QUEENSLAND The Tweed

from Fishing Monthly Magazine | January 2023

Boat Test: Edencraft 6m Offshore

Running of the bulls

THE TWEED Leon McClymont

The weather has turned it on here on the Tweed Coast with some extremely good fishing conditions with plenty of bait running. The schools of pilchards and shoals of whitebait migrating through our mackerel haven’t been on my target list just yet. Most seasoned anglers will target other species until it’s worth putting the time into chasing them as it can be a slow day trolling round or soaking baits when they simply just aren’t there.

So with the mackerel still on the shy side, the FADs have been where all

the attention has been. They have been firing with good numbers of large mahimahi and some extremely large bulls getting caught, which is great to see.

As mentioned before, the current has been running north some days and I have found many boats struggling to find/figure the fish out. Many seem to be getting frustrated and creeping closer and closer to the FAD thinking this will get the bite thereafter. After another unsuccessful deployed bait I soon realised that the fish were sitting on the other side into the current and much wider, at least 50-100m off the FAD, as there were a few boats around and the current had some pace.

Rather than drifting through the organised chaos we just simply sat a good distance off the FAD in gear and drifted our livies/baits back. I found that the fish reacted well to berley. Ensure to cast your livie away from the boat with a decent cast to keep the bait from returning to the boat for cover. Mahimahi have extremely good eyesight and can follow a lure or bait flying through the air.

We hooked up almost instantly! We had two double hook ups and that was enough mahimahi for us and the family, so we left for a different destination with a different species on the target list.

We should see a good run of pelagics this season. During a La Niña year, the trade winds are particularly strong and will push the warmer waters in closer and bring the big fish with it. Plenty of black marlin are being caught, most of the captures have been juvenile blacks in close range, 30-60m depth, with the larger specimens being caught much wider around the shelf and beyond.

There is some good water around this time of year for fishing wide off the shelf with plenty of quality sized blue marlin also being caught as of late. Big yellowfin tuna are still on the cards. Finding the upwellings and zero current lines beyond the shelf can be the best place to start looking for big blues and big yellowfin. Once you’ve found good water then locating birds and bait can narrow it down a bit more to where the fish may be hanging. Once sounding the fish, just be patient and keep bypassing/circling the fish to entice them hit your lures, or even better switch baiting can ensure a definite eat.

Back to the inshore speedsters, by the time this article goes to print I hope the mackerel are in full swing. I have seen small numbers of spotties being caught as they tend to be the first arrivals showing up that little bit earlier than the Spanish each year. Floating pilchards back in a berley trail is the ticket to the show or small spinners are also a great piece of artillery for casting whilst

waiting for the bite.

Nine Mile has been the most lively I’ve seen it in a long time with an astonishing amount of kingfish getting about. In particularly, there have been some very large kings with many captures going over 20kg and some even pushing the magic 30kg mark. Slow trolling livies on a downrigger is the best technique for these beasts. If you don’t have a downrigger, as most anglers don’t, a ball sinker above your swivel size 6-8 usually does the trick.

There are also plenty of GT and other trevally species around as they move down from the Coral Sea.

Cobia are also starting to show up on the inshore reefs, such as Fidos and the Mud Hole. Having a bait on the bottom and one on the top will cover both bases for a cobia, as they are bottom feeders and top feeders, so you just never know which one will get the bite. A berley trail is also a very good technique to use as they are a scavenger eater and a berley trail will often lead a fish right up to the boat where a bait or livie strategically deployed on its head will

work 60% of the time.

Moving into the rivers and estuaries, the jacks have been on the chew. Casting lures into snags, structure or under pontoons is the ticket to the show but if casting lures isn’t your thing, soaking livies and cut baits is one of my favourite styles of fishing for them. The warm nights make for good drinking and relaxing weather, and soaking a bait waiting for the reel to scream off, what more could you ask for?

Steve Dale with a quality mangrove jack extracted from a rock bar.

waters has the fish gorging themselves whilst the food is plentiful.

With the current playing tricks lately and running north and the water temp jumping up and down, The author with a huge tea leaf trevally. They don’t get much bigger than that.