Fishing Monthly Magazine | April 2021

• SPINNERBAIT KNOW-HOW • CATCH AN EASTER FEAST • Technique Spotlight

Elliot Fooks shares his spinnerbait tricks and techniques QLD

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Features

Spinnerbait tips and techniques • Snag-proof your soft plastics • How to fillet a mahimahi • DIY life jacket service • Fish stocking debate • Hobie Kayaks: the naked truth •

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CONTENTS

OUR COVER April 2021, Vol. 1 No.12 VIC

TAS

QUEENSLAND Gold Coast Southern Bay Brisbane Northern Bay Noosa Bundaberg Gladstone Mackay Whitsundays Townsville Hinchinbrook Cairns Port Douglas Cooktown Lucinda Cape York Freshwater Kayaking NEW SOUTH WALES Pittwater Sydney North Sydney Rock Sydney South Ballina Coffs Harbour Hastings Forster Port Stephens Swansea Central Coast Illawarra Batemans Bay Bermagui Tathra New England Rivers Hunter Valley Lithgow/Oberon Albury/Wodonga Batlow Canberra VICTORIA West Coast Warrnambool Cobden Apollo Bay Geelong Port Phillip West Port Phillip East Phillip Island Gippsland Lakes Lakes Entrance Bemm River Marlo Mallacoota Robinvale Bendigo Ballarat Wangaratta Yarrawonga Shepparton Crater Lakes Eildon West/South Gippsland TASMANIA Hobart 6

APRIL 2021

From the editor’s Desk...

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14 16 18 20 22 26 29 30 32 33 37 36 36 38 38 39 40 42 50 51 52 54 56 58/60 62 63 64 64 65 68 69 70 70 72 72 73 75 74 76 80 80 81 81 82 84 86 88 89 90 90 91 91 92 92 93 94 95 95 96 97 96 77

This mangrove jack took a liking to a well-presented live mullet in Cudgen Creek. It put up a very fast and erratic fight before being landed by Leon McClymont.

An Ashley Jones image.

I reckon that I’ve seen a lot of the East Coast in the last couple of months. We’ve been from East Gippsland in Victoria to Sydney, and the Central Coast/Hunter Valley, as well as the local haunts in Queensland.

And what I’m seeing is a lot of people fishing.

How long will this COVID spike keep up for? It’s anyone’s guess. Some think that the imminent termination of the JobKeeper payments will put on the brakes. Others think that it’ll remain busy until the return of international travel. Some think even longer.

Whatever the case, I’m sure that nobody knows for sure what’s happening next month let alone over the next few years.

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WESTERN AUSTRALIA Esperance Augusta Bunbury Mandurah Metro Lancelin Geraldton Exmouth Broome Karratha Freshwater

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REGULAR FEATURES Spinnerbait tips and techniques Starlo’s back to basics Tech Tricks DIY life jacket service Sheik of the Creek WIRF What’s New Fishing Recfishwest Tournament Calendar Track my Fish Trades and Services Hobie kayak review Tide page

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PARTNER CONTENT Sea Jay Boat Craft transom repair Hobie Calendar Pirtek

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We were buoyant about the new Net Free area of Gippsland Lakes, though.

Taking the catch rates from the last few ABT BREAM events in the area, there’s already a noticeable increase in angler weights for the bags they weigh in at a tournament. You can see by the graph hereabouts that the removal of nets are benefiting this cohort of anglers in the short term.

But longer term, it’s also great to see that the VFA is proactive in their plan to help the system become an angling Mecca even more quickly. Modified regulations, stocking and habitat restoration are all part of the plan.

Moving north and we spent an interesting exercise in March attempting to live broadcast tournament fishing to the masses. The Daiwa BREAM Australian Open is the pinnacle of BREAM events in Australia and runs on two major Sydney waterways – the Harbour and the Hawkesbury River.

There’s always a shred of doubt in our minds when attempting things like this.

Firstly, is the technology, but secondly, is there an appetite for viewing?

Considering that the number of people trying to access the live scoreboard on Day 3 overwhelmed the server capacity, I’d say that the answer to the last question is a resounding yes! People love following fishing live. I suppose it’s just another sporting event with a footprint longer than the footy, but shorter than a test match.

Broadly, fishing is in a good place. We look forward to you all continuing to ride the wave, enjoy the magazine and sending us your pics from out on the water.

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How to: Spinnerbait tricks and techniques sitting fairly still in shallow water trying to warm up with the sun, or if there are schooling forage species such as bony bream in the dam they may be grouped up in open water eating these small silver fish.

Up in the shallows, small, lightly weighted spinnerbaits that can be worked slowly will get the best results.

Pausing the retrieve will see them falling slowly, with the blades helicoptering

BRISBANE

Elliot Fooks

Spinnerbaits are nothing new in the fishing world, and Aussie anglers have been including these strange contraptions to their arsenal for over 25 years. Spinnerbaits have changed quite a bit from the days when they bore a closer resemblance to a coat hanger with Christmas decorations than a fishing lure. Nowadays, these compact and extremely versatile lures are a staple for many fishers, and while the lures have changed, a lot of the techniques and theories are the same.

SPINNERBAITS AND FRIENDS Traditionally, a spinnerbait consists of a

These lures really shine on bass, and in dirty water like this they can be a presentation that outshines others.

Sooty grunter will take spinnerbaits readily, and usually aren’t fussy about colours. weighted head with a single hook, with a body made of a skirted material or a soft plastic trailer, sometimes both. Extending from the weighted head is a wire arm with a kink, where the line is usually tied. On this arm is one of more blades that catch the water when pulled along and spin, sending out vibrations and flash though the water. The most common blades are Colorado blades, which are rounded, and Willow blades, which look a bit like a willow leaf.

Sure, they don’t really resemble anything in the animal kingdom, but no one 8

APRIL 2021

to try to replicate these fish.

Heavy 3/8-1/2oz models in white and grey that will get down to 20-30 feet fairly quickly can be deadly when worked slowly through a school. It doesn’t always work, but if the fish are really keyed into the bony bream it should at least draw a bit of interest.

YELLOWBELLY Yellowbelly are another species that respond well to spinnerbait techniques.

can argue with the results!

Variations of this lure have become available over the years, such as beetle spins, jig spins, chatterbaits and buzzbaits, which are all often used in similar situations.

In this article though, we’ll focus on the traditional skirted spinnerbait with a fixed wire arm.

TACKLE Given that spinnerbaits can be used for a wide range of species, from bass in small streams to impoundment Murray cod over 40kg in large lakes, the preferred tackle for spinnerbait users varies widely. There are

certain principles that apply across the board, however.

Unless using tiny 1/8oz models or lighter, baitcast tackle is highly recommended.

An appropriately weighted baitcaster will give you the authority to throw heavy lures like spinnerbaits, and the control you can achieve with a baitcaster is very useful when fishing the snaggy terrain where these lures shine.

Baitcast tackle also has the advantage of maintaining direct contact with the lure at all times, meaning you can feel everything through the rod. Being able to feel every vibration, contact with snags and bite will make your spinnerbait experience much more enjoyable, and you’ll likely land more fish.

SPINNERBAIT SPECIES There are a huge range of species around the world that will respond to these lures, and knowing the right conditions to throw them for each species is good knowledge to have. The main Australian species that are regularly taken on spinnerbaits are bass, yellowbelly, Murray cod, saratoga and sooty grunter.

There are other species that will take spinnerbaits, but we’ll focus on these five.

BASS This is perhaps the most well-known spinnerbait taker, and the species with which all the original hype started back in the ‘90s. In the early days of ABT, tournament anglers would cast white Kokoda spinnerbaits at the lake’s edges and claim dozens of bass in a single session. While impoundment bass have since become a bit more educated, so have anglers, and spinnerbaits are still as deadly on this species as they ever were.

Spinnerbaits can be used all year successfully for bass

(with the exception of the closed season in rivers), but the technique changes with the seasons.

In spring and summer bass will be fizzed up, with their metabolism picking up after winter. In rivers and impoundments, they will be relating to structures such as timber, weed or rock and more than willing to leave their cover to chase anything that looks tasty. Heavy 1/4-3/8oz models in bright colours such as chartreuse and white are perfect for these aggressive fish.

Spinnerbaits are fantastic when worked through cover, as their wire arm acts like a weed guard, particularly if you maintain a steady wind as you feel it bump over the structure. This is basically knocking on the fish’s door, and when it all becomes too much they should dash out and snaffle the spinnerbait.

As it cools off a bit, bass will slow down. In impoundments where they can be targeted through the winter, they’ll either be

Spinnerbaits are seemingly made for Murray cod, and even smaller fish struggle to turn them down. and sending out flash and vibration to fish from afar.

The ‘noisy’ colours preferred in spring and summer might be a little much for winter bass in the shallows, with more natural colours being more suitable.

If fishing around a bony bream school, it makes sense

Being a foraging species that prefers the comfort of heavy cover, they lend themselves to these weird creations.

The first thing to remember with yellas is that they are very seasonal with their feeding habits. They are at their most active in spring and summer, becoming more

Bait casters and spinnerbaits go hand-in-hand.

difficult in autumn, and becoming difficult to almost uncatchable in winter.

In the spring when they are seeking warmth in the sunlit shallows, whether in a lake or river, they are very

responsive to spinnerbaits.

In some cases, fish can be seen sitting motionless in the skinny water as they catch the first rays of the morning. It’s simple, if you see one sitting there, throw a spinnerbait

in front of it and see what happens. Sometimes they require the more subtle touch of a soft plastic or fly, but spinnerbaits are a good allrounder in spring.

Weights of 1/8-1/4oz work

There’s a huge range of spinnerbaits on the market today, from all across the angling world.

well in the shallows for this small-mouthed forager.

As it warms up over summer, the yellas will sit deeper, often forming schools in lakes, and huddling closer together in the thickest of snags in the rivers. Spinnerbaits are still a great all round bait, however heavier models such as 1/4-1/2oz models may be needed to reach these depths comfortably. Feeling the structure through your rod as the spinnerbait bounces over pieces of cover is a great way to ‘map out’ the depths as you fish your way around. Repeated casts to likely areas are a good idea when chasing yellas, as they may take a bit of persuasion to bite when it’s hot.

MURRAY COD Spinnerbaits are a lure virtually made for this incredibly aggressive species. I can’t begin to imagine how many Murray cod have been taken on spinnerbaits and lures like them.

Going cod fishing without any of these lures is like going to a St Patrick’s Day event without a case of Guinness. All jokes aside, you’d be mad not to have a range of larger spinnerbaits for your cod missions, and anything from 1/4oz and right up to 2oz (and possibly beyond) isn’t too silly to

In the warmer months, when yellowbelly are most active, spinnerbaits can outfish a lot of other lures. be throwing.

At any time of the year, a spinnerbait is a good way to cover lots of water

searching for this territorial species, and having the ability to work it right up To page 10

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are almost a perfect lure for these prehistoric leapers.

Having the ability to cover water quickly and call in fish from afar is key when chasing saratoga, and spinnerbaits do this better than other lures.

Toga tend to spend most of their time on or near the surface, whether in lakes or rivers, and are virtually always on the lookout for food. If something falls near them, they will often strike it without actually stopping to look at what it is.

Spinnerbaits don’t have to be massive for toga, and a 1/4oz (give or take a few grams) should have you

The sky is the limit when it comes to the colours and sizes of the spinnerbaits used to target Murray cod. It was an orange themed Obsession Spinnerbait that was the undoing of this cod. instance, speed the retrieve up when a large structure juts out from the bottom, or possibly slow down if there’s a hole, and maybe even add a few twitches when you get close to the strike zone!

Spinnerbaits also make great trolling lures for cod, and if you can find a speed where the lures is occasionally bumping over structure as you troll along, you’re in with a good chance.

There’s also no pesky tuning required with these lures; they’re good to go out of the packet!

SARATOGA Once again, spinnerbaits

pretty much covered. Big willow blades and bright colours like chartreuse and white are fairly standard, and should turn the head of most hungry toga.

When toga can be seen searching for food on the surface, a cast off to the side (so as not to spook them) should be enough to fool them. If you’re just blind casting, moving quickly and working your spinnerbaits relatively quickly within 1-2m of the surface is a good way to go. If you spot a toga following, it can pay to stop for a second and let it fall slowly in the water column.

Remember, spinnerbaits keep ‘working’ even as they sink.

Just like with Murray cod fishing, you’d be mad to go looking for saratoga without a handful of spinnerbaits.

SOOTY GRUNTER This is a fish that’s often forgotten about, but is one of my favourites. Their willingness to chase things well out from their snaggy homes and tendency to hang out in groups endears them to many anglers. And yes, they absolutely love spinnerbaits.

In rivers of lakes, sooties will often hole up together, and if something remotely edible should enter their domain, a squabble will break out about who gets to eat it. Because of this, they will often hit lures at speed and take anglers by surprise.

Sooties everywhere like to chase their prey, and given that spinnerbaits work well even at higher speeds, they’re a great choice for these northern brutes.

Picking a model to use isn’t rocket science, with anything between 1/8-1/2oz suitable, depending on where you’re fishing. Colours also aren’t anything to stress over either, just make sure your

Big or small, bass love spinnerbaits and with the right approach, these fish will eat them most of the time. skirts and hooks aren’t too big, as sooties only have a small mouth.

In lakes such as Eungella and Koombooloomba, big sooties will sometimes hang below trees with birds in them, waiting to snaffle any white droppings that come out of the birds. A white

spinnerbait crashing down under one of these trees often gets hit seconds after landing… There’s nothing delicate about sooty fishing!

LITTLE TRICKS One of the best things about spinnerbaits is how customisable they are. Skirts and blades can be swapped

Saratoga are a fantastic fish to target with spinnerbaits. They will leap in the air to remove the spinnerbait from their mouth. This one was caught

by Fishing Monthly’s Peter Jung on a 1/2oz Obsession Spinnerbait.

out and changed, and stinger hooks can be added to increase hook-up potential.

If you notice you’re getting short strikes on a particular spinnerbait, you can snip a few centimetres off the skirt to reduce the profile of the bait… but you might prefer to change to a smaller spinnerbait if you don’t want to snip something you can’t fix!

IN A SPIN Understanding just how versatile these lures are and the different ways you can use them in different situations will help you get the most out of them.

I believe anglers have only just scratched the surface though. The species mentioned above readily take spinnerbaits, but there are more freshwater and saltwater predators bassco boats that won’t turn down a spinnerbait under the right conditions. Don’t let the status quo dictate how you can use these lures, and which species you can use them for, get out and start experimenting!

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hard against structure is a huge benefit.

Whether it’s rocks, timber, grass or artificial structure, spinnerbaits can be fished to their full effect through it, and getting close to cod is the key to catching them. As mentioned above, mapping out the structure beneath with the spinnerbait is important; probably more important than with yellowbelly. If a bite is registered, try to visualise what’s down there and make repeated casts to the area, adjusting your retrieve to suit the terrain. You might, for

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From page 9

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Go to quintrex.com.au to find for your nearest dealer.

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11

Learn how to snag-proof your soft plastics NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.fishotopia.com

Sometimes it pays to think beyond the standard soft plastic rig of a tail fitted to a jighead with the hook point well exposed…

I’ve written here and elsewhere on several occasions in the past about rigging and using so-called ‘weedless’ soft plastics to target all manner of fish – salt and fresh – especially when fishing in heavy cover or dense aquatic vegetation. It’s a deadly and under-utilised strategy that has saved the day for me on many, many occasions over the years by producing fish I would not otherwise have had any chance of catching.

Just recently I’ve had cause to take the weedless or snag-proofed path again while targeting my local bream in thick tangles of submerged timber. Often, I’ll throw hardbodied lures such as floating/ diving minnows or plugs at the bream when they’re

But there are days when the bream (and other fish) simply refuse to leave the shadowy sanctuary of their hidey-holes deep under the logs and move

constantly getting caught up in the sticks, it’s possible to drop your offering extra tight to the cover and bring these fish undone. Catching

than-normal leaders, nearlocked drags and aggressive rod work are par for the course. Even so, you won’t get them all out!

There are a number of ways to rig a soft plastic in order to reduce its propensity for snagging on timber and rocks or fouling in vegetation.

In the past, I’ve mostly talked about the use of wide-gape worm hooks combined with various styles of sinker, either fixed or running, to achieve this goal. However, it’s possible and often highly effective to simply adapt the way you place a plastic on a standard lead-head jig in order to dramatically reduce the number of snags experienced.

The best way to do this

This adaptation of a standard jighead rig greatly reduces the incidence of snags without dramatically impacting your hook up rate on fish. It can literally save the day!

Starlo caught this barra and many more like it on ‘weedless’ soft plastic rigs during his time living in Darwin a decade or so ago.

This decent bream was extracted from very heavy cover on a weedless or snag-proofed curly-tailed grub – in this case, one of the old, now-discontinued Squidgies Bugs.

A small bass pulled from thick aquatic vegetation using a weedless-rigged soft plastic. in these places, carefully targeting the outer edges of the snag pile, or trying my best to accurately place my lure up between the clutching branches without snagging it.

even half a metre to strike a wriggling hardbody. That’s when a snag-proofed plastic rally comes into its own.

By rigging a soft plastic in such a way that it resists

them this way is incredibly exciting, too, as you need to be right on your game and ready to go toe-to-fin with a powerful fish pinned deep in ‘tiger country’. Heavier-

of retrieve speed without spinning in the water, but trust me: it works! When cast really tight to snags (ideally hitting the timber before plopping into the water below), it will often be eaten ‘on the drop’, or on the first gentle lift after hitting the bottom. When you feel that distinctive pluck, thump or sudden weight, set the hook by striking… hard!

Such a rig isn’t ever going to be 100 per cent snag-proof, but it will hang up far less often than a standard plastic rigged on a jig head with the hook point completely exposed. You’ll also miss a fair number of bites and go through a few extra plastics when they’re rigged this way, due to their tendency to tear at the nose. But there are days when taking this particular

is to push the hook point in through the nose of the plastic as you normally would. However, instead of sliding the tail right around the hook point and then exposing the point out of the centreline of the plastic’s back, as per usual, bring the point out of the plastic’s ‘chin’ instead, just a short distance back from the nose.

Next, push the head of the plastic up the hook shank, over any keepers, before rotating the entire plastic on the hook and then spearing

Hook ups are often very secure on weedless or snag-proofed rigs, although it’s important to strike firmly to punch that hook point clear of the plastic. You’ll go through a few tails, as well, as their noses often tear on the hook-set.

Two simple steps to rigging an old Squidgies Lobby weedless or snag-proof on a wide-gape worm hook. Here the sinker sits in a large loop knot connecting the leader to the hook.

12

APRIL 2021

the point up through the plastic’s belly until you can just feel the point with your finger through the back or top of the lure.

This finished rig might look a little strange, and it certainly won’t handle a lot

path can convert donuts into champagne. You may only use this snag-proofing trick half a dozen times a year, but I can guarantee you that on those occasions when you do, it can be an absolute trip saver.

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BRISBANE’S BEST BRANDS ARE AT AMC

Southern

OLD

Big macks have arrived GOLD COAST

David Green

April should see the current good run of both Spanish and spotted mackerel continue. As things cool down a bit, the fish generally get a bit bigger, with mackerel over 15kg starting to turn up on a regular basis.

At the time of writing, fishing live baits in conjunction with a

foamy mass of blood, fins and teeth.

On the marlin front there should be some big blue marlin biting wide of the continental shelf in 150-400m of water. This is around 50-60km out of the Seaway. April is one of the better months to chase blue marlin off the Gold Coast and conditions are generally pretty good. By-catch includes the odd wahoo and mahimahi but there are generally more marlin bites

all the inshore run of black marlin have moved south but there still may be the odd fish around Spot X and the 50 fathom F.A.D. There should be a few striped marlin from the 80m line out to the shelf.

As the current slows down and the year moves into autumn bottom fishing improves. There have been a few nice snapper on the 24-fathom reef throughout summer and these should increase in numbers this month. The 36 and 50 fathom

A beautiful blue marlin being released.

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APRIL 2021

downrigger has been the most successful method. Small yellowtail, slimy mackerel and tailor all work very well.

The best rig includes a short length of wire trace with a single hook positioned in the nose of the bait and a short length of mono wire to a small treble hook. Position the downrigger ball so it is about 10m above the bottom.

Alternative methods include trolling rigged dead baits, berleying and fishing with pilchards, spinning metal lures and trolling hardbodied lures and skirts. So far it has been a very good season for Spanish mackerel but most of the fish have been relatively small at around 5-8kg. The biggest I’ve heard of this season was an 18kg fish caught on a hardbodied lure. Early morning tide changes tend to fish well at the moment.

Wahoo are another good target species to chase this month. Try high speed trolling with metal headed lures or slow trolling small live tuna. If the current is running and the water is blue, then the Tweed Nine Mile Reef is well worth a look for wahoo. The described methods are also successful on big Spanish mackerel.

Also expect to catch plenty of mackerel tuna as by-catch.

At times sharks can be a big problem in this area, regularly attacking hooked fish, and the last thing you want to see is your tasty wahoo disappearing in a

than by-catch. The average Gold Coast blue marlin is around 140kg and fish of this size generally require 37kg tackle as a minimum so they can be released in good condition. By April nearly

reefs are worth a good look if you are after snapper, Venus tusk fish and pearl perch.

On the inshore grounds there should be some nice mulloway on the inshore wrecks on live baits as well

Steve Ward with some Spanish mackerel from the 24 fathom line.

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as the odd cobia. Live baits fished close to the bottom are the best method, but they will also eat soft plastics and micro jigs at times.

RIVERS AND ESTUARIES As the days get a bit shorter and the temperature cools off a bit the activity in the estuaries starts to change.

near the end of the north wall.

Whiting are another estuary species worth targeting this month especially if we get a bit of rain. The Nerang River has been fishing well at night on beach worms, soldier crabs and bloodworms. Quite a few fish over 40cm have been caught. Other good

and I have no idea of the reason why. Crabs used to be prolific in both river systems but now you’re lucky to see any crabs in your pots in both of those places. There should still be plenty of banana prawns around this month near Jacob’s Well through to Russell Island. Out in the main Broadwater around the

Southern

WI NTER I S C OM I N G PREPARE FOR BATTLE

This mangrove jack fell victim to a vibe.

A lot of adult mangrove jack start to move into the Seaway area and take up residence along the rock walls and in the deeper holes. These fish are a very bright red in colour and are mostly over 50cm. It is generally thought that beyond this size they move to offshore reefs.

Catching these jacks is best done with live baits fished close to the bottom.

When a jack hits the bait, it is important to strike very quickly and get stuck into the fight early to keep the mangrove jack well away from cover. In the last few months there have been plenty of big jacks and mulloway in the rocky eddy

spots include the Pimpama River and the channel near the lagoon entrance at Jumpinpin. Yabbies have been quite effective in daylight hours. Small stick baits and poppers are also very effective, particularly in windy conditions when the fish are chasing prawns and small shrimp. Always wind quickly, especially when a whiting is chasing your lure.

Crabs are another good option this month and there should be some good mud crabs throughout the system.

However, over the past year both Coombabah Creek and the Pimpama River seem to be almost devoid of crabs,

weed beds there should be good numbers of sand crabs in 3-6m of water.

Flathead and bream fishing should improve this month as the water cools slightly. Work the canals and channels with a mixture of hardbodies and soft plastics, and fish on the top of the flats on high tides. Most of the flathead will be in the 40-50cm bracket this month.

Cooler days generally fish better. Small plastics, such as Gulp Swimming Mullets in white or brown are great lures to use in April. Overall, there are plenty of good options this month and the mackerel season so far has been very good.

H OUS E OF RAPALA C H O OS E YOU R W E A P ON

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Katie Cousins had a great holiday at Moreton Island. She caught this tasty squid from her kayak between Cowan and Bulwar using a Shimano T Curve with Shimano Saragosa, 20lb mono with a Diawa 3.5g Squid jig in nemo colour.

APRIL 2021

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Fishing after the flush SOUTHERN BAY

Nick Whyte

The past month has been a good month for rain, as it gives all our systems a much-needed flush. The prawns have been going well and should continue into April. The quality has been really good with the prawns mostly being mediums or better. Best spots have been directly out the front of Redland Bay, in between Lamb and

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Karragarra and down around the powerlines.

The arrival of the prawns means the predators aren’t too far away. Mulloway, flatties, threadies and bream have been dominating catches. You’ll be surprised where you can find them, especially right up in the shallow water – as shallow as 1m of water. Look for birds feeding on the surface as this is a dead give away.

There have been some good quality snapper turning up in the southern bay. The

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majority of fish have been coming from 20ft+ but during the low light periods, including those overcast rainy days, there have been some good quality right up shallow. Lightly weighted baits or soft plastics are the go but hardbodies can also be a fun way to chase them.

Small sinking stick baits, like the 70mm Zerek Zapplin have been working for me.

Long tail tuna have been a bit hard to find in the bottom half of Moreton Bay. Sandhills have been a regular producer with quite a few fish just north of Harries.

Be careful of the large green zone out in the middle of the bay. Most fish are still average size but there is the occasional bigger fish over 1m.

This month, with bigger schools pushing down into the bay, there should be some opportunity south of the

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This solid little GT fell victim to the Mustad Ink Vader.

Navel Banks and southern side of Goat Island, but at the moment there are still only small schools that are very hard to target with lots of boat traffic.

Mangrove jack are still being caught in good numbers. There should still be some good fish around

entrances. The Seaway is the place to fish this month, and Amity Rock wall is worth a look. Remember to fish heavy for these guys as you will be targeting the larger fish.

All canal systems and creeks have been producing good numbers of jacks but it seems as though the Coomera

Richie Lucker with a decent juvenile snapper.

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this month before the bigger models head offshore to breed. This time of year you can find big congregations around bar and river

has been the pick of the bunch, but this rain should make fishing the top reaches a little harder. Concentrate your efforts around the

cleaner water or use noisier lures like rattling vibes or top water lures. Work all the main bridges around Sovereign and up through the river. Deep plastics and deep running hardbodies, like the 89mm Zerek Tango shad, are the go.

Summer whiting have still been about throughout the southern bay. Reports of large fish have not been uncommon the last month.

Most anglers have been targeting these with freshly dug worms. Digging worms your-self will often yield better results. Best spots this month have been in the Logan River at the Lone Pine or the Council Chambers in the Nerang River. Look at using poppers more as the water dirties up a bit.

With the prawns running, the bream will be throughout the southern bay around all the shallow rock points. This is a great time of year to target these fish on small top water lures. The rocks around the powerlines, the top of Macleay at Pats Point, Lambs Rocks are all great places to have a look.

If you have a great capture from the southern bay you would like to share email them through to nick@ techfishing.com.au. Until next month Tech-it-easy.

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A nice southern bay snapper caught on a Zerek Fish Trap.

APRIL 2021

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Awesome options ahead for anglers in April BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

As we move away from the warmer months, anglers will notice a gradual change in the prominent species on offer. During April, snapper, squid, mulloway and sweetlip will compliment species such as mackerel, tuna, prawns, mangrove jack, estuary cod, crabs, sharks and others that have been readily available over the last few months.

For many, cooler conditions make more enjoyable boating and fishing and gradually shortening days will mean you don’t have to be up as early to get the sunrise bite. Let’s look at the awesome options for April anglers ahead.

SNAPPER A favoured angling target for Moreton Bay anglers is the snapper. They will increase in prevalence over the coming weeks and months as larger models enter the bay from offshore waters to prepare for their breeding procession. These early season knobbies can be easy to tempt using an array of lures and quality baits.

Areas such as the artificial reefs, bay island margins, wrecks and submerged ledges are all good places to try. Around the bay islands, snapper will roam readily as they feed on hardiheads, gar, crabs, squid and other baitfish species. The larger specimens are most likely to

move away from prominent cover in their search for food therefore you don’t have to be on any particular ‘hot spot’ to get a piece of the action.

Drifting throughout the area casting soft plastics (jerk shads, prawn profiles, paddle tails work well) or soft vibes is a popular and productive method. Often the better quality snapper are found well wide of the main reef, rubble or ledge structures in fairly open water. Sometimes you will see them harassing baitfish close to the surface.

A well-placed cast to within a few metres of the disturbance is often smashed as the lure sinks.

In deeper waters, such as the artificial reefs, snapper are more likely found in the lower half of the water column. Here they will accept a broad array of offerings. Quality baits such as mullet fillets, salted tuna or bonito, pilchards, squid, live yakkas and slimy mackerel, gar and whiting frames (or whole whiting) are ideal when well-presented.

Baits that can waft, move up and down in the water column and don’t spin will often get the bites from the larger, more wary snapper.

Fluorocarbon leaders (always use as light as you dare) and hooks buried in the baits with just the point protruding will generally get more attention.

Trolling deep diving minnow lures is another method for catching quality snapper that has good merit.

Lures which present in the lower half of the water column are likely to get hit

With at least four months of quality squid fishing potential ahead, bay anglers will be able to satisfy their calamari addictions with both tiger and arrow squid being easy captures.

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by quality snapper around the fringes of the bay islands, the artificial reefs and adjacent prominent ledges.

Commonly, lures will need to dive between 3m and 10m with good choices being the Nomad DTX 100mm, RMG Poltergeist 80mm XDD, Classic Lures Dr. Evil and Samaki Redic DS100 and DS120, just to name a few.

Braided line is a massive advantage for trolling such lures as it will allow you to get deeper diving depths and the hook will set well upon the strike, even with the rod in a holder. Multiple rods can be trolled at the same time with lures of differing diving depths advisable. Over the coming months snapper will increase in both numbers and average size with some thumping big offshore knobbies coming into the bay, so now is a great time to target them.

LONGTAILS Longtail tuna numbers have been a little sporadic over the last couple of months. There have been a few around however in most cases they have been hard to approach and difficult to tempt. Several fish I have hooked have been taken shortly afterwards by sharks, which is disappointing. As the water temperatures begin to fall we should see some better schools of longtail tuna around. How easy they are to tempt will depend on the baitfish on which they are predominately feeding.

If the baitfish are very small then it can be difficult to get a suitable presentation that can be cast the required distance to reach the busting fish. However, by trying a broad array of different profiles you may find one which will work.

Larger, slowly worked stick baits will often reward with aggressive strikes, even when they are feeding on minute bait. I suppose they have to get sick of eating the same food source sooner or later.

The nomad Madscad is a very easy lure to use and a good choice for your first stick bait. Skipping poppers, such as the Cotton Cordell pencil popper and the Nomad Dartwing can also turn the odds in your favour.

The fly fishers will often have the upper hand when the tuna are being fussy as they have the ability to present very small profiles a reasonable distance. Flies such as bay baits, silversides, cotton candy, surf candy, polar fibre minnows and queenie killers will all work well. Generally a slow sinking line (intermediate sink) is the best option as a fly can then be allowed to sink slowly through the baitfish school if the tuna have gone off the boil by the time you get

School mackerel have been plentiful in the bay all year and Craig was rapt to get this one recently on a drifted pilchard. there. Often there will still be a few tuna around cleaning up the wounded baitfish left by the onslaught and a slowly sinking fly will get slurped up. A solid strip strike and you are locked in solid to a sashimi torpedo.

The northern end of the bay is likely to have the better schools, which have come down past Hervey Bay, Noosa and Mooloolabah.

You can often track their prevalence through these areas to determine when they are likely to enter the bay.

Searching along the front of Bribie Island (they are often in very close to the beach here), the North-West Channel, Kianga Channel, Gilligan’s Island, Pearl Channel and out the front of Deception Bay will generally find you some action.

PRAWNS Plenty of quality prawns have been caught over the last few months with the southern bay islands starting to produce numbers after the series of storms in February.

My first trip to the Jacksons Hole area easily produced a full 10L limit even though I culled many of the mediums and small as I went.

Nudgee has been a little hit and miss at the time of writing, however we should see better numbers and quality over the coming month. The Caboolture and Pine rivers were producing regularly well into March and would probably still be worth checking out if you live on the north side of Brisbane.

However, the southern bay islands are generally the better option over the coming months with areas such as Jacksons Hole, Giants Grave, The Powerlines, Saltworks, eastern end of Lamb Island Channel, Marks Rocks and numerous other holes producing.

The top and run out

tide have commonly been the times when the prawns have lifted however around the low can also be worthwhile. Prawning is most productively done with a 12ft top pocket only cast net, although can net can give you some result with heightened effort. We should have a few months of good prawning ahead of us, however they can be fickled creatures and can disappear at any time so make the best of it while you can.

MACKEREL

It was another disappointing season for spotted mackerel with limited numbers caught in the bay by most anglers.

School mackerel however, have remained plentiful throughout the whole year.

Both species have been caught on an array of methods including drifted pilchards, trolled spoons and minnow lures, cast and retrieved chromed slugs and slices and an array of other lures.

Schoolies have been most prevalent in the channels between the sand banks (such as the Rous and Small Ships) and around the shipping channel beacons although the artificial reefs have also produced at times. Generally, if you target this species you will be rewarded as they are fairly common and widely spread within the bay.

Trolling lures along the edges of the channels on the start of the falling tide is usually successful as the mackerel patrol these edges awaiting the baitfish and other morsels that will be flushed from the banks with the receding waters. They will also roam the fringes of the bay islands and artificial reefs when baitfish are present.

The shipping channel beacons often attract baitfish, therefore schoolies usually

aren’t that far away. When the tide is running hard, I suggest jigging with chromed slugs and slices, however, around the slack water flow a pilchard drifted past the beacon will generally get the best result.

As water temperatures fall, an occasional Spanish mackerel is caught around the same areas where schoolies are found. I got a small one back in February while drifting pillies, however large specimens are caught on occasion.

SQUID Good numbers of quality tiger and arrow squid have been caught over the last two months at an array of spots in the bay. These include the weed banks north of Tangalooma, Rous Channel, Goat, Bird, Peel, Green and Mud Islands and a host of other locales. Wherever clean, clear water flows over reef, rock, rubble, weed or other structure there is a great chance you will find some squid during the next five months.

Even whilst drifting around the Sand Hills and banks areas chasing whiting, it is worth having a squid jig aft. When the current is strong the jig can be just fed out the back and left whilst you drift along.

If the current isn’t strong enough to keep the jig up off the bottom then suspend it under a float of some kind. When the tension takes up, simply retrieve the line slowly.

A squid skewer baited with a pilchard and suspended under a float will also work exceptionally well and is often the most successful method for arrow squid.

For land-based egi afficionados, areas such as the Wynnum Foreshore, Manly rock wall and

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harbour, Scarborough Foreshore, Cleveland Point, Redland Bay foreshore and a host of other places will work. Catching the early morning ferry to Coochiemudlo Island and chasing squid with egi on the eastern and northern sides can be a good way to spend the day. Amity Point is another area that produces some sizeable squid. For land-based squidding in the populated areas it pays to have a selection of different sized and coloured egi. If a squid is spotted yet it refuses to strike your egi, quickly change to a different one which just may be to its liking.

Night-time sojourns often see the use of highpowered LED head torches to allow you to spot the squid before you cast. This is not a necessity, however it can short track your path to success. If a bit of submerged structure looks promising then give it a few casts as squid are masters of disguise and are probably lurking nearby without you being able to see them.

MULLOWAY A favoured winter species for anglers fishing the Brisbane and Logan rivers plus the bay islands and artificial reefs is the mulloway. These commonly reach weights of over 10kg

and can be caught to over 30kg. The larger ones are most commonly caught on big live baits such as squid, mullet, pike and gar but occasional succumb

to a lure.

The average fish to around 110cm in length can be taken on baits as well as a broad array of lures including large minnow

Chris Deeks with a solid Moreton Bay mulloway that ate a soft plastic jerk shad while targeting snapper.

lures, soft vibes, numerous plastics, blades, micro jigs and baitfish profiled flies.

The coming months will see increased numbers of mulloway, especially in the Brisbane River where they can be caught at an array of locations such as the dredge holes near the mouth, Clara’s Rocks, the swing zone, Caltex Reach, Gateway Bridge, Oil Pipeline, ledge just upriver from the sewerage chute and around the fronts of the major jetties and shipping terminals. Lighted areas attract baitfish during the darkened hours and these spots can also produce a few jewies at time. Many of these spots can be reached from a land-based perspective, which is great for those on shank’s pony.

CONCLUSION Falling water temperatures will increase the activity of many species.

However, April can produce a mixed bag of fish and crustaceans.

In addition to the species mentioned, there should still be great numbers of threadfin, crabs, cod, tuskfish, sweetlip, bream, flathead, bonito and many others on offer. April can be a pleasant month weather wise so make the most of it before the winter chill takes over.

Dan Bembrick caught this great GT off the beach at Fraser Island.

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Cool breezes bring bounties NORTHERN BAY

Steve Nash

April is a good month to fish as the days are starting to get cooler and water temperatures will drop, which will bring with it our winter species.

Fishing in the bay is also made easier with light winds in the mornings and afternoons.

With a few public holidays in this month, it’s a perfect time to get kids out fishing and enjoy the not-overly-hot sun and light winds that are the norm for this time of year. With easy catches of bream around jetties and pontoons, simple rigs with a hook and a running sinker and packet of bait prawns can make for some awesome days.

RIVERS Bream will start to school up around the mouths of our rivers and along the shallow reefs as they feed up and begin their spawning run. Bream

Flathead will be found up in the shallows sunning themselves as the days cool down. are scavengers and can be caught on anything from expensive lures through to bread. Fresh and live baits will usually see some

Tryon Marsh with a quality bream from the mouth of the Pine River.

better fish.

Lures can sometimes weed out the smaller fish as well, but this isn’t always the case with the smallest of bream happily trying to eat a lure way bigger than its mouth. This can also work in reverse with some of my biggest bream being hooked on 1” grubs.

Flathead have been found in good numbers throughout March, which will also be the case this month. The fish are spreading out through the rivers; they can be found up in the shallows in the early mornings, and dropping back into the deeper holes as the sun warms them up.

Prawns will still be the best bait or a lure imitation.

Prawns are still being caught in all the local rivers, but most will have moved out to the bay. Look for the boats competing for the bigger schools, or

head up into the creeks and cast in the deeper holes.

Remember to get in early before everyone.

BAY March saw longtail tuna turn up in the northern bay, and they will continue to feed there over the next month. Watch for schools busting up small bait schools or birds following the schools waiting for an easy feed. Be prepared to use a lot of fuel chasing them as they do get a lot of pressure from fishers and are very cunning at knowing the difference between lures and their

Moreton Bay longtails are not only tasty but can also put your gear to the ultimate test. temps start to drop. The rubble ground around the bay, as well as the number of wrecks along Moreton Island, will be the best places to look.

While everyone has their own go-to lure or bait for snapper, I like to use what bait profile is available in that area. Along the front of

in the bay.

DAMS The local dams have been fishing a bit average lately. With the new lower levels at Lake Samsonvale, the fish have had to find new areas to hold and the bait fish haven’t had the shallow cover to keep safe, so it could be a slow winter

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The Clark family getting out and enjoying some family time and landing a few fish. natural food. While most anglers will throw slugs at them, sometimes it’s a good idea to use something different, like a stick bait or plastic rigged on a heavy gauged jig hook.

Snapper sizes and numbers will start to increase as the water

Redcliffe, small baits like white bait or prawns are a better choice, while on the wrecks along Moreton larger flesh baits will have a better result. Same with lure choices smaller profiles on the inshore reefs while using up to 5” plastics on the deeper area

bite but time will tell.

While Lake Kurwongbah is full and looks to be the pick of the two dams, with quality yellows and bass being landed daily. Fish will still be along the edges but will start to school up and move to deeper water.

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April is a great time for offshore anglers!

NOOSA

Peter Wells

The great thing about April is that we usually see the best of both worlds, as the warmer currents hopefully stick around and keep the pelagic bite hot for the rest of the month. Heading north you are more likely to run into some of the bigger

to become more prolific.

Cobia love to swim with other fish and I think they love hanging with the whales. It seems that as soon as a pod of whales goes past you hook a cobia.

For the small craft that don’t feel comfortable making the trip to the Banks or North Reef then Sunshine Reef is a great option with sweetlip, Maori cod, juvenile sanpper and

smaller reef species.

This is also the start of the snapper season with the bigger fish on the deeper reefs. Head for the Barwon Banks on a good day, with North Reef also a great feeding ground for snapper.

Soft plastics like the ZMan Scented Jerk Shads are a great way to hook into the snapper, with the motion of the boat doing most of the work you can easier leave the rod in the rod holder. If you are fishing a paternoster rig why not put a soft plastic on the top dropper with a lighter jighead so if you do get baited you are still in the game. When snapper fishing deeper water, it usually means larger fish – 60m mark is a great depth to target these fish.

On the beach, the cooler months mean the start of the winter bream run. As the water starts to cool we will see plenty of bream along the coast and in our rivers as they prepare to spawn. These fish, with a diet of prawns and small fish, are an easy mark for the beach angler.

Small pillies, white bait and hardiheads are all on the menu, with prawn also a favourite. The southern beaches around Marcoola and Yaroomba where there maybe a little coffee rock, are a great spot to chase the winter bream.

The Noosa North Shore has been the place for some quality mulloway. This time of the year is one of the strongest for big mulloway, with the waters still fairly warm and good tides we should see some

Justin Worth with a coral trout from the Barwon Banks caught on a Samaki Jig. outstanding fish. Some of the best fish have been taken around this time of the year with fish to 1.5m and over 25kg on the cards.

A fish like this is a real challenge in the surf.

The key to mulloway is using big baits, like quality squid or fresh mullet. Try not to strike on the first bite but let the fish run; many a quality fish is lost in the enthusiasm of anglers striking too soon.

Mulloway love to pick at baits, or roll it round in their mouths, scaling before they swallow. Strike too soon and you will simply pull the hook from the fish’s mouth.

You may also come across some early season

tailor while fishing the beach, as they make their northern migration up towards Fraser Island.

Things have been a little tough for anglers with the fish tending to hold that bit deeper as they migrate up the coast. With a bit of luck, we will see them a little more onshore this year. If you do come across a good school of tailor give the good old Halco Twisty a go, they come in chrome and gold and work a treat.

The cooler months are also great fun in the rivers, with the Noosa and Maroochy rivers seeing plenty of trevally coming into the systems. You should see GTs, golden, diamonds and big eye all

Jack Dekort with a 30kg 159cm Spanish mackerel taken from the Coolum area.

Spanish and tuna, so areas off Double Island and the southern tip of Frazer would be where I would be heading in the hope of bagging some big pelagics.

Large mulloway and cobia are also on the cards at this time of the year, in fact it is said that as the whales start their northern migration the cobia seem

the odd trout hanging around. Sunshine Reef is also a great place to give jigging a go, with the shallower reefs you can use some of the lighter jigs. Samaki do a great range from 20g with three different styles to choose from. Another great option is the Hot Bite Raptors, these are a slow fall jig and work a treat on those

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Young Ruben Helling with a solid mac tuna from Currimundi Reef, landed with a bit of help from dad.

feeding. Surface poppers and walkers are the way to go when the fish are feeding on the surface with the Sugapens from Bassday a real favourite.

The cooler mornings should see some great surface action with these predators following schools of bait in on the high tide. Areas like Woods Bay in the Noosa River and Black Banks in the Maroochy are the go, and if you can time this with an early morning high tide you will have everything in your favour. Also give the river mouths a go; the run in tide with slugs on a fast retrieve should also see some good results.

A little further upstream good structure is a good place to start. Pontoon jetty and bridge pylons are all places that bream and other predators love to call home.

These fish love to sit in the shadow lines and dart out and ambush any morsel of food that passes by. If you are using bait, then fishing very lightly or with no weight at all is your best bet. Think about the tidal run cast to the side that will see your bait move into the strike zone and be prepared for the strike. Another great option is to fish soft plastics, the good old Squidgy Wriggler is a real cracker, laced with a nice smear of S Factor these plastics have been producing for years.

• Don’t forget to check in to www.fishingnoosa. com.au for all the latest up to date info on fishing and bar crossings. The knowledgeable teams at Davo’s Tackle World Noosa and Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola can provide you with the right equipment, bait and advice to ensure success!

T E G R A T E

V I T AC E S O N A R LIV

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APRIL 2021

23

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SAFETY 24

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STABILITY

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PERFORMANCE

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www.seajayboats.com.au

To like us on Facebook visit www.facebook.com/seajayboats APRIL 2021

25

Central

OLD

Baitfish schools return BUNDABERG

Luke Truant

We haven’t had many good weather windows lately, but when we have gone out the fishing has ranged from above average to amazing.

We have filled the box with reef fish nearly every time.

Spanish mackerel have been biting as well, and

the average size is rapidly increasing, with 20kg fish now not uncommon. The run of lots of small fish (just legal to 5kg) is over, and now there are fewer fish but they’re larger.

The Spanish are following the bait schools, and you can catch them trolling big dead baits or use a live bait such as a big pike. In fact, catching pike is part of the fun of targeting Spanish mackerel.

Bottlecreek Farm Accommodation

You can collect these live baits by flicking little hardbodies around the rocks along the coast on the way out. All you need is a 1-3kg rod and a handful of cheap crankbaits.

The pike jump and carry on, so they’re great fun for kids.

When it comes to bottom fishing, grass emperor are a standout. They have started to show up in good numbers, and there are some big fish in the mix. The best bait is big squid; the grassies just can’t help themselves when they see one. You can fish your squid on a standard paternoster, or

Using big baits will help you get solid reds.

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a running sinker rig. I run my sinker down to a swivel, then use a 50cm length of trace (the same as I use for snapper).

Having your sinker sitting on the swivel rather than on the hook lets the bait move more naturally. Use as light a sinker as you can to reach the bottom.

You’re not quite float lining, but not far from it.

We’ve been getting some really good cobia lately. If you want to catch cobes you can target them with live baits around the wrecks, preferably at night. Be aware that big reef jacks (5-10kg) inhabit the same areas at the same times, although they tend to hold closer to structure than the cobia do. Always be alert and prepared for a sudden jack attack.

I use mono leader for most species, but if I’m targeting

cobia I beef up my leader to 100lb fluorocarbon. You want your leader to have really high abrasion resistance because cobia tend to swallow the bait right down. Cheap fluoro off eBay isn’t good enough for this scenario. I prefer Berkley Vanish, which is very hardy, but no doubt there are other quality fluoros that will do the job just fine.

When hooked, both cobia and jacks will head straight for structure, and the first stage of the fight is similar. However, when the cobia realises it can’t reach the wreck, it will then head to the surface, whereas a jack will never do that.

Interestingly, we’ve had a couple of trips without sharks, and have landed some really nice red emperor. Lately we

have been using large mullet strips on paternoster rigs, but you can also get good results with big squid heads or cuttle heads. When it comes to baits, reds don’t really care as long as the bait is big.

Bizarrely, where we’ve been catching the reds the tealeaf trevally have been thick, and it’s been hard to get through them to find the reds. It seems that the bigger the bait, the more trevally you attract. You might not know that tealeaf trevally are spectacular eating if you bleed them immediately and put them in a brine slurry. They have white flesh like a reef fish, and taste even better than a grass emperor. They will freeze too – just be sure to cut all of the bloodline out so you are left with pure white flesh.

If you do find that you’re getting sharked, you have to move a significant distance – far enough so they can’t follow you. I’m talking miles, not metres.

We are just starting to see the first baitfish schools, which means we can send livies down for big reds. We are in for some very exciting fishing for the next month or two. As soon as you get livies you’re in the running for big predators like gold-spot cod, reds and trout. Put a single hook through the bottom of the livie’s mouth, up through the nose and make sure the loop

on the paternoster is long, at least 9-12” out from the main line. If you don’t know how to tie a dropper/paternoster loop, watch a YouTube video to learn how. I have seen too many inexperienced anglers tie a figure-8 knot on their droppers, and lose good fish because of it.

In my experience, April is the month with the fewest offshore weather windows, so make the most of any opportunity you get.

Alternatively, if the weather is bad you can fish inshore for the grassies. There are good numbers in 8-10m of water on the coastal reefs, so there’s always an option to catch a feed.

• Truansea Charters specialise in 10-hour day trips chasing prized reef targets such as coral trout and red emperor, as well as arm-stretching pelagics like Spanish mackerel. The maximum number of anglers is 6, so you’ll never feel crowded.

The price is $300pp (or $275 pp if you book the whole boat), which includes all gear, fuel, bait, ice, chilled water/ soft drinks and laughs! You’re welcome to bring your own reef fishing gear if you prefer.

Other charter options include half-day reef trips, half day river trips and private guiding.

To find out more visit www. truansea.com.au, or you can Like them on Facebook or call Luke on 0423 015 490.

59 Torquay Rd, Hervey Bay QLD 4655 Ph: (07) 4128 1022

www.fishostackleworld.com.au info@fishostackleworld.com.au 26

APRIL 2021

Using live baits makes it easier to dial in on a bigger class of red emperor.

Sea Jay Release New Trailer Range

warranty FREE for any Sea Jay Boat / Sea Jay Trailer combo purchased.

“ There are multiple configurations of braked and un-braked trailers, single axle and tandem matched to suit each boat from roof toppers and up.

Single axle models have easily replaceable nylon guards while tandem models have heavy duty steel guards and aluminium tandem trailers chequer plate aluminium guards.

For more information contact your nearest Sea Jay Dealer and ask them about the FREE extra 12 month warranty. To find go to https://www.seajayboats.com.au/ dealer-network.

Like our boats, our trailers are proudly made in Queensland, are 100% Australian made employing Australian workers; no imported chassis. We have covered the bases for our extensive range of boats from smaller tinnies like Nomads up to the mighty 6.7m Trojan HT models with galvanised steel and alloy models available across most of the range.

“

FOR over 30 years Sea Jay Boats have been proudly making quality aluminium boats in Bundaberg in sunny Queensland.

Making a great boat doesn’t always mean a good on-road package for the customer as there is no control over the trailer that may end up underneath a well made boat.

That in mind, Sea Jay Boats is releasing a new range of Steel and Aluminium Boat Trailers made to match the boats going on them. FM got a look at some of the first models coming off the production line.

National Sales Manager Garry Fitzgerald said “we are excited to be releasing these new trailers via the Sea Jay Dealer Network”.

The new Sea Jay Trailers feature quality components like marine seals on all hubs and quality Japanese wheel bearings, and unique specialized designs to optimise the boating experience from the moment you leave home and return.

There is an extra 12 months

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TO SUIT BOAT LENGTH

WHEEL SIZE (inches)

WINCH

TARE (kg)

ATM (kg)

3.7 4.0 4.0 4.5 4.5 4.9 4.9 5.2

13" GAL 13" GAL 13" GAL 13" Alloy 13" Alloy 13" Alloy 13" Alloy 13" Alloy

3:1 3:1 3:1 3:1 5:1 5:1 5:1 5:1

120 140 160 260 260 260 260 295

375 500 740 740 1200 1200 1300 1300

TO SUIT BOAT LENGTH

WHEEL SIZE (inches)

WINCH

TARE (kg)

ATM (kg)

TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RS480-MO 1500kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RS510-MO 1500kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RS510-MO 1650kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RS560-MO 1500kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RS560T-MO 1990kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RS610T-MO 1990kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RS650T-EH 2500kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RS700T-EH 3200kg

4.5 - 4.8 4.9 - 5.1 4.9 - 5.1 5.5 5.5 6.1 6.5 6.8

14" Alloy 14" Alloy 14" Alloy 13" Alloy 13" Alloy 13" Alloy 14" Alloy 14" Alloy

5:1 / 1:1 5:1 / 1:1 5:1 / 1:1 5:1 / 1:1 5:1 / 1:1 5:1 / 1:1 10:1 / 5:1 / 1:1 10:1 / 5:1 / 1:1

360 360 360 360 460 460 600 680

1500 1500 1650 1500 1990 1990 2500 3200

TA SERIES TRAILERS - ALLOY

TO SUIT BOAT LENGTH

WHEEL SIZE (inches)

WINCH

TARE (kg)

ATM (kg)

4.2 - 4.5 4.5 - 4.8 5.1 - 5.4 5.5 - 5.9 6.0 - 6.5

13" Alloy 13" Alloy 13" Alloy 13" Alloy 14" Alloy

3:1 3:1 5:1 / 1:1 5:1 / 1:1 Fulton 2000lb

240 240 260 400 520

1300 1300 1650 1990 3550

RE SERIES TRAILERA - GALVANISED STEEL TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RE1213LW 375kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RE1213 500kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RES1213S 740kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RE1313Q-SPC 740kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (St eel) - RE1313Q-MO-SPC 1200kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (Steel) - RE1513Q-MO-SPC 1200kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (Steel) - RE1513Q-MO-SPC 1300kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (Steel) - RE1613Q-MO-SPC 1300kg RS SERIES TRAILERS - GALVANISED STEEL

TRAILER - Sea Jay (Alloy) - TA450-MOB 1300kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (Alloy) - TA480-MOB 1300kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (Alloy) - TA500-MOB 1650kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (Alloy) - TA600-T-MOB 1990kg TRAILER - Sea Jay (Alloy) - TA700-T-EH 3500kg

WIDTH BETWEEN GUARDS (mm) 1230 1350 1350 1670 1670 1670 1670 1670 WIDTH BETWEEN GUARDS (mm) 1850 1850 1850 1850 1850 1850 1850 1850

LENGTH (m)

BRAKES

AXLE

4.00 4.33 4.60 5.00 5.00 5.30 5.30 5.85

Nil Nil Nil Nil MO MO MO MO

Single Single Single Single Single Single Single Single

LENGTH (m)

BRAKES

AXLE

5.53 5.83 5.83 6.28 6.28 6.48 6.88 7.38

MO MO MO MO MO MO EH EH

Single Single Single Single Tandem Tandem Tandem Tandem

WIDTH BETWEEN LENGTH BRAKES AXLE GUARDS (m) (mm) 1650 5.4 MO Single 1650 5.7 MO Single 1920 6.1 MO Single 1910 6.75 MO Tandem 1940 7.94 EH Tandem M O = Mechanical Over Ride E H = Electric Hydraulic

To find out more information go to https://www.seajayboats.com.au/dealer-network.

APRIL 2021

27

MERCURY NO SACRIFICES NO COMPROMISES NO APOLOGIES

BETTER ECONOMY

MORE TORQUE

V6 3.4L 200HP FOURSTROKE

12-16% BETTER

FUEL ECONOMY

12-15%

MORE

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

MORE

V6 3.4L

V8

*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.

mercurymarine.com.au

S

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE… NO SACRIFICES MERCURY

COMPROMISES INTUITIVENOCONTROL NO APOLOGIES

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OLD

Central

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE… NO SACRIFICES MERCURY

Heaps of fun offshore NO COMPROMISES INTUITIVE CONTROL NO APOLOGIES

the northern shoals and some flatties and whiting starting to absolute cracker trout from out come through, along with the around Sykes Reef. bream run, which is a good Quality red throat have sign for the cooler months.

Lately we have been been what everyone is Don’t forget about blessed with some beautiful speaking about with good Awoonga either!

The conditions for offshore and numbers coming from in barramundi fishing is still as many people have taken the close, areas like rock cod good as it was throughout the opportunity to head out with shoals and Mast Head. Some summer, which has surprised friends and family. great pelagics, such as trevally many – even some locals Typically March is a and queenfish, are getting have cracked a bit of a pattern little early to see the school caught around the bottom end chasing them on the Chasebait size Spanish in our region, of the harbour on vibes and Flick Prawn around the timber. however they seem to have plastics, which provides great They have also targeted them moved in, which is great fun for the family. on the topwater late in the because we know how much The wrecks have also been afternoon with lures like frogs, locals love a mackerel! They holding cobia and nannies, and even walk-the-dogs, which are being found everywhere along with the wonkys has to be up there with the most from Bustard head all the way producing some beautiful bar fun you can have on the water. through to Cape Capricorn cheek coral trout and even the Surprisingly there are and as wide as the outer reef. odd good red emperor. even a few crabs still around, Speaking of the reef, In the estuaries, the if you work the mangroves plenty of people are also narrows continues to produce on the bigger tides and some getting a chance to head wide. good captures of barramundi of the deeper holes on the The fishing ALBERTON would have to and grunter with the odd really neap sets. Fingers-crossed MELBOURNE be up there with some ofMARINE the nice blue salmon startingMELBOURNE to we continue to CENTRE get the good ALBERTON MARINE best we have seen. There show it-self. Down around the weather and the fish keep fired Johnson Street Alberton South Road Hallam have been 39 some beautiful mouths of South Trees and 92 theHallam up for everyone to get out P: (03)up5183 2344 Boyne River, there are good P: (03)and 9703 2003 big red emperor around enjoy.

F: (03) 5183 2219 W: melbournemarine.com.au FISHING NEWS W: albertonmarine.com.au MORNINGTON PENINSULA MY MARINE BENDIGO Cnr Nepean Highway & BENDIGO MARINE & OUTDOORS Ponderosa Place Dromana 160 Midland Highway Epsom Mark Wilkins from Team that are registered for P: (03) 5448 3988 others are fishing addicts. P: (03) teams 5987 0900 Tumby Bayers Tumby “What’s fantastic is that the challenge, upload the W: from bendigomarine.com.au W: mymarine.com.au Bayer, South Australia, has both men and women are fish they catch through the been crowned as the 2020 involved, often with their Bayer PENINSULA Big Fish Challenge MORNINGTON MELBOURNE Bayer Big Fish Challenge kids, all building awareness of app. Bayer contributes one NAUTICAL MARINE BL MARINE Rural Angler of the Year. mental health and learning that dollar per centimetre of the Road 612614 Plenty Road Preston The year-long challenge, it’s okay to ask for help,” 141 Mr Hotham largest fish per type caught Sorrento (03) awareness 9478 1420 Thompson said. raising fundsP:and by each team or individual for men’s mental state winners the 1666 Bayer AgSpirit Fund.

F: (03) wellbeing, 9470 4638 The P: (03) to 5984 culminated W: on blmarine.com.au Sunday at Challenge weekend included The funds are then used by E: info@nauticalmarine.com.au Currowong Lakes, Tasmania an introduction to men’s The Fly Program to facilitate W: nauticalmarine.com.au where the finalists met to mental health with tasks a number of fully funded SHEPPARTON battle it out for the title Bayer and talks from Matt Tripet, wellbeing programs, called BOATS Manager, AND MORE founder of the Mental Health TOORADIN National Account AgSpirit retreats, to help SERVICE CENTRE 207thanked Numurkah Shepparton Ben Thompson, MarkRoadCharity The Fly Program. P&J MARINE rural Australian men in P/L need Wilkins and the of reprieve.

P:120 (03)teams 5822 who 2108 Mark Wilkins, from Team 101 Tooradin Station Road Tooradin participated inF: the Mr3107Thompson said (03) Challenge 5821 2908 Tumby Bayers said he was P: (03) 5998 for their commitment to excited to participate in the it can be difficult for rural W: boatsandmore.com.au E: pjmarine_services@bigpond.com the cause. Together the 374 Challenge in 2021 and help men to take a break from the GLADSTONE

Dylan Christie

VIC MERCURY DEALERS

SA farmer crowned Rural Angler of the Year

participants raised $21,714 raise awareness of men’s challenges of farming. to support MORWELL men’s mental mental health and wellbeing, “We hope the Challenge GEELONG CRAWFORD MARINEa cause close to home. wellbeing programs. continues to CENTRE offer a way PORTSIDE MARINE On behalf of Chickerell Bayer, I Street Morwell “Fishing is a passion36-38 of for men toRoad look out for one 71-77 Geelong Portarlington would like P: to (03) congratulate another, while also enjoying 5134 6522 mine, however combining P: (03)the 5259 1110 and fishing of Mark Wilkins along with that with raising awareness outdoors F: (03) 5134 6455 the other state finalists that of mental health amongst E: myinfo@portsidemarinecentre.com.au which so many love,” Mr W: crawfordmarine.com.au showed their support for men’s peers, makes participating Thompson said.

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Central

OLD

Salty barra mayhem MACKAY

Keith Day habdays@bigpond.net.au

As I compile this report we have not had much of a wet season, with only around 500mm of rain up to early March, with only one cyclone reported in the Coral Sea that did not affect our local weather. Hopefully by the time this issue comes out that will have changed as traditionally March/

systems, the fishing opportunities are limited initially with mainly catfish and small sharks being caught.

Flood rains means chasing barra around the small gullies and drains and although many are just legal or smaller, they do provide a lot of fun on light gear. Vibes and plastics with a really pronounced action will be the go to lures in this scenario.

When the creeks are in flood anglers should

is still up to the angler to get the bite.

Cleaner water will also mean forager species like grunter, bream, threadfin and blue salmon will move back into the creeks giving anglers plenty of action. Small pelagics like queenfish and trevally will also show up in anglers catches.

For overall performance, soft plastic vibes are hard to go past nowadays as they seem to catch just about anything.

Make sure some of these

Corey Platt scored this metre fish on a live mullet.

This is what a tagged barra looks like after a couple of years.

April sees our main heavy rainfalls.

Despite the low rainfall, the creeks and beaches have had a bumper prawn run, and naturally this has meant plenty of activity for anglers. Barra will remain the main target for April depending on water temps, rainfall etc. So far the open season saltwater barra scene has been great with awesome fish being caught in all systems north and south of the city and right in the heart of Mackay.

MAFSA’s tagging program with small barra has had a great return reported. A barra released above Dumbleton Weir three years ago as a 225mm fish has been recaptured near the mouth of the Pioneer River and measured 1050mm.

Outstanding growth rate and MAFSA’s first tag return of a fish over a metre.

If as I expect March produces flooding rains, this will be of enormous benefit for our mangrove systems and will give them a good flush out and mean the prawn activity will continue. Unfortunately with flooding in these 30

APRIL 2021

check out the adjacent beach areas for some cleaner water for species like barra, grunter, bream, flathead etc. Baitfish will be hard to come by and yabbies can be difficult to locate. For lure anglers soft plastics in various styles including prawn imitations will be the best bet in these situations.

One species that does not seem to mind the rough weather and dirty water is the oyster cracker or permit which can often be caught along the beaches where they are probably hunting small pipis and the like.

Try areas either side of the Pioneer River, Bakers creek and around the Eimeo/Bucasia beaches.

Once the water starts to clear though everything gets on the chew, and angling opportunities abound, as April is the start of the change to winter species, which will continue on into May. Good fingermark will be found in the deep creek holes and around the headlands and close islands, often in similar areas to barra. Quality sounders will easily locate the holes and fish, but it

are in the tackle box, along with some curly tail grubs and big paddle tail plastics.

Flooding onshore virtually halts the close offshore fishing with clean

water usually a long way offshore and only available for the bigger trailer boats. Around the close islands, best chances for a feed depend on finding clean water, although fortunately our systems are pretty short and the flood run off normally clears pretty quickly.

The freshwater fishing will also be influenced by the amount of rain we get. Run off action in Teemburra and Eungella dams will mainly centre on sooty grunter hanging around the mouths of creeks and gullies. Barra in the dams will be up in these spots only on the first flush of rain, then they head out to the main dam basins looking for cleaner water.

Kinchant Dam has little natural inflow, but when Sunwater are pumping across from the river, the barra will queue up around this channel to knock off small baitfish, shrimps etc

carried along in the strong current. The inflow is also a top spot to pick up sooties, but is also renowned for big fork tail catties.

This is now a boat fishing spot only, as it is no longer permissible to get out and walk the bank at the channel. This restriction is due to the actions of idiots who in the past have left rubbish including discarded or broken line on the banks creating a hazard and an eyesore. Once again a few idiots have affected the enjoyment of many.

MAFSA members have been on the lookout for sooty grunter in roe, but it seems the wet season has not coincided with their breeding season.

Unfortunately due to a malfunction in the hatchery, most of the sooties that were spawned earlier in the year were lost which was a big disappointment for Brandon and his hatchery crew. That magic 1 million

Ray Jorgenson proves night time is the right time for jacks on live bait during the heat of summer.

sooties production figure is still to be achieved. Next season will hopefully see this milestone reached.

Nominations for the INDT 2021 World Sooty Championship will close off on 23 April, so if you haven’t already nominated, get onto the booking site w w w. M A F S A . c a n b o o k . me/mafsas-event-2021 quickly as numbers are limited to 120 anglers. After cancellation of last year’s event MAFSA members are hoping for a bumper competition on 1-2 May. The current World Sooty Champion Matt Mott can’t attend due to a shoulder operation, so you could be the next World Champion.

Steve ‘Starlo’ Starling will be at the event (Covid permitting) thanks to sponsorship from Mackay Regional Council and Mackay Tourism so come along and enjoy a great event at Eungella Dam and say G’day to Starlo.

This is MAFSA’s major fundraising event each year, and all funds go directly to improving Mackay’s freshwater fishing. It is terrific event and Eungella Dam holds the biggest, meanest sooties around, so your nomination supports MAFSA’s great work.

Local guys Casting Cowboys have got right behind the event and are running an on line raffle as a fundraiser. There are great prizes to be won and the winners will be announced at the comp.

Go to www.rafflelink.com. au/mafsa-raffle-2021 for tickets and check out the long list of great prizes on Casting Cowboys or MAFSA Facebook page.

April in Mackay can be feast or famine, depending on the rainfall, but we are lucky to always have options available, and any floodwaters clear up very quickly, so why not come and join us during April?

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APRIL 2021

31

OLD

The storm before the lull WHITSUNDAYS

Mick Underwood

As I sit writing this, the heavens are well and truly open. I am peering out my office window, normally I can see the ocean just 400m away and can judge at a glance as to what the state of the tide is and what the breeze is doing. Currently you wouldn’t even know

4kg a cast with a 7’ net, life is definitely good.

The mud crabs have been obliging also, which is great to see. Currently the biggest dilemma amongst us locals here at Hydeaway Bay and Dingo Beach is deciding whether to have a crab or a prawn sandwich at lunchtime. That’s not a bad problem to have!

The fishing in our local creeks has been a bit

surprisingly for this time of the year there have been a few beauties about.

Okay, let’s get into April now. The change of seasons rocks and, for me, autumn is an awesome time to fish.

April is generally when we get our first good drop in the water temperatures and with this change in the temps comes a big change in the bite. Barramundi anglers might not be happy with

Paddy McLoughlin with a nice summertime Spanish mackerel. and start to feed on any bait schools up in the shallows. A lot of the time these fish are only in a couple of metres of water so the fights are mad. The only place the fish can go is horizontally and normally that’s where they wind up! It’s a good test of tackle and knots.

These fish will turn up wherever the bait is at it densest along the mainland.

My favourite hunting is anywhere from Gloucester Passage down to Sunset Beach and also further around the bay out in front of Kangaroo huts will see some great action.

The school mackerel won’t be far away either and when they show up, it’s normally in droves. Some days they can be a right pain in the backside as they won’t

hardbodies, vibes, soft plastics, and such like, can be crazy fun as fish up in the 70cm size range aren’t uncommon. These fish are a lot of fun to catch where we typically catch them in deeper water with live squid but when you can get them on light line and lures in the shallows, well that just takes the excitement to a new level.

Wet season is tackle repair and replenishment time. Here Reef is learning to spin deer hair for some Dahlburgs. Check out his look of concentration! there is ocean there, the vista is just grey and bleak.

Being the wet tropics this is normal for now, and what is currently happening is our life blood for the rest of the year. I am more than happy to endure some time indoors as what is currently happening is setting the stage for a great year of fishing to come. As anglers we will reap the benefits of this rain everywhere from right up in tops of the estuaries all the way out to the outer edges of the Great Barrier Reef.

Being stuck inside isn’t all doom and gloom either.

All the reels are serviced and repaired, lures re-hooked and various other tackle chores tended to. Next on the list is to tie a piles of flies, this is a task that I particularly enjoy.

If I don’t get it done now through the wet period it then it simply won’t happen as once the rain stops it’s back outside and it’s pedal to the metal for the rest of the year. Once I’m outside, tasks like this won’t stand a chance of getting done.

The last few weeks have been a bit of a mixed affair on the water. The best activity has definitely been either in or near the estuaries. The prawns are in plague proportion, even blind Freddy could throw his net over a few kilos at the moment. When you’re getting 2, 3 and sometimes 32

APRIL 2021

tougher but the systems up around Bowen have been firing nicely, especially for barramundi. You boys and girls up there certainly are lucky to have such productive estuary turf.

Out around the islands, the fishing has been a bit of a mixed affair recently. I have found that out wide has been hard work, but tucked in nice and close to the mainland the fishing has been reasonably productive for both reef fish and the odd pelagic predator.

One standout species would be Spanish mackerel,

dropping water temperatures.

It signals that the best bite period of the season is nearly over. That cooling water will have a more adverse effect on these fish next month and the month after, but during April there will still be some quality barramundi angling to be enjoyed.

Here at Hydeaway Bay, April typically signals the beginning of the pelagic season. It’s as if they materialise from nowhere, species such as giant trevally and golden trevally turn up in good numbers and sizes

The giant trevally are going to be in the shallows in Edgecumbe Bay over the coming couple of months.

Paul Wilcox with a nice golden snapper from 3m of water. During April and into May is the time to get into these guys.

let anything else near your hooks. On those days, try putting a 10/O hook through the back of one and send it out unweighted and live.

You’ll be surprised at the results of what this can achieve. If there are any big Spanish mackerel or giant trevally in the vicinity they’ll be all over it in a flash.

Watch out for big sharks though, they’re also partial to a nice fat school mackerel.

Another really cool April bite, which I have enjoyed the last couple of years, has been some big fingermark in the shallows. Down along the back of Edgecumbe Bay, from about Sunset Beach up to around Thomas and Poole Islands, there are many little rubble patches in about 3-5m of water. Prospecting any of these areas casting

April is going to be another month where all of our local estuary systems see plenty of attention. The crabs and the prawns will still be around but the activity with these guys does typically start to taper off through April so if you haven’t caught your fill yet be sure to get out there and get your share. As previously said species such as barramundi will still be on the chew through April, and don’t forget about mangrove jack either. These little beauties should be around in good numbers, especially on the bigger tides.

I haven’t gone on much about the reef fishing this month. Possibly because of the lack of pelagic activity over summer I have had to To page 33

OLD

The after-effects of rain TOWNSVILLE

Dave Hodge

As I write, the area has had a good drenching, thanks to Cyclone Niran. It caused the barometer to plummet, so things have obviously been much less than stable.

As usual, the barra movement has been a natural indicator as to what rains were predicted, and what might still be in store. After the initial wet, most barra haven’t headed for the fresh and have actually been quite hard to find. A spear fishing friend of mine found big schools of barra sitting in 30-60ft of water, waiting for more rain.

The rainfall we had was the catalyst that the barra fishers had been waiting for, and although we didn’t get as much as we’d hoped,

the barra will hopefully bite better in the more usual spots, and be easier to find.

Small pockets of fish were around before the rains, and apart from a few rats, we had actually done it quite hard for this time of year. They just hadn’t been where we’d been expecting them to show.

Aplins Weir is one location that sees throngs of fishers line the shore when the water is running hard and the bait is gathering at the base of the wall. This annual event has people gearing up for weeks in advance in anticipation for the annual run of big fish from both the weirs that have been washed over – plus you have the barra that have come upstream from the coastal fringes. It’s an exciting time.

Most people do the right thing and release the big girls, but there will always

be those who will kill their bag limit. True, they are legally allowed to do it, but it is sad to see so many big breeders being killed. I remember watching one old guy after the floods lobbing big livies into the churning water, catching and killing his 5-fish in-possession limit and taking them home. The next day, he did the same thing, and the day after that. Bear in mind that the in-possession limit includes fish that you have at home in your fridge or freezer.

How on earth could you eat that much fish? You

Once the wet season has passed, this is the sort of clarity that can be found in some creeks in North Queensland. It’s great fun for sooties, JPs and jacks.

Finding fishing spots can get a bit grubby at times. If you’re worried about scratches, maybe this sort of stuff is not for your pride and joy.

Many people after a feed are settling for good old flake nowadays, if that’s all they can land. Cutting and bleeding sharks instantly makes for the best eating.

can’t. Was he selling it on the black market, stockpiling it in freezers, or giving it away? I rang Fisheries, gave them his car details, and what I had personally witnessed, but I’m not sure what the outcome was. I hope he fishes more responsibly now.

If the dam fills (which at this point doesn’t look likely), the weirs can run for weeks, and this can hold feeding fish there for its duration. If there’s only the runoff from the town’s drains though, it only lasts a couple of days.

From page 32

spend so much time chasing them and I am excited now about the change of seasons and having other fish to hunt. Coral trout and sweetlip will still be out there folks and as is normal you’ll be able to chase them everywhere from our mainland beaches all the way out to the outer edges of the mighty Great Barrier Reef.

The beach fishing should also start to fire up this month. As I already said, the pelagics will be in the shallows, if you’re after these guys off the beach try and time your mission for around the top of the tide. If you want to enjoy a bit of fun on the light gear and catch a feed then get after a flathead.

They should start to get a little more aggressive this month as well.

Reef with a big fat buck. These guys have been providing plenty of feeds lately.

Big grunter have been on the cards also, and there have been some decent catches. Most fish have been taken on squid baits in the slightly deeper sections as the fresh sits on top. Your sinker should be just heavy enough to hold the bottom.

This is key to successful grunter hunting. It allows them to run with the bait, sometimes several metres, to get it down, which is necessary sometimes to get a solid hook-up. Other times it’s a smash-and-grab affair, so be ready at all times.

In conclusion, there is a fish out there for everyone to catch this month, so make the most of it and go! You won’t catch them sitting at home on the couch.

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Some monstrous jacks have been getting taken on livies also, and these have been once again below the fresh and in deeper snags.

One boat I heard of got six over that magical 50cm mark, and those are good size fish in this part of the world, that’s for sure. They all came off one snag.

OFFSHORE The offshore fishing for bottom species has been very rewarding for those going out on the string of calm days we had mid-month. Sharks were as always, an issue for most, but there were some lucky anglers who managed to beat the tooth brigade and bring home a decent feed of nannygai, trout and other bottom dwellers. You’ve still got to go hard as possible on

gear needs to be chosen accordingly.

Sportfishers may prefer a 30lb outfit, topped off with a 40-50lb fluorocarbon leader. However, it’s more often the 40lb braid and 60lb leader that gets more fish out for you. Considering the quality of spin gear around these days it is becoming more popular, but I have to admit to being a baitcaster fan, and to each their own.

Long casts aren’t really the best option if you’re to land as many fish as possible, because you have to get them back over all of those crevices and potential sanctuaries that will shred your leader. Sometimes, when the fish are thick, even a 20m cast is ambitious to get a fish back to the boat.

Decent rain has put plenty of water over roads and tracks. The author refuses to drive through salt in his old Prado. your fish if you’re to have any chance though.

One tactic that has opened up a whole new world of exciting lure casting has been to get up over the top of the reef and cast plastics, stickbaits, swimbaits and divers for the trout, red-throat and other species. Not only is it less plagued but sharks up in the shallows, but it’s also incredibly exciting. Bust-ups are regular, and incredibly large fish do frequent the shallow reefs, so your

The more directly over the top of a fish you can get the better. Around 5-8m of water can be a sweet spot for this kind of fishing. If you’re up in the 2m mark, long casts can be suicidal.

Rods of about 6’6”-7’ long give some elevation when you’re fighting a fish, and make casting lightly weighted plastics easier. Fast tapers and softer tips are best as long as there’s enough guts to set the hook on the strike.

Fight tactics are simple: go hard or go fishless.

APRIL 2021

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35

OLD

Time for big barra!

HINCHINBROOK

Ian Moody info@ianmoodyfishing.com

While we have had some consistent wet weather periods so far this year, it has made getting a lot of

periods of stability as this is a month we could see some really great barra captures. With the earlier months of heavy rain, it’s a case of short-term pain for long-term gain.

Another species, which has shown up lately in good

Fingermark are still better off fished in areas a little further away from the coastline, like near Gould Island, Cape Richards or any areas with remnants of flood waters. By the end of April and into May they should return in great numbers

Neil with a 98cm barra, just short of the magic-metre mark.

Threadfin salmon have been showing up a lot lately, like this 79cm specimen. charters out successfully very difficult indeed, with areas like the Gairloch S-Bends and Seymour Bridge on the Bruce Highway near Ingham, cutting access for travelling clients quite often at short notice.

Since the big deluges of freshwater in the channel back in February, I noticed a lot of the resident barra schools had moved out the front in the short term.

Some good numbers have been starting to return and with the likelihood of wet conditions starting to ease in April. Leading into May, we should get some better

numbers is the threadfin salmon in various sizes between 65-80cm. We have been having a ball chasing them in the afternoon warmer water on the flats where they have been chasing the jelly prawns. Live baits placed in front of them did the trick but also a few succumbed to slow rolled hardbody lures. They are one species that love the freshwater influences from wet seasons and it really gets them active.

It’s great to see them making a bit of a comeback in the channel after noticing a hiatus from most of their regular haunts over the last two years.

back into the Hinchinbrook Channel when salinity returns to normal levels.

Greenback herring schools should be thick at this time of year and are often my go-to live bait for them.

For this month coming, I consider it as the last month for warmer water so I’ll be continuing on making the most of the bigger tides for barra while they are travelling

a lot more. Usually around the first week of May we will get our first cold weather influences, which initially can shut the barra down as they become exposed to the cooler water, when those cooler temps plateau they usually go back to their normal feeding patterns. They will still respond to surface lures once they have settled into the new temperature.

The threadies have been found chasing the jelly prawns in the warmer water along the flats.

I’d expect the threadfin salmon to continue in the shallows during April and also some good fingermark catches should start to increase. I’ll also be starting to head more often to the wonky holes once water temps drop at the end of April, large mouth nannygai should be in better numbers much closer to the coastline, especially after a good wet season. For those visiting Cardwell, a reminder you will need at least 1.3m of tide to launch or retrieve most vessels up to about 6m in length. Bigger vessels will need a slightly bigger tide.

• If you’re looking to do a barra charter with us for this year’s barra season, bookings are filling up quick so now is a good time to get in and get your name down on some good dates. I have a special deal for the months of July and August coming up so head to my Facebook page for more info on that. For bookings please email us at info@ianmoodysportfishing. com or phone myself directly on 0402 339 459.

Sunshine and rain PORT DOUGLAS

Lynton Heffer www.fishingportdouglas.com.au

It’s a bit of a strange combination but it rings true at the moment in FNQ – sunshine and rain. Some days are just glorious and others are wet and grey. The positive is the bureau are saying that the La Nina system, which has been dictating terms, has passed its peak and we’ll see more days conducive to getting out and about on the water.

We’ve naturally seen a downturn in tourist numbers for this time of year but this is going to turn in a major way moving forward. Providing all the COVID protocols can prevail, the word on the ground is FNQ will soon be inundated with keen anglers from all over the country.

For those who are 36

APRIL 2021

lucky enough to visit our magnificent region the fishing will only get better and better moving forward.

The coming weeks will see a big shift in water temperature for the better offering an abundance of opportunities. The rivers will continue to pay dividends and reef fishing will get stronger by the day. Recent reports have shown that the bigger fish come out to play in the warmer months, not necessarily in numbers but the average size is exceptional whether it be coastally or offshore.

We’ll start with the GBR, and it’s been a real mixed bag of fish on any given day. There’s been a decent smattering of coral trout and nannygai species to contend with, and the large mouth nannygai in particular have been between 6-9kg. Add to this an array of hard fighting trevally species, impressive sized spangled emperor and a few surprises like cattle

dog cod and barramundi cod (released) it makes for an interesting tale. There’s been a few Spanish mackerel about as well and they’ve been mainly between the 4-7kg range. The mackerel, with their return of good fillets, have been the icing on the cake.

Inshore reefs and headlands have seen a good supply of bait being distributed from local river systems and have seen a variety of top class fish being caught, including nannygai, bar cheek trout, big queenfish and trevally species. It’s been good value for the small boat brigade without having to travel too far.

With a moderate amount of rain the rivers and estuaries have faired quite well and been more fishable than not. They have responded well producing barra, mangrove jack, javelin fish and fingermark quite consistently for those who know their business.

Jamie with a tasty coral trout from the GBR. Live bait has been key if you can source it, however when the water has been a bit dirtier quality fresh dead baits with a good

scent have equally been productive.

We are now entering into an exciting time of the year with the change over

of seasons when so many species move into top gear. Keep our borders open and we’ll gladly show you what I mean.

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Awesome April in the NFZ CAIRNS

Dan Kaggelis dkaggelis@gmail.com

April is a cracking time to be fishing the Trinity Net Free Zone. To start, the weather is far more stable in April, which means less rain and runoff. This sees

the fish. Over April, water temps begin to reside back into that 26-28ºC mark, which is ideal for both the angler and the fish. The final reason why April is a cracking month to fish the Trinity Net Free Zone is the fish tend to feed harder as they move towards the cooler months. Put all these

marker poles, especially if they are lit up and attracting bait at night. The smaller school sized fish will be hanging on the mangroves and structures around the creek mouth edges.

Out the front of the Inlet there has been heaps of prawns which in turn have attracted the likely piscatorial predators. This includes barramundi, salmon and some ripper grunter.

It’s best to fish this area on the top of the tide with live

prawns and even strips of mullet. Just keep an eye on the tide as it run outs quickly and it’s very easy to get caught on the mud out there.

If you are chasing a big barra or threadfin salmon then the front of Machans Beach and Holloways Beach are the spots to fish both land-based or by boat. There have been some trophy-sized fish taken from this area, especially on the incoming tide. Once again, live prawns or big mullet have been the

Mud crabs will be on the move in April so don’t forget to drop a pot in or two.

Jacks will be worth targeting as the creeks begin to clear up. the creeks running clean and clear which is perfect for lure fishers targeting fish in the snags.

Another positive are water temperatures begin to drop. Over summer, water temperatures can get up into the mid-30s, which can shut

together and you have the perfect equation for some red hot fishing.

If you are chasing a big barramundi from a boat then the Cairns Inlet is the place to be. The larger fish tend to hang out around the artificial structures and even the

Barramundi will be feeding well this month before the cold snaps arrive.

go for land-based fishers.

Vibes and large suspending hardbody lures have also been snaring a few good fish as well.

Jacks will be a highly prized target in April, especially if the creeks are running clean. Targeting the banks with paddle-tail plastics and prawn imitations will see the best results.

The other big mover in April will be the mud crabs.

April is always one of the best times of year to get a few muddies as the big bucks begin to come out of their holes to feed. All systems will be producing mud crabs and dropping a pot or two in while you have fish is definitely worth the effort.

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Big storms and big fish come out to play COOKTOWN

Justin Coventry

The wet season has continued to bring life giving rain and the river systems have been flushed with lots of fresh flowing through them. It’s great to see the amount of fresh pumping out wonky holes and river mouths, as the fishing has been awesome.

Barramundi have been moving around in our local waterways. There has been some rather large specimens caught and a few released, which has been welcomed as the fishery will only get better if people try to conserve the large female breeders.

The movement of large barramundi through the endeavour had an unusual capture last month. One of our local charter fishing

David Kamholtz caught a decent GT on light gear when he was barra fishing. guides dropped the boat into the water at the boat ramp and parked the car and trailer. He then returned to the boat to see his client holding up a 94cm barramundi that had jumped into the boat after chasing

A nice red emperor caught on a recent reef trip.

bait close by. You don’t see that everyday!

Unfortunately they killed the fish as the client wanted to eat it, but sure the experience was a once in a lifetime event. Goes to show the ferocity of their feeding at this time of the year. Bait is hard to find with all the fresh flowing strong in the river and the migrating barra are hungrily chasing any they find. So the key is finding the bait and working the area with lures or using a cast net to get the prized live bait.

Bait movements are usually small groups moving around, but throwing a cast net can scare the predators.

So lure offering in the right spot can be hard to refuse for a hungry barramundi.

The reef fishing has also been great and will continue to produce this month but

flush with water pumping out of them. Large numbers of bait and predators have been visiting them, so it’s good to try them out as there is always a hungry monster waiting near by.

Large gold spot cod and even the old big coastal bar cheek trout can be regularly caught. When releasing gold spot make sure to release the swim bladder by piercing the side in line with the pectoral fin and horizontally down from the fourth top fin bone. For large fish, I use a thin knife, but for small fish I use a large needle. For large cod,

I don’t recommend using lip grips holding them over the side, as I’ve lost a pair when the massive gold spot regained its energy and ripped it from my hand and swam away with a nice lip ring.

Next month should see waters clearing but with winds also returning.

Barramundi fishing will be exciting as the water clears and you can work your lures around the snags and see the fish charge them down. Water temps will still be warm and the barramundi will be hungry. It’s a great time

Keith Wallin with a tasty large mouth nannygai. the southeasterly change will be on its way. So best to enjoy as much of the good weather before it disappears.

The wonky holes are

I’ve found it best to push their belly to help get as much air out through the hole as possible and they will recover quickly and swim back to bottom easily.

to chase these impressive fighting fish before winter comes along and water temperatures drop and they shut down. So get out there and get amongst them.

Bait schools move in LUCINDA

Jeff Wilton jeffwilton83@hotmail.com

At the time of writing, it has been a pretty good wet season here in Lucinda.

There has been no shortage of solid rain and flooding, which sets the next few years up nicely.

All this rainfall has meant choosing a fishing option a little more difficult, as flooded waters and strong winds off storms makes both sheltered waters and offshore

options heavily reduced. April normally means the weather will relax and signifies the end of the wet season, which is more than welcome as here in NQ we’re getting a little tried of mowing the lawn constantly! Let’s see what the next month should mean in terms of bending some rods on some tropical fish species.

HINCHINBROOK CHANNEL The fishing has been tough due to the channel being inundated with dirty fresh flood water for the last few months. It has been difficult

to find greener water on some days and covering plenty of ground is necessary. By April this should have changed and the fishing should be going off as the green salty water returns and the fish get active. Add to this the first signs of the water temp dropping and you have a recipe for red hot fishing.

April is one of my favourite months as it normally offers good weather and active fish.

There will be a massive focus on chasing barramundi over the next few months as they should be about in good numbers, with schooling size

A smash attack from this surface munching jack.

38

APRIL 2021

Fun with the family. fish in the 60-70cm range.

Fishing snags in creeks and drains that hold plenty of bait will have barra hanging around.

The usual 3 hours before and after low tide should fish best and when there is good current you will have the best chance.

Barra will start boofing bait like clockwork when the water gets to a certain depth, pushing bait past ambush zones where they will wait ready.

Depending on water depth a well presented hardbody lure or soft plastic rigged to run at the right depth will get bites.

There are so many great options on the market these days but most importantly your

choice needs to swim above the depth the barra are sitting at. For example, if your fishing in 4m of water but the fish are holding at 2m then your lure or plastic needs to be at 2m or less to get bites. Barramundi feed upwards, their eyes are on top of their head so they will happily rise up to eat but rarely down.

As usual mangrove jack will be snapping away from deep in their mangrove homes. The perfect heavy cover ambush feeder, the mighty jack should never be underestimated. Best to chase these fish on the run out tide when the water is coming

out of the mangroves, less places for them to hide and plenty of current pushing into the snags. Jacks will sit in front of structure waiting for food to wash by and will race out and smash it, quickly hiding back in its hiding space. My tip for chasing these fish is to use top water options and, for me, the stand out is the 4” Pop FrogZ from ZMan. These frogs can be rigged weedless and literally skipped under, over and into snags and overhangs. Being able to put your lure right into the strike zone means To page 39

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Everything in between CAPE YORK

Tim O’Reilly wildrivercompany@gmail.com

This is a time of year I relish. It’s my favourite period up the Cape. Every creek crossing is still likely to be flowing water, everything is green and everything is alive. The

fire up as water temperatures start to slightly decrease.

The shallower bays and backwaters will slowly start clearing all that freshwater that has been laying around.

Baitfish will start pushing in shallower as the tides retake control of the creeks, rivers and estuarine lakes. Popular sportfish begin lining up at their chosen ambush spots to

continuing on usually until the end of June, all manner of pelagic species make themselves noticed. Fish like big queenfish, giant herring, blue salmon and tarpon establish themselves further upstream as tides begin pushing further up into the rivers.

Barramundi fishing is often at its best with a generally good mixture of sizes recorded. As a fish, they are starting to settle back into their dry season habits. Many will be using this period to establish themselves for the next few months, which traditionally are high yield, high growth, high food intake. This is

A decent coral trout trolled up in 10m of water.

A big barra clears the green, cleanish water. fishing comes to life as the wet season subsides and the Gulf of Carpentaria sees an endless biomass of baitfish just wide of the coast.

The inshore reef and rocky grounds should really From page 38

you should get plenty of chances. If this sort of style sounds good then make sure your gear is going to hold up. A combo that is light enough to cast unweighted plastics but strong enough

seek prey.

With a reasonable-tobumper wet season over different parts of the Cape, the fishing can be expected to fire over coming months.

Beginning in April and some great fishing to be had, especially at the reef. Coral trout catches were terrific on the odd occasion when the wind allowed us to chase them. Dropping baits into 20-30m around bommies with hard current hitting them is

A swampy barra taken on the surface from a landlocked billabong. and it is extremely rare to survive them getting back home. You will also encounter red throat emperor in the same areas that trout frequent, especially at night.

It is also a great idea to have a floating pilchard out

good for fishos!

April is a great month for diversity on the Cape. It can really hold everything from storms to complete calms, and usually in there somewhere is a fresh sou-easterly blow.

Not such welcomed news for East Coast anglers who were just delighting in some of the calmer periods over the tropical monsoon. Generally,

it is best to approach fishing this time of year with an open mind.

Be prepared to flip the script on any fishing trip and search out your opportunities.

If the barra won’t play ball, chase mangrove jack or threadfin salmon. If the creeks or rivers are quiet, try the reef and shoal patches just wide of the coast. This

is especially true in the Gulf.

Most mornings it is hard to travel more than a few kilometres without seeing birds working.

Tuna and mackerel should be making appearances about now in the Gulf and may take a little time to work their way up towards the tip of Cape York over coming months.

It’s a similar story on the East Coast but with sporadic clusters of fish. Fingermark and black jew will be active on these shallow coastal reefs between around 5-15m.

Reef fishing on the Great Barrier Reef coastline should be consistent and, once again, water temperatures and wind patterns will be crucial.

Warm breezeless mornings are always the wish but not always the outcome on an East Coast April morning.

April should be a fantastic time for Aussie travellers to visit more some far-flung domestic locations.

Pent up travellers are ready to unleash the shackles and get on the road. So be safe up the Cape, drive responsibly, always expect oncoming traffic on blind corners and hope that a late cyclone doesn’t block the track to the Cape.

Chasing jack on fly is an all new challenge for the author! to attempt locking up and pulling hard fighting fish away from heavy structure is necessary.

JETTY, ISLANDS AND REEF Very little to report from outside due to a run of poor weather. If the weather allows then there will be

the perfect recipe for catching trout. Although normally an easy target, make sure your gear is strong enough to turn their heads immediately or you will lose the fish and your gear.

Trout normally hit hard and attempt burying themselves in the coral caves they live in.

The reef is very unforgiving

the back under a float for a passing mackerel or cobia as both these fish are prolific at this time of year.

With the water starting to cool down a little I expect that the GT and Queens down at the end of the jetty to really fire up this month as bait schools move in closer to shore.

XXXX Gold delivered the goods!

APRIL 2021

39

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Best time to mix it up as the fish transition TOOWOOMBA

Jason Ehrlich fishability1@bigpond.com

I didn’t get a chance to fish much last month so hopefully I can string together a few reports based on what I have heard. Things have been a bit busy at home as I start work on yet another boat project. This time round, it’s the same boat as last time, a 5.99 Lewis centre console. The hull is stripped bare and I am building fiberglass storage hatches and moulded underfloor storage before whacking it heaps on new toys. It’s

a full rebuild and will keep me busy for a while so fishing might have to wait until I get on top of things.

It should be another good month for freshwater fishing. The shorter and cooler days can make things a bit tricky though as they will bring on change as the fish transition their way into the colder months.

At these times, it pays to mix things up as far as lure presentations and the depths you are searching.

Following fish patterns year in and year out makes things a bit easier but it’s still a guessing game when they are in between their predicable seasons. I don’t

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND CRESSBROOK CLOSEST TOWN: CROWS NEST Cressbrook Dam remains closed due to an algae outbreak. For updates visit the Toowoomba Region Council website.

SOMERSET CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, KILCOY Somerset fish will still be found in familiar spots

but they may start to take a mixture of lures. The summer months were great for deep chatterbaits, spinnerbaits and hard bodies. Trolling and casting these lures accounted for heaps of fish and it was near impossible to get them to eat other offerings. This bite will continue this month but the action slows a bit. The big bass schools will start to eat other lures as well. Blades, soft

mind the challenge of trying to work them out. Once you do, you’re bound to find one or two techniques that will dominate and whack them.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE BARRA I have a theory on learned behaviour and barramundi movements in the southern lakes that I’d like to share. You may have noticed the numbers of bigger barra caught at Awoonga dropped off this last summer. The fish were still there somewhere but they just didn’t bite as good around the edges of the lake during those night time sessions. As the fish get bigger, to around that metre

size, they start to spend a lot of their time roaming the deeper, open water.

Out in the deep, they are hard to find in Awoonga but anglers had great success on the deeper fish in Monduran and Callide this year. It has taken a while for the fish to start this behaviour and it is not until they reach a reasonable size that it occurs. It is a learned behaviour and after the floods, there were few big fish left to learn this lifestyle from. Now the bigger fish have worked out how to comfortably live and hunt in the deep open water, we will see the smaller generations pick up the same habits much faster

with some role models to follow. As soon as they feel it is safe to leave their comfort zone around the weed and edges and snags, they will follow and join the big ones. The time the fish spend out deep will depend on the lake, comfort and food supply.

Once it cools down more, the barra should turn up in the shallows again.

It has been very interesting to watch these fisheries start off all over again since the floods.

The hard work of stocking groups to rebuild has kept them going in and the numbers building. Without bigger fish to learn from, the newbies had to start

again and work things out on their own. Having seen the fishery develop like this prior to the big floods, which allowed them to escape, makes things easier to predict this time around. If things continue to go along the same path as last time, we should see one more very exciting change in Awoonga and Monduran over the next couple of years. If you think barra fishing is good and entertaining now, wait until the giants move back up into the shallow weed beds and the smaller ones follow.

Until next month, buckled rods from The Colonel.

vibes and plastics are all worth a shot. Anglers who are keen to try their luck on deep fly presentations should also fare well. If you own it and think it could possibly catch a bass then make sure it’s in the boat just in case.

Good numbers of bass should be moving around the drop offs at Pelican Point. I often mention this area but it is so vast it can take a good hour to search it thoroughly.

There are around four main

Matt Taylor knows how to catch Somerset bass. This one ate a Spectre Vibration Jig. They should still produce quite a few this month.

Adam Stark had a few lessons on catching bass on a recent trip. The Spectre was again the dominant lure.

Gary’s Marine Centre

3201 6232

217 Pine Mountain Road, BRASSALL 40

APRIL 2021

areas the fish like to sit but they can be found on the move between these spots. I always dedicate quite a bit of time to searching this section of the lake and if they aren’t there in the morning, I will take another look in the afternoon.

Further up the lake, there have been numbers of bass around the Queen Street flats and spread out all the way up past Kirkleigh. Often these fish are a little more willing to bite. This is most probably due to them being in slightly shallower water. The Pelican fish seem to like 10m but as you venture up to Kirkleigh, they can be found in 6-7m.

This is another reason to explore the lake. When you fish the opposite ends of the dam at this time of year, you can find the fish prefer different presentations at one end to the other.

• Somerset Fishing has their store based at the area above the day use boat ramp. The

store is open over holidays and otherwise from Thursday to Sunday. Orders can also be made online via the website www.somersetfishing.com.au.

They have an excellent range of gear suited to fishing for bass and golden perch.

BORUMBA Borumba should keep firing this month and right through until it gets really cold. Like the other lakes, the fish will be starting to explore their options and you can have a great day by following their movements and mixing things up. Start working edges early in the day with a range of lures. Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, lipless vibes and skirted jigs are very popular.

Don’t dismiss the more subtle presentation of a jighead rigged soft plastic, small blade bait or a suspending jerkbait.

The fish will dictate which lure style they prefer and you can then focus on working them out with that. Later in

DARLING DOWNS REGION COOBY CLOSEST TOWNS: HIGHFIELDS, TOOWOOMBA Cooby Lake remains closed due to an algae outbreak. For updates visit the Toowoomba Region Council website.

the day, the bass schools will move deeper. Here they can be worked with the same lures. You may find with the change of depth, they will also change what they want to eat.

Try searching the points and flats in the top half of the dam before the timber and around The Junction itself. Either side of this area will still hold bass but the numbers aren’t likely to be as high. Further up the lake in the timbered arms will be the best spot to hit in the mornings for a saratoga.

These fish will come occasionally as a by-catch when chasing bass but if you target them expect to see them more often.

Even with all the fancy lures out there, a 1/4oz beetle spin rigged soft plastic is still my favourite way to cover heaps of water and catch them. I use the same tackle as I do for bass fishing so a light 10-15lb baitcast outfit or a 6-10lb spin will do the job. They can be big fish but don’t expect barra-like screaming runs and long fights. Using bass tackle To page 41

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CAPRICORN REGION AWOONGA CLOSEST TOWNS: BENARABY, GLADSTONE I’m tipping we will see a few more of those sized fish this month. They were harder to locate and get a bite from over summer as they

the fish. I wouldn’t worry to much about fishing them right after I scare them but will remember all the prime hideouts and return using stealth at a later time.

The afternoon will be the time to tangle with those bigger fish. Heading out as

to move just on dark and can continue to hunt around well into the night. Full moons are always popular but barra will still feed on the darkest of moonless nights.

At each spot, mix it up and scan out wide and in close for your fish. If you are not seeing them in deeper open water, make sure your lure

Gateway Lodge always has a few productive secret spots to share. The Gateway lodge is on the way in to the dam after turning off at Benaraby.

The accommodation is great with plenty of boat parking space right beside the comfortable air conditioned, self-contained cabins each with its own veranda. To book in a stay give Mark or Lyn a call on (07) 4975 0033.

CALLIDE CLOSEST TOWN: BILOELA While some of the barra lakes will see the fish return to shallower water, Callide’s fish are likely to remain in the deep water most of the time. Occasionally they will venture up into 3-4m but they just seem to love suspending out deeper where there is an abundant food supply.

As the lake’s core cools

them a bit tricky when the water warmed right through as there were times they would suspend happily from 4-12m deep. Without a specific depth to target them when they are roaming the open water, it makes it a lot harder. We’ll see the tail end of this this month and then I reckon they will start to bunch up more at a comfortable depth as the water cools off.

The same methods will continue to work. I love the early morning trolling sessions using Zerek Live Mullets and Molix Shads.

Between these lures you can usually work out what they want. As soon as I identify their holding depth, I will switch to the lure that is running closest to the majority of the fish. The Zerek in the 5.5” size is good

are pretty mobile but when we find a bunch we always pull up and give them a few casts. Despite spending most time trolling, if you keep track of them and apply this approach you’ll still catch around half your fish casting because you are doing it in the right areas.

It’s a 24 hour show at Callide. I like those early mornings but the fish can really have a chew at any time of the day or night. We therefore like to fish hard to try to work them out but enjoy a good rest between sessions. You can stay close to the dam at Lake Callide Retreat. The park has basic camping, powered sites for camping and vans and also self-contained cabins.

There is a well-equipped camp kitchen and toilets and showers up in the main part

The big barra have loved the deeper, open water over the warmer months. This Callide giant ate a trolled Zerek Live Mullet. spread out and disappeared into the deeper parts of the lake. They should return to shallower water and start to feed closer to the weed edges until winter.

Morning sessions have been good on the smaller class of fish around the timbered points. There are quite a few of these across from the dam wall all the way down towards Gold Mine Point. Further up the lake around Futter Creek entrance you will also find heaps of trees. This area takes a bit more to work out. There is a lot of very shallow water when the flats outside the river and creek are flooded. Focus on the trees in the drop off to the creek. If I am fishing structure, I like to know the fish are there and will sound it first using my side image.

This requires a close pass to the trees and can spook From page 40

allows you to deliver smaller lures more accurately and makes any fish encounters more sporting.

• Davos at Noosaville has all the gear you’ll need to tackle the fish at Borumba and Lake MacDonald. The store caters well for fresh and saltwater anglers.

They can be found in the Homemaker Centre on the corner of Mary and Thomas Streets.

MOOGERAH CLOSEST TOWNS: RATHDOWNEY, BOONAH Due to declining water levels and for public safety, Seqwater anticipates the northern boat ramp at Lake Moogerah will close in mid-March 2021.

Lake Moogerah is

the sun starts to drop will see the fish moving a bit more.

The windy bays are a good spot to search. Give each one ten minutes with the sounder to see if the big models are around. While watching the screen, probe the weed edges with soft plastics and hardbodies. I would usually spot lock out wide and then gradually work my way into the bay until I can reach the weedy edge with my lure.

If they haven’t turned up in this time, I move on to the next. If there aren’t heaps of boats around you can just keep hopping around the windy side of the lake and searching for fish by targeting the bays and windy shorelines.

This approach is a bit of hard work so by dark I am ready to kick back and start sitting on weedy points to see if the fish move past. The bigger barra tend

is occasionally bumping through the weed. Soft plastics and swimbaits are ideal for this style of fishing and having a few rods rigged with various weight lures will allow you to change things up based on what you see on the sounder.

• Justin Nye from Gladstone Fly and Sportfishing runs fishing charters on the lake. He caters to the needs of the angler and can do fly or conventional tackle trips to target the lake’s barramundi. He successfully guides clients onto fish right through the year and has a good understanding of fish movements. It is hard to beat time on the water and this is a great way to learn more about this lake and its fish.

You can contact him on 0429 223 550 or visit the website gladstoneflyandsportfishing .com.au.

• Mark from Awoonga

currently just above 13% capacity and unless there is significant rainfall in the catchment, Seqwater anticipates the boat ramp will be closed.

Although boating may be out, you can still paddle around the lake and try your luck.

There has been a great bite going on up on the shallow flats over the last couple of months. These fish are sitting close to the old creek channels and seem to like around 5-6m of water. They were suspended at times last month as well which made trolling and casting lures to them a good option. Some of the lakes regulars had success casting smaller hard body lures across the schools of fish.

Things could change a bit this month but you should be

able to catch the tail end of this bite. Just be prepared to mix it up to work out what the fish want before they head off into deeper water as it cools down and the thermocline moves. Smaller hardbodies, like the Jackall Deep Chubby and Rapala Jack Deep have brought many a fish undone when casting. Lure trollers could opt for the same lures or divers, which reach 3-4m.

The TN60 Jackall also makes a great trolling lure as you can alter boat speed and the amount of line out to work different depths.

• For a few tips and all the tackle needed to fish Moogerah and the other lakes in the area call in and see the team at Charltons Bait and Tackle. They have an excellent range catering to the local area.

Niki Sticklen caught her first ever barra last month at Awoonga Dam. Hours of trying are made worthwhile when these fish stay connected. over the coming months, we will see some change.

The cooling water can make the barra slower but should concentrate numbers at a more specific depth. I found

for fish suspended in 3-5m.

If they are deeper, the Molix will get a run. Trolling is great to cover heaps of water and work out where most of the fish are holding. They

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Make sure you bring all of your fishing tackle. The kiosk has a limited amount of fishing gear but it is well suited to the lake.

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41

It’s all about yakkin’ BRISBANE

Troy Brown

For those who read the kayaking column each month, you’ll be aware that we typically focus on locations, especially those which offer something special for the avid yak fisher. It’s rewarding to introduce fellow anglers to areas they otherwise overlook.

Before I write these articles, I spend many hours fishing the waterway, to ensure the most accurate information for fellow kayakers. I joke that it is a tough job, but in truth when I’m also visiting the location for the first time, there is a reasonable amount

water, I was confronted by a boater who was clearly having a tough day. My experience had mirrored his own; I had thrown nearly every lure in my tackle box, plus every colour of my trusty home-made soft plastics, yet still walked away with the dreaded donut. My fishing buddy had suffered the same fate, along with nearly every boatie I spoke to at the ramp.

The tales of woe were uniform, apart from a few who braved an early start and were on the water just after midnight. The wind was blowing, the tide raging and the fish refused to play. For the first time in my fishing career, I actually HIT a fish with my lure five times – yes, five times – and it did not even move. In my defeat-

Such was its indifference, I could have just scooped it up in my net, but I could never bring myself to stoop so low. Well played fish, well played.

That sort of day doesn’t explain why I love our sport. It was actually the final words from the hapless boater, as he walked sullenly away muttering, “Why do we to this to ourselves?”

Every good crew needs a mascot. Roxy is undoubtedly our most loved member.

Michael proved himself a cod whisperer, pulling multiple fish within minutes.

Sadly, size was a bit lacking.

Under that face wrap, Michael is happy to finally catch something other than a cod. of pressure to perform!

One of my fishing friends asked me how I consistently produce fish when I’m constantly moving between fishing spots, and the simple answer is that I don’t. Some places take me longer to learn than others, while at times the secrets are never unlocked. I’ve had periods where I can seemingly do no wrong and the fish come easily, while other times can be infuriatingly difficult.

This month, I’ll introduce a fishing location which I’ve enjoyed for many years, but only kayaked a couple of times: Tewantin.

THE YAK ATTRACTION Before I introduce you to the idyllic fishing around Tewantin and Noosa, I’d like to explain why I fell in love with the sport of kayak fishing.

I was recently reminded of the reasons I continue to fish from a kayak. Having returned from a day on the 42

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crazed mind, I could hear it mocking me silently, as it floated just under the edge of the pontoon. I was literally close enough to touch it, but still it sat there, blissfully happy in the knowledge that a truly pathetic fisho could never catch it.

Having not had stellar results myself for a few weeks, I felt some sympathy.

However, when he asked the question of “why”, the answer came quickly and without hesitation. In short, the answer is the amazing people I’ve met through days on the water.

If you are a shore fisher, or you prefer floating around in a 20ft tinny, you might not understand this answer.

If you’re standing on shore or anchored in your boat, the last thing you want is more people doing the same, as your favourite fishing spot turns into a circus of loathing. Tangled lines, spooked fish and curses muttered under your breath are just the beginning.

Good mates make for good fishing. They also seem to enjoy a good kebab after a hard day on the water.

Park your boat too close to another, and you’re likely to get a heavy ball sinker thrown in your direction.

However, put those same boaters on a kayak and even the most unsociable person (e.g. me) will experience an immediate personality transformation. Shy people become exuberant and grumpy people are suddenly smiling like a maniac.

Non-kayakers cannot relate to the social atmosphere of our sport, but once you put anyone onto a kayak for the first time, you know it won’t be long until they succumb to the Dark Side.

Once you’ve gone yak, you won’t go back.

EXPLORING TEWANTIN Tewantin was the site of my first successful kayak fishing trip, as well as the first time I caught a fish on soft plastics. Also, I recently camped and kayaked at Tewantin with an exceptional group of people, whom I only met because of my involvement with a social yakking group. Men don’t tend to be deep and meaningful, mainly being on the planet to lift heavy things, but the one thing we know is the value of good friends. When a sport like ours brings people together, the value of its worth goes beyond the number of fish we catch.

My entry to the sport

was originally caused by a minor inconvenience.

Approximately two years ago, while I was holidaying at Tweed Heads with my wife, I was yearning to be on the nearby pristine waterways. Having towed a caravan to Tweed, taking my boat was not possible and shore fishing bores me witless. I am terribly impulsive, so moments later I dragged my longsuffering wife to the local camping and fishing store, only to drive out with a budget kayak on my roof.

Like its new owner, the yak was very unattractive, a bit wide around the middle and most likely a little cheap.

The salesperson assured me it would be an ideal kayak for someone of my expanding waistline, as its short and fat body would offer extra stability. In some respects, the sales pitch was correct, as it was very stable. Unfortunately, due to the fact it was only 9ft long and nearly as wide, paddling it against the tide felt like I was dragging the Titanic’s anchor, with the ship still attached.

changer. Paddling into a 30 knot wind and a strong tide, I was barely making headway while trying to return to my launch site. I was only 50m away, but I’d only managed to move the same distance in the last half hour. The burn in my arms was starting to overcome my desire to come home.

Just then, I saw a flash of colour to one side, turned my head and saw a kayaker gliding past me at around 4 knots. Cursing relentlessly, I watched as a gentleman effortlessly pedalled his sporty looking kayak past me, smiling and waving happily. If I wasn’t so tired, I possibly would have thrown something heavy at him out of spite, but luckily my arms were so sore I could barely raise them above my head.

The following week, I ordered my first Hobie kayak.

While a new kayak was not a silver bullet for my lack of lure fishing prowess, the relationships it spawned certainly were. Yearning for more information about the kayak I had just purchased, I joined the Qld Hobie Crew,

A 65cm Noosa River croc. It was the second cast for the trip and also the second with the author’s latest plastic design.

Despite the sub-par performance of my kayak, I was determined to persist while also learning the art of using soft plastic lures.

Strangely, watching re-runs of Rex Hunt Fishing didn’t turn me into a lure fishing legend, with many fruitless trips to follow.

My eighth and last trip on the Titanic was a game-

a small but welcoming Facebook social group. I had misgivings that pedal kayakers would be a little elitist and hostile, but they were the exact opposite. I was welcomed into the group without hesitation, invited to come fishing and given advice which immediately improved my angling prowess. Group founder

Tim Donselaar likes to take full credit for the change in my fishing fortune, but for the sake of his ego, we’ll only give him a passing mention, even if it is largely true. Having accepted some advice from a few sources, I was still lacking confidence but took my new knowledge

more inland sections of Noosa River, which offers a more relaxed experience and a better array of fishing opportunities. We made the mistake of primarily fishing the busy sections of waterway, and while fish were landed, our time would have been best spent

Ron thought this flattie was a banjo! (and shiny new kayak) to Tewantin.

Literally overnight, with some encouragement from my newfound support team, I managed to cast off my kayak lure fishing woes. With some great information on which lures to use, the correct rigging methods, jighead sizes and one incredible tip on how to fish with them, I bathed in the glow of fishing glory.

Fishing the small waterway behind Goat Island, I was over-excited when I hit double figures after less than 20 casts. When on a hot run, it is unusual to leave just after arriving, but I was so jubilant that I had to share the news face-to-face with Stacey. Given my level of exuberance, I’m surprised she didn’t immediately demand I return to fishing.

FISHING TIPS I have fished the area again recently, while also enjoying the company of a great group of people.

This location is awesome, but you should stay away from the highly trafficked areas on busy weekends, as kayaks become insignificant amongst the numerous boats and jetskis dominating the congested river. Ignore the areas around Noosa Heads, focussing instead on the

deeper, consider launching at the ferry crossing, which will save a lot of time and remove you from the busiest sections of water. Our recent trip didn’t feature any large specimens, but some massive bust-offs deeper into the system hinted at better catches.

If you want to escape further from boat traffic, push deep into Weyba Creek, which has some of the most prolific surface activity I’ve ever seen. Weyba Creek is easily accessed via a small park on Wyuna Drive, from where you can enjoy a leisurely trip towards the mouth, or a longer but potentially rewarding trip inland to Weyba Lake.

This area seems to attract the inevitable ‘tinny rats’, but moving further inland will take you into calmer waters, albeit with some more impressive fishing opportunities. There are

Another flathead for Ron. exploring the nearby canals and creeks.

The boat ramp at Noosa Marina is an extremely popular launch point, but on busy weekends, I’d suggest you only visit the area for a tasty meal. If you choose to brave the hectic crossing, you will enjoy calmer waters and typically good fishing in the small stretch behind Goat Island.

For something a little more substantial, work inland along the Noosa River, increasing your chances of finding trophy species such as mangrove jack, big trevally and massive cod.

If you want to push even

Crew Headquarters at the local caravan park.

After a tough morning session, the sound of snoring from the nanna-naps was brutal.

some very shallow sections as the creek makes its way to the lake, with some segments requiring more effort to negotiate. It’s worthy of exploration, as even though we had limited time to explore and didn’t see the best of the area, there were some large fish bullying the bait schools, plenty of structure, depth variations galore and a strong but manageable tidal flow.

Despite the mixed results in terms of our catch, having made the trip with some great mates was all the reward I needed.

We’d not planned very far ahead, so our impromptu getaway was far too brief.

Our group was an eclectic mix of backgrounds and personalities.

Kayaking is not a place which understands the concept of a social divide, snobbery or selfishness. I’ve seen great acts of generosity, compassion and, most of all, friendship. It answers the question of why we persist, even when fishing and life makes everything feel too difficult.

Yes, kayakers are a special breed. Oh, and Tewantin/Noosa is not too bad either!

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Tech Tricks

Step by step guide to filleting mahimahi BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

Whether you call them mahi mahi, dolphinfish or dorado, there is no denying that they are an extremely hard fighting, acrobatic and tasty species. Mahimahi (coryphaenidae hippurus) is commonly found in tropical and sub-tropical offshore waters right around the globe and is one of the fastest growing species in the ocean.

Fish less than two years old have been documented to reach weights in excess of 25kg. Mahimahi will often be found around offshore

2

structure, such as anchored buoys and transient flotsam, even something as simple as a single palm frond, breakaway commercial fishing buoy or Styrofoam lid.

Mahimahi are fairly ravenous predators and often easy to hook once you locate them.

They will engulf a lot of different lures and baits, especially live baitfish. They are one of the best pelagic species to eat, therefore maximising the yield from a single fish is desirable.

There is a neat way of filleting them that is super easy and will leave you with a skinless and boneless fillet.

Let’s check it out.

Use just the tip of the knife to penetrate the mahimahi, no more than 1cm deep, where the back fin attaches to the body. Begin cutting along this line just deep enough to penetrate the skin.

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1

The first thing you have to do is go and catch that mahimahi! Brain spike (iki jime) and bleed it immediately and put into an ice slurry. With this filleting method you are able to process even a large fish with a relatively small 15cm bladed knife. Ensure the knife is super sharp to make the process easier and more efficient.

3

Continue right along the back to the crest of the head and then from the gills all the way down to the tail. Ensure this incision is little more than skin deep. I like to do the other side also at this stage, however you can do it later (after step 11) if you wish.

You will find that the skin at the top of the head will come away easily.

Grip this with your fingers (or some sort of plier if you’re struggling) and peel backwards whilst keeping the angle of pull flat with the fillet. Peeling from the head back is much easier and cleaner than from the tail forward.

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6

4

Cut around the pectoral fin to join up the two cuts at the head of the fish. This cut can go right down to backbone depth.

Continue until you have peeled the entire skin off the flesh all the way back to the tail. This can usually be done in a single motion on most fish. You will see there is virtually no flesh left on the skin.

Tech Tricks

7

You will be able to peel the entire skin off in one piece and leave a clean fillet on the mahimahi with the right technique. If you have cut too deeply when initially severing the skin then you may be left with a small strip of flesh still on the skin at the belly.

9

Once you have done this along both sides of the fillet, grip the fillet at the tail and lift whilst running the knife blade along the top of the spine nodules. If the last two deep cuts have been accurate, the rest of the fish will fall away from the fillet.

11 Next use your knife on an angle to remove the remaining rib bones. These are possible to cut out during Step 8 if you are careful.

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Next cut along each side of the central (pin) bones up to almost halfway along the fillet. Remove this thin strip totally and discard.

8

Next repeat your original cuts on both the back and belly sides yet this time penetrate deeper until the point of the knife hits the backbone nodules. The flat of the knife blade will be guided by the vertebrae so that you get all the flesh with a single cut.

10

This is how your fillet should look. You will note that there is virtually no flesh left on that side of the carcass.

A sharp knife is very important for this clean look.

12

Remove the fillet off the other side of the carcass using the same method and trim out the rib bone.

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By using this method, you can fillet several fish quickly and be left with boneless and skinless fillets. Enjoy one of the tastiest pelagic species you will ever eat.

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DIY life jacket service BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Life jackets, or personal flotation devices (PFDs), are a compulsory item for certain boating activities, depending on what state

KNOW THE SERVICE INTERVALS The fittings within an inflatable PFD need to be kept in good working condition, ready for action at all times. Unfortunately, in a boating environment, this can be a tough call. PFDs are often exposed to a very harsh

the manufacturer or at an authorised service centre.

However, if the maker has set out a documented servicing program, you can service the jacket yourself, provided that you provide a record of the service for an inspection by authorities.

The best way to find out whether a DIY service is possible is to check the manufacturer’s website. If it clearly displays the service steps, you’ll find that it’s pretty easy to follow them to the letter, and record the date. The website should tell you the service intervals too.

SERVICE OF CYCLONE 150N PFD In this article we’ll look at the service of a of Cyclone 150 N PFD. It conforms to Australian Standard 4758 and, being suited for general use on smooth or offshore waters, is a typical example of a PFD suited to home service. The manufacturer

In this image we can see the difference in the old and new CO2 cartridges. The PFD on the left was left inflated overnight to make sure it would maintain pressure. states that it should be serviced at least every two years. It added that the service can be carried out at any time within that two year window if the PFD has had heavy-duty usage.

My first task was to look

deflate it. This is important because it won’t easily go back into its cover unless all air is removed from the bladder.

It was then time to inspect the gas cylinder. Over the past year it had become

Inflatable PFDs are the life jacket of choice for many anglers, due to the lack of bulk and comfortable, unobtrusive use. you’re in. And even if it’s not compulsory, one thing is for certain: if things go pear-shaped and someone ends up in the drink, a PFD is going to be much appreciated.

With such widespread use it’s hardly surprising that self-inflating life jackets are the item of choice for so many boaters, given their slimline shape for maximum comfort, freedom of movement and general affordability.

However, there are two important things to remember. First, you need to take extra care to keep sharp objects well away from its inner workings, and second, it needs to be serviced at prescribed intervals.

Why? Because the operation of this style of PFD depends upon CO 2 gas exiting a canister to inflate the jacket’s bladder, via a couple of small mechanical functions.

Some inflatable PFDs will inflate automatically when in contact with water, while others are activated manually, with the wearer pulling a toggle. Manually operated models are more common, so this is what I will focus on in this article.

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environment, so to minimise the risk of failure they have an expiry date, set down by the manufacturer. This date is when you should get the unit serviced, typically by

Even when you’re fly fishing, the inflatable is never a chore, as it allows freedom of movement.

Carefully opening the PFD’s Velcro sides will allow you to inflate the inner bladder with the tube provided.

carefully for any signs of chafing or other wear, and ensure all fastenings were in serviceable condition.

Next, I carefully opened the jacket’s Velcro-fastened seam, giving me access to the folded internal bladder plus the self-inflation tube (if you fall overboard and your jacket doesn’t inflate when you pull the toggle, you can blow into this tube to inflate the jacket). To commence a reliability test, I used the tube to fully inflate the jacket’s bladder, and allowed the unit to sit overnight to ensure it was perfectly airtight. If you perform this task and your PFD bladder loses pressure, you should take it to an authorised service centre for assessment and further testing, and it will probably need to be replaced.

The Cyclone 150N jacket passed this test with ease, and I then used the cap from the inflation tube to completely deflate the air bladder, which then needed some folding and gentle rolling to completely

somewhat corroded on its extremity. Granted, it still probably would have worked OK; when I weighed it on the kitchen scales it was still at an optimal mass. However, rules must be obeyed and

The cylinder screws into a small fitting, which I checked for corrosion or defects. It was fine, so I carefully inserted a replacement cylinder and tightened the thread by hand.

At this point it’s important to see that the green bar on the activating mechanism is properly in place, indicating that it’s armed and ready for use. When the toggle is pulled to inflate the jacket, the bar will rotate to reveal a red section.

With visual inspection completed, the replacement CO2 cartridge installed, and all fittings declared serviceable, it was time to mark the jacket with the date of service. There’s a dedicated area on the bladder for this, and you just write the date with a permanent marker, and then carefully fold the bladder so it will fit correctly within the slim outline of the jacket, and connect the Velcro fastening system.

Last but not least was a gentle wash with warm soapy water, which saw the jacket completely salt-free and as fresh as a brand new one. Easy.

So keep that inflatable jacket away from sharp objects – no flying lures please – and give it a wash down now and then to keep it clean. And do remember that it is far, far

The small green tab on the activating mechanism shows that the jacket is armed and ready for use. corroded cylinders are OUT. I unscrewed the cylinder, which had a standard thread fitting, and discarded it.

easier to slip the jacket on before you go boating than it is to put it on after you fall in the water.

Advertorial

Product Profile

Downside of fibreglass boats – ROTTEN TRANSOM

“

A professional transom replacement is expensive and, while the boat yards do a great job, the cost could add up to more than your old boat is worth.

The alternative is doing the replacement yourself and with the latest epoxies and glues, that’s not as difficult as it sounds.

“

Fibreglass motor boats are some of the best designed and most desirable boats on our Australian waterways.

They last practically forever and still look good when tinnies the same age look dull and tired. The downside is that many older fibreglass motor boats suffer from a defective soft and often rotten transom.

If it is not repaired then eventually the transom is likely to break and possibly drop the motor overboard into the water or maybe onto the road when the trailer goes over a bump. Holes might also open up leading to the boat sinking. Not good.

A professional transom replacement is expensive and, while the boat yards do a great job, the cost could add up to more than your old boat is worth. The alternative is doing the replacement yourself and with the latest epoxies and glues, that’s not as difficult as it sounds.

Essentially what you are doing is removing the plywood in the old transom and replacing it with a new piece the same shape and thickness, which is coated with epoxy to make it waterproof and rot resistant.

Depending how far gone the old transom is, you may be able to retain the outer fibreglass skin or simply cut the old one out and replace the transom completely and add a new fibreglass skin as well. The whole thing is then glued into place, faired and painted and your boat is ready for action.

You will have saved your boat, and some money, and had the satisfaction of a job well done.

BoatCraft Pacific supply the materials including the latest epoxy resins, glues, marine grade plywood and fibreglass cloth and tape for the construction and installation of a new transom. They have even produced a FREE on-line Instruction e-Booklet for the Transom Replacement which is available on request. (A printed copy is available for $5.00). BoatCraft staff have a check list of materials for the job and can provide everything you need based on your transom size and thickness. (Phone 1300 148 442) The entire package and the Instruction Booklet can be delivered nationally via or collected at BoatCraft distributors in every state.

THE TROUBLE WITH TRANSOMS! Transoms in fibreglass boats are almost always a thick piece of plywood with fibreglass skins on both sides. Their strength matters because the outboard motor is mounted on it. The plywood provides most of the strength, while the fibreglass skins are quite thin and have little strength.

Unfortunately, in time, the plywood starts to rot and loose its strength. The early symptoms are that the transom starts to move a bit when the motor is used, maybe it feels a bit soft in some places or when tapped it gives a dead noise rather than a ring sound.

All plywood transoms in all polyester

function. The timber moisture content needs to rise to 28-30% to initiate the attack, but once underway, it can remain active with a timber moisture content of 20%. 20% timber moisture content will occur in timber, which is left in a relative humidity of 86% or above.

Once timber starts to decay, it is very difficult to repair. Amongst the reasons for this is that the strength loss due to the rot is permanent and unless the conditions that caused the rot to start are changed so that it cannot restart, it will recur.

HOW TO FIX IT FOR ONCE AND FOR ALL? The only effective way to fix a rotten transom once and for all is to cut the soft, rotten transom out in its entirety and to replace it with a new plywood one, which

has been coated in epoxy. Epoxy is a great coating for this application as it is very much less permeable than polyester, so provided the replacement plywood transom is fully coated in epoxy and care is taken to seal any holes drilled through it, it should last for a great many years.

Trying to just cut out or reinforce the rotten bit simply leaves the rest of the old transom in place, rotting away, and before long it too will fail, and then probably the whole lot, repair and all will fail.

Putting a second, new transom in behind the existing transom can restore the strength of the transom, provided it is properly attached to the hull. Of course this new transom will also rot in due course unless it is properly protected.

(The best way is to coat it with epoxy and then a paint to protect the epoxy from the sun’s rays.)

Coating the replacement transom in polyester fibreglass means you will finish up with a rotten transom again in no time.

Only epoxy coating the new plywood can really prevent the ingress of water and so prevent a recurrence of the rot.

Gluing the replacement transom in place needs good epoxy glue. Epox-E-Glue supplied by BoatCraft is one of the best and does not shrink when it cures and pull itself off the glued surface.

For further information on transom replacement we suggest you contact BoatCraft Pacific on 1300 148 442 or visit www.boatcraft.com.au. Their staff will be happy to help and advise you as you get on with replacing the old transom and transforming your old boat.

fibreglass boats will suffer this fate, sooner or later.

The reason the transom plywood rots is that polyester fibreglass allows a small amount of water to pass through it. That is, it is slightly permeable. As a result, the plywood absorbs water and when its moisture content reaches about 20%, the dry rot fungal spores (which are lying in wait in all timber) become active and start to consume the timber.

To explain a bit more, timber, which is kept dry has a moisture content of about 12%. At this moisture content, dry rot spores are inactive. Almost all fibreglass boats are made using polyester fibreglass because it is an economical way to build a boat which is strong and will resist UV light and last for a good number of years. Polyester fibreglass boats are tolerant to less than perfect storage and lack of detailed care.

Whilst polyester fibreglass is a great material to build a boat, it has some limitations. The most important for us is its permeability. Over time, water molecules forced their way through the polyester until the reach the timber inside.

Dry rot is not a good name for the phenomena. The spores need moisture to

Easy to follow instruction guide.

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Recreational Fishing Update Yabby and Crab Rules Changed

DPI Fisheries has announced changes relating to the use of “opera house” style yabby traps and to the blue swimmer crab size limit.

As from 30 April 2021, the size limit of blue swimmer crabs will increase from 6cm to 6.5cm. This change will protect spawning crabs and will improve the productivity of the stock through time. It will also provide consistency between the recreational and commercial fishing sectors.

Changes to yabby traps involve the phasing out of enclosed “opera house” traps in favour of more environmentally friendly “open top” yabby nets.

From 30 April 2021, the use of “opera house” traps in any NSW waters will be prohibited. More info, including details of a giveaway of 5000 pyramid nets, is available via the DPI website or by contacting your local NSW DPI Fisheries office.

What Do You Want Out Of Your Fishing?

Photo: Courtesy of Al McGlashan

Image courtesy of Al McGlashan

A new research project by DPI Fisheries will investigate the objectives of recreational fishers who target key species in NSW. The project will include a series of workshops involving a diverse team of experienced recreational fishers to help develop a set of objectives for specific species.

An online survey will also be used to capture the

views of the broader recreational fishing community.

Objectives will then be prioritised using a standard method for identifying preferences in survey data.

The research is funded by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation and the NSW Recreational Fishing Trust.

Stay tuned for more info!

Comps Delivering Citizen Science Benefits

Know Your FAD!

DID you fish one of DPI’s FADs this past season? We received numerous reports of fantastic mahi-mahi catches during the 2020-2021 season, including this solid fish caught by Chris Gray at one of our newest FADs off Bermagui. Great catch, Chris!

The NSW FAD network is spread from the Tweed down to Eden. These FADs are anchored to the sea floor and consist of a large floating yellow special purpose buoy with a fixed flashing navigation light. As you read this, the FADs are still in the water with quality fishing to be enjoyed up until May when they will be removed for annual winter maintenance.

The 2021-2022 FAD season is set to start in September, when the first FADs will be deployed in the north of the State. Other FADs in the network will come online during spring and early summer.

Get ready for the upcoming season by checking out handy hints for fishing FADs safely and responsibly by searching “fish aggregating devices” on the DPI website.

The DPI FAD program is another great example of your fishing fees at work!

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APRIL 2021

Fishing tournaments have always provided significant socio-economic benefits to regional communities, but now these popular events are also helping with monitoring of our inland fisheries.

A great example of this is the Codcatch program, a citizen science initiative which allows DPI Fisheries scientists to work with anglers and tournament

Avoid ‘Breakaway’ Fishing Floats!

As you read this, it’s prime time for mackerel along the North Coast. Given the popularity of these great sportfish, NSW DPI is reminding anglers not to use “breakaway” floats such as polystyrene foam and balloons as these products contribute to marine litter.

Using purpose designed floats is the best way to go if you’re using live or dead baits for a range of species including mackerel, tuna, kingfish, marlin and sharks. Search “secure your floats” on the DPI website for more info.

organisers to monitor fish populations in key waterways across the State.

The Codcatch program was part of the Hay Fishing Tournament earlier this year with more than 500 reported captures providing valuable information on the local fish population. Find out more by searching “freshwater fishing research” on the DPI website.

New Product

Campsites blaze with the new ARB Fire Pit The best camping trips have certain things in common - good company, cold drinks and a cracking campfire.

So when you get to a site where campfires must be contained, it can be deflating if you don’t have the right gear. ARB’s new five-piece collapsible Fire Pit is the perfect addition to your kit, allowing the

all-important campfire to set the scene wherever you find yourselves. It’s also completely, 100% Australian made.

Back in 1975, Tony Brown founded ARB in his parents’ garage when he began welding his own roof racks after an eye-opening trip up north.

Since then, ARB has grown significantly but still holds

the value of Australian manufacturing close to its core.

The Fire Pit is made exclusively in ARB’s Melbourne factory using BlueScope’s REDCOR® steel; a rust-proof Australian steel designed to develop a patina through use and housed in an Australian-made canvas bag, printed in an

Australian factory.

Featuring pre-cut holes suitable for spit motor and rod, it comes with a removable grill so you can cook directly over the fire. The Fire Pit measures 600mm L x 496mm W x 300mm H, weighs 18kg and is made from 3mm steel, making the pit a great option for both camping and backyard ambience.

The ARB Fire Pit is $299 (Australian East Coast Metro) and is available to order now. – ARB

Where do my fishing licence fees go?

Funds raised from the NSW recreational fishing licence are placed into special trusts, and spent on projects to improve recreational fishing.

Committees of anglers provide recommendations on expenditure from the trusts: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

Fish stocking Artificial reefs Fish aggregating devices (FADs) Recreational fishing havens Fishing facilities e.g. fishing platforms and fish cleaning tables Kids fishing workshops Fishcare Volunteers Gamefish tagging Get Hooked...it’s fun to fish, primary schools education Fish habitat restoration

www.dpi.nsw.gov.au APRIL 2021

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Sydney

NSW

Winter is coming PITTWATER

Peter Le Blang plfishfingers@bigpond.com

Yet another month has passed and we move closer to cold brisk mornings, winter winds, colder water and new species of fish to catch.

On the upside, there haven’t been too many changes just yet. We have still managed to catch most of the summer species but there are signs that some of the cold water fish are ready to take over. These cold water fish are species such as tailor, salmon, trevally and bonito.

Over the last month we seen some great captures of squid, flathead, kingfish and there has been the odd jewfish (mulloway) caught as well. I’m sure the coming month will see more of these fish being caught and hopefully you will be able get out of the water with us and catch a few too.

We still have some good squid being caught in Pittwater of varying sizes.

Most charters are starting the morning by catching squid in the bays of Pittwater

over the weed beds along the shallows.

In the shallows we are seeing smaller squid being caught which is a blessing as we can use them to chase

kingfish on our downriggers.

On the edges of the dropoffs we are seeing some large squid being caught by customers, who have to make a decision of whether to eat

A 74cm kingy that decided to eat a squid.

This Wastons leaping bonito couldn’t resist a 15g metal lure while downrigging.

COHOE MARINE PRODUCTS Sales • Service • Repairs Dinghies • Tenders Boating Accessories

the squid or use it to track down big kingfish. With hood lengths of 35cm+ it is not an easy decision to make.

As mentioned, most the bays do have some squid to be found but the best bay by far has been the weed beds just north of Palm Beach wharf. This area is massive.

Start by working the edges and I am sure you will be rewarded with some squid, both large and small.

The other bays to try are Careel Bay and Mackerel Beach. Both these areas have produced some squid in recent charters when fishing close to the shoreline.

The colours to choose at the moment seem to vary from day to day, so make sure that you have a good variety of both fluoro colours as well as natural colours.

The fluoro colours are still working on most days but a lot of the bigger squid have been attracted to the natural colours. The better size to use at the moment seems to be the 2.5 g jigs with an aggressive retrieve and long pauses.

We are still catching some nice kingfish in Pittwater and some larger fish are starting to show themselves. As usual, the better way to catch kingfish

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APRIL 2021

Eat it or chase kings with it… what would you do?

in Pittwater is to downrig and watch your sounder for balled up baitfish mid water.

Once balled up baitfish have been found, do laps of the area to find the predators.

It’s amazing how easy it is sometimes, and yet other times pure frustration will set in. But once a screaming drag is heard all of those frustrations disappear very quickly.

The better areas to try for kingfish at the moment seem to be along the western foreshore as well as around Scotland Island. These two areas don’t have masses of kingfish to be caught but there will be enough for everyone to have some fun.

The bigger kingfish we have been catching have been caught popping up in the different bays when we have been chasing squid.

These fish have been singles and not in schools but there are a few around the metre mark so they are well worth chasing.

For those after breadand-butter species there are still flathead, bream, flounder and the odd trevally to be caught as well. To catch a decent flattie or flounder at moment is as easy as drifting along Broken Bay from Patonga to Lion Island.

Flounder seem to prefer to eat prawns but the flatties are happy with your humble pilly. Both a paternoster rig or your standard running rig will see both of these species being caught.

Bream are being caught whilst berleying at Flint and Steel Reef and floating down lightly weighted running rigs along the trail. There has been no particular better bait but well-presented baits that don’t spin will see more fish being caught. Correctly presented baits such as prawns, fish strips or squid strips will see the better fish being caught as well. The same area also yielding some trevally. This same area

can produce jewfish on the change of the tide as well.

The other area to try for both the species has been at West Head on the Pittwater side of the river. Once again anchor and berley for the best results, and in this area the last of the run-out tide seems to be the better period of the tide to try for them.

We have also been blessed with some schools of bonito and tailor marauding hapless schools of baitfish along Broken Bay. These fish can be targeted with lures, and the better size metal lures to use at the moment seem to be the 10-15g sizes.

The easiest way to spot these schools is with the help of the working seagulls and terns. These birds are after the baitfish that are driven to the surface by predators, which mainly consist of bonito and tailor. On the odd day there is a kingy or two hanging around as well.

When you encounter other people already fishing the bust-ups, please give them plenty of room and do not cut their casting avenues off when positioning your boat. On many occasions I have seen people cut off others from being able to cast at the school, resulting in heated arguments. There is plenty of room for everyone and if everyone is polite to the person next to them, a lot of fun can be had by everyone.

Another tip is to position your boat upwind or upcurrent, whichever is strongest, turn off your motors and drift back towards the melee.

I hope this report sees you excited and either calling us to join us for a lovely day on the water or grabbing your mates to explore our stunning waterway.

• Peter Le Blang operates Harbour and Estuary Fishing Charters, phone 02 9999 2574 or 0410 633 351, visit www. estuaryfishingcharters.com.au

NSW

Sydney

Fresh squid is key SYDNEY NTH

Steve Winser

As water temperatures continued to rise in early March, some tropical species started to appear in the harbour, including spotted mackerel, spangled emperor and Watson’s leaping bonito. Other species being caught have included mac tuna, bonito and tailor schools.

Surface schools of fish are still predominant in the

lower harbour, mainly mac tuna, kingfish and bonito. We have taken most of our fish on the Sugapen-style surface walkers, but metals in the 7-10g range will take mac tuna, bonito and tailor too.

Mulloway are continuing to run strong in the upper and lower harbour, following the recent rains, and with this current La Nina weather pattern in still play, it looks as though the rain won’t be backing off anytime soon. As usual, it’s fresh squid that has been catching the most

mulloway, although a few fish have been coming on fresh fillet baits also.

Kingfish are continuing to improve in the lower harbour as suspected. Most fish caught have been between 70-90cm, with a few solid dustings also, so fishing light will bring you no joy. These fish are a new batch that’s moved in from outside, and they were feeding hard when they first appeared, although more recently they have gotten a little more selective. Again, it’s all about fresh squid if

Kingfish in the harbour are biting well at the moment.

Taj Gleeson caught this massive bream at Lake Macquarie NSW. It measured 41cm to the fork in the tail.

you want to tempt fussy fish.

Check out the markers and points at a mid-tide period and be prepared to move around.

Whiting are still being taken on surface poppers in the shallow areas around weed banks, and of course are still taking bloodworm baits. Flathead catches are continuing to improve, with fish up to 70cm. The better flatties have been taken on deep live baits.

APRIL FISHING In April we should see some good mulloway fishing with all this rain, and the kingfish action should also continue, with good numbers of squid coming into the harbour now and bait in general in good amounts.

• Fishing Sydney Tours takes pride in tailoring every trip to the customer’s preferred species, style of angling, and level of expertise, all within a friendly and relaxed atmosphere at competitive rates. There are some excellent fishing spots that can be accessed straight off Sydney, and we will show you where. We offer harbour, wash and offshore fishing for species ranging from kingfish and mulloway through to snapper and general reef species. For more info go to www.fishingsydneytours. com.au, call 0481 120 600 or look up ‘Fishing Sydney Tours’ on Facebook.

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APRIL 2021

51

Sydney

NSW

Summer and winter species combination SYD ROCK & BEACH

Alex Bellissimo alex@bellissimocharters.com.au

The second month of autumn will see the migration of mullet in this part of the world. You may have noticed schools of mullet have been on the surface in the local brackish creeks, rivers, the harbour and lakes, and they appear to be sucking air on the surface. That is what they do when they are in spawn.

These mullet are the bully variety. Because they are migrating they will be also in the surf zone and off the ocean rocks and heading north. However, if you go out there to try to catch them, you will probably end up disappointed. This is because when mullet are in roe and milt (in spawn) they stop feeding. This is in contrast to many other fish species, which feed ravenously when in spawn to get nutriment for themselves and their eggs.

Whiting and bream are migrating amongst many other species as well. During this period, please take only what you need for a feed, as the fish you are catching are

A rare catch off the ocean beaches of Sydney – a snapper caught only 15m from the shore while whiting fishing with live beach worms. Peter Kean was rapt with this 40cm+ fish, and it went hard on 3.5kg line. His son Brayden and Peter also caught six good bream and two good whiting. full to the brim with eggs.

Now to the report.

Always take into account that this report is based on what I and my clients have

been catching, as well as little info from the locals too.

OCEAN ROCK FISHING This is the time of the year I call the ‘transition

ST A O C T S EA 1 2 0 2 S SERIE sting

nsi BRmEBAreM ries co al e s m a nd Fin

period’. It is when you have a crossover of warmer water species and cooler water species, and there has certainly been plenty of variety of late. Some species have not been biting as well as they have in past seasons, but they are still available for the angler willing to be adventurous and put in the effort to target specific species rather than fish for anything. The angler who says they are fishing for ‘just anything’ will often get worse results than the angler fishing for a target species. And as a bonus, when you target a specific species there’s a good chance you will pick up some welcome bycatch.

There has been an unusual run of trevally all summer.

Normally this species (along with Aussie salmon) become much less numerous in the summer months because the water is too warm. This season, however, they have continued to bite through the hot months. Catches should start to increase from the middle of this month, and will continue to ramp up as temperatures drop.

When fishing the washes off the ocean rocks, the sudsy white water zones yield a vast range of rock species. Choose a deep water rock location with a good covering of white water. I recommend using light ball sinkers, 1/0-3/0 hooks (e.g.

Mustad 92247 or 92554 suicide hooks), a 11ft+ (3.3m+) rod suitable for 6-10kg line class, a 600-650 Alvey or 4000 size spinning reel (e.g. Daiwa 4000 BG MQ). When it comes to line for the spin gear, I use 20lb

J-Braid Grand with about 4-6m of 9kg Wilson FC Shock fluorocarbon leader.

When I’m using an Alvey, I spool it with 20lb nylon.

For berley and bait you can use half pilchards, fresh squid strips, and peeled king or Endeavour prawns. I

The author was completely gob smacked by catching, not just one, but three mahimahi off Sydney rocks. He’s been fishing for 43 years off the rocks and has never met anyone who has caught one or even seen a photo of one from off the rocks! recommend a pilchard/bread wet mush for berley.

The variety of fish you can catch in the wash will surprise you. Although you may be focusing your efforts on catching snapper or trevally, you can sometimes encounter a range of bycatch species such as small kings, snapper, bream, trevally, salmon, and even the odd

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APRIL 2021

samsonfish at this time of the year. It’s a good idea to fish 8-10kg line just in case you encounter some small to medium hoodlum kings coming into the berley. This way, you will at least stand a chance of landing this tough species.

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One of five cracker bream caught on this outing. John Halford expertly landed this fish, which would have cut him off over the sharp barnacle ledge if he had tried to skull drag it in. He decided to release this big bream, and kept the slightly smaller ones for a feed.

Some pretty big pigs (rock blackfish) are on the chew as well, with fish to over 3kg being landed on some of the headlands.

To catch them, use peeled Endeavour, banana or king prawns with a steady stream of berley. Don’t throw in too much berley at once, because on the average day the swell, current and wind can increase drift speed for berley, and you’ll send the fish away from you if you use too much. It’s best to deploy a small handful every 1-2 minutes, rather than large clumps of berley thrown in less frequently.

Kings up to 10kg are being landed by some of the locals, and there are lots of smaller fish too. I recommend using live or fresh whole squid suspended under a float. At most locations, a rough average is to set the float stopper 2-6m above your float. You can even fish 5-7m at the rock spots that are much deeper.

A ganged sea gar with a plastic occy skirt on the nose works well for kings.

Why the occy skirt? Because it maximises the attraction of your bait by providing colour and waving tentacles as you’re winding it in. It sends the kings bonkers!

When it comes to spots to fish for mixed wash species and for kingfish, try the deeper rock spots like Freshwater, South and North Curl Curl, and South and North Whale rocks. And for

NSW

rock blackfish it’s good to fish the shallower water areas like Long Reef at Collaroy, Warriewood boulders and Mona Vale rocks. You can catch pigs at all of the larger headlands and most of the smaller ones too.

OCEAN BEACH FISHING Whiting and bream have been in great numbers of late.

The deeper seaward gutters are producing great catches but the often-neglected shallower parallel gutters are fishing well for whiting and bream also. There’s also the odd flathead and

Sydney

after dark.

I strongly recommend taking a minimum of 6-8 ready-made rigs, because sharks will destroy your rigs with their super sharp teeth. You will normally find on the Sydney beaches the shark population is really healthy, and you’ll catch 20-30 sharks to one mulloway. However, that can be much less on some beaches and on some nights.

Tailor and salmon are a common by-catch when fishing for mulloway.

A good starting point for all of the above

dart thrown in.

When you’re whiting and bream fishing off the beach it certainly helps if you have the correct sinker weight. If you’re standing stationary or if your line is not drifting outwards, sideways to the left or to the right you may be fishing too heavy. Reduce your sinker weight in small increments.

This will help you achieve the ideal drift speed of a very slow walk speed to the left or to the right. You will note a substantial increase in bite rates and also better quality fish caught.

You may have heard advice from anglers on YouTube or fishing shows to ‘fish as light a sinker weight as possible’. This vague advice isn’t very helpful when you go down to the very light sinker weights while beach fishing. What’s important is how you use these very light sinker weights. If you’re unsure, have a fish with me and I’ll show you how.

Mulloway are being caught at the moment, along with sharks, including dusky and bronze whaler sharks, plus some of the very good eating gummy sharks. The vast majority of mulloway and sharks are caught

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periods. Still, it produces good catches at times for all of the species mentioned.

Dee Why’s northern section and towards the southern corner near the rocks, North Narrabeen, Newport and the often neglected Avalon Beach are also good locations to try.

The best baits for bream and whiting are live beach worms and pink nippers.

Small peeled river prawns work quite well too when you cannot get pink nippers or beach worms.

For the mulloway, the best baits are live mullet or

These snapper were caught distance casting with a 4oz snapper sinker weight and bottle squid for bait. The outfit was an Alvey 65S reel matched with an Alvey 13’ Stealth Surf R65S. beach species is Manly to Queenscliff beach. Take note that Queenscliff beach can be a bit of an annoyance when beach fishing because of people parking their cars, lighting up the beach in front of you for extended

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Rock blackfish can be caught in relatively deep water or in the shallows. This 3.2kg fish was taken in water about 1.5-1.7m deep, and when hooked on 9kg braid it ripped line off the reel. After a few quick photos, Gaetano Sanacore decided to release it. It was followed by two more pigs to 40cm and two bream which were kept for a feed.

Mark George with one of several kings caught during a session off the Sydney Harbour rocks. It’s good to bring two outfits, one with a lure and one with bait.

The bait and lures used on this trip were eastern sea gars and Daiwa Bait Junkie 7” Jerk Shads.

NSW

yellowtail, or you can use butterflied baits or fillets.

Squid strips or a whole squid with a hood approximately 20-25cm long is a good size bait for mulloway. Both big and small mulloway will eat it.

ESTUARY FISHING (CALMER SALTWATER) Fishing in Sydney Harbour more towards the northern reaches like Georges Head has been producing kings and quality bream.

Kings to near 70cm and bream to 42cm have been caught in recent weeks. There have been numbers of small undersized kings so you will have to troll through them for a legal fish. That could change this month with a run of bigger fish, especially towards the end of April.

Dobroyd Head is also producing big bream, especially on the flatter nights. Treat this like any rock spot you would fish – use a PFD (e.g. Hobie Rock Series L50) and steel spike shoes because it’s as slippery as any rocks in Sydney. This spot is only recommended for anglers who know rock fishing well.

You can also catch bream during the day, and pelagics like tailor and some kings as well. Good baits for the pelagics are live yellowtail or live squid if you can catch them at the location, or squid strips. Eastern sea gars on gangs work well also.

For the bream, try pink nippers, half pilchards or garfish cubes. Berley lightly as you don’t want to feed the fish.

That’s it for this month’s report. For April’s ‘Transition Period’ try to find time for a fish. Be flexible and fish according to conditions, to stay safe. If you are open to trying alternative, safer options, that will help you become a more versatile and successful angler.

• For rock and beach guided fishing or tuition in the northern Sydney region, visit www.bellissimocharters. com.au, email alex@ bellissimocharters.com.au or call Alex Bellissimo on 0408 283 616.

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APRIL 2021

53

Sydney

NSW

Move around to find the fish SYDNEY SOUTH

Gary Brown gbrown1@iprimus.com.au

So far this year the fishing has been really good in the southern areas of Sydney every day that I have been on the water, and hopefully this will keep up.

Admittedly, some days I have had to work a bit harder than others. I find that if you put in the hard yards the results will come, and to do this it’s just a matter of trying to keep it as simple as possible. As an example, when it comes to bait fishing I recommend

The hood length on this squid measured 45cm and it fell to a Fish Inc Squid while fishing over the bubble weed at Cronulla.

Some of the fish caught on a trip with Paul Lennon from Fish Port Stephens Fishing Charters.

FG + KNOT

having a running ball or bean sinker down onto the swivel, a leader of at least a metre and a peeled prawn as bait in fast running water.

When there is not much run in the tide, I find it’s best to do away with the swivel and have the ball sinker run freely down to the top of the bait. This size will vary from a 000, 00, 0 or a no. 1.

So far this year the bream numbers in the bay seem to be down a little from previous years, and to get a few in your bag you will need to be prepared to move around. I find that spending no longer then 30 minutes at one spot is enough. That is unless you are getting fish.

It’s good to have a variety of baits as a backup, because you don’t know whether the bream will want prawns, pillies, worms, nippers or chicken.

Would you eat the same meal every time you had a feed?

Trevally are another species that has been a bit hit-and-miss over the last few months, and hopefully they will start to pick up soon. They can be found just about everywhere in the bay. Six of my favourite places are the southeast

corner of Bare Island on a run-out tide, the oil wharf on a run-out tide, the Sticks on a run-up tide, the end of the third runway on both the run-in and run-out tides, wide off Towra and of course Trevally Alley.

At all of the above places I will anchor, berley and fish with a ball or bean sinker running down onto a swivel and a long leader. That is except for Trevally Alley and Bare Island where I only use a running ball sinker down onto the bait.

Squid should be around in numbers at places like Watts Reef, Bare Island, Yarra Bay, Brighton Beach, the Cooks River break wall and the rock wall at the boat ramp at Port Botany.

Dusky flathead are still about, but they’re not as numerous as they were earlier in the year.

Soft plastics, blades and swimbaits are doing the

This shovel-nosed ray put up a great fight on 3kg line. They are not bad for a feed, but the author prefers to release them to fight another day.

Len and John can agree that finding those deeper holes in the river system is easier when you can shade in your contours on the sounder. damage. If you prefer to bait fish, try using whole or half pillies and garfish, strips of mullet, yellowtail and salted slimy mackerel.

Towra wide in about 4-5m would be a good place to start.

Offshore is producing snapper at Coogee in 30-40m, sand flathead in 30m off Bondi and Little Bay. Kingfish, salmon, bonito and tailor can be

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trolled up working your way north and south of the entrances to Botany Bay and the Port Hacking.

Metals and Christmas trees have been working well.

The beach in Bate Bay has been a bit of a hit-andmiss affair of late. To increase your chances of getting a few bream, whiting and dart I would use either beach or tube worms. If you can’t get those you could pump

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some nippers.

Mulloway, rays and sharks are also an option while fishing off these beaches at night. Whole or fillets of tailor, slimy mackerel and yellowtail would be worth a try, along with freshly caught squid.

April is a prime month of the year in the Port Hacking River to target just about every bread-and-butter species. Bream, whiting, mullet, flathead, trevally and tarwhine will be feeding just about everywhere. You will just need to make sure when you anchor up that you berley, and if after about 20 minutes you don’t get any fish, just move about.

Finally, I want to give a huge shoutout to Paul Lennon from Fish Port Stephens Fishing Charters as Dave and I had the great pleasure of going out with Paul for a morning’s fish to target flathead and bream with a variety of lures. To say that Paul works his butt off to put you onto fish is an understatement!

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NSW

Downsizing pays off BALLINA

Joe Allan

The mackerel are showing up in reasonable numbers between Brunswick and Evans but they are very scattered. You’ll find them one day and then they’ll have moved the next. You just have to keep moving

such as Black Head, Flat Rock and Snapper Rock down at Evans Head. There have still been some decent Snapper being caught as well on plastics early in the morning but they seem to be a bit wider out.

The rock walls have produced some good size mangrove jacks in recent weeks. While not in good

The break walls have been seeing some good mulloway caught towards the bottom end of the tide. This dirty water has certainly stirred them up with some really good size fish being caught.

Live mullet seems to be producing the best catches upriver in the holes, however down on the walls

Mick Beddows caught this 52cm bass paddling around Lake Ainsworth.

Christian Booker with a nice snapper caught on a 7” Atomic Jerk in the middle of a mackerel frenzy. to find them, which is very typical of the early season bite.

Livies are still the go at this stage, with yakkas and slimies being the best.

Close in reefs are the go,

numbers like they were in summer, the better size specimens have come out to play in recent times.

These guys will become less active now that the water is cooling down.

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you can catch a better class of fish.

The freshwater stretches of the Richmond and Wilsons rivers have been patchy of late as there has just been so much dirty water around. The whole system has had a flush and will be better for it. The best lures are spinnerbaits with silver blades, and lipless crankbaits with bright colours and loud rattles. The noise and flash is what’s attracting these fish in this dirty water.

The creeks around Bangalow and Corndale are worth a cast now that they’ve cleaned up a little.

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Grant Clements with an early morning jack caught off one of the walls in Ballina.

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Jess Teunis caught this 37cm whiting from a morning session at Fingal Head. She used fresh beach worms that she’d caught herself.

NSW

you’d normally throw in the main river. You’d be surprised how big the fish that live in these small creeks can get. Small 2” plastics and bream or trout size crankbaits are what you should look for. The surface fishing is still going really well too and hopefully this will continue for a while.

If you after a feed of flathead, try the stretches between Pimlico Island and Broadwater. Whitebait and fresh prawns are the go if you can get them.

The prawns are on the move at the moment so if you can find them, you’ll find great numbers of these tasty fish. The best hooks for these are a number 1/0 and 2/0 long shank hooks, such as Gamakatsu Long Shank. The longer shank in the hook keeps the line away from their teeth which, while only small, can cut through some pretty tough line.

If you’re into throwing hardbody lures try tolling some Atomic Shiner 75s that will get down past

with a 1/4oz jig head with 3/0 hook ready to go.

The Beaches around Ballina and Lennox Head have been fishing really well and should continue to get better. Look for gutters on Patches Beach and back to South Ballina as well as the beaches along Seven Mile Beach north of Lennox Head. There have been good catches recorded of tarwhine and flathead on soft plastics and blades. For both plastics and blades, try 1/4oz weight.

If it’s too windy this might be a struggle.

There are still good numbers of pipis around and these little fellas are a great fresh bait for most bread and butter species.

Just remember you’re not allowed to take these from the beach.

Until next month, tight lines.

Jamie Stratford caught this snapper on an Atomic Plazo 7” Jerk Minnow.

3.5m easily in the holes around the Wardell Bridge and areas close by. Bright colours are best. Once you’ve found the drop-offs it’s always good idea to have a 3” or 4” soft plastic

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Anthony Dendal with an 18kg beast of a Spaniard caught off Evans Head.

APRIL 2021

57

NSW

The hunters become the hunted COFFS HARBOUR

Kane Fairchild

There are plenty of options around Coffs for fishing over the Easter holidays.

OFFSHORE Out wide, generally around that 80-100m mark, there has been some really great fishing for marlin, mostly blues with some stripes mixed in. While trolling for them you can encounter of yellowfin tuna, wahoo and mahimahi (dolphinfish).

If you want to specifically target mahimahi, the FAD and wave recorder are the best places to catch a feed. Bear in mind that these fish can be very finicky at times, and at these popular locations it can be quite hard to tempt them into eating lures. The best baits are live yakkas and slimies if you can get them, otherwise you can use small pilchards or strip baits. Use very light sinker to keep your bait higher in the water column, as this is where the dollies are feeding.

Generally pitching a bait at them will get their attention.

If you are using lures, move them with quite a bit of speed, because mahimahi like erratic retrieves The most popular lures are small stickbaits, small slugs and soft plastics.

Kingfish like the same structure as mahimahi, so if you don’t find the dollies you should find kingies.

That’s the great thing about these areas.

Unfortunately, it has been quite hard to find bait, at least in close. That is probably due to the fact that we have good numbers of mackerel all up and down the coast at the moment, both spotties and baries. The hapless baitfish

58

APRIL 2021

are constantly harassed so they are particularly nervous, and don’t seem to want to eat – they just want to survive.

If you can get out there before the macks go crazy you’ll find the odd yakka, but slimies are extremely scarce (unless you go out to the 80-90m mark). For this reason, a lot of anglers are aren’t bothering to gather live baits, and instead are trolling lures or dead baits.

This time of year is always great for pelagics, and is one of the better months for chasing mackerel, tuna and wahoo. We get a lot of school fish around that 10-15kg size, with the odd fish up to around 25kg+.

INSHORE Coming in a bit closer, the kingfish pins haven’t been fishing all that well.

There has still been the odd king around mixed in with samson and amberjacks, but we have been finding it quite hard to find them in recent weeks.

At this time of year when chasing kingfish, be aware that there’s a parasite that ruins their flesh. If you catch a king and want to keep it, give it a pinch behind the shoulders. If you find your fingers sinking in, the fish probably has the parasite, which turns the flesh into mushy mincemeat.

Around the 50-80m mark we’ve been finding tuskies and pearlies, which have been taking jigs and small strip baits. There has been a fair bit of current so if you’re dropping jigs or baits you should beef it up.

As a general rule of thumb, if you’re using 80-100g jigs (or sinkers) most of the time, up it to about 120-140g. There might not be much current on top but there’s a lot on the bottom.

This time of year can be really successful closer to shore for the guys fishing from kayaks and tinnies. You can pick up good fish early in the morning in 10-30m of water – anything from pelagics to snapper and the odd tusky. Mackerel can be caught from these grounds because they have no problem travelling from 100m of water to 10m of water – all they care about is finding where the bait is concentrated.

Black marlin have also been showing their faces inshore in recent weeks, following the bait. Keeping a close eye on your sounder is key to catching them.

Longtail tuna have been in good numbers over the past month or so, in a range of depths, chasing bait concentrations. When the longtails are thick they will even take livies on wire, which is frustrating when you’re after a mackerel.

The mackerel bite window may be quite short, and you don’t want to waste half an hour bringing in a tuna. To minimise longtail encounters you should stay away from surface boils, and just look for the tell-tale big arch of a mackerel on your sounder.

Conversely, if you do want to chase tuna, try downsizing your lures to 20-40g metal slugs or 90-120mm stickbaits. These fish generally chase small baits so matching the hatch is important. Keep an eye out for feeding birds, and don’t get too close to the surface boil or the tuna will dive.

There are also mac tuna and the odd bonito in the mix, but at this time of year as the mackerel move through, the smaller tuna go from being the hunter to the hunted. If they push

bait to the surface they’ll attract attention from bigger predators, so they tend to keep their heads down.

ROCK AND BEACH The beaches have been fishing quite well for whiting, bream and flathead, which can be taken on both bait and lures. Lure choices for these species include small vibes, plastics and small shallow-running hardbodies.

Using lures in the surf can be difficult, because it takes time to learn the ‘feel’ of a fish taking your lure in amongst all that wave action.

Keeping tension on the line will help. Keep at it – you’ll soon get the hang of it.

When it comes to bait, most people at this time of year are using worms.

However, pumped nippers, flesh baits and pilchards are catching their share. If you are using a softer bait, use a small bit of cotton to hold it together.

With these bread and butter species being on the beach, bigger predators will shadow them. This is where tailor, salmon and mulloway come into play.

Tailor at this time of year can be quite scarce because there are bigger predators just out the break chasing them, but there are still a few tailor around. You can target them with small metals, poppers or ganged pilchards.

If you’re using single hooks, beef up your leader (at least 40lb) because once a tailor gets your bait down it can easily cut you off. Some people use a small strip of wire, which is fine when the tailor are actively feeding, but most of the time you will get fewer bites with wire.

Gangs are a better option.

Swivelled gangs are best, because it’s harder for the tailor to dislodge the hooks.

Chasing mulloway can be very productive at this time of year.

Chasing mulloway at this time of year can be very productive. Most mulloway anglers head out at night when the water temps start to cool a bit; mulloway don’t seem to like warm water. Hardbodies and large plastics are good lure choices, or you can use large flesh baits (e.g. stripy tuna, bonito) or even large slimies.

When you’re fishing off the beaches, you can use lighter leaders than you’d use on the rocks. I recommend a minimum of 30lb.

Dart and trevally have been roaming the beaches of late. Small metal slugs and little poppers moved erratically at speed have been getting them stirred up.

Alternatively, you can use the same baits that you’d use for bream, whiting and flathead, i.e. small flesh baits, prawns, nippers or worms.

Fishing off the rocks is exciting at this time of year because you can catch anything from bream, flathead and tailor through to mackerel, tuna and kingfish.

Most pelagics are caught on live baits hung under a

bobby float to get a nice drift and get out as far as possible (balloons and bits of foam can’t be used out on the rock platforms). I recommend putting the time in before sun-up, getting a nice trail of berley for a good hour or so to get live baits in your bucket. Dead baits can be quite successful off the stones at times too.

The best time is generally on an outgoing tide, and you should look for small rips running along the rocks which can carry your drifting bait out to the fish.

Chasing these pelagic species on lures can be quite successful too, because lures allow you to cover more ground to find where the fish are, rather than waiting for the fish to come to you.

Metal slugs and stickbaits are popular choices. Even if the fish aren’t hungry, these lures can trigger their predatory instincts, causing a reaction bite. When a lure comes past the fish’s nose at a hundred miles an hour, moving erratically, the instinct is to bite before To page 60

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NSW

Coffs is going yahoo for wahoo!

COFFS HARBOUR

Dayne Taylor

April usually sees the start of some cooler air in mornings whilst you’re blasting out offshore or screaming up the local estuary in the boat. The fishing, however, is sure to be hot this month!

OFFSHORE The Spanish and spotted mackerel are in full swing and great numbers are being found.

The Coffs Coast has also been lucky enough to encounter one of the best seasons for wahoo I can personally recall in a long time. A good starting point is to troll deep diving hardbodies such as the old faithful Halco Laser Pro out wide in the raging hot current around pinnacles rising into the 40-30m depth.

The author caught this shallow water snapper on a plastic.

James Axton with a jerk shad munching snapper.

From page 58

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the opportunity is lost. This instinct is even stronger when there are other fish around to compete with.

If bread and butter species are what you want to chase, berley is a good option to get the small baitfish working at your feet. The larger predators usually won’t be far behind.

Just be aware that we have some big swell at times, and with the currents being the way they are, you need to stay safe and never turn your back on the waves.

Remember that you’re doing one of the most dangerous sports in the world.

RIVERS In the rivers, the fishing has been up and down following large flushes of rain. The bottom of the tide has been consistently dirty, and at times like these you need to focus your efforts

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the mouth with the rest of the fish.

Mangrove jack have been scarce lately, but there have been some good captures on live poddy mullet and herring fished under a float. Gold-spotted cod and estuary cod have also been taking live baits meant for jacks.

The higher reaches of the rivers have been hard to get to because the water has been flowing quite hard. However, as the currents subside we will find that the bass will be quite active, as there have been some great insect hatches over the last couple of months.

Thank you to everyone who has been reading my regular Coffs reports at wp.fishingmonthly.com. au. I have now retired from writing them, but other staff members at MO Tackle will be taking over to keep you informed.

Watch this space to see feature articles from me in future editions of Fishing Monthly.

LE

ANCHOR DESIGNS

on the top of the tide. If we don’t get much rain, conditions will come good again and you’ll be able to fish at all stages of the tide.

Generally we’re finding a lot of bait congregating down towards the mouths.

Fishing the flats is the most successful way of catching whiting, bream and flathead at this time of year. With these warmer conditions we’re finding a more aggressive bite than we get in winter. Small stickbaits, little poppers and soft plastics are good lure choices, while nippers, worms and small whitebait are the most popular baits.

Mulloway move in and out of certain areas at this time of year, but it can be difficult to chase them.

Dialling in on tide changes and bait movement is key to having a successful session on these silver slabs.

Before the rains the trevally were widespread throughout the system chasing baitfish, but when the dirty water appeared they started congregating at

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Be sure to have plenty of line on the spool and run a good quality multi-strand wire trace in front of your lures as these speedsters can leave you scratching your head in awe in the blink of an eye.

As I write this, the dirty water from recent rains is still lingering around in close, specifically around the river mouths of our estuary systems, but it has not really deterred the pelagic species all that much though. If anything, it has encouraged great amounts of bait. As the age-old saying goes, rain on the land means it rains in the ocean. Trolling a live slimy mackerel, pike or yakka, or chin-weighted dead baits such as bonito around the bait grounds is the most successful method for catching yourself a mackerel.

If you are out earlier, why not try for a snapper in close as the sun rises? We have been bringing undone

some great reds on plastics in the shallows in the murky water recently.

A little wider and deeper, there are plenty of good reef species such as snapper, pearl perch and tuskfish out in 40-80m of water. The current can be testing at times but any break in the weather and you should give them a crack. A simple paternoster rig with a mix of squid and pilchard baits with an 8oz lead on the bottom seems to do the trick. Any fresh slab baits and even live baits dropped to fish marked on the sounder in these depths do not stand a chance.

Out on the shelf the billfishing has been as good as it gets with reports of boats getting the holy grail grand slam (blue, black and striped marlin) all in a day’s work.

The Coffs Coast Game & Sport Fishing Undertow Hot Current Tournament on this month (9-11 April) is sure to

be a cracker if the conditions and fish play the part!

ESTUARIES AND BEACHES Bread and butter species such as bream, whiting and flathead are on offer with fresh live pink nippers the best bait to gather a feed.

‘Fish light to get the bite’ is my advice; 6lb leader and lightly weighted sinkers or lures work the best. A pilchard on a set of gangs can produce a whole range of species off the beach. Bream and tailor are the most common species but don’t be surprised if you encounter the odd mulloway (jewfish).

With the rivers still running a bit of colour there is no better time to target a BIG estuarine mulloway. The lower parts closer to ocean bars make for tough fishing conditions when the tide is ripping in and out, but it’s a great place for these big river monsters to ambush and feed

Craig Hanlon with a nice wahoo.

Joel Sorensen caught this wahoo on a Halco Laser Pro. on mullet and other bait being flushed out of the systems.

Live poddy mullet and large 6” paddle-tail soft plastics both work exceptionally well. Target systems like the Clarence River around Yamba/Iluka and the Macleay River at South West Rocks. Focus your efforts around deepwater rock walls and areas with white water or wash, as the mulloway lie under it for protection, and to ambush prey. Current eddies make a good target location also!

Trevally and mangrove jack are still tormenting anglers in the estuaries. You can spend hours and hours targeting both of these hardfighting species. Soft plastics replicating a herring or mullet are a great lure choice, and you will also get plenty on topwater stickbaits. Simply search the mid region of the estuary and target rocky reefs, fallen tree snags and the like.

A quality sounder also makes it easier to seek out structure in deeper water.

Until next month, cast like there is no tomorrow and retrieve like you have all the time in the world.

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61

NSW

What will the weather gods do?

THE HASTINGS

Mark Saxon castawayestuarycharters@bigpond.com

Well, if you want a case of serious foot-in-mouth disease, become a fishing writer for a monthly column! My March report started with yours truly mentioning the water was clearing, and it was.

However, with the heavens letting go once again, the

waterways of the Hastings soon turned to a lovely shade of mud.

Now as we move into April and the Easter break, let’s hope we’ll have reasonable conditions for locals and travelling anglers to get on the water as there will be plenty of options to keep anglers happy.

Offshore anglers will have Spanish mackerel on their list if previous seasons are anything to go by, and

already fish have been caught from the Northern grounds.

However, I have also heard reports that the sharks have

Avoid the crowds and maybe you will avoid the sharks.

The reef fishos have had a tough run with plenty of

Tom with a coal wall flathead.

Josh with a nice flatty from the coal wall.

days lately being unfishable, but when you do get the chance to get out, there are some good snapper, pearlies, flatties and kingfish about.

Moving around has been the key to getting a feed of fish.

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Riley scored this good tailor from the lighthouse recently.

Beach fishing this month can be good, and a lot will depend on what the bigger seas have done to the formations. There are likely to be some new holes and gutters, and hopefully the mouth of Lake Cathie is still open as this beach will be well worth a look. I suggest a drive to check out beaches rather than just rocking up to fish. This can save you plenty of wasted time in the wrong areas.

Beachworms will be the choice bait for whiting and bream and the school jewfish (mulloway) don’t mind them either.

Tailor can be caught using pilchards or garfish on ganged hook rigs or you can spin some up with a 45-65g metal spinner. High tides on daylight and early hours of the evening are great times to fish from the sand. Many anglers are now casting a lot more lures from the beach such as hardbodied divers as well as surface presentations

been painful, taking their fair share of the hooked fish. The local mackerel grounds have become extremely busy so if you have a few sneaky areas, it may be worth fishing them.

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APRIL 2021

Rob and Jeff fishing surface lures for bream.

To page 63

NSW

Unreal pelagic fishing FORSTER

Luke Austin

April is an amazing time of the year here in the Great Lakes – the weather is perfect, and the water

fish and most have been of a good size (45-60cm). Like always, artificial offerings are out-fishing any baits, and the fish seem to be more numerous up around Coomba Park, the back of Wallis Island, Regatta Island

very consistent with plenty of nice whiting, the odd tailor, bream and flathead and more than a couple of mulloway up to 1.2m. By far the most productive way of snagging a few fish off the beach at the moment is to

A big Spanish mackerel is always a welcome catch.

Don’t ignore the snapper in April because there’s plenty about, like this one caught by local angler Mitch Reilly. is nice and warm. For anglers, it is this month that we see some of the best fishing action for the whole year. There is a huge array of species on offer and no matter where you choose to fish you are likely to run into something worth catching!

The local estuary fishing is firing. Big bream are about in huge numbers down around the bridge and rock walls as they start their annual spawning mission, with fish well over the 40cm mark being fairly common.

Baits of mullet, bonito, slimy mackerel and pilchard are all working really well. The fish can be caught at any time/ tide but the top of the tide is proving to be particularly productive.

Mixed in with the bream are some very solid leatherjacket, and these are much better for the table in my opinion. I saw one during the week that was a tad over 40cm!

Flathead have slowed up considerably, however those anglers who have put the time in have found plenty of From page 62

like Sugapens. The results have been impressive with whiting and bream caught off the surface, plus good flathead on the diving lures. Find a gutter or hole and give it a try. You don’t need to cast miles, just find the formation and put in the time getting it wired.

River fishing has been interesting, and with the constant rain causing dirty water on and off since Christmas, you could say the fishing

and The Cut. Luderick season has kicked off nice and early with a lot of fish starting to hold along our rock walls, the bridge pylons and in The Paddock. For now, there is more than enough weed available locally, and the fish are also taking artificial presentations which can make targeting them very easy.

On our local ledges, all systems are go. There is loads of bait about and plenty of predators mowing their way through it. The longtail tuna action has been very well spread out this season; it doesn’t really matter where you choose to fish, you are in with a good chance of seeing a fish or two. Along with the tuna there has been the odd mackerel and cobia.

Not all anglers are after the pelagic speedsters. If we get a few days of rough conditions, this is a great time of the year to have a go at nailing a few black drummer, big ocean bream and luderick.

Beach reports over the last few weeks have been

use beach worms. Just about everything (except tailor) loves a good old beach worm, especially mulloway!

The ocean is absolutely alive at the moment. The pelagic fishery has been unreal this year, with plenty of anglers finding quality fish. Longtail tuna are chasing garfish right

has been challenging. It’s not impossible though. The lower reaches have fished well for all your estuarine species, with flathead and bream taking top billing. The coal wall, Settlement Point road as well as the front of Limeburners Creek have fished reasonably well for flathead, with a few nice fish being caught.

Bait schools down the front have remained plentiful, as have the chopper tailor, destroying my soft plastics collection. However,

getting your lure or bait past these pesky schools can result in some good fish being caught. Soft vibes or metal blades work well in these conditions as they tend to get through quicker than plastics.

The sandflats hopefully will be clear enough to fish for whiting this month because usually April is very good for casting surface lures around Pelican island.

Time will tell.

That’s it for this month.

Have a great Easter!

up and down the coast, the FAD is producing plenty of mahimahi and the reefs to the north are holding spotted and Spanish mackerel. This year’s mackerel are very healthy with most spotties being up around the 5-8kg

mark. Mixed in with them are some very nice Spanish with a few fish hitting the 30kg mark.

If you decide to chase the pelagics and find no joy, don’t despair because the same inshore reefs are also

It’s pelagic time!

holding plenty of very nice snapper. It’s amazing how many good reds get taken every year on live baits intended for mackerel!

For those wishing to ignore the temptation to chase a pelagic, the demersal action has been great all over the place. The snapper are great in close as well as out on the deeper stuff, with some cracking fish even being caught as deep as 170m! Mixed in with the reds have been the odd trag, pearl perch and bar cod on the wider marks.

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NSW

Best month of the year PORT STEPHENS

Paul Lennon

April is without question my favourite month of the year to fish the waters of Port Stephens. At this time of year it’s sometimes hard to know just what to target and where to fish as there are so many good options.

great target at this time of year, with stonkers close to 1m in length lurking the shallows from Jimmys Beach through to North Arm Cove.

Bream are pushing into the bay too, and they’re schooling up around the rock walls and structure from Nelson Bay through to Soldiers Point and Tea Gardens. Lightly weighted soft plastics or small

Big duskies are lurking on the mangrove edges.

In the estuary, tailor, bonito, frigate mackerel and the ultimate pelagic estuary prize – longtail tuna – are all terrorising masses of baitfish as huge schools of whitebait, anchovies, garfish, yellowtail and slimy mackerel spread from one end of the bay to the other.

Metal lures under 20g are ideal for the smaller pelagic fish, while larger 30-60g metals or stickbait style lures are the preferred option for longtails.

Fish the bottom end of the bay from Middle Island through to Yacaaba and constantly keep an eye out for any surface bust-ups or bird activity. When you do spot a feeding school of fish, try to determine which direction they are going in, then position yourself in front of them, cut your motor and wait for them to come to you.

The biggest mistake you can make is driving into the school of feeding fish as you will usually just send them down and blow your chance.

Dusky flathead are another

Port Stephens Estuary Charters

Soldiers Point and the bridges at Karuah all well worth a shot with either live baits or large soft plastic and vibe lures.

ROCKS Land-based game season is a big deal in Port Stephens, and April is smack bang in the middle of it. While longtail tuna are the main target, cobia are also a prized catch for LBG fishos. The best way to get connected to these trophy fish is by fishing live baits suspended under a float whilst fishing off one of the deeper local rock ledges.

BEACHES Mulloway are there to be caught this month with Stockton, Samurai and One Mile all great options to spend a few hours after dark fishing with bigger baits.

Tailor will also be found on the surf beaches, with dawn and dusk periods the key to success using whole pilchards on gang hooks or metal spinners.

OUTSIDE Marlin continue to be caught inshore however they

A beautiful big silver ghost. diving hardbodies will work well, as will anchoring up and berleying while casting unweighted nippers.

Squid are hanging over the weed beds around the Nelson Bay and Shoal Bay as well as Jimmys Beach, with 2.5 sized jigs working best.

Mulloway can also be added to your list of target species this month, with the deeper drop-offs around

will start to taper off the further we get into April. However, the bite on the shelf for stripes and blues should kick on until at least June.

Slow trolling a live bait around the islands has a very good chance of producing a cobia or king, just make sure you’re running adequate gear. I have found that 50lb is a good starting point to tip the odds in your favour of actually landing

All manner of pelagics are inside the bay this month with everything from Watson’s leaping bonito to longtail tuna. what you hook.

Reds are on the chew and will only get better over the next few months, with both bait and lure fishing techniques

working. Fish late afternoons and early mornings for the most success.

Bottom fishing paternoster type rigs on the deeper reefs

The mullet run begins SWANSEA

Jason Nunn

Offshore fishing has been quite unusual lately because we’ve had that really warm water come down the coast. It’s impossible to say whether this will continue through April, but in the meantime we’ve got 26°C water on the shelf and virtually 22°C on the beach so we’re seeing really unprecedented fishing.

Out wide the blue marlin turned up in early March, along with very nice mahimahi (dolphinfish) and a lot of wahoo. The wahoo aren’t only at the shelf – they’re also being caught at the FAD,

because the water temperature is consistent to the Farm.

The best ways of getting in on the action are live slimies and skirted lures. If you can’t get live slimies, you can use yellowtail, which are plentiful around most of the reefs. If you use 8” skirts out there you’ll catch a lot of striped tuna, rather than marlin or big mahimahi.

Anglers have been reporting really nice catches of trag up to 3kg, which is great to see in our local waters.

We are also seeing quite a few small snapper in relatively good numbers, with some anglers catching 8-15 in a trip.

The average size will increase as we head into May. If you’re offshore and can’t

ens estuary system the beautiful Port Steph signed g charter that can be de with a calm water fishin to family bait fishing to suit your needs from hing anglers. hardcore lure and fly fis

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64

APRIL 2021

between 40-80m will prove productive this month, yielding a range of species such as snapper, trag, nannygai, and pearl perch.

You never know what you’ll catch in Lake Macquarie.

This big diamond trevally put up a great fight.

catch a good feed of flatties, you’re not trying! They’re being caught over the back edge of the coastal reefs where the reef fades onto the sand. You just anchor up, float out a bait for snapper and drop down for flatties.

Flathead are being also being caught over the gravel patches off the headlands, or you can go drifting the backs of the beaches.

The warm 23°C water close in has made for some great marlin fishing in just 30-40m of water. When live baiting or skip baiting with 8-10” slimies you can catch little blacks from 15-40kg.

Some anglers use bigger baits as skip baits, tease the fish up and then switch to a smaller bait. Alternatively, you can run teasers and then pitch your livies at the marlin as they come up.

While targeting the little blacks you can also pick up kingfish and cobia.

Speaking of cobia, there have been some notable catches lately of good fish over 20kg, along with a few Spanish mackerel prowling around Moon Island, taking bites out of hooked bonito.

If you find you’re getting bitten off, send a big bait out on 80lb single strand wire leader, and see if you can catch the culprit. It’s likely you’ll catch a shark, but there’s always the chance of something better.

If the sharks are bothering you, you’ll need to move a fair distance away.

I move at least two miles.

The mac tuna arrived early this year, and there are vast schools all up and down the coast. Popular spots include Red Head, Moon Island and Catherine Hill Bay. They’re averaging To page 65

NSW

April estuary action CENTRAL COAST

Jamie Robley

Welcome to what is often the best fishing month of the year. I say that tentatively though, because unstable weather threw a spanner in

lures remains very effective.

This should continue to be the case until we get the first couple of proper cold snaps.

Once this happens the fish will start to move out of the shallows, back into deeper water. Some bream will also begin moving towards the

and the swell is up then it’s probably best to postpone your mission anyway.

Over the years I’ve found all species to be very active along the coast in April, with the smaller frigates and Watson’s bonito being about in good numbers at this stage

Anglers trying their luck by lure casting inside the Terrigal Haven. It’s normally quite productive here in April, with frigate mackerel, tailor and squid being the main targets.

There are endless options around Brisbane Waters at this time of year. The bridges at Woy Woy are just one of them, with bream, flathead, luderick and the odd mulloway on the cards. the works during summer, and kept lingering on. All going well however, this is a great time of year for most species in our region.

ESTUARY ACTION Just prior to typing up this column, I took a drive around to check out some spots around Brisbane Waters that I hadn’t fished in a few years.

With a large morning high tide the water was quite clear and I saw very impressive numbers of bream almost everywhere. Typically, many were only small, but I spied a few big ones amongst them, as well as quite a few whiting.

This reflects what I’ve been catching in this system and the lakes recently. There’s no shortage of bream and some healthy whiting as well.

At the time of writing, water temps are still high, which means casting surface From page 64

around 1-3kg, so they’re not big fish, but they’re in very good numbers.

Of course there are also plenty of bonito, and there’s been a resurgence in tailor on the offshore reefs and local beaches.

Beach fishers are in for a good time around Easter.

As well as the tailor, bream are starting to school up on the beaches, and we are still getting mulloway and whiting. You can catch a great feed early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

There are no reports of salmon yet, but by late April/ early May they will be there.

Flathead catches are dwindling in the lake, as they move to the backs of the beaches and reefs. Squid catches are decreasing also.

At this time of year we start to see some of the tailor that were offshore and along the beaches move into the

of the season. While many anglers ignore these smaller speedsters in favour of more glamourous options, they do provide excellent sport on light tackle and are first rate bream or snapper bait, not to mention live or trolling baits for bigger kings or marlin.

Tailor and salmon also tend to increase in numbers

ocean for their spawning season. For now though, I would highly recommend chasing bream and whiting with lures or bait. Start off fishing the shallows and if that’s not successful then go a bit deeper. By ‘deeper’ I mean only a couple of metres deep at the most.

Brisbane Waters should also see a few mulloway pouncing on baits or lures, as well as flathead and some luderick starting to move around a bit more. The Entrance is another area to keep an eye out for early season luderick and of course bream, flathead and whiting.

INSHORE PELAGICS Once again, weather patterns have put a dampener on what could have been a fantastic season for inshore predators like bonito, kings, frigate mackerel and so on.

Yes, these fish certainly have been around, but some very solid swell has been periodically pounding the coast, which means rock fishing has been completely

wiped out and launching at Cabbage Tree Bay has been problematic. Terrigal Haven provides a more sheltered option, but if the wind is blowing hard

estuary. Already a few tailor are being caught around Pulbah Island in the lake, as they shadow the abundant baitfish. They can be caught on oily baits, or you can troll shallow or deep divers, or cast 40g chrome lures moving into winter.

In the lake there have been some nice kings getting caught on live squid, and anglers using downriggers have been getting a welcome by-catch of mulloway.

There have been some really nice bream caught in the lake, and this action should continue through April and into May. Because of the mullet run, everyone will switch to oily baits in the lake this month, such as pilchards, mullet strips or mullet gut. Yes, you can catch a good feed of bream on tube worms, but oily baits will work better.

If you prefer lure fishing, you can use crankbaits such as 35mm Daiwa Pressos,

Chubbies or Pro Lures, but bait will trump lures during the mullet run. To maximise your chances, start fishing at dusk and fish 3-4 hours into the night. Be sure to pack a jumper and beanie.

There are still a few whiting on the flats but they will drop off in autumn; you’re better off heading to the coastal beaches using worms as bait.

There are luderick in the channel but green weed is scarce. Imitation weed flies are a good alternative, and I like to fish them on a double hook rig, with the fly on the top and real weed on the bottom. I use a 14” length of fluoro leader for bait, and 6” leader for the fly. I have weight down to the swivel, rather than split shot, because I want the bait/fly to move naturally (split shot can also reduce the breaking strain). Interestingly, you get very solid hook-ups on the flies, perhaps because the fish discover they can’t nibble little

bits off it, so they engulf the whole thing. Berleying with a sand/weed mix will allow you to hold fish in the area.

Crabs have been a bit scarce, but hopefully things will improve this month. I’ll report back on this in my next report.

• Fisherman’s Warehouse Tackle World has a large range fresh and frozen bait as well as a huge range of rods, reels, lures and accessories.

They also sell and service outboard motors, and have a competitively-priced selection of new and second-hand boats. The friendly staff are all experienced local anglers, and they’re always happy to share their knowledge, whether you’re a novice or experienced angler. Drop in for a chat at 804 Pacific Highway, Marks Point, or give them a call on (02) 4945 2152. You can also find them on Facebook, or check out their website at www. fishermanswarehouse.com.au.

this month and it’s quite common to enjoy a red hot lure or fly casting session, hooking into a mixed bag of tailor, sambos, bonito, kings and frigates. This sort of thing also happens quite close in around Norah Head and Terrigal, so small boats and keen kayak anglers can get into the action. Always remember to stay safe by wearing life jackets and keeping a close eye on the weather.

MULLOWAY TIME Some of those tailor, bonito or frigates could also come in handy as mulloway bait. I would personally rate fresh tailor as one of the all-time best mulloway baits, but you can also use just about any strips of fresh fish as bait to catch tailor and then

use the tailor for bait as well.

April also just happens to be an excellent month to round up some calamari squid and fresh or frozen, it’s hard to go past locally-caught calamari if you’re serious about targeting mulloway.

Fresh or live mullet and beach worms are other first rate bait options for local mulloway.

Another reliable option this month is to chase bream from the rocks or beaches.

While there’s so much else on the cards, the humble bream may seem a bit lowly in comparison, but historically, my most productive rock fishing sessions for bream have mainly taken place in April. It’s not out of the ordinary to encounter them in very dense numbers this month.

The author has encountered some thumper whiting while lure casting for bream around the lakes and Brisbane Waters in recent weeks.

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NSW

A slippery problem ILLAWARRA

Greg Clarke

Let’s forget about the fish for a moment to get down to some serious business of rock fishing safety. What do you have to do to get it through people’s heads that if the ocean looks even slightly dodgy, go back home and fish another day! Even if you did drive 90 minutes to get there, it’s better to drive home than hitch a ride in a hearse.

There have been five deaths on the ledge at Hill 60 Port Kembla and yet people still fish there when the swell is up and dangerous – and they still get washed in. Signs in multiple languages don’t seem to work; common sense just doesn’t seem to exist.

And unfortunately, getting people together to educate them on rock fishing safety is a logistical nightmare.

Wearing a life jacket is a good safety measure, but it’s not guaranteed to save you. Out of the five people

probably your elbows and hips. Then you roll down into the white water and get sucked under and you don’t have any breath because you don’t think about that when rolling along the rocks. Even worse, most of the people who go in can’t swim even prior to being smashed, so they struggle to even get to the surface and stay there.

Something to think about.

Hill 60 is very popular because it is close to the water level, flat and mostly safe (if there is such a thing on the rocks) as it is protected from most swell by the islands that run around 2km to sea. However, if the swell is coming from the south or southeast it comes right at you, and most Aussies who surf know about set waves, where an average sea can jump up to a metre or better when the sets come. This is when you get into trouble, particularly on a rising tide. If a wave comes over any ledge you are on, even ankle deep, pack up and go somewhere safer.

and pull these people out of the drink when they go in. It’s a great feeling if you save someone, but a scar for life if you are recovering bodies, not to mention the danger involved in doing so. Most first responders are volunteers and are only young, and they don’t need that in their lives, so please spare a thought for others and not just yourself when conditions are not favourable.

You can’t fence the coastline, and handing out fines is not a solution. You can’t stop people doing what they love and there will probably be more fatalities.

All you can do is give good advice and hope that some of it sinks in and gets passed along the grapevine.

WHAT’S BITING All that said, the rocks are fishing well at the moment with heaps of pelagics on most of the deeper ledges including Hill 60. Bonito, mackerel tuna up to 8kg, longtails to 20kg if you are live baiting, kingfish of all sizes along with salmon,

Big bonnies are always around at this time of year to steal your kingfish baits. who died, one was wearing a PFD. He got knocked around on impact, and probably hit his head and couldn’t inflate it.

The reality is, if you get hit by a wave better than waist high and bowled down the rocks before you go in, I defy just about anyone to have the state of mind to find the pull cord and inflate the thing, particularly when you are in shock, damaged and trying to get to the surface with all your clothes on – that is if you are still conscious.

It might work if you get picked up and dropped in but that rarely happens. You usually get smashed, your hands are sliced to pieces from trying to stop yourself from sliding along the rocks, your knees are the same and 68

APRIL 2021

This is where the problem of Hill 60 gets tricky, because there’s really nowhere else to go that is safe in the area. If some cautious anglers leave to go home, everyone else is keen to stay because it’s less crowded than usual.

Anglers used to be able to fish in Port harbour on the jetties but they have all been made no-fish zones. Then there were the break walls that would accommodate dozens of anglers and were usually very safe in most conditions and had good fishing, but they have been shut down too. The result is that everyone has been condensed into the one spot at Hill 60, so there is no plan B when the sea is up.

Then there are the first responders who have to go

Fish in close during the evenings for some nice snapper. trevally, tailor and even a stray spotty mackerel taking pilchards and lures.

Throw in some berley and there are plenty of bream and trevally on the move. Add some green weed and there are some very solid blackfish and drummer about, and with the full moon of Easter early this month there should be some good snapper in the washes during the evenings and early mornings.

The estuaries have slowed a little but there are plenty of flathead grabbing lures and baits, and the bream will be getting more numerous and bigger over the coming weeks. ANZAC Day is always good for a throw for big bream after the dawn service.

The beaches are still going great guns with plenty of whiting and bream on worms along with a few dart. Plastics are getting some nice flathead and even the odd small jewie in the deeper gutters, while pilchards and fresh mackerel fillets are scoring tailor and salmon during the evenings in the same deeper gutters.

Up the bait sizes and fish the top of the tides in the dark for some quality jewfish. You don’t get them every time but the odds are in your favour this month.

The more time you put in, the better the odds.

The offshore action isn’t as hectic as February and March but it has its days with still the chance of a marlin particularly the big blues out over the shelf and the odd black and striped in closer. Dolphinfish are still around the FADs but can be a bit hit and miss with live baits producing the best results.

Yellowfin tuna could show up any time and are a bit of a lottery these days, with their arrival in the hands of the currents. If you find some warm water there is still the chance of a spearfish or even a wahoo at this time of the season too.

In closer the snapper will be over the close shallow reefs in the early part of the month. Plastics in shallow water mean a lot of casting, while putting down a little berley whilst at anchor gives pretty good results too and

Catch a mac tuna and use it for bait and berley to catch your bream. You can’t miss.

is much less work.

The snapper seem to be hanging about over the reefs up to 30m deep during the day so a drift with plastics is worth a go there.

Kingfish are on the chew around the islands and the other spots like Bass Point and Bellambi, but they have been finicky and there one day, gone the next.

However, when you do find them there are some good fish to 10kg among them.

When chasing the kings with live baits you will probably run into some extra large bonito that are always around during April. Fish to 6kg are not uncommon and they love big live slimies.

Schools of pelagics in the form of bonito, salmon, tailor and mac tuna are all along the coast in close, just look for the birds and splashes as they slice up the baitfish. There are also plenty of bream and trevally hanging below, picking up the scraps. Use small, shiny lures for the pelagics, with pilchard pieces doing the damage on the bream and trevally.

Flathead don’t mind the baitfish either and they are in good numbers on all the sand patches all along the coast. The reefs are producing plenty of small to medium snapper, samsonfish, mowies and plenty of leatherjackets.

The estuaries are starting to cool a little but the flathead are still biting where the warmer ocean water comes in on the tide.

Blackfish are around the break wall and under the bridge with some bream in the creeks and around the rocky parts of the foreshores, and a few whiting are still hanging around the sand flats at the entrance.

Minnamurra has flathead and a few whiting too, with bream as always around the bridges during the evenings.

Good luck.

NSW

The fishing is on fire!

BATEMANS BAY

Anthony Stokman

This is a much better change – the fishing is on fire, instead of us!

In some areas you can hardly tell that we had bushfires. The rain and moisture has revitalised the burnt trees and there is green everywhere. All this rain, good currents, warm temperatures, loads of bait and flushed out lakes have been great ingredients for a great fishery.

The fishing on the south coast is very season driven,

Batemans Bay started the season with a bang at the end of December and then held some consistency throughout the season and coming into autumn.

Bermagui had some fish and there were some good runs right down to Eden.

We see a lot more people using strip teaser dredges now, and I like the new Hookem dredge and teaser boom. You can put it in a rod holder and it sits out like a mini outrigger, and you attach your dredge teaser to it and run it out in its own lane between the outrigger and the boat corner. It makes

Louis Campbell knows the tricks and proves it with this impressive bream. and as long as you target the right species at the right time of year, you’ll bring home the bacon, or fish.

For example, you don’t go chasing whiting in winter, or trolling for mahimahi in winter. Yes, it’s possible to catch them in the colder months, but you’re better off with different targets.

We have a lot of fish species that are caught all year round like drummer and snapper, while marlin are an extremely seasonal fish, migrating up and down our east coast, swimming in our Eastern Australian Current and feeding on baitfish. Last summer and coming into autumn the marlin fishing has been on fire. There have been great numbers being caught and many boats having double figure days. We had a very consistent run off Jervis Bay and you could count on that area over the season to be holding bait and fish.

the operation smooth and presents the fish strips better. On the outrigger I run a skip bait just behind it. I like to run another two teasers, a surface action dredge bar out the middle past the strip teaser, and then out a bit further a big Moldcraft on a teaser rod that’s out from the corner.

On the other outrigger I’ll run another skipbait just behind the Moldcraft lure.

This is a great set-up and can be easily adjusted and pulled in fast and smooth when you want to switch to livies.

At this stage the marlin action looks like it will continue throughout April, and it will most likely wind down in May. Mahimahi have been quite thick this season.

There are masses of small ones around the FAD most of the time, with some bigger fish being found around fish traps or other

structures. They can be expected as a common by-catch whilst chasing beakies this month.

For boaters fishing closer to shore, the snapper run continues with some good fish around 2-3kg and the odd bigger model.

These guys are in every depth, with the 60m depth probably being more consistent. Plastic lure fishos love the shallows, and most punters fish 30-40m and it’s at that depth where there have been quite a few gummy sharks getting caught.

There have been a lot of sharks this season, from whites to makos, gummies, hammerheads, school sharks and bronzies – plenty of them, some you like catching and some you don’t. It’s always a good idea to have a wire shark rig ready to go on a half decent outfit.

The kingfish have been surprising anglers every now and then when they take a bait on a paternoster rig when reef fishing. It doesn’t always end well, but when it does it definitely puts smiles on dials. It’s also a good idea to have a half decent outfit ready for these customers. That outfit can double as your shark one – just be quick and ready to swap over rigs or lures by having things connected to snap swivels.

Flathead have been fairly consistent throughout the season for bottom bashing around all the flathead grounds, and these fish can be caught all year round. Paternoster rigs with flashers have been a popular approach.

Off the stones and break walls there has been a big run of large salmon.

Broulee, Moruya break wall down to Bingie and Narooma seems to have had a good run of them.

Casting metal lures and stickbaits have been the go. Some of the beaches with spread out rocks have been having some massive bream as well as salmon.

The beaches and lakes this season has been great for whiting.

Whiting love worms, which has been perfect because the worms have been plentiful.

Anyone who has gone out and caught fresh worms has been guaranteed whiting.

Beaches like Bengello, Barlings, Durras and Bawley have had good runs of whiting and have good beach worms also.

The estuaries and lakes have been going well for bream, especially around oyster racks. A lot of big bream have been getting caught and it seems they are in great numbers. I

David Decorte found some surprise kings while reef fishing. recommend very light but strong set-ups for bream, using thin, hard fluorocarbon down to 4lb sometimes and small, thin, prickly strong hooks, and sometimes no sinker when bait fishing. Staying as light as possible can do wonders.

Lately they have been feeding very aggressively and a customer has been catching them from the break wall with 14lb line,

but as the water gets cooler and clearer the thinner line will be needed.

Prawns have also been good over the last dark moon phase and we can expect prawns to run throughout autumn. The crabs on the other hand have been a bit slow and a lot of traps have been empty. Still, you can’t have it all, and having prawns on the run is nothing to be

GULF RUNNER 550

complaining about.

Well, there you have it, autumn lovers. You can’t go wrong really.

• For more up-to-theminute information on what’s biting where, drop into Compleat Angler Batemans Bay and have a chat to Anthony or one of the other friendly staff.

They’re located at 65A Orient St, Batemans Bay (02 4472 2559).

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NSW

It has been a great season for Wallaga Lake BERMAGUI

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

Wallaga Lake is an amazing fishery when it is open to the ocean, and what a season this has been due to that fact. There is still frantic

action happening.

The reason there are so many fish entering this system from the ocean is due to the various food sources available within the lake. At the top of the list are squirt worms, and there are billions of them in this system. The sand flats just inside the entrance of

the lake hold their share, and as the rising tide floods over these areas so do the fish. These worms are easily acquired by the use of a bait pump with a slow, purposeful single pull. They may break apart easily when you are putting them on a hook so you may need two or three of the

Red gurnard are often a by-catch while targeting flathead offshore, and they are just as tasty.

Whiting love squirt worms, and Wallaga has both.

head section to obtain a reasonable bait.

On calm, clear sunny days, you can polaroid species like bream, whiting, mullet, luderick or tarwhine grazing over these worm beds, where a well-placed worm will have only a moment before being eaten.

Worms are not the only food source in the lake for

fish to feed on – there are other riches for them in the form of nippers, pipis, cockles, oysters, octopus and, at this time of year, thousands of small prawns that flathead especially will gorge upon. Unfortunately, this event will only last while the lake is open to the ocean and once closed we will have to wait again for a major rain event

which will open the lake again, so make the most of it while it lasts.

Offshore it has also been an amazing season, because when there is plenty of rain on land it filters its way to the ocean.

Flathead are a very soughtafter fish these days out at sea with both tiger and sand flathead being only To page 71

Cool weather set in TATHRA

Darren Redman djsxstreamfishing@bigpond.com

Late summer has felt more like an early autumn, although this has not had a negative effect on the fishing action. In fact, it has improved it.

Offshore anglers are having a fine time with the many flathead to be found.

Out from most beaches, sand flathead are an easy

catch while further afield, tiger flathead are out in the deeper water and are looking to stay consistent.

Moving in over the reefs north and south are schools of snapper. These can be targeted in shallow water on both lures and bait or out wider with just the bait. Goalen Head and out from Nelsons are the better reefs to target, where there is a good mix of morwong, wrasse, leatherjackets and perch to be had with the snapper. Be prepared as there

have been quite a few kings within these areas too.

Trolling close to shore you will pick up some of the smaller pelagics already mentioned, and they will provide plenty of entertainment. Small bibbed lures along with some skirted lures is all you need.

Have a spin stick ready for any fish following those already hooked.

Out wide, gamefish action is solid with marlin still hanging around and tuna species starting to arrive.

Trolling lures will attract

The Bega River is famous for its bream and there are plenty in there.

Drummer are a great sportfish and are lovely eating. There are plenty of them off the rocks behind Tathra Pub. 70

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most action out around the Shelf and Tathra Canyons.

Large blue marlin are often encountered at this time of year as they follow the tuna schools. These schools will be made up of small striped, medium albacore through to the larger yellowfin. These tuna will also be taken on the lures but if they start to concentrate try berleying where they might come up the trail making for easier, peaceful angling.

Around Tathra Wharf things have changed too.

Often underrated but delicious, sea garfish have moved in, providing both great fun and a good feed.

Underneath them are some good trevally only too willing to try to wrap a line around the nearest pylon. On the surface out the front of the platform, schools of salmon, bonito, frigate mackerel and kingfish pass, and for those anglers who are on the ball, there can be action aplenty.

Minnow style lures and metal plugs are working well, while live slimy mackerel or yellowtail will account for the larger kingfish.

These species can also be found on the rocks adjacent to the wharf right around through to Kianinny Bay boat ramp. In Kianinny Bay where it is sheltered,

those schools of garfish will congregate out of the rougher offshore water, providing easy angling.

On the rocks down below the pub around dusk and dawn, schools of drummer can be found on cabbage weed and cunjevoi.

Floats or simple rigs of a small ball sinker run to the hook is all you need to extract them.

Beaches within the area are holding good numbers of salmon. These can be taken on either bait or lure with the latter being more fun. Whiting, bream and mullet can be To page 71

NSW From page 70

too easy to acquire within relatively close proximity to the harbour. The bycatches while chasing flathead are a welcome bonus in the form of a tasty gummy shark, red gurnard or latchet.

On or around the many reefy areas in various water depths, snapper are increasing in numbers as we now enter the autumn phase. Mixing with them are your other local candidates like jackass or blue morwong, ocean perch, pigfish, nannygai or some tassie trumpeter out on the deeper reefs.

Up at Montague Island the kingfish are increasing in size where there seems to be plenty of them. Live baits, squid or jigs will work, and you just have to find what works best on the day. Out behind the island where fisheries have anchored a FAD, dolphinfish have been a regular visitor providing anglers with plenty of action whether they are using baits or lures.

On the game scene there is plenty to get excited about because it’s that time of year when we get a crossover of species.

At this time of the season

marlin are still around and it is quite likely you may encounter some very large blue marlin. Trolling lures may excite the big blues out over the Continental Shelf or over the Canyons while stripes or blacks are more likely to be found around or just inside the Shelf.

It is also the time when tuna start to show.

Yellowfin are likely to be the first, taking lures or baits intended for marlin, along with an early showing of albacore. These may be more of an incidental catch at first, however the catches should intensify as the season moves forward.

Squirt worms live in less than a metre of water, so where do you think the fish are on a rising tide?

From page 70

targeted on beach worms in the shallower gutters near the entrances of the estuary systems.

The Bega River is a magnificent system holding a variety of species, and the ways of targeting them are just as varied. Now, due to recent rain and the time of year, fish stocks are more concentrated in

the lower parts, and this means easier fishing whether it be bait or lure. Lure anglers are enjoying these delights in the form of some excellent flathead towards the entrance in both shallow and deeper water. There is the odd jewfish there as well, while further up the system around Thompsons, bream and estuary perch are in good numbers.

If bait fishing is your style, it cannot be better than now. The species mentioned above will all react to baits like prawns, nippers, worms, live mullet and striped tuna.

Whiting, mullet and trevally are over the flats towards the mouth while blackfish are being taken on weed around the bridge and rocks adjacent to the boat ramp.

Trevally can be found in the estuaries, off the rocks, out at sea and are a specialty at Tathra Wharf.

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Making a meal of mice HUNTER VALLEY

Nick Price

What a season for surface action on both Glenbawn and St Clair. The rain has kept coming, the dams have been rising steadily and flooding new ground, and the big fish have stayed on the edges. Both lakes

you need to work the lure with a stop-start or erratic action. The bass will also follow the lure out and hit it in open water, so be prepared for a surface strike at any time. This type of fishing has to be one of my favourites and has been consistently catching fish all summer and now into autumn.

There have been

moment in time.

You can either fish vertically by dropping your plastic down through the fish and slowly wind up through the school, or cast out and work the plastic back through the school horizontally.

A good trick when doing this is to count your plastic down to the required depth before you start the retrieve.

The larger bass are found on the edge.

A nice bass caught on the surface up in the flooded edge. have not fished this well for years.

The bass have been feasting on mice, and they must be good for them because they have been getting fat. The bass on the edge in particular are in

schooled fish sitting off points and around timber, sitting in the 20-30ft range.

These fish are being caught on paddle-tail plastics. As the water continues to cool some of these bass will move to the edge while others will stay

If the fish are sitting in, say, 20ft of water, go to 20ft of water and drop your plastic.

Count until the plastic hits

the bottom. Now go out and cast past the school, count so you know your plastic is at the required depth, and bring your plastic slowly through the school.

If you are lucky enough to own a next gen sounder like the Garmin Panoptix Livescope, you can watch your lure on the screen and make sure it is working through the school.

Depending on the mood of the fish, small spoons, blades and ice jigs will also work on these schooled fish. Again, you can work

them either vertically or horizontally.

Bait fishing is also very productive. With the fish sitting in the 20-30ft range, tie to a tree and drop your yabby or worm down. If these baits are hard to get, frozen prawns will also work. The trick to bait fishing is to keep moving until you find the fish. If you have not caught a fish in 20 minutes, move trees, and keep moving until you find the fish.

The tournament season has started and there are many tournaments scheduled

for both Glenbawn and St Clair. If you want to meet like-minded people and have some fun, enter one of these.

You will find that other anglers are there to help, particularly for newcomers.

You will learn some new techniques while meeting nice people.

If you are heading to either lake make sure you drop in and see us at Aberdeen. We know where the fish are and what their biting on. We want you to catch fish and are keen to help.

Reaction lures get results NEW ENGLAND RIVERS

Adam Townsend

The change of season has been good to us so far, with cooler weather gracing the Northern Tablelands.

Previous seasons have proved that this is always a perfect time of year to be out on the water, whether it be on the local impoundments or spending time on a river somewhere.

We are now already a

month into autumn, and with the consistent weather around lately, the fishing has been really productive all around the New England area. There are many different fishing options at this time of year, and it just comes down to what fish you want to chase the most.

When choosing a river to fish around the New England area, the best place to start is simply by looking at Google Maps for a public spot such as a TSR or start

At 234mm long, the Megabass Garuda can be worked slowly as a wakebait on top of the water but with a quicker retrieve, it can be worked sub-surface like a crankbait when in search of a reaction bite (also with a chin weight option for deeper water).

School fish are usually smaller but they are great fun to catch. great condition.

To catch these bass you will need to fish a noisy surface lure, and throw it right up into the flooded grass area. Sometimes the bass prefer a lure that’s retrieved slowly, and at other times 72

APRIL 2021

schooled. When targeting these fish I like to use a 1/4oz or 1/6oz jighead with a 2-3” plastic. Make sure you vary the colour and keep trying different coloured plastics until you find the one that the bass want at that particular

A big, chunky impoundment yellowbelly caught on a Garuda. Reaction baits can be very productive at this time of year.

exploring above and below the impoundments. Pretty much every river around the Tablelands area has fish species in it, with the main species being Murray cod, yellowbelly and redfin perch.

The perfect way to find active fish at this time of year is by covering ground with a shallow diving crankbait,

chatterbait or spinnerbait, which can be worked quickly through snags and over shallow weed beds looking for a reaction bite.

We are still a couple of months away from winter, but big cod are known to be caught on bigger baits leading up until the first To page 73

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The first frosts to bite LITHGOW/OBERON

Glen Stewart stewie72@bigpond.com

Old jack frost is all about transferring local landscapes into white, prewinter wonderlands. It’s pretty to look at from the warmth of a car but oh, so cold once you’re walking amongst the crusty white tips of the grass by the river.

It’s a good thing I’ve packed the neoprene gumboots. The mud is not so sloppy, in fact it’s frozen solid.

I can see the perfect tracks of deer solidified temporarily until a mid-morning thaw.

Gosh how good will that be, a warm sun on my back and a brace of trout in my bag.

Autumn is a lovely time of year on the Central Tablelands of NSW, possibly my favourite in fact. The possibilities from a fishing perspective are endless; almost everything in nature has enjoyed a bountiful cool summer with plenty of rain.

I have never seen the local trout streams look better.

Bigger fish are few and far between, but hopefully the years ahead will be fruitful in this regard. Smaller trout abound in some areas thanks to local trout acclimatization efforts. Wilful little rainbows

The migration or moving patterns of our golden perch in local impoundments such as Windamere, Burrendong, and Wyangala is very interesting.

Generally speaking, the perch pull back to the standing timber as water temperatures drop.

From page 72

frost. This can sometimes come pretty early in the New England area, which is known to sometimes have 5-month winters.

Both Copeton and Pindari dams have been fishing well in recent weeks, with quality golden perch and Murray cod as well as the odd silver perch being caught on lures and bait. The inlets have been most productive

where water can be found flowing into the dams, so I recommend doing a bit of research and checking the areas out during the day for structure, depth etc. Then you can fish those same spots late into the afternoon/ night or very early in the morning before the sun starts to get too high in the sky.

Surface lures have still been finding the odd fish however sub-surface style lures seem to be finding the

are keen to attack flies and lures. Careful handling is key.

It’s best to use small barbless hooks and keep the fish wet before sending them on their merry way.

Office hours are great for the sunlight-driven insect hatches that all fly fishers adore. Gosh you guys get it good!

Matching the hatch is not always critical, but the size of offerings needs to be kept in check. Black spinners, red tags and caddis flies will cover most of what you need when it comes to surface eaters.

When it comes to lure fishing, it’s hard to go past a 5cm or 7cm Rapala minnow in the slower medium runs and a bladed spinner for the fast water.

TROUT LAKE OPTIONS C ooler w ater temperatures encourage tout to feed more often in the margins. Those food-rich weed beds in Lake Wallace and Thompsons Creek Dam will no doubt have the odd trout cruising the edges.

Low light periods are best, especially if the water is glass. Wind-generated bite periods can also be very productive. Exposed points are key for the transfer of dislodged, disorientated food across these areas, settings up opportunities for fly and lure anglers alike.

Boat anglers in Lake Lyell have many options,

Rosy red cheeks are a sure sign of a cold start on the cod. A big frost no doubt, totally worth it for a fish of this caliber. but flat line trolling is hard to beat when it comes to simplicity. Gosh I’d like a dollar for every trout caught on a Tassie Devil lobbed out the back for a troll.

Going deeper is sometimes needed. Keep an eye on the sounder, and if you’re starting to see the odd fish at depth then it’s time to switch up, or down, depending on how you look at it. Avoiding the hordes of small redfin is unavoidable in most cases. A bigger lure 8-9cm in length can sometimes help, but most times you just have to persist and wade through them.

With sounder technology the way it is these days, it’s almost possible to be target specific when you get to know

your units well. However, seeing the fish and catching them are two different things.

NATIVE ACTION There are plenty of options locally when it comes to golden perch and cod at this time of year. Migration patterns or movement of fish in our local impoundments is very interesting. There are a lot of factors in play here; Mother Nature rarely puts all her eggs in one basket.

Generally speaking, standing trees in deeper water will hold more golden perch from here on in. It’s a consistent pattern for waters such as Windamere, Burrendong and Wyangala.

Cod too will hold on these prime pieces of real-estate, no doubt picking off the

odd yella.

Smaller baitfish, crucian carp, are also a big drawcard for cod in shallower waters when light levels are lower.

In this scenario the cod are very pelagic in nature, moving freely in open water chasing these tasty morsels.

Banks and weeded edges are used by these predators to corral and push bait. As I’ve said before, the cod are just like heavyweight boxers with their hapless victims on the ropes. Not all edges are set up for land-based anglers to target these fish, but those spots that are suitable are a goldmine, with multiple opportunities present on most mornings.

Hope to see you on the water soon.

majority of the bigger cod of late, such as swimbaits and chatterbaits worked at a slower pace. Those big impoundment cod are very cunning for a reason.

For the perch species, trolling around the dam’s edge or close to structure with lipless crankbaits or even dropping smaller bladed style lures and soft baits in amongst the treetops can also be very productive if the inlets have copped a

The author’s new PB Murray cod from the river at 111cm taken on a big jointed lure while fishing out of the kayak.

The New England area is a beautiful spot with many different fishing opportunities. Getting out and exploring is the best part.

little bit too much boating pressure, and the fish have moved deeper and sulked for the day. At the time of writing, Copeton is currently sitting steady around the 17% mark with Pindari sitting close to 12%.

One of my favourite things about the New England area is that there are so many different species of fish to target in only a

small drive in any direction, so the major dams can often get looked over. Glenlyon, Split Rock and Chaffey are all fun dams to fish, and they’re only a few hours’ drive away, plus there are a couple of smaller dams in between such as Malpas and Dumaresq dams which all hold their OWN different species such as carp, bony bream, bass, redfin perch

and rainbow trout as well as the natives in the bigger impoundments just mentioned. The fun thing is just getting out there and working out the system you are fishing and what fish live in it, as it is a very exciting feeling catching a fish on a new lure or technique in a brand-new spot. Good luck and tight lines this month.

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The glory days are back BATLOW

Wayne Dubois waynedubois@westnet.com.au

Now that the weather is really starting to cool off and the summer crowds have died down it’s time to break out all the rods and do some serious fishing.

At this time of year most fish species feel at ease

fish can be regularly caught once the sun goes down.

As I predicted earlier in the year, the fishing so far this year in the greater Batlow area has been nothing short of fantastic. There have been good to great reports coming from just about everywhere and on a regular basis. Burrinjuck Dam has been fishing superbly for golden perch, Murray cod

The redfin fishing at Blowering Dam this year is excellent. This big specimen was caught land-based, and there have been thousands of fish this size being caught by just about everyone this year. to cruise and feed in the shallow margins of most impoundments, making them targetable to all anglers. Pretty much the only fish that won’t readily feed in the shallows during the day is the big, smart Murray cod, however these

and redfin.

The upper Murray River has also been fishing really well, as has the Murrumbidgee River. Its anabranches have also been producing consistent results for Murray cod, trout cod and golden perch. On top

of all this sensational native action, most of the trout streams and rivers in the area are fishing well also.

Another place that has been producing consistent catch rates so far this year is good old Blowering Dam. The fishing at the dam, especially for redfin, has been so good that as the old expression goes ‘you had to hide behind a tree to rig or bait up’, the fishing was that red hot.

REDFIN Insanely good numbers of redfin have been getting caught over the last couple of months, and some of the older local fishos have commented that this year’s redfin fishing was as good as the good old glory days, when filling a hessian bag full of redfin in a few hours was the norm. Fishing for these tasty little morsels may even get better as the weather slowly starts to cool.

Although most fish have been getting caught around the edges of the lake, mostly from the bank, some have been caught on the troll or by casting in around standing timber and around the weedy margins of the dam. This month a vast majority of the redfin will start to move into deeper water and start to form their massive pre spawn schools. This is an exciting time for those who love their jigging, catching heaps of fish and most importantly catching big fish.

If you find schools holding in deep water they are best targeted with ice jigs, rubber vibes, and metal blades or heavily-weighted soft plastics. If schools are still holding fairly shallow then slow trolling with lipless crankbaits and small hardbodies until you find a school is the best way of finding and getting a feed of fish. Once a school is located, repeat casting into that area

The redfin fishing at Blowering Dam has been exceptional lately, with plague proportion schools patrolling the edges of the dam, coming within range of land-based anglers and fly fishos. This edge bite won’t last very long so break out the wand and go get amongst them.

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Now that the riparian zone has finally come back along our fire-affected creeks, so have the trout. with lipless crankbaits, blades, small spinners or soft plastics will account for plenty of fish also.

Whilst on the topic of redfin as so many people still have different interpretations of the rules it is worth clarifying that redfin (English perch) have been declared as a Class 1 noxious fish species by the NSW Government. Under

garden. You don’t have to twist too many people’s arms to take as many redfin home with them as they can.

GOLDEN PERCH This month will be your last real chance to get amongst the golden perch up in the shallows before they do their usual disappearing act through the winter months.

While the weather is still warm enough the goldens

For your best chance at catching large Murray cod at Blowering Dam this month, concentrate your efforts after dark. It’s much cooler, there are fewer anglers and you will catch more fish. the interpretation of the law, NSW Fisheries officers ‘encourage’ anglers to take their caught redfin home and make use of them if possible.

If you don’t want to eat the redfin, you can give them to the cat or use them as fertiliser.

The alternative is to release the redfin on the spot.

You can’t keep them in a live well because it’s illegal to have live redfin on board.

You might wonder why it’s legal to release redfin, seeing as they are a noxious pest. The main reason is that even if all anglers killed every redfin they caught, it would barely make a dint in the population let alone wipe them out, so it would be silly to force people to kill them if they don’t want to.

Having said that, most people keep their catch because redfin taste so damn good, and are very good fertiliser when buried in the

of hooking into a few big goldens this month.

TROUT STREAMS The Tumut River is another place that has been fishing superbly all season.

Fly fishos have been having a ball in the low to medium flows, both on dry and on wet flies, with the good old nymphs accounting for most fish.

When the river has been what most people regard as too high for fly fishos, the lure chuckers come out in force and they have been doing really well, even when the river has been flowing hard at full capacity. The best lures have been the larger sized Rooster tails, soft plastics and sinking hardbodied lures like Sso Minos, IMA Sukaris and Rapala CD lures.

Bait anglers have been doing well with PowerBait, worms and/or grubs on the bottom, and active bait fishos have been hooking into some nice trout by drifting large grasshoppers on the surface.

This form of bait fishing is as good as it gets when it comes to bait fishing, and is as exciting and adrenaline-

Many of the trees that were ravaged by last year’s bushfire have not come back at all, and some never will. However, you can see just how much the riparian zone has regrown, contributing to the trout’s return and great conditioning. love to bask in the warmer water in the shallows, and lie in the thick pockets of grass or weed waiting to ambush any easy meal that swims or crawls by. Slow rolling small lipless crankbaits or small suspending hardbodies around the shallow margins of the lake, particularly late in the day, is a great way

packed as catching them on surface flies at times.

Most of the smaller streams in the area have been fishing sensationally since the regrowth along the riparian zones after last year’s devastating bushfires. Almost all the smaller streams are worth a look before the season closes in June.

NSW

Time to shine with cod slime!

ALBURY/WODONGA

Connor Heir

This time of year is always a favourite among Murray cod anglers.

It’s starting to cool off a bit, and fishing is also usually at its prime in many places.

Most systems around the area have had good flows, and have been running clear most of the time.

This is a great mixture that usually makes for a successful season, plus the summer we just came off wasn’t as hot as we are used to around this area.

The area also received

fisheries have had a really good ‘freshening up’ which has helped with the success of the cod fishing around the area. This should continue in the coming weeks, and anglers will have a reasonable chance of catching numbers of cod this month.

As temperatures

For me personally, April is when I get among the numbers before it does cool right off and the fish start to shut down a tad.

I’m a huge fan of just going out and smashing multiple smaller cod.

As we move into the cooler months, it’s important to remember that confidence is a huge factor with cod fishing, and the way to gain confidence is with time on the water. It’s just as important as the gear you use and where you go. And if you go out and don’t catch anything, you can still learn from that fishing trip, and experiment with different approaches on subsequent trips.

With the cod fishing aside, to finish off this month’s report I will also add that Lake Hume is still firing on the redfin.

The whole lake has seen fantastic results this year

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Closed Anzac, Christmas, Boxing day.

It’s amazing the places cod fishing takes you. Guided Kayakingtours 10 am and 2 pm. tours on selected days. is one of the most addictive ways to cod Self-guided fish!

The cod season so far has definitely been decent, with good numbers of Murray cod being common.

decent amounts of rainfall which has contributed to good flows and keeping the ground green. Many

Small admission fee.

leaping fish * 4 species * aquaria, ponds, AV show * beautifulbreeding picnic–BBQ * smoked trout for sale area * find out about kids fishing workshops. *

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Open 10 am–4 pm daily.

Long days on the water makes us do funny things, but having a laugh and having fun is what it’s all about.

continue to drop, we will catch fewer cod but the average size will be bigger.

As Gaden winter approaches, Rd (off Kosciuszko Rd) many anglers will start to 02 6451 3400 Jindabyne. pull out the bigger, heavy www.dpi.nsw.gov.au gear in search of one of those huge fish to cuddle with. With how the season has been so far, it could lead into a very successful winter when it comes to Searching for cod in shallow water can’t be ruled out. catching bigger cod.

You’d be surprised at how little water they can hold in.

with huge numbers of these fish, and from what I’ve seen and heard it’s still continuing to fish exceptionally well.

I did a kayak trip just recently out there for a bit of fun, and over a few hours I managed to catch around 60, so if that’s something you enjoy doing then it’s definitely the place to be.

Redfin are a really fun fish for kids to catch, and also a tasty fish for the dinner table, and arguably one of the best freshwater fish to eat.

No matter what you’re targeting this month, I wish everyone the best of luck!

Tight lines!

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t u H o r a T t c n hery e d a G

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A handful of pure trout cod. It’s fantastic to see these beautiful fish in great numbers spread across the region.

Gaden Rd (off Kosciuszko Rd) Jindabyne. 02 6451 3400 www.dpi.nsw.gov.au APRIL 2021

75

Canberra

ACT

Yellowbelly hitting lures CANBERRA

Toby Grundy

I want to start this report with a short plug regarding one of our new tackle shops in the ACT. I am a big supporter of local tackle shops because I benefited greatly from regular visits to the ‘local’ for fishing advice through

has put together a gun team of experienced and young anglers with a focus on innovation. There was a period when Canberra had only one dedicated tackle shop, which was a little depressing, but now this store gives Canberra a fishing hub where keen amateurs and experienced fishos alike can seek advice and be pointed in the right direction.

I often get asked about ‘secret spots’ and though I mostly stick to a proven six or so spots on LBG, I will say that there is a little pocket of water at Weston Park just down from the play equipment that has provided me with some outstanding fishing in April. A waterfall runs into the water here and the golden perch sit just out from the bank with their mouths open and feed on any food that flows down from the runoff.

Lake Ginninderra is fishing well. In fact, I and several of my friends have had a lot of success here recently. Small reddies are pushing bait into the shallows, and with them come the small to medium cod which can be targeted by upsizing a standard vibe to something like a Jackall Doozer. The area to the right of the police jetty is a great

Nick Wright with a great example of a well-conditioned Canberra cod. reddie on surface on Lake G, with small prawn imitations the best choice especially if fishing low light periods.

Lake Tuggeranong has provided good, consistent

the lake, and also plenty of smaller cod landed by those fishing lures close to the concrete walls which lead up to the spillway. The spillway is a great place to wet a line,

April is a great time to target cod. my late teens and early twenties. These stores are central to building angling knowledge, especially for the novice, and without them there is only social media to turn to – and we all know how flawed the information on social media can be, especially at this moment in time.

Recently, I had the chance to pop in to the (relatively) new Compleat Angler in Fyshwick.

This shop was once

LOCAL LAKES Lake Burley Griffin is filthy due to a significant algae bloom but it is fishing quite well. Golden perch are hitting lures in a variety of locations ranging from the edges under the major bridges where they will actively chase small divers and vibes through to deeper water areas like the point at Black Mountain Peninsula (deep jigging tactics work best here).

There are plenty of

Golden perch are on the chew across all of Canberra’s waterways. action in recent weeks, which doesn’t happen all that often! There have been plenty of medium to large cod caught by bait fishos in a variety of locations around

even after dark, as the native fish feed on small baitfish and crustaceans which sit tight against the wall.

The Murrumbidgee is really starting to fish well

and we are looking at a bumper April and May with the water dropping and water clarity returning after many months of less than ideal conditions. I have caught plenty of cod and yellowbelly by focusing on the faster flows and mixing up my lure selection. I like to fire up the fish with a smaller lure first like a TN70, and then work a larger lure through a likely area (after picking up a yella or two) like a spinnerbait to see if the distress signals from the yellas have worked up the cod.

SURROUNDS Googong Dam is usually my pick of the fisheries in April. At the moment, the dam is firing. Anglers are catching huge numbers of redfin, both on the cast and on the troll, using all manner of lures from deep divers through to jigs. There have also been plenty of natives caught by anglers jigging vibes on the edges of the trees and by those fishing large swimbaits and plastics near the points.

Googong tends to slow down by the middle of May so now is the time to try for one of the giant cod which inhabit the dam.

This nice little Murrumbidgee golden perch fell to a brightly coloured 5/8oz Obsession spinnerbait. Bright colours can make a difference when the water is discoloured.

Wetspot Watersports but the Compleat team from Merimbula took it over (including the kayak side of things) and turned it into a tackle shop. The manager Nathan Walker 76

APRIL 2021

redfin about but due to the lack of water clarity, the fish are more responsive to flash and vibration so use a small spinnerbait or beetle spins attached to a paddletail plastic.

place to slow roll a large vibe but don’t forget to flick around a grub-style plastic on a lighter stick in this location as there are also golden perch feeding close to the bank.

April is a great time to catch a

The slightly faster flowing runs between slow pools are well worth putting a lure through. This little Murrumbidgee cod came from the tip of the rocks in the background of the picture.

Go Behind the Scenery

Tasmania

Persistence pays with changing season HOBART

Andrew Large

This month sees a lot of activity in the salt across many species in Tasmania, while freshwater is still producing good fish for persistent anglers.

We seem to have SBT fish up to 15kg available on the Peninsula. The usual haunts are producing fish, these being Hippolyte Rocks, Fortescue Bay, Cape Pillar and Tasman

Island. Close to the CBD and just on the western side of Cape Roule, Dart Bank is producing smaller fish as they try and escape the warmer water further up the east coast.

A highly prized table fish, ’couta, have been turning up here and there lately. In particular, in the lower estuaries by those chasing kingfish and Australian salmon.

For consistent results on southern calamari, anglers should realise these cephalopods have been

Small SBT and large albacore have been caught around the Big Hippolyte Rock off the Tasman Peninsula in recent weeks.

evading warmer water from the north over the summer and have been a little quiet around our coastlines. They are still there but anglers may have to persevere a little to find a feed.

Yellowtail kingfish continue to be on the chew all the way from the NW tip of Tasmania, where the size is bigger, all the way down to the deep southeast near Southport.

Notable areas have been Coles Bay, Swansea, Orford, Northwest Bay at Margate and the River Derwent around the Tasman Bridge and Bellerieve Bluff. As March progresses the action will only increase for the season.

Quality spinning for Australian salmon has increased with an absence earlier in summer seen by many. These fish have all but gone quiet due to the influx of warm water and relative scarcity of baitfish. But again, when the summer temps drop these fish look as though they are going to finish strong for the remainder of this season.

Albacore tuna are available off the shelf on the Peninsula and some good-sized fish have been encountered in close around Fortescue Bay. In recent weeks, fish up to 30kg have been consistently caught in the SE. The occasional striped tuna has been taken as well. Our SST (sea surface

temperature) is now hitting close to 20ºC. We have on good authority several sightings of striped marlin have been seen off the peninsula during February. Is it a matter of time before one is caught? March and April are small windows but these are the months when many of our marlin are historically taken.

My prediction is for yellowfin tuna during March.

We presently have the right temperatures, bait and the easterly weather patterns needed is almost a dead ringer for 2007 and 2008 when consistent fishing occurred off Eaglehawk Neck.

Anglers trying their luck for tiger flathead have found the action has tapered off, but they are still available in most areas. The same applies to sand flathead, which are still biting well on bait and soft plastic lures.

The River Derwent is producing good numbers of black bream. These seem to be running well in the lower Derwent estuary with many being taken on both lure and fly. Bait fishers have also been reporting good captures.

Freshwater areas are now feeling the effects of recent rains with many roads in the western lakes areas shut due to flooding; Liawenee received close to 80mm in 24hrs.

Many lakes however, aren’t

This quality Derwent River Australian salmon smashed a new Halco 105 Slidog in Col H89. producing the expected dry fly action we are accustomed to at this time of the year. For March however, water levels are generally up and fish condition is great.

Great Lake is producing nice fish to both lure and fly fishers. Early mornings and late afternoon are helping those trolling and spinning. While consistent dry fly fishing has been experienced by those chasing ‘sharking fish’ in the northerly wind lanes.

Bronte Lagoon has been a real gem all season with many rainbows and browns in the 2kg size range being landed.

Dry fly is slow but wet fly and lure fishing is still taking fish.

Arthurs Lake sees fish holding tight into shore again the dry fly up here is very

spasmodic, but wet fly is still producing fish. Spin and troll anglers are also finding the going patchy – some experiencing great days while others left wondering if a trout is left in the lake.

Penstock is very quiet, probably not worth a trip at the moment. Woods Lake is the same. Penstock’s recent rains have really murkied the water and a little time is needed for this to clear.

Derwent River Atlantic salmon are still available at the rapids past New Norfolk.

Happy fishing for March and the lead up to Easter next month – I feel this year we are in for an extended summer and autumn season with the action not looking as though it’s going to ease up anytime soon.

THE SHEIK OF THE CREEK

Winning is grinning BRISBANE

The Sheik of the Creek

There are occasions when things line up and I feel like I have succeeded in my addiction.

These occasions are about as common as teddy bear poos but I do stumble on to them every few years.

They’re often a bittersweet accident, because while I can throw my arms wide and drink in that totally unfamiliar feeling of winning.

There’s also the knowledge that because I’ve just planned and carried out a cunning plan, the next win is further in the future than the Cowboy’s semi-final.

Between now and the next hurrah is a long, long and painful Mardi Gras of broken rods, clogged fuel lines, sandbanks, rocks, bustoffs, cut-offs, hand-offs, cuts, bruises, pointless cruises, concussions, sticky drags, raided pots, torn cast nets, flat batteries, split keels,

rotted floors, headaches, hangovers, blisters, sunburn, exposure, debt, electrolysis, busted axles, thrown bearings, split skids, worn rollers, banged shins, headaches, back aches, torn rotator cuffs, strained and ruptured cruciates and testicles, lost anchors, chipped and bent props, damaged skegs, embedded hooks, lost sunnies, lost torches, lost pliers, broken eskies, fused switches, fused bulbs, corroded wires, corroded pliers, sharp edges, blunt edges, hot beer, cold coffee, oily plugs, lost hat’s, wet dacks, diarrhoea, achy ear, and sore rear.

I actually wrote that list without stopping and basically without thinking, which is appropriate because that’s how I operate through most of my waking moments.

This particular occasion to which I am referring was the endpoint of years of dedicated research and development in pursuit of a mangrove jack on soft plastics.

That R&D consists of finding a dull hook in the

tackle tray and threading a plastic onto it, then chucking into some water.

The plastic is carefully chosen from amongst the cracked and hardened pieces of faded rubber in that lower draw of the box that I only ever open when the live herring I’m using have spent more time on my octopus circle than they’ve lived free and are beginning to swim with a limp and complain about how good it was in the olden days.

On this occasion, I don’t know what pattern, colour or size the plastic was, what sort of size and weight the jighead was, or how I was retrieving it when the jack hit.

I have to confess that I don’t know for sure it was a jack, only that the line made that particular ‘jack-y’ pinging sound that my fishing line makes when a jack hits and the line breaks.

On this occasion the line didn’t break. It pulled just above the braid to leader knot I’d just tied.

But hey, that’s a win for me.

APRIL 2021

77

ADVERTORIAL

2021 Fishing Challenge Anglers from across Australia flocking to the world’s biggest fishing competition

“This year, the Challenge is offering a record $240,000 in cash and prizes.”

78 40

Australians across all states and territories are being encouraged to prepare their fishing gear for the 2021 PIRTEK Fishing Challenge.

The Challenge is a major fundraising initiative assisting to raise funds and awareness for Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA). More than 19,500 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in Australia every year.

PIRTEK has been partners with PCFA since 2009 to help raise vital funds for prostate cancer research, awareness initiatives and support programs by hosting Australia’s biggest single day fishing competition.

The challenge is also a major fundraising partner for the Peter Duncan Neurosciences Research Unit, which has recently been lauded as the number one Neuroscience Research facility in Australia.

The focus of the Unit is to study adult stem cells and their role in causing and exacerbating neurological diseases. The goal is to find and apply new neuroscience techniques for patients suffering from diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s, and other neurological infections and stroke.

Proceeds from the Pirtek Fishing Challenge will be split between these two leading medical research organisations.

The challenge is an online national fishing competition open to all ages and experience levels. All competitors receive a limited-edition cap, brag mat and sticker with junior competitors receiving a bonus packet of Berkley soft plastics.

There are big changes to the 2021 Fishing Challenge format.

This year’s challenge will be a two day event taking place on Saturday and Sunday 17-18 April. After 12 successive years of being a single day Sunday format the event has expanded to cover the whole weekend allowing competitors the fish one or two days.

Another key change for this year is multiple photo

uploads. In the past, competitors have only be allowed to enter one photograph in the competition. This year each angler can upload one photograph per target species.

Competitors will fish for their favourite fish species, photograph their catch on the brag mat with their angler number and codeword clearly visible; then upload their photos to the website for judging.

There are 22 target species nationally covering all States and Territories both fresh and saltwater.

This year, the Challenge is offering a record $240,000 in cash and prizes.

Just by registering, all competitors are automatically entered in the On The Water prize draw where they will be in the running to win a boat, motor and trailer package valued at over $36,000 courtesy of Stacer.

Plus some other great prizes courtesy of our corporate partners, Berkley, ABU Garcia, BCF, Lowrance, Valvoline, Snap-On, JBL and Mako Eyewear.

One of the big attractions of the Challenge is the $88,000 in cash supplied by Pirtek and divided across the 22-target fish nationally. This is awarded via a ‘mystery length’ a secret measurement determined by the event organisers.

Michael Guest, Event Director, says the challenge is designed to allow people of all ages and experiences to get involved and enjoy a day outdoors. “It doesn’t matter whether you are an experienced angler or picking up a rod for the first time. The PIRTEK Fishing Challenge is all about getting together with your friends and family, having fun and supporting our charity partners,” said Michael.

Competing anglers can look the part by purchasing from the extensive range of merchandise available on the website, including fishing shirts, T-shirts, neck buffs, shorts, broadbrim hats and head torches.

For more information and to register visit pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au. Registrations cost $25, plus postage and handling. – Pirtek Fishing Challenge

REGION

TARGET SPECIES

STATE

East Coast Freshwater

Australian Bass

NSW/ACT, QLD, VIC

Mountain Trout

Rainbow or brown trout

Tasmania, NSW/ACT, QLD, VIC

Murray-Darling Basin Murray-Darling Basin Murray-Darling Basin Murray-Darling Basin

European Carp Murray Cod (no bait, only lure) Redfin Golden Perch

NSW/ACT, QLD, VIC, SA NSW/ACT, QLD, VIC NSW/ACT, QLD, VIC, SA NSW/ACT, QLD, VIC, SA

NSW/ACT NSW/ACT NSW/ACT NSW/ACT NSW/ACT

Bream (yellowfin) Flathead Leatherjacket (all species excluding Chinamen and Unicorn Tailor Whiting

NSW/ACT NSW/ACT NSW/ACT NSW/ACT NSW/ACT

QLD QLD QLD QLD

Barramundi (freshwater and saltwater) Flathead Trevally Whiting

QLD QLD QLD QLD

TAS

Australian Salmon

TAS

Top End Top End

Barramundi (freshwater and saltwater) Trevally (all species)

NT and Northern WA NT and Northern WA

VIC VIC

Bream (all species) Flathead

VIC VIC

Southern WA / SA Southern WA / SA

King George Whiting Bream (all species)

SA and Southern WA SA and Southern WA

APRIL 20212021 MARCH

FISHING CHALLENGE Peter Duncan Neurosciences Research Unit

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For full terms, conditions and licensing, log on to pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au. Permit Nos: ACT Permit No TP 20/01863; NSW Permit No TP/00646; SA Permit No T20/1634 APRIL 2021

79

VIC

Rain triggers fishing WEST COAST

Brett Carson

We are nearing those times when the lack of summer and early autumn rainfall can cause the sand to build up in the mouth and, eventually, a large swell will block the mouth.

The standard line is that when the mouth is blocked the fishing goes off the charts.

While that’s true at times there is a heap of heartache in the gaps in-between. I like the tidal influence for a whole range of reasons, none more than the ability to better predict feed times.

Between February and April sees massive schools of small to trophy sized mulloway patrolling the local coast chasing baitfish amongst the kelp country. For whatever reason, they are often straight out from the many spring fed freshwater creeks between Nelson and Port Macdonnell.

When the mouth of the Glenelg is open this time of

year those monsters charge into the system chasing the millions of baitfish that inhabit the estuary.

Mulloway have been consistent without being off the charts. Smaller summer specimens are the main catch, amongst a few better fish. It’s simply a numbers game that requires effort to weed through the smaller fish to find the prize. The next few months should see the average size improve with the influx of better quality.

Estuary perch are coming thick on the surface. There have been some awesome catches and tales of the occasional unstoppable fish.

On and after dark, unaware anglers often mistake the hectic slapping and surface boofing as mulloway feeding on mullet.

The noise seems like it’s coming from much bigger fish, but they are just so aggressive in their baitfish attack that they are often misidentified. Smaller livies or lures get the best results

on perch with reed beds and heavy snags holding large schools this time of year.

Bream fishing has been hit and miss with a tidal run needed to trigger a bite especially in the lower reaches. I reckon in the next little while, crabs will be a real go to bait to weed out the hungry clouds of last year’s spawn of juvenile bream. It’s a sign of a healthy river so I guess we can’t have our cake and eat it too. The surf is holding plenty of bream and they are often seen shooting off in the shallows of a local coastal bays while boating.

Speaking of the surf, it’s also a great time to target the gutters before the winter swells come back, and with them the weed. School, elephant and gummy shark are there for the taking on the bigger tides but be prepared to fish into the dark for the best results.

• Good luck and feel free to come and see us at Nelson Boat Hire for the latest info, we have the local ‘live bait

A classic mixed bag of mulloway from the same school. licence’ meaning we stock live mullet, crabs and podworms along with all the frozen bait, tackle and lures you need

for the area. We’ll do our best to give you some local knowledge and get you on the fish quicker. Remember

you can hire any of our boats without a boat licence, including our very popular houseboat.

April will see the end of kingfish season WARRNAMBOOL

Mark Gercovich mgercovich@hotmail.com

April usually signals the end of the local kingfish run. It’s been a good season despite some extended periods of poor sea conditions for them. Most fish were in the 70-90cm range with a fair few metreplus fish taken as well.

April used to be when the tuna season swung into gear big time. However, these fish have been in good numbers inshore since mid-January, so the anticipation of April is not a factor it used to be. The

What has been a great kingfish season should be rounding up by April.

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APRIL 2021

bigger ‘barrel’ size tuna often show up at Easter, so here’s hoping there are some of those big 100kg+ fish showing up as you read this.

On the inshore saltwater scene there have been good bags of King George whiting and squid taken by small boats fishing around Killarney and Lady Bay, even inside the breakwater. These fish should still be available in April.

The Hopkins River has remained open pretty much all summer, which is great for the water quality. Some decent tides in late February pushed in some nice clean water and seemingly a few mulloway in the 60-80cm range as well. Easter full moons and the associated big tides have always been a good time to target the local mulloway populations.

Don’t forget some of the smaller systems, like the Moyne and the Fitzroy rivers,

which can also turn up some nice mulloway.

Bream have been biting well enjoying the moving water as opposed to the high stagnant water that can occur at this time of year if the mouth has been closed for extended periods during the warmer weather. The Curdies River has also been fishing well for bream and estuary perch with some quality fish coming from upstream of the Boggy Creek ramp.

With the change of season wandering the local freshwater river reaches becomes more appealing. Not only do the browns start to stir as the water cools but the estuary perch

can also begin to be on the move as they prepare to head down to the estuary over the cooler months.

There has also been plenty of bream in the lower freshwater sections of both the Merri and Hopkins, which add to the variety of what you may come across in your wanderings. Packing lightly and wandering along the riverbanks flicking soft plastics or hardbodies, like the 6cm Daiwa Presso minnow, is an enjoyable way to spend a session.

The likelihood of snake encounters also diminishes as the days get cooler and shorter.

The local brown trout population should be on the move this month, particularly if there is some decent rain.

VIC

Bag a bream at Curdies COBDEN

Rod Shepherd

Bream fishing in the Curdies has been solid with some specimens measuring in the high 30s being taken by anglers.

It seems that a fair amount of fish have gone upstream beyond Boggy Creek and some anglers have pulled them off snags using lightly weighted soft plastics allowed to slowly sink and worked at a very slow rate back to the boat making sure the soft plastic stays in the strike zone which is not more than half a metre off the bottom.

Most strikes occur within thirty seconds of the cast.

Unweighted or by using a single split shot, live or snap frozen shrimp that have turned white crisscrossed on the hook has also taken some great fish.

If the bream are in your vicinity and are feeding, those shrimp won’t stay resting on the bottom for

too long. Remember to cast any bait right up close to the bank or any snag, allow to sink slowly, keep hold of your rod and be ready to strike.

Some reasonable estuary perch have been caught in the lower reaches of the river, especially in the shallows at the mouth.

Surface poppers or large, bright and ‘ugly’ looking soft plastics and flies stripped at great pace almost on the surface has seen a few dramatic perch strikes.

Undersized fish right up to those respectable thumpers approaching 40cm have been caught.

At the time of writing, the estuary is still cut off from the sea but full all the same. The next rain event, which could occur anytime, will necessitate the manual opening of the system. An all too rare time, but ideal to freshen up the water quality and boost oxygen levels.

The Hopkins has plenty of big bream working the

rock walls and bommies, apparently feeding on the coral but are very hard to tempt into biting when working lures and plastics.

Reports of visible fish cruising along the edges and actually following the lure before backing off are rife. Many bait soakers are also finding things tough with plenty of inquiries but little or no takes. The only exception is using large cut crab or whole small live crab dabbed with scent.

The recent reduction in rainfall has allowed the water to clear up somewhat, no doubt making the fish more finicky.

Those working outside of daylight hours are having more success with better takes happening after dark.

Offshore the main target are yellowtail kingfish to 15kg. Inshore reefs that are often partially exposed at low tide provide the perfect place for boaters to patrol.

Live or well presented baits, such as slimy mackerel and the like, allowed to waft

A session’s worth of Curdies bream prior to release. Taken in dribs and drabs right along the river using 4” Snatchbite Shrimp soft plastics by Magbite. unweighted has been a top bait. Trolling or casting surface poppers, diving minnow lures and large plastics or jigging knife jigs has been the main methods

employed by most.

Prime spots have been off Boat Bay near Peterborough, Killarney Beach and around Martin’s Point and other close in

reefs at Port Fairy.

The by-catch has been sizeable Australian salmon to 3kg and the odd school southern bluefin tuna to 6kg.

Anglers are heading out in good weather breaks APOLLO BAY

Craig Rippon

Apollo Bay has had a good run of weather that has allowed anglers to fish out wide. There are already nice catches of tuna coming in, they are not big but when they decide

to feed there has been some good fishing.

It seems the fish are spread right along the coast from Portland to Sorrento. There is plenty of bait in the water, so where there is bait, the fish won’t be far away. Trolling small skirts have been the best so far with the odd fish taking a jig when they go down.

Kingfish have been a bit slow so far this year. There have been plenty of fish spotted but, again, they will only feed at particular times.

If you are lucky enough to be there at that time you will get some good captures.

Dropping down squid has been the best tempter recently, as jigging has produced some

small fish on the reefs.

The snapper bite has been good, with any fresh bait. The slack tide has been doing the job on most of the local reefs.

In 45-60m of water, there’s been the odd good mako caught, but the guys are putting in the hours to get them up.

Gummies have also

FISHING NEWS

Dusky flathead stocking helps the lakes

The Gippsland Lakes are another step closer to being back to a recreational fishing Mecca with a Victorianfirst stocking of 42,000 dusky flathead fingerlings at Metung and Lakes Entrance this week.

Minister for Fishing and Boating Melissa Horne said stocking the Lakes with popular species such as dusky flathead was a key part of the Gippsland Lakes Recreational Fishery Plan, launched in January.

The Plan was developed following the end of commercial net fishing in the Lakes last year, which was a flagship commitment of the Andrews Labor Government’s investment to get more people recreational fishing, more often in more places.

The three-year trial dusky flathead stocking program run by the Victorian Fisheries Authority is a result of input from local fishing groups and key stakeholders, aimed

at boosting populations of an icon species in Victoria’s eastern estuaries including Bemm River which was also stocked for the first time with 5,000 dusky flathead.

In January, dusky flathead broodfish were captured at Mallacoota with help from volunteers including the Mallacoota and District Angling Club.

As part of the collection process, DNA samples from across East Gippsland were gathered to map the genetic

structure of dusky flathead stocks along the east coast.

The broodfish were then transported to a marine hatchery where they spawned. The larvae have grown to fingerlings size in the months since and are now ready for release into the wild.

A record 8 million fish will be stocked by April this year, with 10 million to be released in 2022. Some of these fish were Australian bass and estuary perch,

released into tributaries of the Gippsland Lakes in December.

Minister for Fishing and Boating Melissa Horne said, “This Victorianfirst trial to stock dusky flathead into the Gippsland Lakes is a big step towards returning the Lakes to their former glory for recreational fishers.”

Member for Eastern Victoria Jane Garrett also commented with, “We know recreational fishing contributes significantly to the local economy, so having better fisheries for key species like dusky flathead, will mean more money flowing into Gippsland businesses that depend on tourism.

“This is another step towards revitalising our Gippsland Lakes which are an iconic destination for fishers around the State and will also provide an economic boost to the entire region.” – Victoria Fisheries

been steady out wide and off the local beaches when the swell allows.

The salmon have been about but only small fish to about half a kilo. The fish seem to be moving up the coast but at the moment there are some nice gutters at Wild Dog Beach that have been attracting them.

Just in the last couple of weeks, there have been some nice King George whiting come in. The numbers seem to be getting bigger and more consistent. I fished a change of tide and had some nice fresh pipis and squid resulting in a good session catching a decent

fish at 41cm. This time of the year is the best down here and goes well right up to and beyond Easter. With the big tides happening soon, I find the stronger the run the harder they will bite.

There are plenty of good areas to fish quite close to the harbour, but just be carful of the swell breaking in close.

Fresh bait is a must for a good bag of whiting and I think they are one of the best eating fish along our coast.

Good fishing and weather is on the cards for the next few weeks before the weather breaks into winter, so enjoy it while you can.

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Weather settles as catches soar GEELONG

Neil Slater slaterfish@gmail.com

It’s been hectic around the region over the last few weeks. There has been good numbers of tuna with the odd kingfish offshore, a great run of King George whiting around the Bellarine and a solid turn out of pinkies and flathead in Corio Bay. April sees the weather settle a bit with

calmer conditions while the kingfish taper off but the whiting kick into gear as we head into autumn.

The Barwon River has been nice and clear for lure enthusiasts who have caught and released plenty of undersized estuary perch (thanks to the recent stocking programs). Redfin have also been biting well in the Barwon River in Geelong and some respectable fish to 35cm have been caught.

Whiting anglers have

Adam Skurka with a solid salmon.

APRIL 2021

all popular land based spots producing plenty of fish from legal length to 45cm. Dusk has been best and top baits have included pilchard pieces, raw chicken and squid. Soft plastic enthusiasts have also been getting stuck into the pinkie population with some solid specimens to 60cm falling to Berkley turtle back worms worked slowly along the bottom.

Collan Erard has fished inside Corio Bay a fair bit over the last month and caught a few mixed bags including calamari, whiting, flathead pinkie snapper and gummy sharks. Fishing with his dad Ernie recently, the father son team boated five undersized gummy sharks (released of course) and a good feed of flathead just out from the Mountain View Quarries.

They then drifted for squid near Avalon where they caught five calamari. Nice seafood basket team Erard!

I’ve had a couple of goes out off Curlewis and managed a feed of whiting using pippies and squid. The fish have not been big but there are enough of them for a decent meal. The trick here if you’re not getting bites is to move around until a hungry school is located.

Avoid casting your bait onto

No kingfish this time for Marty but salmon this size still have a crack. the weedy areas and aim for the sandy patches in three to six metres of water.

Rod Ludlow from Beachlea Boat Hire at Indented Head reports that whiting are biting well with some large fish coming in.

Outer Governor Reef around to the Prince George on the flood tide has been best. Rod says to try a little deeper than

usual with best baits being pippis, squid and mussels.

The squid have been difficult but are picking up on all the grass beds between Grassy Point and St Leonards.

Rod notes that clients have caught quite a few reasonable pinkie snapper over the last week with the Prince George area being best around high tide.

Manning River Marine

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plenty of options available as April can see a surge in numbers inside Corio Bay and around the Bellarine.

Stingaree Bay, Point Henry and Curlewis have seen good numbers of fish from legal length to 35cm with some larger models around 40cm showing up here and there.

Wangim walk pier was opened up to the public last month. The pier gives people access to the waters between Cunningham Pier and the Royal Geelong Yacht Club and ‘Wangim’, translates to ‘boomerang’ in the Wadawurrung language.

The floating walkway points directly to the You Yangs, a place of special cultural meaning and importance.

The pier also serves as a wave attenuator and people have been catching plenty of pinkies off it lately. Please remember to take any rubbish home with you and keep the place looking schmiko.

Dan Cook took his daughter Shilo down for a fish off Wangim Walk and Shilo caught her first snapper using squid and pilchard on a paternoster rig.

Speaking of pinkies, they have been biting well inside Corio Bay lately with

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Land-based anglers fishing Queenscliff and St Leonards piers have enjoyed calamari and whiting with dawn and dusk being best.

Inside the Queenscliff harbour has been the go to place for silver trevally over the last month or so with most fish being around the

30-40cm mark.

Queenscliff boat ramp has been flat stick with anglers targeting kingfish inside the Rip and tuna offshore.

Spreader bar type teasers have been very popular with those seeking tuna. These are basically a coat hanger with a stack of rubber squid

Lorne has seen some great fish caught from the pier lately with whiting and salmon during the day and some trevally and pinkie snapper at night. Further offshore there has been school

casting lures too. Solid fish!

• Catch a few around Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula or Surf Coast to Lorne recently? Send in a report to slaterfish@gmail.com with “FMG” in the subject field

Corio Bay has been producing a wide variety of fish, as Collan shows. attached, which makes a heck few mates also headed out the of a racket on the surface. Rip in search of tuna recently Tie a ‘straggler’ lure off the Kye says it was dead quiet until back, troll it about 10km/h about 11am when someone and the tuna will go for it. rang a dinner bell and tuna Kingfish have been caught were busting up everywhere. using live squid or baitfish and Kye says boats were trolling by jigging with heavy lures in straight through the schools the Rip. There has also been of fish which was frustrating Shilo showing her dad Dan how it’s done a few salmon kicking about, but Kye managed his first on the new Wangim Walk floating jetty. which are one of my favourite tuna, weighing in at 25kg, on sportfish. a small 100mm pink skirted stacer.com.au Marty Duck caught a lure trolled behind stacer.com.au a spreader and gummy sharks plus many or give me a call on 0408 997 ripper salmon trolling a Rapala bar teaser way out the back of species of flathead and the 348. Please include where (without giving away your diving lure meant for kingfish the boat. Kye says he is a bit of odd salmon. just inside the Rip. Marty says a novice and puts the capture Adam Skurka found secret spot!), when, what there were birds diving on down to advice from the lads a hungry school of Aussie on and who caught the fish. the salmon which gave their at Ringwood Compleat Angler salmon fishing from the beach Pictures are always great, but A 25kg specimen is a great start to and the tips and tricks he learnt at Princetown recently. Adam please make sure they are at position away.

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Everything’s bigger at Easter PORT PHILLIP BAY WEST

Michael Felsovary

The fishing has been really good over the past month, especially for King George whiting. A lot of them have

been caught down towards Wedge Spit in 2-3m of water, and evenings have been the best time. The top bait by far is pipi, followed by mussels.

For the guys who want to travel a bit further, there

are excellent whiting being caught at Clifton Springs and also at St Leonards in front of the boat ramp.

If you’re after squid, your best chance will be in the St Leonards and Clifton Springs in 2-3m of water,

Anglers have been catching plenty of pinkies. The average size should increase as we move into April.

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where you can get specimens up to 35cm. Look for patches of weed and sand. Jigs should ideally be size 3-3.5 in bright pink or red foil.

The Werribee River has been fishing well for bream to 35cm between the island and the golf course. The top baits are freshwater yabbies and tube worm, and you should fish the incoming tide for the best results.

In the river there are also estuary perch in the freshwater reaches, and they are well conditioned fish ranging up to around 35cm. Lately there have been good catches of EPs on surface lures, soft plastics and shallow-running lures.

We have been getting good results on the Bassday Bun 30 wakebait in colour 342.

Dark colours are good because they provide a welldefined silhouette for the fish to home in on. When working a wakebait like this one, retrieve it slowly and then stop and pause for 5-6 seconds. If you don’t get an enquiry, repeat the process back to the boat. The pause is important; it will often draw a strike from timid fish.

Humid evenings have been yielding the best results on the estuary perch.

I recommend focusing your efforts around the heavier

This bream couldn’t resist a Slim SwimZ in motor oil. we move into Easter.

Between Campbells Cove and the Werribee Marina we have been getting some lovely flathead to 40cm on the drift with bluebait or squid. Anglers using soft plastics have been getting good results too, with one of the stand-outs being the 4” Keitech Easy Shiner paddle tail.

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APRIL 2021

snag banks, and you should fish a fairly tight trag, because these fish will try to bury you in the snags as soon as they hook up.

In recent weeks anglers have been catching gummy shark at Werribee in 10-12m of water. The fish have ranged up to around 8kg, and have been taking squid and sauries. The gummy fishing will continue to improve as

Long Reef has been yielding some lovely pinkie snapper to 2.5kg, and moving into Easter we should see some larger models moving into this area. Berley is essential for snapper fishing at the moment. Whatever mix you use, make sure you add plenty of tuna oil. Because the fish are fairly small at the moment, you can bait

up with half pilchards rather than whole ones.

If you are specifically looking for bigger snapper, you can try along the Clifton Springs channel. There are reports of the odd fish hitting the 6kg mark.

A heap of tuna to 30kg have been coming from Port Phillip Heads moving out towards Barwon Heads. The tuna have been taken on all methods – trolling, jigging, and soft plastics.

There are also kingfish being caught in the Heads itself, with the odd fish hitting the 10kg mark. Knife jigs have been working well, but if you’re not a fan of jigging you can still get good results using squid strips.

APRIL Squid are still a good target in April, and Werribee should fire for squid from Easter onwards.

Numbers of winter whiting will decrease somewhat, but the average size will increase.

April is a good time to go looking for gummy sharks on the beaches, and salmon will start to kick into gear along our beaches too. Places like Anglesea, Fairhaven and Apollo Bay will be good locations to focus your efforts.

• For up-to-date news and advice from local experts, drop into Hooked on Bait and Tackle at 174-180 Old Geelong Rd, Hoppers Crossing. They have an extensive range of tackle and bait, including fresh live bait, at competitive prices. The friendly team are always happy to answer your questions or just have a yarn. To find out more, visit www.gethookedon.com. au, call them on (03) 9748 3811 or look them up on Facebook to keep abreast of the latest product releases.

Your fishing licence fees at work Housing boom on Little Murray Murray cod and golden perch in the Little Murray River now have more fish habitat, thanks to your fishing licence fees and the North Central Catchment Management Authority.

Large snags have been installed near Swan Hill to provide refuge for fish to rest and feed. The timber was a combination of Y-sections, root balls and hollow logs, and all have been pinned to prevent movement during high flow. Clusters were also placed on beaches near deep pools for catfish habitat.

Regional Roads Victoria provided the timber and transport, and the site was selected by Wamba Wamba Traditional Owners, Lake Boga Sports Fishing Club, VRFish and DELWP.

Safer access to Calembeen Freshwater fishers now have a better jetty to cast from when next targeting stocked rainbow trout or golden perch at Creswick’s Calembeen Lake no.2.

Using fishing licence fees and funds of their own, the Hepburn Shire replaced the decking with durable merbau hardwood and aluminium trim.

More snags for Box Creek Box Creek near Gunbower has welcomed more snags for golden perch and Murray cod with the installation of root balls and hollow box timber.

The project complements revegetation and fencing works along the riverbank and the construction of the Box Creek fish lock which enables migratory species to move freely from the Loddon River near Kerang, through the system and in to Kow Swamp.

The North Central CMA led the project, as assisted by the Barapa Barapa Traditional Owners, Major Road Projects Victoria and Goulburn-Murray Water.

Authorised by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne

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Reliable pelagic action PORT PHILLIP NE

Wayne Friebe wfriebe@bigpond.net.au

The unusual and changing weather trends of this time last year have continued over the past month, and in many ways, we had already moved into an autumn weather pattern well before the start of March.

Milder weather and cooler mornings and evenings seemed to arrive all at once at the start of last month, and the lack of extended periods of warmer

time of year.

With the increasing reliability of the pelagic fish action in the southern reaches of the bay, and nearby offshore areas, local snapper reports have been understandably less frequent than what we normally see at this time of year. Good numbers of southern bluefin tuna up to 25kg have been regularly seen and taken by keen anglers close to the rip and nearby offshore areas around Cape Schanck to Barwon Heads. The rip area has been the most productive for kingfish, with

anglers have still been getting amongst plenty of smaller school-sized snapper, along with a few quality fish out wide from Mornington and Mount Martha. The local charter operators have been cashing in of late in these areas as well. The best time of late definitely seems to be centred around the run-out tide, especially in the afternoons, which is very similar to traditional pinkie snapper fishing during the winter months.

Most of the smaller snapper have been in the 1-3kg size range, with a few bigger

Bluefin tuna like this one caught by Gerry Morseman out from Cape Shank have kept many of the bay’s anglers occupied over the past month.

Tony Blackford with the sort of snapper many anglers will be chasing over Easter this year, especially over the vast mud flats out from Mount Martha and Safety Beach. weather over the summer months generally kept water temperatures down. This has however kept peak bite times and periods of fish activity more consistent and reliable.

As the water temperature continues to cool as we move closer to winter, some of the bay’s bread-and-butter target species will really start to fire again. For many of the bay’s anglers, the change of seasons into the autumn months is their favourite

many anglers reporting the biggest numbers they have ever seen. Both options are very exciting for the bay’s anglers, and our fishery.

Let’s hope it continues to get better and more consistent in the seasons to come. Who knows, school bluefin tuna and bigger numbers of kings further up into the bay might not be as far away as we might have thought a few years ago.

Dedicated snapper

models around 3-5kg coming aboard out wide.

Depths between 19-22m have been the most productive of late, and much like last year, anglers fishing near the channel have reported that passing container ships have triggered snapper activity.

Mornington and Mount Martha have been the best. A few nice gummy sharks have also been taken in this area over the past month, so much so that many anglers are now

targeting them specifically in this area. It’s a great sign for the bay and the future of our fishery. Yakkas and slimies have been very productive for both snapper and gummies, as well as fresh squid. Good quality frozen baits are also good, but you can’t beat the real stuff, especially when there is so much natural food available.

Calamari numbers have greatly increased on the inshore reefs over the past month as well, but frequent rain has kept the water a little dirtier than usual. After a few slower months, it’s nice to see some numbers of squid turning up in the usual areas.

Swarms of smaller squid have been very active, especially around first and last light, and with new competition for food, there have been a few larger models reported as well. Mornington Pier

has been a real hotspot of late, and will continue to be so for the next few months.

All of the usual inshore reefs are producing well, especially around Olivers Hill, Mornington, Mount Eliza and Mount Martha.

Interestingly, black/red jigs have been very productive lately, and also glow white/ prawn patterned jigs.

Local whiting reports have increased over the last month, especially in the more southern reaches of the bay, and the annoying presence of undersized pinkies that we saw in many areas last year doesn’t seem to be as bad. In fact, many land based fishers have reported catching solid bream from the beaches at night when targeting whiting, especially those anglers using banana prawn or Bass yabbies for bait. I’m expecting our

local haunts to produce well for the next few months, as these areas have become very reliable for both boat and land-based anglers in recent years. Olivers Hill, Daveys Bay, Mornington and Mount Martha all have some great locations, but times of low light and high tides are best. Fresh bait is also key, with squid, pipis, mussels and Bass yabbies being the best.

The Patterson River has been fishing really well over the last month, with some really nice mulloway and estuary perch being taken by lure anglers. At the time of writing, we have received a decent amount of rain, with more on the way. This always gives the Patto a good flush, and does wonders for the fishing. It will certainly help the fishing in the coming months.

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APRIL 2021

Some bigger snapper have been coming from further north in the bay, like this cracker from Black Rock. Photo courtesy of Brendan at IFISH.

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The changing tide of species PHILLIP ISLAND

Craig Edmonds

Marlin caught off Kilcunda? Now, don’t get too excited it hasn’t happened yet, but you have to ask how long will it be before that is the headline!

Fishing seasons and

long will the tuna run last?

And why have they turned up all of a sudden, is any bodies guess. I think perhaps it’s because the food is here and, while the bait (food supply) is coming, there is no reason the tuna won’t keep turning up. Tuna are just eating machines that require plenty of food to survive and will go where

This season was different from last with the tuna in much bigger schools and spread over a much wider area. They were in very close and started off only taking very small, skirted lures. By the end, reports were coming in from customers catching them on all sorts and sizes of both skirts and hardbody lures.

the same schools.

Whiting have been a little disappointing of late and the big bags of big fish just aren’t being reported like they were pre-Christmas. We are still seeing some quality whiting and reasonable bags, but you must be prepared to move around a bit and even do a trip or two for donuts. The reports now are no different between deep and shallow water. While there seems to be less bigger fish there are plenty of very small ones or just legal size ones, so not as if the fish have disappeared, the colder water and changing season has probably meant they aren’t feeding as often.

Pipis are the go-to bait for most whiting fishermen but looking at the changing pipi industry I would be starting to look for alternative baits. They have been very short in supply for bait all season with the

There was a late run of bigger snapper with most coming from an evening session.

Liam managed a few quality gummies this season and plans to try some offshore winter fishing. the species that turn up in numbers each year is ever changing. Four years ago we would have been talking about bluefin as a species you need to load up the boat from May on and head to Portland. Bluefin are now a species we talk about like snapper or whiting. For the last couple of years, we have had very good seasons, just opposite time of the year to what we have been used to in Victoria.

The big question is, how

they can find it. This also means that if the bait doesn’t show, chances are the tuna won’t either. So it could be over as quickly as it started.

I am talking like it’s a new thing that hasn’t happened before but when I look back through some of the historical articles I have and speak to some of the long retired commercial fishermen, they have been here before and in fact were a species regularly caught from land-based anglers.

We even had a couple of reports of tuna being caught on baited rigs that were out for those chasing gummies.

The other thing that was different this season was in the schools of tuna there were plenty of kingfish and very large salmon. They were all taking the trawled lures people had out for the bluefin. We also had several reports, from a little further to the east, later in the season, of schools of stripe tuna showing up in

Noel arrived from Melbourne and the weather was too good so headed out for a quick fish and was very happy he did.

Amanda took the opportunity to head out for a tuna fish on her day off.

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reduced quota this year and at times not available so people have been forced to try other baits. The season closes around June then reopens in October.

There are some very strong rumours that next season will be even worse with the majority of the supply heading straight to the food market. We are looking at sourcing a supply of some alternative baits over the winter, but a very good option is fresh calamari and lightly salted pilchard fillets.

Whatever the new season brings with quota and pipi bait supply, one thing is for certain, quantity and price will be very different come the spring.

Gummies started slow, even offshore, but have got better as the season has gone on and, with any hope, we will see a winter like last year, minus Covid of course. It will be very mild with light winds, which will help people get out for a gummy fish. We do find that this time of the year the gummy fishing is always better on the moon phases, full or new and the couple of days either side of the moon, not necessarily on the day of moon itself. You will always see better gummies offshore, off the windmills in 20-35m of water. Ideally, if conditions are right, anchored is better than drifting. If you are new to

it, I would suggest drifting for the first few times down there to get an idea of the ground you are fishing on.

You are looking for that structure that the wrasse hold on then once you have a bit more confidence and a few marked spots start anchoring. Rigs for that area can be a bit different as well, and if you are in the area drop in and we will help out where we can to hopefully see you land a big offshore gummy.

One thing that has suffered with the excellent run of tuna and kings this year has been the land-based fishing. It would appear that everyone has a friend with a boat all of a sudden that needs a crew to head offshore and very few have been standing on the jetties or beaches, so reports are difficult to get.

There has been the odd person heading to the surf and plenty of reports from them but most of the time the report is that there was nothing caught. Those who managed to catch salmon caught small fish and we didn’t see much over the 1kg mark, I think the bigger salmon were out with the tuna and kings chasing the food. We have had calamari reports but trying to work them out has been almost impossible, and giving advice has been even harder.

We have seen the return of trevally to the jetty at Newhaven this year and, while not the numbers we used to get, it’s been better than the last few years. If you want to do some bait collecting, grab your light rod and bait jig and head to the jetties at Cowes and Rhyll most calm nights, a bit of berley will also help.

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fella and it was a very popular River mouth continues to be win for this gun angler, and a outstanding with thumping top effort to knock off the local bream caught, especially at anglers who fish the Gippy first light or when the wind b.geddes@bigpond.com Lakes year round. is up. Owen Pierce recently Weeks after the latest ABT Special mention to Peter had a bizarre experience at BREAM comp here in the Nord who finished 4th with this spot. As he slowly cruised Gippy Lakes, anglers are still 10.8kg after losing two really through the shallow water of talking about the incredible enormous bream. He said they The Cut he found a big school size and numbers of stunning may have been new PBs for of whopping kingfish! Yes, bream weighed in. It was such him. I know every angler has yellowtail kingies. They were a joy to see anglers competing a story about losing big bream darting around at great speed, again after a year of COVID but sometimes bad luck can and he guesstimated that they restrictions. be so cruel. Like Steven Pryke were 80cm and bigger. Owen The whiting are still around who had four bream on day quickly grabbed his nearest in big numbers but the kingfish one but lost the last four fish he bream outfit, sadly with just are proving elusive. We are hooked up that were all large 5lb leader tied on, and cast a now heading into the best fish. Ouch! At least he got the hardbody into the school. weather months for fishing so Big Bream for the comp that I think you can guess what it’s time to get busy. was over 1.6kg. happened next. He hooked a BRUISER BREAM BAGS And then there’s Tom huge kingfish that screamed It always amazes when McIntosh who crushed a top off out of the river mouth and comp anglers are set free across field of non-boaters with an broke the leader. By the time the Gippy Lakes. They always amazing bag over 11kg. And Owen scrambled around for ROCKLEA NORTH ROCKHAMPTON another rigged-up rod, the big school had vanished.

KAREE MARINE RIFEN BOATS My last four excursions 1776 Ipswich Road Rocklea 6 Dooley Street North Rockhampton have been out stalking my P: (07) 3875 1600 P: (07) 4927 9150 favourite Lake Wellington, and E: sales@kareemarine.com.au E: rifen.boats@bigpond.com the bream have been providing some excellent sport in the W: www.kareemarine.com.au W: www.rifenboats.com.au shallow, snaggy margins. The water is fairly dark green and NORTHERN GOLD COAST AIRLIE BEACH coloured but obviously ONSHORE MARINE WHITSUNDAY OUTBOARD murky CENTRE clean enough for the fish to Horizon Shores Marina Woongoolba 17 William Murray Drivesee Cannonvale lures. The bream have been P: (07) 5546 2480 P: (07) 4946 7286 fairly modest sizes with most around 38cm but a few nicer E: onshoremarine@ozemail.com.au E: woc@whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au ones around 40-42cm. Most W: www.onshoremarine.com.au W: www.whitsundayoutboardcentre.com.au trips I land about 10 bream a session and every now EVERTON HILLS CAIRNS and then I get a surprise and HOLT MARINE AUSSIE MARINE very rewarding catch. One 25 QueensFive Road Everton Hills 5 Hannam Street fish like this Hollands Landing bream will go Bungalow was a 38cm estuary perch, long 8way in winning any Gippy Lakes comp. and there was also a ripper P: (07) 3353a1928 P: (07) 4033 8800 handsome bass that went 44cm E: info@holtmarine.com.au E: sales@aussiemarine.com.au seem to find huge bream from look out for Owen Pierce in and 1.28kg.

W: www.holtmarine.com.au W: www. aussiemarine.com.au all corners of this vast estuary future comps after he finished LOOKING AHEAD and give me new areas to 8th with 9.7kg (he also had Every year at this time I CAPALABA KARUMBA explore. It’s such an eye opener some hard luck tales). admit to getting overexcited, MIKES MARINE JONES for those of us who live here, After the MARINE comp, Hollands because the fishing can improve I also learn heaps about Landing has continued to dramatically almost overnight.

9 Smithand Street Capalaba 30 Yappar Street Karumba new lures and techniques from produce amazing bags of I’m not sure if it’s the dropping P: (07) 3390 3418 P: (07) 4745 9159 these gun anglers. bream. It may be hard to temperatures, food availability, E: sales@mikesmarine.com.au E: jonglo@bigpond.com The day before the comp believe but I think it may get water clearing up or maybe a W: www.mikesmarine.com.au W: www.jonesmarine.com.au prefish I went to Hollands even better towards winter. combination of them all.

Landing to see if the big bream LAKE KING The focus is still lake SLACKSwere CREEK IPSWICH in. I landed seven cracker I also need to mention fishing for now but the bream breamMARINE out of CENTRE the snags with some of the thumping AUSTRALIAN IPSWICH MARINEbream will slowly move into the rivers my best five going 46.5cm, in the over the next month, so it will 3491 Pacific Highway Slacks Creek caught45elsewhere Huxham Street Raceview 44cm, 43cm and two at 42cm, shallow edges around the pay to move around. I’ve run P: (07) 3808 7333 P: 07 3294 3944 tip length. The best two fish various lakes. Jones Bay near out of room to talk about the E: sales@amcboats.com.au E: enquiries@ipswichmarine.com.au weighed in at 1.46kg and the Tambo entrance is holding loads of bream being caught W: www.amcboats.com.au W: www.ipswichmarine.com.au 1.33kg. I also got four bream good numbers of bream over on bait but I’ll quickly mention around 38cm while using a 40cm, mostly targeted with that plain old frozen prawn has blade lure out in the depths. suspending hardbodies. been the best bait, with live NOOSAVILLE COAST If I hadMARINE caught these fish The Cut near the Mitchell shrimp a close second.

SUNSHINE on competition day, I would 122 Eumundi Road Noosaville have had a bag of five bream P: (07) 5449 7633 over 6kg.

However, this kind of E: sales@sunshinecoastmarine.com.au catch tends to be more difficult to get during a comp. There W: www.sunshinecoastmarine.com.au are heaps of anglers all around you, plus you have the nagging pressure of time constraints.

After my session I knew the ABT anglers were going to have a ball in the Straits over the next few days, but I didn’t expect the numbers or sizes of the staggering bream they all weighed in. Some anglers were netting up to 20 or even 30 bream a day, and constantly upgrading. Congrats to Declan Betts who won the comp at Hollands Landing with an Sometimes the author gets a surprise catch in amazing bag 11.4kg for his 10 the snags around Lake Wellington, like this 38cm fish. Declan is a really nice perch living in less than a metre of water.

GIPPSLAND LAKES

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Good signs for the future LAKES ENTRANCE

Steven Pryke

The Gippsland Lakes system is a truly massive waterway and is consistently changing. This year has seen many changes and rapid improvement in the fishery since the removal of commercial fishing.

Hopefully the sudden improvement is a small taste of what’s to come.

LAKES ENTRANCE Our small coastal town has had its hard times recently, as have many other townships, due to COVID restrictions.

However, with the easing of restrictions, people have come back to the East Gippsland region and supported the struggling local businesses.

The fishery has rapidly improved and the King George whiting have become a massive drawcard for many anglers. The popular weed flats have been covered in boats daily, and it’s becoming nothing to see 20+ boats on the popular flats. Barrier landing has been one of the most

A 9’7” bronze whaler caught off the beach on spin tackle. popular spots with a lot anglers, and has produced some of the biggest King George whiting this season. Typical bait fishing methods have been the go, with anglers having great results using fresh baits such as pipi

and local mussel.

The variety in the lower lakes has really begun to pick up, and schools of smaller pinkie snapper have become a common by-catch. Areas such as the Metung yacht club have

produced some better-sized snapper, with anglers chasing bream getting a by-catch of snapper up to 35cm. Effective lure choices include grub-style soft plastics and Cranka Crabs.

The tournament bream scene has had great start to the 2021 season, with the Gippsland Lakes hosting the opening event for the ABT series. Anglers spread wide throughout the lakes, and Declan Betts won the event with 10 bream for 11.45kg.

It was great to see the how widespread the field was, and that new areas that used to be heavily commercially fished were producing well. Anglers were bringing in 5kg+ bags from all over the lake system.

Our local surf beaches have been a good producer, with anglers having good success fishing for Australian salmon. On bright sunny days people have been able to spot massive schools of salmon as they make their way up and down the coastline. Small metal lures have been a great approach, especially because

Shark anglers are becoming a more common sight on our local beaches, and the sport is continuing to grow. these schools are always moving, and this allows the angler to stay with the school.

The local shark scene has been growing, and our first land-based shark comp (Corringle Cup Land-Based Shark Fishing Challenge) is scheduled to run from 5 March to 3 April. It will be really interesting to see how many sharks are caught and how big they will be.

LAKE TYRES The lake has remained high right throughout summer, and maybe this coming winter the lake system will open to the ocean. It’s been a different summer, with extremely high water levels enabling anglers to explore areas that are usually unfishable.

The flooded tea trees have provided ideal areas for anglers to target bream off the surface. Small topwater

lures like Bassday Sugapens have been getting absolutely destroyed by hungry bream and the odd flathead. These timbered edges have been lined with small shrimp, so they’re perfect places for predators to feed.

In the higher reaches of the Nowa Nowa arm, flathead are feeding on the big schools of garfish – a perfect meal for a big flatty. If you’re after good-sized flathead, try 5” or 6” flickbaits or jerkbaits.

These are deadly, especially when fished lightly weighted, allowing you to work them just under the surface.

BEEN FISHING? If you have been out for fish lately and have a great pic, send it to stevenprykefishing@ gmail.com with short description and you could be featured in the edition of Fishing Monthly.

Estuary still firing MARLO

The author with the 1.64kg bream that took out the Big Bream prize in the recent ABT event.

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21 Marine Parade MARLO VIC

Jim McClymont mcclymont@net-tech.com.au

The weather is still good and the fish are still biting. The estuary is fishing well, with plenty of mullet in the system.

They are being caught from Marlo and up the Snowy River to the highway bridge at Orbost and up the Brodribb River all the way up to Lake Curlip.

Anglers are also reporting good captures of bream being caught from the entrance all the way up to both Lake Corringle and Lake Curlip. Good baits

include sandworm, frozen prawn and bass yabbies.

Luderick are in good numbers schooling along the rock groynes that surround the islands and along Ross Bank. Most catches have been coming on sandworm or shrimp.

Estuary perch are being caught using live prawn or lures. Salmon and tailor are smashing lures on the incoming tide down towards the entrance.

Big estuary flathead are still in good numbers along the sandflats that run from the Marlo jetty all the way down to Frenches Narrows, and will be there as long as the prawn remain in the estuary.

The surf beaches are still fishing well, with plenty of salmon and tailor being caught during the day either using surf rods and bait fishing, or spinning metal lures using light gear. More adventurous anglers are still getting plenty of bronze whaler sharks, with most caught and released.

Fishing offshore is a bit hit-and-miss, with some anglers reporting good captures of flathead and gummy shark as well as salmon, squid, barracoota, pinkie snapper, morwong, ling, and kingfish, while others are reporting only getting a few flathead and wrasse.

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Consistent lake fishing MALLACOOTA/EDEN

Kevin Gleed captainkev@wildernessfishingtours.com

Summer seemed to miss us this year, with only a few really hot days and plenty of unusually cold days. As autumn progresses, signs point to a cold winter ahead.

It’s been great to see the town full of visitors, and we can expect to be busy right through until Easter, which has been greatly needed for all local businesses.

The lake fishing has been consistent but the lake never fully fired up like it has in other summers, no doubt due to the weather. The inshore water temperature along the beaches is around 20°C which is great for swimming, with warmer currents offshore.

Fishing the local beaches has seen some good yellowfin bream caught, with the best areas being in the corners of the beach where rock meets sand. Fishing the tide rising to high will give you the

best chance of getting some fish, and fresh baits such as prawns and beachworms are best. A few good size tailor are also being caught.

The Bastion Point harbour jetty has also been an area where yelloweye mullet and yellowfin bream are being caught.

There have been plenty of good days for heading offshore, and there have been good catches of tiger flathead being caught in around 50m of water. The fish have been a good size, with plenty of

Mickey Vucic with a yelloweye mullet caught at the Bastion Point boat ramp.

A variety of prawn imitation lures have been working well.

people managing to bag out.

The same area has seen consistent catches of gummy shark, and most have been big.

Closer to shore there have been some good bags of sand flathead caught, with good fish coming in the Gabo Island area.

Yellowtail kingfish are being caught between Gabo Island and Talaberga Island, with plenty of baitfish in the area. As usual, the fish have been tricky to catch unless you are lucky enough to find them on the bite. There have

been heaps of dolphins in the same areas, no doubt chasing the schools of bait.

As mentioned before, the fishing in the lake hasn’t been easy, but the anglers who know the lake are catching fish. The area around Goodwin Sands has been good for yellowfin bream, with lures and fresh bait catching fish.

Harrisons Channel has seen good catches of yellowfin bream as well. In general, these areas have been the pick of the spots in the Bottom Lake. Flathead are still being caught, with the

best fishing coming from the deeper areas around 12ft+.

The Top Lake has been the best area to fish if you are chasing black bream, with most fish caught out in the deeper areas. Using the sounder to find fish is the best option.

Trolling silver lures in the Genoa River has seen some big tailor caught, with fish up to 3kg being reported. The area around Cape Horn is worth a try.

Anglers have also been catching a few prawns, and with any luck the next dark could well be worth a look.

High water makes for fun autumn fishing BEMM RIVER

Robyn Sturgess

The fishing excitement hasn’t stopped in Bemm River. The water level is reasonably high and the fishing is amazing.

It’s shaping to be one of the best seasons we

have ever had.

Bream, luderick and flathead are making up the majority of catches, with bream being the most dominant.

The preferred bait at the moment is fresh prawn.

The river is now starting to become the hot spot as the fish slowly move

into the upper reaches.

Flathead can still be found around the storm hut and in the channel around the sand beds.

Big tailor are still in the lake system and are great fun when hooked up on bream gear.

The surf is still producing a good run of

It’s shaping up to be a great season.

Good numbers of bream are being caught.

salmon and tailor but the best fun is golden eye mullet on light gear in the breakers.

The Mahoganies and around toward Siberia are still good bream areas.

Don’t forget there are

still tagged fish in the system so keep your eyes peeled. The Golden Tag promotion will continue until December 2021.

• For on the spot and up to date fishing reports check out Robyn’s website: www.

bemmaccommodation. com.au or ‘like’ us on Facebook – Bemm River Holiday Accommodation Phone: (03) 5158 4233/ Mob. 0427 584 233 Email: bemmaccomm@ bigpond.com.

APRIL 2021

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Brilliant camping weather ROBINVALE

Rod Mackenzie codmac@bigpond.net.au

When it comes to big cod fishing along the Murray River, no season shows more promise than that of autumn. Crisp cool mornings make way for blue, still days as the water temperature begins to fall away.

The change of season triggers a cod bite that escalates and spills into many angling avenues. Over the past few weeks some very good-sized Murray cod have

been hitting surface lures in the Murray River around Swan Hill. From both boat and bank, these cod – some over a metre in length – have hit surface presentations with vigour. The topwater offerings most effective include the Bassman Aussie Crawler, Koolabung Wake Walkers and JM Gillies Log Hoppers. A few good-sized cod have also been landed on the troll using a variety of lures in bright colours. Early morning and afternoon have produced the best results.

Bait fishers too are catching some good-sized cod in the Swan Hill area, with

There have been some good sized Murray cod landed in the lead up to the autumn break. This one was caught by Clinton Hann on bait.

several 1m+ fish reported recently.

Local tackle proprietor Jim Credlin says it’s been a great season so far, and things will only get better as the autumn bite continues to climb. Credlin reckons it’s a great time of year to be out fishing and camping, and he is optimistic that plenty of anglers will visit Swan Hill during the autumn break.

Lakes Boga, Charm and Kangaroo have all been fishing well for golden perch and redfin on bait and lures. Anglers fishing Lake Kangaroo into the night from the bank are generally catching their bag limit of perch on fresh shrimp.

Back into the Murray, and the autumn cod bite continues downstream through Wood Wood and Tooleybuc, with numerous cod up to a metre landed in recent weeks on bait and lures. Once again, some solid fish have come from anglers working surface lures at first and last light.

It’s a similar story at Boundary Bend with a few more perch thrown in the mix. There have been heaps of small cod caught at this location on bait, with one angler describing them as being in plague proportions.

I’m not sure on that one but it’s good to see that the smaller cod are plentiful, as

it holds hope for the future of this fishery.

The Murray River at Robinvale has produced a few good-sized cod on the troll. StumpJumpers are working best with some solid perch also hitting these larger lures. With angling interest returning to these waters, the boys at Robinvale Auto Pro have opened up a fishing and camping section in store, so next time you are up that way pop in and check it out.

Continuing downstream, and Wemen has fished well on bait, with lots of small to medium size cod eating grubs, yabbies, worms and chicken. Some good perch have been caught in this area also.

On the Murray River at Mildura, Kym Sykes says some good sized Murray cod have been landed on trolled lures. The best of late was a 114cm fish caught upstream of Wentworth. Perch too are hitting the larger cod lures, with most outings producing at least one or two for the pan. Sykes is looking forward to the coming months and the promise of a great autumn bite and brilliant camping weather.

All up, the Murray River in our local areas is fishing well and the bite should only get better as we welcome in the change of season.

Top and above: Donna Mackenzie is the captain of body shots, hooking both this perch and Murray cod in the back with StumpJumper lures.

My favourite time of year BENDIGO

Roger Miles codhuntertours@bigpond.com

April and May are my favourite months of the year to go fishing. At this time of the year we often see a change in the weather patterns which are coming through. High pressure systems are often larger and slower moving, and they create some ideal fishing conditions. I encourage anglers to get out and make the most of some ideal conditions over the next couple of months.

Water clarity has settled in the local rivers again so the Bendigo region has many good options to go fishing.

LAKE EPPALOCK There are currently blue green algae warnings at Lake Eppalock. If you are planning to keep any fish from this location, please wash the fillets thoroughly when you are at home with town water.

The productivity in the redfin fishing has been good but locating a concentration of fish is not easy. The best concentrations of fish are currently being located in 5.5-7.5m of water. Trolling 92

APRIL 2021

deep diving hardbody lures such as Custom Crafted Basshunter or Australian Crafted AC Invaders are excellent options for the redfin. Casting soft vibes and soft plastics and jigging across the bottom also remains a productive option.

The hardest thing with redfin fishing is finding a good concentration of fish. I will personally hunt around a lot in order to find them.

It is not uncommon for me to fish 20 or more locations in one day before finding a good concentration of fish.

Most of the redfin caught are small but if you work hard there have been small numbers of excellent sized 40cm+ fish being caught.

The productivity of the golden perch fishing remains good. Casting lipless crankbaits and trolling medium sized hardbody lures have been the most popular techniques.

Golden perch are still being caught around the edges of the rocky shorelines, but catch rates are higher for those anglers who are able to find a concentration of golden perch on the standing timber.

Small numbers of Murray cod are being caught, with the average size being around 55-70cm.

CAMPASPE RIVER Fishing in the Campaspe River this season has been frustrating. Water clarity

has been very variable this season. It is pleasing to see water clarity is improving again and so are anglers catch rates. The water clarity is currently the best below Lake Eppalock down to Barnadown. The water clarity at Elmore and Rochester is not as good but is improving. The Campaspe is producing a good mixture of fish at the present time.

Golden perch are making up the majority of captures with smaller numbers of Murray cod and redfin also being caught. The majority of the redfin being caught have been small.

The average size of the golden perch has been between 38-45cm. As the

This Murray cod was caught on a Codhunter Flathead. The author landed five Murray cod and two golden perch on the same lure.

This golden perch took a liking to a Codhunter Flathead. water starts to cool over the next couple of months we usually see a few larger golden perch being caught in the Campaspe River.

Good lure options continue to be lipless crankbaits, mainly in dark colours, spinnerbaits and medium sized hardbody lures.

The most productive lure options for the Murray cod have been large lipless crankbaits, medium hardbody lures and surface lures.

CAIRN CURRAN The fishing at Cairn Curran remains good, with golden perch continuing to make up the majority of anglers’ catch rates. The most productive method for the golden perch has been bait fishing around the standing timber. Live shrimp are the top bait, followed by

worms and yabbies.

Golden perch are still being caught by anglers targeting the trees with lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits. There are small numbers of golden perch being caught along the rocky shorelines, but the productivity around the shoreline fishing has reduced over the last month.

Danny Stone has been producing good results on the golden perch fishing with a range of lures.

On a recent trip he also managed to land a very fat 68cm Murray cod while trolling.

Small numbers of Murray cod are still being caught, mostly as a by-catch by anglers bait fishing around the trees To page 93

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Productive autumn fishing BALLARAT

Shane Stevens

Autumn is certainly one of my favourite times to fish around Ballarat. The milder daytime temperatures days and the cooler nights mean cooler water temperatures, which suit the trout in our fisheries around the Ballarat district.

The trout start to feed up in readiness for their winter spawning run at this time of year. Unfortunately they are unable to complete this task, as most of our waters are land locked, but this does not stop the trout and their natural instincts to spawn. At this time of the year they start to get very aggressive and territorial, and they really smack the flies, lures and baits.

It is also at this time of the year where some of our insect life starts to taper off due to the temperatures, but for others it’s a sign to fire back up, like the mayfly on most of our local waters. Autumn mayfly hatches around the district can be fantastic if the conditions are right. This year might be a good year for the mayfly given

Tullaroop Reservoir is an exciting autumn fishing prospect. that most of our water levels are up very high and the water temperatures over the summer months were generally lower.

Fingers crossed we will have a good couple of months. I look forward to heading out around the lunchtime period, as this is prime time for the mayfly hatches on Wendouree, Moorabool, Newlyn and Hepburn Lagoon.

Lake Wendouree once again has been our standout waterway, in what has been a pretty quiet month overall

Andrew Borg caught this well-conditioned Moorabool Reservoir rainbow on a brown nymph fly. Image courtesy of Andrew Borg.

From page 92

targeting golden perch.

There has also been the occasional larger Murray cod caught by anglers trolling large hardbody lures. This becomes an increasingly a good option as the water starts to cool, because the cooler conditions trigger the larger Murray cod to feed up before winter sets in.

The redfin fishing at this location has been similar to Lake Eppalock, with most of the fish being small. Finding a good concentration of redfin has not been easy, but if you are lucky enough (or skilful enough) there are small numbers of redfin being caught measuring up to 40cm.

LODDON RIVER The Loddon River has also produced a mixed bag of fishing conditions this season. Water clarity has been very variable in this system this season.

Earlier this year the water was too clear, and one major rain event later the

water clarity was too poor.

The good news is water clarity is now ideal and anglers are experiencing good improvements in catch rates. Good numbers of golden perch are being caught on a wide range of lures. The two most productive colours lately have been black and chartreuse.

The most productive Murray cod fishing has been had by those anglers walking the banks and fishing the shallower sections of the river. The productivity has been good in the Newbridge section and in between Bridgewater and Serpentine.

This month we should start to see some larger Murray cod being caught in the deeper section of the Loddon above Bridgewater and Serpentine weirs.

Try casting large lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits, hardbody lures, surface lures or swimbaits – they are all excellent options for the Loddon River at this time of the year.

with reports slowly filtering through. This generally happens at the end of summer with the higher water temperatures. Due to the shallow nature of our waters around the Ballarat district, the fishing can be quiet.

I have had quite a few sessions out on Wendouree myself, with Wayne Rigg and my 10yo son Maxi. We have fished a variety of methods – casting lures, trolling lures and fishing mudeyes suspended under a float, all with excellent results. One recent session with Wayne Rigg we were casting Bent Minnow surface lures in and around the weed beds out of a drifting boat.

Wayne nailed a couple of magnificent brown trout of 54cm and 58cm, and we had a number of other trout trying to eat our lures. We’ve been out since trying to replicate that session, but unfortunately we couldn’t raise a trout.

However, we didn’t go home empty-handed, landing a couple of very good-sized redfin, including a 44cm model that engulfed my pimped up H04 gold coloured Bent Minnow.

On a recent trip to Wendouree, Maxi said, “Dad can we do some trolling today?” because we haven’t done that for a long time. I said yes, and the plan was to troll up and down the rowing lanes and try to catch a trout or a redfin.

We tied on a couple of

Bullet Lures, a gold one and a silver one, which have been very productive over the past few years. We cast our lures out the back of the boat, approximately 10m (if you cast them much further than that they’ll dive too deep and get fouled up by weed).

We had only gone around 100m when Maxi’s rod buckled. After a bit of a tussle we landed a lovely 40cm rainbow, took a couple of photos and released it for someone else to catch.

Trolling lures can be a very productive method of catching fish on Wendouree, however it is in a confined area of the rowing channel. You need to be mindful of the rowers at all times because they have right of way when fishing this method. You will also lose fish and lures on the rowing lane ropes because the fish have a knack of swimming straight to

Max Stevens landed this Lake Wendouree rainbow trout on the troll using a silver Bullet lure.

At Newlyn Reservoir the water level is as high as I have seen it for this time, due to a lot of summer rainfall in the area.

Generally Newlyn is pretty hard to fish at this time of the year because the water level is drawn down for irrigation, exposing a lot of weed. Not this year, and this has made it difficult to fish in some areas.

The amount of extra water and food available to the fish will be a win-win for us though, and has been over the past few months. Shane Jeffrey has been catching some lovely trout in the evenings on mudeyes fished under floats, and after dark on fly. His best trout were browns of 62cm The author with a ripping 44cm redfin from Lake and 64cm. Newlyn has over Wendouree caught on a pimped up H04 Bent Minnow. the years has had excellent mayfly hatches, and hopefully them when hooked. weed, so anglers will now this year will be no different.

At Moorabool Reservoir need to find the clear pockets I’ve been looking forward the water level is much higher of water to fish. to fishing at Tullaroop than at this time last year, but On the upside, a lot of Reservoir throughout the unfortunately for Moorabool aquatic life will thrive from all autumn months, given the great and some other waters around the weed, and this can only be fishing I experienced there in the district, the weed growth is good for the fish. Hopefully spring. I recently headed over to levels I have never seen. This the abundance of food with for a reconnaissance mission has made fishing a lot more cause the fish will get a lot to Tullaroop to have a look at difficult but not impossible. bigger quicker. the water level and how much The amount of fishable water On a recent trip out there, the weed had grown. I was has been dramatically reduced I managed to spook one fish surprised that the water had by the extensive coverage of right in the shallows and dropped so much, but more have another one try to eat importantly the weed had my lure, all within 1m of the grown in some areas that I shore. Even though there is a had caught fish in the spring. lot less fishable water, I will Some of those areas are now certainly be back to try and unfishable. However, there’s catch one, especially over the a good amount of insect life next few months. buzzing around, including Andrew Borg, who hordes of damselflies. fly fishes Moorabool a lot, At Tullaroop, given its has had a few hit-and-miss size, it’s a matter of putting in sessions over the past month. a few miles and you will find Andrew has identified areas fishable water where the weed where he can fish, and on is not too bad. You just need to a recent session he was wade out up to your knees and managed to catch one well- cast over the weed. I didn’t conditioned rainbow trout catch or see a fish on my trip, of approximately 40cm on a but I am full of optimism for brown nymph. Andrew lost the coming months, especially another one during the same as the water temperatures session, but perseverance will drop. The smelt will once Wayne Rigg nailed a couple of lovely pay off at Moorabool for all again move into the shallower Wendouree brown trout on surface angling methods – flies, lures areas and the fish will follow. lures. This one measured 58cm. and baits.

Happy times for us anglers.

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So many fishing options WANGARATTA

Robbie Alexander

April is a beautiful time of the year to visit North East Victoria. The weather can be delightful, but the fishing can be a little bit hit and miss.

Thankfully there are still some great fishing options around.

time to target trout in the Ovens River catchment.

During April, often the larger trout will swim upstream in preparation for their spawning run, which usually begins late in May. Because of this it is not uncommon to find great trout fishing in really busy areas that see a lot of fishing pressure as the trout often have to pass through

or out of their territory.

A long slender minnow of around 7-8cm is always a great option.

If bait fishing try using live crickets, particularly early in the month. If there are still grasshoppers around they will be worth a try too. Worms will work well, but only if we get some decent rainfall between now and then

This Murray cod was caught on 24 April last year in between lockdowns.

It was caught in the Ovens River using a Chickens Hit bait. thing about Lake William Hovell will be the size of the redfin. Catching a decent redfin of any size can be a real problem up there. As

to fish stockings by the Victorian Fisheries Authority.

Most are not big, but are getting bigger all the

can slow down a little bit during April however it can still produce a few yellas and is well worth fishing.

Trolling medium-sized

A fat and healthy King River brown trout caught just below Lake William Hovell.

MURRAY COD The Murray cod fishing is probably the most hit and miss of all species in North East Victoria during April.

I have had some fantastic April Murray cod fishing in years gone by, and also

these areas as they migrate upstream.

Thanks to a wet February, I anticipate that there should be some quite good stream flows during April, allowing the trout to swim upstream in most

and that is unknown at this point.

Spots to try are the Ovens River upstream of Bright, the King River upstream of Lake William Hovell (and immediately below the lake) and the Lake Nillahcootie is well worth fishing during April if you are looking for a feed of fresh yellowbelly. with many lakes, the over population of redfin has led to a lot of stunted growth and small fish.

YELLOWBELLY The Ovens River is starting to produce a few yellowbelly again now which is fantastic thanks

time and in April if you’re really lucky you might snag one.

Failing that, if you are after a feed of yellowbelly, I recommend you head a little bit further away and try Lake Nillahcootie.

I find Nillahcootie

diving lures is a great place to start, and bait fishing is always very popular at Lake Nillahcootie.

Live shrimp are by far the best bait in Lake Nillahcootie if you can get some, otherwise try using live yabbies or worms.

April is a great month to target redfin in North East Victoria. many fishless trips.

The best times to head out chasing Murray cod in the Wangaratta area during April are when the weather is stable and the barometer is high. Also, a strong northerly wind ahead of an approaching cold front can also be a great time to go Murray cod fishing.

From my own personal experiences, bait fishing for Murray cod seems to be the most consistent way to catch cod during April with baits of cheese, bardi grubs and worms being the best.

TROUT April can be an excellent 94

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streams without too many problems.

If you are lure fishing for trout in April, it is hard to go past anything black, especially during the first half of the month when there are still lots of crickets around. Strike Tiger nymph soft plastics in black and gold or starlight colour are both well worth a try.

Later in the month as the trout start to get a little hormonal and territorial, try using long skinny minnows. Larger trout will often attack small trout to chase them away from their spawning partner,

Buffalo River at Abbeyard.

REDFIN April is a great month to target redfin, with Lake William Hovell definitely being the stand out fishery.

Lake Buffalo use to fish well for redfin too but the introduction of Murray cod and yellowbelly in recent years has seen the reddies this out somewhat.

I do think that Lake Buffalo will be worth a try for redfin, and I will certainly be trying, however for consistency I think Lake William Hovell will be the best place to head.

The most inconsistent

An Ovens River yellowbelly. Many anglers are excited to once again see these fish in the Ovens River.

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April will be last month for consistent numbers SHEPPARTON

Nick Brown teamriverrats@hotmail.com

April is probably the last month locally where almost all the options are still there for chasing natives. The Goulburn and Broken Rivers will fish well until early May but the numbers of fish caught will drop off.

Easter is early this year so it’s hard to get a good gauge of how long the main bite window will last, but next issue I will be able to report fully on the fishing over the Easter weekend.

Leading into this report there were still plenty of good-sized fish caught in the Goulburn on both bait and lures. Spinnerbaits and surface fishing dominated the lure fishing reports, with chicken and worms accounting for many fish on bait.

It will be difficult to get your hands on shrimp and yabbies as the weather cools off so if you do have some of those baits make sure you make the most of them.

When I sat down to write this article the Broken

River was lower than I have seen it in months, and it just makes finding the deeper pockets much easier.

The surface bite has not dropped off, with many anglers still catching numbers of smaller fish in low light hours. Some locals have been switch baiting the fish, i.e. if there’s a boof on the top, they have another rigged rod ready, or a partner fires in a spinnerbait or hardbody in the same area.

This is a good way to increase catch rates.

We have had some exciting news: the muchanticipated Codference will be held in Shepparton later this month. We are now coming into a new COVID normal so it’s great to see these events back up and running. Make sure you get there and support the great work the Victorian Fishing Authority does. Even if you don’t support some of the work the VFA does, or have questions or feedback, be sure to get there and voice your opinion. You will be surprised how much work is getting put into growing the local fishing industry for all of us to enjoy into the future.

Here is all the info: ‘The Murray Codference is coming back to Shepparton on Sunday 18 April, held at the Riverlinks Eastbank Conference Centre. The popular event provides an opportunity for recfishers to hear presentations about all things Murray cod. There will be a range of speakers, including VRFish’s Advocacy and Member Coordinator, Ben Scullin, who will be discussing better access to our Murray cod fisheries.

Other presentations include: keynote speaker Cameron McGregor from River Escapes, discussing fishing techniques; Anthony Forster providing an update on the new native fish hatchery; Yorick Piper on his journey as a cod fisher; Katie Doyle on Murray cod diet; and Steve ‘Trelly’ Threlfall on new fishing products.

For more information, and to register, go to vfa. vic.gov.au/recreationalfishing and click on ‘Murray Codference 2021’.

KIALLA LAKES April will be the last month for those wanting to consistently catch

yellowbelly in Kialla Lake. I would lean towards slowing your lures right down with the fish not being so active. Try slow rolling black Gulps or a 3” Keitech with a beetle spin.

Pay attention to the pause and don’t be scared to rest your lure on the bottom and let the fish find the lure.

If you’re bait fishing I would be trying to use the freshest bait as possible – worms, shrimp or yabbies if you can get them.

There will be redfin and carp on offer in the cooler months but Kialla tends to just be a no-go zone until spring for many locals. If you do fish the lakes, but please forward on any reports.

One exciting piece of information on Kialla I found online was that over the last two years there have been thousands of yellowbelly stocked in all three of the lakes. It will take a few years for these fish to grow into a good size but it’s great to see that the lake will fish well for years to come.

CRAIGMUIR LAKE Following on from the stocking at Kialla, Craigmuir Lake also got

1000 golden perch stocked earlier in 2021. Just like the other stocked fish, it will take a few years to see the results.

For those fishing the lake in the meantime there have been some goodsized redfin and golden perch caught on worms under a float or on small ZX40 blades.

The weed can be tough to fish amongst at Craigmuir but if you can find the pockets without it you will find plenty of fish on those edges.

WARANGA BASIN The Waranga Basin has fished well and should continue to fish well as the weather cools off.

Bait fishing has been very successful for the bigger fish, while trolling small hardbodies has been picking up higher numbers but smaller sized fish.

There have been a couple of cod caught trolling the 15ft Codgers around the wall in the brown/yellow colour. It’s exciting to see some cod being caught in the Basin, and hopefully in years to come the numbers will increase.

GREENS LAKE I have not reported on

Greens Lake for a while now, and I have attached a post from the VFA Facebook page regarding the state of the lake.

“VRFish is calling on Acting Water Minister, Richard Wynne MP, to immediately deliver water to Greens Lake to prevent an impending and devastating fish kill from occurring.

“Greens Lake, near Corop, has been heavily invested with recreational fisher licence fund money and the resulting multimillion-dollar regional economic impact from recreational tourism at this lake should make it a no-brainer for the Government to step in and fix.

Formally irrigation storage, Greens Lake was decommissioned by Goulburn-Murray Water in 2019. Since then, the water levels have steadily declined to 22% capacity and threaten the native fish population in the lake.”

Let’s hope there is some action taken in restoring this waterway to its former glory; we don’t want to see all the time and money go down the drain.

Weed equals cod YARRAWONGA

Tony Bennett codclassic@bigpond.com

As the summer sun eases and conditions reach nearperfection, it’s the prime time of year to be hitting the home of the Murray cod, Lake Mulwala.

Once again, vast amounts of weed have flourished in recent times, with this has come a concentration of cod, and some big ones at that. The most successful anglers have been fishing either the faces of weed beds or small pockets around timber.

Spinnerbaits and hardbodied lures have been producing numbers of smaller fish (40-70cm) while larger surface and sub-surface lures have generally accounted for the bigger models. We’ve heard nothing official about an impending drawdown to try to control the weed problem, but it is needed.

If a drawdown does happen, this creates a unique opportunity to get out on the lake and have a look at the vast amounts of structure and where the cod live. Witnessing what lies on the lake floor gives you a whole new perspective on how and

where you can find fish once it’s full again. The lake does fish extremely well during this time.

Looking back, February produced some great cod.

Local fella Donny Blackie was lucky enough to land a PB. Whilst fishing the surface, his lure was engulfed by a 112cm beast.

Cain Peatling was another angler who had a good run, producing an amazing 126cm model along with a 109, both caught off the top.

Kristian Dolic was also lucky enough to cross paths with a good one when he hauled in a 109cm chunk.

Off the back of these, there were also numerous BIG cod caught by those anglers who were out there ‘scoping’ with their sounder. It seems that the art of hunting/searching for your fish is being replaced with proficiency in interpreting modern sounder technology.

Unfortunately, with time, a lot of actual angling skill will be lost, but I guess that’s moving with the times and using what’s available to you.

COMPETITIONS In mid-February, 90-odd teams were ready to participate in the annual Humminbird Dash 4 Ca$h – until ‘Dan the Man’ locked

down Victoria with minimal notice, causing most teams to rethink their trip to Yarrawonga/Mulwala. In the end, 31 teams were able to participate, fishing for a much-reduced prize pool.

Unfortunately, conditions were much more suited to wind-surfing than fishing!

Nev Gillett and Nev Foot teamed up to take the cash for the morning session, while Kim and Billy Danckert were the only team to catch two legals in the arvo session to easily take out the $$$.

‘The Cowboys’ Joel and Cody Kenyon took home the Kelly Country Homes cash for the largest fish for the day, measuring in at 66cm.

Late Feb saw the running of the His & Hers partners comp. A strong field of 50 teams took to the lake on a perfect day and the fishing didn’t disappoint.

Bendigo young gun Kade Blow teamed up with partner Annie Hockey to smash the field. They had an amazing day landing 11 cod, seven of them in excess of legal size and all being caught by Annie on cast spinnerbaits.

Finishing in second was Kev and Amber Wild off the back of a monstrous 117cm beast that took a

Kev Wild with his 117cm beast caught during the His & Hers Comp. liking to Kev’s chicken fillet offering. Third place was filled by the popular duo of Col and Georgina Wilkinson, with 72cm being the best cod for this team.

• If you are visiting town, call into Lake Mulwala Fish

Camp & Ski, the shop with the big green cod out the front (Opposite the Post Office) in Mulwala or check out our new store located between Rivers and One Zac in the main street Yarrawonga and say g’day.

We’re Yarrawonga/ Mulwala’s fishing specialists and specialise in all things ‘green’!

For any information on upcoming events or fishing reports, give us a hoy on 03 5744 3133.

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Trolling up bigger fish CRATER LAKES

Rod Shepherd

Lake Elingamite near Cobden has been fishing well for trout lately. Both brown and rainbows to a kilo have been caught by boaters trolling lures out on the lake but close to the surrounding weed beds.

A few decent redfin to 1.1kg have also been picked up. Trolling medium divers have been the go for many.

All that rainfall we were bemoaning has now raised the levels at the ramp to a more appropriate level where boats to 4m can now easily launch and motor out under power (even if the outboard is in shallow drive).

There should be plenty of 2-year-old fish pushing 2kg about. I haven’t heard of any being taken of late, but that doesn’t mean they’re not getting caught.

Lake Bolac is still

producing some rainbows which are certainly putting a smile on many anglers’ faces. Bait fishing from the bank is certainly worth a try.

Local minnow, whitebait and PowerBait fished suspended under a bubble float or allowed to waft down to the bottom lightly weighted has attracted much interest from the local fish. The popular bankside spot to wet a line is directly below the caravan park in and around the yacht club.

Boaters have also scored well trolling shallow-diving lures including Lofty’s Cobras well out back at a slow speed. However, the blue green algae in this waterway means that fish shouldn’t be kept for consumption.

Lake Tooliorook near Realism has seen the odd rainbow up to 1kg falling to those boaters trolling medium to deep diving lures, with many fish taken

opposite the boat ramp right along to the north shore.

Water levels are not far off being full here, which is excellent news.

Lake Purrumbete continues to produce some quality trout to 7lb with many boaters trolling minnow lures such as Lofty’s Cobra style winged lures.

Flat line trolling well out the back or down rigging from 5-10m depth has seen a few taken in recent weeks, including a 2.3kg tiger trout.

The tigers were released into the lake less than two years ago, so how’s that for a massive growth rate? The same angler also caught a sizeable brown that weighed in at 3.6kg. He used a lead core line to get his winged lures down that bit extra.

The redfin schools are ever present at depth, and jigging minnow style soft plastics has seen many landed with the better fish measuring in the low 30s.

A 46cm Elingamite redfin taken on the troll using a medium diving Damiki Saemi minnow.

Pre-spawn trout are waiting for autumn break WST/STH GIPPSLAND

Steve Haughton steve@habitatcreations.com.au

The end of autumn and the arrival of winter is fast approaching. At the start of this month we see the end of daylight savings for 2020/21 on 4 April, coinciding with the Easter weekend. As we wind the clocks back an hour, we say farewell to longer daylight hours, and for most anglers it’s also farewell to the after-work quick flick of a lure.

The question this month on every stream angler’s lips is if and when will we get the

autumn break triggering the run of trout upstream.

Some years it happens early, while other years it might not happen until May, and other years it’s April. Once the streams and rivers start flowing hard, the fishing can become a bit more challenging as trout change their attention from finding food to fast water and spawning.

Streams and rivers in West and South Gippsland are currently flowing well, so an additional top-up from an autumn break will be a good sign for a hopeful winter spawn. The water level at Blue Rock Lake is still at or near capacity.

To keep the kids entertained over the school

holidays, take them out to explore the streams of West and South Gippsland or Blue Rock Lake. There are so many ideal locations to explore and are all only a stone’s throw away from Melbourne. The bigger fish may start heading upstream to their spawning haunts but there’ll still be plenty of small trout about providing fun for anglers on light gear. Strolling or wading a trout stream set amongst a bushland backdrop is a great way to spend time with the family. Or you can do quite the opposite and escape from the family!

Brown and rainbow trout are generally lively this time of year as the quest for food helps them prepare

Ben Griffin caught this 30kg gummy from the beach at Western Port.

He paddled the bait, salmon head, out via kayak at around 150m.

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their body condition for the eventual instinctive journey upstream.

Techniques for stream trout vary but often a simple set-up is all you need. Lures to include in the tackle bag are soft plastic wriggler grubs with light jigheads, small spinner blades, and hardbody minnows. Use sinking or suspending hardbody minnows for deeper pools and runs, and use a floating hardbody for most of your shallow runs and pools.

Anglers casting lures can use an all-rounder rod and reel combo. A 6-7ft rod with a line class of 4-8lb fitted with a 1000-2500 class reel will do the trick.

This is also a great versatile set-up perfect for drifting live baits downstream, fishing baits under a float or fishing baits off the bottom – all which are productive techniques for catching and releasing pre-spawn trout. This same outfit is also ideal for Blue Rock Lake too. Trout are aggressive feeders so anything well presented in their feeding zone is considered fair game.

Fly-fishing is the pinnacle of skill and patience for stream trout fishing. As the stream flows begin to increase with more rain, many fly anglers will be nymphing using black bead-headed nymphs. Attaching a dry fly indicator with a bit of flare and colour has also helped anglers have a productive day out on the streams.

Blue Rock Lake in April should be a bit of fun as trout become more

Avid fly angler Wally Ronalds has been teaching his grandson William to fly fish. William landed this nice brown trout in Noojee on a fly. active on the surface so can be picked up trolling from a boat or kayak, or lure casting from the shoreline. Bass are still very active and will start to head to deeper water as the temperature drops.

As we approach wintery conditions, swap casting

lures for jigs and sound up schools of both bass and redfin in the lake.

Feel free to send me a report or photo, particularly if you have any success stories fishing over the Easter break, and please email me any questions. Happy fishing!

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Autumn surface action EILDON

Peter Burtchell

At the time of writing, Lake Eildon is holding an above average water level of over 60% due to the milder summer. Higher

fish, redfin, that have been decimated over recent years by the ever-growing Murray cod population.

April will bring on a lot of surface action for Murray cod as they continue to hunt the last of the spring fingerlings that they frequently push

and some nice yellowbelly fishing with yabbies from the rear deck of his houseboat parked near Goughs Bay. Wade, the proprietor of Benalla Bait & Tackle, frequently travels to Lake Eildon to target larger Murray cod year-round from

Brendan Wing and Adrian landed a beauty of a cod.

Wade from Benalla Bait & Tackle with a 1m+ cod caught on a Gigantarel. than average rains are still predicted for the remainder of 2021, so we should see the lake finish the year at higher than average levels.

Many anglers are hoping that the higher lake levels will provide a premium breeding opportunity for the much sought-after table

up to the surface along the banks whilst feeding.

During February Martin Salzke travelled from Jindera to spend a week holidaying on a houseboat with his family, and was well rewarded with three released Murray cod (one being a tagged Murray cod)

Bonnie Doon to Goughs Bay. On his last trip in February accompanied by Jackson Hourigan, they were both rewarded with 1m+ Murray cod catch and releases

right gear to target the trophy fish available. Brenden Wing was lucky enough to catch one of the fishing guides who recommended that Brendan troll the productive areas of the lake around Jerusalem Creek in search of the schooling baitfish that were shore to be flanked by Murray cod looking for that easy meal. Shortly thereafter Brendan was well rewarded with his first ever Lake Eildon Murray cod. Jip, a new angler to freshwater fishing, landed his first ever Murray cod and was all smiles posing with his catch. Both Brendan and Jip will be back to Lake

Eildon to further their fishing skills and enjoy the great surroundings.

We can expect to see a lot more new faces to the lake in the coming months as this year’s fishing competitions get into full swing. The first events of the year are the Lake Eildon Fishing Challenge from 14-16 May, followed by the Lake Eildon Cod Masters scheduled to be run from 17-20 June, where Victoria’s competitive anglers will battle it out for cash and other prizes. To find out more details of how to enter these two events, look up ‘Lake

Eildon Fishing Challenge’ and ‘Lake Eildon Cod Masters’ on Facebook.

• Jerusalem Creek Marina & Holiday Park is a friendly, family-orientated caravan park, and makes the perfect home away from home. While there you can opt to hire one of their Boatel floating apartments, hire a boat or book a fishing guide at competitive prices. For more information on all of these services and other attractions in the area, visit jerusalemcreek.com.au, or give them a call on (03) 5774 2585 or email info@ jerusalemcreek.com.au.

Relax and enjoy delicious food and warm hospitality.

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Jip with his first ever Murray cod.

Martin with a nice yellowbelly.

flicking Gigantarels amongst the baitfish in Goughs Bay. The early 2am start of the trip is well worth the effort.

With the uncertainty of snap pandemic lockdowns, many anglers have held off their interstate fishing trips and chosen Lake Eildon to try their luck. The local tackle shops and fishing guides have enjoyed the summer period providing advice on lures, baits, productive areas and the

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APRIL 2021

97

All are welcome at WIRF WIRF

Cara Cummings

The WIRF network celebrated its third anniversary last month along with the remarkable achievements of its momentum and growth during this time. Our membership has increased to over 2.5k women who all share the same passion.

This network is a space for women of all backgrounds, experience levels and ages to connect and share in their love of fishing, give and receive advice or perhaps to pick up a brand-new hobby.

Regardless of how little or how much knowledge our members have, we can all learn from one another,

Kim Fairhurst with her bream. post fishing photos and adventures and join in on discussions covering many interesting topics!

Although this group is primarily for women

WIRF Leader Michelle Brittain with Paul Worsteling on iFish.

living in Victoria, we also happily encourage female anglers from other states or countries to join.

LEADERS IN THE MEDIA The ‘WIRF’ name is steadily increasing and becoming greater known within the industry, thanks to many of our hardworking Leaders who are spruiking the name and are seizing opportunities that are presented.

Michelle Brittain headed out to film alongside Paul Worsteling as a special guest on IFISH. Michelle shared some of her secret hot spots in Western Port Bay and landed some monster squid, whiting and snapper. She also talks about the network and shares many tips and hints. To see Michelle in action head to 10Play to catch up on this episode (iFish – S15 Ep.15).

Tiffany Newton was a guest on the new Talking

Fishing Podcast on 3MP with David Kramer and Adam Ring. “It was a great opportunity to talk about the WIRF network, what we have been up to and how far we have come.” – Tiffany.

MEMBERS BRAG MAT The following three stories are highlights from the latest activity within the network. Not only do these women share their catches but they are also more than happy to answer questions and provide tips to the other members.

Heather Delamare enjoyed a beautiful day fishing the Edwards River near Moulamein NSW. She caught two small Murray cod and when her fishing rod went ‘bang’, she knew she was onto a winner. “There were big swirls in the water, I got a glimpse and saw it was a Murray cod, my heart started racing. I brought him up to the boat and got him in our net. At 73cm I was so excited. What a catch, it certainly made my day!”

– Heather.

Kim Fairhurst was in Lakes Entrance, filming for Oz Fish TV. “We had been out the night before

Tiffany with her 84cm Murray cod caught at Torrumbarry, as mentioned during the podcast.

WIRF MEET UP GROUPS Very soon, some of our Leaders will be running virtual local meet up groups (within Victoria) for like-

RECIPES THAT ARE ‘WIRF’ IT

Battered flathead tails with hand cut vinegar chips INGREDIENTS

(SERVES 4) 8 flathead tails 1 1/4 cups plain flour Salt 1/2 cups cold soda water 4 potatoes 2 cups double strength vinegar Sunflower oil (or vegetable) for frying

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APRIL 2021

METHOD

1. Using a 1/4 cup of plain flour, coat the flathead tails and set aside.

2. Peel and cut your potatoes into chips (2cm thick). Place into a saucepan and cover with the vinegar. Par boil for 10 min or until the chips are soft when pricked with a knife. Remove from heat when done, spread out in a single layer and allow to completely cool.

3. Mix the batter by adding 1 cup plain flour with 1 cup of soda water. If the mix is too thick, add a little extra soda.

Season with salt. Do not over mix the batter.

4. In a deep saucepan or wok, heat your oil (medium-high). Once oil is hot, dip the flathead into the batter and gently place into oil. Leave for 3 minutes before turning. Fish is done once batter has turned golden.

5. Once the fish is cooked, turn down the heat a little and add the chips, these will take 8-10 minutes to cook through and crisp up.

6. Sprinkle your fish and chips with salt and serve with a wedge of lemon and tartare!

Caitlin Berecry with her catch from the Snowy River. prawning and crabbing so the next day we decided to try our luck at the Mitchell River. We fished the lake side as the water was very murky on the riverside due to rain. I was so excited when I caught the biggest bream for the day measuring 40cm.

Fair to say I definitely didn’t let the team down.” – Kim Caitlin Berecry caught a lovely bass out of brackish water in the Snowy River.

There was much discussion over whether this was in fact a bass or an estuary perch, given the area is home to both species. General consensus resulted in bass.

What do you think?

minded women who are keen to take up fishing, learn new skills or perhaps impart their own knowledge. Initially these groups will be run virtually. The ultimate goal however, is to be able to meet up throughout the year at individualised locations and get together for a fun fishing day out. To stay updated on this new and exciting project, please make sure that you are a member of our Facebook WIRF group.

This month’s ‘Recipes that are WIRF it’ was seen on Ch 31’s Talking Fishing TV show, or you can catch up via YouTube.

To stay up to date and see what else has been happening within the network and for upcoming events, please head to our Facebook group www.facebook.com/groups/ womenrecfishing/ or via the VFA website/Facebook page.

Are you a WIRF member? If not, we’d love to have you on board! Join us on FB today.

Heather Delamare with a Murray cod.

HOBIE FISHING FISHING

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APRIL 2021

101

WHAT’S NEW SAMAKI DREAMTIME SHIRT

1

PRODUCT GUIDE

DAIWA INFEET SPIKE 53SP

4

Fresh to the Samaki line-up is the Dreamtime shirt, featuring a collection of saltwater species for every female angler out there. The soft subtle scale pattern has been designed from the ground up to bring a feminine take to ladies fishing polos. Marlin, tuna, snapper and barramundi feature at the heart of the shirt, sitting atop a queen-like shield for all the gals.

The lightweight fabric is perfect for all outdoor elements, protecting you from the harsh suns with Samaki’s UV50+ resistant technology. The soft touch 100% polyester material is comfortable on the body, and has the added benefit of being breathable, keeping you cool and dry.

Samaki designs are brought to you by Australian anglers who love to design Australian species. Dreamtime shirts are available in adult, youth and kids sizes from size 2 through to 2XL, allowing the whole family to get in on the action and out onto the water. For more information and stockists, visit the Samaki website or follow Samaki Fishing on Instagram and Facebook. www.samaki.com.au

The popular Daiwa Infeet Spike has made a return in 2021. Made in Japan and featuring the design and performance that has made the Spike famous on and off the tournament trail in Australia, the new Spike is available in 12 proven fish catching colours, and has been meticulously designed for Australian species.

Measuring 53mm in length and 5g in weight, and diving to a depth of 2m, the Infeet Spike is a suspending crankbait that features a weight transferring internal rattle to aid its underwater resonance and sound, while the rattle’s forward and rear transfer position ensures optimum castability and maximum casting distance.

Featuring BKK hooks and designed with bream and bass anglers in the mind, the new Infeet Spike 53SP is destined for big things in 2021. www.daiwafishing.com.au

SHOCKWAVE S5 SUSPENSION

Mercury Marine’s Next Gen DTS system brings together an enhanced operating system, improved ergonomic designs and additional user-friendly features. The new system is replacing the former control system for use with all DTS compatible Mercury sterndrive, inboard, diesel and outboard engines. The Verado engine family comes standard with Next Gen DTS controls.

Active Trim activation and adjustment buttons are now integrated on the Next Gen DTS control base, eliminating the need for an additional control panel on the dash. Active Trim automatically and continuously adjusts engine trim based on changes in GPS speed to improve performance, fuel economy and ease of operation.

The operating system not only supports basic functions but has also been upgraded to intelligently and automatically enhance throttle control for connected SmartCraft systems such as Joystick Piloting and Skyhook.

For single-engine configurations, there are panel and console mount controls. For multi engine configurations, boaters can choose the standard dual-handle console mount controls or the Premier dual-handle model, which includes a digital display integrated into the control base, to help you stay fully connected with the propulsion system through all phases of boat operation. www.mercurymarine.com

2

The Shockwave S5 gives recreational boaters access to marine suspension technology that has been tested for years with the military.

The S5 is redefining the standard of marine suspension seats. This new suspension module allows boaters to be better protected from the shock of wave impact. The new S5 fits on virtually any boat and seat, allowing boaters of any size or design to benefit from suspension seating on the water. The surge protection suspension travel is 100mm vertical and 38mm forward, mitigating deceleration associated with wave impacts.

Features include: simple robust construction with minimal parts, lightweight (9kg), diecast aluminium components, stainless steel hardware, high life cycle delrin bushings, military spec powdercoat finish, adjustable RockShox Shock absorber for all payloads and sea conditions, external bump stop protection, adjustable rebound rate, and 3-year warranty under recreational use.

Price: SRP $2,159 www.bla.com.au

HOBIE MIRAGE ITREK 11

3

The Mirage iTrek 11 inflatable kayak is built for everything from day trips to overnight escapes. Its high-performance lightweight construction boasts the speed, stability, and tracking of a rigid kayak without the extra weight. It packs away in a roller duffle bag, so minimal storage space is required.

The iTrek 11’s elevated seating features a cup holder and breathable nano-mesh fabric.

Powered by the MirageDrive GT with Kick-Up Fins and integrated rudder for dual steering, this kayak is fun, nimble, and fast. The steering handle can be mounted on the left or right side of seat. It’s also ultra-stable with a 400lb carrying capacity.

The rugged inflatable dropstitch hull has triple-chamber construction and EVA standing pads for improved traction. Attached to each side of the centre chamber is a single-chamber pontoon, providing you with an extra-wide platform for a stable ride. Its improved hull design delivers even more stability and increases total capacity, so you have plenty of room for all your gear.

A 4-piece paddle, high-pressure hand pump, high-volume electric pump and drink holder are all included inside an easy-load rolling travel bag that’s portable and stowable. www.hobie.com.au

102

APRIL 2021

MERCURY NEXT GEN THROTTLE

ZMAN 3” BABY GOAT

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

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From buzzing topwater to hopping deep structure, the 3” Baby GOAT has the power to thump and vibrate at all retrieve speeds.

This versatility is due to the twin action tails that feature the same unique curved paddletail design found on other proven ZMan plastics.

The GOAT’s segmented, slightly flattened torso transitions to dual thin-skinned kicking legs, each finished with a pulsating, deeply cupped paddle. Soft and buoyant, the 10X Tough ElaZtech construction means more fish per lure and a natural ‘claws up’ stance when at rest on the bottom, attracting fish and triggering strikes.

Buzzing the surface, swimming the flats, twitching the drains or hopping deeper structure, the 3” Baby GOAT covers multiple presentations, and can be rigged weedless or on a standard jighead. It is also right at home as a ChatterBait, spinnerbait, buzzbait and skirted jig trailer. It is currently available in six colours, with six tails per pack.

Price: SRP $15.30 www.z-man.com.au

6 visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

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South Coast

LIGHT, POWERFUL, DURABLE… NO SACRIFICES MERCURY

Autumn adventures NO COMPROMISES INTUITIVE CONTROL ESPERANCE

Murray Johnson

NO APOLOGIES

We have enjoyed some great fishing in recent weeks, with the salmon continuing to school and spread along the beaches between the Cliffs right through to Albany.

The size has remained consistent at around 4-8kg, and mixed in are some tailor up to 600mm, plus lots of herring, skippy and flathead.

Choice beaches close to town have Oli Stevensonn with a cracking samsonfish. continued to be Salmon Image courtesy of @olistevensonn.

Beach, Fourth Beach, and Nine Mile. anglers and holidaymakers. the peak period for squid Anglers fishing at Further out of town, being the middle of winter.

Tailor Street jetty have the salmon are continuing We are still seeing sand been getting good numbers to school, followed whiting in the bay, and MELBOURNE of ALBERTON herring, particularly closely by bronze whalers. bluefin tuna have continued after dark. AtMARINE this time of Anglers are also picking MARINE to hang around too, with ALBERTON MELBOURNE CENTRE good numbers year39 we get marsh flies up the occasional gummy Johnson Street Alberton 92 Hallam South Road Hallam of fish up laying their eggs in the shark and mulloway, along to the 10kg mark. Choice P: (03)and 5183the 2344herring with the normal P: (03) 9703 2003 weed, skippy areas have been the closer (03)maggots.

5183 2219As you and herring.

W: melbournemarine.com.au eat F:the islands around Charlie and would expect, maggots (or The choice fishing Cull, with the fish tending W: albertonmarine.com.au ‘gents’) are great baits at is still duringMORNINGTON the full PENINSULA to stay close to shore in the thisBENDIGO time. moon and newMYmoon on bay. Out wider the schools MARINE BENDIGO Bandy Creek has& been the bigger tides dawn Highway are bigger.

CnratNepean & MARINE OUTDOORS Guys heading wide Ponderosa Place Dromana 160 Midland Highway Epsom have been encountering P: (03) 5448 3988 P: (03) 5987 0900 good numbers of samsonfish, with quite a W: bendigomarine.com.au W: mymarine.com.au few over 30kg. Yellowtail kings are also starting to MORNINGTON PENINSULA MELBOURNE school up, with fish up NAUTICAL MARINE BL MARINE to 15kg being caught.

141 Hotham Road 612- 614 Plenty Road Preston There is also good bottom Sorrento P: (03) 9478 1420 fishing for nannygai, lots of breaksea cod, queen F: (03) 9470 4638 P: (03) 5984 1666 snapper, harlequin and still W: blmarine.com.au E: info@nauticalmarine.com.au plenty of dhufish as well.

W: nauticalmarine.com.au Dhufish are normally rare SHEPPARTON for our part of the coast but BOATS AND MORE TOORADIN we’ve been catching more P&J MARINE SERVICE CENTRE 207 Numurkah Road Shepparton and more ofP/L them. Areas west Road of town or far south, P: (03) 5822 2108 101 Tooradin Station Tooradin around 50-80km out, been F: (03) 5821 2908 P: (03) 5998 3107 the most productive areas W: boatsandmore.com.au E: pjmarine_services@bigpond.com for them. That’s probably because the water is a bit MORWELL colder there, which the GEELONG CRAWFORD MARINE dhuies seem to like.

PORTSIDE MARINE CENTRE APRIL FORECAST 71-77 Chickerell Street Morwell 36-38 Geelong Road Portarlington Lachy Bigger skippy will be P: (03) 5134Warren 6522 with a beautifully coloured P: (03) 5259 1110 harlequin. Image courtesy of @lachy_warren. caught by shore fishers this F: (03) 5134 6455 E: info@portsidemarinecentre.com.au month, with specimens up W: crawfordmarine.com.au firing with good numbers and dusk, and W: at portsidemarinecentre.com.au night. I to 8kg not unheard of. As of King George whiting, recommend getting there the weather cools, more ECHUCA along with the occasional two hours before dark to gummies and mulloway MELBOURNE black catch salmon skippy and SHOP will be caught as well. The EADESbream, XTREME flounder MARINE THE MARINE and24 flathead. herring, and when it gets salmon will continue their Sturt Street Echuca 6 Holland Drive Melton The arrival of cooler dark that they’ll shut run through to Perth and P: (03) 5482 2333 (03)switch 9747 0588 weather will also start down and you P: can then start turning around 5482 turn 2133 up off to targeting gummies F: (03) 9747 to F: see(03)squid and 3999 and coming back around xtrememarine.net.au the W: jetties. mulloway. Bronzies tend the Easter period.

W: themarineshop.com.au The other great news to cruise around both day It’s also a good time for BRAESIDE Esperance is that the and night.

MELBOURNE to chase squid, as they original tanker WORLD jetty is now Anglers heading out will be gathering in bigger JV MARINE TRIPLE M MARINE complete, and this has east to Israelite Bay have numbers in readiness to 878 Springvale Road Braeside 117 Northgate Thomastown opened up the opportunity seen bigger numbers of Drive spawn in the cooler water.

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Influx of salmon AUGUSTA

Anthony Gillam

Before we could blink, the hazy days of summer became the hazy days of autumn. Hot, scorching hot, freezing rain and hellish wind could well describe most of the summer weather we received, and autumn appears to continue that trend as it heads towards Easter.

about in huge numbers and are being hunted by just about everything. As you’d expect, prawn imitations that are worked in a similar fashion to a startled prawn will get smashed. If you come and see us at Augusta Xtreme we’ll put you onto the latest lures that are in favour with the bigger fish, and you’ll soon join in the fun.

Further down the river there are plenty of fish regardless of what your

Westbay has been producing some huge blue swimmer crabs, but by far the biggest have been caught towards Alexandra Bridge, with some of the bream fishers having an unexpected bonus turning up on the end of their line. Most crabs appear to be large males that have recently moulted and are looking for a feed. Drop netting has shown the best results, with spleen and chicken necks being

A trio of dhufish for a trio of customers on board with Leeuwin Marine Charters on a recent trip into Flinders Bay.

Another thumping Cosy Corner salmon destined for the smoker.

This fish was caught by Georgia Gillam on a Richter Clone.

Pleasant weather mid-week has meant that anglers without work commitments have been able to hit their favourite spots in the river and ocean to put food on the table. That trend seems to be the new weather cycle, with sub-par weather on the weekend and cracking weather during the week when most of us are working. Hump day now seems to be the most looked forward to day of the week.

The Blackwood River has been teeming with life lately, and the varied catches show that it’s in an extremely healthy state despite some discouraging water quality coming through from the Scott River, which seems to be getting worse every year. It appears to be high nutrient runoff and shallow, warm water that is becoming the issue. Something to be aware of when fishing further inland.

Bream catches have been very strong from Sues Bridge though to Molloy Island, with some absolute thumpers being landed.

River prawns are currently flavour of the month, which is obvious when you have a look in the river at night time. The prawns are 104

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favourite is! Hardy Inlet continues to show a great assortment of bread-andbutter species as well as some of the more soughtafter flat fish, crabs and squid. Shore based and boat fishing have both been producing great catches without too much searching about.

the best option to keep the rays at bay.

Ellis Street Jetty and the Old Town Jetty are well worth a try at the moment, with plenty of herring, skippy and squid about.

Early morning fishing just prior to sunrise is a winner for skippy and large herring, but for squid and whiting

give it a try after dark in the evenings because the large lights are working a treat as an attractant.

Colour Patch has been the place for most of the yellowfin and King George whiting catches, with the turn of the tide being the best option. Fishing the channel in front of the swings will give you a pretty good chance of scoring a feed of whiting as well as some nice skippy.

Prawns, worms and squid will all work, but cockles are dynamite.

Warm water has continued to keep the schools of bluefin and bonito around the islands and towards Black Point.

The plentiful schools have been a bonus for boaties who chanced upon the them while heading out to target demersals. Most fish seem to be in the 3-6kg range so they’re perfect for a nice meal. Bleed them immediately and immerse them in a slurry of ice and saltwater to get the blood out and temperature down as quickly as possible.

The best lures have been shallow diving hardbodies up to 150g resembling a mulie. Trolled garfish and herring have also caught

then soft plastics, Slomo and Vexed Bottom Meat are the best option, with some nice fish falling for them.

Beach fishing at

A Bight redfish is one of those fish you wished grew twice the size because as table fare they are number one.

Cosy Corner during the salmon run goes from being this deserted to Hay Street Mall.

their share.

Bottom bouncing in Flinders Bay has had some really good results for dhufish and pink snapper but it seems that the deeper waters are giving better results than the shallow reef at the moment, with 40m+ being on the money.

Try mulies, whole squid or a skinned octopus tentacle and berley with fish offal, cray or crab shells and fish oil on long drifts over the reef areas. If you like keeping your hands clean

Deepdene, Cosy Corner, Elephant Rock, Hamelin Bay and Boranup has remained strong, with plenty of skippy, herring and tarwhine being caught.

However, these all pale into insignificance as the salmon run begins its slow, inexorable crawl along the coast towards the metro area. At the time of writing the fish have been late in leaving Esperance, with only a few schools being sighted near Albany and just To page 105

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Success from the shore This has to be my favourite time of the year for a land-based assault.

Whether you’re fishing the local beaches, the cut or inside the marina, our famous Australian salmon can pop up out of nowhere

and in huge schools.

I’ve spent many mornings and afternoons chasing the salmon up and down jetties, rock walls and beaches around Bunbury just to feel that screaming run on light gear that we don’t always have the opportunity to experience fishing land-based locally.

If you’re fishing the jetties

Josh Luvera with a solid 8-bar cod that couldn’t resist a jig.

and rock walls, I’d suggest a well-balanced soft plastic around 6” long because I find those areas to have more sharp drop-offs or ledges that benefit from having your lure get close to the bottom. This is something that a diving lure can’t always accomplish.

Whilst fishing the beaches, I’ll take the heaviest metal slug or minnow profile hardbody lure that my rod will allow.

Having that bit extra weight with a well-matched line can be the difference of 20m on your neighbour’s cast, and ultimately first punt at the school of bruisers.

As always the crabs are still in the marina on the drop-offs, with plenty of locals still coming in to report bag-out sessions.

We even have the odd few that swim their nets off the beaches to some pretty impressive honey holes. Local rock walls and jetties are also holding some tasty flathead holding on the drop -offs, flathead being one of the easiest and most enjoyable fish to catch on lure.

Both boaties and landbased fishers have been collecting some impressive numbers of herring, both for their breakfast toast and as excellent bait for bottom bashing. Half the fun of the trip is the bait collection beforehand.

Boaties have been encountering some pretty hefty-sized squid that are pillaging their drift baits around the 15m mark while baiting for hungry snapper.

There are also some fat skippy and tailor showing up in the shallow waters.

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the odd fish being caught towards Augusta. There have been some small salmon caught in the Hardy Inlet but I suspect that these are just some of the larger juveniles that have decided to stay in the safety of the protected waters for one more season.

There are a few fishing competitions over the salmon run, and with some excellent prizes up for grabs as well as a good cause or two benefiting from the proceeds, it makes sense to throw your name and a couple of dollars in the hat. Social media is pretty hot during the season so a quick search of the fishing pages will soon have you on track for getting in on the action.

Once the run begins it is all action in Augusta, with the schools heading straight into Flinders Bay hitting the beaches

Gavin Gillam had an arm-stretching day scoring a number of 8kg salmon like this one at Cosy Corner captured on a 70g metal slice.

Mitchell Cooper with a giant herring taken on a metal slice.

As always, there are plenty of dhufish to be had in Bunbury waters when you’re happy to put in the time and effort sounding up new grounds. King George whiting quite often haunt the same grounds as that of the dhuies, and that’s been evident lately with some solid specimen taking unsuspecting fisho’s dhu baits. What a problem to have!

Unsurprisingly, shark catches have escalated lately with the salmon running up the coast, coaxing the toothy critters along with them. Plenty of tigers and bronzies have been taking baits recently, particularly around Dalyellup beaches and further south,

making for some exciting sportfishing. A slab of the Mandurah mullet we have delivered weekly have been enticing them, but you can never go wrong with a fresh caught bait.

Black bream catches at this time of year start to ramp up. Local fanatics are fishing the higher ends of the Collie in chase of the 40s, with a few being successful in catching and releasing some slabs.

• The crew at Whiteys Tackle and Camping are always happy to share their knowledge of the Southwest and fishing techniques so don’t be shy, come on in and say hi, show off your catch and ask any questions you may have. – Grant Teede

from Colour Patch to Dead Finish before heading around the corner on their single-minded mission towards Perth.

Cosy Corner, Hamelin Bay and Boranup are some of the better locations as the schools will frequently come within metres of the shore break, chasing the herring, mulie and garfish schools.

On the run they will take just about any lure you throw at them, but any of the metal slice lures up to 200g are perfect, especially if the schools stay out from shore or if it is windy.

Colour, size and weight don’t mean anything to the salmon when they are on the feed, so it just depends on your favourite style and size generally. That being said, if they are not feeding then it pays to have a few different lures as you can nearly always tempt the odd fish from a non-feeding school if you try a few different styles or colours.

Rock fishing can be very productive in Augusta.

Choose a spot that allows you the chance to seek refuge from any king waves and don’t let calm conditions fool you into thinking you are safe. Rogue waves are just that, and can quickly result in you being thrown into the water. People have died here after being washed off by king waves.

It can happen anywhere and at any time. Unpredictable weather can quickly affect the fishing conditions, and slippery rocks are a recipe for disaster.

• Please remain vigilant when rock fishing; wear a life jacket and tie off to something solid. You can hire one for free from Augusta Xtreme Outdoor Sports at 66 Blackwood Avenue Augusta – the local tackle shop and font of all local fishing knowledge.

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Comfortable fishing weather MANDURAH

Jesse Choy

Reports from those fishing in March indicate that there is plenty to go around, depending on what you feel like achieving, and the scenery you prefer.

The warmer days are definitely thinning out, as more autumn weather rolls into Mandurah and its surrounds. As a result of this shift in weather patterns, rock and beach fishing become much more viable, especially with the likes of land-based pink snapper and the anticipated salmon run.

Beach fishing during this shift in weather is definitely a much better, safer alternative to rocks. There are also

size is slightly better than in previous months, though it may take a little work to get them.

Black bream on hardbody lures can be difficult to achieve, yet they allow you to take a faster, more active approach and bring fish in from a wider area.

A 9kg dhuie caught during a fishing comp off Mandurah. Chris Tanti caught it using a 350g Nautiboy Octoglow jig in 70m of water. Chris likes jigs and plastics because of the hands-on approach and the explosive reaction from the fish. plenty of opportunities as well as variety when fishing from the sand. Though the majority of tailor schools are gone, there are still fish getting around. The average

fun for the family and those chasing bait.

Fishing at sunrise or sunset will be ideal and give

It is worth mentioning that there is a good quantity of whiting as well as herring around. While the average size is not that great, they make a trip to the beach

you your greatest chance of landing some fish. During these times, it’s likely that you will also intercept some salmon that are further ahead of the bigger schools, and you are also in with a good chance of something much better. Opting for fresh bait to target these less competitive fish is a great option, as they can be quite fussy in the early stages of their migration.

Estuary yellowfin are about in good numbers, with overcast conditions making fish less resistant, but harder to visually spot by the angler.

Surface fishing is still very much viable, but it’s more difficult when compared to the contrasting, hotter and calm days. Opting to use a lure like the Ecogear ZX30, or a shallow running bibbed minnow can be ideal, but they will need to be fished in less weedy areas to reduce fouling and increase the likelihood of catching fish.

Those chasing crabs are

still finding a good feed, with both drop nets and scoops proving productive. If you’re dropping a few nets, using spleen or half of a mullet in a clipped pouch is ideal, and will likely turn over results when things seem quiet.

Fishing in the rivers is a year round option, though it becomes more comfortable and fun to fish around this time of year. As the upstream flow begins to influence our river systems more, you will find that it’s much easier to get stuck into some good quality fish no matter what the time of the day. Cloud cover, flowing current and a topwater disturbance are all part of a great river fishing recipe, though it can be difficult to adapt to at times.

Fishing slightly heavier running sinkers, diving lures or heavier jigheads will assist with conditions and keeping your presentation in the face of fish.

Much like the river fishing, freshwater fishing becomes a lot more enjoyable around this time of year, and will turn over some good results if you put a bit of time in. If you are mobile, working the edges or topwater column with

Kael caught this salmon off the beach with a ganged hook. The outfit was a 6-12kg Revros matched with a Tierra 5000 loaded with 20lb braid. shallow divers will generally turn over good results and allow you to cover a lot of ground at the same time. If you are restricted to fishing from the banks, throwing spinners or Tasmanian Devils are a good option and will also allow you to cover a bit more ground.

Redfin perch are plentiful, and you will also encounter some beautiful trout if you continue to persevere and observe the signs.

Those targeting dhufish are finding most success

Quality tailor are a gem. Once they get up to or beyond this size, they provide a lot of entertainment.

outwards of the 30m mark.

Though you will find great fish inwards of that depth, the numbers of quality fish are generally caught a bit further out and on more untouched grounds. Fresh octopus baits on a double paternoster or a Bottom Meat are a favourite of the local dhu hunters, though those fishing jigs and plastics are sometimes finding reaction strikes when the hunger strike is not happening.

Pink snapper are plentiful around the inner reef systems, with the odd baldchin also being caught on a variety of presentations and in a variety of depths.

If you’re targeting these fish on lure or in shallow waters, a lightly weighted, well presented offering can make all the difference.

Heading into May, we should start to see good numbers of quality salmon making their way up our coastline. Though our species, which prefer warmer waters, will continue to thin out, we can expect some alternate methods of fishing to become available.

April’s fishing is fooling no one METRO

Jacob Crispe

March has seen some welcome rain, which is expected to continue during April. The result of this rain is that the freshwater flush will push the baitfish and the predators back down the system towards the mouth of the Swan, providing excellent fishing opportunities for anglers.

SWAN RIVER Bream are one of the popular angling targets that will take advantage of the food that will be pushed towards the mouth of the system. Good areas to target them are the 106

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Jeff Webber is a consistent angler when it comes to captures of big beach pinkies off the sand.

James Ancell loves putting the brakes on these fast runners! An epic Cockburn Sound capture of a solid Spanish mackerel.

Narrows, Causeway, South Perth and even all the way down to Fremantle. With the layer of freshwater that will be present, look

for areas with slightly deeper water and fish with a bit more weight, as the fish will be hugging To page 107

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the bottom.

Flathead are another species that you will find in these areas. Hopping a plastic from the depths up to the shallow has

ever-present mulloway.

They too will be pushed down the system, so if you want to try and target one of these amazing fish try the area from the Narrows through to the E-Sheds.

Tom Corrie with a prime example of an E Shed mulloway!

Massimo Iustini shows getting sand between your toes isn’t that bad with a lovely late night gummy. every chance of enticing a flathead to eat it.

Tailor will be popular target species in April.

Fishing in the morning or evening at locations like the East Street Jetty and Bicton Bath will be a good option.

Lights in these areas attract baitfish and, where there are baitfish, the tailor will not be too far away. Small metal slices and stickbaits will be a popular way to target these fish.

It would be remiss of me not to mention the now

Crustaceans will be a popular target for many people throughout this month. Calm nights coinciding with an outgoing tide will find plenty of people on the water dabbing for prawns.

Blue swimmer crabs will also be on the menu.

Areas like Rocky Bay and near the Fremantle water police station will be good places to start.

ROCK WALLS AND BEACHES Avid rock wall anglers

will be keeping their eye out for stormy weather during April. The result of the rough weather at the rock walls is food is churned up by the waves and this food attracts species like snapper and mulloway to them. You need to be a little crazy to fish in this weather and care should be taken, but the rewards can be some crazy rod bending action. Popular locations are the North and South Mole walls, Cottesloe and Hillary’s walls.

The good fishing isn’t limited to the rough weather; calm weather provides an excellent opportunity to target the squid, skippy and herring that are attracted to the rock walls. A popular spot to get a feed of these will be the Fremantle Sailing

Callen Gaunt with a lovely flatty he caught while bouncing a plastic over a sandy bottom.

caught in the deeper water.

I have mentioned Tip Run squid jigs many times in this report when it comes to targeting deep water squid. For me, they are a must-have for this style of squidding.

Like the rock walls our inshore waters will come alive with snapper after a bit of weather. A hotspot to target them is in the 20-25m zone on the South side of Rottnest Island.

Other demersals on the menu that can be caught in similar waters are dhufish, baldies and the

Clayton Rickman is all smiles with this trophy wahoo capture from the FADs.

David Beale with a lovely Cockburn Sound pink snapper.

Club rock wall.

King George whiting and flathead can also be found around the rock walls throughout April.

Tailor will start to fire up on our beaches, as always the low light periods will provide the best fishing, with a few more species like snapper, mulloway and sharks coming into play as night falls. Cottesloe, Swanbourne and Preston will be options for your beach fishing fix. If you are up for an overnight trip and a bit of 4WDing, Wilbinga is a wonderful place to go and provides some excellent fishing options.

INSHORE Skippy will be a popular target throughout this month. They will congregate around reefy structure in 5-15m of water. A bit of berley will have them on the chew and staying in your general vicinity.

King George whiting will be found in similar depth water. North of Windmills generally produces good numbers.

Fresh squid and prawn baits will be your best option.

The other whiting (sand whiting) is another good

West Coast

target. They are a schooling fish, so drifting through areas like the Windmills and around the shipping channel searching for the schools is a good way to find them. When you do find them it can be mayhem on the boat, with multiple hook ups common. Coral prawns and fresh squid are your best bait options.

Squid will always be a popular target species.

Look for broken ground and play around with your jig colours until you find what they want. You should be able to get a feed and have enough to use as fresh bait as well. Some really big squid have been

John Dempsey with a big early morning Swan River flatty.

odd Breaksea cod. Salmon Bay is another popular location to try your luck.

In these popular locations, try looking for unobvious ground, so smaller structure or subtle features on the bottom. This type of bottom can produce excellent fishing.

OUT WIDER The FADs continue to produce excellent fishing for species like mahimahi and the odd wahoo. The FADs get removed at some point at this time of the year, so enjoy the fishing they offer while they are still in place.

Deep dropping opportunities will become more frequent as the month progresses. The afternoon sea breezes tend to be a little lighter, making heading out to the 150-500m grounds just a little more comfortable and achievable. The rewards for this form of fishing are some seriously tasty fish to eat. Eight bar cod tend to be the shallowest of the species and when you head deeper, harpuka and bass groper come into play, with the prized blue eye trevalla caught deeper again. It is well worth a try.

So Happy Easter to everybody and I hope you get enjoy some time during this month with a fishing rod in your hand and some seafood on your plate.

Catch you next month.

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A perfect Easter holiday LANCELIN

Peter Fullarton

Lancelin will be abuzz with family fishers for the holiday period.

Whether you have some accommodation booked for the holidays or just come up for a day’s visit, there will be plenty of fishing opportunities. It’s an enjoyable time of year, as the bays’ waters are usually crystal clear, and the weather can really turn it on! Even during these busy periods, if you have a 4WD it’s still easy to find a spot to yourself to cast a line from the beach, and there’s stacks of room for everyone to launch a boat off the beach without any boat ramp queues or parking issues.

Gamefish season is at its peak and this year is a ripper, with plenty of warm water coming down the Leeuwin current. Out wide you could score marlin, wahoo or some stonking big yellowfin tuna. I would certainly keep an eye out for turtles and mantas, casting few lures under them to find any cobia.

Whales will also be starting

Guitarfish have been a regular by-catch off the beach. to turn up late in the month, and they are likely to drop off some cobia along the way as long as the warm water keeps up.

Game season is not just for the big boats out wide, as plenty of tuna striped, longtail, southern bluefin and even a few yellowfin can be readily caught from inshore waters. Mackerel already are well within range of the kayakers and shore-based balloon fishers, with some great recent catches from the White Bank and even some inside the first line of reefs.

We have had a fantastic

run of baldchin groper, with boats reporting them from all over. It’s great if you want to have a fish here for the holidays as you don’t need any good plots to fish. All you need to do is head out and start up a blind drift in depths greater than 28m to start reliably hauling them in.

There are plenty of skippy on the near shore reefs, and berley will bring them into the boat.

It’s very likely that some pink snapper will come in too. The pinkies have been very thick along the nearshore reefs.

The kids can have a great holiday fishing the bay from a small boat or even a kayak. The southern sand holes near Edwards Island are swarming with herring. You can fish bait, although blowfish can be a problem. Casting small lures, soft plastics, metals or even the old blob cast out and retrieved with a short length of green drinking straw over a small treble easily gets a feed. You will also find some nice flathead, tarwhine, King George whiting, yellowfin whiting and skippy here as well. The deeper weed beds in the bay have lots of snook to 1m and squid, and sunset also finds some big tailor. Drop netting the near shore can get some stonker

Mackerel are in close to shore, within reach of kayakers or balloon fishers.

ng i v i r d l e e -wh r u o f d?” o t n a w s t f o “Ne s n ent i d fi n o c t o or n Finding a stretch of beach to cast a line is no problem if you have a 4WD at Lancelin.

Our half day lessons are one on one teaching.

Beach 4WD Tuition Learn how to safely drive on the beach!

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Lancelin & Ledge Point Phone: 0427 941 126 Email: info@tailored treks.com.au Web: www.tailoredtreks.com.au 108

APRIL 2021

big blue swimmer crabs.

For those who like fishing with sand between their toes, it is the peak time of year to be landing big mulloway off the sand. Some are caught on a standard tailor rig, gang hooks and a pilchard cast at sunset.

Mulloway specialists will be specifically targeting them with favoured baits and rigs. Putting in long hours in their preferred spots, they are rewarded by landing some cracker fish of 20-25kg for the efforts.

Fresh or fresh frozen baits are preferred for mulloway, and you should keep the bait cool to maintain freshness until it is used. Baits will quickly go off once defrosted and left in the sun. Fresh squid is a great mulloway bait, but hot pink sun-cooked squid is not! The most favoured bait would be mullet, either fillets from

larger fish or small whole mullet. This time of year with a cast or haul net it is possible to catch some live mullet from passing schools. A fresh whole whiting or a live one is a good alternative.

Land-based pink snapper are also on the menu so try a double act – cast one rod out wide for a pinkie and drop one in close to the back of the surf break for a mulloway.

A good rig for the snapper is a paternoster with a relatively small circle hook and bait, say 6/0-7/0 that will cast a long way out.

Octopus makes a good bait that will stay on the hooks for a while if there are pickers. There have been plenty of pinkies caught lately in the 40-50cm bracket, so fishing north of town where the size limit is 41cm is more likely to get some keepers. The size To page 109

Baldies are great eating. There’s no need to have any special spots to grab a few, just drift the flats.

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Better beach fishing to come GERALDTON

Graham Maunder & Michael Triantopoulos

Weather patterns are still very changeable, but longer stretches of fishable conditions have brought more consistent reports of better sized fish and more variety as well.

Recent catches around Port Denison Marina and the southern end of South Beach have included some reasonable sized mulloway up to around 1m, tailor in the 300-500mm size, whiting, herring, pike and squid from the rocks and platform on the northern side of the marina.

Fishing inside the marina

An unusual capture by Hayley Riebe, a mahimahi caught 10nm out from the Lighthouse.

has been quite good for yellowtail, tailor, squid and black bream. The yellowtail and tailor have been a bit small, but recently an angler fishing for yellowtail along one of the jetties hooked a very small pink snapper (150mm) and was about to lift it out of the water when a jumbo tailor (500-600mm) came out from under the jetty, grabbed the snapper and kept going.

The beach channels south of Head Butts and north to Flat Rocks are getting better with less weed and deeper and wider gutters, and it’s not surprising that school mulloway and tailor catches have improved as a result. A lucky local put in a couple of evenings fishing at Dhu’s Reef recently, and even though weed movement was a bit of a hassle, the first session produced whiting up to 35cm, herring to 30cm and tailor to 55cm. The next evening the whiting, herring and tailor were a bit smaller, with only a couple of better fish. As sometimes happens, leaving a bait in the water while you’re packing up the rest of your gear will pay off, and ending an already successful evening with a mulloway over 1m in length is an excellent bonus.

Early morning sessions from West Bank and Cape Burney through to South Gates has been a bit hot and cold,

with catches varying a lot.

Still, most anglers are going home with enough of a mixed bag of herring, pike, tailor or whiting to make a good breakfast.

Most of the beaches and groynes around Geraldton city have been challenging to fish, with floating weed making finding any clear water difficult. However, some locals fishing after work at Explosives have caught skippy up to 35cm, tailor and pike. Also, the platform and rock walls on the northern side of the Batavia Marina are still producing regular catches of squid, with mixed results for tailor, herring, pike and whiting.

Reports from north of Geraldton to Jacksons Hole have been very inconsistent, with weed and sea conditions being challenging at best, and only the occasional report of a good sized mulloway or bag of tailor filtering through.

The seasonal mullet migration is in full swing, with associated predator species in hot pursuit. Unfortunately, weed movement has again made it difficult to target the bigger tailor, sharks and samsonfish that accompany the mullet. There have been reports of some good sized Spanish mackerel and sharks from the Lucky Bay/Wagoe

One of Geraldton’s gun locals caught this really nice mixed bag from the beach. area, which is promising.

BOAT With some better weather upon us, hopefully the fishing will improve. The majority of the reports from the past few months have been very dismal and hard work for those that are catching.

Spanish mackerel numbers are still relatively consistent from north of town. The lumps out from Coronation Beach, known locally as the ‘MCG’, have been yielding fish ranging from 7-10kg early in the morning and later in the afternoon.

The northern side of Pensioners Bank has been producing the occasional mackerel to 15kg for anglers putting in the time trolling lures and baits late in the afternoon. Weed has been a major problem, unfortunately.

Reports from African Reef have been fairly

consistent, with dhufish to 10kg, pink snapper, coral trout and baldchin groper.

Further southwest out to 50m has been hard going with the strong tides, but lucky anglers have caught dhufish to 13kg, pink snapper around 5-6kg, sweetlip to 500mm, coral trout and baldchin groper.

The fishing northwest of the Batavia Marina has been productive during the major bite times, with mixed bags consisting of dhufish, baldchin groper, pink snapper, coral trout and small school sharks.

• Geraldton Sports Centre is the Mid West’s specialist fishing tackle store. Drop in and see the friendly professional staff for local advice and knowledge, and browse the extensive range of fishing equipment on show at 204-208 Marine Terrace Geraldton WA, ph: 08 9921 3664.

Catching a feed this April KALBARRI

Stephen Wiseman

The Murchison has been flowing for a while now which has changed the river activity from the staple whiting to some very respectable mulloway for some anglers. The best bait has been a strip of mullet or the ever-faithful mulie.

The mulloway have been taken from Chinamans all the way round the river up

to the town jetty.

Crabs that were starting to run have now up and gone, but the black bream are still around. Some nice fish to 38cm have been taken from in front of the IGA along with a few very nice cod around the 45cm mark.

Ocean fishing has been hard work with the continual southerly kicking in early, but those anglers who have gone north have found a few very nice pink snapper and some baldchin grouper.

Most of the Spanish mackerel have moved on, and only the big resident ones seem to be around, with a few good fish to 15kg making their way to the esky.

The local angling comp run by KOAC was a hard slog for entrants, with only a few macks being taken, and one getting a tail trim on the way to the boat. More rain inland will more than likely keep the river flowing for a while, and the best chance of a fish would be the sandspit

for a nice cromey or around Bird Rock for a cod and along the channel from bird rock to the jetty.

The late summer pattern should see the return of some nice macks and the tuna run is just around the corner. Deep diver lures would be the best choice at the moment. With a bit of silt still on top of the saltwater, good old noisy lures like Halco GTs seem to get attention from the mirky depths.

From page 108

limit is 50cm south of the lead lights.

Tailor are in great condition, with fish to 50cm not uncommon.

At times they have been a pest, constantly chopping up baits intended for mulloway.

ANZAC Day is considered the start of peak herring season, so there shouldn’t be too many problems bagging a few from the beaches. Berley is the key to getting a good session; use a berley cage sinker with a mix of pollard and fish oil made into a thick paste by adding sea water. The more you fish, the thicker they get!

Sand whiting are a good size close to shore

Leatherjackets can be caught fishing long shank hooks along the bay’s reefs.

Tristan Freemantle with his winning mackerel caught during the local KOAC comp. at this time of year so it’s well worth chasing a few as well. There are not many sweeter fish in the sea to eat, though bluespot flathead can certainly compete in the eating stakes, and they have been a regular by catch.

The jetty is always busy during the holiday season, but remember it is a working jetty so keep your gear stowed neatly out of the way so the trucks and boats can offload the lobsters. During the day you can catch some good sand whiting casting close to shore, but closer to the jetty the problem will be blowfish. If you are catching blowies, please release them back to the sea. It is never a good look

to have a pile of blowfish gasping their dying breaths on the hot concrete, and it creates a stinking mess the next day that someone must clean up.

Evening is when the fishing is best from the jetty.

As the sun sets, herring will move in from the south end of the jetty and can be caught on lures or floating baits. The north end can be very productive for tailor, bait casting pilchards with the sea breeze. As the night goes on there will be snook, pike, skippy, tarwhine and squid drawn to the lights around the jetty. Schools of samsonfish to 30kg will also come to the jetty to feed on schooling baitfish, more often early in the morning.

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WA

Great holiday fishing EXMOUTH

Barry Taylor

There has been really good fishing for blue marlin in recent weeks, although it is slowly starting to taper off now.

At the time of writing this report, GAMEX is underway, and the competition is fierce.

There are 38 boats and approximately 140 anglers, and by the third day they had tagged 75 billfish. In the capture side of things there have been a whole range of species weighed on all different line classes.

So far there have been two Australian records, one for a brassy trevally and another for a broad-barred mackerel. The biggest billfish so far was a blue marlin estimated at 250kg by the crew aboard Predator. If you want to see how the rest of the comp unfolded, head to the GAMEX Facebook page to see the full results and photos.

There have been quite a few wahoo caught recently, mostly as a by-catch when trolling marlin skirts. The wahoo are a bit spread out,

and the best way to specifically target them is by trolling lures (e.g. Samaki Pacemaker 180) around the 40-50m line. These fish follow the bluer water around; if it’s green inshore, they’ll probably be further out around the 200m line.

Fisheries put the FADs back out in late February so a few dollies have started to show up on those, taking small trolling lures and small stickbaits. Suggested lures include the Halco Slidog 105, Jackson Kaiken 110, and Nomad Mad Scad 115.

Soft plastics are also taking their share, particularly paddletails such as the 6” Berkley PowerBait Paddletails, rigged on a jighead around 3/4oz with a 5/0 hook. The tails wiggle enticingly on the way down and the way up, and the dollies seem to home in on this.

The Gulf is still alive with golden trevally, and there have been a lot of school mackerel in the gulf too. Most schoolies are caught around the bird schools by anglers casting chrome slices, and you can pick up tuna this way too. Drive up as close as you can without spooking

them, cast over the top and wind as fast as you can.

Golden trevally have been hanging around the bommies, taking soft plastics or drifted mulies.

The whale shark season is kicking into gear with plenty of sightings and encounters being reported.

Care needs to be taken when bluewater trolling to give these magnificent creatures at least 30m of space if they are encountered.

Spangled emperor are being caught fishing inside the reef and from the shore. The average size is 45-50cm, with some specimens up to 60cm in the mix.

There are still whiting on the gulf beaches, taking prawn baits and small surface lures such as Pygmy Poppers.

There are lots of queenfish in the gulf too, plus some big GT. A notable catch recently was a big Spanish mackerel caught by an angler fishing from his kayak, targeting GTs behind the reefs. The lure was a Nomad Riptide 200.

Bottom fishing has continued to be steady, with

Zoe was stoked with her first ever billfish. Image courtesy of On Strike Charters. good catches of gold-band and ruby snapper out wide now that the wind has dropped off a bit more.

Weather-wise, the period from April to May is typically the best time of year.

Although most people at this time will target mackerel and

bottom fish, don’t forget the inshore black marlin, sailfish and mahimahi.

• For all the latest news on what’s biting and where, drop in to Tackle World Exmouth at 3 Maley St, Exmouth or give them a call on (08) 9949 1315.

You can also view the range

at www.tackleworldexmouth. com.au, and see the latest catch photos on their Facebook page. This family business stocks a large range of tackle, from light spin to big game.

The staff have a wealth of local knowledge and expertise, and are always happy to help.

Dry season targets BROOME

Troy Honey

It’s that time of year again with the dry season approaching and the town of Broome coming to life again as the thousands of tourists roll in with their 4WDs, caravans and boats.

The boat ramp car parks will start to fill in the early mornings and there will be plenty of anglers out to target a last-minute wet season barra.

The opportunity to land this iconic Broome fish with still be favourable for a month or two as the water temps remain high. Reports of excellent size barra have been rolling in one after the other during March from many of the local creeks such

as Dampier, Willie and Crab Creek, and the Fitzroy River has been absolutely firing right up past Wilare Roadhouse.

After a few fishless weeks in Perth, local angler Chris ‘Wildlife Angler’ Cole headed out to check out a local Broome creek for barra as soon as he got home. After 1m+ queenies stole most of his live baits, he was ready to give in to the blistering heat but decided on the classic last cast.

One of his lines screamed off and he thought he had a shark until a massive set of shoulders and bucket mouth led a solid fish completely clear of the water. To make things more interesting, Chris was fishing solo and had forgotten his net.

The barra lunched five times, rasping through the leader slowly but he managed to lift the fish into the boat before it

A 94cm barra that was released to fight another day.

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snapped. The fish measured in at 94cm, a very solid local fish.

He released it, and it swam away strongly to get another angler’s heart pumping one day.

Threadfin salmon catches have been consistent throughout Roebuck Bay and all the way down to 80 Mile Beach. The camping grounds to the south and the roads leading into them will all be open in April, providing easy access to anglers wanting to fish the southerly stretch, where along with threadies, you can also find permit, mangrove jacks, mulloway, and trevally off the beaches and in the small creeks.

It is not only threadies that have been reported in the bay over the last month; there have also been good numbers of mulloway and a few solid tripletail being landed. Both are caught in similar areas around the buoys, with the tripletail using the buoys to hide underneath, waiting for food to come along, and the mulloway hold in between the buoys in the many deep holes that can be easily located on a sounder.

Tripletail on fly had been a long time goal for Chris Cole, and with the warmer weather of the wet season, he knew there would be a fair few around. He headed out on a nice flat day. Chris pulled up to the first bit of flotsam he came across and spotted a small tripletail. He laid out an average cast with the 8wt fly rod with no luck. He then lifted the line and managed to hit the flotsam with his crab fly, and the tripletail was on it

Chris Cole with his first tripletail on fly. as soon as it hit the water. As it was heading for the fly, a much larger triple came out of nowhere and smashed it. After one awfully long fight with quite a few runs, Chris finally managed to land the fish solo – a solid 56cm tripletail, his first ever on fly.

With the more temperate weather of the dry season comes cooler near-shore water temps, and that means the open water journeys will shorten to the inshore reefs for the prized demersals such as rankin cod, red and blueline emperor and saddletail seaperch. Those anglers who have been lucky enough to bag a wet season fingermark will have to travel further north if they want to boat a larger specimen.

The inshore reefs around Broome stretch for just over 25nm and start approximately 20nm southwest of Entrance Point to around 20nm north west of Gantheaume Point. All along these reefs are excellent

grounds for demersals with the challenge not being finding the fish, but escaping the sharks.

Still, the opportunity to bring home some quality fish during April is high when fishing these areas, and one species not to forget when fishing here is the highly soughtafter coral trout, which are always about in fairly good numbers and size.

For larger boats that can travel distances of 50nm or more, round trips to the reefs further out in depths of 50-100m is where you will find larger red emperors and rankin cods in good numbers, and fewer sharks.

For those looking for a fun day of sports action and not having to travel too far by boat, you cannot go past berleying up with some pellets at out Disaster Rock, which is short 8nm trip from Entrance Point Boat Ramp. Fishing Disaster on any tide change with berley will entice some very solid

brassy trevally, queenfish and big GTs, and casting just about any popper or stickbait will see you hooked up in next to no time. There are also some nice sized Spanish flag and Moses seaperch that hang around the rock. Just be warned – there are a few resident bronze whaler sharks waiting for a bait to drop or a fish to be hooked to ensure your day at Disaster is not all roses and high fives.

With April being in the transition period of wet to dry season, it is a month that offers the perfect mix of species to target so it’s open slather for all types of anglers. The humidity will start to drop away, and the nights become cooler. Plus, if you are lucky enough to be in beautiful Broome at this time of year, it is at its most green and the tourist numbers will still not be at their peak which makes for the perfect fishing experience to remember.

WA

North Coast

Easter Karratha crab fest DAMPIER/KARRATHA

Troy Honey

Easter time in Karratha means one thing to the locals: blue swimmer crab time. Areas such as Nickol Bay, Cleaverville, Cossack and Dampier Harbour

stingrays to contend with.

Stepping on either will make the experience particularly memorable, for all the wrong reasons.

Amongst the blue swimmer crabs there are plenty of king prawns running, and these are best caught with dab nets

have also been turning up at times in schools behind boats trolling for the larger sportfish.

Spanish mackerel are about in good numbers over the various shoals and this will continue through April before quietening down and kicking back up in

will slow the shark numbers, with May to September always being the best time to bring demersals up with a reduced risk of losing a large proportion of them.

Bluebone emperor are thick throughout the entire archipelago and right around to Cossack, but they are being accompanied by the troublesome sand snappers.

Sand snapper are one of those fish that are loved by fly fishers but despised by bluebone anglers. Sand snapper are generally big, 70cm or more, and are one very tough fish to battle on any gear. They give the first impression of a monster bluebone when hooked, and fight to the end but leave you despondent when they surface. Still, they’re a fun fish to catch, they’re just not

Northern longtail tuna are normally caught on trolled lures in the northwest, but John Wright proved they can be caught on poppers when he landed this solid example during the Nickol Bay Game Fishing Club comp.

Mangrove jack can be elusive at times but if you work the snags and rocky areas around Karratha, they can be enticed to take a variety of lures. This jack was caught by Dylan Munn working the holes in the rock walls in Dampier. will be alive with boats dropping nets in the hunt for the sweet delicacy that is always enjoyed over the 4-day break and beyond.

under a spotlight at night in Nickol Bay or by cast net from shore. The higher than average rainfall in February and early March has flushed

September. Over the same shoals there have been some very solid sized GTs, but numbers are starting to drop as the weather cools.

Cobia, red and blueline emperor, saddletail and rankin cod are all starting to turn up in big numbers from 40m and out, while coral trout, Spanish flag and long-nose emperor are being found in all the water depths less than 40m.

With the waters cooling off quite sharply heading into April and May, the demersal fishing will gain momentum and it won’t be much of a struggle at all to find the trophy fish. Baits have been working best during March for fish strikes, but sharks have still been a problem, especially to the north of the archipelago. Cooler waters

Karratha pelagic enthusiast Dylan Munn showing off a trevally coming from the back of the Archipelago in March. something to be enjoyed on the table.

Now is the time to be targeting the very tasty whiting in Karratha as they are another species that starts to fire up when the water temps cool. The growing scene of whiting on poppers is starting to migrate into the Pilbara region from the southern parts of WA where

it has become immensely popular. This is an art of fishing I am keen to master for a couple of reasons, such as the fantastic whiting stocks here in Karratha and a style of fishing that can be enjoyed on those windy days when it’s not ideal to get the boat out. Being an angler and gourmet enthusiast, whiting in the northwest brings a

The Nickol Bar Game Fishing Club recently held a competition which was won by local Karratha angler Scott Medling with this monster GT. While having access to a boat is a tremendous advantage when it comes to catching blue swimmers, land-based crabbers can also join in on the action by wading the flats in Nickol Bay and Hampton Harbour when the water is clearer, such as around the neap high tides and scoop for them.

Extreme caution is advised when scooping crabs here, compared to the southwest of WA because in Karratha you have stonefish and

the creek systems of the prawns into the bay, and we have to wait and see if it was too early to impact stocks.

March has seen a positive variety of fish species caught out wide of the Dampier Archipelago. Small black marlin, sailfish and even a few yellowfin tuna have been boated by those trolling for the former. These have mostly been hooked out past the ships with the odd sailfish in closer towards the archipelago. Mahimahi

Bluebone are one of the best-tasting fish in WA, and the great thing about them is they can be caught from land. Battling them in shallow water is what fishing is all about.

whole new element to the table, instead of the usual coral trout or red emperor fillet and salad.

With species like these on offer, I can’t help but feel just how lucky we are here in Karratha, and it’s something we should never take for granted.

Having an abnormally high amount of rainfall in the last few months of the wet season has made people worried that the usual low wind start to the dry season may not happen this year.

However, we can’t let it discourage us from planning the dream holiday or fishing trip that Karratha has on offer. There will always be good and bad days, and the best thing about this beautiful region is the protection the Dampier Archipelago has to offer from the wind on those bad days. Crimson snapper, Spanish flag, bluebone, coral trout, blueline emperor and a whole list of pelagics can all be caught in April, and let’s not forget the ever-tasty blue swimmer crabs and king prawns.

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WA

Positive changes ahead FRESHWATER

Peter Fragomeni

April was traditionally referred to as the start of the trout season by WA freshwater anglers. The cool mornings and mild days would bring trout close to shore to feed on a variety of food that was previously off limits in the warmer months.

the FFRG committee will meet to discuss the stocking strategy and placement of all available trout into our waters. The great news is the new manager assigned

by Fisheries to oversee the hatchery at Pemberton has made some much-needed changes to outdated policies.

One that hindered early stocking was the translocation permit required to stock trout in our waterways. Yes, even

have voiced to myself and through social media recently. One concern is the lack of action the authorities have taken in the stocking of East Coast natives into selected impoundments that are overrun with the invasive redfin perch. Another suggestion is introducing a 1-month licence, which they have on the East Coast, to encourage visitors to get a licence, because the $50

Jonah Chiera nailed this beautiful brown from the bank on a soft plastic. He is a strong advocate of catch and release of all browns, which can result in quality fishing all through the year.

With early rains our streams can have a good flow, with trout appearing in all the likely spots.

Things have changed these days, with redfin present in most of our dams and rivers. With their tendency to keep food down to low levels, there’s little reason for trout to venture into the shallows.

Having said that, there is still some reasonable fishing available, and some nice trout have been caught in recent weeks. There should be some good fish around for the keen anglers who venture inland to tangle with this sweetwater species.

On the news front there will be a meeting at the Recfishwest office where

a government department needs to get permission to stock fish to inland waters in WA. This is so no fish end up in waters that are pristine, and to protect native minnows and other small fish like pigmy perch and (a relative of the Murray cod) the night fish. There is also a health certificate that must be applied for, a long process that involves sending samples to Fisheries head office so the trout can be cleared of any diseases.

I will be attending this meeting and putting forward a lot of ideas that concerned freshwater anglers

inland freshwater fee is not fair, especially if you have a partner who wants to have a fish for a couple of days as well.

be deadly at this time of the year.

AUSSIE NATIVES As mentioned earlier, the lack of action has seen a dedicated group of anglers frustrated with our local authorities. If our waters were prime pristine environments I would understand, but we are talking highly modified areas that abound with redfin that have no natural predator but man. These dams rarely overflow, and the cold winter flows would prevent any breeding. Additionally, the lack of algae and

coast rivers, something that must be avoided – although successful breeding would be near on impossible.

On a sad note, I was sent a photo of a fish kill that occurred in the droughtstricken inland region.

Apparently, a farm dam got so low that around two dozen silver perch ranging from 50-65 cm perished.

The algae build up was so high it depleted the oxygen overnight, and suffocated these 10-year-old fish. The owner was absent at the time so could not prevent

With new better management we should expect early stocking of larger trout by Fisheries WA this season.

Australian bass are native to the East Coast but their numbers are increasing over here in the West.

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Redfin have been caught in most waters but some of the heavier fished locations such as Harvey are showing signs of slowdown.

Hopefully, autumn will see the start of the schools that seem to form in the open bays in most dams. This makes it easier to target these fish, and using a boat with a decent sounder is a sure-fire method of getting a feed of these tasty fish. Soft plastics on a dropshotting rig can

microorganisms available at this time of year compound the unsuitability of our waters for breeding to occur.

I am sure some of you eastern states anglers would be shaking your heads in disbelief, but it is a policy we have been fighting for around three decades over here. Still, more and more of these species are turning up in our waterways, and the fear is that they will be introduced into some south

the situation.

DAMS Waroona Dam Some reasonable trout were caught through the warmer months so hopefully a few will turn up this month.

Walking the shore flicking small plastics on jigheads is a great way to entice any fish that happen to be within range. Fly fishing the bays and narrow sections with long, fine leaders in the evening or early morning is also popular. Redfin are better targeted by the method I mentioned earlier.

Drakesbrook Weir A few trout have been turning up recently, with one nice brown caught on a soft plastic. This fish was released, and we are encouraging other anglers to do the same as not many trout are available each year. There is no thrill better than to watch these beautifully coloured specimens swim away after taking a few shots that last a lifetime. Redfin are harder to find but a few are always caught at this time of the year.

Logue Brook Dam With the campsite closed at Waroona Dam it has put unwanted pressure on this dam, with a few incidents occurring both on the water and at the camp

DAM LEVELS Rain over the irrigation season has resulted in some of our dams being up on last year. Overall we are up around 3% in total compared to the previous year.

Better moisture in late autumn has most anglers hoping for a better season ahead. Wellington and Glen Mervyn are still extremely low WAROONA DAM DRAKESBROOK WEIR LOGUE BROOK DAM HARVEY DAM WELLINGTON DAM GLEN MERVYN DAM BIG BROOK DAM

45% 83% 59% 28% 35% 34% 80%

WA

grounds. I would suggest you only fish midweek because being on the water is very dangerous with jet skis out of control on occasions. Ski boats are also active but at least they are more predictable as they remain on a constant course. Trout are the only target species but don’t expect big numbers.

Harvey Dam A recent kayak competition held at this location turned up only a few redfin, but a mate of mine landed two nice rainbows in one particular section of the dam in a matter of minutes apart.

One was released but the other would not swim away so was taken for the smoker. Upon cleaning it had well-formed eggs and was in quite good condition considering having gone through a tough summer.

This month some better trout normally turn up but usually not in great numbers. Redfin schools will appear this month, but you need a good sounder to locate them. The low water level will make this easier so pack your favourite lures and plastics and fish all the likely looking areas.

Wellington Dam The world’s biggest mural painted on the face of a dam wall has been completed. Whilst it is an impressive piece of art and no doubt will draw

can change this in the near future but, meanwhile there are a limited amount of redfin available. The going can be tough; the only anglers having success are those fishing from a kayak or boat, who constantly move around until they find where the fish are holding. Lure selection is not as important as in other waters, but sometimes it’s better to drop plastics down deep. Depths of over 20m aren’t uncommon.

Glen Mervyn Dam Glen Mervyn is extremely low at the moment, with little trout activity throughout the warmer months. Hopefully, this will change this month but I’m finding most anglers are avoiding this dam which will jeopardise the future stocking of this

A blurry photo of six brown trout pairing up in a south west waterway.

Trout successfully breed in WA if conditions are suitable. fishing well for those who put the effort in. This dam fishes well with the fly, both morning and evening, for both rainbows

RIVERS Murray River It has been very slow on the trout front, with only a few of the feeder

hoping it will continue throughout the season.

Collie River below Wellington Dam This section fished reasonably well over the summer months, with cold clean water let out for irrigation. Some nice browns have been caught but unfortunately some were kept which puts pressure on

A popular range of soft plastics from ZMan, Squidgy and Force lures.

They can either be cast on small jigheads or used on a dropshot rig. and browns. Most of the popular patterns work well, with bead-head nymphs and Woolly Bugger style flies being a good start.

Apparently, the fish have been tricky to entice, regularly nipping at the fly, so it might be worth changing patterns if you’re getting refusals.

Redfin are still turning up but not of the same size and calibre we get up in some of our northern dams.

However, the occasional nice one is still being caught, even on fly.

streams turning up small rainbows. Some early rains may stir things up if we could get a flow downriver. A few redfin are still showing up in the deeper pools by anglers flicking plastics around any structure, although the size isn’t great.

Northern Jarrah streams These streams are extremely low, with some even drying up over summer. We need some good rains over winter, and with a lot of moisture around in March I’m

Redfin will fall to a well presented fly. Daniel Simpson is no stranger to this method. the limited amount in this system. Things will shut down when they close the valve so keep an eye out if you are planning to fish this river.

Collie River above Wellington Dam Some nice redfin were

Using a dropshot rig and soft plastics can be deadly on redfin. These fish were taken on three consecutive casts using grub patterns and ZMan Paddle TailZ. a crowd by single time viewers, it’s a thorn in the side of us fishers who were promised a recreational hub at this location. So far a multimillion dollar camp site plus a bike track has been established, however not one single fish has been placed into our biggest recreational impoundment in the southwest of the state. Apparently, there was no funding available at the time. Hopefully we

caught over the Collie Festival held over the long weekend in March. The section between the small weir all the way up to the township seems to be a popular area. Hardbody lures and soft plastics work well.

Blackwood River above Bridgetown No reports this month but good redfin seem to haunt this section at this time of the year.

Blackwood River below Bridgetown Mostly trout get caught here but low water seems to hinder the best areas. If you wait for rain, the fish are likely to turn up at the rapids below big pools.

Warren River This river was slow this summer for trout, with most anglers reporting low numbers of yearlings being common.

Again, rain will change this situation in autumn. Redfin have been reported though the river, with good-size fish reported in the mid section.

location. A reduced number of only a few hundred trout are being stocked now, so I can understand why some anglers are striking this dam off the list. I will push hard to keep a minimal amount of stocking allocated at the next FFRG meeting and report the outcome in the next issue.

Redfin are always willing to attack a well-placed lure, so don’t give up just yet.

Big Brook Dam This waterway is still

A good boat or kayak can be a big advantage on our dams. Electric motors are compulsory on Harvey Dam, Drakesbrook Weir and most parts of Wellington Dam. Having an anchor or spotlock feature is handy for sitting on the redfin schools.

Lefroy Brook Simon Holland has been fishing this little brook with a number of both browns and rainbows showing themselves in the shallow sections. He fishes the fly, as others do, and small nymphs work a treat. Big browns are showing themselves but are being cautious down the lower part of the river.

Simon encourages everyone to release these fish as angler pressure is high on this small stream. A few x broods are the better option if you want one for the freezer.

Donnelly River No reports other than there’s still no decision being made as to whether the dam on Record Brook will go ahead. For more information go to the ‘Save The Donnelly’ Facebook group.

Autumn is an exciting time to fish, with low temperatures, low fire risks and less active snakes, making it more pleasant to walk the banks in most areas. So grab yourself a freshwater licence and only leave your footprints.

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recfishwest WA stocking bonanza Fish enhancement projects in WA cranked up a gear earlier this year as juvenile pink snapper, yellowtail kingfish and marron were released as part of three separate stocking programs.

Recfishwest was stoked to help release 20,000 hatchery-

the beach at Woodman Point with all of the program’s fantastic supporters in the fishing community. It’s more important than ever that grandparents, mums, dads and kids can get involved with the fishery and marine environment close to their

said this package will see hundreds of thousands of fish being stocked over the next three years.

However, it’s not just the sheer numbers of fish that takes Recfishwest closer to its vision.

“We are now working closely with DPIRD scientists to deliver a rigorous and strategic monitoring program to test how effective these stocking activities are,” Dr Rowland said. “This will tell us about their survival and any increases in abundance and, therefore, critically, how much better we can expect fishing opportunities and experiences

Recfishwest’s Steph Watts releasing pinkies into Cockburn Sound from Woodman Point.

This marron will be legal size by next marron season! Image courtesy of Steph Watts. bred pinkies into metro waters on 12 February, intended to help boost the State’s future lower west coast pink snapper populations.

The pinkies were bred at the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD)’s Fremantle hatchery from eggs collected in Cockburn Sound on 7 November last year.

DPIRD’s aquaculture team reared the pinkies before helping release them when they were 97 days old and 5-6cm long. Rearing the fish in this way significantly increases the juvenile pink snappers’ chance of survival compared to in the wild.

“These fish are set to reach the minimum legal size (50cm) in about four years from now,” said Recfishwest CEO Dr Andrew Rowland.

Thinking pink for the Sound Five thousand of the 20,000 pink snapper released into metro waters were intended to be released during February’s cancelled Snapper Guardians. After the community-driven event was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, Recfishwest made sure these fish were still released into Cockburn Sound from Woodman Point and filmed the event for a live Facebook feed, so community members were able to watch.

“While it was unfortunate to call off the 2021 Snapper Guardians, it was still great to see these pinkies released into the Sound as part of the 20,000 released,” Dr Rowland said. “As one senior DPIRD scientist commented to me: ‘20,000 pink snapper is a lot of fish’.

“Rest assured, Snapper Guardians will be back on 114

APRIL 2021

homes and hearts.”

Stocking fit for a king Just 24 hours before the 20,000 pinkies were stocked, Recfishwest helped DPIRD’s aquaculture team release thousands of juvenile yellowtail kingfish at South

Kingies are hardy and fast-growing, making them an ideal stocking species. Image courtesy of Zach Relph.

DPIRD’s Mike Harrison overseeing the kingie release at South Mole. Image courtesy of Zach Relph.

Mole, Fremantle.

“It marked the third batch of kingies to be hatched and reared at DPIRD’s aquaculture facility and released into metro waters,” Dr Rowland said.

“This stocking is aimed to help make the kingfish fishery off the metro coast even better.

“Like the rest of their Seriola family, these kingies are hardy and fast-growing, making them a great species for stocking. Kingies can grow nearly 5kg in only 18 months, so it’s going to be great to see how many fishers will be hooking into the hoodlums over the next few years.”

Monitoring marine fish stocking The pink snapper and yellowtail kingfish programs both form part of the State Government’s COVID-19 recfishing recovery package announced by Premier Mark McGowan in August last year.

Among other great recfishing initiatives, Dr Rowland

in the future to be.”

As all fishers know, it is a big ocean out there and tracking the survival, growth and movements of juvenile fish released into the marine environment is undeniably a big challenge. However, Dr Rowland said there was still a way that anglers could help.

“All juvenile fish released as part of these programs have their otoliths (ear bones) stained with special dyes to allow captured fish to be

traced years later,” he said.

“Fisheries scientists are able to identify these fish through ongoing monitoring programs such as DPIRD’s Send Us Your Skeletons program, ultimately allowing us to evaluate stocking success and improve the program design into the future.”

Masses of marron for the masses If pinkies and kingies weren’t enough, Recfishwest launched a marron stocking program in February, which will see 300,000 marron released into South West freshwater waterways over the next three years.

Recfishwest joined Solair Group at Logue Brook Dam, near Harvey, in February and released 2,300 marron.

“That felt like a lot of marron, but it’s less than one per cent of what’s going to be stocked in the next three years,” Dr Rowland said.

Funded through

recreational fishing licence fees that make up the Recreational Fishing Initiatives Fund (RFIF), and announced by Premier McGowan, Dr Rowland said it was great to get the pointy end of this marron stocking project underway with the first of the one-year-old marron going in the water.

“These marron have been bred at Solair Group’s Capel-based hatchery and were nurtured through the vulnerable stages of their life to maximise post-release survival,” he said.

So, when will the near 10,000 marron licence holders be able to catch the recentlyreleased marron?

“The great news for marron fishers is that will be legal size by next marron season,” Dr Rowland said.

Safeguarding a WA freshwater fishing icon An essential part of this three-year program will involve scientific monitoring to determine its effectiveness, with the objective of future-

weather event, the general trend of declining annual rainfall and reduced stream flows are placing marron populations under pressure.

“South West dams such as Harvey, Glen Mervyn, Waroona and Logue Brook will play an increasingly important role in supporting good marron catches,” he said. “While we can’t change the weather, we can support healthy population abundances through programs like this, in turn making fishing better.”

Making WA fishing better Most importantly, Dr Rowland said the stocking program was designed to enhance the fishery and was exactly the sort of initiative that Recfishwest want to see fishing licence money spent on.

“We want to ensure fishers will continue to be able to explore the South West and continue to catch marron for many, many more years to come,” he said. “The marron release was a great start and a major step towards

One of the 2,300 stocked marron getting acquainted with their new Logue Brook home. Image courtesy of Steph Watts.

Stocking hatchery-reared pinkies boosts survival rates.

proofing this fishery from environmental change.

Marron are endemic to WA’s South West and provide excellent fishing experiences for the 10,000 fishers who hold marron fishing licences.

Dr Rowland said despite unseasonal amounts of rainfall this year due to the La Nina

Recfishwest’s vision of expanding the current monthlong season towards yearround marron fishing.”

Visit Recfishwest’s YouTube channel to see the pinkies, kingies and marron being released and visit www. recfishwest.org.au for more info about fish stocking in WA.

Tournament Calendar 2021 DATE

Tournament

Location

State

Contact

APRIL 10-11 April 17-18 April 17-18 April 18 April 18 April 24-25 April

R3 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 Pirtek Challenge East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro R3 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R2 East Coast Bream Series R2 2021 13Fishing BASS Pro R3

Nambucca Heads All Bellinger River Lostock Dam Lake Macquarie Clarence River

NSW All NSW NSW NSW NSW

hobiefishing.com.au pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135 abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au abt.org.au

MAY 1-2 May 1-2 May 15-16 May 16 May 16 May 22-23 May 29-30 May

2021 Daiwa BREAM R3 Glenelg Hopkins CMA Bream Classic R4 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R3 East Coast Bream Series R3 East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro R4 2021 Daiwa BREAM R4

Forster,NSW Nelson Forster Clarrie Hall Dam Hawkesbury River Port Macquarie Ballina

NSW VIC NSW NSW NSW NSW NSW

abt.org.au www.vicbreamclassics.com.au hobiefishing.com.au abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135 abt.org.au

JUNE 5-6 June 5-6 June 12-13 June 12-13 June 13 June 13 June 19-20 June 19-20 June 19-20 June

R5 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 13Fishing BASS Pro R4 R6 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 Pottsville Beach Sports Greenback 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R4 East Coast Bream Series R1 R7 Hobie Fishing Worlds East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro R5 Daiwa East Gippsland Bream Classic

Mallacoota Cania Dam Blackwood River Pottsville Maroon Dam St Georges Basin Swan River Nambucca River Mallacoota

VIC QLD WA NSW QLD NSW WA NSW VIC

hobiefishing.com.au abt.org.au hobiefishing.com.au lionsgreenback.com abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au hobiefishing.com.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135 www.vicbreamclassics.com.au

JULY 11 July 17-18 July 24-25 July

2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R5 Hinze Dam R8 Hobie Fishing Worlds Gold Coast East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro R6 Macleay River

QLD QLD NSW

abt.org.au hobiefishing.com.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135

AUGUST 7-8 Aug 11-12 Aug 14-15 Aug 14-15 Aug 15 Aug 21-22 Aug 21-22 Aug

2021 13Fishing BASS Pro R5 BREAM Queensland Open 2021 Daiwa BREAM R5 East Coast Sport Fishing Flathead Pro GF East Coast Bream Series R4 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric R6 Atomic East Gippsland Bream Classic

Somerset Dam Moreton Bay Gold Coast Nambucca River Botany Bay Borumba Dam Marlo

QLD QLD QLD NSW NSW QLD VIC

abt.org.au abt.org.au abt.org.au Kris Banks 0407 996 135 www.wsbb.com.au abt.org.au www.vicbreamclassics.com.au

SEPTEMBER 11-12 Sept 11-12 Sept 12 Sept 13-17 Sept 18-19 Sept

R9 Hobie Fishing Worlds 2021 Daiwa BREAM R6 East Coast Bream Series R5 Venom BARRA Australian Open 2021 BKK Hooks BASS Electric GF

Georges River Gladstone Sydney Harbour Awoonga/Monduran Lake Lenthalls

NSW QLD NSW QLD QLD

hobiefishing.com.au abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au abt.org.au abt.org.au

OCTOBER 2-3 Oct 9-10 Oct 9-10 Oct 15-16 Oct 17 Oct 17 Oct 26-27 Oct 30-31 Oct

Humminbird BASS Electric Aus Open R10 Hobie Fishing Worlds Club Marine East Gippsland Bream Classic 2021 Zerek BARRA R1 2021 Zerek BARRA R2 East Coast Bream Series GF Rapala BASS Australian Open 2021 13Fishing BASS Pro GF

Wyaralong Dam Burrill Lake Metung Lake Tinaroo Lake Tinaroo Hawkesbury River Clarence River Richmond River

QLD NSW VIC QLD QLD NSW NSW NSW

abt.org.au hobiefishing.com.au www.vicbreamclassics.com.au abt.org.au abt.org.au www.wsbb.com.au abt.org.au abt.org.au

NOVEMBER 15 Nov 16 Nov 18 Nov 20-21 Nov 27-28 Nov

2021 Zerek BARRA R3 2021 Zerek BARRA R4 2021 Zerek BARRA R5 2021 Zerek BARRA R6 NS Rods Sunline Bream Classic GF

Teemburra Dam Kinchant Dam Peter Faust Dam Peter Faust Dam Marlo

QLD QLD QLD QLD VIC

abt.org.au abt.org.au abt.org.au abt.org.au www.vicbreamclassics.com.au

DECEMBER 3-5 Dec

2021 Daiwa BREAM GF

Port Stephens

NSW

abt.org.au

Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au Just supply a date, venue, tournament name, telephone number and contact name.

APRIL 2021

115

BREAM SERIES presented by

Betts rides Holland to Gippsland BREAM win Declan Betts is known for a variety of skills. One of them is the ability to extract big bream from the often daunting structure at Holland’s Landing in the Gippsland Lakes system.

Others include dubious decision-making and the ability to turn a pedestrian result into an intriguing narrative that makes us all wish that we had similar obstacles on the road to success.

But when the stars line up for the Colac breamer, he is hard to beat and that’s exactly what happened in the Mercury round of the 2021 Daiwa BREAM series, held out of Metung at the famous Metung Hotel post Victorian COVID lockdown in February.

Trialling an all-weather trailering rule, where competitors could launch at various ramps throughout the Gippsland Lakes system, Betts made the hour-long

and 5.315kg and 6.135kg on consecutive days.

And in classical Declan style, he said, “It felt all upside-down at Hollands and I did upside down things.”

What he meant was that there’s go-to banks at Hollands Landing, but he wasn’t seeing the bait or the fish on them like he usually would.

Instead, he concentrated Scan the QR code to watch the Non- Boater Winner Interview

Declan Betts knows that sometimes Holland’s Landing is a ‘hero-or-zero’ decision. 2021 proved the pendulum to be swinging towards hero.

Scan the QR code to watch the Winner Interview

them in the calm, hot conditions on Saturday.”

Betts said that his results may have looked spectacular, but in fact it was a grind and the best bag from an 8-fish day on the Sunday. He got a total of 5/5 fish for both days,

on banks that he’d usually ignore. On the official practice day, that strategy yielded eight bites for him.

Betts used a combined hard body/soft plastic approach, rotating between a Daiwa Spike in pond gill colour, a ZMan motor-oil coloured 2.5” Grub and a Squidgy Bio-Tough wriggler – the latter two baits fished on nail bomb jigheads.

“I got hard up on the edge and took my chances,” he said.

In the tough country, Betts relied on a Samurai 252 and 302 weight rod paired with an older model 2016 Certate. He said that was a good compromise between feel and pulling power.

There was no arguing his strategy. He took home the $3,000 winners’ cheque and an extra $250

It was fitting that at the Mercury event, a Mercury powered angler placed first. Declan’s OptiMax may not be the newest of outboards, but it did what it needed to get him across the line. road-trip each way each day to access his favourite spots.

He boxed 5/5 for 5.315kg on Day 1 and followed it up with a cracking 5/5 for 6.135kg bag on Day 2 to

outdistance fast-finishing Paul Holmes by around half a kilo.

Here’s how he did it.

“I’ve seen this place when it goes off … and

it wasn’t going off this weekend. If it was blowing 25-30km/h it would have been raining 5kg+ bags,” Declan said, “…and kudos to the flats guys for getting

BOATER RESULTS Place Angler 1 Declan Betts 2 Paul Holmes 3 Zac O’Sullivan 4 Peter Nord 5 Tom Slater 6 Jarrod Healey 7 David Harding 8 Owen Pierce 9 Steve Pryke 10 Peter Stephens 116

APRIL 2021

Fish 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 9/10 9/10 10/10

Paul Holmes’ Day 2 bag not only propelled him to second place, but we’re pretty sure that it’s the biggest 5-fish bag weighed at Victorian BREAM events. Kudos!

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 11.450 10.970 10.955 10.885 10.620 10.605 9.955 9.690 8.775 8.340

Payout $3,000 + $250 Merc bonus $1,250 $1,100 + $125 Merc bonus $1,000 + $75 Merc bonus $900 $800 $700 $600 $500 + $500 Big Bream $500

BREAM SERIES presented by for being the highest placed Mercury owner.

His older model OptiMax is now deleted from the Mercury range, but it still gets him where he needs to be to win events.

On the weekend, 54% of the field were running Mercury outboards between 60hp and 300hp. In total, 5,340hp of Mercury powered the field.

HOLMES’ RECORD BAG NOT ENOUGH TO TAKE WIN Dingley breamer, Paul Holmes quietly presented a massive bag to the weighmaster after the Sunday session. His 5/5, 6.395kg limit was the heaviest recorded in an ABT qualifier in Victoria.

He fished 1-5ft of water in Jones’ Bay and concentrated on heavy structure.

“In last year’s ABT I found these fish but I came undergunned. This year I brought a Millerods Brawler,

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

Doing the damage at the terminal end was a Hurricane Twitch 50 hard body in iceberg and natural prawn UV colour.

TOMAS BAGS OVER 11KG FROM BACK OF BOAT After a short absence from the non-boater ranks, Melbourne school teacher Tomas McIntosh is back.

And he scooped up his third ABT trophy in the process. Weighing 10/10 for 11.075kg for the weekend, he outdistanced his nearest competition by over 2kg.

“It was all about fishing Holland’s Landing this weekend. I had two great boaters and I had the gear that I needed to convert my chances,” Tom said.

Tomas McIntosh won his third ABT Non-Boater trophy with a combined limit of over 11kg – over 2kg clear of his nearest rival. like that, in a tournament, when you really need it.

The trophy will complement his two other wins that he picked up in Western Australia a couple of years ago.

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

YOLOTEK BIG BREAM

Use Daiwa … win Daiwa. The naming sponsor’s reels got the job done for the Melbourne schoolteacher.

6lb J-Braid and 6lb Chinu Harris leader to help me win more of the battles,” he said.

That he did and in the process boxed a limit that’d make any breamer smile.

The bag jumped him into second place from 8th after Day one.

“We’ve really seen a difference since the nets came out of Gippsland Lakes … I found that patch of fish a year ago and they’re still there. In the past, they ended up in fish boxes, as Jones Bay was a site that was heavily netted, especially around the river mouths,” he said.

In particular he made reference to his custom Millerods Brawler 2-5kg, 6’7” with a soft tip that he paired with a Daiwa Sol 2500, PE 0.8 and an 8lb leader to fish his baits weedless and deep.

“I think that each of the guys I fished with want to order one,” Tom said in his final interview.

His bait of choice was a ZMan GrubZ 2.5” in motor oil that he’d fish on a 1/161/12oz jighead, depending on the depth of water. He’d rig the grub weedless on the jighead.

“I was confident fishing that bait in the nastiest of structure,” Tom said, “Because if it doesn’t come back, you’re only down $2.

Compare that with a $20 crab and you’ll understand why you can fish them deeper in the sticks with more confidence.”

His most memorable fish? A 1.46kg brute that he landed 5 minutes before they had to depart Hollands Landing for the weigh in.

He was on 4 fish at the time and even though he’d have won without it, there’s nothing like catching a giant

NON- BOATER RESULTS Place Angler 1 Tomas McIntosh 2 John Parkinson 3 Peter Mazey 4 Stuart Walker 5 Byron Hill 6 Gordon Pullin 7 Mike Hodges 8 Matthew Stanley 9 Brendan McNamara 10 Neil Kelly

Fish 10/10 10/10 10/10 7/10 5/10 6/10 5/10 6/10 5/10 5/10

Steve Pryke (1.64kg) from Lakes Entrance weighed the biggest bream of the weekend.

He caught it in Jones’ Bay on an Atomic Shiner lure in pearl shadow colour. He fished that bait on a Samurai Reaction 7’4” rod with a Daiwa 2500LT Silver Creek reel, 6lb Unitika braid and 5lb Unitika leader.

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 11.075 8.915 8.855 5.615 5.330 4.650 4.590 4.080 4.045 3.955

Payout Daiwa pack Costa pack Daiwa pack Bait Junkie pack Pro Lure pack Sufix/VMC pack Tackle Tactics pack EJ Todds pack Ecogear pack Keitech pack APRIL 2021

117

BREAM SERIES presented by

McKeown tames tarwhine for Lake Mac title Although tarwhine have been a by-catch species that have been allowed to weigh-in at ABT events for several years, Jamie McKeown became the first angler to both weigh in a five fish limit of the enigmatic fish AND to win an event with tarwhine consisting of a majority of his weight. He did it in the Sunline-sponsored event of the 2021 Daiwa BREAM Series at Lake Macquarie.

His 10/10, 9.365kg catch included 8 tarwhine, plus two yellowfin bream.

His final day limit of over

on a Daiwa Tierra reel – the most expensive reel in his boat.

“I had to up the leader from 8-10lb on Sunday – I lost too many good fish on the Saturday that would have taken my overall bag to over 10kg,” he reported.

Although the final bay bag looked like he did it Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

Scan the QR code to watch the Winner Interview

5.7kg was solely tarwhine – at least the ones he could extract from the complex structure.

“The key to targeting these fish was to get my favourite 50mm Cranka Crab down in the heavy current,” he said. To do it, he used various masses of clip-on weights, originally on TT SnakelockZ heads.

Jamie McKeown pieced the tarwhine puzzle on the Swansea Bridge at Lake Macquarie to close out an emphatic victory on the second round of the Daiwa BREAM series. He finished over 3kg ahead of the rest of the field using heavily weighted Cranka Crabs.

And he used them between a 1/4oz and up to 1oz.

“I also like to paint my crabs a different colour green. For me it seems to get more bites and I can rotate the crabs through the various colours,” he continued. “I get a UV

easily, McKeown said it was anything but.

“There were scuba divers, dolphins, bait fishers that’d see you catch a fish and then go and tie up to the pylon you caught it from, and jet skis that have no idea of the speed and distance limits in place,” he said.

coloured crab and paint it all apart from the orange bits. The fish seemed to like it a little better, so that’s what I mainly used.”

He also used the claws and hooks from the bigger 65mm crab to provide extra holding power for the big

Paul Langley was the best-of-therest, boxing 6.24kg over two days to relegate Peter Cook into third place.

It was a lucrative weekend for McKeown. Bagging $3,500 for the win, $500 for the YoloTek Big Bream and $250 for the first Mercury motor bonus.

BOATER RESULTS Place Angler 1 Jamie McKeown 2 Paul Langley 3 Peter Cook 4 Ahmad Mahfoud 5 Michael Colotouros 6 Anthony Hassarati 7 Mark Healey 8 Matt Babbage 9 Daniel Bonaccorso 10 Grant Oliver 118

APRIL 2021

Fish 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10

fish in fast water next to the pylons.

To deliver the crabs he used a Samaki Zing V2 Extreme 7’ rod (2-6lb) and some 6lb braid/10lb leader

There was one dolphin that hung around the boat for 15 minutes on the usually productive changeof-tide session that Jamie thought would end his

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 9.365 6.240 5.830 5.630 5.555 5.530 4.945 4.890 4.825 4.790

Payout $3,500 + $500 big bream + $250 Merc $2,200 + $125 Merc $1,200 $1,000 $800 + $75 Merc $700 $600 $600 $500 $500

BREAM SERIES presented by chances of a win.

“After a couple of hours I had no fish, but the first fish I caught was that 39cm tarwhine, so I decided to stay the whole session instead of moving and trying to catch a limit. That was the right decision in the end, as I ended up with around 7-8 fish for the day.

Jamie also used his new Lowrance Active Target to help learn the behaviour of the fish.

“I found four pylons that held fish consistently and I also saw that when you landed or lost a fish, they would move away for a while before repositioning, so it let me know when to change spots,” he said.

LANGLEY THE BEST OF THE REST If it weren’t for McKeown’s heroics on the bridge tarwhine, Paul Langley may well have been adding a second ABT trophy to the mantelpiece.

Averaging over 3kg per day, Langley boxed most of his weight from a single, deep spot that recharged enough for him over the weekend to get the job done.

He fished 12-15ft of water with a ZMan motor oil coloured grub on a 1/8-1/12oz jighead and delivered it on a JML Perfection Kurodai rod, 2500 sized reel and 10lb Yamatoyo braid with 4lb Sunline Rock FC leader.

“I fished shallow on the practice day for no fish so when I found the deeper spot in the southern part of the lake with fish and bait loaded on it, I left it for the tournament days,” he said.

On day one he had a limit by 9am and left it alone after some upgrades by 10am.

Day two was more difficult with the spot drying up after two early fish. Leaving it until the end of the session, it fired again when the wind picked up.

Scan the QR code to watch the Non- Boater Winner Interview

THE G.O.A.T FROM THE BACK OF THE BOAT Five-time Non-Boater AOY winner and eight-time event winner, Stuart Walker, added a 9th title to his collection and did nothing to hurt his reputation as the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) from the back of the boat.

Walker was the only angler to weigh 10/10 fish and his weight would have taken him home a cheque quite easily in the boater division.

He used a combination of his favourite ZMan

Stuart Walker sealed his 9th win from the back of the boat in the ABT this event. Over a kilo clear of his nearest rival, he didn’t harm his reputation as the ‘GOAT from the back of the boat’ at all.

GrubZ rigged on a jighead and a topwater Bent Minnow to get the job done, as well as a few fish on a blade on the Sunday.

One thing has remained the same in many of Walker’s recent winner’s interviews, and that is his favourite Daiwa outfits he uses. His SilverWolf rods

NON- BOATER RESULTS Fish 10/10 9/10 9/10 7/10 5/10 5/10 5/10 6/10 5/10 6/10

4lb Sunline Bream Special leader and uses 4 metres of it nearly everywhere he fishes in Australia.

He boxed most of his fish on the weekend on a motor oil coloured ZMan Grub on a 1/16oz TT jighead and on a peachface coloured OSP Bent Minnow 76.

BIG BREAM

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

Stuart Walker mixed up his productive ZMan Grubs with an OSP Bent Minnow to land the fish that mattered and to be the only non-boater to bag 10/10 for the event.

Place Angler 1 Stuart Walker 2 Chris Curtis 3 Jesse Thompson 4 Mitchell Madison 5 John Parkinson 6 Peter Clark 7 Dallas Blatchford 8 Sam Peck 9 Judd Kirkland 10 Ryland Sainsbury

and reels have served him well for nearly five years and, thanks to the Daiwa service department, have no signs of slowing up.

“I also love my Daiwa Evo X8 braid. You can’t get it any more but I still have a bit of it stashed away,” Stuart said.

He matches the braid with

Jamie McKeown’s 1.36kg Big Bream was actually a tarwhine. It ate a heavily weighted Cranka Crab dropped down to fish in heavy current that he could see on his Lowrance Active Target unit.

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 5.540 4.395 4.160 3.295 3.190 3.155 2.810 2.610 2.520 2.515

Payout Daiwa pack Costa pack Bait Junkie pack ProLure pack Sufix/VMC pack Cranka pack Tackle Tactics pack EJ Todds pack Ecogear pack Keitech pack APRIL 2021

119

BREAM SERIES presented by

BREAM AUSTRALIAN OPEN

abt

Colotouros rides final day kicker to Win They say that when it’s your time to win a BREAM Australian Open, it’s your time. 2021 was Michael Colotouros’ time to win.

After a stout first two days of competition, he was sitting in a position where if he had a good day and the scoreboard leader, Jamie McKeown, faltered he’d have a chance to win.

On the final day in Sydney Harbour the 30yo Sydney plumber did just that to box a 4.608kg limit and ran down McKeown by a mere 60g.

In the process, he managed to land his PB

reasonable, if not outstanding, bag on the first day of the Open. Fishing a combination of docks, pylons and pontoons, he threw a mixture of Cranka Crabs and Gulp Crabbies to put together a limit.

At one point, while talking to live coverage host, Simon Goldsmith, he hooked and landed a kilo-class fish in a spot that he didn’t really intend to fish. Little did he know that that scene would foreshadow what was to come on the final day of competition.

The live coverage of the event was the first time ABT, in partnership with

Scan the QR code to watch the Winner Interview

Scan the QR code to watch the Runner-up Interview

You can see the full coverage on the www.abt. org.au site via the embedded YouTube links.

DAY 2 DAY 2: HAWKESBURY 5/5, 3.946KG “Even though I live within walking distance of Sydney Harbour, I love fishing the Hawkesbury River much more than my local waterway. There’s so many big fish there and, although I weighed nearly 4kg on Day 2, I missed the fish that could have made it an extraordinary bag,” he said.

Still, the 3.946kg registered took him up to within striking distance of Jamie.

He fished rock walls between Brooklyn and Mooney Mooney in the lower part of the river.

“I also went a bit old school on day two, dragging out the old Squidgy 100mm Bloodworm Wriggler to catch a few key fish,” he continued.

The rest of the bag ate Cranka Crabs.

His main outfit was a Millerods Bream Buster with Daiwa Luvias reel spooled with 10lb braid and 8lb leader.

DAY 3 DAY 3: SYDNEY 5/5, 4.608KG There’s always an air of anticipation on the final day of the Open. Anglers know that crazy bags can and do happen and wonder which side of the ledger they would be on come 2pm. Michael

Colotouros loves the Hawkesbury River more than the Harbour. His 3.946kg Day 2 bag put him into a position where he had the chance to win the event on Day 3.

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

left the start in third place, 1.173kg behind the leader.

He put together a solid bag of 30cm+ fork-

This is what it’s all about! Years of effort goes into winning a BREAM Australian Open and Michael has done it on his 6th attempt. He’s rewarded with $5,000 and a Daiwa reel. bream while being covered live to overtake the Queenslander and by doing so, make Open history as the first angler to catch the winning fish on a livecovered event.

It was goosebump stuff for all tournament anglers watching.

Here’s how he did it.

DAY 1: SYDNEY 5/5, 3.382KG Micheal weighed a

event sponsor Daiwa, had attempted a multi-person coverage of a major event with a live scoreboard and expert commentary.

Despite several technical hitches, including poor mobile phone coverage and a scoreboard crippled by the volume of people trying to simultaneously access it, it was a great success that left viewers with an appetite for more.

Kris Hickson is well and truly back on the horse after a bit of a COVID-induced break from tournament fishing. His third placing will be documented on one of Daiwa’s Pursuit videos.

RESULTS Place Angler 1 Michael Colotourous, NSW 2 Jamie McKeown, Qld 3 Kris Hickson, NSW 4 Tom Slater, NSW 5 Daniel Bonaccorso, NSW 6 Wally Fahey, SA 7 Mark Crompton, NSW 8 Denis Metzdorf, Qld 9 Steve Morgan, Qld 10 Luke Rogan, Qld 120

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length fish quite early in the session and then slowly proceeded to upgrade his limit centimetres at a time.

Because the event was being run on the ABT Tournament Series app, anglers get real time updates on where they are standing and how close their nearest competitors are. However, due to the rapidly increasing interest in the ultimate day of the Open, the number of scoreboard requests overwhelmed the server capacity and most of the anglers were guessing as to their position.

But when Michael was contacted by host Simon Goldsmith to chat and watch him fish a little, Colotouros decided to swap spots.

With the audience staying with him for the run, Michael chose the closest option, the Lane Cove River.

We’re unsure if he knew that this was the place where the angler emblazoned on the ‘Greg Lee Memorial Trophy’ used to love fishing and from where he famously brought in a 5kg+ bag to take the title in 2006. However, second cast in the ’Cove, the live audience watched and

Full results at abt.org.au

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 3.382 3.946 4.608 4.776 3.725 3.375 3.213 4.042 3.340 3.158 4.064 2.949 3.588 2.078 3.986 2.485 4.386 2.446 3.210 2.809 3.278 2.155 2.567 4.562 2.335 3.027 3.728 3.441 3.963 1.671

Fish 15/15 15/15 15/15 15/15 15/15 15/15 15/15 15/15 15/15 15/15

Weight(kg) Payout 11.936 $5,000 + Daiwa Airity reel 11.876 $2,500 + Daiwa Infeet rod 10.595 $2,000 10.171 $1500 9.647 $1,000 9.317 Daiwa Infeet rod 9.297 9.284 Daiwa Infeet rod 9.090 9.074

BREAM SERIES presented by all hell broke loose.

Michael hooked the biggest bream he’s ever caught and chaotically landed it. It ate a Gulp Crabby fished on a light jighead and cast to the back of a moored boat. It measured 41.5cm to the fork of the tail, which converted to a weight of 1.608kg.

It was enough to leapfrog him into first position.

MCKEOWN FALLS SHORT Queenslander Jamie McKeown fell agonisingly short of back-to-back BREAM Australian Open titles and back-to-back event wins after schooling the field at Lake Macquarie just days before. He did all of his Harbour damage on Sow and Pigs Reef and consolidated his lead at the Hawkesbury on Day two.

After catching his limit

in five casts on the first day of the open on the very spot that he won the event from in 2019, you can imagine the confidence that Jamie left Day one with - especially Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

leading the event with a near 5kg bag.

Like 2019, he fished Cranka Crabs on a Samaki Zing Gen 2 rod, Daiwa Tierra reel and 6lb braid with 8lb leader.

“There was one of the cardinal marker poles where the fish were schooling on day one and my Lowrance Active Target showed me the fish there. After the

initial limit I upgraded slowly and finished the day exactly where I wanted to be,” he said.

Day 2, however, was a gamble.

“I just wanted to stay in the event on Day 2. I haven’t got that many spots in the Hawkesbury and I had no idea if they were going to fish well,” he continued.

He started in the mouth of Cowan Creek throwing topwater, but soon moved upstream to a crowded and fruitless set of bridges before heading upstream again to his spots at Pumpkin Point and Spencer.

It was there where he put together a decent limit

BREAM AUSTRALIAN OPEN

abt

Daiwa’s Taka Kawasaki embraces what the Open is all about. Have fun, catch fish, break gear and challenge yourself on two of Australia’s bream-iest waterways. end when his Day 1 fish at the reef failed to show.

An initial giant of 1.43kg was accompanied by four sub-30cm fish that he failed to upgrade through the day.

A pair of spearfishermen working the reef helped Scan the QR code to watch the Day 3 Highlights

It was a lucrative week for Jamie McKeown in NSW. He pocketed $4,250 at Lake Macquarie and $2,500 and a Daiwa Infeet rod at the Open. fishing crabs in the current in up to 7m of water.

At the end of the day he retained the lead over fellow Queenslander, Luke Rogan, and entered Day 3 relaxed.

That soon came to an

Jamie McKeown caught a limit in his first five casts of the 2021 Daiwa BREAM Australian Open to secure an early lead that he didn’t relinquish until nearly the end of the event. In the Harbour he fished Cranka Crabs around Sow and Pigs Reef.

neither the fishing or his confidence.

A last-minute upgrade of 2cm – swapping a 26cm fish for a 28cm fish – cut Colotouros’ lead but it wasn’t enough to get him over the line.

When the dust settled, he was 60g short.

BIG BREAM

Live Feed Success The BREAM Australian Open is one of the showcase events on the tournament calendar. Big fish, big names, and edge of the seat competition is what sets this event out from the crowd.

Nail biting finishes and last fish heroics have helped make this event famous and

this year was no different.

Being able to deliver this event live to tournament fans via our tournament app and daily live feed was an absolute blast and a major step forward in tournament coverage in Australia. I can’t wait to see more of it. Simon Goldsmith

BIG BREAM AWARDS Place 1 2 3 4

Angler Michael Colotouros Wally Fahey Jamie McKeown Denis Metzdorf

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 1.608 1.430 1.430 1.430

Prize Daiwa Luvias 2500S reel Daiwa Infeet rod Daiwa Infeet rod Daiwa Infeet rod

Here it is – the 1.608kg bream that won Michael Colotouros the Open. Micheal’s 41.5cm fork length fish that he caught to seal the win was also the event’s Big Bream. It earned him a Daiwa Luvias 2500S reel. It ate a 1/24oz jighead rigged Gulp Crabby fished on his Millerods/Daiwa Luvias combo.

It ate the lightly weighted Gulp Crabby off the back of a moored boat in the Lane Cove River at around 12:30pm on the final day.

Not a bad time to register your PB bream!

APRIL 2021

121

BASS SERIES presented by

Glenbawn gives Muldoon first ABT trophy Steve Muldoon has always been a contender at events at Lake Glenbawn. The Portland local has cashed plenty of cheques in ABT events, but was yet to take home a top-placed trophy. That changed at the Ecogear round of the 13 Fishing BASS Pro Series on Lake Glenbawn in March.

Weighing a 9/10 limit for 7.940kg, he pipped Mitchell Cone by 75g, took home $3,500 for his efforts and a spot in the 2021 BASS Pro Grand Final, where the winner takes home a fully rigged BlueFin/Mercury package.

Here’s his story.

On the Saturday, Muldoon targeted schooling fish in the middle reaches of the lake. He scored a total of 5/5 fish for 5.005kg.

a Fish Arrow J-Spin with gold blade.

“That colour looks a lot like a gudgeon and fish that are transitioning between a summer and winter pattern really seem to like it,” Steve said.

Scan the QR code to watch the Winner Interview

The other lure he threw on a beetle-spin arm was a TT Jighead with an OSP 3.1” HP Shad Tail in colour TW139 that he cut down to match the bait size.

He mixed up the retrieve for these baits sometime he’d drop it to the bottom and slow roll it for five winds of the handle

Steve Muldoon thought that he let the opportunity to win slip away when he only brought a 4-fish bag to the scales on a rainy Sunday. It ended up being enough to defeat a fast-finishing Mitchell Cone.

“After I weighed in and heard of some good bags being weighed, I thought I had lost the opportunity,” he continued, however his second day bag was heavy enough to get the job done.

CONE JUMPS TO SECOND After sitting in 15th after the first day with a three fish bag, the last thing on Mitchell Cone’s

mind was to have a shot at winning the event.

However, a tournamentbest 5/5, 5.145kg on the Sunday landed him agonisingly short of another ABT victory.

“I was just hoping that I’d done well enough to get a cheque,” Cone said as he recounted the story of his weekend.

Overall, Mitchell’s

Definitely worth getting wet for. Muldoon pocketed $3,500 for his win.

“We could see on the Garmin LiveScope that there were plenty of fish both suspending and sitting off the bottom on points in the middle of the lake and we ended up catching bass all day long,” he said.

“It may not look edible to us, but we caught a lot of fish on a ‘dressed’ bibless minnow. What’s a ‘dressed’ lure? You get a bibless minnow – in this case a Jackall TN60 in NFAU colour – and add

Scan the QR code to watch the Non-boater Winner Interview

before dropping it down again and other times it was just a slow roll through suspended fish.

Muldoon fished the lures on a Daiwa Itchy Twitchy spin rod fitted with a Daiwa Exist 2000 reel, 10lb Sunline Castaway

braid and 8lb FC Sniper Invisible leader.

Muldoon also mentioned that the LiveScope helped him follow the fish as they moved around the points.

“Sometimes the bass would move off a weed bed and away from it to feed. With the live sonar I could follow the fish and I knew exactly where to cast. It helped us minimise wasted time through the sessions,” he said.

BOATER RESULTS Place Angler 1 Steve Muldoon 2 Mitchell Cone 3 Kris Banks 4 Keefe Spann 5 Mike Nelson 6 Graham Ford 7 Anthony Thorpe 8 Dylan Walsh 9 David Lane 10 John Ciancio 122

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Fish 9/10 8/10 8/10 9/10 7/10 9/10 9/10 8/10 7/10 6/10

Sean Walsh is one shot, one kill for his ABT non-boating career. He doesn’t own a boat, but seems to get the job done when he’s in one!

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 7.940 7.865 7.550 7.085 6.860 3.030 6.690 6.480 6.015 5.885

Payout $3,500 $1,600 + Merc $250 $1,300 + Merc $125 $1,000 + Merc $75 $800 $700 $600 $500 $500

BASS SERIES presented by weekend consisted of lots of running and gunning and not that much catching. It was a last minute flurry on a windy and rainy main basin stretch of 150m where he did most of his damage on an ‘I Know It’ coloured Whopper Plopper topwater bait.

“We landed a dozen legal fish in the last 45 minutes of competition,” Cone said, “and if we’d found the pattern a little earlier we may have been able to get across the line.

He did lament a lost fish on the first day - on his last cast - that relieved him of his Pontoon 21 Cablista jerkbait.

fished 5/16oz chatterbaits with some sneaky assist hooks added to the tail of the jig. He didn’t know the brand.

He fished the bait on an Atomic 6’ baitcast rod matched with a Daiwa Tatula reel.

“The key was to get the chatterbait down and Scan the QR code to watch the Day 2 Highlights

Scan the QR code to watch the Day 1 Highlights

“It was one of those cases where you think that it’s trouble if it gets eaten.

It got eaten. There was trouble,” he said.

Mitchell’s topwater gear consisted on a USA model Millerod BassFreaK Spin 7’10” rod, 3000-sized Daiwa

Mitchell cone bagged the biggest limit of the event on the Sunday to race up the scoreboard into second place.

Fuego reel, 10lb J-Braid and 20lb mono leader.

WALSH WINS ON HIS FIRST TRY Non-boater Champion, Sean Walsh from Muswelbrook, doesn’t own a boat. He walks the bank

at his local lakes and also has a few mates who take him out on the water. So the ABT with its shared-weight format and non-boating positions fell right into Sean’s hitting zone.

He signed up, fished,

registered 10/10 and won his first ABT event.

Fishing with Steve Muldoon on Day 1 and Anthony Thorpe on the Sunday, Sean was happy to contribute towards his winning bag and mainly

fish it close to the bottom.

Especially on the Sunday, nearly all of the fish were hooked on the assist hooks that were swinging off the main hook. I think that helped us get a limit into the boat on the second day,” he said.

Walsh plans to try a few more events from the back of the boat.

“I’m looking at the Clarence River round at the moment … I’m pretty keen to get up there,” he said.

We will have to see if his second win comes directly after his first.

VMC BIG BASS

It’s taken until Glenbawn 2021 to get the 2020 BASS Pro Anglers of the Year together. Brodey McNeish (non-boater) and Matt Langford (boater) took the honours in a shortened season.

2020 BASS Pro AOY, Matt Langford landed the event’s VMC Big Bass by boxing a 1.32kg fish amongst sunken grass on a white Whopper Plopper topwater lure on a Millerods SwitchFreaK rod, 13 Fishing Concept reel, 22lb Yamatoyo braid and 16lb Yamatoyo leader. It was 5g heavier than Mitchell Cone’s 1.315kg entry.

NON- BOATER RESULTS Place Angler 1 Sean Walsh 2 Beau Eveleigh 3 Giacomo Pippo 4 Rebecca Fazio 5 Tony Neal 6 Jake Hardie 7 Jill Wales 8 Tim Jones 9 Adrian Young 10 James Browning

Fish 10/10 9/10 9/10 8/10 9/10 6/10 8/10 8/10 7/10 6/10

Full results at abt.org.au

Weight(kg) 8.715 8.425 7.155 6.950 6.825 6.215 5.915 5.695 5.590 5.400

Payout EJ Todd pack Bassman pack Daiwa pack Maui Jim pack Sufix pack Keitech pack Z-Man pack Molix pack VMC pack Ecogear pack APRIL 2021

123

Part I: Stocking, to keep or not to keep SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

I have had a whole bunch of conversations recently about fish stocks and it seems that a lot of them are based on discussions of rights and access rather than the reality of a fishery and what constitutes good practice.

What I am always surprised at is how little time fisheries departments devote to explaining ‘how’ fisheries actually work and how fishers impact their fisheries. Worse, 30 seconds after you even mention the topic, politics takes over and the arguments immediately degenerate to who’s to blame. I find that pretty frustrating as often people are working from the wrong basis of focus on rights to harvest, over the reality (good or bad) of where a particular fishery is up to. Despite the endless calls to ‘respect the science’ of stocks the reality is almost all decisions are made based on political pressure.

With that in mind, I thought as it’s a topic I haven’t covered for a few years it might be time for a how fisheries work article - how fishers impact stocks and why trying to measure that impact works often ends in a place other than where people want it to be.

As this is a discussion that I don’t want to gloss over I will do it in two parts, this part focusing on fish coming into the fishery and in the second I will look at harvest and other mortality.

MY VIEW OF FISHERIES MANAGEMENT Everyone has a bias on these topics so I thought I would put mine upfront. I think fisheries management is way behind the eight ball, but they are trying to do what they can.

I have no political dog in the fight in making that statement. I fully support the need for a commercial fishing industry, however one that is smarter and makes more money through value adding rather than taking more fish. I also support the rights of recreational fishers, but that right doesn’t extend to causing long lasting damage to a fish population even on a local basis. I fully support the environmental movements and fishers that see habitat rehabilitation as being their most important item on the agenda. In general, I don’t support 124

APRIL 2021

Fig.1 Bream Recruitment from Standardised Surveys in Gladstone showing relative stable recruitment from 2016-2020. lockouts of fishers, but I am a realist and support a sensible approach to Marine Parks.

That list of views makes me about as milk toast as they get. Bottom line, I think there is a place where all the key stakeholders can co-exist but not if we keep doing things the way they are done now.

Fisheries management circa 2021 is based on regulating outputs. It’s the hunter-gatherer mentality that we used when there were a lot less of us around. I could be wrong, but farmers gave up that method a long time ago.

Farmers understand that in order to get sustainable outputs, you need to take care of and understand the inputs. I agree with them, it’s a sound practice.

So, in a nutshell, my arguments with fisheries are not over the politics, but rather that humans gave up their method of management long before we built the pyramids.

The argument that it’s a natural resource thus it’s different doesn’t wash with me because there is nothing natural about modern industrial harvest.

How do fishers affect fish stocks?

All natural systems, humans included revolve around a simple dynamic of inputs and outputs. As an equation that takes a year-on-year view it can be expressed as: P = P + R – (M E

P

S

E

N

+M ) O

is population at the

end of the year

P is the Population at the S

start of the year

R – is recruitment, the

new animals that survive past birth

M

N

– is deaths by natural

causes (eg old age, disease) M

O

– is deaths by other

means

(eg

harvest,

predation) A less nerdy way of saying it is – it’s all about births, deaths and marriages. The human impact covers all of the key variables in three ways: • Harvest (Other means of death) • Habitat impact, be that direct destruction of key habitat or longer-term changes in environment that slowly squeeze a species out (Recruitment and Natural Mortality) • Management decisions that may benefit or hinder a species Note that at a localised level migration due to habitat loss or food depletion is another variable but I am taking an overall view here in the same way fisheries managers do. It is relevant though as thanks to climate change, the range of some species is changing.

RECRUITMENT In understanding where a population is at you really need to understand how successful a species is in reproducing year on year. That is why you see economists in the west in particular freaking out about the decline in the birth rate – we have amazing records on birth and death rates. The documentation of human mating rituals has been so successful that it’s spawned what is probably the largest industry in the world and drives most of the traffic on the internet.

If we knew even a 10th of what we know about human reproduction for most fish species, we would go a long way to getting our head around

harvest strategies.

Recruitment is a topic I know a lot about as we conduct surveys for people like Gladstone Healthy Harbours for many years and I have had to develop models based on 30+ year datasets.

If fisheries managers and fishers used a good recruitment metric as the basis for decision-making, fisheries management would be revolutionized as fishing could be based on a useful indicator that isn’t driven by politics.

It’s a simple equation – if you take out more than is coming in, you are in trouble – there are no banks to lend you fish. I am 99% sure the broader community would agree.

There are a range of ways fisheries managers do look at recruitment be that genetics or age/ class assessments, but the problem is it takes time to get the data assessed so you are making decisions based on things that happened

2-3 years ago. That’s not very helpful if you want to make a decision on the year ahead.

In defense of fisheries agencies, recruitment is a challenging topic and working out a useful metric let alone a strategy to track recruits takes time. That said, if you are going to use that as a defense when you have been in charge for 60-70 years, it’s not a good defense.

STABLE VS VARIABLE RECRUITMENT AND STOCKING One of the most frustrating conversations I have ever had with a commercial fisher is on the topic of recruitment. In the end I had to walk away because there just was no point at which common sense entered the equation.

His view was recruitment always happens and as long as they fish to quotas or regulations all is right in the world.

This a rg u m e n t underscores why I hate output regulation as the only strategy. Output regulation is a rights argument that may or may not line up with reality. I get the whole MEY (Maximum Economic Yield) argument for commercial fishing but that requires much better tools than our fisheries agencies are realistically endowed with to pull off.

The problem with Outputs management is inputs are not one size fits all.

Some species are reasonably successful in most years when it comes to recruitment, Bream and Flathead are two species that fit well into that category. Bream and flathead do have their ups and downs when it comes to successful spawning but overall, they don’t seem to have ‘failures’ so low

that you lose a year’s contribution to stocks and the variation between a good year and a bad year is less. While climate/ conditions do impact recruitment, they don’t in a way that causes disasters.

See Fig.1.

Other species are more adapted to our natural weather cycles and thus recruitment varies, barramundi and king threadfin are two key examples. Both barramundi and king threadfin (and mulloway as another example) are boom bust species. Barramundi for example have a complex web of factors that need to line up for things to go well - the timing of rainfall, salinity levels, river flows and so on.

Another interesting one that we have discovered in recent times that affects post spawning mortality is food levels. Bigger barramundi have no problems eating smaller barramundi, especially if food supply is low. This is exactly what we have seen in Rockhampton since the Net Free Zone, poor recruitment even in reasonable conditions due to predation. One thing to note with the net free zone is the net free component extended to nets targeting barramundi and Threadfin, not beam trawlers so while you increased the number of barramundi and threadfin that escape harvest, nothing was done to release pressure on food supplies.

This is exactly what happens when you focus on the politics of outputs over the reality of inputs.

Yet another factor for barramundi is nature itself.

Barramundi typically head to off river water bodies that periodically connect up, precisely to get away from predators. Smaller

Fig.2. Barramundi Recruitment Rockhampton from Standardised Surveys showing Boom Bust recruitment from 2011-2020.

bodies of water however are subject to things like dissolved oxygen problems and while last year there was a reasonable spawning in Rockhampton with fish getting into off river areas, since then conditions have been poor leading to fish kills. See Fig.2.

Other species again have been disrupted by human intervention, to the point where they are now largely dependent on the intervention of humans.

In fact, I would go so far as to say there are species have developed a totally symbiotic relationship with fishers, because it’s the desire of fishers that keeps them alive. Australian bass is a good example.

Australian bass typically

commercials over because TACs do not take into account the fact that stocks fluctuate thus in the good times they overharvest leading to extended periods of poor times. There is a case for harvest during the good times, as this will release pressure on food stocks but on the flip side going too hard means if what you are left with is a less robust part of the population you are putting the stocks at risk during their natural down cycle.

Bottom line, a lot more brainpower is required than currently being used on stocks like this.

Disrupted species are the worst kind of species to apply an output based control to as their chances

Fig.3 Bass Map 1995 live most of their lives in brackish to fresh water but require high salinity usually at entrance to an estuary to spawn. The problem is we have put so many barriers along waterways with mostly ineffectual fish passage (though this is improving over time) thus natural recruitment is at non-existent levels.

We have great long term tagging maps of bass in Queensland and it makes clear that every 5 years bass have extended the range of places they can be caught in, yet there has been almost zero natural recruitment.

See Fig.3 and Fig.4.

RECRUITMENT AND HARVEST STRATEGY Stable recruitment species are the best species to develop output harvestbased regulations be it Total Allowable Catch (TAC) or quotas. As long as the TAC is below replenishment levels then this should be a good text book ‘sustainable’ fishery.

Variable recruitment species are much more difficult especially if they are prone to multiple years of recruitment failures in a row. This is the species I have most arguments with

of regeneration is the worst. As soon as a species is disrupted on a larger scale the best and probably only option is to shut down the fishery and rethink how things will progress. This is where stocking comes into play. In the US for example the entire Salmon fishery is totally dependent on stocking as natural spawning has collapsed due to modifications of rivers.

Is that a good thing? That is heading into moral territory, if you are fisher, yes it’s a good thing, if you are an environmentalist it’s a bad thing. I sit somewhere in between, so long as there is the opportunity for natural spawning and stocking is not disruptive to other species then really all you are doing is giving nature a helping hand. Should we do it? I will leave that one to the philosophers, that one is probably above my pay grade.

THE MOUSE UTOPIA EXPERIMENT The Mouse Utopia project is probably the scariest experiment you have never heard of and it’s a salient lesson that mankind sucks at playing god. This experiment

conducted between 1958 and 1962 on Norway Rats by John Calhoun an ethanologist/behavioral researcher. The experiment was simple enough, create a space where a set of male/female pairs would have effectively access to unlimited resources – food and water and breeding space. Sounds tough for them, right?

The purpose of the experiment was to look at explosive population growth. The problem was repeated iterations of the experiment even with modifications and trials with mice rather than rats ended in a different place.

While the population rose rapidly the population hit the point of total collapse

each other’s company, thus the bulk of the population congregated around the feeding area despite their being ample room otherwise. The rats and mice failed to use the space optimally.

Think about that for a second, perfect conditions combined with a normal behaviour led to not just a psychological stress reaction but a biological stress reaction. In a normal system, animals would leave the system to setup somewhere new but without that option, things turned terminal.

WHY IS THE MOUSE UTOPIA EXPERIMENT IMPORTANT? The first takeaway from the Mouse Utopia

Fig.4 Bass Map 2020 long before they exhausted the available space or resources.

Given the absence of any predators or any pressures what was going wrong?

In this case several things were observed along the way. Firstly, as time went on a number of behavioural issues crept in, some of the males became more aggressive while others more withdrawn. In part this was due to the fact that females became more selective, choosing the best of the mates leaving most of the males without the opportunity to mate. As the males that failed to mate were unable to leave to seek other opportunities, they were essentially locked out of mouse society.

Among the females, care of the young became more haphazard. More concerning was the impact on fertility, the longer time went on in these conditions the females were less and less able to carry to term.

One of the key sources of this issue was what became known as the ‘Behavioral Sink’. The ‘Behavioral Sink’ was caused by the fact that rats and mice prefer to eat in

experiment is that biology is not passive, it’s responsive, sometimes catastrophically so. The second takeaway is that not all biological responses are in the best interests of the animals concerned.

One of the key reasons the Mouse Utopia experiments always ended in disaster is that species don’t exist in vacuum.

There is a complex set of interactions that we are adapted for, not just behaviorally but in the base biology. Take away some of the pressures that the biology was purposed for and all of a sudden things go wrong.

Will you always end up with population collapse in a closed system? Not necessarily but changing the dynamics for an animal in a way that positively or negatively triggers biological responses is something we need to pay attention to. Back in time massive changes to environment tended to happen slowly but in modern times humans have the capacity to make changes on much larger scales in much shorter time periods.

One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist, just a reasonable observer to note humans are distorting natural ecosystems even where we don’t harvest.

There is a part of the community that believes there is an ideal set of conditions prior to the existence of man where the animal kingdom lived in peace. I have had plenty of conversations with environmentalists that go along the line of locking up areas, preserving them as if we can put them in a Utopian bottle and the world will be better off. In reality there is no Utopian Bottle. Even if you could restore habitat back to before man and then wall it off from the rest of reality you would still distort the system because as with the Mouse Utopia experiment, there is no option to leave.

Th e al t er nat i ve argument is providing a virtual wall creates a safehaven for animals, a refuge that they can all congregate safe from those horrible humans. Again, the Mouse Utopia experiment causes pause because that is exactly what happened, you had a forced aggregation of animals to catastrophic effect. I am not saying that animals won’t migrate to things like wildlife parks but it’s naive in the extreme to think that just because you decree it so, you will end up with fish Utopia.

Having said that, I do support wildlife reservations – noting that biology is more complex than the swish of a righteous pen might account for.

THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF GOOD RECRUITMENT Carp, tilapia and crown of thorns are all examples of what happens when a species is overly advantaged in Australian conditions. Pest species is a topic that gets ample coverage so my only observation will be that in general in addressing the topic we tend to use one of two methods, biological warfare or social pressures.

Tilapia and carp for example have a twofold advantage, first from a reproductive point of view they have an advantage over natives in similar conditions but secondly because they are less desirable, they are not heavily targeted by the most efficient predator – man.

With that in mind, our track record when it comes to fighting biology with biology is spotty at best. I think the community is right to have a certain amount of scepticism about things like the carp virus as the only time you have a good idea of the impacts of any biological measure, is after it’s out in the wild,

there is no way to predict how biological systems will react or adapt.

On the other side, taking the fight to a pest species by valuesbased warfare is to me counterproductive.

Establishing a set of behaviours in people takes time, but changing those behaviours takes even longer if you later find out that the behaviour was a bad idea. Here I am talking about fines for possession of pest species. This has the positive effect of educating the community that pest species are bad but disincentives interactions with the pest species taking one of your future management options off the table.

Maybe a little humility when looking upon the face of god is a good thing.

WHERE TO FROM HERE

In this topic, I have attempted to tackle two concepts: • That regulating outputs without having a good idea of inputs is a highrisk strategy, especially for variable recruitment species and species disrupted by human activity; and, • That we don’t exist in a vacuum, that even without harvest we are distorting natural systems.

That all decisions we make management wise are not simply ‘on paper’ there can be unforeseen biological responses to measures that on paper make sense and seem like a good idea.

Which to be fair, is one way of saying that managing natural systems is a complex job and fisheries agencies are probably on a hiding to nothing trying to navigate those waters. Note I did mention humans make a poor fist at playing god.

I don’t believe that ‘shut it down’ is the right response to either problem but I do think that it’s a strong argument to get the science right over politics and develop a good prioritization system – that is species at risk vs species not at risk.

At the moment the species at risk is generally determined on harvest data, whereas my argument is that should be driven by recruitment levels as that is a more robust indicator of where a species is up to. Cost wise that is a challenge, but if you know the things that influence success/failure of spawning/recruitment then developing models, much as the weather bureau does is much easier and low cost in the longer term.

Of course, when science gets politicised we end up in a bigger pickle but that can wait until part II of this article.

APRIL 2021

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127

Hobie kayaks: the naked truth GIPPSLAND LAKES

Brett Geddes b.geddes@bigpond.com

It was April 2006 and I was fishing the lower Cann River in East Gippsland. That’s when I saw my first ever Hobie kayak in action. It was owned by Joel Crosbie, who showed me the pedal drive and the hands-free fishing.

I had never seen a hands-

and sounders etc. I am not a sponsored spokesperson so I have a few harsh criticisms to share with you, but I believe these are easily outweighed by the benefits.

HOBIE HANDIWORK There are two words that come to mind when I talk about the Hobie brand: evolution and innovation. It seems every year they improve, advance, develop and expand their product range.

The range is huge so I’m going

A smaller and older Hobie Sport model can be bought second-hand. They are a very cheap way to get into your first pedal kayak experience. free kayak before, and I was totally bowled over. To think that at the time I was so proud of my simple paddle kayak! However, when Joel told me how much the Hobie cost, I decided that owning one was not for me.

Fast forward 15 years and right now I have three Hobies in the shed, and I have just sold another! All I can say is when you first fish out of a Hobie, your old paddle kayak will end up like mine did – gathering cobwebs or sold to a mate.

For eight years now I’ve clocked up thousands of hours fishing out of a Hobie, usually 8 or 10 hour sessions, and over 100 days each year. I have given them a very thorough workout and I’ve learnt a lot, and totally worn out two of them! So come with me as I have plenty to share for newcomers and you hardcore punters. I’ve got advice on avoiding and fixing breakdowns with the pedal drive system and other parts.

And of course my own spin on rod holders, storage, batteries

APRIL 2021

customised new 6x4 trailer, for just $3400!

For keen anglers I suggest you start with the Outback models, either new or secondhand, because they give you stability and much-needed storage compared to the old, smaller Sport version.

The larger Pro Anglers, especially the 14ft models, are also good but they are a fair bit heavier, usually require a trailer (they’re very hard to rooftop), are more wind affected and less responsive to steer and manoeuvre. However, they have amazing storage for tackle and multiple rods, room for a big live tank and are very stable for stand-up fishing.

Horses for courses.

It’s easy loading or removing the Hobie from a 4WD when the wheels are at the rear, and it saves any damage to the rudder.

A clever custom rebuild of a Hobie 180 drive, not commercially available. Stainless sleeves and super tough bushes give much greater longevity than using the usual roller bearing system.

A fairly common breakdown in the Hobie 180 Mirage drives, usually after heavy prolonged usage or sand ingress. The chain driven sleeve or the bearing housing can end up with excessive wear or even complete failure. Regular maintenance is a must. to limit my discussion to my experience of fishing from the Outback models. Most of this information can be applied to the fleet of 17 MirageDrive

The author’s custom rod holders enable both vertical transport and horizontal mounting.

The latter keeps the rod out of harm’s way when unhooking your catch or bait fishing.

128

pedal kayaks.

Over the years I’ve fished with mates and many other Hobie anglers, and we all like to share our ideas and experiences, both good and bad. The consensus is overwhelmingly positive, particularly in regards to longevity, ingenuity and especially Hobie’s unique innovations. A good example of this is the MirageDrive 180 Forward-Reverse system.

Introduced about three years ago, it’s a real game-changer.

HIGH-TICKET HOBIE All of these inventions and customer joy come at a lofty cost; a new pedal drive Hobie will generally set you back well over $3000. For those of us who are fanatical, it’s money well spent. However, it may be a hurdle too high for anglers shopping around for their first yak, or for people who don’t fish very often.

There are too many models and prices to list here, but by way of example my new 2020 model Outback has a list price of $4890. It has the new Kick-Up fins, new cockpit design, longer and wider hull, dual steering and 180 degree drive (forward and reverse).

Then there is the new Pro Angler 12 MD with the 360

degree drive, which is worth about $7500.

A new Compass model Hobie out now for 2021 is very fisher friendly but with much less bling, and it’s more affordable at $3690.

Most second-hand yaks are quickly snapped up, but older and much cheaper models can be found and they’re a great way to get into the Hobie experience. Some anglers get lucky and find old Hobies that have hardly been used, and these are great value for money. A good mate found a 2014 PA, 12ft model that was used just twice. There wasn’t a scratch on it, and it had a sounder, a sail, lots of other extras, and even a fully

HEADACHES AND HASSLES The MirageDrive pedal system is essentially troublefree and very reliable for occasional or even fairly regular operation. If you use your Hobie a couple of times a month and, say, 4-6 hours a trip, I expect you’d hardly ever have a problem let alone a breakdown for many years.

After very heavy usage, however, problems will start to arise due to wear and tear. The stainless cables to the drive chains may start to stretch and break, steering cables can fail, and fins get damaged.

A more common problem though, at least for older drives, is that the fin rods or masts can bend or even snap off when you whack snags or suddenly hit shallow water at speed. They can be bent back into shape, but I suggest you remove the mast before straightening in case it snaps.

I’ve busted about five masts over the years, and replacing them can be a real headache.

They can break very close to their screw-in point and be near impossible to extract. I’ve had to spend hours with tiny drill bits and an easy-out trying to remove the threaded piece left over.

Fortunately, newer drives like the 180 models have a thicker mast about 10mm and rarely break, but they can still bend out of shape (the older

drives with an 8mm mast can often bend and snap). The very latest drives have ‘kick up fins that fold away when you hit structure and lock back into place when you clear the snag.

Another problem for many of us over the years is that the pedal cranks can snap. I

its pedals with fins upright and strapped in with the seat belt! I haven’t had a break since.

HOBIES HATE HEAT? It’s time for to me to fess up about a disaster that was totally my fault. I burnt a huge hole in my Hobie, about the size of two footballs! After a great day spent hooking bream and estuary perch, I was leaving a local river when friends waved me down.

They were packing up after three days camping right next to the water. I stopped and exchanged fishy stories but before taking off they insisted I take home all their left over firewood. They had no room for a fair pile of neatly split wood that would suit nicely for my hungry heater at home.

We stacked the load into the back of my 4WD tray and even fished out a couple of big bits only half burnt from the drowned out and extinguished fireplace. The wood was wet and cold to the touch. On the drive home air was forced in

It’s easy to launch Hobies nearly anywhere, like in this very remote East Gippsland creek. think this is mainly due to how people store their drives while travelling. Some are left bouncing around in the back of a ute or tray and can eventually get fine cracks that lead to full breaks. You need to fully secure your drive to avoid the cranks snapping. The second time this happened to me was the last. I learnt to transport my drive on the front seat next to me, positioning it so it sits on

around the stack and one of those burnt bits must have still had a live ember lurking somewhere. When I got home a small fire erupted in my tray… And melted a huge hole into my kayak.

I usually pride myself in avoiding drama and double checking things, or trouble shooting impending grief. Not this time.

There are two lessons

here. First, accidents happen when you least expect it, and second, make sure your insurance policy covers you for any sort of damage while in storage, especially when transporting.

MINDFUL MAINTENANCE Newer drives are fitted with roller bearings that make them near effortless and smooth to operate, not to

your closest Hobie dealer.

FIXING FAILURES In my experience the biggest problems I see with any of the drives, and the main complaint from serious Hobie punters, are indeed these bearing failures. Sometimes the actual roller bearings last quite well but cause excessive wear within the housing itself to the point of collapse. It seems to happen to a lot of the

set-up, but the difference is negligible and you get the guarantee of greater longevity and avoiding failure out on the water.

I understand that Hobie are keeping costs down and for them to supply a better and more robust system would cost money. However, the failure rate for those particular drives is very common and in our experience we get about 12-18 months out of a new drive or after a rebuild with Hobie spares. I believe the Hobie brand would benefit from fixing this very obvious problem. Jason posted his handiwork up on a members page and was bombarded by Hobie owners from all over the world for advice or even to re-fit their worn out drives, indicating how widespread and frequent the malfunction is.

ONE MAN WHEEL INSTALL Hobie carts plug into scupper holes beneath your yak, and the wide pump-up wheels are brilliant for

Never drag your Hobie across hard surfaces.

The hulls are quite robust but prone to eventually leaking if you constantly knock them about. traversing river pebbles, sand or mud flats. Mounting the wheels while your yak is still elevated, like on a trailer, is easy. Or when sitting on the ground a companion can lift the back end right up while you reach under to install the cart.

This always takes two people.

The real problem is when

bonus is that this rear wheel set up also protects the rudder from damage as I lift the front of the yak up to my 4WD tray

HOBIE HIGHS So I want to end with further tips and some more positives about the outstanding Hobies. With every new model upgrade there are improvements in storage for lure boxes, rods and all manner of fishing gear.

Still you should keep all your stuff to a minimum because most of us use only a third or less of what we take.

You should store sounder batteries to the front of the yak to spread your yak load more evenly. Mount your sounder as low as possible to avoid your rod and line or even a landing net making contact with it. Put your car key in a water tight plastic bag before storing away in your yak as water can render them useless to start your vehicle.

I’ve seen quite a few phones

A homemade rear wheel mount makes it easy for a one-man cart install at the end of the day. No turning the yak up on its side. mention far more efficient.

But after excessive use they can wear out, and their worst enemy is sand or mud.

Never run your Hobie into a sand bank with your drive locked in for operation – not even when your fins are tucked up under the hull. Never drag your Hobie with the drive still locked in across the bank because you’ll force sand or mud into those bearings.

Always lift out your drive well before you exit your Hobie or hit very shallow areas. I’ve heard stories of people leaving their drive in the water with a sandy bottom and after a few hours of waves lapping around it, filled it up with sand, to the point that it was totally jammed and fully locked up. The only fix there is to pull the drive down for a complete clean out and re-lube the bearings.

If you ever start hearing strange new noises from your drive, such as squeaks, clunks, knocks or even faint clicks, there’s something going wrong. In fact, it usually means increased friction taking place somewhere, and avoidable wear and tear. It will work fine for another dozen trips or more, but eventually things may get a lot worse. I’ve had one drive completely break down twice because I ignored the warning signs. It reached the point where the super tough roller bearings totally chewed away and finally broke the softer housing, and fell out!

Although spare parts are readily available, they don’t come cheap, so prevention and maintenance is your best option. There are detailed videos online to learn about pulling down your drive to lubricate or replace parts, but it’s not a simple 5-minute job.

You may prefer the services of

180 reversible drives, and I highly doubt that every one of those failures was due to sand ingress. It seems that a more robust system is needed.

A good mate of mine has taken matters into his own hands. Jason Deenan is an accomplished fitter by trade, and designed and then made a very hard plastic bush and stainless steel sleeve construction, doing away with rollers altogether. He has installed this clever invention into his own drive and kindly fixed mine as well. For 18 months now we have both fully tested his handiwork with no hint of a problem. He even tapped in grease nipples for regular top-ups without having to pull the unit down.

Now it’s fair to say that the drive doesn’t perform quite as smooth or as efficient as a brand new roller bearing

Accidents happen when you least expect it. Be sure to upgrade your insurance policy if you’re not covered for such grief.

Two different Hobie drives. The newer 180 reverse model with KickUp fins is on the left, and the older GT drive is on the right. The GT is still very popular and in some ways better; fewer moving parts equals fewer problems and longer life.

A homemade camera mount helps with taking fish selfies. Be sure to elevate your phone or camera to eye level for much better pics with some background.

you’re fishing solo and you’ve finished your session, then pulled up on the bank. With no way of lifting up your yak, the only way to install your cart is to turn the yak completely on its side. That requires you unloading everything out of the Hobie and then reloading it all. I’ve fixed this predicament by mounting the wheels at the very rear of my yak. I’ve made up a couple of bits of PVC pipe that I easily set up in seconds. I wedge the wheels between my feet to keep the cart poles vertical, then easily lift the yak up just 20cm by the rear handle, drag the Hobie towards me slightly and then drop the yak down onto the cart. Easy, no sweat! Then I transport it as per normal from the front handle. It is a bit heavier but the trade-off is a super quick getaway and an easy one-man fix. The added

for loading and tying down.

By the way you should never drag your Hobie across a hard surface, for even a short distance. This may be common sense but holes will appear in your hull eventually.

CUSTOM ROD HOLDERS All Hobies come with moulded-in rod holders but I easily and cheaply make a slightly better design. I use PVC pipes that sleeve into the existing two holders behind each side of the seat, rising to about 25cm. At the top of the pipe I fix a stainless steel holder which is common to rail mounts.

This setup allows me to still put the rod in the vertical position while I’m peddling, and more importantly to have the rod mounted horizontally for easy changing of lures, replacing leaders, unhooking fish or for when I am bait fishing. Doing all those things while the rod is in a vertical position is never easy. The holder also keeps your rod and reel safely up out of the kayak away from thrashing fish and your moving legs or drive. Bait fishing while your rod is near totally upright is not ideal.

and cameras disappear into the depths (gladly not mine so far!) so always be extra diligent when taking pics or texting the better half you’ll be late home yet again. One of my biggest wins has been floundering at night with my hands free to have the light in one hand and a spear in the other. Excellent for netting prawns too. I can now cover vast areas of shallow water keeping the fins close under the hull with little “half kicks”.

This beats slow walking or wearing waders and I can explore much deeper water as well. Make or buy a secure mount for your camera or phone at the front of your yak but make it elevated to at least eye level for capturing a bit of background and much better selfies. Use the ten second timer or even capture a short video and take still screen shots from it. It’s hard for me to wind this article up but I think you can see that my fishing has improved out of sight because of these brilliant kayaks. I can travel twice the distance in them and less effort than my old paddle yak. All hail the Hobie! I’ve got lots more to share but maybe I’ll explore those things next time.

APRIL 2021

129

New South Wales Tide Times

Victorian Tide Times

2021 2021 LAT 33°Times 51’ S and LONG 151° E and Low Waters Local Time Heights of 14’ High POINT LONSDALE – VICTORIA TimesLocal andJUNE Heights Time of High and Low Waters Times and Heights ofLocal High Time and Low Waters JULY MAY AUGUST JUNE 2021 LAT 38° 18’ S LONG 144° 37’ E JUNEAPRIL JULY MAY APRIL FEBRUARY MAYMARCH

POINT LONSDALE – VICTORIA DNEY (FORT DENISON) – NEW SOUTH WALES LES POINT LONSDALE – VICTORIA – NEW SOUTH LAT 38° 18’ S LONG 144°WALES 37’ E LAT 33° 51’ S LONG 151° 14’ E SYDNEY (FORT DENISON)

2021 LAT 38° 18’ofSHigh LONG 144° 37’ E Times and Heights and Low Waters

Time m ANUARY

20

POINT L

LAT 38 and JULY Times Loca TimeAUGU m m

m Time m Time Time m Time m m Time m Time mTime mTime m m Time Time Time Time m Time m and Time0006 m Low Time m m0046 Time mTime Time Time Time m 0037 Time m Waters Time m 1.41 Time m 1.26 Time0.69 m TimeTime Tim m Time m 0633 Time m Time1.40 m0519m 0.58 Time m 0452 m Times Heights High and Local 1.68 0.53 0145 1.34 1.78 Time 0057 1.60of 0557 1.36 0150 0049 m 0.58 0623 0034 m 0.51 1.30 1.59 0554 1117 0750 0.51 0.49 0454 0744 0.541.520.38 1148 0.55 0807 0735 0748 1.26 1.35 1041 1158 0735 1.68 1.47 0006 0.56 0415 05190646 0.58 06330.58 0.53 0230 1.48 0228 1.47 0455 0.501.28 0319 1.67 03090.43 1.51 0037 0558 0740 0.32 JANUARY 0315 0.62 1.59 0150 1.60 0337 1.62 1238 0.36 0227 1.78 00571.30 1.600226 1.60 033 FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL 0.76 0.42 TH 1640 1430 1.59 1.43 1.33 1052 1358 1.38 1.58 FR 1303 SU TU 1345 WE 1804 SU 1446 MO 1900 1.50 1245 1257 0.62 0.87 1748 1904 1.54 1245 0.43 0.75 0646 1.35 1007 1117 1.28 1238 1.30 0832 TU 0.34 0.38 1104 1.570.75 0850 0.62 0901 0.43 Time 1203 1.58 0917 0906 0.22 0807 0.75 1155 1.39 0808 0740 0.49 07440.80 0.540825 0.15 094 FR SA 1.43 WE m Time m 0831 TH m Time m m MO0.76 Time m0.780.59Time Time m Time m 0.56 Time 1848 0.66 2314 1.71 2110 0.56 2114 1911 0.79 1940 1935 1922 TU 1.42 2319 1928 SU 1.54 1303 1.43 1640 1516 1.67 1522 SU 1.73 1712 1530 1.50 1757 0.45 1600 WE 1.761804 1446 1.43 1.33 0.48 1.43 0.67 1430 1.43 13581.44 1.381532 165M TH FR 1.87 TH 1.43 MO 1530 FR 1629 TU 1624 1.46 MO 0.65 SU 0.74 TU 1345 TH 1.33 FR 0.76 SA 1457 SA 1725 TU 0.75 SA 1.59 1.67 0315 0238 2119 1.60 2259 0337 1.62 1.52 18481.48 0.662105 0.75 1.67 2211 23140100 1.71 2058 0.64 2325 1.580.61 2100 0.21 0138 21151.58 0.46 0227 2134 1.18 0.510309 1.51 2114 0.76221 0.26 0.27 0319 1.88 2019 0.360415 1911 0255 0.79 1940 1.59 0.782059 0230 0.65 0030 1.68 0.38 2359 0608 1.66 0148 1.47 0301 1.25 0.74 0.59 0135 0133 0.57 0534 1.38 0043 0130 1007 0.42 0023 0808 0832 0.340.47 0850 0.62 09010.65 0.43 0906 0.68 0.22 0818 0.75 0917 0.56 0724 0.52 1207 0835 0.54 0538 0828 0.581.580.42 0853 0.56 00301.40 1.68 0022 1.85 0415 0.60 0446 06080733 0.61 0356 0.65 1.60 0300 1.48 0303 1.47 0255 0533 0.531.25 0404 1.67 03400.45 1.52 0138 1.66 01481.32 1.470311 0100 1.58 043 1.64 0309 1.59 0656 1.29 0858 0848 1.18 1.37 1121 0735 0849 1.50 1.46 1.67 1.43 1.57 1530 1.50 1600 1.76 1413 1.33 1.64 1530 0.43 1.43 1.43 MO 0700 TU 1624 MO 1430 TH0842 FR 1516 FR1447 SA 1457 TU 1335 1.34 1726 0.80 1542 1.47 1.35 1451 1.41 1359 1.49 1538 1.64 TH 2100 O MO 0.36 WE 2016 SA TU 0724 0.52 0659 0.38 0959 1.28 1043 1207 1.25 0952 0.15 0905WE 0.33 0905 FR 0.39 0858 1139 1.48 0940 0.55 0936 0.37 2019 0835 0.54 08280.89 0.580914 0733 0.45 103 0.69 0.46 1300 1.31 0852 0.451.52 0.16 2211 0.38 2058 0.64 0.21 0.37 FR 2115 0.46 2134 0.51 0.26 1135 2119 SA 0.27 1231 0.65 1336 1347 0.65 0.95 1836 1256 0.68 1345 0.85 SU 0.67 TU0.72 TH 1906 0.77 2227 2019 0.82 2045 0.81 1957 2230 0.50 1335 1.34 1300 1.44 1647 1.79 1547 1.67 1557MO 1.71 1542 1.47 1740 1608 1947 1.54 14511.40 1.411620 1359 1.49 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13280732 0641 0.40 1.50 SU 1331 0852 WE 1.451242 0.41 TH 1905 1.44 1125 0.40 TH0649 MO 1215 0.34 034 0104 0.61 00471.55 0.39 01241.43 0.540212 0.74 0139 0548 1237 1.66 0150 0000 0.68 0110 0.50 0.76 0422 0.50 1.481.72 0059 0.65 0.71 1938 1.66 0147 0045 05051306 1.67 00370.46 0.70 1929 0025 0.80 0054 0.72 0216 0533 0053 0040 0123 0.27 1.50 0105 0.37 1.44 0603 0.50 1344 1.31 2010 1.43 2046 1.44 2029 1.34 1901 0.59 0445 1242 0.610.630.37 0.44 0.78 TH 1435 0.39 1748 TU 0.46 0811 FR WE 1228 SU SU 1.54 MO1.47 105 1.39 0641 1.50 07110.40 1.290909 1.29 0732 1225 1.55 0748 1.84 1.29 1127 1.51 0.66 0722 1.39 1.40 0.46 0757 0701 1125 0.40 06442.01 1.36 0649 0651 1.28 0749 1.34 0811 1242 0657 0.25 0644 0729 1.39 0.33 0659 1.33 0.35 1300 1.60 2015 1910 1.74 1125 1919 1.771.461.71 1944 1903 2.01 1.29 0601 2100 1.85 160M 1237 0.59 1228 0.44 12421.72 0.611421 1306 0.46 1831 0022 1.45 0.53 1340 0.51 0.75 1732 0.35 1.17 0.26 0059 1.47 1313 0.22 1748 1.72 1246 0.37 1231 TU 0.52 1306 SU 0.70 1344 0.50 1813 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0.65 0.83 0.27 0.38 1.28 0326 0.30 1619 0.450453 1606 0.71 1351 1506 0.50 1554 1422 0.64 1503 0.51 1442 0.68 0.581756 15390.67 0.481655WE 184 1343 0.40 0.87 SU 0.44 TU 1349 SU TU TU 1557 TH 1140 MO 1332 FR 1712 TH 0.56 MO FR FR SA SU MO FR WE 1625 1.74 1556 1.74 1633 1.66 1614 1.71 1517 1.87 1454 1.76 MO TU 0.31 1.18 0938 1.36 1950 0521 0.84 1.25 1048 1.48 2330 1.33 0.32 0936 1.87 1.23 2347 2309 FR 1.43 2016 0338 1.63 1759 2015 1.76 1956 1.480.26 2253 1.32 1011 2215 1.80 2056 0446 1.83TH0.290918 2139 1.21 2.07 2115 1.33 1.85 SA 22071.39 1.902318 SU 20130446 2.06 1.49 0512 0.451143 0.49 0428 0.27 0357 0.411.361108 0249 2033 0.78 1055 2152 2217 2159 0.50 2043 17121048 0.45 1.41 1730 0.72 0.65 MO 1606 1550 1.33 0.27 TU 1557 0.45 1.48 15060.71 0.50 0.710.64 SU2129 MO0932 TH 1619 FR 1027 0.44 1.41 TH 1140 09531.28 1.34FR 0.67 1130 1.46 0848 1.57 2327 1.48 0204 2330 1.33 1759 0.32 1.36 1.32 0.85 0438 0.93 0505 0.800249 04000.53 0.85 2347 0142 0.490.45 0446 0.29003 0338 0.49 0428 0.27 0357 0.410002 2309 04461.43 0.310516 0.33 1.47 0.31 0047 0239 0.52 0.26 0450 0.53 1.39 0221 0.50 0116 0008 0.47 1.402253 0.66 0.56 1.37MO 1523 0.58 1627 1730 0.58 1644 1430 FR TH SA 1500 SU 1557 TU TH 0400 0343 0426 1.41 1.43 0254 1.58 0236 1.48 1.33 0425 1.48 1.56 1.34 1039 1.20 1133 10411.78 1.21 0932 0800 1.832.10 1055 10271.48 1.41 09531.49 1.340608 0.50 1048 064 0810 0.77 2229 1.77 0614 1.44 08482250 1.57 1200 1.54 1240 1.76 0827 2133 1.59 0641 0606 1.72 0.58 1.83 1.99 0.84 0834 2154 1.841.240.21 2332 1.39 2300 2102 0.85 1415 0.93 0400 0.85 0116 1.47 0008 1.40 0.53 1000 0.44 0929 1016 0.54 0856 0.36 1006 SA 0.47 0.25 0.30 1742 0.47 1620 0830 0.54 1430 1644 0.47 1500 0.66 1557 0.56 15230.40 0.581309 1627 0.53 135 0.31 1.23 1430 0.45 1728 0.71 1.59 1803 TH 0.85 1432 0427 0.47 1243 1.43 WE 1704 FR 0.58 SA 1.37 SA 0505 SU MO TU0450 MO 0.42 FR 1251 TU 1.31 0438 SA 1227 WE 1419 TH 0047 MO0.80 TU WE TH 1045 1.34 1039 1.20 1133 1.24 1041 1.21 0641 0.77 0614 0.84 0606 0.58 1200 1.54 1704 1634 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1354 1.81 1418 1.70 1428 1.89 1528 0657 0.55 1412 1.59 1025 0.36 0943 0.39 1141 0.65 1120 0.61 1101 0.54 1131 0.70 SA MO TU WE TH MO FR 1253 WE 1.24 SU 1450 TH FR SU SA MO WE TH FR SA 0.78 0700 0.85 0842 0.57 0733 0.62 0634 0.64 0726 0.42 0645 0.26 2254 0041 1.78 23191.63 1.761956 204 2201 0.19 1.790.34 1905 0.33 0.31 0007 2.02 1.74 2155 1.78 1948 22460013 2.01 1900 0.53 1351 1925MO 0.67 0.77 1950 WE 0.771813 1.58 2149 0545 1.71 2049 1951 1.46 0.63 0.53 2212 0601 0.420.451.67 0542 0106 1.171412 1731 1650 1819 1806 FR 1.50 TU 1.40 13161.55 1.41 1.59 1354 1.811.51 TH 1303 1.37 FR 1253 1.24 SU 1450 TH SU 1.69 1.36SUMO WE1754 TH 0.451900 0.53 1146 1.29 0658 0.33 0.47 12110.31 1.39 0.690645 0.52 1143 1.38 0703 0.65 2252 2225 1948 0.74 0657 2344 0.56 1915 0.19 1905 2049 0.45 1951 0.63 1925 0.67 0041 1.46024 0.53 1.74 0013 1.500200 1.59 0413 0.52 0341 1.59 0.29 1.36 0435 0.54 0.34 0159 1.56 1.470007 0141 1.57 0408 1.65 0.280.66 0214 1.52 0231 01481.40 1.49 0545 0.73 0451 1749 0.641.490542 1709 1.42 0601 0.420152 1.46 SU 1328 TU 1710 WE 1305 TH FR 1304 SU MO 1346 0657 1146 1.29 06580.70 0.47 12111.46 1.390758 0141 0645 0.52 1014 2339 1.42 0928 0.49 0214 1.49 1.52 1033 11431859 1.38 0800 0.57 0.37 0735 0.18 0.38 0802 0.20 083 1020 0.70 1.821.91 0751 0.76 0822 0.521.43 07300.72 0.48 0231 0018 0.45 0.37 0507 0437 1.44 1948 0001 0622 0010 0.59 1.73 1839 0.73 2341 2030 0.70 0341 1.32 1.59 0159 1.47 1.57 0230 1.65 1054 1.49 0148 1.49 1328 1.56 1710 0.73 1305 1.36 17490.64 0.641450 1304 1.40 1557 0757 0.61 1.44 0751 0.55 0.76 1709 1445 WE 1.64 1445 1.87 1.73 1517 SU 1.87 153M 1630 1.40 0.27 1445 1.44 1416 1023 1.56 TU 0822 TH FR0735 TH 1.30 MO 1540 FR 1632 SA 1600 SU 0.45 TH0.52 FR SA SU SA 1350 MO 0.71 TU 0.66 0726 TU 1.51 1107 0.43 0630 1.32 1151 0650 1.35 0928 0.49 0800 0.37 0.18 0.70 0730 0.48 1948 0.57 2339 1.73 1839 0.73 1859 0.72 2223 1.70 2132 2303 0.33 1.97 2232 1.75 2341 1.91 2025 0.63 2013 0.66 2030 0.75 2039 0.74 211 2246 0.19 1.850.42 1953 0.29 2035 0.45 1959 0.51 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ctions is Lowest Astronomical ight Commonwealth of Australia Tide 2020, Bureau of © Meteorology Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2020, Bureau of Meteorology© Copyright Commonwealth of Austr © Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2020, Bureau of Meteorology cal standard time (UTC +10:00) or daylight savings time (UTC +11:00) when in effect f Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astro © Copyright Commonwealth of Australia 2019, Bureau of Meteorology Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide Newtime Moon First Times Quarter Last Quarter ymbols Full Moon 11:00) re in local when standard in effect (UTC +10:00) or daylight savings are in time local (UTC standard +11:00) time when (UTC in +10:00) effect or daylight savings time Times (UTC are +11:00) in local when standard in effect time (UT Datum of Predictions is Lowest Astronomical Tide Times are in local standard time (UTC +10:00) or daylight savings time (UTC +11:00) when in effect New Last Moon Quarter First Quarter New Moon Last+10:00) Quarter First Quarter NewLas M Full haseMoon Symbols Moon Phase Symbols Full Moon Moon Phase Fulltime Moon Symbols Times are in local standard time (UTC or daylight savings (UTC +11:00) wh New Moon First Quarter Last Quarter Moon Phase Symbols Full Moon New Moon First Quarter Moon Phase Symbols Full Moon Tide predictions for Port Phillip Heads have been formatted by the National Tidal Centre, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Copyright reserved. All material is supplied in good faith and is believed to be correct. It is supplied on the condition that no warranty is given in relation thereto, that no responsibility or liability for errors or omissions is, or will be, accepted and that the recipient will hold MHL and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology Australia free from all such responsibility or liability and from all loss or damage incurred as a consequence of any error or omission. Predictions should not be used for navigational purposes. Use of these tide predictions will be deemed to include acceptance of the above conditions.

2021 APRIL 2021 130 130 APRIL

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