Fishing Monthly Magazine | April 2023

Page 16

Southern

OLD

Big autumn wahoo offshore THE TWEED

Leon McClymont

Going to focus a bit on wahoo this month, as April should be one of the best times of year to be targeting big wahoo offshore Gold Coast, Tweed and Byron. I’m going to go through a few things such as water colour, techniques, and areas that should help you get connected to this speedsters of the blue. The first thing you want to find is good water and the colour is critical for this species: they are a pelagic that loves the electric blue/ purple water. If you have found good water like this then you’re in with a good chance of encountering wahoo. Once finding this water it is up to you on how you would like to target them. Here are a few techniques that you can try. Fast trolling hardbody lures or hex heads. Are one of the most popular ways to target them as its effective and quite easy. You can even run both of them together. With this method or you can use

a range of speeds, it really depends on the conditions and your spread. Some hardbody lures won’t troll over 8-10 knots, but generally the faster the better for wahoo. Depending on how big your vessel is will determine how many lures you can run in your spread. Most boats will only run two rods out whilst trolling, as your average vessel is around 4.8-5.2m. A deep diving lure on the short corner and a shallow diving lure a little further back on the other corner is the most common. Running a hex head right out the back in the middle in shotgun position is also another a great option and doesn’t overcrowd the spread, or vice-versa you can run two hex heads and one hardbody. Keep your hardbody lure in short if you’re running two hex heads to avoid tangles. Trolling over and around pinnacles, drop offs, bait balls, FADs or pressure points where the current may be slamming into reefs are the areas you want to focus your time. Keep passing these areas, especially if you’re marking fish. Their natural instincts to chase down

a baitfish will kick in and they will fall for these fast trolled lures most of the time. If they aren’t eating lures or trolling isn’t your thing then slow trolling or drifting livies, such as slimey mackerel in these

areas will also produce wahoo. Stepping it up a level and using big size livies like little frigate/Atlantic tuna, bonito or Mac tuna are the best live bait you can get for a big wahoo. Skip baiting also is a great

Steve Dale with a solid lizard caught on 6lb line while chasing whiting with the family.

The author with a school size Spanish mackerel caught on slow trolled bonito.

way to catch wahoo. Skipping garfish or whichever bait you may wish to use, really the options are endless. Long slander baits are generally the most favourable baits chosen for this method as they will swim/skip better. Some will even use small mackerel or smaller wahoo up to 90cm for a bait for a bigger wahoo, this also is a great method for big marlin and is frequently used in the big gamefish arena for big black marlin off the continental shelf of Cairns. If casting lures is your thing then you really have to find the good water first. With trolling you can cover a lot of ground and eventually

Jimmy Clifton caught his first wahoo, and what a whopper it was! A solid 23kg taken on a deep diving hardbody. discover where the fish are by doing so, but with casting lures you’re nearly motionless drifting in the ocean with the currents. So finding good water, or even better finding fish on the sonar, then casting into the zone is much better, you want to feel confident with every cast. If you have found good water, bait ball, birds working, a FAD then there is a possibility of one turning on your popper or stick bait and you’re connected to one of the fastest fish in the ocean. There are still plenty of

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Ashley Jones caught her first spotted mackerel on a Tweed Bait slimy mackerel.

mackerel roaming around, as the better water has made a lot of difference this season. If you have found yourself fishing the greener water they will hang and feed in this water but will tend to be much deeper so running a downrigger will really increase your chances. Good reports of mulloway have been coming in on the inshore reefs as well. The little flush of fresh and the annual mullet run has the mulloway fired up and on the chew. I’ve been seeing plenty of snapper, pearlies and trag jew also being caught in 50-80m. Most the fish have been taken on baits with the some taken on slow pitching jigs 120-200g range. April is a good month to get out the shelf for a spot of deep dropping. Bar cod, nannygai, flametail, and rosey jobfish are some of the tasty ingredients you may encounter, the current should be minimal this time of year. The river got a good little flush with some of the recent rains plenty of good whiting and flathead getting caught in the shallows up Chinderah and Cobaki. There are still good reports of mangrove jack with a lot of anglers putting their time into that species, so the reports have been coming in thick and fast. Fishing artificial structure, such at bridge pylons and jetties have been the most productive but still plenty are being pulled from the natural snags that they also frequent. Good luck and get on out there and catch ya’ self a feed.


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GEN III

0
pages 126-127

Stessco Albacore CC560 with Yamaha F130 4-stroke

5min
pages 124-125

AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST National Fishing Challenge

2min
pages 122-123

Langford pips Johnson for Glenmaggie title

3min
pages 116-120

Johnson claims maiden BASS Pro win at Blue Rock

3min
pages 114-115

DUO Vukic achieves Hollands Landing heroics

7min
pages 112-113

Tight bags and tarwhine on the Swan

7min
pages 110-111

Now is an exciting time to be on the water

8min
pages 108-109

All eyes on Karratha blue swimmer crab season

3min
page 106

The new Stacer package deals

2min
page 105

Exciting Easter action on tuna

2min
page 105

Impact of regulation changes

2min
page 104

Fishers eager to get back out

3min
page 103

Demersal options are back

2min
page 102

Salmon sightings tempt fishers

6min
page 101

Launching a land-based assult

4min
page 100

Savouring the calm autumn weather pattern

2min
page 100

Good fishing continues into the cooler months

4min
page 99

The good, the bad and the ugly: Tassie offshore

4min
page 98

The WIRF Leaders are making lots of waves

1min
page 97

Decisions, decisions: which bank shall we fish?

2min
page 96

Making the most of Gippy during the cold months

2min
page 96

Crackdown on fishing offenses

3min
page 95

Consistent results for fresh salmonid fishers

1min
page 95

Autumn fishing is firing up

4min
page 94

Trolling up some solid autumn Murray cod

3min
page 93

Prime time to go chasing cod

1min
page 92

A great month for trout in northeast Victoria

2min
page 92

Great angling opportunities in Bendigo region

2min
page 90

Tough going on the Murray

1min
page 90

Tracking down the bait schools

2min
page 89

Hot fishing in local estuaries

0
page 88

Bream and flathead from the Bemm channel

1min
page 88

Super snapper from the surf

4min
page 87

A constantly changing fishery

1min
page 86

Flat out dusky flathead fishing

3min
page 86

Your fishing licence fees at work

0
page 85

Local advice is the key to catching bluefin tuna

5min
page 84

Get ready for seasonal changes

4min
pages 82-83

Last chance for good PPB snapper sessions

4min
page 81

Impressive catches in estuaries

3min
page 80

Decent bream catches in the Hopkins River

1min
page 79

Anglers are still on the lookout for big tuna

2min
page 79

Get out there and catch a nice feed this autumn

2min
page 78

Autumn arrives with redfin catches everywhere

3min
page 77

The DPI needs your fish frames

2min
page 76

Perfect time to be walking banks

1min
page 76

Smooth flows ahead for April!

2min
page 75

The importance of water temps

1min
page 74

Anglers enjoying some excellent trout fishing

3min
page 74

School holiday fun for the kids

3min
pages 72-73

Anglers enjoying the long awaited seasonal change

1min
page 72

The autumn fishing is on fire

5min
page 70

A better class of fish on offer

5min
page 69

Anglers are enjoying more moderate weather

5min
page 68

Inshore anglers get into action

3min
page 67

Decent catches are increasing as autumn begins

2min
page 66

Getting the small things right

3min
page 65

Mackerel fever spreads

2min
page 64

The pelagic fishing is at its peak

3min
page 63

Coffs is right in the middle of the mackerel run

1min
page 62

Tagging Tales

1min
page 61

Keep moving to find the fish

4min
pages 60-61

Sydney flathead are still taking bait and lures

7min
pages 58-59

A transition period for all the Sydney waterways

6min
pages 56-57

Range of pelagics in harbour

4min
pages 54-55

Spectacular fishing on the surface schools

2min
page 54

Gary’s Marine Centre

5min
pages 50-51

We’re spoilt for choice

3min
page 50

National Recreational Fishing Survey 2019-21

10min
pages 46-47

Glorious rain is flowing throughout Cape York

2min
pages 44-45

Crabs are under the spotlight

1min
pages 42-43

Autumn adventures abound

2min
page 42

Promising prospects ahead for autumn bags

2min
pages 40-41

Clean tropical waters make for great catches

2min
page 40

Hungry autumn barra are not fooling around

2min
pages 38-39

Bright lures in dirty water

4min
pages 36-37

Transition through the month

3min
pages 34-35

Baits take centre stage

4min
pages 32-33

Why donating your fish frames to science provides valuable data

1min
page 31

What’s a holiday without a bit of fishing?

1min
page 30

Flathead just keep on coming!

4min
pages 28-29

Transitioning from the summer to winter species

2min
page 26

Unseasonable species settle

9min
pages 24-25

Cool conditions bring stability

2min
pages 22-23

Return of the Spaniards

4min
page 18

Big autumn wahoo offshore

3min
page 16

The Great De-Bait

2min
pages 14-15

Used Boat

3min
pages 9-10

Bolstering bait tactics

4min
pages 8-9
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