Mackay

It’s rinse and repeat for October spring catches

MACKAY Keith Day

habdays@bigpond.net.au

October will see much the same weather conditions, species and such, as reported in last month’s issue. The main difference will be the weather heating up, but for anglers so will the fishing, particularly for pelagics.

September saw the bait schools move inshore and October should see this continue with plenty of action around the harbour, close islands and along the nearby beaches. The bait schools will have fish ranging from around 30mm up to larger greenback herring around 100mm and at times, unless you are matching the bait size, it can be hard to score fish.

Mack and longtail tuna sometimes become totally fixated on bait size, so it pays to have a range of lures rigged and ready. Curly tail plastics, hard and soft vibes, paddle tails, hardbodies and slugs/shinies will all work and catch fish, but check what size and type of bait is being smashed, then select the right size lure. The fish are not hard to locate as they either feed on the surface or if not, keep a keen eye out for baitfish spraying out of the water in panic. That’s a sure sign of predator activity.

Most times the best way to fish these bait balls is to stand off and cast around the edges of the mayhem, but dropping a larger jig right in the middle and letting it flutter down can sometimes score a bigger fish. Often times there will be various mackerel species, cobia, trevally and sometimes queenfish hanging under the bait schools. Bait anglers traditionally use pilchard rigs, but live herring caught either with jigs or cast netted in the harbour will also score plenty of fish. I prefer lure or fly fishing as that way I get more actual fishing time by not having to mess about getting live baits.

This type of pelagic action will be ‘on’ from the top of the NFZ, right along the coast down past Sarina Inlet, so there is plenty of spots to try. The easiest and most convenient is to launch a small tinny from the harbour multi lane ramp and then go exploring. While the ramp is great, there is unfortunately limited parking for cars and trailers and you may have a long walk to get your rig when you have ended your session.

Of the other local ramps, the best is the Victor Creek ramp at Seaforth, which gives access to all the islands, reefs and creeks in the NFZ and there is a heap of parking spaces there as well. If visiting the area talk to the staff at Tackleworld in Mackay for the good info on ramps, species, tackle and tactics.

Reef fishing will be popular during October as the N/NE winds will mean calm seas at least until around lunchtime most days. The islands in the NFZ fish well for

Trout, like this one Tim Swann scored, are regularly caught around the close inshore islands around Mackay.

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Mackay anglers will be out in force trying to score a salty barra like this 83cm ripper, before the November 1 closed season.

smaller reef fish like trout, cod, grass lippers, golden snapper, stripies, blueys etc. This is shallow water country so a quiet approach is needed and use as little lead as possible to get your baits down to the fish. Fish baits, pilchards, herring, prawns, yabbies or small crabs will all work, and it pays to work some soft plastics as well while baitfishing. Make sure you are aware of the green ‘No Fishing’ zones around the islands and carry a chart with you.

Closer to Mackay, there are spots around Slade, Flat Top, Round Top islands and Danger reef that can fish well for these smaller reef fish. The best spots are closely guarded secrets but modern electronics particularly with split screens showing down and side views makes it much easier to find suitable grounds and/or fish.

October also sees anglers putting in plenty of time on saltwater barra leading up to the closure in November. Barra have been on the chew through September and this should continue right up to the closure. In the Pioneer River, both bridges hold barra, and the rocks around the highway bridge are popular with anglers and barra alike. Around the highway bridge, live baits score well and other species likely to be caught here include jacks, cod, trevally and the odd golden snapper.

Down towards the mouth the V and the run throughs in the trainer walls are worth a shot, and on top of the tide get out on the flats, and any bit of rubble or isolated rock is well worth checking out for barra. Night fishing can be really productive in these areas using either live baits or lures like large vibes and swim baits.

The river will continue to fish well for flathead, whiting, bream, grunter, etc and all can be caught on baits lures and flies. Bait can be cast netted near the ramp, and yabbies pumped opposite the boat ramp. Yabbies are probably the preferred bait and will catch all fish mentioned as well as scoring on permit (snub nosed dart) that also move into the mouth of the river and rove over the clean sand flats. Not a fish usually targeted and most are caught by accident when chasing whiting etc.

Barra will be on the move in all our systems, and places like Reliance, Constant and Murray creeks will all get plenty of attention. To the South, Sandy, Alligator, Plane and Rocky Dam creeks are the main ones while Sarina inlet can also fire for barra. Any of the dozens of smaller creeks will all have some barra at certain stages of the tides, but many of them dry out at low tide, making boat access or even walking a problem. Crocs are likely in any of these creeks so keep an eye out and stay out of the water.

Run out tide drain fishing is a good way to work the creeks for barra and a personal favourite. Casting lures, flies or walk the dog style surface lures up into the drains and working them out into the main stream flow is good fun. The dams are fishing well with the warmer weather for both barra and sooties. Kinchant dam has the reputation for huge barra and around full moon sees the car park full of cars and boat trailers. I prefer Teemburra dam as it is usually considerably quieter, and there is plenty of timber areas where I like to ‘mooch’ around on the electric casting hardbodies or surface lures at any likely spot.

Both dams are more or less primarily ‘points’ fisheries with Teemburra having very prominent points, while Kinchant has weed bed ‘points’. Kinchant also has the FADs installed and the co-ordinates are shown on the board at the ramp. Well worth checking out and they are designed and placed in deeper water with lure trolling in mind. Big paddle tails, swim baits, vibes and hardbodies will all score fish as will surface lures around daylight and dusk. Night time surface fishing for barra is great with those explosive takes happening almost boatside. Awesome fun!

Depending on storms, the freshwater sections of the Pioneer system will see sooties and barra on the bite. Shallow head waters up in Cattle Creek hold plenty of sooties and smaller barra and walking and casting small lures or flies is a great way to spend an hour or two.

October sure can be a hot month in Mackay, but the quality and diversity of fishing means there will be plenty of opportunities for some fun fishing and scoring some top quality eating fish. So why not come to Paradise and experience it for yourself? See you at the ramp.