Whitsundays

Expect instability in the weather

WHITSUNDAYS Mick Underwood

As I sit to write this it’s blowing oysters off the rocks, the sky is dark, angry and threatening to dump its watery contents on us once again. The tropical monsoon is at its annual peak and it should continue for a while yet. Here in the Whitsundays, March is traditionally the most unstable month of the year with regards to the weather and the way this wet season is shaping up, this year should be no different.

Before getting into March in depth I’ll have a little re-cap on the last few weeks. As Chinaman, not a desirable species for most anglers but at this size and on light line this was a cool fish.

Summer is tough for pelagics but luckily there have still been a few of these guys about.

is typical for summer most pelagic species are scarce and the few pelagics that we’ve caught have been opportunistic captures, as in they haven’t been specifically targeted.

One of the few pelagic species that I can normally single out and have a good go at through summer is grey mackerel and this season they have been noticeably hard to find. A few golden trevally, the occasional mediocre sized queenfish and a couple of tuna have been the only pelagics to find the hooks in recent weeks. It’s been all about reef fishing to put a few fish in the esky. The ‘kill and grillers’ have enjoyed it, that’s for sure, there have been some nice feeds coming home.

As far as what species we’ve been getting is concerned, there has been a little of everything coming aboard. One fish that I thought we would have caught more of is fingermark, but they are currently hard to come by, hopefully this month we will get amongst them.

At the opposite end of the scale, one fish that we have caught more than normally expected has been large mouth nannygai. On the inshore grounds they have been scarce since Cyclone Debbie but just recently they have started to appear again, and in good numbers. This is awesome to see and I sure hope this trend continues. I haven’t come across any real monsters just nice honest table fish around the 50-55cm mark and there have been plenty of them, which has kept anglers happy.

The other area attracting a lot of attention from our local angling fraternity recently has been the estuaries. Especially now that the barramundi season is open, the ‘tinny’ brigade are hitting the creeks in force.

Moving onto March now and I’ll continue with the creek scene as that’s where a lot of action is going to be this month. The last couple of decent southeasters have blown the prawns in, and in big numbers at that. I was in town a few days ago at the tackle shops stocking up on various items and it was noticeable everywhere I went that the cast net shelves were akin to that of the dunny roll section in the supermarkets. That’s a good indication of how much attention those tasty little morsels are getting at the moment. And why not, there’s plenty of them to go around, they really are a sustainable species when caught recreationally. It’s just a shame that we only get to enjoy them for a couple of months of the year. There are presently plenty of mud crabs to be caught also and they are also commanding a lot of attention from fishers. There are pots everywhere from both recreational and commercial sectors. With the continual hammering they get all year

round it just amazes me as to how much of a resilient fishery it is. They keep reproducing and coming back providing us all with feed, year after year.

Let’s move onto barramundi now and that is the fish at the top of the discussion list amongst local anglers. So far this wet season we have had good regular rain but no major deluges, meaning that to date our local river systems have been consistently fishable. Also it means that there are still good numbers of barramundi residing in the creeks and they haven’t all bolted for the ocean. When these fish are in the estuaries they are a lot easier to locate and catch than when they are out in the open. However, I really enjoy hunting these fish when they out on the beaches and rocky headlands as they are lean, mean and go like scolded cats, but it can be hard work trying to locate them. As I write this, the barramundi season has only just hit full speed but already there are some cracking fish getting caught. This won’t last

forever so if you’re keen to get your hooks into a saltwater barramundi now is the time to do it. Once the water temperatures start to drop these fish will start to become less active.

Righto, let’s get out of the creeks now and get into what’s going on around the islands. I don’t expect there to be lot of change to what’s been happening recently except for hopefully the fingermark firing up. I won’t be devoting a lot of time to pelagics until the water temperatures start to cool. Once the water does start to cool, however, they should fire up like a little beauty. For the moment though, around the islands, it going to be about reef fish.

In the Whitsundays it doesn’t matter where you go around the islands or the mainland there are fringing coral reef everywhere and on any of that reef there are piles of coral trout and sweetlip.

Out a little further around the outer edges of any offshore islands, I am hoping that there will be some activity on the deeper rubble and fern patches. Nannygai, grunter, black jew and hopefully a few fingermark should also be around. When you are targeting any of these guys remember that they are all foraging species and, as such, they won’t necessarily be

Sweetlip will be a pretty reliable target species this month. Grey mackerel have been hard to come by this summer.

Get into the coral trout this month, they should be right up in the shallows. holding tight to any structure. They could be out and about anywhere searching for their prey so as anglers hunting them we have to be doing the same thing.

There we go, I hope the weather is kind to us all this month. I’m sure we won’t get through it all without a deluge or two and some wind, so when the good days are there be sure to make the most of it and enjoy some time on the water. • Reel Addiction Sport Fishing Charters specialises in light tackle fishing for all tropical sportfishing species on fly, lures and bait. Reel Addiction operates from the beautiful Cape Gloucester Beach Resort, 40 minutes’ drive north of Airlie Beach. Combined fishing charter and accommodation packages are available.

Notice how half the caudal fin is missing. It didn’t seem to worry the fish though, as it still provided a hell of a challenge for the big fella.

For more information, contact Mick Underwood on 0413 882 153 or email mick@reeladdiction.com. au. Resort enquiries can be directed to Julie Houston on (07) 4945 7242 or at info@capeg.com.au. To stay in touch with what’s biting, check out the Reel Addiction Sport Fishing Whitsundays page on Facebook.