, salami and biscuits, all to be washed down with a nice bottle of wine, thanks very much.

We certainly weren’t about to depart from tradition. Even better when on the beach watching the sun go down over the water. So, with canoes paddled, hill hiked and fish caught, we headed back home. In all, not much was done during our week at Yellowpatch, but that was kind of the idea with a place such as Curtis Island. If you’re looking for a spot to anchor up and recharge the batteries, there are few better spots. We will certainly be back for more. If you want any information about the Curtis Coast, I highly recommend contacting Gladstone Region Tourism at gladstonere gion.info For more information about fishing canoes and how not to catch fish, give Dan a shout at One Tree Canoe Company. Happy paddling.

It’s not hard to see how Yellowpatch gets its name. Page 78 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

The author with a nice school-sized king threadfin salmon from the Fitzroy River – a great option with the barramundi season closed.

Closed season choices for Capricorn Coast

F you’re like me, it’s a sad time when the saltwater barramundi season comes to a close. But on the upside, they get a well-deserved break, which lets them go about creating more little barra for this fantastic area. What we are in desperate need of is a flood – either this month or next. Many people don’t realise that timing is everything. Barra need high salinity levels to breed, which generally takes place around the full moon of September and October. They then require access to lagoons during the November and December period, so the little tackers can get some protection. If they don’t, then a low percentage will survive and the rest be-

Capricorn Coast by JOHN BOON

come part of the food chain with barra, other estuary species and birds giving them a hammering. I’m convinced if we can get a flood at the right time of year, this place will become even more special than it already is. So what species would be worth putting time into now the barra season is closed? You can always hit the

impoundments if you’re after a barra fix, such as Lake Awoonga. I say this every year, but I am going to put a bit of time into the Central Queensland mangrove jack population. I have caught a few, though I am by no means an expert. I’m still walking through the learning process – gathering * continued P79

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Choices for Capricorn Coast * from P78

ideas, locations and techniques. Apparently, the easiest place to catch a CQ jack is the Causeway Lake, but after talking with a few locals, it’s not a matter of just rocking up and smacking jack. Well, it may be the case if you fish the popular areas with live bait – but I wanted to catch them on lures, so it’s a different ball game. King threadfin salmon are another favourite to target in closed season. Be aware, they inhabit the same places as barramundi, so if you hook a barra by mistake, do your best to release it boat side. We are on the other side of spawning season currently, and large schools of big threadies will reduce. There should be bigger numbers of schoolsized threadies in the town reaches of the Fitzroy River and on snag banks and rock piles down river. Locating them on side imaging sounders before casting is a popular method. Now, what’s been happening around the Capricorn Coast area? School mackerel have been in good numbers, when the weather has allowed anglers to get out into the bay. The islands close to Emu Park have been fishing very well for this species. We used a very simple technique of drifting with the boat and floating pilchard along current lines. The kids had a ball,

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with schoolies going nuts. If you push past the bay and hit the outer islands such as Barren, Man and Wife and Outer Rock, spanish mackerel seem to be easy pickings. More specialised mackerel anglers have been running bait such as bonito and ribbonfish, but fishers trolling Rapala X-Raps were getting in on the action. Another great species to target at this time of year are small black marlin, which have turned up in good numbers. Fishers floating live baits and pilchard for mackerel have picked up accidental captures, while the more advanced anglers running teasers and skirts have been raising over a dozen fish on good days. If you want to target a small marlin, the most common place seems to be around yellowtail scad schools. If you have a few

sneaky yakka spots up your sleeve, these would be quality places to give it a go. I’m hoping to get out for a session if the weather permits. Last but not least are the boats that have pushed wide chasing quality reef species. Overall, the wider grounds have been fishing consistently for species such as red emperor and large mouth nannygai. Nannies have been responding well to live yakkas, while reds have been biting on big fresh flesh baits. Make sure when chasing reds to alternate between running ball sinker and paternoster rig. You’d be amazed how often that makes a difference. I ran out of time to get a report from last month’s Fitzroy River Barra Bash – stay tuned and I will get it done for next month. That’s all from me – stay safe and fish on.

Muddies will be on the move, so make sure to soak a pot or two when hitting the estuaries.

Always great to get the kids out for a mackerel hunt. Braxton, Jax and Charlie with the morning catch.

Humminbird Helix found schools of king threadfin salmon on mega side image. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 79

Stanage Bay back in business n Mud crabs n Barra n Bream

Good quality red emperor and nannygai have been hooked, as well as a great mixed bag of different species, with most guests using squid and pilchard bait.

Mark and Gemma explored around Hexham Island and landed these nice trout using soft plastics.

T has been a while since we posted an article, this having been such a tumultuous year after the pandemic broke out. Stanage Bay closed the doors completely to both our Stanage Bay Marine and Accommodation guests. Bevan and Maree also closed the Crab Pot Bar during that time, so Stanage was very quiet for quite a while, with no guests and businesses trading to much less than full capacity – and for us not at all. Though a lot of maintenance and future planning was achieved, by us at least. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our guests and friends who have stuck by us, rebooked and kept coming back to this wonderful place that we call paradise and the last fishing frontier. It has been extremely busy since the reopening of our businesses, with all the cancellations that were able to

Anchor yourself at

STANAGE BAY ACCOMMODATION STANAGE BAY MARINE

Stanage Bay by JOHN GLANFORD

re-book with us over the past few months. There have been several wonderful catches of good quality fish for first timers to Stanage Bay. On the crabbing side of things, it has certainly been quieter this year and right now crabs are virtually non-existent. If one is caught though it will be a good full buck – hopefully. The professional crabbers of the area have said there are good signs for the future and maybe, if we can get a little rain, the crabbing will be back to normal next year. There were also good indications of barramundi here in September and October, with a few getting caught both on lures and bait. The water getting warmer should help with fishing in the creeks until the closure starts on November 1. Guest Shane snavelled a barramundi using a shallow dive lure earlier in the season. It was a great Father’s Day for him, having spent the weekend with

his sons catching fish, and crabs as a bonus. Plenty of good-sized bream have been caught and grunter have really turned it on in the sound over the past couple of months, with the largest I heard of being 72cm long. Most people have been using prawns – we sell good quality prawns, purchased and supplied directly off the trawler for this very purpose. Quality bait equals quality fish. The fishing outside the bay, when weather permitted, has been very good and several quality red emperor and nannygai were caught, as well as a great mixed bag of different species. A few of our guests have used plastics, though most have been using fresh squid and pilchard bait, which work well in this area. It is very dry here at the moment and a lot of fishers are struggling to get good catches in the creeks. Yet, as I’ve said, grunter, barra and * continued P81

All your Stanage fishing needs in one call! stanagebay.com Call 0427 664 000 o Accommodation o Bait o Ice o Tackle Page 80 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

Plenty of good-sized grunter have been caught and turned it on in the sound. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Tarpon on a fly are a great challenge.

Nathan with a solid tarpon.

Pretty in pink – tarpon tricks

T Double hook-ups can be a common occurrence when tarpon fishing.

Stanage Bay back * from P80

bream are available, as well as our quality catfish and shark. The road into Stanage Bay is in what I would classify as fair to good condition and is currently being graded – which was seriously required. Whatever happens, enjoy life for what it is and if you haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Stanage Bay, put it on your list. While there are plenty of beaches to explore and to do a

bit of fishing off, it is certainly advisable to bring a boat to give a much broader scope of fishing activities. A good seaworthy boat of 4.5m or more with decent horsepower should cope, even for our creek system here – with a big tide and a bit of breeze it can get untidy on the water, as it can anywhere. Stay safe, travel safe and we look forward to seeing you in Stanage Bay one day soon.

A great Father’s Day for Shane, he spent the weekend with his sons at Stanage Bay catching fish and crabs as a bonus. www.bnbfishing.com. au

ARPON have to be one of the best species to target on lures. They are aggressive, hit lures hard and put up a great fight, but it’s the visual element to tarpon fishing that make them so exciting. Dragging small lures through deep pockets will entice silver flashes, as tarpon sitting on the bottom with their upwards-looking eyes scan for anything moving through the hole. You can get up to three or four hits before one finally hooks up and the fight is on. Those flashes and bumps certainly get the heart racing, but the real work is to be done once you’re hooked-up, and they don’t fight fair! Their bony mouths mean the slightest inkling of a little loose line will see you back to square one. As for the mighty barramundi, they take to the air and put on a fantastic aerial display. While I catch most of my tarpon with a slow retrieve through deep holes, they will also take surface lures with enthusiasm. I once saw fish surface

Fishing Cairns by BRETT PARKS

feeding on the Daintree River, managed to tie off the boat and cast a small popper into the frenzy and land six fish from six casts. My lure of choice at the moment is the Micro Mullet by Lively Lures in hot pink. I bought a few just to see how they’d go and have been very impressed. They perform in all sorts of light conditions, have strong trebles for the size of the lure and, most importantly, have a very high vibration rate at low speeds. My clients have caught a heap of species up in the freshwater on them, such as sooty grunter, jungle perch, barramun-

di, mangrove jack and of course tarpon. Prior to these, I mostly used lures made of balsa wood, and while these lures are also very good, I would go through too many trying to remove hooks from fish, bending the wire at the tail of the lure and breaking the balsa. The beauty of the Micro Mullet is that it is moulded plastic and tough as nails. Another great attribute is that when paused it will rise in the water column quite quickly. They are made in Queensland, so there’s another great reason to go out and get a few for your tackle box.

Zenan landed this trevally on a surface lure. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 81

Warwick landed this big spanish mackerel on a cast metal slice. How those teeth avoided the mono leader proved his luck that day.

Life after annual barramundi closure

ITH the Gulf of Carpentaria barramundi season closing on October 7, and the east coast due on November 1, it’s time to look at targeting other species.

Trip to the Tip by DAVE DONALD

This closed season only applies to recreational fishers in Queensland waters.

It is perhaps ironic – and provides a huge promotional and economic boost – that our sister

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Book a charter today! From barramundi to marlin, jungle perch to jacks, we’ve got you covered.

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Page 82 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

state the Northern Territory runs its Million Dollar Fish campaign when so-called ‘smart state’ fishers are forced to stow their barra gear in a cupboard until the end of January. I’ve travelled to the Northern Territory a couple of times for this competition but have not been lucky enough to score one of the tagged barra worth $10,000 as yet, let alone the big prize. Still, that event keeps local charter operators and accommodation venues busy with clients at a time of year that is notoriously slow, while boat traffic with local and visiting anglers is very heavy indeed. However, it is another example of how Queensland’s tourism and fisheries departments are out of touch

with the economic benefits of a healthy recreational fishery. During my time spent on Fisheries Management Advisory committees, I tried for many years to have a reduced bag limit instigated for Queensland recreational fishers during the closed seasons. At one stage, I produced figures that showed a bag limit of one per person in possession for recreational fishers would have little effect on breeding stocks, but this initiative was rebuffed by commercial fishers, indignant that because they couldn’t fish the entire community had to follow suit. Rather than taking an independent view on the issue, as has happened in the Northern Territory, our managers chose to * continued P83

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Life after barramundi closure * from P82

side with the net lobby and shut the fishery down completely. A measure of the diversity of our fishery, particularly in the Gulf, is that there are still plenty of species worth chasing when barra are off-limits. Many other fish choose to spawn during hotter months, and the imminent arrival of the wet season prompts our finny friends to get all hot and bothered in preparation for making fingerlings. This activity can make them very hungry at times. The Bureau of Meteorology has recently declared that a La Niña event is imminent, which usually indicates an early arrival of the wet season in northern Australia. This means that if you’re contemplating visiting the Cape during November, you’d be better off to do your trip in the first half of the month, rather than later. The Peninsula Development Rd usually remains trafficable even after the first few weeks of rain, so there’s no need to panic if there’s a bit of water around. On the other hand, a close eye should be kept on any low-pressure systems that may pop up off the east or west coast. One other seasonal event that often confuses fishers both local and visiting, is the state of the tide during summer. In Weipa, there is generally only one low tide during each 24-hour

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period – a phenomenon easily accommodated during winter when that low happens during daylight hours, but it becomes very hard to interpret when the low tide changes to nighttime through summer. What this effectively means is that fishers are confronted with an all-day high tide situation from November to February, making it difficult to work out the best times to fish. Many locals, myself included, download hourly tide charts so we can determine when any movement of the tide occurs. The well-known adage of ‘no run, no fun’ can still be applied if you have knowledge of when the tide movement occur. Occasionally, these events can be as short as a couple of hours and it is well worth making the effort to target them. OK – let’s have a look at several species worth chasing while the barra closed season is effective. Queenfish In the rivers and creeks, the prime time to chase queenies is during the early part of the run-in tide. They can usually be found around river mouths and junctions, as well as working baitfish that hang around structure such as rock bars, man-made jetties and channel markers. These silver beauties are one of the most aggressive species around and will grab almost any type of lure, from poppers to soft plastics. The main thing to

remember is that they prefer a lure retrieved quickly, so if they’re chasing though not striking, you’re not winding fast enough! The other spots to look for queenfish are headlands, shallow offshore bommies and bait schools. A good way to locate fish is by casting poppers along rocky foreshores and outcrops but watch out for big giant trevally. They will be sure to liven up your day, in more ways than one. Golden trevally While goldens are not generally taken on surface lures, they’ll take almost any other type you throw at them. From metal wobblers and jigs to hard-bodies and soft plastics, goldies will grab virtually anything that goes past. Like all trevally, they fight very hard and can take a while to land if you treat them too softly. * continued P84

Taken off the beach adjacent to Red Cliffs at Weipa, a hefty blue salmon gave the author plenty of stick after it grabbed his cast Leads Hi Jacker hard-body.

This sailfish was tagged with the hook about to be removed. The author scored this beauty recently south of Weipa.

Sunbaking is no longer in vogue with summer about to arrive and a mate to be found. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 83

Life after annual barramundi closure * from P83

As a bonus, they are one of the best eating of all the trevally species but need to be killed and bled immediately on capture for optimal results. Their flesh makes great hummus or pickled fish and comes up well as raw sashimi with soy and wasabi. Look for goldens in the same areas as

queenfish or on the sand flats adjacent to the shore. Wearing polarised sunglasses will assist in spotting any schools swimming in the shallows, where a carefully placed cast in front of moving fish will generally draw an immediate response. Threadfin salmon Both blue and king threadfin are active

during summer and can be targeted with live bait or lures. The blues like to travel the edges of beaches chasing baitfish but can also be found in deeper holes in rivers and creeks. Big king salmon can often be sighted right up in the shallows on the rising or falling tide chasing prawns and bait but will usually exit the

This big golden trevally grabbed a soft vibe in 15m on an offshore reef, which kept the lucky fisho very busy in the process.

Nick Gust from Tasmania landed a stonker queenfish on a cast fly and managed to avoid the attention of a big bull shark. It’s a fish that would put a smile on any fisho’s face. Page 84 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

mud flats when the water leaves the mangroves edges. Soft vibes work well for both species when using a steady sink and draw technique. While I’m not a big fan of blue salmon fillets, I rate fresh king salmon much higher than any piece of barra. If they’re killed and bled on capture, the flesh comes out juicy and white on the plate. Mackerel Mackerel activity generally slows once the wet season approaches but a few school, grey and spanish hang around offshore reefs to make things interesting. Trolled lures such as Halco Scorpion and Laser Pro, Reidy’s Judge and Rapala X-rap are a few of the popular macko-takers, while cast metals and jigs also account for their share. The big decision where mackerel are concerned is whether to use a wire trace or not. Personally, I try to avoid using wire because it can put fish off at times, but I do lose quite a few lures in the process. The only type of wire worth considering is single-strand brown stainless of a breaking strain at least twice that of the line you are using. Avoid black nyloncoated stranded wire and cheap snaps at all costs. Mackerel require careful treatment to retain their great eating qualities. They should be brain spiked and bled immediately upon capture, then placed flat on ice

as soon as the bleeding stops. Do not lay them in full sun or allow the body to bend – this will seriously affect their table quality. Sailfish and marlin Billfish are still an option until the wet arrives and dirty water pushes pelagic fish offshore. Trolling with garfish is the most popular local method, though using small queenfish will occasionally raise a big black marlin. The local club holds a ‘female anglers only’ tournament in early November, which tends to attract a large number of entrants. Crocodiles Visitors are always keen to sight a croc or two but by the time November comes around, that’s a fairly rare event. The big males are out looking for females, which are in turn searching for nest sites. On occasion, males can be sighted right out at sea, as they travel large distances searching for a mate. And with water temperature reaching up around 30C, crocs are keen to expose not more than 25 percent of their body to the Queensland summer sun because any exposure will increase their body temperature too much. It’s also the time of year when female crocs can get very cranky, particularly if someone starts sniffing around one of their nests. November can be hot, humid and very uncomfortable but the great fishing definitely makes up for the inconvenience. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Early morning glassout.

Coral trout are abundant across the local reefs.

Stunning southeast Cape York n Cape Melville magic

Y final article on destinations in southern Cape York focuses on the magical Cape Melville area, tucked away in a remote corner of the east coast. This place of stunning scenery features picturesque coastlines and islands set against the rugged backdrop of the Melville Range’s huge granite boulders. The main camping area is within Cape Melville National Park on the beachfront at Bathurst Bay. Camping is allowed along the many kilometres of beach, with gnarly Wongai trees offering wonderful shade. You can launch your boat off the beach and fish a wealth of country – from mangrove creeks to the west, rocky headlands along the coast, around islands and of

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Cape York by ‘BILLABONG’ BAZZ LYON

course, over coral reefs and rubble patches. In good weather that is! Bear in mind that Bathurst Bay is one of the windiest places on the Cape, with the southeast trade wind blowing at well over 30 knots for much of the dry season. The local saying is that you add the predicted wind speeds together to get a realistic idea of wind velocity. Under such conditions, I don’t reckon it’s worth the trouble to visit – better to wait for a period of calmer weather. We’ve even had steaks blown off our plates at Bathurst Bay! So, occasionally we will go to Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park first and wait for a

window of opportunity, if it happens. November is typically one of the better months on the east coast as the trade wind

weakens out. Mornings are often glassed out, with a vigorous northeast sea breeze kicking in during the afternoon. Fishing-wise, head to any island or structure to fish for the usual pelagics and reefs for

coral trout, red emperor and tricky snapper, to name a few. Spanish mackerel and cobia are usually around in good numbers, including off the Flinders Group of islands, where you typi* continued P86

Bathurst Bay offers great beachfront camping under shady Wongai trees. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 85

Though small, creeks in the bay can fish very well for the usual tropical bandits.

Stunning sunsets are the norm at Bathurst Bay.

Stunning southeast Cape York – Cape Melville magic * from P85

cally encounter absolute stonker queenfish and giant trevally. Good fishing can be had off the beach for grunter, flathead and blue salmon, while beautiful barramundi inhabit the boulder country at Cape Melville itself – noting the season closure on November 1. The higher part of the tide allows access to the Muck River and

adjacent creeks to the west for corker estuary fishing. These are particularly good systems for mangrove jack, fingermark and barra until the closure. One of the magical things about Bathurst Bay is sitting back at camp after a great morning of fishing and watching the marine wildlife. Here turtles, dugong, dolphins and crocodiles

are part of the scenery and the very healthy ecosystems that still exist. And the magical sunsets over the bay breathtaking! Good freshwater is usually available in the spring creek that flows out of Melville Range’s boulder fields – just follow the divergent track upstream. When I say usually, there have been rare years following a poor wet when it gets a bit

ordinary late in the dry season. Bathurst Bay is situated approximately 205km north of Cooktown using the coast route that is Mount Webb Wakooka Rd. Expect to take nine hours plus via this route, depending on conditions. It’s taken me 12 hours on many occasions! The much easier way is via graded roads from Laura, Cook-

Fingermark are common around headlands and inside creeks in the bay. Page 86 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

town or Musgrave to Kalpowar Crossing in Rinyirru (Lakeside) National Park. Then you’ve got a long easy hour to Wakooka, followed by around three hours of rough stuff – the remaining 45km to the bay. Soft sand about 12km back from the beach tends to snare many vehicles, so be prepared to air down or use recovery gear. The other recommended destination up this way is Ninian Bay, and the sign-posted turnoff to the camping area is located approximately 21km south of Bathurst Bay. It’s about 17km to a small beach with rocky headlands and Barrow Islands sit off to the east. As the southeast wind blows directly onshore here, you can’t sneak along the coast like you can at Bathurst Bay. Needless to say, for both places you need to be self sufficient in all regards, and mindful of possible storms at this time of year. Until next month… www.bnbfishing.com. au

4WDING & off - road

Diving into Deepwater National Park

HIS year has been one of uncertainty and will be remembered for many different reasons, but for Tonia and myself it has been an unbelievable year. After selling the farm, situated in the beautiful Mary Valley, we decided to travel throughout Queensland. Our journeys have taken us along the coastline, across to Kurumba and out to the western Queensland border town of Camooweal. The trip then zigzagged across this outback region, as we simply enjoyed the hospitality of this special part of Australia. We have been blessed to find ourselves camping in the middle of nowhere, staring at the night sky brimming with stars. Though we are very much at home being alone and isolated, there is always the yearning to get back to the ocean and feel the sandy beaches under our toes. On the final leg of this first stretch, we travelled from Longreach across to Emerald, to Baralaba and onto Calliope. Tonia then searched the maps looking for a coastal retreat and suggested we check out Deepwater National Park, just south of Agnes Water. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Outdoors by PAUL ‘CHIEF’ GRAVESON

The plan was to spend a bit of time on the beach, with the intention of playing in the beautiful Pacific Ocean. I was also keen to catch a few waves and partake in a spot of beach fishing. Somehow a three-day ocean escape turned into three weeks of exploring and indulging in my saltwater obsessions. The southeasterly wind provided a most welcome swell onto the coast, and travelling the 9km of beach tracks through Deepwater National Park, from Wreck Rock to Agnes Water, became a daily ritual. Low water on Agnes Point offered the perfect break and was well protected from the wind. Travelling the fourwheel-drive track simply became a pleasure each day as we meandered through the tropical beach vegetation. Driving along the track there’s also the option of branching off to either Middle Rock or Flat Rock. Both are picturesque locations and it is well worth the effort to pay them a visit. Flat Rock offers a deep beach gutter sit-

uated behind a large rock shelf, perfect for youngsters to use as a swimming area.

On two occasions I surfed these isolated back beaches and had the entire place to myself. In saying that, it is also recommended you keep your wits about you, especially this

time of year because Rules Beach and some of those back beaches are well known for tiger sharks. The approaching sea turtle breeding season also provides the * continued P88

Tonia checking out the beautiful coastline.

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C ARAVANNING & adventure Diving in to Deepwater National Park * from P87

The author with a better quality dart.

The track from Wreck Rock to Agnes Water had beautiful beach vegetation. Page 88 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

tiger sharks with one of their favorite food sources, so unfortunately this greatly increases the risk of a chance meeting. These very same beaches also offer the perfect place to break out the surf rod and Alvey as whiting, flathead, tailor and dart are a few of the species that frequent this stretch of water. Being able to gather a few pipis and beachworms to target the fish is all part of the magic in making this such a special place. The abundance of bait and availability of fish in these pristine gutters brings a smile to my face. It’s all about the beach – being able to camp beside it and hear the swell crashing against the shore on a late-night high tide. To surf the energy of the waves and simply harvest what you need to throw on the hot plate at the end of the day, it just does not get any better. Like all forms of fishing, finesse is an important factor as well as reading an area and understanding where the fish will be feeding. Beach fishing is no different, and most of our bounty were

caught in deepish gutters right outside the shore break. Gutters of clean deep green water just seemed to scream fish. To my amazement many anglers appeared to target the shallow bank areas, where they had to battle the pounding surf and sweep just to keep a line in the water. Understanding the beach is as critical to the fisherman as it is the surfer. Reading the banks and identifying features is essential to success. Believe me, it isn’t always cut and dry or blatantly obvious the difference between breaking white water over a bank and a lolly-green patch of a deep gutter. Wave shape can give you a wealth of information. That steep unbroken wave about to pitch over a shallow bank can suddenly change shape and become a rounded full lump of water as it passes into a deeper section. With the above account, at no time had the wave broken, but the subtle change in shape indicated a change in water depth. On one particular day I fished the above * continued P89

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C ARAVANNING & adventure

by MELISSA FROHLOFF

Dinner sorted in a few casts.

Diving in to Deepwater National Park * from P88

scenario and pulled 10 flathead off the slight change of bottom depth. Whether you are fishing or surfing, sit on the beach and watch carefully to understand what is going on under the surface. This will not only keep you safe, it will truly help you enjoy the essence of beach surfing and the fishing lifestyle. We’re on the road www.bnbfishing.com. au

again as we continue to travel in the van, but we have a new location to base ourselves from in future. We have just bought a block of land in Agnes Water and have begun building a house right here on the Discovery Coast, as those waterbased obsessions have proven just too strong to ignore. Until next time. Cheers Chief and Tonia.

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• 1/4 cup kecap manis

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6. Dry for 6 hours or until done to your liking.

Tip: Place meat in freezer for 30 minutes before slicing, as slightly frozen meat is easier to cut into thin, consistent slices. Prep time: 20 min | Cooking time: 6 hours Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 89

Matt showing how itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done.

This fish fell to a Daveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lure.

Chloeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third birthday present â&#x20AC;&#x201C; her first bass with dad.

Bass and saratoga shine at Somerset Dam

S A healthy Somerset bass.

UMMER is just around the corner, so we should start seeing super hot surface action at the back of the dam, with regular catches of saratoga and bass. We have been spending a fair amount of time throwing punch

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Somerset Dam by ROBBIE RAYNER

rigs and skirted jigs in the timber regions of the dam â&#x20AC;&#x201C; these have been exciting catches as the strikes are violent and hard. Spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits have been successful on catches â&#x20AC;&#x201C; these were large quantity fish sessions, and you will work a little harder for the catch but the fight is super exciting. This area is friendlier for a boat that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t run spotlock or for a kayak, because the water is usually calmer and thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s less wind to deal with. My favourite lures this month would have to be the Jackall TN60 in Brown Dog, Impact PML S-Bait spinnerbait in Cicada and the highly anticipated bass alternative punch rig. If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re concerned about loosing an expensive lipless crankbait, my advice is to remove all the trebles and place a 2/0 single hook under the belly, this greatly

reduces your chance of losing to a snag and improves your hook-up rate. The main basins of the dam have been quite difficult, with hit and miss sessions. It has been producing better catches in the afternoon, and fish have been caught suspended in 15m depths. Trolling Daveâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lures and Voodoo lures have been super successful due to the tight wobble action. Colours havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t been a super standout but if you were to ask my team at the shop, they would tell you the Halco RMG in black/silver â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we have specially made â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the Voodoo in PG Lime are the top picks. Halco Twisty lures and Palms Slow Blatt Cast Oval Micro Jig lures in the wide 30g have been great on schooling bass, as weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had reports of good catches on Nories Wasaby spoons and Gibbs Mini G1 spoons.

* continued P91

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bass and saratoga shine at Somerset * from P90

Don’t forget to add a single in-line hook as an assist for your spoon. Ensure you use a super slow retrieve – and if you think you’re going slowly – you’re still too fast! Earlier in the month, we had a few great morning catches on Slider Bass Grub in Plum Glitter Chartreuse tail on 1/2oz jigheads. Redclaw catches have been quite good, with nice models sourced. You will need to place your pots in 3-4m depths and look for rocky edges that stem into the water. We have had reports of people hooking up to cod, which is great to see – though please handle these fish with care. We also ask if you’re pulling fish out of water 7-8m deep, you may need to either needle them – we have great videos on our Facebook page on how

to do this – or place in the livewell with a bit of Rejuvenade and a couple of fin weights. These help keep fish upright, which helps them settle before release. Be wary – as summer comes water temperature rises, particularly on the surface, so allow for this while your fish are in the livewell. Due to rising water temperature, from November onwards we’ll start to see tilapia catches increase, and they are aggressive when looking after their young. These need to be destroyed and placed into the fish bins located at the spit area and the NRMA Holiday Park. We look forward to seeing you and your family in the Somerset Fishing Tackle shop and will help to make your fishing experience on the lake as positive as we can. Until next month, have fun on the water, be safe and enjoy the sport.

David Oliver on a morning session with Mr Somerset Brett Klaws. www.bnbfishing.com. au

Pitto got the ball rolling with the first cod that crunched the Ecogear ZX40 vibe.

Daring to be different

’DAY everyone, this month’s article is a little different because before I give you a summary on what to target in the Tweed River, I would like to share an experience I had recently. Every year I work away and usually guide for a great group of people, heading south to the Clarence River but, due to COVID-19 restrictions, we were not allowed to travel there, so a new plan had to be made. After years of reading the reports of fellow Bush ‘n Beach Fishing writer Brian Dare, we decided on a trip to Glenlyon Dam. This was a big gamble for me as I’m a tidal saltwater guide and have only tried fishing for the iconic inland species of yellowbelly and mighty Murray cod a few times – in rivers, not a dam. To help with my preparation I decided to call Brian and his wife Debbie for advice on what lures to take – because I had butterflies and did not want to let my paying clients down. To my surprise, Deb suggested we bring our light rods and the Ecogear ZX40 lures I love to use on my usual trips to our local rivers.

Glenlyon Guide by BRAD SMITH

Apparently yellowbelly go mad for a ZX40, and when you get advice from the legends of the dam, you take it. When we arrived at Glenlyon, we were greeted by the Dares at the kiosk and were given an indepth rundown on the areas we should focus our efforts. Then Brian asked if we would like to see something awesome. Of course we quickly got back in my truck and followed Brian up towards the dam wall, where we saw something very special – a monster male cod guarding its nest of fingerlings. With the thought of watching the huge cod embedded in our minds, we decided to throw the boat in the water and have a quick

flick for a couple of hours before dark. To get the lay of the land, we decided to troll a couple of big deep diving minnows around the points with no success, and then I spotted fish on the sounder. We swapped rods and flicked out a few ZXs at the spot fish were marking, with the result of three nice yellowbelly hooked as the sun started to set. After a few beers around the campfire and a great sleep in our clean comfortable cabins, we were back on the water early the next morning. The plan was to mix casting and trolling big lures for cod, which didn’t prove successful, so we decided to * continued P92

Schools of yellowbelly were marking up on side imaging on the Humminbird sounder. Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 91

Sam with a big smile and the best cod of the trip at 86cm.

Daring to be different at Glenlyon Dam * from P91

replicate the previous afternoon’s method and cast the ZXs and small soft vibes, and once again it was a straight up win on a few fat yellowbelly. After moving around and exploring other areas, the clear image of

a big cod marked up on the side imaging. The anglers threw several repetitive casts with the heavy gear at the snag the cod was holding on – but again, no luck. It was frustrating! For giggles, Pitto swapped rods and cast

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a ZX on 6lb line into the lair and whack! The cod grabbed it and all hell broke loose on the boat. After a long hardfought battle on ridiculously light gear, the fish came to the surface and a big fat 76cm cod was in the net. A few high fives and hearty cheering later, we decided we should go up a class to 12lb braid and 12lb leaders, and stick to casting small vibes for the rest of the day, as well as the next – our last day on the dam. This worked well, though we had to fish with very light drag settings so the small assist hooks on the lures didn’t straighten during the fight. We finished our trip with four cod between us, the biggest being 86cm, and an abundant number of quality yellowbelly. I will definitely be going back to Glenlyon Dam, and would recommend a trip there to all anglers.

My wholehearted thanks go to Brian and Debbie Dare – for their greeting, care, knowledge and solid advice on the dam, and the fish that thrive in it. I would also like to thank Phil Lawlor from a neighbouring cabin, who found and returned a rod and reel that had bounced out of the boat and landed on a track from the boat ramp. Phil also makes great lures and leaders called Big Damn Cod Creations, so check out his high quality products. Back to the home front and a couple of

tips for this month on the Tweed River. Water is warming up, so casting surface lures around shallow flats should produce nice whiting, with the odd flathead on patrol, ready to rise and crash a surface lure. Early morning and late afternoon tide changes will be worth trying, with lures and live bait for mangrove jack. And big eye and giant trevally will be moving up and down the river in search of bait schools. Thanks again everyone – I look forward to talking to you next month.

All the yellowbelly caught were in good condition indicating abundance. www.bnbfishing.com. au

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Fishing action set to heat up Glenlyon Dam

Duncan Phipps and a monster 125cm Murray cod caught on a Jackall Gigantarel.

Charlie Lane with a nice yellowbelly.

Fritz White caught a good-sized cod on a Garra Lure, with Terry Marshall behind.

John Clancy caught this cod on a surface lure.

S you read this month’s article we hope to see access to all states open. This being the case we will be able to travel to Tenterfield via Mingoola Station Rd for the first time in three and a half months. No gates, no bollards and closed season on the Queensland side of the border finished for this year. At the time of writing, storage at Glenlyon Dam was at 15 percent capacity, with cod sightings all through the dam over the past two months – it has been good to see. It is now time for both

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by BRIAN DARE

cod mums and dads to feed up for the next season’s breeding format. The rivers over the past four months have had a reasonable flow, which has helped people on the land, but all areas need good coverage of rain as soon as possible. Fishing-wise – well, it will pick up as the weather warms up. It’s a change of format for most anglers, and lures that dive to 5m will pick up feeding cod. I can’t say heaps of shrimp can be caught for bait because they have not showed up yet. We hope to put into action a research trip on the Dumaresq River in the near future. It is important to see if recruitment has been taking place in river areas that have been dry for the past three years. I will contact those on our research team to advise the date, once it’s set. Meanwhile, for fishers such as myself who love to use a canoe on the rivers, it will be the end of November in NSW before that takes place for me. And it is still closed season south of the border. To whet your appetite, we have put together a couple of photos of cod and yellowbelly caught at the dam here and soon to come, river footage from our regional area.

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Sensational springtime surface strikes

N the spring, a young man’s fancy turns lightly to thoughts of surface fishing – I may not have quoted Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poem word for word exactly. In the realm of sportfishing anglers, almost inevitably they will find a scenario to which they are drawn repeatedly. For several it’s a preferred species, for others it may be a location and for many it’s a technique that finds favour through their fishing career. Many anglers experience nothing more exhilarating than the sight of a fish taking a lure presented on the surface. Whether it’s a blue marlin crashing a skirt on the continental shelf, a tuna, queenfish or giant trevally belting a popper inshore, a sooty grunter or jungle perch crashing a tiny fizzer, even trout sipping down a fly – the adrenaline rush is assured.

Fishing for Sport by NEIL SCHULTZ

One of our first endemic species to be commonly targeted with surface lures was the ever-popular Australian bass. Bass feeding habits in the natural environment perfectly suit an angler wishing to enjoy surface action. Our large, deep lakes aren’t ideal locations for topwater – as it’s become known – but streams and shallow, weedy lakes are perfect. When I first started casting lures for ‘perch’ during the late sixties, surface lures were by necessity imported and usually from the US. Arbogast Jitterbugs were a very common sight on Aussie bass streams, as was my personal favourite the Heddon Crazy Crawler – mainly because its folding wings allowed for

easy storage in tackle boxes. Paddler style lures such as those, with their natural swimming action and melodic plipplop sounds, seemed perfectly at home on a quiet bass stream. Fortunately, there are numerous home-grown surface lures on the market now and none more effective than the new Predatek Krickett. Following on from the success of their 60mm Bass Bug, the little 45mm Krickett is scoring plenty of runs on east coast bass streams. Like its larger sibling, the Krickett flies true on the cast, starts paddling the instant the retrieve commences and generates the same fishattracting acoustics.

Anglers who prefer to shop online or enjoy a bargain can purchase the Krickett direct from the manufacturers at predatek.com/shop at factory prices. Periods of low light are most productive for surface fishing, with dawn and dusk being prime times. During these hours and through the night, bass will often leave their secure positions and actively prowl open water. Mid-stream shallows can be hotspots at night, where they’d be devoid of fish during daylight hours. Of course, that knowledge doesn’t mean we should ignore traditional bass hideouts such as snags, overhanging banks and edges of weed beds. It does give anglers the luxury of being able to place casts a little fur-

ther away from snags, which may claim a lure when distance is misjudged in the darkness. When fishing surface lures in freshwater, paddlers in particular, think ‘slow’. The retrieve should be made at the most sedate pace possible in order for the lure to achieve its desired action. This sees your offering remain in the strike zone longer and gives a cruising fish time to hone in on the disturbance. Though the explosive strikes make controlling reflexes difficult, try not to strike because this will skip the lure away from any short strikers. Instead, keep the rod tip low and maintain a steady retrieve until the fish is hooked. Try a surface paddler on your favourite bass stream this spring, you are sure to find it exhilarating.

DAM LEVELS CURRENT AS OF 12/10/2020

DAMS

Surface lures are at their best in low light, though they can be quite effective during daylight, especially around weed beds.

Many anglers prefer black or dark coloured surface lures. The author likes light and bright colours for their better visibility for the angler in low light. www.bnbfishing.com. au

PERCENTAGE

JUN AUG SEP OCT NOV Atkinson 5 5 13 5 5 Awoonga 66 65 64 63 61 Bjelke-Petersen * 18 17 16 14 12 Boondooma * 35 34 34 32 31 Borumba * 96 93 92 82 84 Burdekin Falls * 95 92 90 84 79 Callide * 30 28 27 25 24 Cania * 50 58 50 49 45 Coolmunda * 29 28 29 32 29 Dyer/Bill Gunn * 3 3 3 3 3 Eungella * 88 87 87 86 85 Fairbairn * 13 12 11 10 10 Glenlyon * 13 14 14 15 15 Hinze* 95 93 93 91 89 Julius 91 88 87 85 82 Kinchant * 86 85 84 80 26 Leslie * 13 13 13 13 12 Macdonald* 100 102 102 101 94 Maroon * 57 56 56 54 51 Monduran/Fred Haigh * 59 58 57 55 54 Moogerah * 30 27 26 24 21 North Pine/Samsonvale * 62 60 59 57 54 Peter Faust/Proserpine * 68 67 66 65 63 Somerset * 78 78 78 77 76 Teemburra * 99 99 99 98 97 Tinaroo* 72 71 69 65 61 Toonumbar 66 67 68 67 63 Wivenhoe * 49 48 46 45 43 Wuruma * 60 60 58 57 53 Wyaralong* 96 95 95 94 93 For updates on dams, visit sunwater.com.au or seqwater.com.au *This symbol indicates that a Stocked Impoundment Permit is required to fish these dams.

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 95

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Contact Bill Corten M: 0447 233 247 / 0447 ( a f f a i r ) E: reel_affair@yahoo.com

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Page 96 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020

EVOLUTION 500 CUDDY (2013) Comes with Suzuki 90hp. Dunbier custom trailer, with folding drawbar, overall length is 6.2m when folded. Call Brisbane Yamaha on 07 3888 1727 or visit brisbaneyamaha. com.au FORMOSA SEA ROD CLASSIC 550 CENTRE CABIN (2017) - includes electric anchor winch, Dragonfly 7 Pro Sounder/GPS, GME VHF radio, L&R Catch & Release mechanism on trailer, spare trailer wheel, spare anchor and sea anchor, baitboard with plumbed live bait tank, hydraulic steering, ladder with two transom doors, fenders and safety equipment including EPIRB. $55,990. For more information call Australian Marine Centre on 07 3808 7333 or visit amcboats.com.au GALEFORCE 4.8 CC - Evinrude ETEC 75hp DFI 2S, Dunbier braked trailer, new hydraulic steering fitted May 2020, Lowrance colour GPS/ Sounder, GME VHF radio, GME stereo system, Bimini top, Boat storage cover, Storage box w. cushion top, Plumbed LB tank… Beautifully presented centre console! $29,995 – John Crawford Marine – “Qld’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964” www.johncrawfordmarine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322 JOHN CRAWFORD MARINE have numerous genuine buyers on the books for quality brand name, late model trailer boats. If you are looking to sell, avoid the pitfalls and hassles that come with a private sale, have the team at JCM handle the sale for you. John Crawford Marine – “Qld’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964” www.johncrawfordmarine.com.au Ph. 3890 2322 OCEAN CRAFT 6700 CRUISER - 2D Survey pontoon boat, Suzuki 90hp 4 stroke, only 18 hrs, Sea Trail alloy tandem trailer, Inflatable style hull, 8 buoyancy chambers, Hydraulic steering, Lge 5 bow bimini, Skipper’s chair, Checker-plate floor, 2 x walkthrough transoms. A rare opportunity for a pontoon/party boat! $59,995 – John Crawford Marine – “Qld’s Used Boat Specialists since www.bnbfishing.com. au

Subscription prize for November! 1964” www.johncrawfordmarine. com.au Ph. 3890 2322 QUINTREX 420 ESTUARY ANGLER – fully workshop serviced and detailed by the JCM team, Yamaha 30hp with electric start backed with warranty, canopy, inshore safety kit, seating for 4, 24l fuel tank, 2 rod holders, 2 drink holders, carpeted floor, a fantastic entry level protected waters runabout. Now reduced to $11,995! John Crawford Marine – “Qld’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964” www.johncrawfordmarine.com. au Ph. 3890 2322 WANTED - Quality, used trailer boats – make selling your boat simple and hassle free with John Crawford Marine, “Qld’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964” Call today to see how our experienced team can help you on 07 3890 2322. www.johncrawfordmarine. com.au WEBSTER 4.9M RUNABOUT Fully workshop serviced and detailed, Mercury 75hp Optimax DI, dual batteries, live bait tank, Raymarine combo GPS/Sounder, VHF radio, bimini/front and side clears, deck wash, overhead rod holder, drive on/off trailer, bait board, downrigger and so much more and ready to go. $29,995 John Crawford Marine – “Qld’s Used Boat Specialists since 1964” www.johncrawfordmarine.com. au Ph. 3890 2322 YELLOWFIN 7600 SOUTHERNER (2018) - This as new Yellowfin 7600 Southerner will suit a new buyer, fully fitted up with every accessory. Well powered with Yamaha F250 fourstroke. If you are in the market for a new boat, look at this, it is in stock, ready to go, and beat the 6 month order time. Includes F250XCA with 7 engine hours only. This is a serious well set up offshore long range fishing machine in as new condition. Call Brisbane Yamaha on 07 3888 1727 or visit brisbaneyamaha.com.au www.bnbfishing.com. au

Subscribe this month to go in the draw to win one of seven How to Use an Echo Sounder/ Fish Finder second edition books! Valued at

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Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 97

MERCURY

NO SACRIFICES NO COMPROMISES NO APOLOGIES

BETTER ECONOMY

MORE TORQUE

V6 3.4L 200HP FOURSTROKE

12-16% BETTER

FUEL ECONOMY

12-15%

LEADING COMPETITOR

20%

VERADO

TORQUE

V8 4.6L

250HP PROXS

16% BETTER

FUEL ECONOMY

LEADING COMPETITOR

TORQUE AT 3500-4500 RPM

FOURSTROKE

LEADING COMPETITOR

TORQUE

200HP

4.6L

300HP

LEADING COMPETITOR

V6 3.4L

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

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

Page 98 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 MM0725 V6_V8_BnBFishing_210x297_v3.indd 1

www.bnbfishing.com. au 18/8/20 2:07 pm

Contact or visit us for more information.

AIRLIE BEACH Whitsunday Outboard Centre 17 William Murray Dr, Cannonvale Q 4802 P: 07 4946 7286 E: woc@whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au www.whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au

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

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

BRISBANE Coorparoo Marine 57 Cavendish Rd, Coorparoo Q 4151 P: 07 3397 4141 E: info@coorparoomarine.com.au www.coorparoomarine.com.au

CAPALABA Mike’s Marine 9 Smith St, Capalaba Q 4157 P: 07 3390 3418 E: admin@mikesmarine.com.au www.mikesmarine.com.au

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

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

GLADSTONE Ship & Sale Gladstone Gladstone Marine Centre, Gladstone Q 4680 P: 07 4972 7111 E: sales@shipandsail.com.au www.shipandsail.com.au

ROCKHAMPTON Rifen Boats 6 Dooley St, North Rockhampton Q 4701 P: 07 4927 9150 E: rifen.boats@bigpond.com www.rifenmarine.com.au

BRISBANE NORTH Holt Marine 25 Queens Rd, Everton Hills Q 4053 P: 07 3353 1928 E: info@holtmarine.com.au www.holtmarine.com.au

GOLD COAST Nitro Marine 167 Currumburra Rd, Ashmore Q 4214 P: 07 5532 5812 E: sales@nitromarine.com.au www.nitromarine.com.au

YEPPOON Sea Breeze Marine 150 Scenic Hwy, Yeppoon Q 4703 P: 07 4933 6366 E: info@seabreezemarine.com.au www.seabreezemarine.com.au

www.bnbfishing.com. au

Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020 – Page 99

’

DON’T MISS OUT! Order NOW to be on the water this summer!

BOATS ARE HERE!

Finance & Insurance available

UNBEATABLE UNBEATABLE MERCURY 75-115HP MERCURY 75-115HP FOURSTROKE FOURSTROKERANGE RANGE

340

330

320

310

300

g/kWh

115HP CRUISE SPEED EFFICIENCY 115HPFUEL CRUISE SPEED FUEL EFFICIENCY MERCURY’S NEW OPTIMAX 115HP VS. CURRENT FOURSTROKE AND FOURSTROKE OPTIMAX VS. CURRENT AND FOURSTROKE DELIVERS UP TO 14% BETTER CRUISE SPEED ECONOMY

300

290

280

270

260

PREVIOUS MERCURY FOURSTROKE 1.7L

BSFC dyno testing; data is an average of 60%-80% rated MERCURY NEWMERCURY engine speedNEW PREVIOUS based OPTIMAX MERCURY ICOMIA MERCURY OPTIMAX on standard MERCURY emissions2.1L test. 115hp 115hp 2.1L 115hp115hp FOURSTROKE 1.7L

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

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

1776 Ipswich Road, Rocklea | Call 07 3875 1600

Page 100 – Bush ’n Beach Fishing, November 2020