Townsville

Going light gets the bites

TOWNSVILLE Dave Hodge

All the technology in the world, and the weather forecast is still way out. We were supposed to have lots of rain and cyclones status. Jigs, vibes and plastics have been working extremely well, and just about every offshore fisho has been catching plenty of these tasty, hard-fighting beasties. They were almost non-existent for a couple of years, and then just the shallower scenarios. In the shallower areas, lure anglers in particular are having fun using 30-40lb braid on PE 3-5 rods and 40-50lb leaders. Sharks are still in ridiculously high numbers though, and in the deeper areas, heavier

It’s easy to get fixated on fighting a decent barra, but you must be mindful of crocs as the fight gets close to the bank.

over the last couple of months, but the rain has nearly been non-existent here for months now. Rumour has it that came out of nowhere. Everywhere from 10-30m of water has had plenty of them, so you can expect them to be on the menu

Surface luring for barra is Tannhym Hodge’s latest addiction. This early morning barra smashed the lure at his feet and scared the heck out of him.

something could blow up in the coming months, but we’ll have to wait and see I guess.

Offshore the fishing has been nothing short of spectacular for many anglers, and after that nasty heat wave in February it just got better. The most noticeable appearance has been the massive schools of red-throat emperor (sweetlip). They haven’t been your average-sized fish either, with the majority hitting stonker if you’re heading out. If you’re a bait fisho, they’re eating just about anything thrown at them.

Over the last few months, lighter jigging outfits have been walking out the doors at The Fishing Warehouse, the shop I work in at Townsville. Traditionally, a reef outfit consisted of a big eggbeater or overhead reel, a broomstick rod and 80lb braid with 80lb leader. However, that is changing rapidly, particularly for time of year. CREEKS AND RIVERS

Most anglers chasing barra have been finding it a bit hard, with many live baiters saying that they haven’t caught a legal fish since open season. It’s not hard to understand, with the amount of netting that goes on around here, and our favourite creek has been decimated in recent months by the pros.

Deeper holes have been the most productive locations, and both lures and livies fished around tide changes on the bigger runs have been working well. We’ve been walking creeks a bit, and there have been some nice fish sitting close to structure, which makes it interesting on the lighter outfits we employ to flick lures.

Surface lures like the Halco Roosta Popper in the 80mm size work well Teagan Kirby with a perfect eating-size Spaniard caught using a smaller profiled diver, not too far from shore.

outfits are the only way to crank in fish fast enough to beat the bities.

Mackerel have been plentiful in closer to shore. The Spanish are still showing up for lure trollers, and the doggies haven’t gone anywhere, which is surprising with the heat we’ve had recently. Though smaller on average, 6-10kg Spaniards are common at the moment, and lures in the 120-160mm size range are out-fishing the baits such as gar and wolf herring. The lesser known Halco Laser Pro 160mm, with a 7m bib, is one of my favourites for this When the author uses lighter 20lb braid with 30lb fluoro leader, his strike rate doubles. However, he does lose the odd one.

when slowly fished around the shallows, but when the surface activity slows, shallower hardbodies and soft plastics produce. Large flats areas hold some really big fish, and as the baitfish get nervous, it gives away the possibility that a big fish is nearby. When we notice this sort of behaviour from the bait, we cast past the activity, hold the rod tip down and crank the lure down a bit, and then allow the lure to float back up and twitch it as it rises. This usually gets the results for us, but sometimes when the fish are a bit skittish, a plastic works better. This often coincides with drier periods and the water clears up that bit more than usual. Lures with plenty of UV added to the mix get more of a positive response from the fish, and make up the majority of our colour schemes nowadays. Increasingly hard to get, the Protec Powder coat which is added to the lead weight on jigheads and weighted EWG hooks is also a staple part of our arsenal. The addition of contrast is a proven technique to get more bites. Our favourite colours are pink, chartreuse, green and lumo.

Plastic types and brands are a personal thing, and we have a few that are just consistent for us, though the rigging varies depending on the average size of the Fish and the environment we’re fishing in. For open areas a standard jig head configuration offers the best for the cleaner waters, but in snaggy areas the weedless hooks are the best bet without exception. 5/0 to 7/0 Atomic Seeker EWG hooks are without a doubt my favourites, and they’re as strong and sharp as you’ll find anywhere. Lower light periods are when we do most of our surface stuff, like early morning and late afternoon, then as the sun gets hit her the deeper we go. While there are exceptions to this rule, it’s pretty consistent.

Up in the freshwater reaches there has been plenty of activity also, and the sooty grunter have been intercepting quite large lures meant for barra. Sooties are hard-hitting and rarely disappoint, and are a welcome bycatch when they make the mistake of eating a brightly coloured lure.

As the weather cools a little bit more this month there will be changes in all of the mentioned fisheries no doubt, but to us that’s the fun – finding them.