Queensland Fishing Monthly April 2018

LURING INSHORE PELAGICS • AUTUMN ACTION

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Chasing inshore pelagics • Fishing the Brisbane River • Part I: Changing lure hooks •

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APRIL 2018, Vol. 30 No. 6

Contents

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Troy Dixon with a samsonfish caught offshore from Brisbane on a live yakka fished on Mustad Big Gun 8/0 hooks in a 2 hook gang with a Wilson Premium No. 5 ball sinker to the top hook.

A Troy Dixon image.

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are capable of recording the information, rendering it to a size for streaming and getting to a Live YouTube event in less than 30 seconds.

We’ve come a long way in just a year. I’m looking forward to what we can do in 2019.

So, please stay glued to those screens and let us deliver you the action live from the water, because we know that’s where you’d really rather be.

Or, as you’ve done already, grab a copy of QLD Fishing Monthly and take some time away from your screen. You know that we take away all of the clutter and give you a product that never runs out of power, costs $6.95 instead of $1,695 and is proven technology that’ll endure through any blackout or internal crash.

True story.

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Live Streaming from boats fishing in a tournament a try.

It was BassCat’s Craig Simmons who twisted our arm to do it after USA-based Aussie bass pro, Carl Jocumsen, was getting real reach delivering content live from his boat.

It was an instant success, although clumsily done, which led us to refine what we do.

A year on, we’ve just finished delivering coverage of the ABT’s Franklins Australian Open – Australia’s toughest bream fishing tournament that’s held on Sydney Harbour and the Hawkesbury River.

From those clunky beginnings, we’re beginning

to deliver action through your screens that you’ve never been able to access before.

You could pick one of several boats who were live streaming – or even watch all three at once if you had a big enough screen (and data plan)! There were more cameras on other boats that recorded the action, these were edited down into 5-minute highlights packages (for those of us who aren’t as fanatical and only want the juicy bits).

If that wasn’t enough, you could watch the starts and the weigh-ins live as well.

You want screen time?

At least we’ll deliver you something more relevant than watching cats jump into the air when you put a cucumber behind them.

The technology is cool: we use waterproof, Garmin VIRB cameras that can run all day off the power in the anglers’ boats. These

AUST

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There’s an old saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”.

I’m talking about the amount of ‘screen time’ that we are exposed to on a daily basis. It’s a global thing.

In the last year I’ve seen the same scenes in China, Japan, Australia and the USA. Busloads, cafes-full, streets full of people totally engrossed by what’s on their phone rather than what’s going on around them.

I suppose it’s a symptom of our exposure to this new technology - until we become desensitised to this constant stream of information, we’ll wade into it and see how it feels.

In the meantime, how are we reaching these people? We’re broadcasting fishing into their information streams.

It was only a year ago that we decided to give

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REGULAR FEATURES Back to Basics 18 Camping and 4WD 76 Cooking 80 Dam Levels 70 Freshwater 70 Fun Page 90 Junior Northern 66 Junior Southern 36 Politics and fishing 68 Sheik of the Creek 84 Suntag 82 Tech Tricks 16 Tournament News 91 Track my fish 78 Trades and Services 96 What’s New Fishing 86 What’s New Boating 100 SPECIAL FEATURES Chasing inshore pelagics Fishing the Brisbane River Costa Store-in-a-Store

From the Editor’s Desk...

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BOATING AND KAYAK

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TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND Whitsundays 58 Ayr 59 Townsville 60 Hinchinbrook 61 Cairns 62 Port Douglas 62 Cairns NFZ 63 Lucinda 64 Cape York 64 Weipa 65 Cooktown 65

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CENTRAL QUEENSLAND Hervey Bay 48 Rainbow Beach 49 Bundaberg 50 Lake Monduran 50 Stanage Bay 51 Gladstone 52 Rockhampton 53 Yeppoon 54 Mackay 55

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SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND The Tweed 24 Southern Gold Coast 26 Gold Coast Canals 28 Jumpinpin 30 Gold Coast 32 Southern Bay 34 Brisbane 38 Brisbane Offshore 40 Northern Bay 42 Noosa 44

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NORTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES Yamba 20 Ballina 22

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Fishing Diary Angler: Shane O’Donnell Location: South East QLD Date: Late December 2016 Conditions: ESE 10 kts, New moon Black Magic Tackle: KS 2/0 hooks Note: “Tough fights which require a lot of drag also require reliable hooks. The KS hooks stand up to the test everytime. Love them.”

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Chasing speedy inshore pelagics with lures WHITSUNDAYS

Mick Underwood

One of the most popular ways to fish with clients on charter is to introduce them to fishing for big shiny tropical speedsters with light to medium spin gear and lures. Even though a high

percentage of the people that I take out for a fish are keen for a tasty reef fish to bring home, I’ve never had a complaint from anyone about catching something that tries it’s best to pull them out of the boat. The big cheesy grins and looks of exhilaration on peoples’ faces when I net a nice fish

Reef Underwood getting stuck into what turned out to be a 1.1m queenfish. This sort of fishing is an ideal way to get kids into the game as the tackle is light enough for them to handle; just back the drags off a little for them first.

for them is very rewarding and as a guide, I know at that moment that I’ve given someone an experience that they will remember forever.

SPECIES We’re very fortunate in coastal Queensland to have a large variety of species to chase after and it doesn’t really matter what time of the year or your location, there’s always a target species somewhere nearby. Here at Hydeaway Bay at the top of the Whitsundays we are fortunate to have a plethora of species to chase and they’re all ravenous predators eager to eat a wide array of lures.

Amongst the trevally family the giant trevally is the apex predator, followed up by his golden, diamond, goldspot and tealeaf cousins. In the mackerel family the Spanish mackerel is king of the castle with school, spotted, grey and shark mackerel also on the cards. Both mac and longtail tunas are available locally, as is the occasional cobia. You can’t forget about the humble

A solid goldspot trevally caught casting around an isolated rock that happened to have some scared baitfish shimmering on the surface around it. Fish of this calibre will make your reel sing.

Golden trevally can be particularly voracious when they’re turned on; you’ll notice just the bib of a hardbody sticking out of this beast’s mouth because it scoffed the whole thing. queenfish either – they’re one of my personal favourites, especially once they reach XOS proportions.

LOCATING THE CRITTERS Locating any of the abovementioned speedsters is one of the biggest challenges of the game and a part of it that I enjoy a lot. It’s the hunt – where are they going to be today? They can literally turn up anywhere at any time and unless it’s your lucky day you can bet they won’t be where you found them yesterday. They might be on a headland, a reef, a rubble patch or, as I quite often find, they’re out in open water in the middle nowhere in some vast structureless paddock of water.

The key with finding inshore pelagics is the same as it is with lots of predatory fish; find the bait and you’ll find the predators. To locate the bait the two main tools we have are our eyes and a good sounder. If the bait is sitting up high in the water column then our eyes are our best tools. The more sets of them scanning the ocean, the better. When travelling at 20 knots between locations I always ask whoever is on board to assist in the hunt by keeping a sharp lookout for

any signs of life. This may be in the form of a scared baitfish scurrying across the surface, or it may be the presence of a light oil slick on the surface where some heavy feeding has gone on recently.

Birds are a dead giveaway and it doesn’t have to be flocks of them. Sometimes it takes only a solitary tern dipping down to sea level somewhere off in the distance to give the show away. If the bait is sitting deep in the water column then a sounder is your best tool.

Pressure points and current lines that run off the corners

of islands or headlands are a good place to have a sound, as big predatory fish love to herd up and push baitfish into these areas. For a poor little baitfish, swimming into a current line is like swimming into a brick wall, they become disorientated and confused, making them easy prey.

Locations like this can become natural feeding stations for all pelagic species.

When searching for bait in open water it’s important that your sounder works reliably when you’re on the plane, otherwise you could be driving

Ryan was suitably stoked at catching this 1.1m diamond trevally on a soft plastic and 10lb braid. The anchor had to be ripped up at Mach 3 to get after this fish and chase it down before being spooled.

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APRIL 2018

OPTIMAL USE: • Sight fishing in full sun • High contrast

With mac tuna, matching your lure size to the size of the bait that is present is important for regular success. On this day there were a lot of garfish around, so a pencil popper was the lure of choice and it worked a treat.

over masses of fish and not have a clue. Side imaging is handy as well. Make sure that you have it set to fairly wide scale – the bait schools will show up like little white clouds on your screen.

TACKLE I prefer to use light to medium spin outfits for this sort of fishing, as they are highly versatile and the one outfit can cover all techniques.

One minute I might be trolling a hardbody through a bait school and then some tuna appear on the surface and the hardbody quickly gets traded in for a chrome slug. Then the fish go deep. A quick snip with the line cutters and a loop knot tied with a jig of some kind is attached and it’s down into the depths you go. It’s important to use gear where you can quickly adapt to the situation at hand.

Rods and braided lines rated at around 4-8kg are well suited to chasing most of the inshore pelagic brigade, as they are mostly clean fighters and will not purposefully try and stitch you up in nearby structure. Giant trevally are the exception to the rule here.

It doesn’t matter what line class you use – a decent fish will rip the line off your reel at will and I’ve lost count of how many I’ve lost due to them swimming behind a nearby bommie and cutting me off. They can be dead-set

strength are a good starting point and will sometimes go down to 15 or 20lb if I’m having a tough time getting regular bites. I only use wire for targeting mackerel and then only if I have to, especially with either school or spotty mackerel.

If I have to use wire on these smaller guys then I don’t like to go over 40lb single strand wire, as they can be very fickle and stop biting.

Sometimes it’s better to lose a lure or two and still be in with

the chance to catch a few fish.

Whatever leader strength you choose, keep them at around 2m in length so that when a fish comes boat side you have something to hang onto to guide the fish to the net.

LURE SELECTION AND USE This is a tricky one, as just about anything with hooks will catch these inshore speedsters, providing you follow a few basic rules. When I’m out on the water and I come across some actively feeding fish, the

two things that I automatically look for are what they are feeding on and where in the water column they are feeding.

Once I have ascertained these two things, I will then delve into the lure trays and make my selection.

It’s important to try and work out what the fish are feeding on so you select a lure of similar size to the prey – match the hatch. As you put time into this sort of fishing you will work out soon enough To page 12

Soft vibes are generally used in a slow and subtle fashion but you can still rip them up through the water column to turn on big pelagics such as this 1.24m queenfish. mongrels and are definitely worthy adversaries.

The clean fighting nature of most of these fish can open up doors for fishing super light tackle. Unless you plan to take your fish home for dinner or are fishing for records, it can be irresponsible to fish this way. The longer and more prolonged the fight, the less

the chance the fish will survive and the higher the mortality rate will be. Remember that this is not a limitless resource and we have to fish for tomorrow as always.

The leader strength that I use on any given day will normally depend on how tentative the bite is at the time.

Leaders of around 30-40lb in

A lot of the inshore pelagics when they’re fresh from the water light up like neon signs, and diamond trevally are no exception. Be sure to have your camera ready early and take your pics straight away; this will also allow you to get the fish back into the water in a timely fashion and give it a fair chance of survival.

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From page 11

that some species are fussier than others when it comes to lure sizes. At the top of the fussy list is the mac tuna; they can be notorious for refusing multiple lures.

Mac tuna are well known for eating chrome slugs retrieved across the surface at high speed but the size has to be dead right. If you’re getting refusals cast after cast, sometimes changing slugs and altering the weight either up or down by just 5-10g can be the difference between having a great session or enduring a frustrating day on the water.

The next key factor in lure selection to consider where in the water column the fish are feeding. There isn’t much point in tying on

Another example of matching the hatch for mac tuna – Dean had been putting up with refusals from fish cast after cast so the author upped the size of his lure from 30g to 45g and straight away it was instant success with this decent barrel mac tuna smashing his lure like there was no tomorrow.

a popper and casting it to the horizon if the fish are hanging around a congested bait ball 10m under the boat.

Take a couple of minutes to monitor your sounder, work out what’s going on and then make your selection.

The final thing to think about before grabbing a shiny sharp hooked item from your tackle box is to make sure that you put your hands on something that can be worked at pace.

Most of the time it is speed that turns these fish on and triggers them to bite. A lot of the time if you’re working lures in amongst a

Casting or trolling hardbodies is something that I do a lot of and find to be very effective; just make sure that you use a lure that swims a depth appropriate to where the fish are. If the fish are too deep for your hardbodies and you’re fortunate enough to possess a downrigger then a bibless minnow trolled at the right depth will bring most fish unstuck. Pretty much any type of jig will work as long as it’s bounced around in the fish’s face. Amongst those that I use are soft plastics, soft and hard vibes, micro-jigs, bucktail jigs, chrome raider style jigs and

On a red-hot day when the tuna are going off on the surface be aware that there could be a pelagic pot of gold a few metres underneath them. Tim cast a heavily weighted lure into a feeding school of longtails and let it sink through them before beginning to work the lure and came up with this cracker of a queenfish. It’s a lucky dip – you never know what kind of monster that you are going to get. Just be sure to keep an eye on your sounder, as it will give the show away. school of actively feeding fish and not getting bites it’s because you’re not working your lure fast enough. I find this to be especially true with big queenfish and Spanish mackerel.

The list of effective lures is almost limitless as long as the size is right and you make them move.

If the fish are up on the surface, chrome slugs, poppers, stickbaits, shallow running hardbodies, lightlyweighted plastics and trolled pushers will all have their day. If the fish are off the surface and down in the depths somewhere then the choices are even greater.

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APRIL 2018

something that I have just started to experiment with recently with some success – chatterbaits.

Even though they’re designed for Murray cod in freshwater, watch out for these things as I can see them increasing in popularity for pelagic jigging fairly quickly. They’re built tough to handle the rigors of cod fishing so they can handle most tropical speedsters with ease, and the way the vibrating stainless blades on the fronts of these lures catch the light and throw it all over the show is just plain sexy.

Another one to have a few of in your tackle box in different sizes and weights is sinking stickbaits. They can be cast a country mile, worked at all depths of the water column and the pelagic brigade just love them.

CONCLUSION Chasing any pelagic fish with light line and lures is scintillating fun and doable for anglers of all ages and experience levels. There are fisheries accessible to small boat anglers right around our beautiful Queensland coast and in most cases you don’t have to travel for a ridiculous amount of time or distance to get in amongst some action.

On your next day off, grab that old tray of lures out of the cupboard, summon the kids or a mate or two and go and enjoy some light tackle sport fishing fun.

Tim Fields with a prime example of a longtail tuna caught on the surface with a 20cm soft plastic. A 12kg fish like this is a real challenge on light spin gear and will test your knots, drag systems and your skills to their limits.

This 20kg+ Spanish mackerel got itself foul hooked in the dorsal fin with a micro-jig and the fight that ensued was nothing short of crazy. It had everybody on board trying to guess what it was.

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Enjoy your fishing in the lower Brisbane River BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

There’s hardly a week that goes by within social or print media without some happy, smiling angler’s face behind a big fat fish from the lower Brisbane River. One time it’s a jolly big mulloway, the next it’s a whopping

being lock-jawed, it’s a challenge – a test of talent on tricky targets that can be seen on the sounder, but not so quickly caught.

Why use lures or plastics when bait’s available? Bait will of course work and if you can throw a cast net, live bait’s assured, as the river’s shallows are very rich in baitfish. A livey seems to bring out the worst the Brisbane River

provided they can run the gamut of the commercial nets, especially the threadies, which copped a terrific hiding one summer back.

Threadies are interesting fish. They can bite so tentatively, yet pull so hard when hooked, and on the table they are mighty hard to beat if iced down properly after capture.

But to capture a thready or mulloway you need the right tackle and from my experience, the more well balanced the tackle, the better the chance of a hook-up.

Vibes are the go-to lures for many anglers because they stimulate these fish to have a peck at an item that is moving tantalizingly in front of them. No matter how deep the water – or how dirty for that matter – a vibe has an action that bottom-feeding fish seem to find hard to resist.

The action’s the thing. Trembling upwards on a lift or a calculated

The author catches the odd thready now and again; this one was taken on a full moon last April. of a vibe on 15lb braid linked to 10kg leader is noticeably more lively than on braid twice that breaking strain and linked to a much heavier leader.

A feed of snapper made some great by-catch. thready, or even a snodger of a snapper. These fish always look so good but accidental captures they are not, so here are some of my thoughts on the topic of fishing the river mouth area.

EAST OF THE GATEWAY BRIDGE Lately we are between barra and bass. The Kampe fishing team have been paying some attention to the lower Brisbane River – mainly the area east of the Gateway Bridge. The plan was to find and target mulloway or threadies with

can offer in the form of bull sharks, stingrays and forktailed catfish. These can all provide serious pulling power and offer a degree of sport, but there’s always some disappointment when the big eater on the line turns out to be a big catfish.

CONCENTRATING ON MULLOWAY AND THREADIES At this time of year going into autumn, with summer’s warmth still claiming a lion’s share of the daylight hours, the lower Brisbane seems to produce the goods if you can just

Mulloway are always a nice surprise. This fish was taken on a Zerek Fish Trap.

The author with another Brisbane River snapper. plastics or vibes. Although we both freely admit to being flyfishing tragics, it’s mighty hard to get a fly right down in 50ft of moving water, so light threadline or overhead tackle with a plastic or vibe on the leader makes sense.

When fish are hugging the bottom in current and 14

APRIL 2018

crack the combination of the right lure or plastic and the right time. With snapper and flathead as an occasional welcome by-catch, the big focus this month remains the mulloway and threadfin salmon. Both are highly sought in the lower river and should be around until at least the end of April,

slow roll forward then fluttering downwards to the bottom when the forward movement stops can really get them going.

Each model seems to have a unique action.

Remember that success is all about angler input and only time on the water can sharpen the technique.

FISH LIGHT AND FISH RIGHT It makes sense that when a vibe – either a soft or a hard one, and there are plenty of each to choose from these days – is on the leader it will have a better action on light braid and leader than it will on a heavier setup. The action

As proof, set up some tackle away from the fishing area – a swimming pool is useful – and note the difference in both action and feel between heavy braid/ thick leader and light braid/ light leader when set up on the same vibe. Less is more here and a 4000 size reel set up with light tackle as I’ve suggested is going to be very pleasant to use and a lot of fun to play a fish on.

As an aside, threadies are capable of biting off a lure with their rows of small abrasive teeth, so some anglers like to set up a small section (30cm) of heavier gauge leader material to guard against this.

WHERE TO FISH Virtually any of the river walls, wharf areas, or sections of deep channel in the lower river can turn up mulloway or thready on the right day. With that in mind it’s vital that the sounder is mastered and the team knows exactly what they are looking at.

I won’t start advocating one sounder over another here; it’s sufficient to state that it’s vital to have some understanding of just what is going on under the boat in 16m of water. However, just because you are seeing some action on the sounder that doesn’t mean a bite is about to occur – not with threadies at any rate.

The main wharf areas at Fisherman Island are wellknown as fish producers but when mega ships are tied up fishing room can be minimal. And besides, we are required to keep 30m from a wharf or any part of a moored ship at all times, so there will certainly be times when fishing is confined to the more open areas away from structure. In truth the main channels should never be overlooked, nor the sections of deeper water against the sunken walls in

the port and adjacent areas.

The best time to fish is simply when you can be there. True, a lot of anglers swear by the approach to the full moon for mulloway (but I believe a lot of these anglers chase barra as well and might have a big moon/big fish association) and threadies do seem to be more prevalent in the lower river on ebb tides.

I’ve noticed there are significantly more cars and trailers in the Whyte Island Ramp’s car park area on a morning low tide than a morning full tide.

Go figure!

WATCH THAT SLACK Back in the boat, it’s when suspect fish are marking on the sounder the fun starts. Two methods of approach seem to be favoured with the first and arguably most popular being to drift with the tide and work the vibe or plastic among the suspects as the craft drifts. The second involves either anchoring up or using the electric motor to hold the boat against the current and similarly work the offering.

The main requirement is to keep in close contact with the terminal tackle, as slack will often equate to a missed

A mixed bag for Mr Kampe – no threadies this time.

fish. The slightest bump, peck, or other sensation can be a mulloway or thready having a little snap or poke at the lure to see why it’s moving up and down or slow rolling along the bottom. Providing all slack is out of the picture that tiny little sensation can turn to an almighty pull as a big fish is hooked.

CATCH AND RELEASE One of the more disturbing things to see in the Brisbane River is a really big threadfin or mulloway drifting along with the current, moving in small circles, while suffering from barotrauma which sometimes occurs when a fish is hauled to the top from 16m depth fairly rapidly.

A well-meaning angler

has obviously released the fish in good faith but the critter’s grossly distended air bladder prevents it from returning to the depths, so it will just drift aimlessly with the tide until it’s gathered up by someone else or scoffed by one of the grey coated river residents with the big toothy smile.

Neither one is an outcome the capturer wanted, so a reliable system with a weight and suitable cord to get the fish down to a good depth for release is the way to handle the situation and in 2016’s April issue of QFM Gordon Macdonald penned a very comprehensive and informative piece on how to make up a release weight kit for barotrauma suffering fish.

There are certainly fish showing on both side scan and sonar sections of the Carbon 12 sounder screen but the really interesting things are the nine small slanted ticks made by the moving vibe.

Denise Kampe with her best thready so far.

MANNERS PLEASE Last but not least – a little on fishing etiquette.

Everyone wants to catch a thready or mulloway, understandably. And nobody owns any part of the river, that’s granted, but we should all be aware that if another angler (or anglers) are already working an area they are clearly there first and are entitled to fish in peace without being disturbed by others who are a bit late into the game.

I recently witnessed an incident where two boats were situated about 20m apart near a wharf, parallel in the current flow but far enough away from the timber and pylons to be kosher.

The parties obviously knew each other well as there was some lively exchange about

A mixed selection of both soft and hard vibes.

Across the top are two soft Transams that have both done some work. Next line down are two more soft vibes – the renowned Zerek Fish Trap and a budget Quick Catch which also works well.

The bottom line has a pair of Shads hard vibes, which, being heavier, are handy in current.

the fish marking on their sounders being threadies, for sure, as they would not bite.

Typical thready tactics!

Lo and behold another small craft, with both skipper and mate engrossed in looking only down at the sounder screen (purposely of course) passed between these two boats – 20m apart, remember – not once but three times. Sure, they probably wanted to catch a fish too but fair’s fair; a bit of respect and consideration for others rights goes a long way and the last thing we need on the water is the sort of rubbish we see nightly on television where someone feels their rights have been infringed and take things into their own hands with road rage.

This mulloway was taken by Denise Kampe prior to a full moon.

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15

Tech Tricks

Discover how to change your lure hooks PART I BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

Anglers who fish with lures know you often need to change the hooks on them. This can be for many different reasons.

During prolonged use, hooks can become dull or corroded to the point where they need to be replaced. Some new lures

16

come with poor quality hardware or hooks that don’t suit the application.

Often anglers favour a certain shape, brand or style of hook and will change accordingly depending on what the lure is going to be used for. With many floating minnow lures, beefing up the hooks and rings will make the lure suspend instead of float, which can be appealing in some scenarios. Sometimes lures don’t initially come with

hooks on them, therefore they need to be rigged to be put into service. Whatever the reason, having basic know-how and the correct tools for the job will make the task of rigging your lures a lot easier and quicker.

In the May issue we will look at some good rigging options for your lures, which will help them maintain their chosen action while still providing the best possible hooking ability.

There are a lot of hook styles, sizes, grades and shapes that can be used for rigging lures. Often the choice of hook is to satisfy an angler’s personal preference or to upgrade the strength to suit the target species. While a lure may come with a suitable treble hook on it, some anglers will decide they want to change it to a single hook. While trebles are reputed to have a better initial hook-up rate, a single hook (either by itself or rigged on assist cord) is more likely to stay in the fish throughout the fight. Additionally singles often promote better actions for a lure. You may wish to experiment with various hooks in your lures until you are satisfied with the hook-up and capture ratio.

To attach most hooks to the lure, you will need a split ring. This spiral shaped ring or oval of high-tensile spring steel is wound onto both the lure eyelet and hook to link the two together. There are a lot of different qualities and strengths in the various brands of split rings. With so many different sizes of lures and hooks there needs to be a good range of split rings. You need one that is strong enough for the job but not so big that it hinders the lure’s action.

Split rings range in size from #00 to #11H, yet the physical size of each varies between brands.

The double hook is the only type of hook that doesn’t require a split ring to attach it to the lure. One side of the hook is passed through the lure eyelet and then threaded on. The gap between the two shanks of the hooks will spread slightly with a degree of pressure so that lure eyelet can pass along the shank and into the middle. In small sizes, double hooks are often used on blades and some topwater lures. Large double hooks are really popular hooks for putting on various types of casting and trolling lures in areas such as Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Nauru and the like.

Unfortunately they are hard to get in Australia, especially in large sizes to suit bluewater trolling lures.

If you don’t use a ring large enough to cope with the thickness of the hook or lure eye, the ring may remain split apart after you have wound it on, which can affect the overall strength. This is especially common with cheap split rings made from inferior spring steel. Sometimes a little spreading is hard to avoid, however using quality branded split rings will greatly reduce the possibility.

Some inline, J-pattern and treble hooks designed to go on lures, have a tapered or flattened section in the eyelet. This is the spot where the split ring should be put on as this means that the ring doesn’t need to open as wide and long term spreading of the ring is unlikely.

APRIL 2018

Tech Tricks

1

Having the correct tools for any job will definitely make the task easier. To put on split rings efficiently you require a decent pair of split ring pliers or pincettes (tweezers). Each works slightly differently in performing the task of widening the gap in the split ring spiral so that it can be put over the hook and lure eye. Let’s look at the various types of split ring pliers and their chosen application.

2

The Halco pliers are relatively compact and will open many split rings (including their Fish Rings – a split ring with an extra half turn of wire to increase strength) from #3 to #7XX. The ring sits flat in a groove at 90°C to the jaws, which makes them easy to use. This plier effortlessly puts rings on any minnow lures, vibration baits, micro-jigs, slugs and topwater offerings that you would use for species such as flathead, barramundi, bass, snapper, threadfin, mangrove jack, bay pelagics and the like – a great tool, which will suit the majority of lure fishers.

4

The type of plier mentioned in the last step can be altered with a file so that the ring does not spring off when the plier is opened. File off the tip of the pier on the side with the V-shaped tooth, so it is flat on the end. Keep trying with a split ring until the ring will stay on like this. It will make life a lot easier when changing split rings and you won’t be chasing stray ones around the room.

Split ring pincettes or tweezers are mainly used for the smallest split rings from size #00 to #3, although this may depend on brand. You would classically put split rings of this size onto small blades, topwater and minnow lures targeted at species such as bream, trout, jungle perch and perhaps bass and flathead. The small V-shaped lugs on each side of the tweezer tips overlap to part the split ring when the tweezer is squeezed together. The pincette is easy to use with small split rings and compact enough to fit in a small tackle tray.

3

The most common type of split ring plier has a V-shaped tooth at the end on one side of the plier. These come in a broad array of sizes and qualities.

While they can work quite well, many of the cheaper models are poorly aligned and the split ring can spring off easily when tension is released. These will also open most of the mid-sized split rings from #3 to #7XX. Due to the long jaws, many anglers use these same pliers for other tasks such as de-hooking fish.

5

The final type of split ring opener is the peg-tooth plier. This one is designed for the large split rings from #8 to #11H that you would use on deep water jigs, large poppers, stickbaits and the biggest bluewater trolling minnows.

If you like chasing big GTs, dogtooth tuna, yellowfin and other pelagics on lures then you will need a pair of peg-tooth pliers. The long flat tooth on one side of the plier has a small recess in it to stabilise the ring when it’s being opened.

Most other pliers won’t open large rings wide enough to get them over heavy duty hooks and lure eyelets.

APRIL 2018

17

The lowdown on soft vibes NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

The family of ‘hybrid’ lures known as soft vibes has become extremely popular in recent years. Today, soft vibes represent one of the fastest growing lure styles on tackle shop shelves… with good reason!

yonks. The original Frenchmade Floppy (a classic bass lure when I was a kid) and its less famous cousin the Sossy, were early examples of this group. So was the Burke’s Little Big Dig from America. However, the hybrid concept dropped from prominence for many years before finally being re-kindled over the past decade or so, thanks to a

Transams. These classy (and expensive) Japanese lures kick-started a new wave of interest in hybrids, and also spawned a rash of look-alikes from other makers, both international and domestic.

The Jackall brand, from Lake Police, is better known for its hardbodied lipless crankbaits, rated by many as the finest representatives of that lure family. TN Jackalls

A collection of modern soft vibes, with the FLT Transam 95 in front. Other lures in this line-up are from Jackall, Atomic, Shimano, Threadybuster, Fuze and Fish Candy, but plenty of other companies also offer quality soft vibes these days.

The majority of modern lures can be defined as either ‘soft’ or ‘hard’, but there’s also an overlap between those groupings. Lures in this intermediate zone are referred to as ‘hybrids’.

Hybrid lures have actually been around for

wave of new contenders from Asia, America and Europe.

Today, there are again excellent hybrid soft/hard lures on the market, most notably the so-called soft vibes: a family of lures epitomised by the likes of the Jackall Mask and FLT

The Lake Police Jackall Mask Vibe has become a genuine ‘go-to’ lure in many angling scenarios, especially when chasing bass and golden perch.

launched a lipless crank bait (LCB) phenomenon here in Australia during the first decade of the new millennium — and it’s far from finished!

Mask Vibes are the hard-bodied Jackalls’ lesserknown stable mates, and while they mightn’t have created as much fuss in local circles as their hard siblings, Masks quickly won the hearts of many keen anglers.

A little later the larger, fishshaped FLT Transams joined the Masks, also becoming a major hit, especially amongst barra specialists, as well as anglers chasing threadfin salmon and mulloway.

With their strong-butsoft, stretchy ‘elastomer’ bodies and internal wire frames, Masks and Transams are basically soft, chewy lipless crankbaits. They have a tight but reasonably subtle vibrating action when cranked, jigged or ripped and a seductive flutter on the drop, combined with a tendency to stand briefly on their chins or noses on the

bottom when paused. This style of hybrid lure can be worked using a variety of presentation strategies, from a fast, steady burn to a slow roll or a subtle lift-and-drop or double-hop along the bottom. They’re also effective when jigged in mid-water to target suspended fish and they can even be trolled.

This versatility makes soft vibes an ideal choice for targeting barra, bass and golden perch or yellowbelly in man-made impoundments, but they’re also highly effective in rivers, estuaries and billabongs, as well as offshore. In fact, vibes work really well anywhere that the species named (and many others) are found, especially if those fish are hanging in the lower half of the water column.

Soft vibes are a particularly good choice when the fishing’s tough and the bite is slow, but they’re also effective searching lures, especially in deeper water.

Anglers using them typically identify suspended or bottomhugging ‘shows’ of fish on their depths sounders, then stand off a short distance and cast their soft vibes beyond the fish. The lures are allowed to sink to the desired depth (often the bottom) before being worked back to the boat or kayak using a mix of stops and starts, or lifts and drops, interspersed with spells of steady cranking or slow

The author with an average impoundment bass, hooked while jigging a Jackall Mask near submerged timber. rolling. It pays to experiment to discover what’s working best on the day.

While the action of soft vibes isn’t as crisp as that of a hardbodied plastic or metal vibe (and doesn’t provide as much feedback through the line), it’s still discernible and can easily be felt it if you’re using low stretch braid. Interestingly, it seems that this quieter, less well-defined vibration may actually be a turn-on for less active fish. The fact that those fish also get a mouthful of soft, chewy material when they bite seals the deal. As a bonus, commercial scents and attractants stick very well to soft vibes.

The downside of these lures is the fact they don’t

Jackson ‘Jacko’ Bargenquast hooked this lovely saltwater barra on a Storm SFX 70 soft vibe while targeting threadfin in 8-10m of water at Hervey Bay. Soft vibes can be highly effective, versatile lures, especially in deeper scenarios.

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‘play well with others’.

The elastomer compounds they’re made from react badly with PVC-based soft plastics, hardbodied plastic lures, painted surfaces and even other elastomers. For this reason, these lures should be stored separately in the compartments of a quality tackle box or, better yet, kept in their original packaging.

On their day, soft vibes can spell the difference between a blank session and a red-hot bite. For that reason, few experienced lure fishers hit the water these days without at least a few of these sneaky lures tucked away in their tackle trays…

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A great month for all species YAMBA

Dave Gaden

April is here already and it seems like I only just put the paper from the Christmas presents in the recycling! I really like April for fishing, mind you, I have been accused of being over optimistic, but I don’t know any fishing nut that isn’t an optimist.

upstream to Browns Rocks.

This big piece of coffee rock in the middle of the river just upstream from Goodwood Island wharf is just a magnet for big bream. Turkeys Nest on the Iluka side and Middle Wall will also produce a feed in no time.

Luderick have also been great in the latter part of summer and early autumn.

Once again, the Middle Wall and Collis Wall are

in that area, as it seems that if you take one, two come to its funeral. I’ve had reasonable catches at the entrance to the lake up Oyster Channel, and there have been nice fish as far up as the Broadwater upstream from Maclean.

For those chasing crabs this Easter, concentrate on the muddies. This year the blue swimmers never really hit the system in big numbers, and although you

unstuck, but a well-presented lure can be very exciting and saves you finding bait.

Lovers Point on the Yamba side on a good day will be worth a hit at the bottom of the tide for a big mulloway in daylight. The best lure would be a locally made Bill’s Bug, as these things can be worked so slow and deep on the ledge they are virtually irresistible.

OFFSHORE Offshore, this may be the best month since January.

February was a total loss this year with consistent bad weather and big swells from the cyclones that rolled off the north. March is the ‘calm down’ month to let everything settle again, which brings us to now.

Being the middle of autumn, the expectation would be that the water is starting to cool, but as a general rule this isn’t right. April holds good water temperature here and it was very late when we got our first warm water anyway.

The early part of our mackerel season was dismal, but in previous years when this has happened we have had an absolutely great

Darren James from Yandina in Queensland was chuffed with this wahoo. second half as the fish start to move north, but stall on the huge bait shoals that hold here.

Fortunately for our visitors, the best area for mackerel in April is the closest reef to the mouth of the river.

Head south just past Angourie to the first rock headland and start trolling around, it won’t be too hard to find as we will all be there! Troll for them until around 9am, then just drift the reef with a couple of light floaters while you

Geoff Reeves from Yamba with a brightly-coloured mahimahi.

The first half of this month I expect will be pretty busy around here with Easter and school holidays, but I also expect the numbers of fish to be there to satisfy the visitors and locals alike.

ESTUARY In the estuary the humble bream have been great all year, even when other species have been a little hard to find.

These fish will be building in numbers this month and won’t be too hard to find.

For the boat owners, head

great spots, but if you are land-based, try under Oyster Channel bridge or the very eastern end of Yamba Bay at the back of the old Gorman’s restaurant.

Flathead will be about, but you may find them hit and miss. It seems like they are bunched up in small pockets this year and not consistent, with anglers having bagged out in a spot one day and not get a fish in the same spot the next. As always, if you catch a reasonable fish stay

may get a few, the muddies will be a better target. As always, have your traps clearly marked, try not to set them in the middle of the narrow navigable channels, don’t use floating rope and keep an eye on them to avoid the ‘share farmers’.

Mulloway will be in good numbers this month and my advice would be to target them of a night off the breakwalls on either side of the river. Obviously a small livey will bring most big fish

The mulloway have been a great option in a little closer, as Nick from Queensland can attest.

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are catching snapper on the bottom. It’s that easy!

April is also when the big currents out on the 50 fathom line start to ease.

So for those who like to venture wide, the rewards can be great. Snapper, pearl perch and pigfish will be on the wider reef this month (not that they left, the current was too just too strong).

Mahimahi and wahoo will be around as well, so if you’re not in too big of a hurry to get to the reef, throw

a few skirts out the back for the last 10 nautical miles and troll to the grounds.

On the southern reef off of Brooms Head this month, we can expect Venus tuskfish and Moses perch, mixed in with the snapper and trag. It’s a good idea to try and get in close around Red Cliff and Plumbago area for a snapper and mackerel early, then move out to the 40m mark for the tuskfish.

Wide of this ground is the FAD, and it will be well

worth your time to give it a hit at least once while you’re here. The amount of mahimahi it has produced this season is incredible and the late season fish are also a little easier to catch.

Remember, mahimahi must be 60cm, and there’s a bag limit of 10 and only one over 110cm. While you are at the FAD, drop a bottom line over as the spot quite often holds some very big bluespot flathead.

The northern grounds from Black Rock to South Ben Conway came all the way from Taroom in Queensland and had a great day on the water landing a variety of fish, including this mulloway.

Ben Martin from Mansfield, Victoria with a FAD dwelling mahimahi.

Evans Reef should have great numbers of trag this month, as well as the usual big mulloway mixed in. It really isn’t as far to the grounds as it looks, with Black Rock only being 10 nautical miles north, and if there is going to be a late northerly, you get the comfort of a following wind for the trip home.

If you are heading our way this Easter and need some advice or would like to join me on a charter, call into the shop at the marina and we will be more than happy to point you in the right direction as well as help you out with whatever bait and terminal tackle you may need.

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21

Fresh run in the Richmond proves fruitful BALLINA

Joe Allan

The beaches around Ballina and Lennox Heads 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 Heads. There have been good catches recorded of tarwhine and flathead on soft plastics and blades. With both plastics and blades, stick to around a 1/4oz weight. If it’s too windy, this might be a struggle. There are still good numbers of pipis around and these little morsels are a great fresh bait for most bread and butter species.

Just remember, you’re not allowed to take these from the beach.

The rock walls have produced some good size mangrove jack, and while they’re not in good numbers, the better size specimens have come out to play in recent times. The breakwalls have been seeing some good mulloway caught, with the dirty water from the recent rains really setting them on

fire. Live mullet seem to be producing the best catches up river in the holes, however down on the walls try some big deep diving crankbaits.

Mud crabs are showing up in North Arm and Immigrant Creek. The dirtier water has definitely stirred these critters up, so if you’re

Adrian Melchior with a midday surface-eating bass caught on the new Bassday Yaminama Sniper 65.

Anthony Melchior with a stunning cod caught off a rock wall in Ballina.

Yes, we do survey boats!

after a feed, get out and get into them.

Dans Lane and Pimlico Island flats have been very consistent producers of bream. If you’re into soaking bait, nippers are one of the best baits and are good fun to catch with the kids around.

If you’re into throwing lures, small crankbaits and small topwater poppers are always my go-to. You’ll pick up a few whiting as well, although the dirty water has hurt the numbers of these being caught.

If you are 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 fish following. The best hooks for these are a number 1/0-2/0 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 are into throwing hardbodied lures try tolling some lures that get down past 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 3-4” soft plastic with a 3/0 1/4oz jighead ready to go.

The freshwater stretches of the Richmond and Wilsons rivers have been

patchy. There’s been plenty of reports of people catching 15-20 fish one day and then going back the next and getting one or two. The best lures are spinnerbaits with big gold blades, and lipless crankbaits with bright colours. 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.

Downsize everything that you’d normally throw in the main river. Small 2” plastics and bream or trout size crankbaits are what you should be throwing. You’d be surprised how big the fish that live in these small creeks can get.

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Storms are dictating the fish’s appetites THE TWEED

Anthony Coughran

The storm season is well and truly underway, and with the storms you have to expect the good and the bad. It’s good for the rivers. Storms normally flush most systems and the fresh moves bait around the rivers and creeks, and it will fire up the mulloway and crabs. It’s bad because it can lower water temperatures and send estuary pelagics such as jacks and GTs off the bite. It’s bad for pelagic species offshore, as the rain sends most species deep and off the bite.

It’s good, because in the aftermath of the storms you get debris, and mahimahi love floating debris. Reef species such as snapper, spangled emperor and golden snapper will sit in small schools and packs on the close reefs adjacent to the rivers and creeks and feed up on the bait and injured fish that get flushed past these shallow reefs. Either way there is still some really good fishing to be had. You just need to work out what’s working when.

Keeping a diary of every day you fish is a great tool and gives you great reference points on what fish you were catching years before. This is made even easier now with smart phones and apps. Even just looking back through your own photos on your phone you can you see what you were catching on that day or month in previous years.

A team effort – Justin and Blake posing for a quick shot with their Tweed black marlin. off Cape Byron. Troll baits, stickbaits, deep diving lures and floating pilchards have been catching a few solid steel toothed lure-munchers over the last month.

A few spotties have been caught at the Fidos bommie, Cudgen Reef and Black Rock Reef. There is still the odd wahoo, mahimahi and black marlin around Nine-Mile, Five-Mile, the 24s, 36s and 50 fathoms. Trolling skirted lures is best this month. Look

Christian Cochrane and Luke Samuel Keating with a double hook-up on a cobia and Spaniard.

OFFSHORE The weather is dictating the offshore fishing this month. Storms, cylones and strong winds have been pushing the patience of a lot of anglers. But when boats have been able to make it out they have scored. The Spanish mackerel have shown up in small packs, and most Tweed reefs are holding them. Try NineMile, Five-Mile, South Reef, Fidos, the pinnacle at Kingy, the back side of Hasting Point bommie and 24

APRIL 2018

for floating debris, current lines, schools of bait and birds working for the best results. The FAD has a few smaller-model mahimahi sitting under it, which are always fun on light gear and metals. The odd yellowfin tuna has been around, and they can be caught on skirts too. Look for 26-28°C water.

Mixed reefies are on the close reefs. Try plastics, small micro-jigs, octa jigs and drift baits for a good feed of mixed reefies. Fidos, the Five-Mile, the mudhole,

Kingy Reef, Hastings Point bommie and the 24 fathom lines are good areas. Look for small schools and isolated packs for the best results.

The odd cobia has been on the close reefs off Tweed.

Slow trolled live baits are catching them, and plastics have gotten some great 10-15kg fish over the last few months. Look for long arches along the bottom, then go to neutral and let the bait drift down to them.

This technique should see your reels start to scream. A downrigger can be a handy tool for this style of fishing and is great when trolling baits for mackerel too.

ESTUARY

The warm water temperatures and the afternoon and night storms are firing up the jacks and they are smashing just about anything put in front of them.

Trying to work out their bite time is the tricky bit and it could take most of the night before you will even lose a bait. Then, like a volcano, everything changes and erupts. This bite period could last for 30 minutes or three hours, depending on the bait, tide, water temperature and the storms. Fish large live baits like 30cm mullet on snelled double hook rigs; this should tempt most red dogs out of cover. Stopping them is another story.

The odd big cod is being caught in most jack haunts and it’s great to see good numbers again in the system.

Some good school mulloway have been found in the river mouth with the storms around. Live pike has

proven irresistible for most soapies. Good-size GTs are around most bridges at night chasing herring. Unweighted or light-weighted live herring will catch a few quality fish.

They are also chasing bait along the rock walls. Floating live herring or flicking various artificial lures at them such as surface lures, vibes, blades and plastics will catch some good fish.

Some great whiting are up in the skinny water.

Beachworms, bloodworms and yabbies will catch a feed, but surface lures and small plastics are catching the bigger elbow-slappers. A swift retrieve is crucial to having a successful hook-up rate and to get a good hook set. Using small assist hooks can also increase your catch rate, but can hinder your lure’s action.

There are still some good shovels around in the skinny water and dropoffs. Position yourself in a good drain or channel on a large draining sand flat or weed bed and use whiting/ poddy mullet type plastics such as 120mm bloodworm Wrigglers, 4” pumkinseed PowerBaits, 3” minnows and 3” grubs. If you do get a few smaller ones in one spot, keep casting at that spot.

Hastings Point River mouth and the oyster racks at Brunswick Heads for a good feed of flathead. A few nice muddies have been moving around and fattening up over the last month. Try around

Nick Dillon with a great eating-size Spaniard. freshwater drains, deeper holes in the lakes, sugarcane drains, around Stotts Island and any back creeks. A few bullies have been in the upper reaches of the Tweed.

Try a whole live or dead mullet, eel, stingray or tuna on wire for a bit of toothy fun. Murders Creek and around the sugar mill are fishing well.

BEACH There is still the odd tailor and some good dart

David Cooper with a great feed of Tweed River whiting.

There is normally a larger female, which smaller males will hang around. A change of plastic or switching to a shallow diving lure can often lead to a reaction bite and a nice battle with a big shovel.

Try Cobaki, Terranora, the house boats, the piggery, the golf club, around the weed in Cudgen Creek,

kings will be in the Tweed bar this month. Metals and plastics are proving to be lots of fun and tempt most of these species. A few soapies have been around the rock walls with larger plastics

being caught on metals in the various gutters around the headlands and rock walls right down the coast. Sunrise has been fishing better with metals, where small plastics, pilchards, white bait and small stripbaits are fishing better once the sun is established. Odd small packs of tuna, GTs, bigeye and rat

and live pike catching few over last month. Again the storms, wind and swell are dictating fishing terms on most beaches.

FRESHWATER With the rains and storms come the flooded waters and the bass love it. If you can find and target rapids, waterfalls, drains and weirs, you’ll find the fat bass waiting for the food to come to them. Cicadas, plastics and vibes are fishing well around sun up, and jig spins, spinnerbaits and Hardz are fishing better once the sun is established. This time of year is a great time to explore new territory and find new ground. Walking or kayaking around the backcountry and small creeks can prove to be a very successful and quiet, as these areas aren’t fished all that often.

NEXT MONTH We should to start to see more of a season changeover the next month. The weather and storms will still dictate times for most anglers. The mackerel will still be around with the odd pelagic on close reefs. Some anglers will start fishing deeper water with jigs over the next month.

Early season snapper, the odd mackerel and kingfish will hang in these spots too and are always a welcome by-catch. Jacks will feed up and eat just about anything as they bulk up for their spawning season.

Fishing heavy structure with heavy gear and big baits will see you arm wrestling with the biggest of red dogs.

More big cod will be caught as by-catch over the next month.

Again, try those usual jack haunts. There will still be a lot of whiting up in the skinny water with large flathead chasing them. GTs and bigeye will keep chasing bait along the rock wall and herring at night around the bridges.

This is the last real month of crabbing, so get the pots out and grab yourself a feed.

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Waiting for better clarity GOLD COAST

Mark Ward barra09@live.com.au

The weeks leading up to April had some of the worst fishing weather we have seen on the Gold Coast for years. My mangrove jack spots turned to mud due to the rain we received. Add to this the low-pressure systems, wind and – worst of all – a demanding work schedule and I’m left with a dry boat and a twitchy casting arm.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at what we can expect to be on the chew over April, and also consider some options for when the

wind blows or heavy rain spoils our estuary options.

OFFSHORE April is spotty mackerel month. Palm Beach and Mermaid Reef will have plenty of boats anchored up floating pilchards and livies.

The mackerel will be on the reefs and also moving around chasing bait. If you aren’t a fan of fishing in a crowd, try trolling bibbed lures, slow trolling rigged baits or even working slugs around bait schools.

If you find yourself fishing amongst the crowds on the reefs, be patient and courteous to other anglers.

The fish will move around the reef, so anchoring in the centre doesn’t always mean

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you’ll catch the most fish. I have trolled a good distance around the boats on the reef and managed to catch plenty of fish, so allow some space between you and your neighbour.

Fishing the close reefs means that it’s not a big run home if the weather turns bad, but it can be affected by heavy rain making the water dirty. This is great for sharks and mulloway, but not for bait schools and mackerel.

The wider grounds have been constantly producing billfish. They’re not around in big numbers and most reports I receive suggest the fish scattered. A lot of work goes into catching these fish but the rewards are well worth it.

BEACH FISHING When the rain has set in and flushes out the estuaries,

Matt Ward with a suburban bass. These fish will be biting after all the rain. still be on the chew. The only exception to this rule is a low or falling barometer.

This often coincides with wind and rain, so once the

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When the weather clears, the surf fishing will be on fire. Summer Ward showed how easy it is to land a good feed of whiting from the close gutters. the beach fishing often fires up. This can be especially true in winter as bream, mulloway and flathead move from the estuaries to the surf. The rain we have been getting will see this all fire up a little earlier this year, which is great news for beach anglers.

Early morning sessions that are overcast with no wind are also ideal for tailor and we should see some tailor moving up the coast this month. Pilchards on ganged hooks are great bait and the lure casters can use metal slugs. When using slugs, the colour isn’t as important as matching the lure to the size of the baitfish. As long as it looks natural in the water and is a similar size to the bait, the tailor will nail it.

FRESHWATER When the rain is persistent and the wind is blowing, the bass will often 26

APRIL 2018

barometer has stabilised or preferably is back on the rise, the bass will come on the bite. Freshly-flooded grass and weed are ideal locations, but without a doubt water running into the dam or creek will always hold bass.

The fish will sit and look for bugs, frogs and even soft plastics to be washed onto the main basin of water.

Small waterfalls coming into Hinze and Clarrie Hall Dam are ideal locations.

Suburban bass anglers are still in luck. Even the water around Robina will see an influx of food for the bass and see them taking lures and flies. Surface fishing around Robina has been better than it has in years.

ESTUARIES We are lucky on the southern Gold Coast. We have some very small, shallow and sandy estuaries that don’t get as affected

by the rain and wind as the bigger systems like the Tweed do. Even the Tweed has short arms coming off the main river close to the mouth which can dirty up quickly, and also clear up very quickly as well.

Trevally have been in great numbers around the canals of Currumbin Creek.

Early morning and late afternoon are ideal times to target them on both plastics and hardbody lures. They will take metal lures that are used for tailor as well as small hardbody lures intended for bream.

There have been mangrove jack and bream caught on lures in the canals.

Bream have been taking the Cranka Crab lures and jacks have been nailing well-presented soft plastics.

The Cranka Crabs have to be worked dead slow while a quicker, steady retrieve – hard against structure – will often be the downfall of mangrove jack. I managed to get hold of some Lucky Craft Pointers, which are a small hardbody lure that I use on wild barramundi up north. The mangrove jack have taken a liking to these as well.

If you are interested in soaking a bait and find all this talk of lures too much, then targeting whiting and bream along the banks of the Tweed River, Tallebudgera and Currumbin creeks is the best bet. Pump some yabbies or get hold of some live worms to increase your chances.

Fishing on the rock walls near the mouths of these systems offers some protection from the wind and fishing a rising tide can keep the water clear and often have the fish biting, especially when the bait fish move in with the clear water.

It’s the start of prawn season, and while I am not one to fill buckets of prawns for the freezer, I do like to throw the cast net for live bait. Two prawns on a hook will catch everything from monster whiting to big mangrove jack, and who doesn’t like a feed of prawns?

We’ve had very poor weather, but there are still plenty of options. A good flush of the big rivers before flathead and bream season will be nice anyway, and I am expecting a big year on the beaches. Hopefully it will clear up this month and we can all enjoy a long weekend of fishing.

Two live prawns on a hook are deadly for just about any species in the estuary.

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Flathead are still sticking around for now GOLD COAST CANALS

Josh Dunn Instagram: @josh__dunn__

As autumn set in, so did the rain. Last month and in late February we saw a lot of rainfall. This month could produce heavy rain at times, which can result in dirty estuaries. With dirty water can come a hot surface bite! Bream and mangrove jack will be a top option this month when it comes to surface fishing.

While the offshore fishing has the attention of most fishers, the canals shouldn’t be overlooked too. Mangrove jack are still firing in most estuaries while bream, trevally and the odd flathead won’t pass up an easy meal. Lately plenty of pelagics are getting caught at night, terrorising baitfish around structure. Solid tailor have also started to show up early, in good numbers at times. Casting small plastics and walk-the-dog style lures has been producing the most fish. Most people think large tailor can only be found off rocks and beach fishing. Don’t pass up the Broadwater so easy – I’ve found quality fish and seen

28

APRIL 2018

some surprisingly big fish pass through!

Some fishers are getting amongst good numbers of flathead, although coming into these cooler months flathead might be difficult to find. Stick to the basics such as sand bars and flats on a run-out tide, drop-offs, rock walls and bridges.

Recently I’ve been mixing it up a little, finding good

fish on the top of the high tide throughout the morning.

Overcast weather seems to be best for this style of fishing, as fish feel more confident to come out from under pontoons and chase a lure, and don’t spook as easily. Trolling would be another good option. Try the edges of sand bars with lures that will get down to the bottom and stir up the sand.

Night fishing can produce a range of species including spangled emperor.

There are still good numbers of flathead getting around.

Over the next month or two we should see temperatures drop, which will result in some of the winter species coming on the bite like mulloway, tailor and big bream. Most of those species will be sitting in deep holes, especially mulloway and the larger-model bream.

You will find these locations throughout the Broadwater.

Preferably fish them on the run-out to the low.

Australian bass have

been firing in the hinterland.

Most fish are hitting surface lures, which can make for an awesome session. A lot of fishers are getting amongst 20-30+ fish per session within a few hours of fishing. Keep it simple is my biggest tip – cast around snaggy areas with a topwater presentation throughout either the in the early hours of the morning or the late afternoon. I know some fishers fish

around 3-4am when there’s no light and it pays off, as the fish aren’t as timid to come out of their snag and sometimes hit lures right next to you!

April is a good mix of summer species and winter species on the bite. My biggest tip this month to find the bigger fish is to fish deep holes throughout the Broadwater. Using a sounder will make this a lot easier!

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Fishing in the April sun is always a heap of fun JUMPINPIN

Mick Morris gembait@tpg.com

April is a great time to fish the Pin area. The weather is usually pretty good and the fish are set to go off now that the rivers and estuaries have been flushed by the rains last month. The water quality should be on the improve and that can only make the fishing better.

A few mackerel are still hanging about just through the bar so if the weather comes good and the swell is down it would be a great time to chase a few macks and maybe pick up a longtail or mahimahi in the process. Trolling Crazy Deep Divers has been working well. If you find a school of fish, cast long suspending lures into them.

Good catches of whiting can be expected too with some big elbow-slappers on offer heading into the cooler months. Try to pick the faster running tides – those are when whiting become more active and search for food more. The best spots to try for a feed of whiting are Slipping

Whiting should be on the bite on the faster running tides; these came from the Logan River near Marks Rocks.

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Sands, Long Island, Tipplers Island, the Gold Bank, along the front of Couran Cove and Alberton Sands in the Logan River.

Bloodworms work the best but they will take a variety of baits such as squid, prawns, chook gut and even small soft plastics retrieved slowly along the bottom. Another good tactic is using surface poppers in shallow water on a calm day or late in the day when it flattens out, blooping the lure across the top of the water. Whiting will rise and hit these poppers and at the same time you’ll be in with a chance at any other species in the area, like flathead or bream.

The prawn season is well and truly upon us and this is the best time of year to head out and cast net for some delicious banana prawns. They will usually school up along the muddy banks from Jacobs Well right through to Cabbage Tree Point up to the powerlines and the mouth of the Logan. Heading up the river for a look is always a good option as the whiting frequent areas around Marks Rocks, Redland Bay Channel and as far in as the Junction.

Karragarra Island is another great spot to try and the deep holes off the western side of Macleay Island will be heavily targeted as well. When they are on you will see plenty of boats all in the one area, so be sure to use some courtesy when cast netting as you can get quite close to each other. Using your

Bailey Ramsey with an unusual diamond scaled mullet caught on a pilchard near Cobby.

The cooler water temperatures should fire up the mulloway as well and there seems to be a lot more school-sized fish about, which shows that the size limit of 75cm and bag limit of two is working and creating a better mulloway fishery. Marks Rocks, Pitts Rocks and the Gazebo in the Logan River are all good spots for a mulloway or you could try further out near Giants Grave, the point of Short Island, Kalinga Bank or out from Swan Bay in the deep water. Live baits like mullet, herring, gar and pike have been working best and you can try jigging large soft plastics in the

North and South Straddie late in the afternoon into the night, if you don’t mind braving the cold weather.

Pillies, gar and mullet and bonito fillets are the pick of the baits.

Inside the Bar you can find them near the yellow beacon off the top of Crusoe Island, the deep water off Swan Bay, along the Stockyards and you can always seem to pick one up in the main channel from Cabbage Tree Point to Rocky Point. Floating pillies with a tiny weight should hold the bait in the perfect strike zone for a hungry tailor.

• Thanks for all your reports and keep those fish

There is still the odd mackerel about through the ’Pin bar. depth sounder searching for ‘puffs’ on the screen is a great way to help locate a school and a heavier, faster-sinking net should produce more prawns.

deeper water.

Some decently sized tailor to 2kg have shown up and should be running all month. They should be there in the gutters off

coming in. If you’d like any advice or up to date fishing information drop us a line at Gem Bait & Tackle on (07) 3287 3868 or email gembait@tpg.com.au.

ADVERTORIAL

Restrictions in place in SEQ for raw prawns, yabbies and marine worms White spot disease movement restrictions are in place to stop the spread of the virus that causes white spot disease, which will help protect Queensland’s natural waterways.

Raw prawns, yabbies and marine worms cannot be moved out of the white spot disease movement restriction area.

These restrictions are in place from Caloundra to the New South Wales border and west to Ipswich. They also apply to uncooked, frozen crustaceans as freezing does not destroy the virus.

The virus that causes white spot disease does not affect humans and prawns are safe to eat.

WHAT IS WHITE SPOT DISEASE? White spot disease affects crustaceans such as prawns, crabs, lobsters and yabbies and when found in high intensity production areas, such as prawn farms, white spot disease results in the rapid mortality of prawns.

The disease was first detected in prawn farms along

the Logan River south of Brisbane in December 2016.

It was then found in prawn and crab samples collected from the Logan River, Brisbane River, Moreton Bay and Deception Bay. WHAT IS BEING DONE TO STOP THE DISEASE? Biosecurity Queensland has a dedicated White Spot Disease Program in place focused on surveillance as well as prevention and control. The aim is to eradicate white spot disease in Queensland and return Australia to a white spot-free zone.

Movement restrictions have been put in place to help stop the disease spreading. While prawns and crabs do move around naturally, the most likely way it will spread long distances is through human assistance. For this reason it is crucial raw prawns, crabs and yabbies are not moved out of the area.

Testing is underway for the virus that causes white spot disease in Moreton Bay and the Logan and Brisbane Rivers.

This follows testing in September 2017, which returned negative results for the virus that causes white spot disease.

These results are encouraging and indicate the disease may not be established in Moreton Bay and has not spread into other parts of Queensland.

Two years of consecutively negative test results are required in order to prove the disease is no longer in Australian waterways.

WHAT DOES WHITE SPOT DISEASE LOOK LIKE? Prawns with white spot disease may have a loose shell with numerous white spots on the inside surface of the shell and a pink to red discolouration.

However, please note infected prawns and yabbies may not display any symptoms and white spots may appear for a range of reasons including freezer burn and bacterial and fungal infections.

For more information on white spot disease visit www.daf.qld.gov.au/WSD or call the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries Customer Service Centre on 13 25 23.

Help stop the spread of white spot disease

“Do not move prawns, yabbies or marine worms out of the white spot disease movement restriction area.”

A prawn with white spot disease.

Photo courtesy of Dr Ben Diggles.

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White spot disease could have a devastating impact on our natural waterways and fish stocks if it spreads.

www.daf.qld.gov.au/wsd or call 13 25 23 APRIL 2018

31

Offshore adventures are productive in April GOLD COAST

David Green

April is generally a very productive month on the offshore reefs off the Gold Coast. It is one of the best months to chase blue marlin on the wider grounds. The East Australian Current starts to slow down a bit and large productive eddies often form beyond the continental shelf.

Beyond the 100m line there is always a chance of finding a blue marlin, but most of the productive water is found between the 200 and 400m lines. This marks the start of the continental slope, and beyond this depth it drops off quite rapidly. Schools of striped tuna, flying fish and sauris commonly school in this area and there are always a few marlin in attendance as well. While most of the fish in this deeper zone tend to be blue marlin, there are also quite a few striped marlin and some solid black marlin as well.

Trolling large skirted lures on 37kg tackle is the preferred method and most of the blue marlin

Mark Frendin releasing a big blue.

encountered are around 140kg. These fish have one of the most spectacular first runs you will ever see, grey hounding out of the water as they take several hundred metres of line. It’s important to chase them quickly as a blue marlin can empty a reel in a bit over a minute.

On the closer grounds the black marlin action slows right down as the fish have moved south with the current, but there are still a few black marlin to be caught by live baiting the deeper bait schools at spots like Deep Trag and Spot X. As the water starts to cool down a bit increasing numbers of striped marlin often turn up in April.

Closer to shore the Spanish mackerel run should be in full swing and Spanish and spotted mackerel should be in good numbers on the Gravel Patch, Mermaid Reef and Palm Beach Reef. The season has been quite erratic this year with good catches one day and few fish the next. Deep trolling live baits or slow trolling rigged dead baits is generally the most reliable method of catching the bigger Spanish mackerel.

If the fish are thick and in the surface layers, trolled

minnows can also be quite effective at times. Berleying and spinning with metal lures or casting stickbaits also works well but one of the simplest methods is to fish unweighted pilchards on a short length of wire trace.

April is also a good month to try for wahoo off the Tweed Coast. The

Nine Mile Reef is the most famous wahoo spot in the area and when the current is running it can be extremely productive. There are a variety of effective methods.

High speed trolling using metal-headed lures such as Hex Heads is quite effective.

I usually run these at a troll speed of 10-12knots. The

As the water cools there will be a lot of prawns throughout the whole system.

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strikes can be spectacular, and most of the wahoo caught in April are solid fish from 12-18kg with the odd bigger fish encountered.

Trolling live tuna is another good method, and trolling bibless minnows and hardbodied lures is also effective at times. They are also susceptible to spinning with large stickbaits.

Bottom fishing improves this month as the water cools slightly and the current slows. The 50-fathom reef should produce juvenile snapper and pearl perch and closer inshore on the 36-fathom reef there should be a few juvenile snapper, tuskfish and teraglin. Deep jigging using metals and soft plastics can produce kingfish, amberjack and samsonfish.

RIVERS AND ESTUARIES April is a transition month in the estuaries between summer and winter fishing patterns. As the water cools a lot of fish start to move up onto the flats and there are generally a lot of prawns found throughout the whole system. Whiting are a good target species this month. I’ve recently had some good success casting unweighted yabbies on the flats as the fish move up on the first of a run-in tide.

My mate Ross McCubbin has perfected this method. It isn’t always easy, but using 2lb braid and light 3lb fluorocarbon leader, an unweighted yabby can be cast to feeding whiting in the shallows. It’s an interesting way to fish and can be very productive.

It’s important to give the fish plenty of time to get the bait down before striking.

Some of the better whiting have been between 35 and 40cm long.

April is a good month to chase crabs and prawns.

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The run of banana prawns in the southern end of Moreton Bay has been excellent over the past two years and this month should be a good one to load up on tasty prawns.

It is also a good month to chase mud crabs in the Pimpama River, especially if there has been a bit of rain around. Sand crabs can also be found in numbers in the central Broadwater from Crab Island to Tipplers.

Work your pots in depths from 4-7m close to the eelgrass beds. Fresh fish frames are the best bait for sand crabs, although mud crabs also like fresh chicken frames.

There should be a few flathead about as the water cools and quite a few big

fish will be up on the flats chasing whiting and mullet in the shallows. The flathead fishing starts to improve from April onwards.

Mangrove jack start to move towards the Seaway area in April before the bigger fish move offshore. Small live baits fished close to the rocks at the north wall of the Seaway can produce some big jacks this month. There should also be a few school mulloway around in both the Seaway and Jumpinpin entrances, although a lot will be under the legal size of 75cm.

Overall, April is a great month to fish the Gold Coast; the conditions are generally quite pleasant and there are plenty of options to try.

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Fresh flush of water makes fishing hard for now SOUTHERN BAY

Nick Whyte

This month has seen a lot of rain that will make the coming month hard to fish. Dirty water will take a while to clean from the southern bay. In saying that, there will be a lot of mud crabs on the move and it will have flushed a lot of prawns from up the rivers.

It will also make the next six months of fishing great.

Prawns have been thick this month. Redland Bay and around the southern end of Macleay Island have been the most productive spots. The western side of Karragarra and Russel Island will also be worth a look. The prawns aren’t always in the deeper holes, so it pays to have a drive along the bank edges to see if you spook them. Using your sounder and finding patches of prawns away from the rest of the boats

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will see you bagging out in no time. Watch that sounder and save the sore arm.

Down at Jumpinpin the best fishing will be in sight of the ‘Pin bar. Whiting, flathead and bream will all be great targets and in good numbers. Mulloway will be schooling around the bar and are best targeted around the turn of the tide. Big live baits and big paddle-tail plastics will be your best bets. Try and sound around the dirty water lines or find large schools of baitfish and the mulloway shouldn’t be too far away.

Whiting have been in good numbers around the bottom of Russell Island, the banks in front of Slipping Sands and the bank at the mouth of Duck Creek where Squire Island used to be. Yabbies and worms have been the go-to baits but mulloway are also a great target on surface lures.

Fishing shallow water with a medium-fast retrieve and a long narrow profile popper is the way to go.

Flathead have been in great numbers down around the Lagoons at Pandanus and Never Fail islands. Work the edges around the weed with smaller soft plastics around the 3-4” size in a chartreuse pattern. Trolling small little hardbodies is also a productive way to cover the ground to locate schools of fish and also a very family-friendly way to fish.

Peel Island should fish well over the next month in the shallows. Bream, snapper and sweetlip are all worth targeting. Small soft plastics or hardbodies are a great way to target these guys in the shallow water.

They make for great fun on light gear. Try to find larger pieces of coral, big schools of bait or jutting edges in the reef to target these fish.

Anything under 8lb leader will be dicing with danger if a bigger fish is hooked.

Dusk or dawn will be the best times to target these sometimes finicky feeders.

The tuna and mackerel have been fishing well

This thready was caught on a Bone Dash 90S. around the bay. Most of the action has been from Mud Island north. Try not to spook the schools by coming in too hard and fast.

Small stickbaits or plastics with a small length of wire have been the best option

for the mackerel and larger plastics or stickbaits around 120mm have been working on the tuna.

Remember to be considerate to your fellow fishers and don’t crash somebody else’s school. Let

Greg Duffield with a Peel Island mulloway.

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Time for some trolling tactics MORETON BAY

Ryan Smith

April is finally here, and this is by far my favourite month, as we start seeing the winter westerly winds blow across the bay.

Recently, I have been targeting flathead around the southern bay islands by trolling lures behind the boat or kayak.

Trolling is when you have a lure or bait out the back of a moving vessel.

This can be done out the back of a boat or kayak, but can also be when you are wading the flats and walking with a lure or bait behind you.

With the target species being flathead, or other estuary species, a slow idle or walking speed is all that is necessary. Around the southern end of Moreton Bay, numerous islands and banks are just perfect for a flathead to sit and ambush prey.

Searching on a low tide for a large bank with drains leading to a drop-off is the perfect scenario to start trolling. Mangroves, weed beds and yabby beds are great spots to look for

flathead, because they will sit and ambush any prey that may hold in these areas.

On a low tide, I like to find where the drop-off is and troll parallel with it.

As an example, a particular bank around Snipe Island is around 50cm deep, with a sharp drop-off to around 3m, which runs for a few hundred metres. I like to

The author’s dad with an average size fish taken trolling an Atomic Crank 38 along a drop off.

troll in around 1.2-1.5m of water. These are the sorts of places I look for when the tide is around two hours either side of the low.

When the tide is around the high, I tend to troll on the edge of mangrove roots.

As the tide turns to a run out, flathead generally sit on the edge of mangroves waiting for all the baitfish and prawns to retreat to deeper water.

There are hundreds of lures on the market that will suit this sort of fishing.

Any lure that dives at a depth around 2m and is around the 50mm size is what I like.

You can use a lot bigger lures if you’re chasing the bigger female fish, however I like a lure around that size because it can still catch the smaller fish.

Zerek Tango Shads are incredibly popular for this type of fishing, but so are Micro Mullets, Atomic Crank 38s, Zerek Bulldog Cranks and the Nomad STX Minnows. When choosing lure colour, clear waters demands a more natural colour, but when the water is dirty, something that silhouettes well like browns and greens is preffered.

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Zerek Tango Shads are a perfect lure when first starting out trolling.

When trolling, always make sure that your lure is working and not tangled in weed. You will know when the lure is swimming by the vibration in the tip of your rod.

If the rod isn’t vibrating and you can’t feel it through your braid, wind in and check it, then cast straight

back out there. Also, when you do hook up to a fish after you land it, always go back over where you caught it, because flathead tend to sit in the same areas as each other. That’s all for this month, and I hope you all have a chance to wet a line this month. Tight lines and screaming drags!

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April’s aquatic options in the bay and estuaries BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

During April, anglers will notice the weather cooling and water temperatures beginning to slowly drop.

This brings about a slow change in the prominence of some species, although anglers will still be able to target many of the warmer weather species with positive results over the next month or so. Possible targets throughout April can include longtail tuna, mackerel, snapper, sweetlip, mulloway, prawns and many others.

Let’s take a close look at April’s aquatic options.

LONGTAIL TUNA The numbers of longtails were sporadic until March, with only the occasional surface feeding schools located and quite a few individual larger fish spotted. Overall, numbers were very minimal and it wasn’t until late February that a few began hitting decks. It didn’t help that anglers struggled to get time on the water in the weeks prior due to strong winds and rain fronts. Many of these early season fish were taken on live baits fished around the shipping channel beacons and artificial reefs, mainly in the northern end of the bay.

The Sand Hills area held a few good schools at times and these fish were fairly approachable and would eat an array of profiles and lure types. Historically, good numbers of longtails enter the northern end of Moreton Bay during April and May, commonly via the northwest channel, northeast channel and Kianga Channel. From here they tend to spread out, gradually making their way down through the bay,

gorging themselves on baitfish and other morsels.

Longtails can be located almost anywhere at any time, however beginning your search in the shipping channels, Middle Bank area, the Paddock, Rainbow Channel and the outer margins of the bay islands will put you in good stead.

Individual fish are a lot harder to stalk and get within casting range of, as they only surface momentarily to crash a baitfish or two.

However, the generally large size of these specimens makes stalking efforts worthwhile. If you know longtails are in the general area, you can often get lucky while drifting and blind casting various lures.

Stickbaits, pencil poppers, jerk shad plastics, chromed slices and even swimbaits can all produce results on these sashimi torpedoes.

When they are feeding on small baitfish, longtails often get tunnel-visioned, only eating profiles that replicate the size of the baitfish they are feeding on.

In this situation, flyfishers have the upper hand, as they are able to deliver very small, realistic baitfishimitating flies.

Distance can be a problem and even a good fly caster will only be able to deliver a fly around 35m. Getting into the right position and presenting a fly to a broaching fish quickly offers plenty of challenges.

However, casting the fly on an intermediate (slowsinking) fly line and simply allowing it to slowly sink is often successful. Longtails will think the fly is a wounded baitfish and slurp it up as they cruise by. A quick strip-strike will soon have the fly line disappearing at a decent rate.

Live baits fished anywhere from mid-water

Tom Gray with another cracking longtail around 25kg that he stickbaited from Moreton Bay recently. to just below the surface will commonly take longtails. Yakkas, slimy mackerel, cowanyoung, pike, squid and others are often pinned to a circle or octopus pattern hook on a 50-80lb monofilament or fluorocarbon leader and suspended beneath a float.

Good areas to try include the shipping channel beacons (especially from the Four Beacons north), around the artificial reefs and areas with prominent current lines. Longtail numbers should only improve over the coming two months with specimens to 20kg+ on offer.

PRAWNS It has been a great prawning season so far, and if last year is any indication then we are roughly in the middle of the season now. Rains in late February really stirred them up and within a day or so they were thick throughout many bay areas. Cast-netters scored in

Anthony Johnson with an 87cm snapper taken on a soft plastic fished around some isolated bay structure.

38

APRIL 2018

Deception Bay, Pine River, Nudgee, Caboolture River, Logan River, the salt works (western end of Mcleay Island), Lamb Island, Karragarra, the power lines, Jacksons Hole and many other areas.

At times you had to move around a bit to find them but often they were quite thick and would hang around for an hour or two. From my experience, the first few hours of the run-out tide produced the best results in the Redland Bay area, however this often varied in other areas.

There has been a lot of rubbish circulating on social media about prawn nets and the best one to buy. I have several quality nets, some from local makers and one of the imported (yet locally designed) Pro Throw nets.

All are great in respect to quality and function and I have scored some great hauls of prawns in all of them. As long as you acquire a good quality, 12ft top-pocket-only net with a chain bottom you will maximise your chances of a good haul. Some even use a 10ft drop net with good results, the only difference being that it doesn’t cover as much area as a 12ft net – it is a little lighter to throw.

The Throw Pro nets are easy to source with most quality tackle stores stocking them and I couldn’t be happier with mine. You can even get 20m replacement ropes for prawning in deep areas such as the salt works. The prawns should be around in numbers for a few months yet, so you still have plenty of time to get a net and secure some of these tasty morsels. It doesn’t take long to recoup the cost of your net, as a maximum 10L

bucket of prawns is around 6.5kg and you would pay around $20/kg for these at the shops. Additionally, the prawns you catch yourself are fresher and definitely sweeter.

SNAPPER We should see an increase in snapper numbers throughout April. The artificial reefs, bay island margins, wrecks and submerged ledges are great places to try. Quality baits (especially mullet fillet) like salted bonito and tuna strips, pilchards, banana prawns, small live baits such as yakkas, pike and slimy mackerel as well as squid (either whole or strips) will all produce.

Some even use strips of chicken fillet, baby octopus, whiting heads and frames and numerous others with success. Baits should be presented as naturally as possible with the majority of the hook in the bait and only the points exposed.

Fluorocarbon leaders and just enough lead to get the bait in the strike zone will increase your chances considerably.

Lure fishing for snapper is a common way to target them these days and anglers are forever trying new offerings with varied levels of success. Soft plastics are probably one of the easiest offerings to use with curltail grubs, paddle-tail shads, jerk shads and numerous crustacean profiles (prawns and crabs) working well.

The relatively new Chasebaits Ultimate Squid is sure to produce a few quality knobbies for those fishing Moreton Bay and offshore waters this season.

Other lures that produce are vibration baits, including hard and soft vibes. These lures have great presence in

the water and emit vibration that rarely goes unnoticed.

My personal preference is for the Samaki Thumpertail, which can be slowly rolled or hopped, although there are plenty of other great ones available.

For deeper areas, especially around the artificial reefs, micro-jigs are commonly used for snapper and other inhabitants.

Once a fish is sounded out, these jigs can be dropped vertically to them. The fluttering actions achieved with the various retrieve methods emulate a wounded baitfish, often enticing fish to strike. Trolling minnow lures around the outer margins of the bay islands, along the edges of ledges or banks and over the rubble grounds and areas of broken reef will often produce a few good snapper, cod and other species.

Most deep diving minnow lures will produce the goods, although some anglers will give preference to the one they achieved their first success on, as this is the one they now troll the most.

I have used a broad array and all will work most of the time, however some days it pays to rotate through your lures to find out what their preference is. Just because it works well today at this location, doesn’t mean it will be tomorrow’s most successful lure.

SWEETLIP As the weather becomes a little warmer, anglers will notice increased numbers of sweetlip at various locations throughout Moreton Bay. The shallow reef areas interspersed with sandy patches and sea grasses offer great terrain for grass sweetlip.

These types of areas can often be found around the fringes of the bay islands with the northern and western sides of Mud, eastern side of Green and a good portion of the margins of Peel offering great opportunities. Grass sweelip are exceptionally hard-fighting fish and will often have you buried in structure before you can turn their head. However the rewards to the palate make the effort worthwhile as they are exceptionally tasty. Early morning starts are generally required for good fishing when chasing sweeties and being anchored on location an hour or so before dawn is desirable.

Quality fresh baits such as gar, pike and mullet fillets, squid and banana prawns make ideal offerings. However, previously frozen baits such as squid, pilchards, hardiheads and frogmouth

pilchards will all suffice.

Keep sinkers to a minimum and be ready to pick up your rod and go hard on the fish when you get a bite. Anglers targeting sweetlip often get a broad array of by-catch including snapper, sweetlip, tuskfish and sharks.

MULLOWAY Anglers fishing the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay have been encountering the occasional mulloway during the warmer summer months.

However, with water temperatures beginning to fall during April, mulloway numbers will be increasing throughout these areas.

The quality of mulloway has been excellent in recent years with plenty of specimens over 1m in length being caught.

Live baits are a great way to go when fishing for mulloway, as they will readily hunt down and engulf baitfish (yakkas, slimy mackerel, herring, mullet, pike and gar), banana prawns and squid.

The edges of the main river basin and the dredge holes at the mouth in the Brisbane River are prime spots to try. The artificial reefs such as the Bill Turner, Harry Atkinson and Peel also offer great opportunities for mulloway, as do the

numerous wrecks such as the Bulldozer, Houseboat and Kaptajn Nielson.

A broad array of lures will also entice mulloway, including vibration baits, minnow lures, micro-jigs, soft plastics and swimbaits.

A good sounder will help to locate mulloway and most are responsive to a lure cast close to them.

Mulloway will often be located in schools of several individuals and often you will catch more than one.

The next few months should see even better numbers of these prime sport and table fish within the estuaries and bay.

MACKEREL

As the water temperatures slowly drop over the next few weeks, we will see a gradual decrease in the prevalence of both school and spotted mackerel. However there should still be a few about for those who specifically target them. The outer margins of the bay islands, artificial reefs, deeper channels and the edges of the larger banks systems are good places to try with baits such as pilchards suspended beneath a float or drifted mid-water. It is unlikely that you will find mackerel surface feeding during April, however lures jigged around the beacons

in the northern bay will often produce.

Mackerel often cruise around in small numbers, so if you hook one on a bait, it often pays to begin spinning throughout the area for his mates lurking around. Cast the chrome slug or slice out, allow it to sink to the bottom and then retrieve it back to the boat as fast as possible. Often, several mackerel can be caught in succession, especially with two anglers spinning.

Take the opportunity to get amongst a few mackerel during April before they dissipate from Moreton Bay. CRABS Crabs should still be fairly abundant in the coming weeks. With recent rains, the mud crabbing has been very good over the last few months.

Freshwater entering the creeks and drains will lower the salinity and force the muddies out into the main system where they are easier to target. Setting pots along the edges of main river basin, at the mouths of drains and gutters, in deeper holes and along collapsed mangrove banks is likely to produce. I have heard of a lot of crab pot theft and raiding in recent times, so it pays to keep an eye on your pots. Safety pots (maximum four per person) can be

baited with enticements such as fish frames, chicken carcasses, whole mullet, tuna and bonito heads or even a few pilchards or fish offcuts in a mesh bag.

Blue swimmer crab numbers should also still be healthy during April and setting pots around the fringes of the bay islands, in the deeper channels and gutters (especially those leading off the sand flats) and along any prominent bottom contours is likely to get you a few keepers.

Crab numbers will slowly decline throughout Moreton Bay in the coming weeks so get a few down before it gets too cold.

CONCLUSION With so much on offer for anglers probing the waters of Moreton Bay and the systems that lead into it, anglers will have a difficult choice when deciding what to do on their next day off.

April is a great time of the year with less bite in the sun yet plenty of warmth to make your day on the water enjoyable. The fishing, prawning and crabbing is usually great and with rains earlier in the year the nutrient levels will be high.

Get out and enjoy a day on the water before the cold sets it. A seafood feast is just a bonus after a day in the great outdoors.

A decent shot of banana prawns from the southern bay islands – often only a handful of casts are needed to fill a 10L bucket with these tasty morsels.

APRIL 2018

39

Find productive areas on slower fishing days tips, as school mackerel can be a real nuisance, hitting and often butchering your wellrigged Spaniard bait. There’s nothing wrong with a feed of school mackerel, but if you’re after Spanish mackerel, it would pay to move to another bit of ground, especially if the schoolies are thick and not letting the Spanish get near a bait.

On the reef fishing scene, we’re still a month or more away from any real numbers

BRISBANE OFFSHORE

John Gooding

As I mentioned last month, this time of year usually sees quality Spanish mackerel and a few wahoo turn up around Point Lookout and Moreton Island. February saw limited opportunities to head offshore with plenty of big seas and swell hanging around.

March started up more positively with the full moon early in the month seeing a few Spaniards caught in the Point Lookout area, but don’t discard the shallow coffee

of snapper turning up. Late May and early June saw good numbers of fish caught last year on the 29 and 33 fathom lines and there were some solid fish among them. Until they arrive most lines of reef will hold resident fish, so if you put the time in, you’ll get a feed. Targeting mackerel is definitely a good option east of the South Passage Bar this month, but if you want to chase bottom fish, the shallow reefs around Point Lookout

have still been fishing well for mixed reef and the wider grounds in 80m and beyond have still been producing amberjack and kingfish on live bait and jigs along with a few snapper.

• Until next month, enjoy your fishing, take care on the coastal bars and if you’d like to join me on charter (max. 8 persons) give me a call on 07 3822 9527 or 0418 738 750 or visit my new website www. outlawcharters.com.au.

A solid catch of amberjack gave these gentlemen a workout.

A great mahimahi that put on a show for this angler.

rock reefs along the front of Moreton Island; they can be very productive at times. From a couple of kilometres north of the South Passage Bar to around halfway up Moreton Island, there is plenty of coffee rock in 8-15m of water and it can all hold mackerel, especially if there’s plenty of bait in the area.

Slow trolling both live and dead baits is the go on these shallow bits of ground. Fast towing lures will take its fair share of fish but the boat noise will shut them down quicker.

When working the coffee rock, keep a good eye on your rod

This amberjack is typical for the kind of fish that have been eating live baits lately.

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Anglers look forward to good bay fishing casting smaller profile soft plastics or hardbody lures over the various flats in the area just before and after a high tide.

The bream tend to be very competitive in the shallow water and bites can be brutal. If you are fishing with mates and they hook up, don’t be afraid to get your lure in the water near their fish. It is a great way to get a double hook-up. There has been a lot of mediumsized GTs patrolling the flats of late, so don’t be surprised if one of these great fighting fish smashes your lure.

As the water cools species like flathead and snapper will start to be around in bigger numbers. Most drop-offs will hold fish, however in my experience, the better quality fish will come out of 15ft or more.

NORTHERN BAY

Grayson Fong graysonfong@bigpond.com

Grayson Fong is unable to do his report this month.

Peter Jung was happy to fill in for him.

As Grayson enjoys all the fishing treats that Fiji has to offer, South East Queensland has received some much-needed rain.

As much as this weather can upset our fishing plans, it does give the various waterways a good flush, which then leads to good fishing.

PUMICESTONE PASSAGE The area from Bribie through to Donnybrook is a fantastic area to fish in the month of April. It is a true multi-species fishery.

Bream will start to show up in better numbers. Try

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REDCLIFFE PENINSULA This is an area that will fish fantastically once the weather we have been having clears and the water in the area does the same. Prior to this weather there was a strong prawn run and this really fires up the fishing as well. Like us, most fish love eating prawns and where the prawns go the fish follow.

Structure is the key to good fishing in April.

There are numerous rubble and reef areas throughout the peninsula that will hold plenty of bream and snapper. Lightly weighted soft plastics or hardbody lures will be the key for lure anglers and fresh prawns are best for bait fishos.

As the water clears you will also find the first of the land-based squid fishing kicking in. The Peninsula is a prime area to target these amazing creatures.

The foreshore from Woody Point all the way through to Scarborough has numerous locations that hold squid.

Numbers wont be huge just yet, but find that tell-tale ink splash where you are fishing and you know you are in the right area. The key time is the building high tide during low light periods or after dark.

PINE RIVER AND CABBAGE TREE CREEK Both these locations will enjoy the flush the March rainfall has provided. The Pine in particular most probably needs more, as navigating from Deepwater Bend through Dohles Rocks on a low tide is virtually impossible. The sand bars have pushed across almost the entire width of the river and care should be taken – the channel markers don’t tell the real story.

Fishing has been hot and cold in the Pine. There are plenty of small bream to play with but the flathead and tailor we normally see at this time of the year are yet to show themselves. There has been a

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Nicholas Willett was pretty happy with this by-catch when fishing at Toorbul. The GT took a liking to his ZMan 3” Slim SwimZ. good run of prawns, so you would expect this to change.

Where there are prawns there are mulloway and April is a good month to target them in the Pine. You will find the bigger predators in the deeper spots where the prawns congregate. Live baits are a fantastic way to target them or by using prawn imitation plastics or vibes. These areas can get pretty busy with anglers and people targeting the prawns, so be mindful of others.

Hayes Inlet has been the pick of the locations to get a feed. The best time to fish has been the incoming tide.

As the clean water from the bay enters the system, the fishing improves. Fishing fresh prawns for bait or trolling the sand bank edges will be two good ways to get your fishing rod bent.

Cabbage Tree Creek is a great family location. The foreshore has many areas where land-based anglers can wet a line and have a very good chance of catching a fish. Fishing from the top of the tide with fresh local baits – prawns or worms – will always be best. The

The flathead fishing has been slow, however expect it to pick up during April. bream and flathead just can’t resist them.

TIP OF THE MONTH Keeping in the theme of Grayson’s report – Easter falls on the first weekend of April and there will be a lot of boats on the water. This is great but we all need to be aware of others on the water,

in particular those at anchor.

Slow down around boats at anchor, especially in narrow areas and around bridges.

Speeding close to boats at rest may make your day, but can ruin someone else’s.

Have a good Easter and stay safe on the water.

– Peter Jung

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To ensure the ongoing health of Queensland’s extraordinary marine habitat and to protect local industries, Biosecurity Queensland is urging fishers to ‘Be a mate, and check your bait’.

It is really important that fishers only use Australian wild-caught prawns from a quality bait supplier or catch their own bait. Imported prawns could potentially introduce serious diseases into Australian waterways and as we have seen with white spot disease, these diseases can have devastating consequences.

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The fresher the bait the more appealing it is to fish. Have a look at some tips for catching your own bait at daf.qld.gov.au/ checkyourbait.

If you buy or catch prawns or crustaceans that you think may have white spot disease report it immediately by contacting Biosecurity Queensland on 13 25 23 or via the online reporting form at daf.qld.gov.au/ wsd – you can also find out more information about white spot here and view a map of the movement restricted area. – DAF

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43

The weather has been perfect for fishing NOOSA

Peter Wells

What a great time of the year April is! Plenty of quality fish are taken at this time of the year with excellent catches taken from the beach, river and offshore.

In the river systems the Noosa River has been producing flathead in great numbers throughout the lower reaches. The New Bio Tough range from Squidgy has been really working well. The developers of this range of plastics really had flathead in mind as they are dynamite on the lizards.

For the bait anglers white bait, hardiheads and small pilchards have also been deadly on the flatties. Make sure that you fish your baits on small gang hooks, as this will increase your hook-up rate dramatically.

There have been good reports of diamond, kale kale, big-eye and giant trevally on the high tides around the Noosa River mouth, Tewantin Boat Harbour and the first ski run. These fish have been responding very well to surface lures like Strada Virals, Storm Chug

Bugs and the Lucky Craft G Splash. Fishing at dawn or dusk on a high tide will give you greater chances of hooking up to one of these great fighting fish.

Whiting have been in good numbers through the whole system with Weyba Creek, the Frying Pan and the river mouth producing good numbers of fish. Worms have

been the best bait but peeled prawns and live yabbies are claiming their fair share of the bounty.

Mangrove jack are still being caught in the system with the deeper holes and heavy structure accounting for most of the captures.

Some outstanding fish have been caught up on the sand flats at night with live baits

Sue caught this lovely snapper.

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the best bet for these cranky red critters. If you can’t get access to live bait fresh strips of mullet or bonito will have the jacks feeding in no time.

In the Maroochy region the mouth of the river has been producing quality bream on the run-in tide with mullet strips and small pillies delivering the goods. One excellent area to target is where the rocks meet the sand on the end of Pin Cushion. Whiting are still in good numbers – the biggest percentage of fish is being caught on worms and live yabbies. Areas like Chambers Island, Black Banks and Goat Island are securing those nice catches.

Flathead are also in great numbers in this system. The mouths of Eudlo, Petrie and Coolum creeks are the best spots. The Twin Waters and Maroochy Waters Canal systems have certainly been firing with a range of species like mangrove jack, trevally, bream and Moses perch all finding their way to the dinner plate.

Crabs still seem to be in good numbers. Blue swimmer crabs have been taken in the lower reaches of our rivers. Mud crabs are still around; pots placed around the mouths of creeks and drains are finding the better crabs. The last of the run-in and the first half of the run-out tide are prime times for the bigger crabs. Don’t forget to bait those pots heavily and add a dash of tuna oil for that extra scent.

On the offshore scene Sunshine Reef has been fishing well for grass sweetlip, Venus tuskfish, juvenile snapper and coral trout. Some thumping great trout have been caught on live baits with the tuskfish and sweetlip being taken on pilchards and squid. Longtail and mac tuna are still about in good numbers. There are

Chris with a decent pearl perch. still a few mackerel hanging around and they are taking large trolled baits like whole bonito, slimies, pike and larger pilchards.

Nomad DTX minnows have been the standout lure on the pelagics. Built tough, these lures can troll at up to 12knots and can dive to 12m when trolled at 5-8knots.

North Reef has produced good catches of Maori cod, tuskfish, sweetlip and a few nice-size pearl perch out on the wider grounds. The Barwon Banks are delivering quality snapper, redthroat emperor and pearl perch with most fish taking pillies, fresh mullet fillet and local squid.

Redthroats have been biting before sunup, so get out early to avoid missing out.

To the south the close-in reefs such as the Gneerings, Coolum and Murphys are seeing mulloway, pearl

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perch, grass sweetlip and Moses perch. These closer, shallower reefs are perfect for the micro-jiggers and one of the standouts at the moment is the new Colt Sniper Wonderfall jig from Shimano. These jigs are perfect for that slow fall type of jigging and come in a great range of colours and weights.

The beaches around Noosa have been fishing well with the odd tailor in the close gutters. These fish will increase in numbers as the weather cools. The best tidal phase has been a run-in. First thing the morning is the better period.

With the early start to the season make sure you keep your pilchards small and on a rig of either three size 3/0 or three size 4/0 hooks. The eastern beaches have been fishing well for whiting, flathead and bream.

A few mulloway have shown up later in the evening. The best time to fish is before moonrise.

Live mullet have been the undoing of these great sports fish. There have been good catches of whiting between Mudjimba to north of Coolum with most fish taken on worms and peeled prawns on the run-out tide.

Dart are still chewing hard with the larger fish smashing pipis and flesh baits.

• Don’t forget to check into 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 and Tackle at Marcoola can provide you with the right equipment, bait and advice to ensure success!

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Ghost gear attributed to declining fish stocks There has been renewed calls for the world’s biggest seafood companies to do more to stop their lost fishing nets killing millions of fish every year.

An estimated 5-30% of the decline in some fish stocks can be attributed to ‘ghost gear’- abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, which can take up to 600 years to decompose.

The prevention of ghost gear is vital, as not only does it deplete fish stocks, it is also killing sea animals.

Every year more than 100,000 whales, dolphins, seals and turtles become entangled in ghost gear.

bottom of the ranking working hard to address this global issue in future years. Joining the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) is an important first step they can take.”

The GGGI is an alliance founded by World Animal Protection in 2015, dedicated to tackling the problem of ghost fishing gear at a global scale with practical solutions. GGGI participants from the fishing industry, the private sector, academia, governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations play a critical role to play to mitigate ghost gear locally, regionally and globally.

to remove, and reduce, the amount of ghost gear in our waters.

“By working together as industry members, we’re able to see the benefits across northern Australia of healthy oceans and healthy fisheries, sustainably managed into the future.”

The report further illustrates the need for the Australian Government to accelerate the introduction of its Threat Abatement Plan for the impacts of marine debris on Australian sea animals.

The draft Threat Abatement Plan contains a number of actions to address ghost gear in Australian

The Ghosts beneath the waves report ranks the 15 biggest seafood companies on their ability to address the problem of ghost gear; with tier 1 being the best and tier 5 the worst.

Only three of the 15 companies achieved ‘improver’ tier 3 status, including Thai Union, the owners of John West, a popular seafood brand in Australia.

Not one of the world’s biggest seafood companies achieved tier 1 or tier 2 status indicating there is a long way to go to address this deadly menace.

Worryingly, the report shows that 73% of assessed companies do not have a clear position on ghost fishing gear or publicly acknowledge the issue.

Ben Pearson of World Animal Protection, said: “Fishing gear is designed to catch and kill, and when it is lost or abandoned in the ocean it continues to do this, becoming the most harmful form of marine debris for sea animals.

“It’s heart-breaking to know that animals caught in this incredibly durable gear can suffer from debilitating wounds, suffocate or starve to death over a number of months.

“We hope to see the seafood companies at the

David Carter, CEO, Austral Fisheries – a member of the GGGI – said: “Austral remains committed to working with all parties to eliminate lost gear and reduce waste in our oceans. We have been strong supporters of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative since its inception and, as part of the Northern Prawn Fishery, we have been working with our industry peers, governments, Australian agencies and local groups in northern Australia

waters, but it is not clear when the Australian Government will finalise and release it, nor whether the specific actions will be funded.

Given ongoing inaction from global fishing companies, it is even more urgent that local actions are undertaken.

“It seems the government’s plans to protect Australian sea animals from ghost gear and other marine debris is a victim of entanglement in bureaucratic processes,” Mr Pearson said. – WAP

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47

The fish out wide have begun to really fire up HERVEY BAY

Dane Radosevic

As the saying goes, ‘when it rains, it pours.’ That has certainly been the case across the Fraser Coast region, which was hit with another lot of torrential rains during late February and early March. All of the major river systems experienced some minor flooding and the fresh water line pushed out as far as the southern end of Big Woody. This in turn had an impact on our local rivers and creeks that had started to fish well again. It isn’t all negative, however, as the mid to upper reaches of the bay have started to fire with the pelagic scene going mental. The wider offshore reefs are producing some great results.

schools of ravaging longtail tuna that are feeding hard on the masses of baitfish. Lure presentations are getting the results. Try 15-40g metal slugs and soft plastics rigged to 3/4oz 5/0 jigheads.

Schools of longtail are being located as far south as Coongul Creek, however the majority are up towards Wathumba Creek and under Station Hill. The flats between Wathumba Creek and Roonies Point have also been producing some trophy fish for anglers patient enough to stalk them as they move along the flats. They are responding best to stickbaits and soft plastics. Sharks have been an issue again this season and will track a boat for many kilometres. Once the sharks home in it’s best to move to a fresh school and limit the number of fish lost to these predators in an effort to

The author with one of the schoolsize yellowfin tuna that regularly migrate through the bay around Easter time.

If you are into blistering runs, screaming drags, bent rods, multiple hook-ups and total chaos, then Platypus Bay is where you need to be, as it is currently a pelagic fisher’s heaven. The entire bay is teaming with life from dive-bombing birds and large bait balls to schools upon

preserve this amazing fishery which we all enjoy.

One very successful technique for increasing your chances of landing fish – while avoiding the dreaded tax man – is to locate and target the smaller schools of longtail consisting of 4-5 fish, as these smaller schools

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Paul Mares with his PB trout caught tea-bagging a soft plastic over a patch of reef. are less likely to draw as much attention from the sharks. Mac tuna are in the mix and although they’re not a prized species compared to the longtail, they still go exceptionally hard and provide great sport. This action should continue for the next few months.

The action below the surface is also firing with schools of golden trevally and queenfish showing up in good numbers throughout areas such as Six-Mile Arch Cliffs and Platypus Bay on many of the rubble patches, small arties and wrecks.

It’s best to take the time and sound out the desired area, as the schools are often moving around. Once located a number of different techniques can be used; the 30-60g micro-jigs and soft plastics are proving very successful.

Nannygai are prevalent at this time of year in the same areas as above and can school up in large numbers.

Lure fishers will often cross paths with the smaller models while targeting pelagics. Anglers who put in the effort with fresh baits will be rewarded with good numbers of better fish, especially when fishing the dark periods.

The wider reefs are starting to fire up for the season and anglers have been rewarded with some quality species. Towards the top end of Fraser the Coral Patch, Roonies, Four-Mile and Nine-Mile are producing sweetlip, tuskfish, Moses perch, cod, nannygai, coral trout and Spanish mackerel in good numbers. These fish have been taken on a variety of dead and live baits and those persisting with lures have been experiencing some great results. These same areas are holding some large schools of yellowfin tuna that normally show up around this time of year and

hang around for a month or so before moving on. If you’re in the vicinity, keep a look out for these yellowfin, as they offer good sport and are incredibly tasty.

Venturing west to the central bay the southern and northern gutter systems are fishing well for the prized coral trout, with many anglers preferring to ‘teabag’ soft plastics and microjigs along and down the face of the ledges for good results.

Alternatively, live pike and yakkas fished along the face of the ledges at anchor have been producing good results too. Anglers fishing with dead baits may miss

have all been caught around areas holding the larger congregations of bait, and they can be a nuisance when they intercept your bait on its way to the bottom and you’re hoping for a reef species.

There have been varying reports from across the Break Sea on the eastern side of Fraser Island. The shallower reef systems have been providing the topwater addicts with some great fishing for both GTs and Spanish mackerel on both poppers and stickbaits. The best action has coincided with the larger tides.

Similar areas have also been producing good numbers of

considerably after what was an incredible 2017 season, however it is still producing some great fish with reports of 2-3 strikes most days.

As I mentioned, torrential rains towards the end of February and start of March sent the rivers into minor flood again, resulting in diminished fishing options in the rivers. On the bright side all the fresh has definitely stirred up the mud crabs and they have been on the move.

The better areas to work your pots are around the main river mouths and adjacent flats such as Booral flats.

Prawns are another added bonus of the rains we have endured as they have increased in size and numbers dramatically throughout the local rivers and the straits.

The Urangan Harbour is producing prawns for those willing to work for them and better numbers should continue for another month.

While our main rivers have been hard to fish due to the poor water quality and fresh in the systems over the past month, things have started to settle and the salt water has started to push back into the systems. The river mouths and adjacent flats are the best areas to focus on during the larger building tides, especially around deeper holes, rocky outcrops and headlands.

Threadfin salmon, grunter and barra have all been caught on a mixture of techniques, however the live

Zac Deppler was lucky enough to land this Spanish that ate a soft plastic while it was being cranked to the top. out on coral trout, however there have been good reports of mixed reef species with tuskfish, Moses perch, sweetlip, cod, nannygai and the odd red emperor caught on top of the flat country.

There has been an incredible amount of pelagic life out and around the gutters with schools of longtail, yellowfin and mac tuna all feeding together.

Mixed trevally species, Spanish mackerel and cobia

mixed reef species on soft plastics and fresh baits.

Heading wider to the shelf there have been some challenging currents to contend with, which is typical for this time of year.

For those with the gear, deep dropping has been quite successful with a mixture of flametail, bar cod, pearlies and snapper finding their way into the esky. The heavy tackle blue marlin fishery has slowed down

bait fishos have definitely had the upper hand with live prawns and poddy mullet working best. For the lure fishos, combating the dirtier water has been a little tricky and choosing the correct lure options has been critical.

Shallower diving hardbodies with a prominent action or rattle in gold, citrus, bright chartreuse and orange colours, and aggressively worked soft vibes have been drawing most of the bites.

After the flush of fresh water the straits have started to fish exceptionally well once again on both the island and mainland sides.

Threadfin salmon have been found patrolling the creeks and drain mouths on the run-out tide. Barra have been holding tight to structure such as lay down logs and rock bars and grunter have been schooling on the run-out tide in the main river channel on the gravel patches and flats adjacent to the creek mouths. The rock ledges and holes spread throughout the straits have been producing mixed reef species, mulloway and the odd golden snapper for those fishing with live pike or pencil squid.

It’s amazing to believe that our inshore reefs can withstand so much

pressure, yet still produce such quality mixed reef species so close to port.

The top of Big Woody, Channel Hole and Boges Hole have all been fishing well for sweetlip, blackall, cod, coral trout, blueys and the odd nannygai, with most anglers opting to use fresh dead baits. For the deeper wrecks and arties live baits are definitely worth gathering if you’re chasing a feed of cod or trout, as they can’t resist a well-presented pike. Soft plastics have also been very effective in green colours.

All in all, the fish throughout the bay and wider grounds have really started to fire exceptionally well. Most crews are returning to port at the end of a day’s fishing with sore arms and a sore back.

Logan Cumming with a stonker GT he popped while fishing the waters of Hervey Bay.

Bad weather won’t stop us RAINBOW BEACH

Ed Falconer

We have seen plenty of wind and rain lately, and we’ve only managed a few days offshore. Still, we’ve had great results.

Offshore, we have still had some great fishing lately, despite the weather conditions not being the kindest.

We have had pretty good mackerel fishing with both species – Spanish and spotties. Hardbody lures like the Halco Laser Pro have been the bomb on the Spanish and 40g metals are doing the trick on the spotties.

The other fish on the bite is tuskfish. There are plenty of these guys about, with bag-outs common. The best bait for them is squid. Snapper numbers are increasing with some good catches on the build-up to the full moon. I think we might have a good year on the snapper as the water temperature drops.

On the beach the water has cleaned up nicely. It’s pretty much weed free and good

whiting are an easy target.

For anglers using a mix of live worms and yabbies, a feed is guaranteed.

Last year April had very good fishing with big catches of pearl perch and snapper. All we need is nice weather conditions and I’m sure lots of fun is coming our way.

• To enjoy a day on the water with Keely Rose Fishing Charters phone Ed Falconer 0407 146 151 or visit www. keelyrosefishingcharters .com.au.

Harry was pleased with this nice Spanish mackerel.

There have been some decent snapper making an early appearance like these fish caught by Fiona and Steve.

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49

Cooler weather to get the barra chomping!

LAKE MONDURAN

Rob Howell

Winter is on the way and Mondy barra will come out to play!

The prominent wind through April comes from the south and southwest early in the mornings and then tends to swing to the southeast during the day and late afternoon.

These winds are fantastic

for early morning and late afternoon bite sessions.

Many anglers are under the popular belief that barra will not bite during these cooler months leading into winter, but I’m very confident in saying that this theory has been debunked and it has no place at Monduran. For the last 5-6 years, sessions through winter have been just as good as the warmer months, if not better.

The best places to fish in these windy conditions are points and bays from B up to Two Mile Creek on the Kolan River system.

Just remember to fish to the side where the wind is blowing, and then when the wind swings around you will need to move with it as it changes.

Where the weed is thick, suspending hardbodied lures have still been an

weed beds are broken and covered by a top layer of water and where there are a lot of lanes and alleyways to cast, weedless soft plastics or surface frogs are the go.

In other news the Sponsor A Barra team have organised a social weekend to be held on 6, 7 and 8 April. The aim of this weekend is to teach new and old anglers how to fish Lake Monduran.

On Friday afternoon from 6pm, we will be holding a sausage sizzle and I will be doing a talk session on rods and reels, leader size and mainline, where to find feeding barra and a whole lot more. There will also be a representative from Tackleworld Bundy to show you how to use side imaging sounders. If you come along to the meeting you will also go into a draw

Kayak fishing has been successful lately at Monduran. to win a Barra Starter Pack.

• Our team here at Lake Monduran look forward to seeing you in the near future for some barra action. For Charter, houseboat and accommodation bookings please contact us email

info@lakem.com.au or call us on (07) 4157 3881 or my mobile 0410 599 147. Check out my facebook page for up to date barra info, Lake Monduran Guidelines Fishing Charters.

Matt hooked this barra near Bird Bay in his kayak.

Call Jamie today to book your next trip Ph: 0407 434 446

outstanding performer.

These lures are best used by casting to or along the weed edges and retrieved with subtle twitches with a pause in between, or alternatively you can just slow roll them back to the boat. In other areas of the dam where the

Suspending jerkbaits in white colours have been working well.

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APRIL 2018

We have had a lot of rain of lately, which is great news for the rest of the year but is a bit of a pain at the moment. My tip is try to fish the incoming tides with the cleaner saltier water and move with the tide. Look for bait and prawns and make sure you put the crab pots in.

April is here and that means Easter is here, hooray!

It’s that time of the year when the boat gets dragged out after resting since the Christmas chaos. And of course you know where I am going with this already, it’s time to check your boat and your fishing gear.

The first check is the boat trailer – check the wheel bearings, tyres, lights and your winch wire. There is nothing amusing about sitting on the highway with cooked and collapsed wheel bearings or trying to explain to the boys in blue why you didn’t indicate while you pulled into Uncle Dan’s.

Tyres are self-explanatory if they aren’t legal or have sat in the one spot for a long time

in the sun they are a ticking time bomb waiting to explode.

A winch wire or strap doesn’t sound like if it failed it would be too dramatic, but if you’re trying to wind your boat on at the ramp with boats lined up waiting to get out and it snaps, you won’t be very popular.

Concerning the boat, the main culprit that can spoil the start of your day is your battery. Before you decide to just slip it on charge, check the water levels in the cells (if it is a lead acid battery). You can kill a battery if you whack it

on charge for the day and it’s bone dry or low on fluid.

Do yourself a favour and actually start your motor before you hit the water, especially if it hasn’t been started for months. It’s a good idea is to swap out the fuel that has been sitting in your tank for long periods, I use my boat regularly but use my reserve fuel in my mower to keep it turning over. If you have a steering system don’t wait until you’re being pushed off the trailer before you find out it is seized solid.

With a bit of preparation your fishing trip will be a lot more enjoyable this Easter holidays.

The other very important check is your safety gear, make sure you have enough lifejackets for everyone and check expiry dates on flares and EPIRBS. With Easter and school holidays giving most people an extra few days or weeks to get out on the water it’s also a good idea to check your fishing gear.

Reels are usually what causes the most swear words and frustration and, again, a quick test before you leave can save a trip to psychiatrist to deal with your anger issues. Check your rod guides to see if the lack of washing them down at Christmas has caused any guides to corrode off or have some lovely green abrasive build up. Anything metal that gets exposed to salt, and is neglected, will start to corrode and break down.

Fishing knives, terminal tackle, pliers and most of the other really handy stuff that makes for a good day on the water should all get thoroughly checked.

To my mind any extended opportunity to spend time on the water with friends and family is a great excuse to hit the tackle shops.

The top secret hotspot STANAGE BAY

Von Ireland

Visitors are very welcome at Stanage Bay, especially those who fish and crab the Thirsty Sounds, which is the huge estuary leading into the Herbert (renowned for how quickly the tide rushes in and out – now you see it now you don’t). The Herbert has always been well respected by professional fishers, as it is the nursery for muddies, barra and threadfin.

walked around, checking out the channels, rocks and sand bars.

With dusk approaching the mozzies start and turn their drone into a hum. It was time to erect the two man tent on the dry floor of the boat, climb in, zip up the door, lay back on the life jackets and wait for the tide to rise. We arrived back at the boat ramp at 1.30am after we got stuck at 12pm.

I have managed to check out most spots around Thirsty Sound in that kind of adventure, thus the estuary map for Stanage

had rainfall to block the road. The mud and grassed flats have caused the creeks to run fresh, however not enough falls in the Thirsty Sound or the Herbert to wash out the silt which has built up over the years. It is never a good sign for any creature living in the salt water, as all structure and ledges are filled over, and holes filled up with silt and sand.

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Alex Turner with a 76cm barra caught on a Prawnstar lure.

This area was closely guarded by the professional fishers when I first came to Stanage and now it is shared by all. The Herbet is a place for the bigger boats and a great place to explore. The other guarded area is Big Sandy – I can’t believe I said it! Now the secret is out there, and if I were to do estuary fishing adventure trips that’s where I would take any keen and willing fisher with adventure in their soul.

Big Sandy is made up of three major creek formations. They all run mostly dry, on most tides.

From experience, missing the tide by a little is all it takes. The first three times sitting up there in the dark were terrifying experiences.

Tony and I carry a two-man tent in the crabbing boat, a bottle of stones to warm the gizzard, health bars, UP&GO protein drinks and good water, along with the usual safety gear. Last time we were left high and dry, we simply got out and

Bay Region was created.

I sell them in the shop if anyone cares to add it to their safety kit.

Back to fishing, Jordon and Alex’s crew hooked three barra and landed one.

Unfortunately the next day they were slightly ill. They only managed to land one flathead and zero muddies, due to pots set in the run of the channels. They rolled because they weren’t tied.

One crew from Mackay couldn’t get a run with lures – either trolling or flicking – however with a few casts, they retrieved some small live mullet from a school. Finally the barra got excited and two were pulled in with several being missed, leaving the mullet scaled.

Usually after a small fresh and the big tides in the estuary, crustaceans and fish get on the move.

We just need more rainfall to create the fresh needed to make the fish cranky and hungry. Over the past couple of years we have

crabbing Stanage you need to forget how you have fished and crabbed elsewhere. Stanage is a totally different area and 80% of the people who come here will never return.

The road into Stanage Bay is good, with the creek crossings recently having puddles. Slow down at all grids; there is a small amount of corrugation and a few potholes forming.

The reef and islands have been resting periodically between the wind warnings.

Grassy sweetlip and tuskfish have been caught around the Duke Islands, Danger Shoal and Tynemouth Island with a favourite being Till Rock. Until next time, keep on fishing.

• Don’t miss out on the amazing fishing and crabbing at Stanage Bay! Call us at Stanage Bay Marine & Accommodation on (07) 4937 3145, check out www.stanagebay.com, email stanagebaymarine@ bigpond.com or look us up on Facebook.

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APRIL 2018

51

Offshore action in autumn GLADSTONE

Liam Jones

March hasn’t seen too much change from previous months. We had a little bit of rain and a few lows that threatened the Central Queensland coast, but nothing really eventuated. The rainfall we did have was enough to get Awoonga Dam spilling over the wall, but only by a few centimetres, so there’s little chance any fish escaped.

AWOONGA Speaking of Awoonga, how good is it to see it fishing so well? Catches of 6-10 fish in a session are not uncommon. Any point or bay with timber and weed is holding fish, and stand out lures have been suspending hardbodies in an 80-90mm size in the timbered areas, and Happy Rock Softies and Castaic 5” plastics have been working over the weed.

Cameron Gillet caught this solid nannygai on a recent jigging trip.

Try concentrating on the wind affected areas rather then trying to get away from the wind.

HARBOUR In the harbour, not too much has changed since last month. There are still good schools of barra holding over some of the deeper rock

Brandon Gillet with a nanny taken on a Yakamito Spirit jig.

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bars around Quoin, Tide and Turtle islands. Grunter have surprisingly not moved on as yet. All the usual spots in 10-15m of water are holding plenty of fish, especially coming in and out of both new and full moons.

Black jew have turned up thicker again, but only on the right tide and moon phase.

I prefer the incoming tide on the neaps, mainly for the fact that it is easier to fish.

As I have mentioned before, the difference between an ordinary session and insane session is definitely bait choice. Anything fresh is best. Cuttlefish heads, big squid or big fresh mullet slabs are the baits of choice.

OFFSHORE Offshore hasn’t had too much of a work out this month, with a consistent blow of 20+ knot winds.

There has been a few very small windows, where those lucky enough to line up days off with the break managed to get out.

I managed to sneak out during the week in one of the small windows for jigging session. Heading north, the idea was to jig some rubble ground that holds bait in hope of some largemouth nannygai. Once arriving at the spot, we sounded around for half hour trying to locate some bait schools holding larger fish. Once we found some, things looked promising on the sounder.

Much to our disappointment, we discovered they were plague proportions of trevally of all kinds, including tealeaf, bludger, golden trevally. They were inhaling every jig dropped to the bottom. I have no doubt there was some big nannies hanging amongst them, but the trevally were just too aggressive and beat them to the jig every time.

Although good fun and a great way to test out my new Nitro Hustler jig rod, it was time to start looking for something to put in the esky.

Another move further north and slightly east to some similar ground in slightly

deeper water proved to be worthwhile, with a steady flow of nannies, grassies and trout making their way into the esky. They weren’t the size we were looking for, but they were legal nonetheless.

After 10 or so fish made there way to the esky, it was time to call it a day before the strong afternoon northerly came in.

Stand out jigs for the trip were the Storm Koika 60g, Yakamito Rager 60g and Yakamito Spirit ,once again the 60g size. To say I was impressed with the Nitro jig stick is an understatement.

The sensitivity, feel in hand and the fact it had so much power for a little rod was amazing and is certainly money well spent!

INSHORE Mangrove jack have quietened up with all the fresh about, so the best bet is to head to the least affected systems like Yellow Patch, Keppel Creek and the top end of Curtis island.

Crabs have been surprisingly slow for this time of year, and with the amount of rain we have had, some systems are firing, but others have not. This probably has a lot to do with the amount of commercial pressure the region receives.

Throughout April, hopefully we can have some more constant weather as the cooler water species begin to turn up.

Expect threadfin to start appearing in bigger numbers and the grunter to move up the creeks.

Spanish mackerel should also start to pop up at all the usual haunts.

The author’s first striped marlin, caught off Jervis Bay. JERVIS BAY MARLIN I recently had the pleasure to fly down to Sydney and go fishing for marlin with Al McGlashan.

This is something I’d wanted to do for quiet some time. I’d caught little black marlin off Gladstone before, but never had the chance to tangle with 100kg plus models. Once I landed in Sydney, I met up with good mate from Western Australia Phil Gee and jumped in the car with Al. After hearing of hot bite down on the south coast out of Jervis Bay, it was decided we would head down there for the weekend in hope of some big striped marlin.

Arriving at JB we met up with Al’s mate Tom and four-

year old son Oliver. Having a four-year-old on the boat when chasing serious fish can sometimes be daunting and challenging, but young Oliver was like a seasoned pro! Not once did he complain, and he got out of the way when fish were on and knew more about fishing for striped marlin then I did!

Once on the water it wasn’t long before the first fish was on. Being the newbie to marlin fishing I was first on the rod. Long powerful runs and insane Arial leaps had the heart racing. The back an legs was aching and the forearms pumping. This was probably more to do with adrenalin then the actual fish! After half To page 53

Check out this close encounter with a lively stripped marlin boat side!

River running dirty ROCKHAMPTON

Clayton Nicholls clay94_fishing@live.com.au

As regular reporter Clayton Nicholls was unavailable, this month’s report was put together with the help of the guys at Barra Jacks in Rockhampton.

The Rockhampton region has experienced some huge downpours of late, muddying the river. This is good in the long-term, but makes fishing difficult and uncomfortable in the short-term.

From page 52

an hour or so of chasing and winding, the fish was boat side, unhooked and a quick photo of the fish being swum beside the boat was taken before it swam free to fight another day.

To say I was pumped was an understatement!

But what was to come would blow it all out of the water again!

After only 20 minutes it was fish on again. This time Phil was on the rod. Phil has

RIVER Since the rain fell out west over the last month, the river is brown and fresh, and it should stay that way for another 8-10 weeks. This is because the river catchment is so big, and all we can do is wait and try to find other areas to wet a line.

Having said that, there’s still plenty of places to fish, with many adjoining and adjacent systems offering cleaner environments to fish.

Port Alma is still looking good, with plenty fish and crabs still active. You can

expect barra, threadfin and grunter to be on the chew in April, and responding to a variety of baits and lures.

For those who want to fish the river, there are still fish in there, but you will need to concentrate on areas away from the main flow, and live baits will be about the only thing that will work.

ESTUARIES Corio Bay is fishing well, with the usual golden snapper (fingermark), barra, king threadfin and trevally all responding well to lures and baits.

boat side and I was on the leader. This fish was a little greener and decided to put on quiet a show for us. Hanging on for dear life this fish was jumping, turning and twisting but I wasn’t letting go! I could hear Al, Phil and tom laughing behind me. Much to their amusement, I finally had him swimming beside the boat where I unhooked him and set him free. If I thought catching them was a rush, having them launch at you boat side is something else!

straight out the back of the boat. This time I was a lot more composed and relaxed and enjoyed the fight a lot more. The fish was boated after only 15 or so minutes.

Two more fish were landed for the day and Al even jumped in the water to film one being landed.

This is certainly a day I will never forget and will certainly be back to do it all again in the near future!

Until next time, tight lines!

Coral trout should be available offshore this month.

Coorooman Creek, at Emu Park is much the same, and with this being the major estuary system north of the river, quite often fish from the Fitzroy seem to head into Coorooman Creek during big river floods. Needless to say, this is a great time to be fishing in Coorooman Creek.

The Causeway ‘run through’ has been worth a look recently, particularly during the larger tides.

LAGOONS The freshwater lagoons around Rocky tend to be fairly quiet at this time of year, but there’s still plenty of fish to be caught in them.

Barra to around 50cm have been getting caught by dedicated anglers in both the Woolwash and Yeppen lagoons. So if you want some fun early morning or in the afternoon, you should give these places a go. You only need light gear, and a small selection of soft plastics, hardbodies and topwater presentations.

OFFSHORE The offshore scene should go off this month, as Rocky has just come off a big blow, and was narrowly missed by a cyclone. All the wind means few have gotten out to fish offshore, and tat

also means the reef fish got a rest from angling pressure.

With plenty of bait out there, anglers should have good days on black jew, red and spangled emperor and coral trout.

That’s all for this month!

Remember to stay safe out there, and be patient as the river settles.

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One of five marlin caught on a recent trip with Al McGlashan. caught marlin before and plenty of them. Over in WA they have plenty of big blues and blacks, but not as many striped. You could tell Phil had caught them before as he was calm and composed!

After 20 minutes I was told I was on the leader duty!

After a quick demonstration of what to do the fish was

Now lines went back out, and short time later the first rigger goes off, then the second… then the dropper! Triple hook up!

Having three 100kg marlin all jumping within 20m of the boat is something else.

Tom and Phil’s decided to dance together and unhook each other while mine shot

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This year the bulk rains have started a little later than usual and this has had an effect on species movement through the various systems and Keppel Bay itself. The smaller flows have meant that king threadfin salmon, grunter and even barra have spent more time right down the river. There has been enough rain for the prawns and small crabs to move right along the river instead of being pushed out into the bay in a huge flood plume.

Port Alma is definitely the place to go for barra lately. The dirty main flow and the cleaner water of the bay have mixed creating numerous strong colour changes giving the baits and the predators cover and ambush spots. The deeper holes hold the bigger schools over the low tides and as the tides rise again the fish move out along the flats and banks.

Vibes continually out-fish just about everything else most times. However, paddle-tails and divers come into their own in deep structure and drains. The town reaches are still holding quality fish that will feed when the time is right. The bite periods seem to be reduced when the river is flowing fresh except when the localised rain has enough volume to push clean out of the gutters.

These spots draw in the barra in numbers as they line up to grab the critters that get washed out. Fluoro and dark lures work best in the dirty water while gold and natural colours do the damage in the cleaner water. Coorooman Creek and Corio have both been performing pretty well over the smaller tides.

I change tactics when the big tides are in full swing to take advantage of the bigger highs and lower lows. I usually sound the creeks looking for spots over the high. I look for areas that will drain down to holes along mangrove banks over the low. It is even better if two or three of these are close to each other. At spots like Corio you need to pick a low tide early in the day, because once you are locked into the back of the creeks it can take several hours before there is enough water to get out again.

We anchor the boat on one of the sand banks with a livey or two on rods in the rod holders. I take one rod for plastics, one for lures, a few lures and head out to cast at every feature along the deep bank. You learn a lot from these walks and often you find spots that can work on other tides. The real bonus is that you have whole sections of quality country to yourselves without tinnies screaming past

and shutting down the bite.

We usually start out targeting mangrove jack and barramundi but end up with bream, flathead and salmon as well. As I mentioned before, these trips take the majority of the day and the results can make the effort well worth the while. You also really need to keep an eye out for crocs when walking the banks in our local systems.

The big schools of whiting that run from the Delta up

spots. Port Alma, Connors Creek and the Causeway Lake are our other notable areas.

Some anglers use lures and I do sometimes, but baits are by far the best option for a good feed.

Herring, squid and cut flesh will do the job until someone brings out the prawns.

No bait is better than fresh or live prawns for grunter – both the estuarine and offshore models. I use them the way the old anglers rig them for bream.

Peel the shell off except the

while the schools of bigger baitfish are passing outside of the bay. Doggie mackerel started coming through in some numbers last month and should slowly build over the next month or so.

There have been some very big dogs landed at Barren and Greasy Alley. The odd spotted mackerel has been showing with the doggies and the rest of the schools will turn up during the month if the conditions give them a clean passage

Wade with a decent jobfish caught out wide. along the beaches of Rundles and Long Beach have spread further up the coast past Keppel Sands and Emu Park.

With any luck, spots like Mulambin and Kinka will have a bumper season after a couple of quiet years. Whiting work the leading edges of the tide, whether in the estuaries or on the beaches.

There are numerous yabby beds and soldier crab beds that provide plenty of food for the moving schools.

I have mentioned this many times over the years but people still complain about the lack of fish when they are fishing the beaches. Two rules make the difference. First, fish as light as you can and still keep your line in the water. Secondly, you need to work the extremely shallow water right at your feet. I see people trying to cast as far as they can and getting no results. They are fishing well past the fish that are in as little as 100mm.

Grunter are in fine form in most of the local estuary spots.

Though they haven’t reached bragging quality, a grunter from 1-3kg is a pretty decent eating-size fish. They have had some quiet periods this year and only just picked up again over the last full moon phase.

They are most active around four days either side of the full moon, although I get some of my better catches on the new moon (dark nights).

The estuaries with deep holes and rubble beds are the pick grunter locations.

Coorooman Creek near Wedges and Waterpark near the huts are two of the better creek

tail and run the hook through the tail and out the body at the stump end. I usually mash the heads up and use them for berley. On saying that, if the heads are big enough, I bag them for trout bait.

The pelagics have definitely been pushed out of the bay for the time being, until the clarity returns at least. Spaniards have been in pretty fair form since before Christmas and don’t look to be slowing any time soon.

We have landed them at all the wider patches and the headlands heading north.

There is an unusually high number at spots like Manifold and Perforated where an early start almost guarantees a bag limit.

The bigger baits and lures are the key at the moment

into the bay.

Reef fish are going strong around the islands and out wide. Largemouth nannygai, rosy jobfish, redthroat emperor, grassy sweetlip, cod and tuskfish are featuring in most of the reports. The rubble patches and bait grounds behind the islands should all have fish.

The trick is to get the tide as it slows down but not stopped at either change. If this coincides with sun-up or sun-down then you’ve given it the best show. Coral trout are firing right around the islands and shoal areas. Trout are usually slow to get to the bait if there are any pickers about.

We always put a soft bait and a firm bait together to make the bait last long enough for the bigger fish to move in.

Bryce Sutton with a small barramundi in the Fitzroy.

Anglers hoping for a calmer, late wet season MACKAY

Keith Day habdays@bigpond.net.au

It has been 12 months since cyclone Debbie smashed the Mackay/Whitsunday area and recently we have had plenty of low-pressure systems in the monsoon belt and a cyclone brewing in the Pacific. Hopefully we get plenty of rain without the destruction this time around.

So far the rain has been inconsistent and by early March the wet hadn’t really arrived but signs are good, which is hopeful for all anglers. The creeks will get their annual flush out and this will bring renewed bait and predator numbers into all systems. The wet severely limits offshore work, so most anglers during April will be looking to the creeks, estuaries and freshwater for some action.

There is always plenty on offer with the barra still chewing their heads off in all the hotspots. Anglers report hooking up to 10 barra a session and often in the one spot, which is pretty consistent fishing. I expect the barra hot bite will continue on through April, as it looks like our wet is again arriving later than usual.

One big surprise lately has been the amount and size of barra that has been caught in the Pioneer River right in the city. Plenty of 700-900mm barra are mooching around the highway bridge rocks, near

the old hospital bridge, and down at the V near the mouth.

Most of these larger fish have been caught on live mullet or whiting but the lure fishos have been doing pretty well at the rocks.

Towards the latter part of April concentrate your efforts for river barra at the highway bridge rocks with some large live baits. Although the rocks present a boating hazard, this area will sometimes fish spectacularly well of a night with barra patrolling the shadow line created by the bridge lights on both sides.

Other species likely to be caught this month include jacks, smaller golden snapper, trevally, queenies, tarpon and occasionally barracuda, which will work their way up to the bridge. It follows the old adage, ‘where there is bait, the predators won’t be far away.’

For the lure/fly angler, prawn imitations and articulated offerings will go down well here. The trick is to cast into the deep shadow and work the lure or fly down current to the shadow line and hang on! A 15kg barra is not unheard of here but the usual run of fish would be around 700-900mm, which is a nice salty barra.

The jacks have been a bit of a surprise during March and should be on the chew into April. Usually the best jack fishing is early to mid summer, but this season they have stayed on the chew. This is good news for anglers who

enjoy snag bashing or working the rock bars. Live baits and lures are both accounting for quality fish and this should be the case all month, although big floods will put the brakes on the jack fishing.

Recently, the creeks had a couple of minor flushes, which saw plenty of prawns and crabs keeping anglers happy.

Both crabs and prawns will likely taper off during April, depending on the amount of rain. If the creeks are running plenty of freshwater, check out the crab prospects out on the flats either side of the mouth of the creeks and you have a good chance of still picking up a couple of muddies or even a few blue swimmers.

April is a transition time moving into what we laughingly call a winter and most of our summer creek species are still on the chew.

Expect to catch plenty of king threadfin, blue salmon, flathead, whiting, pikey bream, and cod as well as the barra and jacks. All the creeks to the north and south of the city will fish well for the bread and butter species and most anglers are more than happy to score a feed of these tasty fish.

The NFZ is proving to have been a wonderful move with some of the best barra fishing for ages being experienced this summer. This bumper barra season will keep on keeping on through April but try to pick the days with calmer winds and smaller tides, as they will mean cleaner water and better

Working a Fuze plastic around the shallow rocks, Clinton Hassan was pleasantly surprised when this great jack smashed the lure boat side.

The Mackay area dams continue to attract plenty of attention with barra like this on offer. Photo courtesy of Paul Dolan. mobility around the low tide.

Seaforth is the centre of the NFZ and a check at the servo or the store will give you some current info and warnings about the likelihood of getting stranded on mud flats, which – I have been told by a couple of mates – is not a pleasant experience at all.

On the freshwater scene, MAFSA Inc. members have been busily stocking up the barra numbers in Kinchant, Teemburra and Eungella dams.

The average stocking size has been around 250mm and most of these fish will be legal size by next summer, so the dam anglers can look forward to continued world-class fishing.

The Pioneer River has also been ‘topped up’ with another 1000 tagged barra being released above the three weirs on the river. These tagged fish are starting to provide valuable data on the movements in the river and down into the saltwater reaches. A decent flood during April will likely see many of the previous barra tagged and released into the river move down into salty areas. That is a bonus for all anglers, as these fish will also supplement the wild barra stocks in and around the Pioneer River.

Recently there have been no more recorded captures of the peacock bass that caused such a furore over the last couple of months.

Electrofishing carried out

by Reef Catchments for Fisheries failed to turn up any peacocks, but did identify

small numbers of jungle perch in the river as well as plenty of barra around 700mm, so that’s a positive.

We know for a fact that there is at least one peacock in the river as the one that was spread on social media was returned to the water. Fisheries are conducting further monitoring with electrofishing and are said to be preparing a campaign to highlight the dangers and illegality of simply releasing any fish into any

Ryan Borg worked the snags along the bank in the background and nailed this ripper barra.

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waterway. All of MAFSA’s releases are conducted under a strict permit system, which has to be reported and reconciled annually with Fisheries.

While this report is largely about barra, as always Mackay has great variety to offer anglers, from worldclass freshwater fishing to the reef and we can cater for the specialist angler or the dangler.

Do yourself a favour and come and join us in paradise. See you at the ramp.

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Fishers look forward to the stable weather WHITSUNDAYS

Mick Underwood

With March out of the way, hopefully the last of our unstable weather will be out of the way as well. As we are not on town water out here at Hydeaway Bay, it’s good to see everybody’s tanks nice and full and our surrounding landscape lush and green.

It’s not only on land that we reap the benefits of quality rainfall – it’s out on the water as well.

All of our local estuary

the last couple of months by locals with cast nets have been astounding and great to see.

Outside of the estuaries it has been a bit of a mixed bag with regular runs of wet and windy days restricting when anglers have been able to get out and have a go. Those who have made it out have been rewarded with some nice catches. Good coral trout have been coming off the shallower reef systems and big nannygai have been coming in on boats who have ventured out to the Shoals. There have been plenty of schools of herring

to be out and about on the briny. We’re over the peak of the cyclone season, the southeasterly trade breezes should start to kick in, the ambient daytime temperatures will start to drop and the water temperatures will remain nice and high. We generally get a good bite from nearly all of our local species.

The barramundi will be moving off the rocky headlands and flats systems and back up to their haunts in the estuaries.

With the water temperatures still being up they’ll be nice and active, particularly on

Through autumn, flicking lures around isolated patches of weed and rubble will produce fish like this on a regular basis.

Everyone loves a coral trout and hopefully these fish will be daily fare over the next few weeks.

Rob’s GT isn’t a monster for its species but in 4m of water, on top of a jagged reef and on 12lb line, this was a nice catch. systems have had a good flush, which is nothing but good news for the prawn and crab fisheries. The quantity and quality of the prawns that have been caught over 58

APRIL 2018

hanging around the inner islands and off the back of that we’ve been enjoying some nice sportfishing for various tuna and trevally species.

April is a cool month

the bigger tides leading up to the full and new moons. The mangrove jack population will also be continuing to fire and if we’re lucky, a few blue salmon might make an appearance as well.

I’ve just recently added a new casting deck to Reel Addiction and can’t wait to chase a few of these guys with a fly rod. They might not be everyone’s favourite table fish but you can’t take anything away from them as a sport fish.

They’re an aggressive predator that just love to eat a wellpresented lure or fly and the way they can accelerate, jump and change direction in the blink of an eye makes them fun all day long. As an added bonus they’re never normally in ones or twos, when you find them, there are piles of them.

Getting out of the rivers and out into Edgecumbe Bay and around the inner islands there should be action aplenty.

The inshore fishing through this period of the year is typically dominated by big trout caught in the shallows and XOS inshore pelagics.

Most of the coral trout that I catch through this part of the year are on lures, especially the bigger fish. If anchored up then soft plastics and both soft and hard vibes will be good options.

When selecting which soft

plastic to use try and keep the size down, I generally use plastics in the 75-100mm size bracket. Another little tip is that I get a lot of fish at this time of the year on prawn imitations.

If I had to pick a favourite plastic it would definitely be the Gladiator Prawn in gold fleck. This thing looks nothing like a natural prawn but for some reason it has the ability to attract bites from trophy fish day after day.

When jigging your plastics on conventional jigheads in tight around jagged reef structure it can get expensive fast. A good option is to arm yourself with a few worm hooks and some small ball sinkers and rig weedless. I find this to be a much more economical option and I don’t have any problems with the bite to hook-up ratio.

The best time for this type of fishing is around the middle of the day, from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. When the sun is high the shadows cast off the bommies are shorter and this seems to encourage the trout to come out of their hidey holes to roam around.

We should all be able to enjoy some nice pelagic activity this month as well. As long as the bait schools hang around then both mac and longtail tuna should make an appearance as well as multiple species of trevally, in particular some big horse golden trevally.

As always the key to locating these fish is to locate the bait first. Once the bait is found match your lure size to the bait present on the day.

Through April the bait hanging around could vary from tiny little whitebait to large garfish. If you happen to locate some tuna, trevally and others feeding on small whitebait then consider using lures such as chrome slugs, small plastics and small poppers. On the other hand, if you find the fish feeding around schools of gar then it’s time to drag out a pencil popper or an appropriately sized stickbait or hardbody.

When the tuna are feeding on garfish another ploy that I have good success with is to troll 6-8” marlin pushers on light gear; you’d be surprised at how successful this can be.

To finish up, April and autumn in general are a great time of the year to enjoy being on the water, especially here in the beautiful Whitsundays.

You just know there’s a big fish biting out there with your name on it, so make sure you’re rigged up ready for the weekend, or chuck a sicky (sorry bosses) and get out there and have some fun.

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Prawn imitation plastics have been going off recently and should continue to be a good ploy this month.

Late wet season shuts down Burdekin fishing AYR

Steve Farmer

North Queensland’s muchanticipated wet season has finally arrived, with some areas deluged by well above average rainfall.

The end result for local anglers is that recently the Burdekin River has had a bank-to-bank run in it, lagoons and freshwater waterways are all flowing and the estuaries have been inundated by floodwaters.

The Burdekin Dam reached a peak of 2.6m above the spillway a few days ago, so fishing conditions in the Lower Burdekin aren’t expected to improve greatly in the short term. Hopefully this month conditions will have settled down and anglers will have enjoyed a relaxing, fun Easter weekend.

Mind you, Burdekin fishers had it pretty good over the past few months, with the lack of rain resulting in some excellent estuarine and inshore fishing conditions.

The number one species was of course barramundi.

However they must have been preoccupied by romantic urges – which were stymied

by the lack of rain – because they weren’t in a feeding frenzy. Most estuaries across the district produced a few small to medium-sized barra for hard-working anglers, but you certainly wouldn’t say the action was hot. Northern estuaries such as the Haughton River and Morriseys and Barratta creeks fished best.

Mangrove jack were the other staple of both lure flickers and bait fishers and they seemed a bit more fired up than the barra. In fact some quality jacks in the high 40s were taken, with Ocean and Hell Hole creeks featuring regularly in reports. Most estuaries produced a fish or two for persistent anglers.

This wasn’t the case for all anglers. My daughter Aimee and I lured the snaggy side-creeks and open sand flats of Ocean Creek one morning, and could only catch (and carefully release) undersized whiting and flathead.

Grunter are still featuring in the Burdekin fishing scene with fish to 70cm coming out of Bowling Green and Upstart bays. The Groper Creek and Burdekin River estuaries have been producing slightly smaller

but still quite respectable fish to around 60cm. In these same estuaries a prawn or yabby bait will be snapped up by the numerous smaller school grunter.

Bluewater anglers have also been pretty happy over the last couple of months with scattered weather windows allowing them to fish the shoals and reefs.

Most headed for the shoals are scoring pelagics such as trevally, cobia and tuna and mixed bags off the bottom, including prized table species such as red emperor, coral trout and largemouth nannygai.

The good conditions that allowed this rewarding fishing were wiped out by the recent rainfall, but Burdekin anglers are still scratching their piscatorial itch by luring for barra from the many easily accessible culverts, causeways, bridges and creek banks across the district. I haven’t heard any reports yet, but the floodwaters will have stirred up the barra and there are bound to be some impressive catches.

Many of these fish will be black lagoon barra and not much good on the table, so please snap a photo and

Queenfish are a likely catch during April. carefully release any you don’t plan to eat.

And a word of warning – barramundi isn’t worth getting drowned or bowled over by a vehicle, so please take care if you are fishing around flooded waterways or from roadways. You can’t see what is below the surface and drivers may not be able to see you fishing on the edge of the road in a low-level creek crossing.

APRIL FORECAST April is one of my

favourite months of the year.

Temperatures are coming down and the skies are (usually) clearing, making for some comfortable days on the water.

The other positive about April is that it is what I often refer to as a changeover month. Summer species such as barra and jacks are still fishing well and winter species like whiting, flathead, bream, queenfish and Spanish mackerel are beginning to move into our

local waters. Overall there’s a lot to look forward to this month.

By the time you read this Easter will be done and dusted – just. I hope you managed to make the most of the long weekend and score a fish or two.

We always like to hear about your catches over the past month, so if you would like to share your story in this column, please email your photos and information to scfarmer@bigpond.com.

APRIL 2018

59

Fishing set to improve after much-needed rain TOWNSVILLE

Dave Hodge

There’s an old expression that goes along the lines of ‘drought on land, drought at sea’ and it refers to the fact that there are so many species of crustaceans and fish that rely on a fresh flush, partially diluted salinity levels and the accompanying nutrients.

The rivers and waterways had silted and in some locations and become impassable at low

tracks that lead to the rivers locally. We found some great new spots that were once completely barren of life, but once the fresh subsides, will yield some terrific fishing methinks.

One spot was where the tide meets fresh, and as we drove close to the water’s edge it was obvious that the length of this river must have been sand, rock and gravel, because visibility was already over a metre.

Tannhym pulled a jack from the head of the rapids but that was it for that spot.

When the water’s a bit murky, try to add a little contrast to your presentations and see if this helps.

It certainly did on this recent day on the bay. tide before the wet. Yep, the flush was needed, but low and behold, there are people who have done nothing but complain since the much-needed rains have fallen. To those who were inconvenienced for around a week, I say harden up and look forward to the improved fishing caused by this long-awaited and desperately needed wet.

Big barra have been the talk of the town since the rains, and some stonking fish – many over the that incredible 120cm mark – have been landed and they’re not all freshwater ‘swamp donkeys’ either, as there have been some legit monster salties taken too.

Some of the phone pics I have seen are absolutely incredible.

The big tides will start to back off a bit this month and you’ll probably find that the barra will start to head back down towards the river mouths over the next couple of weeks.

Trolling the stretches of deeper channels should produce. Vibes are also a great option for these times, as they’ll often school towards and just out from the river mouths on the channels and ledges that – until the rains arrived – were void of snags.

The young fella and I didn’t even launch the boat on the weekend as the yard was too waterlogged to drive on, so we decided to go and check out some 60

APRIL 2018

though we never saw any the day were out, I’ll be looking very closely for the next week or two. It came as a bit of a surprise to me that the fresh hadn’t pushed the golden snapper out from the shallower spots as it normally does, and there are some nice fish sitting in the 5-8m mark.

I had a couple of new toys to play with that were right up the choppers’ alley, and stopped to have a look at some reliable spots on our way to greener pastures. I had one of the new Samurai Crostage Jigging rods in the PE 1-3 and some new 110mm vibes to trial too, so nearing the spot we dropped the electric and glided in on stealth mode to have a cast.

Jigging rods aren’t designed or renowned for their casting ability, but from around 30m I fired a cast to the mark and allowed it to sink into the danger zone. The first cast was quite illuminating, as I got used to the feel of the rod, and the action of the big vibe. On the second cast a nice chopper intercepted the lure at speed and put on a bit of a show until it was

To those who fish for nothing but the food, this is a stinking trevally. To a true sport fisher, though, this is one of the most honest, hardfighting and highly-regarded species in easy access to the smaller boaties. Matt Leavy was rightfully stoked with this fella on light gear. have been a real problem for everyone fishing offshore and it’s worth remembering that well-

impassable should open up again, and just watch and see how the water clears from here.

Fishing the shallows and flats lately has been another pretty spectacular scenario, and after our little initial taste of rain before the proper stuff, jelly prawns were abundant along the flats and around the creek mouths. This in turn attracted big schools of golden, tealeaf and giant trevally, which were all feeding in a big way. Two effective ways to target them are with fly and small plastics, and the light gear is a buzz on these schoolsized trevors.

The technique is so easy it’s not funny; all you need to be able to do is make long accurate casts and anticipate their direction of travel. Cast ahead of them and allow your lure to sink

before giving one or two twitches and then hang on!

Most times in the shallows I rig my lures on a 1/4oz jighead with a no.

1 or 2 hook, and 15-20lb leader is enough. Just be aware that after a few of these are captured and released the sharks almost always show up ready to capitalise on an easy, hooked feed.

My last session on the shallows was with good mate Matt Leavy, and was frantic to say the least. One after another we hooked, played out, landed and released many goldens before three sharks showed up in a metre and a half of water, the biggest going well over 3m.

FIELD MEDIC This may seem out of the blue, but I just want to touch on fish handling safety, as I’ve had a few mates getting pinned in recent days. One in particular required some pretty intense surgery to remove. If you’re a lure fisher then you should have a set of lip grips and some long-nosed pliers.

You don’t want your vulnerable pink bits getting pinned unexpectedly, and for anyone who hasn’t enjoyed the pleasures of involuntary piercing, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. While working at the Fishing Warehouse last week, a mate of mine was keen to bust that 120cm mark that most barra fishers dream of. With a few lures that were appropriate for the wakebait sort of presentation he was keen on, I put one aside for him to pick up that morning.

That evening he sent a pic of his seriously hooked wrist, and in the background you could see he wasn’t at home or by the water, but in hospital.

Surgery was obviously the only way to remove the To page 61

The perfect way to test the new Samurai Crostage – a decent chopper caught on the new 110mm Atomic Semi Hardz Vibes.

On the bigger tides and the lead up to the next full moon, this spot should fire.

It’s a great time to explore, but don’t get bogged.

With roads still closed and weather warnings still in place, good mate Ryan Tully and I headed down to the boat ramp to launch and expected the water to be filthy for many kilometres out. On the day it was glassed-out and still relatively clean.

Big logs and pads of hyacinth weed were floating around the bay and out past the island, and the first thing we thought of was triple-tails, and even

landed and photographed.

Just quietly, I think I’ve found a new favourite golden snapper outfit too, because it handled everything superbly.

Mackerel have also been another prolifically available species since the rains, and from what I hear, it’s a simple matter of looking for birds and you’ll be right. Obviously a good sounder is a mandatory piece of equipment, and a good side scan will really narrow the field down. A short length of 60lb single strand wire should be enough to beat the toothy brigade. Sharks

known marks have welltrained sharks, so look for somewhere lesser-known and you’ll be surprised how many fish you can land in comparison to the more frequented spots.

It’s pretty obvious that there will be some terrific new snags available in the near future once the fresh settles, and almost all river mouths have some pretty obvious new snags in the form of big trees. Don’t forget, idling around at low speed side scanning your open water up in the rivers themselves is also going to be a whole new ball game now. Channels that were

Rigged weedless, the 7” Halco Madeye Paddle Prawn will pull fish in the fresh or salt. They’re tough and work at minimal speeds, which is important if you’re going to get the most bites possible on tough days.

North Queensland anglers satisfied with storms HINCHINBROOK

Ryan Moody info@ryanmoodyfishing.com

One month can make a big change. One minute we were looking down the barrel of another failed wet season, the next we got major flooding. However, a lot of it isn’t from the traditional monsoon trough that we associate our wet seasons with.

Last month we saw one of the most vigorous and nasty coastal troughs I have seen in 20 years. The storms and rain areas were incredible and North Queensland was taken by surprise. But we are

certainly not complaining, even though it can throw a spanner in the works for barra fishing for the short term. It was great to see some really aggressive storms as we normally miss out on them up here.

Once the fresh settles we should see the barra move back into their traditional habits, which will make it easier for the average fisher to target them again. Recently they were doing their usual unpredictable movements.

It’s hard to explain. If you find it hard to catch them while these events are happening then maybe try different species or concentrate on the reef fishing for a while.

Glen with his recent PB barra at 103cm.

From page 60

solid 6X 2/0 treble, which had been jammed through a tendon and some other pretty important bits that you really don’t want damaged.

In the heat of the moment it’s pretty easy to rush the landing of the fish of a lifetime, and Jason had just hooked and successfully landed his biggest barra, but the experience will be

Things will return to normal during April, provided there are no more big rain events.

Many of our other estuary species will also be interrupted for a while too. Golden snapper have virtually vanished inshore and are best targeted around the offshore islands for the time being. They will return inshore in the coming few weeks. They will most likely be in the deeper reaches to start with then they’ll make their way to the shallower positions once all the fresh has gone. They are a good soft lure taker and also partial to live herring and small mullet, so they’re a great target for both lure and bait fishers all round. Night fishers will also see the squid return at the same time.

One species that doesn’t mind the fresh or change its habits too much is the mangrove jack, and they are very abundant at Hinchinbrook. Some of the captures in the upper reaches of small creeks are incredible. They will take a variety of smaller hardbodies and soft plastics. They are also fond of surface lures.

A smaller boat is sometimes required to reach the areas that fish the best and having a rod rack over the back of your boat will become a major hindrance, just like

Anglers are looking forward to the wonky holes flushing again. the amount of sand flies that you will run into, hence why this is one species I don’t target at all these days except for out on the headlands where some really large specimens hang out.

There aren’t a lot of offshore reports coming in but some of my wonky hole students have had some good success in the region. These areas should start flowing well again with all the fresh run-off and the riverbeds will be filling the paleochannels that run beneath them. This is

remembered for a whole lot of hurt, rather than what it should have been. If you don’t have a decent set of lip grips to control a fish and long-nosed pliers to distance your fingers, hands and wrists from the unexpected thrash of a fish’s head, bloody well get some! I’m not having a shot at my mate Jason, as I’ve been done myself and have had to remove hooks from mates many times, but

what creates the holes further offshore. The reef in general has not seen a lot of pressure lately due to the inclement weather, but the coming months should see both an improvement in fishing and conditions. The benefits of fishing wonky holes is that they are so close in many areas and you can race out and catch a few good fish and get home quickly before the storms but the reef can be a little more risky.

April fishing will depend on further late

rainfall. Hang in there if you are finding the fishing slow, as things will return to normal. The floodwater may make things difficult in the short term, but it is the lifeblood of our fisheries and in turn benefits us all.

• If you would like to book a charter or join our fishing community for some great fishing competitions etc, head on over to www. ryanmoodyfishing.com.

And you could also win a free charter drawn twice a year.

very well every time, so do some research before trying it.

I have no doubt that this technique is not sanctioned by doctors, but it has gotten us out of trouble many times. I know flattened barbs are a way of avoiding this, but this isn’t a piece to spark debate. I just thought it may be worth mentioning

if you don’t have a fish controlling technique or strong pain threshold.

You can actually see and feel the mood lift in the town amongst the fishing community since the rains, and it’s been a long-awaited event, so I think we all have the right to be a little excited. Good luck and get into ‘em.

In this situation, don’t even attempt to remove it. Just get yourself to the ED as quickly as possible. There are some pretty important bits in the wrist area.

If the author’s reel hadn’t self-destructed during the fight with this fella, he’d have caught many more on the day. Small prawn imitations won’t be knocked back by hungry goldens very often.

many of them could have been avoided.

Just a couple of days ago when Ryan and I were casting shallow reefs, a wayward cast resulted in Ryan being pinned by his own lure in the fleshy bit at the back of his tricep and shoulder. It wasn’t in a particularly important or dangerous bit, but there were three hooks all driven into the bend.

Once I got my breath back from our uncontrollable fits of laughter, I asked if he would like me to remove them for him, which he agreed may be best. Now, if you’re not familiar with the ‘braid

around the bend and reef like hell’ technique, then it may be worth learning, as I’ve been using this on people who aren’t hooked in high-risk and potentially dangerous areas.

I assume there would be videos on YouTube, but it’s simply a matter of disconnecting the lure from the hooks first, then wrapping braid around the bend of the hook, pushing the eye of the hook down towards the skin, and also back the opposite direction to the penetration angle and jerking it out in one clean motion. I have done this quite a few times on myself and others, and it’s worked

It wasn’t until the author and his mate could control their laughter that they settled down to business and removed this hook. Just research your technique before attempting it.

APRIL 2018

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Everything is on the chew in the wild north PORT DOUGLAS

Lynton Heffer www.fishingportdouglas.com.au

April is an important period on the fishing calendar in the tropics, as it is a crossover time that sees all desired species on the chew.

Officially, it is the very beginning of the dry season and the tail end of the wet season, but recent years suggest we’ll still see quite a bit of rain for a few more weeks. The full moon in particular is famous for a good downpour.

It is a busy period, especially with the Easter and school holidays combining at the start of the month, and there is a bit of a choice to be made for anglers.

Starting with the outer reef, the fish become revived as water temperatures start to fall and can come on the bite in solid numbers. Small and largemouth nannygai are notorious for doing so at this time of year and this month and next will see them at their greatest numbers for the year. All those deep marks on isolated patches and bommies that have been offering slim pickings over

the warmer months will start to fire up. Often you’ll pick up a variety of trevally and mackerel.

The mid to shallow waters will see the coral trout venture out from the depths and they should be a common catch from this point on. Red and spangled emperor will be found in a range of depths and, for some reason, there is normally always a surplus supply of juvenile red emperor on the go, particularly in the 20-25m depth. Other than this, reef mangrove jack start to turn up with more regularity and bread and butter species such as sweetlip, Moses perch and stripeys conveniently make up the numbers. Choose good weather with some run-in the tides and your fishing creel should be handy by the day’s end.

On the coast, the fishing has been quite good with a supply of bait in the area due to the rain. Nannygai breeding grounds are at fever pitch for those fishing off the bottom. Spanish, grey, doggy and spotted mackerel will turn up in more numbers helping themselves to the smorgasbord of bait. You’ll also find schools of trevally in on the action and mac

and longtail tuna can also be thick at times.

Jigs and slices seem to be the ideal all round solution to nailing your pelagic species.

Closer to home we’ve already witnessed an explosion of bait along the foreshore, including prawns, and this will continue for the next month. On those calm mornings with an incoming tide it can be all guns blazing with trevally, queenfish, tarpon, blue salmon and barra letting loose on the hapless bait supply. It has to seen to be believed – how a tranquil stretch of water can be turned into a boiling broth of activity. Live baits, soft plastics, small poppers and flies are all great options.

In the rivers and creeks there is action right through most systems, but the best action has been occurring at the entrances. There is a lot of bait backed up against the edges and everything at the moment has been there from big queenfish, barra, jacks and trevally. This current situation should continue to play out in the coming month with lures, poppers and live baits the preferred weapon of choice. The bigger incoming tides with nice clear water

Spanish mackerel are just one of many species tuning their engines for a run in April. are offering the best action.

There’s a lot to look forward to this month and

once again it will be dictated by the amount of rain that will fall. If it remains moderate,

the fishing will be simply awesome whatever road you decide to take.

The big wet turns the fishing into a new game CAIRNS

Garry Smith garrysmith@fishingmonthly.com.au

The big wet, which went to another level in early March, has really turned the fishing on its head. After the best wet in many years, Cairns anglers can look forward to some exciting fishing once the logs and the waters settle. Be very careful moving about this month, especially offshore, as the waters clear, and inshore,while the water is still dirty.

The logs, trees and general flotsam will be everywhere but will clear inshore at about the same rate as the water.

Offshore, it will take a lot longer, as the currents and winds gather and shift any floating debris.

I can recall working my way through kilometrewide areas of logs after previous big wets, well offshore from Cairns.

Once the waters start to clear – and that is very dependent on what follows the recent big dump – the fishing will light up. In the meantime, there are a few strategies that will help you find 62

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some action. Crabs and prawns will be on the move, so they should be prime targets; the crabs for the table and prawns for bait and eating. Crabs out the front of any estuary or inlet and gradually move back up the systems as the water clears.

The prawns will be around the front of Cairns Inlet, estuary mouths and adjacent beaches. Be crocwise, as a wet like this will really have them on the move. They have already been more active and visible than usual in the last few months and that will no doubt continue.

Perhaps they knew what was coming!

Barra love a good wet even more than most fish and they have had a splendid year, indeed. There was enough rain in late January to allow spawning without being harassed by nets and recreational anglers and this latest dump will have them spread out all over the place. Finding concentrations of barra will come down to locating concentrations of bait.

Run-off fishing could have run its course by now, depending on what comes in the way of follow-up rain.

Cairns Inlet will be one of

the first waterways to clear and with the added bonus of the Net Free Zone it is certainly a place for barra hunting. Look for gutters and drains holding prawns, mud herring, sardines and mullet, as the water drains with the tide. Provided the water temperature doesn’t take an early dive, barra and jacks should be very active this month. Match the hatch and fish with either live bait caught on-site or lures to match the bait on hand.

Bait fishos will do well to fish the clear water line, as it returns closer to shore and up the streams and inlets. Fish the top half of the rising tide and move with the clear water line if the fish go quiet. Landbased anglers should fish the beaches close to river and major creek mouths, on the last of the run-in and first of the run-out tide, as predators will be trying to poke back upstream, chasing the bait schools.

If there is no bait activity in your location, look for some in the area or at another location. Golden snapper will take a little longer to move back inshore but as soon as the water around the inner islands, reefs, wrecks and headlands starts to clear add them to

your target species.

Reef fishing will fire up as long as you are out in clear water and that could mean a lot of travel through treacherous log jams, so take care. Overnighting is just too dangerous in these conditions, so stick

to daylight fishing where you at least have a chance of spotting any floating hazards. It will really be a matter of trying different locations and depths until you locate feeding fish, as everything will have been turned on its head after such

big rainfall.

The positive of it all is that the short-term pain of disrupted fishing will be followed by an extended period of excellent fishing, as anglers reap the rewards of a big flush out of all our waterways.

Samir Moawad caught this barra on a Zerek Live Shrimp at Burrum Heads. It measured in at 101cm and was released.

Flush leads to red-hot fishing in the NFZ CAIRNS

Dan Kaggelis dkaggelis@gmail.com

Good rainfall has seen a much-needed flush of all the systems along the Trinity Net Free Zone, which has seen bait numbers explode and the fishing follow suit. While the creek waters ran dirty for a while making fishing tough, they eventually cleared up and the fishing was red-hot.

Speaking to anglers who fish the Cairns Inlet regularly, the numbers of large barramundi congregating has been an impressive sight. Finding the fish has been one thing, but getting them to bite has been a very different story, even when they are stacked up on the side scan like tins on a shelf. The key to the bite has been fishing those key tide change junctures and often the bite window

Jacks have been on the chew hard right along all creeks in the NFZ, especially after the water cleared up from the runoff rain. has been very small. When they have come on the bite the action has been thick and fast with some thumper fish coming on board.

Live baiters have been having the best luck.

A couple of live prawns flicking on the end of a lightly weighted hook are the best bait and rig option.

If you are like me and can’t stand catching bait, then vibe lures like the Reidy’s C-KAR Fish SnakZ are a very good option. The 20g model has been a real standout for me and has plenty of weight to get to the deeper spots where the barra are sitting around 5-6m.

The other lures worth a shot are the Zerek Live Prawn and Cherabin range.

With so many prawns around, these are an obvious choice. I love to have an assortment of all sizes when chasing barra.

This way you can move from small to large lure size if they are fussy and only feeding on certain size baits. We all know how fussy barra can be, so sometimes you must try that little bit harder. Fishing lures as slowly as possible seems to be the best technique now, especially when the fish are present and not switched on.

While the Inlet is holding good fish, so are the other systems with consistent catches still coming from the Barron River and Thomatis Creek.

I have seen some big queenfish continue to come from these systems, both from boats and land-based spots at the mouth, which is a positive sign.

The same can be said for the Yorkeys Knob area, and the rock walls continue to produce some thumping barramundi on live baits.

The key to these spots has been the water clarity;

The bull sharks have been taking a liking to the big barra being caught in the NFZ, so if you run into trouble, it’s best to change fishing spots. once it clears up the fish have been around in good numbers again.

I fished this spot the other day and found big numbers of blue salmon with a few barra thrown in.

It was great to see so much life in the area again.

One common thread being seen by many anglers is the shark activity, especially when getting onto a good patch of big barra. The bull sharks,

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especially in the inlet, seem to be hanging off these schools and aren’t afraid to have a chomp.

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Unsettled weather with consistent fishing LUCINDA

Jeff Wilton jeffwilton83@hotmail.com

Recently there has been rain falling non-stop and although it seems wrong to say this when you live in North Queensland, this hasn’t been a common occurrence for the last few years. Our major river system (the Herbert) has risen and had good flow for a few weeks now. This at least has pushed some freshwater through the hundreds of small feeder creeks that all run into the ocean.

This run-off pushes new life out and allows certain species to relocate and move up into the small creeks to feed and breed until the next wet season. It’s a cycle that everyone hopes will happen regularly, as the fishing that

can occur for the following few years can be terrific. The last month has had some great fishing on offer if you were keen enough to experience torrential rain followed by searing heat all in the same hour.

HINCHINBROOK CHANNEL It’s all about the mighty barramundi at the moment, as these fish are about in good numbers and with the rainfall we have had over the last month they should continue to be active. It has been a good sign lately, as there have been plenty of juvenile fish seen and caught both on bait and lures.

With the good weather that normally occurs during April, choosing a good tide change late in the afternoon should see you in with a good shot of tangling with some chrome.

I get sent plenty of emails from travelling fishos all

A classic Hinchy model – the barra have been around in good numbers recently.

These fish are great to look at and even better to eat. asking for spots to fish to catch barramundi. Anyone who has seen and fished Hinchinbrook knows there is plenty of water and it is very easy to get lost.

If you are spending too much time moving from spot to spot, you are not fishing enough, especially at the major bite periods. My answer to anyone chasing spots is to simply choose a stretch of island or mainland, or a creek, and fish it three hours before and after low tide.

Look for baitfish, which will normally be in the vicinity of drains or snags. If there is bait, there will be predators at some stage. The drains and spots that you throw a cast net for bait are actually great spots to fish for barramundi. Setting up some live baits to swim around the front of those drains as the first few hours of the incoming tide pushes in should get some attention. Anglers

throwing lures and plastics should silently drift around and make plenty of casts.

Plenty of jacks are active as always, especially with the rainfall we have had. Some good tidal run up those small creeks with some humidity and storms brewing up always gets them snapping. Smaller boats should push right up to the tops of the creeks and locate some deep gutters with lots of structure. Small plastics rigged weedless to help swim through snags will attract attention. Stopping these red devils can be very difficult as their speed and dirty-fighting techniques mean you have to be on your game or it’s all over in seconds.

JETTY, ISLANDS AND REEF It has been a great run of epic weather over the last few months and hopefully this will continue. There

have been some week-long windows of variable 5-10 knot winds and plenty of boats have been running out to the reef and getting right into the trout and nannygai.

The great run of coral trout captures has been amazing and it seems that most boats have been able to get bag limits easily.

It’s the nannygai fishing that has been mind-blowing lately; the closer spots out in the shipping channel during the night have been loaded with nannies. Drift fishing or dropping anchor and waiting for the fish to bite is great fun and should always mean you come home with lots of delicious red fish in the esky.

The jetty has been firing and my hands still shake after my last session where I got destroyed over six times by big GT all crunching poppers and angrily ripping me through the pylons in an instant. If

sportfishing is something you love, then I recommend getting up here to have ago at the Lucinda sugar loader. It’s 6km of fish attracting structure that is subject to strong tidal currents and holds big schools of baitfish. It’s the perfect recipe for predatory fish.

The only downside of the jetty is it can become very expensive when the fish are playing dirty, which is normally the way it plays out. A good quality sounder is worth every dollar when it comes to all fishing applications, but for fishing the jetty it can mean saving a lot of time in searching for fish. If you can find the bait schools, you will find the predators – it’s that simple.

They may not be actively feeding when you find them but sooner or later they will, so get serious around tide changes and times of low light such as sunrise or sunset.

Jacks love this unsettled weather.

Freshwater and a fresh green season ahead CAPE YORK

Tim O’Reilly wildrivercompany@gmail.com

With recent heavy falls in defined areas of Cape York, April should be well placed to fire on almost all fishing fronts. With water temperatures dropping slightly, we can expect pelagic fish circulating wide in the bays and gulfs of Cape York to begin converging on inshore bait schools around river mouths and near-shore reef areas.

The plumes of freshwater pumping out of western cape rivers will begin to see a reversal as tides begin winning the tug-of-war. Finding the point where tidal push meets freshwater backing up the river can be a magic way of locating barramundi in good numbers.

April could easily see a continuation of the monsoonal trough across the far north, and this will dictate wet or dry conditions dominating most of the Cape York and Torres Strait conditions. Cyclones 64

APRIL 2018

have been notably absent recently, so let’s not be in the least surprised to see a late flurry in April.

Upheaval is a constant friend of fishers with an eye on future stocks and conditions. Fresh snags, fresh structure, new sand bars and ever-evolving river mouths are actually to the benefit of fish and fishers willing to adapt to these conditions.

As a fishing guide the question of favourite fishing spots comes up over and over.

This might work between one moon phase and the next, however it rarely works between one wet season and the next or one year and the next. This applies particularly to rivers where change as simple as sand or snag relocation can dramatically change the fishing.

Rock bars and reef points are notable exceptions that can typically be relied upon to supply similar fishing depending on tidal and lunar circumstances. Bait concentrations will be the ultimate factor deciding the species and numbers on offer.

Matching the bait with your own presentation will decide the outcome.

relevant after the wet season when fish are willing to throw caution to the wind to ensure they don’t miss out.

Nothing beats the freshness of April – swamps and billabongs brimming with life, wildlife dispersed, green plains and little rivulets running off into rivers.

Everything is standing up alive. Fish are ready and willing to eat if given half a chance.

• For information on remote charter operations for tailored fishing adventures, please email Tim on wildrivercompany @gmail.com

Coral trout are suckers for flash and scent.

Fishing either side of the neap tides in most Cape York creeks will be a real pleasure in April. Supercharged with nutrients and bait, predators such as mangrove jack, tarpon, barramundi, queenfish and blue salmon will be riding the tidal verges. Having some tidal run – not too much – and concentrating on changes in tide will be keys to success.

Sounders will help find deeper structure on the verges of current and backwater areas just out of the main flow.

Casting deeper diving lures, vibes and weighted plastics will help divide barramundi from structure and at times repeated casts will be needed to entice the strike.

Modern devices may at times be responsible for separating anglers from fish.

Be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking no fish on the sounder means no fish in the area. At times a hooked barramundi will bring other fish swarming into the area to investigate. This is particularly

Queenfish will be showing up in creek mouths.

Anglers take on the storms for good fishing COOKTOWN

Paul Prokopuk

With spectacular lightning shows, grumbles of thunder of an evening and sporadic sudden downpours of up to 100mm, you would think this would be keeping the Cooktown anglers in the comfort of their homes, but throw in days at a time of under 10knot winds and you will see the boat ramp full with anglers heading out to battle the torrential rain and dodge the rolling storms to get a feed of fish.

heat, some anglers have had to work harder than others.

While some of the usual spots have been hard work, anglers who have put in the time to find where the fish are have been rewarded with some quality catches.

Those fishing the deeper water have been having more success with some good hauls of red emperor and nannygai filling the esky.

Trout are still around in good numbers; again fishing a little deeper than usual has proven more successful with these tasty fish. Spanish mackerel have

Trent Kirk with a big red caught on light gear.

The author with a barra that he caught working a Samaki Rattle Snake Shad around a snag.

Being blessed with flat conditions doesn’t always mean being blessed with a good haul. Apart from fishing in the blistering

been hit or miss; if you haven’t been having any luck on the troll, unweighted live bait will do the trick.

The southeast trade winds

will be beginning to make their mark this month, so make the most of the good weather on the reefs now, as it won’t be long before Cooktown’s breeze begins to increase to what feels like a constant category one cyclone rating throughout the winter.

As for river fishing, some good catches have been reported from the wharf recently. Simply send down a live bait around the pylons and wait. Landing big fish around the wharf

can be an issue around the many oyster-covered pylons. If you have a boat, then head up any of the rivers and work the snags with lures, soft plastics or live baits for barramundi and jacks.

If you want something different, try fishing the mouth of the Bloomfield River during the wet. There will be lots of freshwater coming down that short river system at this time of year. Therefore, the bait will most likely be

congregating down in the salt near the mouth of the river. Barrumundi, grunter, estuary cod, juvenile GTs, golden trevally and queenies can be expected on the end of your line when fishing these areas.

The Bloomfield River fishes well and it has a sealed road all the way in, which means easy towing for boaties and there are some great places to camp as well (when it’s not bucketing down).

A flush out of these river systems will also see our headlands fire up with some golden snapper. Don’t forget to drop a few crab pots while you’re out fishing some the river systems, because the big muddies are starting to move around with the storms bringing freshwater flushes into the estuaries.

Lucas Giese caught this lovely largemouth and put the adults to shame.

End of the wet brings options WEIPA

Mark Bargenquast

Finally the rains have eased off to intermittent storms and the occasional heavy shower, and the fishing is going off! Even with an average wet season, the run-off has really stirred things up.

Inshore salmon, barra, grunter and tarpon have been very active as the jelly prawn masses have begun

to appear along the coast.

When the predators are feeding on jelly prawns it can be hard to tempt a bite, but small offerings do better.

Fly fishers do extremely well here compared to the spin anglers due to the smaller flies they cast around. White clousers are the best choice and catch everything.

The Mission River has been fishing well for barra, threadies and grunter, especially around the Mission Bridge. As usual,

bull sharks are a nuisance, so be careful. There are also plenty of queenfish taking surface lures and a few smaller tevally.

Offshore the fishing has been awesome – big brassy trevally, GTs, queenfish, Spaniards and tuna have been easy to catch on lures, especially around Duyfken Point and down towards Pere Head. The beacons have had a few as well, with big schools congregating under the boat blacking out the sounder

There have been lots of tripletails caught on floating structure.

and anything dropped over the side gets eaten instantly.

Once again, bull sharks have been a real nuisance, they’re everywhere right down the East Coast and their numbers are definitely increasing every year.

The reef fishing has been good with big tuskies, golden snapper, trout, reds, and sweetlip in decent numbers. This is possibly due to the rain, as the prawns are everywhere.

Many of the catches are full of banana prawns when caught and plastics are doing extremely well.

I recently ran wide of Thud Point and found quite a few floating logs on a current line. Every log was full of rainbow runners, leatherjackets and tripletails, with schools of up to 30 on each log. It was an amazing day with 30+ tripletails landed on lures, all sight-fished.

There has been a few longtail and mac tuna right into the river mouth, with the odd big Spaniard in there too on high tide. Big Spaniards don’t have ciguatera up here and are great eating.

Luke with an impressive 125cm black jew caught at night.

APRIL 2018

65

Northern Junior

Pelagics are back on the chew this autumn WEIPA

Jackson Bargenquast

The wet is coming to an end and the fresh levels in the ocean have started to decrease. This has resulted in a bloom of fish activity and many species, especially the pelagics, are back on the chew. This should result in some hot sessions over the next few months.

a lot, however there is a lot of floating debris around out wide. Finding this drifting structure is a key in catching one of the West Coast’s most famous fish, the elusive and very hard-fighting tripletail.

These footballs of solid muscle are second only to barramundi. Often they will ever-so-slowly swim towards presented lures or baits following for several minutes before they finally either smash

surely know it – these fish can pull like steam trains and put up some awesome acrobatics.

I was lucky enough to encounter a good-sized tripletail of around 8lb on a recent trip out wide and managed to land the beast on a 9wt fly rod. Nicholas Stock was not so lucky and hooked a tripletail around twice the weight of mine on a plastic and a bait caster only to have the hook pull after a couple

There have been a lot of pelagics around lately.

There are a few mahimahi and tripletail hanging around floating structure at this time of the year.

With the floodwaters beginning to recede the fresh levels and turbidity out wide have dropped quite

ϱ 66

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the presentation or, much to the angler’s chagrin, turn away Nonetheless, if a hook is set into a tripletail, the angler will

of minutes.

These unique fish are not the only ones to frequent floating debris, with many

other species such as juvenile highfin amberjack, rainbow runner, mahimahi and cobia regular candidates as well. Always keep an eye out for floating structure when heading out wide, as it may be worth your time.

Apart from this annual event, there are still constant schools of pelagic predators cruising the gulf, such as Spaniards, longtails, mac tuna and trevally. These fish will be around for a few months to come. The reefs are still producing black

jewfish and a few goodsized golden snapper are beginning to show up. The tuskies are still around in force and they are doing what they do best – busting off hooks and burying lines into the reef.

It has been a pretty quiet season for barramundi, but this is possibly due to the amount of pressure the fish have received over the closed spawning season. Nonetheless, these spectacular predators are still sneaking around and

any angler willing to put in the time will surely succeed in capturing these chrome slabs.

There are a few jacks and threadfin salmon hanging around the river mouths due to the flush and they will begin to migrate back up the rivers with the fresh receding, so anglers wishing to catch them better get a move on.

Good luck to all anglers over the upcoming weeks and remember to think like a fish!

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Politics and fishing

Recreational fisher unity is the way forward WEIPA

Dave Donald

We recreational fishers are a diverse lot. Our specific interests are often dictated by where we live or the type of fishing we prefer.

Queensland features a massive coastline that extends over sub tropical and tropical environments, which means that favourite species can vary quite significantly from south to north. Add into that mix freshwater rivers and dams, inshore, reef and game plus the more technical fishing methods like fly fishing versus merely soaking a bait somewhere, and it’s not hard to appreciate that that the act of ‘catching a fish’ means many different things to those who opt to wet a line somewhere.

That means that our priorities regarding what most concerns us in relation to deficiencies in Fisheries management can change quite markedly depending on the species and techniques each of us favour. Those who like flicking lures around the estuaries of the north for barramundi, jacks and salmon may feel they have very little in common with anglers who walk the beaches of the South East chasing whiting, flathead

and bream. Similarly, game fishers trolling for marlin on the outer Barrier Reef would find it difficult to appreciate a crew in a small tinnie doing the same thing with large bibbed lures in a muddy river way out west.

But to those who make the rules, recreational fishers are a single entity, lumped into the same basket with ‘one size fits all’ regulations. This view is not about to change anytime soon, so it is vitally important that any representation on our behalf involves fishers who take a comprehensive approach rather than just pushing their own individual agendas. Presenting a unified voice to the mooted fisheries reforms that are currently being developed will get the best results on our behalf, so care must be taken to avoid any open conflict between competing groups.

There have already been rumblings of disagreement with stricter bag limits under consideration, particularly from the association representing light gear fishing clubs. Like many South East Queenslanders of my vintage, I cut my fishing teeth armed with an estuary rod and Alvey reel and started fishing this club scene but soon became disillusioned with their focus on landing large numbers of fish, many of which were not

fit for consumption by the time they reached the weigh master.

Those heady days of cricket score catches are long gone and club anglers are now encouraged to have much more respect for the fish they catch. That hasn’t halted the continuing decline in stocks, not only in their target species but in ALL species Queensland-wide.

If Queensland Fisheries are to achieve their goal of restoring our entire fishery to a minimum of 60% of original stock levels then ALL participants, whether they be commercial or recreational, will have to step up to plate and do their bit!

And that means ALL recreational fishers will have to be prepared to help out by observing stricter bag limits!

Cuts to the recreational sector will be supported by an even bigger hatchet job on the commercial side so the reforms are definitely not one-sided. The sooner the argy bargy within and between sectors gets sorted, the sooner the hard work on the new regulations can begin. There will be no improvement in the status of our ever-declining fish stocks (and the prospect of increasing bag limits) until the new regime has been established for some time.

Interestingly, there is a large proportion of recreational

fishers for whom bag limits are not really an issue. They opt to release many of the fish they catch and take home merely enough for their immediate family needs. This movement away from the traditional ‘kill & grill’ philosophy from yonks ago started with the growth of the sportfishing movement in the 1970s, but really came into general acceptance around the turn of the century. The real movers and shakers in these changes came via writer education from publications like the one you are reading.

This trend has yet to be properly recognised by the traditional media, as well as within political circles. Even our Fisheries departments have been slow to accept that there is an army of recreational fishers out there who want to look after their local patch as well as showing more respect for the fish they catch. This includes initiatives such as, killing any fish retained for the table humanely and quickly then storing them on ice until processed. Taking care to carefully release those excess to requirements and undersized completes the process. This ‘new wave’ of behaviour fits very effectively into the Fisheries reform model.

In spite of the deficiencies in Fisheries management, Queensland hosts the most successful fish tagging project

in the entire world with well over 1.2 million individuals wearing a hunk of numbered plastic. Almost all of these fish have been tagged by recreational fishers, a voluntary effort that would have cost vast sums of money if carried out by government agencies.

This enormous database is still being developed as new ways of mining the information are developed.

I’ve been a charter fishing guide for more than 30 years, most of that on Cape York Peninsula. Again, the general perception of going on a paid fishing trip is to catch as many fish as possible, then taking them all home as part of the deal. This may still be the case in many of the vessels servicing the offshore waters in the south of the state and on the Great Barrier Reef, but such expectations are definitely not encouraged in more northern areas or in game fishing circles.

The 15+ vessels and motherships currently operating out of Weipa, for instance, usually retain fish for the table while parties are staying in accommodation but most other captures are released. Dining on freshly caught sashimi or pan-seared fillets is very much part of the modern day charter scene and make the overall experience much more memorable.

From experience, good food on a fishing charter trip is just as important as the actual fishing, even more so if the bites are a bit slow in coming.

Some operators do allow clients to take a small parcel of frozen fillets home with them, but new airline baggage costs and restrictions put a stop to large boxes a couple of years ago. Similarly, the number of parties who drive to the Cape looking to fill large freezers have dwindled markedly in recent seasons ,mainly due to the fact that their often antisocial activities and greedy attitudes are no longer accepted by visitors and locals alike. It’s ironic that these ‘old hands’ are the ones who whinge loudest about the fishing not being as good as it was 20 years ago, but have been a significant contributor to that actually happening!

So yeah, we rec fishers are a motley crew but overall, attitudes are changing markedly. By all means get vocal about the state of our fisheries, but don’t do so unless you are prepared to be part of the solution. The Fisheries Review hopefully gives us a chance to change things. Let’s not waste the opportunity by living in the past. Only a positive, united approach will ultimately lead to fishery enhancement.

FISHING NEWS

Putting a number on Australian white shark populations Looking for brothers and sisters among juvenile white sharks has provided the final pieces of information needed to estimate the size of populations in Australian waters.

Australia has two white shark populations, an eastern population ranging east of Wilson’s Promontory, Victoria, to central Queensland and across to New Zealand, and a southwestern population ranging west of Wilson’s Promontory to northwestern Western Australia.

CSIRO research indicates that there are about 750 adults in the eastern Australasian white shark population (with a range from 470-1030), and about double that number in the southern-western population.

The research also reveals the total number of white sharks in the eastern population is 5460, with a potential range between 2909 and 12,802.

The total population could not be calculated for the southwestern population.

This research has also provided important details on adult survival rates, 68

APRIL 2018

which were very high in the eastern population, in the range of 90% and above.

This means that for 100 sharks alive this year, 90 would be expected to be alive next year.

For the southwestern population, the 2017 estimate is 1460 adult white sharks with a range of 760 and 2250.

The adult survival rate is also estimated at above 90%.

Until now, information about adult white sharks has been elusive, because adults are very difficult to sample, particularly on the east coast.

Thanks to a breakthrough in genetic and statistical methods, this problem has now been solved.

The breakthrough means scientists have been able to estimate adult shark numbers without having to catch or even see any adult white sharks. Instead, they located the tell-tale marks of the parents in the DNA collected from juveniles.

For the eastern population, researchers analysed DNA from 214 juveniles to find the genetic marks of both parents.

More than 70 individuals were found to share a parent, and this number has a statistical relationship to the total size of the adult population.

“The chances of any two juveniles in a population sharing a parent depends on how many adults are around to share the job of reproduction,” lead author of the paper, Dr Richard Hillary of CSIRO said.

“In a small population, more juveniles share a parent than in a large population, and vice versa.

“And as more juveniles are sampled over time, the parental marks we detect also reveal patterns of adult survival, which we determined to be greater than 90% in the east.

“We found many cases of parents (both male and female) that apparently had survived 20 or more years between the births of their children.”

In the southwestern population, DNA samples were collected from 175 sub-adult and young adult males from Geraldton in WA to western Victoria.

From these 175 samples, 27 were found to be half-sibling pairs (shared one parent).

A total population estimate has not yet been compiled for the southernwestern population because direct estimates of juvenile survival rates (a crucial piece of information obtained by tagging a relatively high number of juvenile sharks) are not available.

Adult populations for both the eastern and southwestern populations were estimated to have been stable since the onset of white shark protection (at the end of the 1990s).

This is consistent with the long time it would take for the effects of the various control programs and levels of fishing that existed pre-protection (which focused mostly on juveniles) to flow through to the adult population.

Sharks take 12-15 years to become mature adults, so we wouldn’t expect to see the effect on the adult population of that reduction in juvenile shark mortality until the next few years.

Estimating the trend in total population size for both populations requires continued teamwork, sampling and analysis, using methods and institutional relationships developed in this project.

“Now that we have a starting point, we can repeat the exercise over time and

build a total population trend, to see whether the numbers are going up or down,” Dr Hillary said.

“This is crucial to developing effective policy outcomes that balance the sometimes conflicting aims of conservation initiatives and human-shark interaction risk management.”

Details of the research methods and sampling, in the context of the eastern Australasian white shark population, have been published in Scientific Reports.

A report detailing further research and providing the latest population estimates has also been published by the National Environmental Science Program’s Marine Biodiversity Hub. This work was undertaken for the National Environmental Science Program Marine Biodiversity Hub, an Australian Government initiative to provide information and understanding to support biodiversity management and conservation in the marine environment, with support from collaborators in New South Wales, Western Australia, and South Australia. – CSIRO

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Big wet lead up to April TOOWOOMBA

Jason Ehrlich fishability1@bigpond.com

Wet weather has hit Queensland hard for the past couple of weeks, which has flooded some of the lake catchments. Keep this in mind as further rain will see more lakes overflowing, and any notable rise with dirty water running into a lake can change the fishing dramatically.

It’s not all bad news as some running water and rising lake levels can actually be a trigger for fish to feed.

Freshly flooded ground gives fish new territory to explore and hunt for food. Terrestrial critters are suddenly on the menu and smaller baitfish move up on flooded ground to forage in big numbers.

Running water is another source of excitement. As water moves along, it creates ambush spots where predators can move to nail a feed of smaller fish that are attracted by the water movement. Cod, golden perch and barramundi are all fond of some moving water. Waterfalls, creeks or even a raging gully can all be spots worth closer investigation.

Sometimes, the water entering a lake can be filthy so work the dirty water line where it meets clear water.

This is prime hunting territory for predators as they can take advantage of the murky water.

Here they hide and simply pounce when a smaller fish moves past on the edge of the dirty water line.

Below the lakes, the water is often clear after big rain, even when the dams

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND CRESSBROOK CLOSEST TOWN: CROWS NEST Cressbrook Dam remains closed due

to the outbreak of bluegreen algae. It has now been closed for a whole month and the current state can be monitored on the

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overflow. If your favourite spot is filthy, keep this in mind as accessing the water below the spillway will often present much clearer water.

These areas receive less runoff than what is likely to enter further downstream on the same system. If water enters from the lake above, it is often clearer than any flood water entering the top end of the lake.

Stay safe after any big rain as it does present new hazards.

Lakes often close for several days after any significant weather event but there is still the chance of floating debris when they reopen. Below the dam walls, be wary of water releases from above and the fishing exclusion zones, which are in place above and below the wall.

Until next month, buckled rods from The Colonel!

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Weipa

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Toowoomba

BRISBANE

IMPOUNDMENT DAM

When the dam does reopen, the fishing should be red hot for the first few days.

When the fish haven’t touched or seen or heard a boat for over a month, they tend to drop their guard. Look for schooling fish around the points near the boat ramp and campgrounds. Also investigate the Eagles Nest rock wall point and the flats on the southern bank just past the rock wall.

Heavier lures will be suited to casting for quality bass. Tail spinners, spoons and 1/2oz rigged plastics are all worth a go. Keep a close eye on when it reopens, it will be well worth a visit.

For all your fishing

Gold Coast

22

24 1 Tinaroo Falls Dam 2 Peter Faust Dam 3 Burdekin Falls Dam 4 Eungella Dam 5 Teemburra Dam 6 Kinchant Dam 7 Cania Dam 8 Lake Monduran 9 Isis Balancing Storage 10 Wuruma Dam 11 Lenthalls Dam 12 Boondooma Dam 13 Bjelke-Petersen Dam 14 Lake MacDonald 15 Gordonbrook Dam 16 Borumba Dam 17 Somerset Dam 18 Wivenhoe Dam 19 Pindari Dam 20 Copeton Dam 21 Moogerah Dam 22 Maroon Dam 23 Leslie Dam 24 Connolly Dam 25 Coolmunda Dam 26 Clarrie Hall Dam (NSW) 27 Hinze Dam 28 Lake Cressbrook 29 Callide Dam 30 Lake Awoonga 31 Lake Samsonvale 32 Fairbairn Dam 33 Koombooloomba Dam 34 Cooby Dam

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Toowoomba Regional Council website. This rainy weather probably won’t help; a cooler change is what is going to roll the algae outbreak and see us fishing there again.

Nigel Middleton loves the chrome blue Gang Banger spoon. It’s the goto lure for quite a few anglers when Somerset bass refuse to play.

Gympie

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Cairns 1

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Townsville 2

3 4

Proserpine 6 Mackay

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Rockhampton

Emerald 29 7

10

Highlighted dams are covered in this issue

Gladstone

30 8

Bundaberg 9

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Maryborough

Roma

supplies and the latest reports on Cressbrook and the surrounding dams, call in to see Fish’n’Bits in Alderley Street. They have a great range of lures and fishing gear. The staff can sort you out with the right gear and give you some tips on where to find them.

Just remember there is a speed limit of 8 knots and a restricted area at Cressbrook Dam. Check out the signage to ensure you stay out of trouble and abide by the rules.

SOMERSET CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, KILCOY Somerset had a good flush of freshwater come in at the end of February.

BRISBANE

This excess water was immediately released into Wivenhoe and it is expected any further inflows will receive the same treatment. What this tends to do is draw the floodwater that enters at the top end towards the dam wall faster and in turn make the lake dirtier.

Currently, the water from Kirkleigh north is dirty and the main basin of the lake around the schooling bass is coloured but not too dirty for luring. A couple of weeks after such an event can actually see the fish turn on so stay To page 71

WATER STORAGE LEVELS Dam............................ % Full

        

DAMS Atkinson Awoonga Bjelke-Petersen Boondooma Borumba Burdekin Falls Callide Cania Clarendon Cooby Coolmunda

JAN FEB MAR 15 11 14 99 97 98 19 17 17 43 41 42 100 99 102 73 74 106 82 80 80 98 97 99 4 3 4 50 47 47 67 58 50

Dam............................ % Full           

Copeton Cressbrook Dyer/Bill Gunn Eungella Fairbairn Glenlyon Hinze Julius Kinchant Koombooloomba Leslie Macdonald

37 30 29 59 58 57 9 4 9 93 92 92 28 25 27 68 59 57 100 99 103 72 71 70 62 56 62 19 42 92 11 11 10 99 99 105

Dam............................ % Full           

Maroon 98 97 100 Monduran/Fred Haigh 102 100 103 Moogerah 89 87 90 North Pine/Samsonvale 75 73 89 Peter Faust/Proserpine 68 67 69 Pindari 81 63 60 Somerset 77 76 77 Teemburra 92 90 91 Tinaroo 36 38 48 Toonumbar 100 100 102 Wivenhoe 71 69 77 Wuruma 100 98 101

For fortnightly updates on Sunwater dams visit www.sunwater.com.au This symbol indicates that a Stocked Impoundment Permit is required to fish these dams.

All figures are % readings Current as of 13/03/18

(All levels correct at time of going to press. Dam levels can change at any time, so please check with local authorities to ensure safe boating and fishing.)

70

APRIL 2018

From page 70

tuned, they may be going nuts right now.

Fishing the edges won’t be that great as no new ground has been flooded yet, but keep an eye out for flooded grasses and you will know if the level has risen. When at least a couple of metres of grass gets flooded, spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits worked around the lake’s edges will be worth a try.

It’s a huge lake to explore when doing this so stick to the middle reaches close to the schooling fish or near the change in water colour.

The first round of the Bass Nation series was held on the lake around the middle of March so make sure you check the reports on this event to see how and where the fish were caught.

Big schools of bass have been hovering around the Pelican Point area. The outside of the shallower points and humps (6-10m) seem to hold fish best and they move around between the northern, eastern and southern sides of the point. Some fish have also moved to adjacent points on the opposite side of the river channel.

SUNSHINE COAST REGION MACDONALD CLOSEST TOWNS: TEWANTIN, NOOSA A bit of rain and running water has fired up the bass. Fishing the weed edges with spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits is a good way to search for active fish after the rain.

Up the back of the dam has been a good spot to try after the water ran in.

Any further rain events will

see the water flowing in again so look for the flow and the active fish won’t be far away.

Any increase in level will see the water cover the top of the existing weed beds and grassy banks.

These areas can be explored with topwater lures early and late in the day. Lighter spinnerbaits and beetle spin rigged soft plastics are great throughout the day if there

DARLING DOWNS GRANITE BELT REGION COOBY CLOSEST TOWNS: HIGHFIELDS, TOOWOOMBA A bit of rain about may help to stir the golden perch up. The fish have been quiet for the last couple of months but some reports early last month indicated there were a few on the move again. Trolling the weed edges with 3-5m diving lures has been the way to interest the fish. Lipless crankbaits slow trolled along the weed edges can also be very effective.

Don’t expect big numbers when trolling. A good session is around half a dozen fish for this time of year.

Bait fishing outside the weed edges in 6-8m of water can produce better numbers of fish. Golden perch and eel-tailed catfish are most common.

Live shrimp and frozen saltwater yabbies are ideal baits. Worms can work at times but seem to tempt more catfish, spangled perch and sometimes a silver perch. The water straight out from the boat ramp and down to the sail club shed is a good spot to try.

From the bank, bait fishing is best down towards the wall. Cars can turn left at the entry gates to the dam and follow the track to the car park. From here it is a short walk to the steeper banks along the rock wall. Anywhere after the big bay will fish

well from the shore. Here the bank is steeper and you are able to throw out over the top of the weed beds that hinder shore-based fishing elsewhere. For all your bait, hooks and sinkers call into Craig’s Home Hardware in Highfields.

Cooby D a m ’s proximity to Highfields and Toowoomba makes it a very popular fishery. If you are looking for somewhere close to home to drop the boat or kayak in Cooby is definitely worth a visit.

The dam hours are now 6am until 8pm. Remember, no outboard motors are allowed to be used on the dam. The concrete boat ramp is on a shallow angle when the dam is full and can be slippery in places but a big electric powered boat can still be launched with care. Outboard motors can be left on the boat but must not be used.

LESLIE CLOSEST TOWN: WARWICK The fishing at Leslie Dam has been surprisingly slow for this time of year.

The golden perch have been hard to tempt with very few anglers reaching double figures in a session.

Trolling deeper diving lures up the old riverbed will see you in the right spot. Plenty of fish are showing up on the sounder in over 7m of water. Mixed in with the goldens have been a few smaller Murray cod.

Dropping a live shrimp or saltwater yabby into these fish can also fool a

The Insight Genesis/CMaps which show lake contours are perfect for narrowing down your search. I highlight the depth of interest to a brighter colour and concentrate on searching these spots. They will be particularly handy if bass move towards the wall into less familiar water.

This happened the last time the dam had a good inflow.

Big schools made their way to the mouth of Beams Creek and up as far as Poly Pipe Point (which is over halfway back to the Spit).

As for catching fish, it is still hard to beat

spoons and jigs. Lures weighing 20g have been most successful. The Gang Banger 20g spoon in chrome blue, blue or white has been a standout. Other days, lures like the 20g Halco Twisty and Palms Slow Blatt will excel.

When the fish are on the job, jigging these lures will account for bites. If the action is slow, a slow retrieve is all that is needed to get better results. Six to ten winds and then a drop back to the bottom over and over again will eventually see one latch on. Fish close to the bottom

can also respond well to a repeated slow draw to hop the lure off the bottom.

Trolling the schools with deep diving hardbodies should fool a few fish. Lures like the 50mm Poltergeist Crazy Deep and Blitz Baga are ideal. Use your outboard for hardbodies and let the extra speed drive those lures as deep as possible. Slow trolling with an electric motor at about 2km/h is a good way to fool fish with tail spinners. The Jets and Smak ranges are ideal for this as they are able

to reach the fish even when they are holding at 10m deep. Just be sure to run light braided lines (4-8lb) to present the lures deep enough.

Somerset Fishing has moved the tackle van up the hill closer to the campground. Look for them inside the day area up near the toilet block above the boat ramp. The staff will be there from Friday to Sunday. Not only do they have the right gear, they can steer you in the right direction as they always know where the fish are schooled up.

is over a metre of water flooding the vegetation.

Davos in Noosaville is just a short drive away and they carry all the right lures to use on the lake. Check in with them to see if they have heard the latest news on how the lake is fishing.

BORUMBA CLOSEST TOWNS: IMBIL, NOOSA Despite flowing over in February and receiving even more rain since, the dam has recovered quickly and

fish are still being caught.

Bass are quite scattered, making it hard to find and catch big numbers. Saratoga have been found up both the Kingham and Yabba arms. Look for the cleaner water for luring them.

Sometimes the clearer water can actually be further up in the arms. When the floodwaters recede, the water running into the dam clears up. Surface lures are a lot of fun if the toga are prepared to rise and

take them. If the action on them is slow, switch to subsurface presentations like beetle spin plastics and spinnerbaits.

Bass will be found on the points in the main basin, up around Borumba Flat and the start of the timber at the Junction.

These fish will fall for the usual offerings like soft plastics, blades, spoons and tail spinners. Up in the timbered arms around the edges, try working the

banks with spinnerbaits and lipless crankbaits. The big inflow will have them pretty scattered but explore all options and you should find some action.

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.

few, and for some reason they are pretty steady.

This is the most successful method at present with afternoon sessions producing most fish.

On the lure casting scene, soft vibes and blades hopped in the deeper water are seeing the most action.

While the goldens have been slow, a few cod are still being taken using this approach.

Along with getting a fishing report, stock up on all your gear while at Warwick Outdoor and Sports at 115 Palmerin Street Warwick. For a small store, it carries a great range at a very competitive price. Warwick is only a 10 minute drive from the dam and you can pick up any supplies you might need.

COOLMUNDA CLOSEST TOWN: INGLEWOOD The fishing at Coolmunda has been steady. The golden perch have been pretty slow this season but the Murray cod have kept things interesting.

Trolling the old creek and riverbed edges is a good way to hook a few goldens.

Lures that can dive to around 5m deep are ideal.

The No.2 StumpJumper and 80mm Poltergeist are great options. These bigger profiled lures seem to perform better than smaller offerings, plus if a big old bucket-mouth Murray cod is on patrol they are more likely to draw a response.

In the timber, spinnerbaits cast around the trees and sunken laydowns are the way to To page 72

Murray cod are definitely worth chasing at Coolmunda.

Big spinnerbaits fished through the timber are hard to beat. Adam Krautz, the ‘Coolmunda King’, has been doing it a bit tough, but when the fish choose to bite you can still manage several in a session.

Gary’s Marine Centre

3201 6232

217 Pine Mountain Road, BRASSALL APRIL 2018

71

From page 71

fool the Murray cod.

Big spinnerbaits like the Bassman Codman and Sudsy’s are perfect for the job. I like the heavier ones around 1oz as they can be fished faster to cover more water looking for an active fish. Coolmunda’s cod vary in size from undersized to well over a metre long, so gear up for the encounter with a big one. Run at least 20lb braid and 40lb leader so you stand a better chance in the timber.

The Coolmunda Caravan Park is only around 1km away from the lake. The park is just off the Cunningham Highway but far enough away from the noise of trucks to get a good night’s sleep.

It offers camping sites, cabins, caravan facilities, tennis courts, a swimming pool, BBQ shelter and a camp kitchen. The park now has an extra two new wheelchair-friendly cabins to add to their older ones. Camping is also available near the boat ramp with toilets and hot showers to make your stay more comfortable. To take advantage of this and the great fishing opportunities in the lake and the river below, give the park a call on (07) 4652 4171.

WIDE BAY AND SOUTH BURNETT REGION BOONDOOMA CLOSEST TOWNS: PROSTON, KINGAROY With only a slight rise in level last month, there has been plenty of action at Boondooma with both bass and golden perch taking lures. At the wall end of the lake, suspended fish can be found in the deep water around the dam wall. Often these fish will concentrate out from the first few points as you head away from the wall. Casting spoons has been a good way to tempt them. A trolled lure like a spinnerbait or hardbody will also see some action, provided you present it at the same depth as the fish.

Further up the lake, bass and golden perch have been found around Liesuregangs Ledge, The Barbers Pole and the Junction.

Casting and trolling 5/8oz spinnerbaits seems to be the best way to get them interested. The fish are likely to be out from the edges and suspended, so place the lure in front of them and you will be rewarded. Smaller profile spinnerbaits are definitely the best. If you are lucky enough to have a new styled spybait or spinbait type lure, rig it on a beetle

spin and fish it just the same as a spinnerbait. The results will blow you away.

Boondooma is a great place to camp right near the water and sit by the fire while enjoying the view. You could also stay in more style and comfort by booking into one of the cabins overlooking the dam. The kiosk at the main office does hot food and other basic items including an excellent range of fishing tackle.

For campsites, cabins and bunkhouse rooms call (07) 4168 9694.

BJELKE-PETERSEN CLOSEST TOWNS: MURGON, GOOMERI The dam had a small rise last month after some storm rain but still has a long way to go to fill.

During the rise, the bass went nuts in the main basin. Look for these fish out from the boat ramps in the deeper water of the old creek. The gun lures at a competition held last month were the Berkley 3” Gulp Minnow Grub or Jigging Grub. Rigged on 3/8oz heads these lures can be fished just like a standard paddle-tail plastic with great results.

The schooling bass can

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also respond well to 1/4oz blades, tail spinners and smaller profile spoons.

Most fish are just a bit over the 30cm legal size with some of the better specimens over 40cm.

Trolling spinnerbaits

be discoloured.

For help catching Bjelke and Boondooma fish, call into Bass 2 Barra. The store stocks an awesome range of gear suited to chasing our freshwater fish and the boys have all the knowledge

last month. Schools were found up in the middle reaches of the timber. These fish were keen to take spoons and soft plastics with plenty around 40cm long and some pushing 50cm. Soft plastics were

Ian Ryan and John Raiser found a patch of Boyne River barra in the thick lilies not far from Pikes Crossing below Awoonga Dam wall. Plastic frogs rigged on weedless Owner Beast Hooks were the standout lure. and hardbodies up the old creek will also be effective.

Stick to the deeper water and the adjacent drop-offs and the fish won’t be too far away. Out in front of the wineries, between the boat ramps and over near the quarry, will be places worth a troll while the level remains low.

There’s no need to venture up to the top of the dam to catch fish but if you are chasing some redclaw, they should be on the move after the rain. Place pots in 3-5m of water and scatter them around to try and locate better numbers.

Take care up the top of the dam as the lake is still shallow and the water will

to guide you on how to use it. You’ll find the stores at 119 Youngman Street, Kingaroy. Matthew Mott also runs fishing charters on the dams and you can reach him through the store for bookings and enquiries on (07) 4162 7555.

The Yallakool kiosk is all set up with a great range of tackle if you don’t happen to have the right lure or lose one. Be sure to call in and check it out. Give them a call for accommodation and camping bookings on (07) 4168 4746.

CANIA CLOSEST TOWNS: MONTO, BILOELA Ridiculous numbers of bass were caught at Cania

definitely the standout and needed to be fished higher in the water column.

The schooling bass were comfortable suspending at 3-5m deep.

At this depth, the bass are easy targets with trolled lures. You could work out how to troll a soft plastic at the same depth as fish are holding for good results or stick to easier lures maintain this depth like spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits and hardbodies.

Keep an eye on the lake level as the dam is still quite full and a good downpour could see it spill. If things stay the same, it will be the place to visit before the cold of winter kicks in.

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l Events Room l Bird Feeding l Jumping Pillows l Pools & Water Park Complex l Outdoor Movies l Bettongs l Wine Tasting l Tennis Court l Open Fires l Self Drive 4WD Trips tion Major Annual Fishing Competi l Camp Oven Dinner er emb Nov in d ken wee 2nd on the l Morning Tea l Challenging nine hole golf course l Plenty of Red Claw n Creek 5 kms from our carava Situated on the Three Moon ts. attraction to our touris park Lake Cania is a very big n d dams in Qld, and has bee It is one of the top 4 stocke ga. ato Bass, Yellow Belly and Sar stocked with fish including ation holds its...

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Ed Wright had a sensational session at Lake Borumba recently, catching several decent bass, including this 45cm specimen, and his first-ever saratoga, which measured at 67cm! info@caniagorge.com.au

CAPRICORN REGION AWOONGA CLOSEST TOWNS: BENARABY, GLADSTONE The barra have been a bit hit and miss with the changes in weather. During the warmer periods when the weather patterns are stable, the smaller class of fish are easy to find and catch.

Suspending hardbodies fished around the treetops

find these bordered by trees outside the weed you are in prime territory. Heavier soft plastics fished outside the weed and through these trees are a good way to fool the fish. I saw a report of good numbers of smaller barra caught on Happy Rock soft plastics rigged on Owner Flashy Swim Beast Hooks.

The good old Slick Rig in the 130mm size is also a good

running water concentrated the bait and the barra were quick to follow. These fish are 60-90cm long and, when they are on, you can expect to land double figures. When the water stops running, things return to normal. The fish are still there but more spread out and harder to fool.

Mark from Awoonga Gateway Lodge has a few productive secret spots he’s always willing to share.

The Gateway Lodge is on the way into the dam after

The most solid and brightest returns on the Simrad down image belong to small barra in Awoonga Dam. Once you find them, you are almost there.

Change lures and techniques to see what they want on the day.

This typical Awoonga barra was caught by Ian Ryan on a black and gold Slick Rig 130. The lure was heavily modified to improve the action and had an aftermarket jighead inserted. are a great way to entice these fish. The deep trees in the main basin are a good spot to toss divers that reach 3m. Use a long pause and twitching retrieve.

Around the edges of the lake, look for healthy weed and lilies. If you can

option but make sure you give it some treatment to make it swim better. Heat the tail wrist or trim it down a bit to improve the tail action when the lure is slowly wound.

The dam trickled over last month and stirred the fish up below in Pikes Crossing. The

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

open areas and when they are higher in the water column; casting hardbodies can also work.

The dam has missed the rain so far but it is possible it will receive some after I write this. If rain hits the lake causing runoff, the whole scenario will change.

The fish will quickly move to any of the feeder creeks or the main river. The running water can really fire things up and the fish will take surface lures, plastics and shallow diving hardbodies.

If you are new to the lake, it can take a bit to get your head around fishing it. I highly recommend a fishing charter with Lindsay Dobe.

This will let you see firsthand how and where to target the lake’s barra. It is a big area of water to search for fish in and once you enter the forest of dead trees, it gets very confusing for the uninitiated.

For all your fishing supplies or a guided trip on the lake call Lindsay or Dane at Barra World on (07) 4945 4641. Lindsay’s Barra Tours have been busy, so book ahead. You won’t be disappointed as he often delivers the goods and always shares a wealth of knowledge.

The store is on the highway in Proserpine and specialises in barra fishing tackle. You can also keep up-to-date by visiting their Barra World Facebook page.

WHITSUNDAY REGION PETER FAUST CLOSEST TOWNS: PROSERPINE, AIRLIE BEACH The barra have been holding in big schools at Proserpine Dam. Up in the timber, these fish can be found in 5-30m of water.

Often they will be in the old creek channels or along the edges of them. Humps in close proximity to the creeks are definitely worth close investigation. Fishing success definitely depends on locating these schooling fish. Once found they can be caught on big slowly wound soft plastics and hard and soft vibes. Trolling hardbodies is a good option in the more

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73

Big brawler bass and yellows are on the bite SOMERSET DAM

Matthew Taylor

Over the past month the big bass have been on the bite at Somerset Dam, with reports of fish caught reaching more than 50cm.

example, recently the schooling bass at Pelican Point were reacting well to most spoons, including 20g Halco Twisties, 20g Hotbite Gangbangers, Palms Slow Blatt spoons, Maria Mucho Lucirs and Nories Wasaby spoons.

Ava Wilson is learning the ropes of bass fishing at a young age. This fish could not resist a silver Palms Slow Blatt spoon.

Fishing has been tough, particularly during the mornings, however as the day progresses this generally improves. Keying into what the fish want has been very difficult lately, as the lure of choice for the fish is changing weekly if not daily.

Over the past few weeks deep water spinnerbaits, blades, tailspinners, and spoons have all been very successful. There have been very few instances where the fish have been biting on two lure types at the same time. To better your chances of discovering what the fish want faster, keep an eye on reports leading up to your next trip or go through your box until you discover what the fish are after.

Commonly, the bite at one end of the dam has been different to the bite at the other end. For

Whereas the schooling fish at Kirkleigh were reacting well to blades, namely 1/2oz Little Max and Fish Arrow blades.

Other lures like Jackall Mask Vibes and soft plastics are also worth a try. Hotbite Jets tailspinners have also picked up their fair share of bass, particularly in the Kirkleigh area. Reportedly the John Deer and bluegill colours have been the most successful. Try popular colour combinations of silver, white, purple, white and blue, silver and blue, purple and white, and olive and white.

Most of the schooling bass located on the northern side of Pelican Point seem larger than at Kirkleigh.

The most productive spot regarding big fish has been Brads Bank with a large amount of 50cm fish caught from this area.

There are also rumoured to be schools at Bay 13 and Queen Street.

Bass pro Dean Silvester said to continually move between spots onto fresh

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fish to increase your chances at catching fish.

“Understanding where the fish are positioned, in the vertical water column

bass have opted to try their luck at the golden perch by vertically jigging Ecogear ZX40s. The dark knight colour has been a go-to option. However, mix up your colours, you could be surprised by the results.

• During your next trip to the lake, make sure you drop in and see the friendly staff at Somerset Fishing Tackle. Located in the Lake Somerset Holiday Park, they have a huge range of competitively priced fishing tackle. Now stocking an assortment of Accu Cull products, along with new releases from Jackall, they

have everything to suit your bass and yellowbelly needs. Be sure to like their Facebook page @ SomersetFishing and check them out online at www. somersetfishing.com.au.

Between September and April, gates open at 5.30am and close at 6.30pm. There are two main boat ramps available for use: one located at the Spit and the other at the Lake Somerset Holiday Park.

To see more from Matt, you can find him on Instagram (@matthew____ taylor) and Facebook (@ matthewtaylorfishing).

It’s tailspinner time – Jesse Rowe caught these two cracking bass slow rolling an 18g Jets tailspinner.

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Jig, jig, jig – bang! The Ecogear ZX40 is a go-to yellowbelly lure that rarely disappoints anglers.

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and on a horizontal basis, is super important. Fish have been positioned the entire way around the outside edges of points. I was able to follow the drop off and catch fish almost every cast as I worked my way around targeting new fish the entire way,” Dean said.

Drifting across schools has also been effective.

While yellowbelly are being quiet, the most effective way to target them is by trolling. Try using Smak Golden Childs and Smak Blitz Bagas along the riverbed dropoffs or on the flats. It is recommended to try this in the Kirkleigh area. Many anglers fishing schools of

Callum Munro with the fruits of a good session – these fish were brought undone by Smak 5/8oz Smakos.

Get into the Easter holiday barramundi action LAKE TINAROO

Warwick Lyndon

It’s April and the Easter bunny will be popular this month, but an encounter with a chrome beast is what most people visiting Tinaroo are really looking forward to at this time of year. With the Easter holidays occurring during April, Tinaroo will be a hive of activity and people will be participating in all manner of water sports on the lake.

prime opportunity to target a big impoundment barra in this beautiful part of the world.

With the increased number of people on the lake it will pay to be prepared to investigate beyond the usual spots in search of your prize, although some keen anglers swear that the boat wash created by other users helps the fishing. Finding new areas away from the crowds is the preferred option for most, and can be a great way to locate fish under less pressure.

This is what it’s all about – creating family memories!

A variety of craft will be used to enjoy the water of Tinaroo over Easter; from paddle boards, kayaks and windsurfers, through to jet skis, fishing boats and high powered ski boats.

Whatever your vessel, make sure you stay safe by keeping an eye on both your surroundings and other lake users. Thankfully there is now a little more water for this to happen in and this time of year presents a

The cover of darkness also provides opportunities to explore the lake with less traffic and noise. The good news is there is plenty of water to explore, and whatever features you most like to fish, there is always something to throw a lure at.

Visitors to Tinaroo will find holiday accommodation parks at both ends of the lake as well as great camping in the national parks around the eastern side. These

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campsites become very popular at this time of year, so book early and come and enjoy the great outdoors in an amazing setting. Most of the concrete boat ramps are also well under water again, which makes launching and retrieving your craft much easier.

It goes without saying that you should leave only footprints in this beautiful part of the world, so please take all rubbish with you and use the amenity blocks that are provided.

If you are visiting Tinaroo for the first time over Easter, remember that the Tinaroo barra that anglers encounter are rarely small. While these fish can be successfully targeted on relatively light line, it’s a good idea to beef up your terminals like split rings and hooks. Once hooked, Tinaroo barra are extremely energetic, and commonly take to the air with violent head shakes.

To avoid jump-offs, which are quite common, it is also advised that you keep your rod tip low to the water, and have as much direct pressure as possible on the fish throughout the fight. Despite these tactics, unfortunately you don’t win them all and losing a big barra after all the effort taken to hook one can be devastating.

Many different types of angling tactics can work on Tinaroo. Trolling hardbodies and casting plastics, vibes, swimbaits and even topwater lures will all provide results, particularly if you persist where you see fish on the sounder or where large concentrations of bait are present. Persistence really is the key on this lake, as sometimes the fish will be frustratingly difficult to tempt into a strike.

In exciting news, the Tablelands Fish Stocking

Local lad Connor Pavey will be out terrorising the Tinaroo barra population over the holidays.

Society has announced the dates for the 2018 Tinaroo Barra Bash tournament. This fantastic event will occur over the weekend of September

As always, you can check out more of my FNQ adventures by liking my Facebook blog Wazza’s Fishing Page. Happy Easter!

Boating amongst amazing scenery with the chance of a monster barra – what more could you wish for?

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Powerful Volkswagen Amarok hits the mark BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

My first car was a Volkswagen Beetle, back in 1965. It was a cheap and cheerful little buzz box that provided economical and reliable transport. There were some fascinating specs in the handbook, including a top speed of 116km/h, but unfortunately there were no autobahns nearby for me to test the theory out.

These days Volkswagen is a giant among motor vehicle manufacturers being involved with the likes of Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche, Audi, Skoda and some other well regarded European auto manufacturers. Heritage of this standard readily comes

output to 189W and 580Nm for around 10 seconds – long enough to overtake with the boat or caravan on the tow bar. And with a 3.5t (braked) tow capacity that boat or van can be a big one at that!

I found the Highline offered a useful mix of chunky ruggedness on the exterior with definite luxury on the interior. The Amarok is big – very big – and that’s both inside and outside. The rear carry tub, with four tie down points and an optional liner, is the widest of any of the work utes on our market with some 1222mm between wheel arches so the ads you see on the telly are correct; it will indeed take a full pallet in the back while other makes can’t. The tailgate, with a special low-effort lift leverage arrangement, can also take 250kg weight if

The sure handling and powerful Amarok made extremely easy work of towing the author’s Galeforce centre console rig.

Impressive styling is a feature of the Amarok. to the fore when the Amarok is closely examined as there’s a standard of finish and plethora of features that carry right across the two engine, two gear box, Amarok range.

TWO ENGINES – MANUAL OR AUTO In a nutshell there’s a 2L four-cylinder turbo diesel outputting 132kW and 420Nm linked to either a 6-speed manual or an 8-speed ZF auto gearbox or, in the upmarket Amarok Highline (all auto) model reviewed, power is courtesy of an incredibly smooth and powerful 3.0L V6 turbo diesel outputting some 165kW of power and 550Nm of torque at just 1500rpm. The same engine also pumps the ponies under the bonnet of the Audi Q7 and the Porsche Cayenne.

ALL WHEEL DRIVE AMAROK HIGHLINE VW refer to the Amarok Highline as the TDI 550 4 Motion. The model has permanent 4WD via the same ZF 8-speed gearbox and pampers occupants with seamless changes plus some awesome flexibility from the engine and gearbox combination.

And while the powerful bi-turbo diesel V6 seems to have effortless power in any situation, it actually has an over-boost function which elevates from 165kW/550Nm 76

APRIL 2018

necessary.

Although quite at home at a building site the Highline is dressed up with LED daylight running lights up front, side steps and a neat roll bar behind the wide cabin. There

others, subtle contrast in colour tonings with a few hints of chrome here and there plus a leather wrapped wheel. There’s a degree of practicality that is pleasing, even if it does take a few

you’re moving in behind the wheel for the first time.

This I liked very much.

Following surgery on my left knee a couple of years back I have come to terms with the fact that the skin there is as

that fragile area. I found that the very agreeable range of steering wheel adjustment plus the sheer roominess of the Amarok’s driver and passenger compartment were just so good – there was no chance of a bump or scrape whatsoever.

Rear seating is fine for three generously sized adults, although some others in the market niche might have more legroom. But more head room? That I doubt.

Central on the dash is a big 6.33” colour touchscreen with reversing camera, Apple Car Play and Android

connectivity while audio connects to a six-speaker sound system with radio and CD player, Bluetooth connectivity and voice control. There is also dual zone air, auto levelling and cornering headlights and an easy cruise control system on the left stalk. Front and rear parking sensors are also standard fare.

This is a smart vehicle; when the fuel level was reduced almost to the reserve area after two country runs and two lots of boat towing (at a brilliant 8.8L/100km on my fuel calculator) the

There’s no shortage of room when entering the Amarok; note the ample space between wheel and seat.

A test on a section of riverbank revealed that the Amarok can indeed climb loose ground without the need for a low range gearbox. are also projector headlamps to make night driving as safe as possible.

Inside the cabin there’s a passenger car ambience highlighted by classy materials that offer a lot of soft touch in lieu of the hard plastic we see in some

minutes to come to terms with the fact that the indicator stalk is on the left, not the right.

Power sockets were in abundance, switches and controls were easily identified and the interior is huge. This is especially noticeable when

weak as wet blotting paper from follow up radiation treatment. In the boat I wear a kneepad (it’s mandatory) and when moving into different vehicles from time to time I need to be very, very careful how I enter for fear of bumping

Seen here with an optional tub liner, the Amarok features four tie down points in the rear cargo area, and a tailgate that can cope with a 250kg load.

touchscreen displayed that the car was nearly out of fuel, and asked if I would like advice regarding the nearest service station? Twenty were displayed.

THE DRIVE To drive the Amarok is to love it. The ride’s a class leader given there are leaf springs in the rear linked to a live axle (as we see in most other work utes) but

slickest of changes from the ZF eight shifter is a real treat when you’re sitting behind the Amarok’s steering wheel for the first time. There are wheel-mounted paddles if you want to play with the engine torque but with full-time 4WD taking the power to the wheels most drivers will let the gearbox do the changes.

On the highway I saw

I’ve driven. Comfort levels were definitely large SUV standard. A 3-hour stint at the wheel didn’t cause me even the slightest discomfort or any wriggling around en route to seek a better driving position. Seating was superb – end of story.

NO LOW RANGE? The Amarok doesn’t have low range, simply fulltime 4WD and lockable, very

Power and economy seldom go hand-in-hand but the Amarok’s twin turbo V6 diesel seems to have rewritten the rulebook.

The dash layout is sophisticated and offers plenty of easy going quality – a definite cut above a standard work ute.

VW have positioned these springs outside the chassis in the manner that trucks do to optimize ride quality.

It certainly works as body roll was negligible and there was minimal rear rebound no matter how severe the surface. In truth bumps can still be felt at 100km on some of our patch-on-patch single lane highways but they are never as harsh as expected.

Smooth, effortless engine power linked to the

off-road travel. There’s a self locking centre diff plus a rear locker that doesn’t cancel the traction on the front diff when engaged, so you can simply select low or second gear and let the engine and gearbox do the work of getting the 18” rubber, aided by extensive wheel travel, to the ground in the rough stuff.

Other useful off-road features include the Hill Descent System, which

automatically brakes individual wheels as required, plus a Hill Start system to prevent back roll during steep incline starts.

The approach angle is 28°, while departure is 23.6° with a wading depth of 500mm.

It can handle some creek crossings as well. There’s also an off-road ABS system which, when activated, was tailored for use on gravel surfaces. And let’s not

100km/h with 1800rpm on the tachometer; around town the ZF box shifted into eighth gear at 80km/h, which was very good. Also VG is a standard of grip, sureness of handling and overall stability that is far more akin to a family SUV than a workhorse. Overall the impression I formed was that the suspension setup – front to rear – was by far the best I’ve experienced in any unladen work ute

Safety first with the Amarok. No matter where you are parked the message comes through loud and clear – is it safe to move?

Dual zone climate control air-conditioning made a country run on a hot day a pleasure.

low ratios in first and second gears. This, coupled with the very high stall rate of the ZF unit’s torque convertor can – according to Volkswagen – provide the sort of traction that low range gearing might do in competitors.

Testing this proposition on a loose side bank of the upper Brisbane River I was impressed to see just how effective that locked and loaded first gear was. With all four wheel driving and first gear engaged, the ute climbed up and out of the loose stuff with impressive ease – not one bit of wheel spin! My view is that a boat being hauled up a wet ramp would be a non-event, thanks to the efficiency of the system.

Mind you, the Amarok is not without some fruit in the basket when it comes to

overlook the trailer sway mitigation system either.

SUMMING UP The Amarok utility as we know it has been around for several years but there are some minor styling changes to both the front and rear for 2018. That’s the exterior, but the real big news has been the adoption of the potent 3.0L V6 under the bonnet plus the new 3.5t tow rating.

The Amarok’s braked trailer rating is 750kg.

To say I was impressed with the Amarok might be an understatement given the smooth and powerful way the ute towed my 4.5 Galeforce with its 75 Evinrude on the transom, and the enjoyment of 3-hour runs.

From my experience driving work utes, the Amarok is so far ahead of the nearest competitor in its market segment when it comes to easy performance, ride quality and genuine levels of comfort.

A 3-year unlimited kilometre warranty and 3-year roadside assist package applies. The driveaway price is currently around the $60,990 mark, but remember, there is a lot of driving pleasure and refinement for the money.

There’s the proclamation – a V6 linked to all wheel drive sets the Amarok apart from contenders in its market niche.

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77

Swanfish – a comp with a difference SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

Over the past year we have been trailing catch and release tournaments run via our app. The benefits are numerous: we turn tournaments into data powerhouses, all the fish are released, we create documented evidence of fishers helping their fishery, and there’s less work for the administrators. Our event calendar is starting to fill.

Recently I travelled to Perth to help out with the Swanfish event on the Swan River. Swanfish is as bread and butter as you can get, targeting younger fishers and families. The Swanfish format is simple enough – longest fish in any category, adult and junior categories and a random draw for the largest prize.

This year they decided to innovate, going away from the traditional weight to go full virtual.

To quote the Fisheries and Innovation and ICT Minister Dave Kelly, “This year’s new format shows the commitment local fishers have to conserving and understanding our marine environments.”

done. Taking the event to a full-blown virtual catch and release event with a citizen science edge was a risk, but a calculated one.

Their passion convinced me to pay my own way over there to get involved.

A CHALLENGING SETUP Photo-based events have been around for a while but full virtual means having a platform to capture the data and report back in real time with minimal human handling.

We have been doing that in events for a couple of years – this year we want to take that to another level.

One of the big innovations we introduced this year was for events to be able to have their own branded version of our standard app. This allows events to market themselves as having their own app and makes it simpler to get people registered. We expected to do this first in the ABT Tournament series but Swanfish got to the punch first and as such can rightfully claim to be the first fully virtual community event run.

Nonetheless, there is a build time to do android and iPhone apps and approvals to be negotiated, so we need at least a month lead. In the case of Swanfish, we ended up with just under the month,

SWANFISH HAS A VISION I don’t need to tell you that going to app-based reporting with real-time scoreboards is a big change.

At almost all the events I have run I have had fishers come up to me either at the beginning or end to tell me how shoddy they think it all is.

Here I have to tip my hat to Recfishwest who embraced the concept and decided to go the full Monty. The reality is that with any format there is only one opportunity to be first and they took their chance. Recfishwest viewed the event as the perfect event for young fishers and families to demonstrate all of the great things fishing can be – fun, low impact and engaging to the wider community.

Not every event has to embrace those values, but it’s a powerful message to those that have it in for fishing that we are going nowhere.

A NERVOUS START I developed the app for fishing tournaments because I am a sports tragic.

I always get a little nervous when any team I follow is on because as a supporter you always want your team to get off to a flyer. When I run a fishing event it’s the same. In most of the events

and we provided a video on how to use it to everyone.

This was a group of family fishers who had done nothing quite like this.

Would the fishers accept the change, or give us the royal digit and just text in their photos?

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so we had to work fast to make sure things went smoothly.

Naming fish is one of the biggest challenges in fishing, especially in community events. Our general preference is to use the FRDC standardised names but that would have cause confusion. In this case we opted to load up a species list using local terminology (like ‘skippy’ for silver trevally) in the hope that fishers would have less problems identifying their catch.

I planned to be in Perth a day ahead of the event but as things go, I was booked for a last minute workshop, then had a plane delay so ended up in Perth 11pm on the night before. Still, we were ready to go 7am the next morning.

we have run we haven’t had to wait long for the first catch to come in. This time around, I had questions on how the fishers would take to the technology.

Normally we would do a briefing and demonstration but this time around that wasn’t possible. Over time we have simplified the app

length, weight (from a length-weight curve), counts, points, number of species and even some of our own secret sauce measurements. We also support multi-species and multi-class formats so juniors, women and men

The winning blue swimmer crab – blue swimmer crabs were measured pincer to pincer.

Fifteen minutes later we had our answer as the first of many reported catches came in.

Early on we had older fishers reporting – by older

An overview of the event.

Here are some of the experiences and lessons I took away from the event – hopefully they might inspire some creative thinking out there in the fishing community.

A LITTLE HISTORY Swanfish has been around for nearly 30 years, starting out life as a traditional catch and weigh event with a large participation, run by the Melville Amateur Angling Club. Swanfish was a popular event in its heyday, however as the world and community attitudes changed, the event and the originating club struggled to bring in new blood.

Melville folded in 2017.

Recfishwest believed in the potential of the event and recognised that without innovation, there wasn’t much that could be

room. That is one of the biggest advantages of a virtual event, the fishers are off doing their thing and you can be doing yours.

Over 12 hours 170 fish were reported, which was a little under a fish every five minutes. That was more

I mean late thirties – but as the day went on the fishers became younger and younger. Families with young kids dominated in the afternoon, while the night belonged to late teenagers.

Over the course of the day I processed catches in cafés, at the local mall, in the hotel restaurant and in my

than enough to keep me entertained as a spectator.

The only species that was misidentified in the event was tarwhine, which was mistaken for yellowfin bream, which was easily handled by correcting the identification back at base before accepting the catch. Most catches took 30 seconds max to process, which involved checking the photo for length and species, updating if needed then hitting accept.

REAL-TIME SCORING Real-time scoring was something that took us several goes to get right.

The very first event was something of a disaster, the catch assessment process worked fine but the complicated scoring just didn’t happen and we had to put together another system on the fly.

We ended up with realtime scoring, just not the way we intended. Over time we have refined that process to incorporate

The fish caught per hour.

can all be in their own divisions.

In this case we ended up with 22 divisions (junior, senior and open) with multi-species categories such as ‘feral’ fish and even a non-fish category in blue swimmer crabs. That was a pretty good workout for the scoring system and it didn’t miss a beat.

Many fishers have told me that you need to switch off the scoreboard at the end in order to maintain the suspense. I have always felt this is a hangover from the weigh-in days. My response has been the same each time: does the AFL turn off the scoreboard at three-quarter time? Do the cricketers turn off the scoreboard in the last innings?

The answer is of course not – the fans would kill them or walk out in confusion. I understand it can be hard to wrap the noggin around the idea of fishing as a sport people might want to follow, but

in my experience they do.

Purists have argued that knowing the score takes away one of their advantages in anonymity.

My view, again, is that every sport has its tactical elements.

Real-time scoring is just one of the additional tactical elements to navigate. Besides, if you are good enough on the day, you are going to win.

Allowing the fishing public to see your progression won’t take that away. On the contrary, fishers might gain some new fans.

There will always be plenty of events that do the scoring at the end. There is room in the calendar for new events that are more engaging for the public.

I am sure that over time events will work out which format works best for them.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF REALTIME SCORING There is another advantage on the water to a real-time scoreboard, as demonstrated on the second day of the event. One of the categories that remained scoreless on the last day was the feral fish category. It wasn’t the sexiest category, granted, but a category that came with a decent prize. Unsurprisingly, one enterprising fisher took advantage of this gap and headed to different territory on the river to land a tilapia near the end – not a bad return.

THE FINALE We headed to the meet-up point for the final test – how many people would turn up? There were a few last minute

things to attend to, such as helping one of the older competitors get the app setup. There were a couple of fish allocated to parents instead of children, which wasn’t something the kids were letting us get away with. All up there was about a 20-minute burst of tidy up – less than I was expecting.

There was a decent crowd of around 200 that turned up and while they were used to having fish weighed in, the absence of fish didn’t bother the majority who were happy to jump into the handing out of awards. The scoreboard was online so those that wanted to were checking out the result on their phones.

Blue swimmer crabs were measured pincer to

RESULTS FROM THE SWANFISH EVENT Species......................................Number Caught........................Total Length (m) Black bream.......................................... 60.......................................................16.14 Blue swimmer crab................................. 9......................................................... 4.92 Feral........................................................ 1..........................................................0.12 Flathead ............................................... 10........................................................ 4.24 Flounder ................................................ 2......................................................... 0.28 Herring................................................... 11........................................................ 2.71 Mulloway................................................ 2......................................................... 0.65 Pilchard.................................................. 1......................................................... 0.07 Skippy..................................................... 2......................................................... 0.58 Tailor...................................................... 23........................................................ 6.39 Tarwhine................................................ 14........................................................ 3.95 Trumpeter............................................... 2......................................................... 0.39 Western king wrasse.............................. 1......................................................... 0.35

The winning black bream. pincer, resulting in a young fella who, at 75cm tall, took out the division even though he was only 6cm longer than his 69cm crab.

I swear you could have put him in the crab pot for bait and still have plenty of room to move.

The largest black bream was a horse by my standards at 480mm to the fork and 515mm to the tail.

It’s nice to know that these fish will be around for a while yet to participate in spawning.

All things being equal, the event went smoothly.

Yes, there was the odd hiccup as you would expect but the overwhelming feedback was positive and the Recfishwest organisers managed to enjoy their weekend with their families instead of running around madly – something I was especially happy with.

I want to make events easier to run.

The Perth community embraced the change. The majority of the awards

including open divisions went to under 25s, and there was even one commenter on social media who left the Swanfish event when it was a dead weigh-in that was thinking he would come back.

Playing our part in helping bring alive an event that was on death’s door was an honour and a pleasure.

I am already planning next year’s trip to Perth; this event was a ton of fun and I can’t wait to see it grow in the years to come.

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79

Cooking

Tasty golden squid rings – spice up your squid CLEANING SQUID

BRISBANE

Lynn Bain

Turmeric, a member of the ginger family, is most commonly used in powdered form to add an attractive earthy hue to Asian and Indian dishes. While most herbs are happily stored on display in airtight glass jars, turmeric is often marketed in light-proof airtight containers.

Turmeric should be stored in a cool, dark cupboard to increase its shelf-life.

Ingredients • 500g squid rings • 1 small red chilli, finely chopped • 1 cup plain flour • 1tsp turmeric powder • 1-2tbs cooking oil

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APRIL 2018

Been out for a fish lately and want to use your cool calamari catch in this recipe?

Scan this QR code to read Lynn Bain’s article online about cleaning squid. Calamari seem to love the cooler weather that we’ve been getting lately, so April is the perfect time to get your own fresh ingredients.

There’s something special about knowing you caught your own dinner, don’t you think?

We think so too.

On a hotplate, heat a non-stick frypan over a medium heat. Add the chopped chilli and chilli seeds to the frypan and toast them for a few minutes, then add the oil.

Shallow fry the coated squid rings with the chilli-infused oil in your frypan. Use tongs to remove the golden fried chilli squid rings from the non-stick pan and then drain the squid rings on some paper towels.

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Clean your squid and keep the calamari tubes to slice into squid rings (the heads and tentacles in this case were left intact to be used as reef fishing baits). Turn the tubes inside out and give them a rinse, then slice them into rings.

While the chilli is cooking, add the turmeric to the flour. In this case there was only a handful of flour remaining in the bag so turmeric was added directly to the bag. You may substitute dry mustard for the turmeric.

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Finely chop the chillies and keep the chilli seeds to infuse into the cooking oil.

Add the turmeric and flour mix to a plastic bag containing the squid/ calamari rings, then toss the squid rings through the mixture of flour and turmeric powder.

Serve with a light salad on the side. Salad will not overwhelm the delicate flavours of the squid.

You can add extra chilli if you’re a fan of spice, or double-coat your calamari for more crunch.

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News

Suntag Monitoring Summary: Gladstone fishery Over the remaining year, we will be highlighting a fishing region a month and providing a good summary of the Suntag monitoring, as well as the

other data that helps paint a picture of how good each of the state’s recreational fisheries are. This month, we’ll be looking at Gladstone.

Data: Gladstone Fishing Club Barramundi Monitoring

OVERVIEW: GLADSTONE Gladstone is the hidden gem of a fishery. On the surface, there is nothing sexy at all about the region and that is reflected in the data, with Gladstone having the lowest outside visitor rate for any city up and down the coast. On the flip side, the community has invested a lot of time and money in looking after their area, from events like the Boyne Tannum Hookup and the stocking of Awoonga by Gladstone Area Water Board, to initiatives like Gladstone Healthy Harbour Partnership.

These initiatives have paid off over time to deliver one of

the best-maintained fisheries up and down the cost.

Suntag is active in Gladstone, mostly through the Gladstone Sportfishing Club, who have tagged fish in the region for decades. Suntag focuses on barramundi and mangrove jack, although most species in the area get a piece of jewellery throughout the year.

Suntag is looking for local fishers or fishers who visit Gladstone for more tagging of offshore species, which is the one area that they could do with more data to help supplement the boat ramp monitoring work done by Queensland Fisheries.

Data: Yarralla Deep Sea Fishing Club

Data: Boyne Tannum Hookup

The Gladstone region boasts some excellent fishing options, especially for barramundi.

TOP SPECIES Species

Number tagged

Barramundi

394

Redthroat emperor

291

Mangrove jack

132

Dusky flathead

119

Barred javelin

102

Red emperor

41

Golden snapper

36

Blackspotted rockcod

32

Australian bass

24

Yellowfin bream

17

Length and weight of bream at the Boyne Tannum Hookup.

TOP TAGGERS

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Fisher

Number tagged

Vesel T (Gold)

274

2017 BOYNE TANNUM HOOKUP LIVE WEIGH IN

Huth B (Silver)

130

Species

Number tagged

Boss M (Silver)

101

Yellowfin bream

453

Schmidt G

95

Hill D

87

Whiting

134

Vesel M (new member)

77

Pikey bream

51

Paterson R

74

Dusky flathead

40

Pirie R

42

Barred javelin

26

Heymer D

36

Mangrove jack

10

Schmidt T

31

Bartail snapper

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APRIL 2018

News HOW GOOD IS THE FISHERY? Infofish Australia have assessed four key fisheries, sports fishing, bread and butter, crabs and prawns and offshore. This was possible thanks to data provided

by Suntag, Queensland Fisheries, Boyne Tannum Hookup and Yarralla Deep Sea Fishing Club. To view detailed analysis of the 12 species reviewed, go to www.crystalbowl.com.au/gladstonefishery-summary/.

Sportfish The estuary sportfishing is a premium fishery, particularly for barramundi and mangrove jack. Regular overtopping from Awoonga has maintained barramundi numbers in the salt, and even with the presence of commercial fishing, catch rates have been sustained since 2012.

The fishing in Awoonga is improving, with catch rates climbing, although the big fish are in the salt.

Nonetheless, there have been some serious number sessions on Awoonga recently for local anglers, so there is plenty of fun to be had.

While king and blue threadfin are in high numbers in Rockhampton, the environment at Gladstone is not as conducive, though numbers are improving. If they did, that would be the cherry on the cake.

Time is the one thing you need at Gladstone.

The fish are there, but the dynamics of the fishery are entirely different to many of the traditional barramundi fisheries. If you are an angler who likes to get about and enjoys the challenge of working out new territory, Gladstone will reward you with some great experiences.

Bread and butter fishing Overall the bread and butter fishery, consisting of bream, flathead and whiting, is in great shape.

The yellowfin bream catch rate is the just behind SEQ, with a 30mm better average than the SEQ fish. If the ABT were looking for a new location, Gladstone should stick up their hand.

The best indicator of the state of the bread and butter fishery is the Boyne Tannum Hookup. Over the life of the Boyne Tannum Hookup, boat ramp surveys conducted during the comp have shown that catch rates have consistently climbed over the past decade. At

the same time, the rate of kept fish has dropped.

Queensland Fisheries boat ramp surveys detected this change, as Gladstone fishers have one of the highest release rates in the state, despite the average sizes of fish being well above legal.

Gladstone Sportfishing Club has run a live weigh-in as a part of the Boyne Tannum Hookup since 2000, and this has become the most participated section of the Hookup. In 2017, 538 bream were weighed in, with the pikey bream being heavier than the yellowfin for the same length.

Crabs and prawns Mud crabs are the most contested of the estuary species in Queensland, and Gladstone is no exception. Gladstone has one of the most significant commercial mud crab fisheries in the state and competition for crabs is fierce. Crabs are hard work for the recreational fishers, with Fisheries boat ramp surveys indicating that one pot in five has a legal crab.

Given the value of the mud crab fishery, this is unlikely to change, although when mud crabs have good years of recruitment, both sectors benefit. Right now, crabs are at the bottom of the cycle, but in 2019 there should be a bump as recruitment conditions were favourable in 2017.

While there is no official monitoring of recreational prawn catches, cast net surveys conducted as a part of bream monitoring almost always pick up numbers of prawns. They are present in quantities and sizes that, if targeted, will result in a good feed at the peak periods. The good news is that prawns are found right in the town reaches, so travel is not a problem.

Offshore The offshore fishing around Gladstone is another excellent part of the fishery. Catch rates for redthroat emperor (4.6 fish/ fisher/day), red emporer (1.3 fish/fisher/day), and Venus tuskfish (2.45 fish/ fisher/day) topped the state in 2017. With species like grass emperor, coral trout and both nannygai species coming in at better than a fish/fisher/day, there are options for offshore fishers and great charter experiences to be had.

Yarralla Deep Sea Fishing Club have been

fishing offshore and reporting their catches since 1976. While there are annual fluctuations in the catch, catch rates for Venus tuskfish and coral trout have been steady at around one fish/fisher/day with redthroat emperor on the increase to 2.7 fish/ fisher/day.

A word of caution: almost all offshore fisheries are subject to pressure, and part of the reason why Gladstone catch rates are high is the locals have been responsible with their take home catch. If you visit the area, have fun and bring home a feed if you wish, but respect the locals. Fish

responsibly and everyone can enjoy a great time.

Gladstone Sportfishing Club Gladstone Sportfishing Club was formed in 1979, currently with a record of over 90 members and they are proudly the largest tag and release club in Queensland.

Gladstone Sportfishing Club considers itself to be a family-based club, with goals of getting the whole family involved, and fishing today for tomorrow.

To find out how to join go to www. suntag.org.au/gladstonesportfishing-club/

Data: Queensland Fisheries Boat Ramp Surveys Mud Crab

Dusky Flathead

APRIL 2018

83

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Middle-age vs offshore boating It’s an irony that as you get older you can afford better boats to go out onto the reef, but by then you’re too old to enjoy it.

I’m sitting here aching in about ten different areas, and swearing I won’t ever spend another minute being bashed about on the ocean’s swells. If I felt like this 20 years ago, at least I would have the memory of a big night out at the Condi pub to soothe my aching bones and muscles, but not today. Today it feels like a mad cow stood on me, then came back around for another go, and put in a few good kicks as well, then shat on me for good measure. Then ground a horn into my guts, stood on my head again and kicked me in the goolies.

I’m not sure what it is in my mind that propels me to get up at stupid o’clock, lift chillybins, sinker laden tackle bags and several tonnes of ice into an aluminium block, pull two or three already rigged hooks from my arms, hands and face and drive for several hours to get to a ramp, which is already so full that I have to park almost where I drove from. And then the hard work begins.

I don’t like to make

out like I’m hard done by, but the Russians could have used this at Treblinka to convince their enemies to defect, instead of all that fingernail pulling stuff they used to carry on with. And possibly still do. Because an hour or two of rattling into a 2m swell in a tin tub that has a backside bigger than J-Lo is not for the faint-hearted. Every second wave gets blown over your face, and every third one hits like an apartment block on a scooter. Then that little sneaky one slips in every minute or so, driving gravity up your spine like a wood chisel up a strainer post. The beauty is that you know the trip back will be much smoother. Unless the swell and the wind turn 180° while you’re fishing...

In between the two trips, you sit in the boiling sun, pulling a kilo of lead up 500-100m, only to put more dead squid on a hook, or some dead fish, hoping it will somehow miraculously turn into live fish when you pull it up.

Not to mention dragging 20kg of anchor and chain into the boat every time your Dudd skipper wants to change position and is too cheap to buy a winch, or an electric with spot lock. Just

because he spent $50K on the boat, he considers you to be just a lump of anchor pulling muscle.

And after 15 hours of that, you arrive home and get asked “Did you enjoy yourself?” and you know that any answer that isn’t “Oh yes, gosh, that was such fun,” will bring about a 15

minute lecture on “Why do you do it then?” and, “Don’t make the rest of us pay for your misery, and if you don’t like it, why do you do it?”, to which you would love to utter a smart reply, but which hasn’t yet in the history of the world been invented...

And start dreaming about the next trip…

FISHING NEWS

Misperception of GBR poaching $34,000 STRATOS 176XT Location: NSW

$20,990 BASSCAT COUGAR Location: QLD

$75,000 Like us on facebook for automatic updates 84

APRIL 2018

New research has revealed the tiny minority of fishers who poach on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) think the illegal practice is justified, because they believe “everyone else is doing it.”

Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University asked nearly 700 recreational fishers at boat ramps in Townsville about their perceptions of poaching (i.e. fishing in no-take zones).

PhD candidate Brock Bergseth led the study, and said the results were overwhelmingly encouraging.

“97% of fishers thought poaching was personally unacceptable, and most supported enforcement of the rules. But a small number did not.”

Mr Bergseth said the 21 self-admitted poachers thought poaching occurred much more often than non-poachers did.

“People involved in illicit activities such as illegal drug use and drink driving are more prone to overestimate

the prevalence of their behaviour in society. This ‘false consensus effect’ often allows offenders to justify their actions – they think it’s okay because everyone else is doing it. Our data suggests that this effect may also be occurring among poachers in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP).”

He said it was a dangerous trend, because fishers who know poachers can also be ‘contaminated’ if they begin to think the bad behaviour is widespread.

“People who know a poacher have significantly higher estimates of the level of poaching compared to fishers that don’t know poachers. This implies that these fishers believe that poaching is more common than fishers who do not associate with poachers.”

Mr Bergseth said 13% of fishers reported knowing someone who had poached within the past 12 months.

“In all, this study showed how numerous misperceptions are probably supporting the continuation of poaching on the GBR. If left unchecked, these misperceptions could

lead to a cascading effect that encourages further poaching.”

Mr Bergseth said the research pointed to a way of addressing the problem.

“There are three specific messages that could be communicated to poachers. First, that nearly every recreational fisher thinks that poaching is socially and morally unacceptable. Secondly,

it is really important for everyone to know that almost all recreational fishers follow the rules – poachers are just a small minority that people don’t respect. And lastly, the likelihood of getting detected while poaching is high, as are the consequences – the fine for poaching in a no-take zone is $2100.”

– JCU Media

Coral trout is the most targeted poaching species on the Great Barrier Reef. Photo courtesy of Molly Scott and ARC CoE for Coral Reef Studies.

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING SAMAKI CAMO COD

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Camo Cod is as rustic as the true Australian outback! With shoulders covered in a khaki camouflage, you’ll blend into your surrounding environment easily. The big Murray cod launches from the depths to attack the lure, amid sharp sticks and logs lying atop the dam floor, surrounded by rockery and weed.

The natural colours of the Murray cod are enhanced by detail in the design, the accurately speckled finish, the soft wispy fins and the needle-like teeth in that huge bucket mouth.

The lightweight fabric is perfect for all outdoor elements, protecting you from the harsh sun with Samaki’s UV50+ resistant technology. The soft touch 100% polyester material is very comfortable, and has the added feature of being breathable, keeping you cool and dry.

Samaki designs are brought to you

by Australian anglers who love to design Australian species. Camo Cod shirts are available in adult, youth and kids sizes from a size 2 through to a 3XL, allowing the whole family to get in on the action.

Price: SRP $59.95 (adults), SRP $49.95 (kids) www.samaki.com.au

ZEREK 120MM TANGO SHAD

2

purchase at the SoftGaff website. Bulk discounts for tournament organisers and clubs are welcome. www.softgaff.com

SAMURAI 3-PIECE CRUISERS

Samurai has launched four new 3-piece 5’9” travel rods in two weight ranges in both spin and casting built especially for barramundi and cod. These are shorter rods for pinpoint accuracy, perfect for tight country, skinny creeks, mangroves and overgrown river spots. The 16lb and 25lb weights are perfect for heavier creek needs.

Cruisers come in an indestructible travel case designed to fit into your luggage and be thrown about the ute with no worries.

The travel package includes a spare tip, so if you’re unlucky enough to snap your first while trekking, there’s another in the tube to get you back in the game.

Just like the existing Cruisers, the seamless joins makes these rods a joy to use, and high quality AAA cork and stylish aluminium parts make the new Cruisers a classy piece of artistry.

For more information visit the Frogley’s Offshore website or go to facebook.com/ samurairods. www.frogleysoffshore.com.au

DEPS NZ CRAWLER

SOFTGAFF ACCUMAT™

SOFT MULLET AND AQUA SHAD

86

APRIL 2018

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Japanese fishing tackle giant DEPS have become world renowned for their high quality, and truly unique lures. The NZ Crawler is no exception to this, and is the ideal bait for anglers targeting big freshwater predators.

This crazy bait is unlike anything you’ve seen before. It’s a wide-bodied, high-mass jointed lure which is constructed of resin, and it swims across the top of the water, attracting hungry fish with its distinctive swimming action and highly attractive colour combinations.

The NZ Crawler features large stainless steel wings that move a lot of water and make a unique sound. There is also a blade at the back that creates a flash to further attract nearby predators, and two super-sticky treble hooks that produce solid hook-ups. If you’re looking for a big profile bait that moves a lot of water and gives the appearance of a distressed fish, frog, rat or bat, try a DEPS NZ Crawler. It’s available in Australia through Dogtooth Distribution. www.dogtoothdistribution.com.au

Housed in a heavy-duty canister, the UVstabilised, non-wrinkle SoftGaff AccuMat has been confirmed for accuracy by precision engineers, and is available in both metric and imperial formats.

With a flip-up nose plate for big fish, the AccuMat allows for quick measurement of fish up to 150cm/60” long. Retracting smoothly into the canister after each use, it prevents the creasing and wrinkling inherent to other brag mats (which distorts the measurement), to deliver a precise measurement fish after fish.

There is also a SoftGaff app to automatically record details of every catch.

SoftGaff’s AccuMat is brainchild of father and son team Ray and John Callingham.

“After years of research, development and rigorous testing, we believe the accuracy and quality of the AccuMat is unmatched in the industry,” John said.

In particular, the AccuMat’s assured accuracy will be of great advantage to measurement-based tournaments.

SoftGaff’s AccuMat is available for

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The 120mm Tango Shad was tested in the steamy jungles of Papua New Guinea, where black bass like to exploit any weaknesses in the system.

During prototype testing, the very first 120 Tango accounted for 18 PNG black bass before succumbing to the sticks, and that was without counting the barra caught as bycatch.

Trolling to 6m deep, the 120 Tango is constructed from tough ABS plastic in onepiece to ensure maximum strength. Internally there is a casting weight that drops into a slot during retrieve, helping to keep the nose down. The weigh is released to the tail of the lure during casting to provide more accurate casting and greater distance by reducing tumbling during the cast.

Externally the 120 Tango is fitted with 4X trebles that are wickedly sharp, and all rings are overstrength to produce a lure that will not compromise in the field.

Available in 10 colours, the 120 Tango Shad weighs in at 37g and is built for action. www.wilsonfishing.com

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PRODUCT GUIDE

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The popular Soft Mullet from JM Gillies now comes in three new colours. There are now six colours in the range: blue, gold, plain, bananafish, Guns ‘n’ Roses and Qantas.

There are two sizes to choose from – 4” and 6” – and each size comes in all colours. These pre-rigged soft plastic baits have been tested by numerous guides around Australia, and have accounted for some impressive catches. Soft Mullets feel more ‘natural’ to an enquiring fish, and this means the fish will mouth it for longer, giving you extra time to set the hook.

Another recent lure release from Gillies is the Aqua Shad range, which was launched last year. Aqua Shads have a special soft touch construction, designed to produce a lifelike swimming action and extreme durability. Each Aqua Shad has an embedded holographic effect in the body, as well as lifelike eyes. There are four proven colours in the range (pearl, fire tiger, gold fish and bunker), and they measure 8cm and weigh 14g. www.jmgillies.com.au

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PRODUCT GUIDE

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING NEW 55MM CODGER 7 COLOURS

PRO-CURE BUTT JUICE

Codger Lures are designed by Graham Saunders from Shepparton in Victoria.

His lures are widely known by their upturned bib design and have been a favorite for all serious native fish anglers for many years, particularly around his home town and the cod fishing mecca that is Lake Mulwala.

The small 55mm 10+ and 15+ lures have been around since the late 80s and Graham has recently added four new colours to the 55mm range. Like the recent edition of his new Codger surface lures, these new colours will be highly sought after by all keen native fish anglers, and will no doubt have the same success as the rest of the range.

To find out more about these and other Codger lures, you can head over to the Trelly’s website or contact Graham Saunders directly on 0407 544 965. www.trellys.com.au

Pro-Cure Super gel combines the best of the laboratory with real ground bait to attract fish and trigger strikes.

Pro-Cure’s famous Butt Juice, now available to Aussie anglers. A killer scent on bottom feeders, it’s an easy-to-use super sticky gel formula and a great gift for your fishing buddy.

Tested and proven, it combines real ground bait with UV enhancement, powerful amino acids and bite stimulants to fire up the bite.

All this combines to attract fish, trigger strikes and make fish hold on longer, in a super sticky formula that sees it stay on any lure cast after cast.

The 2oz squeeze bottle offers excellent value for money and the flip up nozzle makes applying Super Gel quick, easy and mess free, with no leakage when stored, so there’ll be no Butt Juice leaking all over the place when you least expect. www.tackletactics.com.au

SAX SCENT WITH CARABINER

DAIWA DUCKFIN LIVESHAD

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There’s good news for lovers of Sax Scent, with their 30mL squeeze tubes now coming with a carabiner as standard. This is a win for convenience for all fishos, as your favourite scent can now be hung from your electric motor remote lanyard, belt loop or anywhere else that’s easy to reach. It will save you valuable on-water time, and also make it easier to keep Sax Scent on your lure and get your rod bent.

The Sax Scent 30mL squeeze tubes are available now in tackle stores or from the Sax Scent website. The SRP is $12.95 per tube, or $55 for a pack of five, which includes one tube of each of their flavours: crab, goldprawn, wasabi, bloodworm and abalone. Sax Scent is an Australian made and tested product that is used by successful tournament anglers all around Australia. It catches everything from bass and Murray cod in the fresh through to saltwater species such as whiting, bream, flathead, mulloway and more. www.saxscent.com

The Duckfin Liveshad has an remarkably effective design, which delivers outstanding action that resembles the swimming movements of a real fish. By applying 3D design and modeling around the realistic natural baitfish shape, this premium grade soft bait is one of the most accurate lifelike shads available on the market today.

Suited to fast and slow retrieves, the Duck Fin tail creates a strong rolling and swinging action. Combined with its enticing swimming action, the lure’s streamlined shape, fins and large tail make it a very lethal lure.

Features include: realistic patterns; 3D eyes; UV active prevents fading; fins for stabilization; and large Duckfin tail. The special soft material is also tough, and can endure multiple takes from predators.

There are two models, a smaller size that measures 150mm long and weighs 28g, and a larger model that measures 200mm long and weighs 64g. They are available now in tackle stores around Australia.

Price: from SRP $19.99 www.daiwafishing.com.au

MUSTAD LIP GRIPPER

BLACK MAGIC ENTICER COLOURS

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Mustad has upgraded their MT21 Lip Grip with some new additions that make this great tool even better.

For starters, the new cosmetics make this tool jump out with anodised blue and black the theme throughout. The grip arms have also been tinkered with, changing from a one arm operation to a two arm operation. The handle has also been toughened up to allow larger fish to be easily controlled.

Add in the existing features such as coiled lanyard for securing the tool to your belt or boat, single-handed operation and a weigh scale to 40lb, and this tool is a great accessory whether you are fishing from the bank or the boat.

Mustad is distributed by Wilson Fishing, and you can see their full range of tools at www.wilsonfishing.com/Products/ Accessories/Tools. For all the latest news and catch photos visit the Wilson Fishing Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ LWilsonAndCo. www.wilsonfishing.com

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Black Magic’s very popular range of Enticer spinners has been expanded with some new additions. There are now seven colour options to choose from in either a 7g or 12g weight, and the two newest colours are called ‘carp’ and ‘red belly’.

Black Magic Enticers feature startlingly lifelike finishes, which imitate a number of juvenile fish species. This finish, coupled with the Enticers’ fluttering action, makes them particularly attractive to predatory fish. They are very effective for both trolling and casting from the shoreline for a number of freshwater and estuarine species across Australia.

As you would expect from Black Magic, these lures are manufactured from high quality components including a chemically sharpened treble hook, strong split rings and a swivel to help prevent line twist.

Black Magic Enticers are available from Black Magic dealers nationwide. For more information head to the Black Magic website, or look them up on Facebook at www. facebook.com/blackmagictackle. www.blackmagictackle.com

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au APRIL 2018

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WHAT’S NEW FISHING TRLJA TROLLING SQUID JIG

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DTD are European manufacturer of high quality lures and squid jigs. Having taken out the top squid lure award for the past two years at the prestigious EFFTEX tackle trade show, DTD have built a reputation for innovation and ingenuity, and their Trlja Trolling Squid jig is a fine example.

The Trlja features a diving bib, which allows the lure to suspend and dive to the desired depth, like a minnow bait. The jig can then be slowly trolled from a boat or kayak so it swims horizontally through the strike zone (usually just above the weed line). Unlike a traditional squid jig, which you jig in and out of the strike zone, the Trlja remains within the zone the whole time.

The realistic swimming action, coupled with the bright fluoro colour combinations (which directly imitate rock cod and red mullet) entice the squid out from the weed bed as the lure passes over their heads. Strong stainless steel hooks, durable cloth body, and luminescent glow effect all combine to attract the squid and to then ensure the catch is effectively landed every time.

The Trlja Trolling Squid Jig is available in two styles (Trlja and Trlja Platno) and in two sizes (90mm and 110mm). www.dogtoothdistribution.com.au

EUREKA PHANTOM 14 AND VIPER

Eureka Lures Australia has released a dynamic range of game lures this year that are certainly going to prove effective on species such as marlin, tuna, albacore and mahimahi.

The Eureka Phantom lure is a short pusher that creates an amazing smoke trail, and can be placed anywhere in a lure spread. They feature a double skirt with an oversized eye and reflective prism head. The Phantom is 8” long and comes in six outstanding colours.

The Eureka Viper lure is a Slant Head lure that can be trolled at faster speeds. It dives, pops and swerves and creates a short to medium bubble trail. The Eureka Viper’s weighted head allows it to handle rougher conditions. They feature a double skirt with a reflective prism head. The Viper is 71/2” long and comes in six outstanding colours. www.jurofishing.com

PENN CONFLICT II

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The runner-up for Best Combo at the 2017 AFTA Show was the Penn Conflict II and Regiment II. Incorporating a lightweight yet strong RR30 (Rigid Resin) body and rotor, the Conflict II can withstand the high pressures that braided lines and powerful fish generate, while being light enough to comfortably cast all day.

Housed with the RR30 body are seven stainless steel bearings and a computercontrolled CNC gear technology system where pinion, drive and oscillation gears are individually machined to exact tolerances. HT100 carbon fibre drag washers provide smooth and consistent drag pressure under high pressure and heat.

There are four models covering a wide range of inshore applications, such as snapper on plastics through to casting metals at pelagics.

Gear ratios range from 6.2:1 on the 2500 model to 5.6:1 with 90cm of line retrieve on the 5000.

Maximum drags start at 5.5kg in the smaller models to 11kg on the largest.

Penn Regiment II rods are a new generation of super light but powerful 5-piece travel rods.

With a long tip and short butt, these lightweight, low diameter, fast action blanks are fitted with special Fuji intermediate rings for the perfect compression curve. Other features include: SLS3 blank construction; BCRLTSG guides; aluminium reel seat; and Cordura Tube. There 88

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PRODUCT GUIDE

are three models, all 2.1m long, ranging from 10-50lb. www.pennfishing.com.au

FISH INC FLY HALF

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The Fish Inc. Lures Fly Half 80mm popper is built tough, with heavy-duty ABS construction and solid wire through body design, to punch above its weight, and comes fitted with HD Owner trebles.

At 16g it casts like a bullet, and its unique keeled belly design and balanced weight allows it to be retrieved easily with a walk-the-dog retrieve, popped with a subtle pop, or popped more aggressively to move plenty of water and create more noise.

As well as providing casting distance and balance, the internal weight also emits a low click when the lure is walked or popped, drawing fish in.

The finish quality and colours are to the normal top shelf standard produced by Fish Inc. Lures, with either a chrome look finish or internal foil design that creates flash, attracts strikes and helps the fish to zero in on the surface presentation.

This bite-size lure has already accounted for a stack of species, including jacks, barra, trevally, tailor and salmon. It’s currently available in eight colours, including blue ghost, tidal form, bronze sardine and sugar coral.

Price: SRP $19.95 www.tackletactics.com.au

OCEA PLUGGER FULL 17 THROTTLE

Full Throttle is the name, and full throttle is how these specialised rods are meant to be fished! This Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) saltwater spin rod series from Shimano is being widely embraced by the Australian offshore fishing fraternity as the pinnacle in casting and fish fighting performance.

Utilising Shimano’s exclusive nano alloy High Power X Spiral graphite blanks, Ocea Plugger Full Throttle rods can propel and then work surface lures like the Ocea Spouter or Rock Dive with ease, and then comfortably handle a 60° fighting angle once hooked up — which will happen pretty quickly.

As befitting rods of this standard, every element is top of the line. PE 4-8 braid ratings, lure weights from 20-150g, heavy-duty Fuji DPS reel seats, Fuji Titanium guides with SiC inserts for minimal friction build-up, and twopiece design with the ferruling underneath the foregrip means that Plugger Full Throttle rods are designed with big pelagics in mind. www.shimanofish.com.au

VMC 7116 CB HOOKS

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The new VMC 7116 CB Saltwater Trolling/ Fly series has arrived. Incorporating a forged, octopus style, wide gape, nonoffset long shank, this range is ideal for rigging light game skirted lures or tying large saltwater flies.

CB stands for the new Coastal Black finish, unique to VMC. It’s the ultimate combination of an innovative coating for extreme corrosion resistance and a premium hook finishing process for maximum sharpness, offering the longest lasting black finish in the saltwater market today.

Chemically sharpened to perfection, the unique VMC Needle Sharp ground needle point design combines maximum resistance and sharpness for exceptional penetration.

Available in 2/0, 4/0, 6/0, 8/0, 9/0 and 10/0 sizis, these hooks will assist in targeting many species including marlin, GTs, barra, tuna and golden trevally. www.rapala.com.au

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PRODUCT GUIDE

WHAT’S NEW FISHING

SoftGaff AccuMat – the ultimate in accuracy ™

TESTED

In today’s world of outstretched arms, clever camera angles and noses that grow like the fabled puppet Pinocchio, a brag mat has become more important than ever before when recording your catches, checking for a PB and, most importantly, making sure your fish is bigger than your fishing buddy’s!

That’s why we were so excited when the local postman dropped off a couple of perhaps the most technically advanced fish measuring tool to hit the shelves – the SoftGaff AccuMat™.

Brett Habener with a typical size barramundi from the trip north. This fish and many others hit the deck after falling for a Lucky Craft Pointer AU series jerkbait.

Developed by lifelong fishing tragics John and Ray Callingham, the AccuMat has been painstakingly designed and engineered to be the most accurate and efficient ‘brag mat’ on the market. In fact it’s so different from the competition that both the AccuMat and its accompanying smart phone app AccuLog™ have had international patent applications lodged.

WHAT’S SO DIFFERENT ABOUT THE ACCUMAT? The first thing you’ll notice is just how neat and tidy it is straight out of the box. I’ve only got a small 2000 model 4m Quintrex Hornet Trophy tinny to get me around on the water, and I like to carry too many rods, reels and especially lures so space is at an absolute premium inside my boat. With the AccuMat being able to be so easily wound back up into its own hard shell, it’s there when you need it but not in the way or flapping around in the breeze when you’re traveling.

The outer shell of the canister is sleek, robust and bright yellow so it’s hard to misplace. The mat itself is very supple and won’t wrinkle, giving you a much more exact measurement of your fish.

Manufactured from UV-resistant and mould/mildew-resistant material, the AccuMat has been designed to not fade, stretch or warp.

No Metal, No Rust, No Worries AccuMat uses exactly zero metals in its construction so there’s no need to worry about rust and corrosion. This means you

can pull out the mat, wet it down to make life easier on your fish’s scales and wash the mat at any time without a worry. One mat will provide you with years and years of hassle-free use.

DAD TALKS IN INCHES BUT I TALK IN CM Never fear, AccuMat are available in both metric and imperial versions up to 150cm/1500mm and 60”.

THE APP Plenty of fishing-related smart phone apps have been released over the years,

but few of them have stuck around and not many worked – especially here in Australia. I have a feeling though that the AccuLog app will buck this trend and become a hit with us notoriously hard to please Aussie anglers.

Available for Apple iOS and Google Android, the AccuLog digital fishing app helps you record dates, times, locations, methods and, with the help of your AccuMat, the size of the fish. I’ve had it on my phone for only a few weeks and a couple of fishing trips, but I’ve found it easy to use and navigate, as well as share pics to my increasing number of social media accounts. All your photos are kept in a neat gallery and it’s got a very intelligent and predictive list of species pre-loaded, so storing and accessing your data becomes quite easy.

Each AccuMat has its own unique ID number right below where the fish’s nose goes, so it’s visible to the app and it uses this to recognise your account. We’ve had a little trouble getting this to work sometimes, but I suspect that’s a user error rather than a software or design error.

THE PRICE Fishing gear is no different from any other purchase in life, in that you get what you pay for. The AccuMat isn’t cheap at a suggested retail price of $99, but with the way it’s put together this is probably the last brag mat you’ll ever need to buy.

The AccuLog smartphone app is $2.99 from either app store.

WHERE TO BUY The AccuMat is still fairly new to the market, so while it is stocked in some tackle stores already, the network isn’t as large as I assume it will soon be. For now, if you can’t find it in your local store, jump onto www.softgaff.com and purchase it there.- RUPE

None of the fish caught on the weekend away testing the AccuMat™ were monsters but being 4 competitive young fellas you can be sure every one of them went on the mat to see who’s fish was bigger. Every millimetre counts!

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FUN PAGE AND COMPETITIONS FISHING MONTHY STAFF FAVOURITE FISH

BATTERED

SALMON

CRUMBED

MAHIMAHI

REDFIN

CEVICHE

MULLOWAY

TROUT

BREAM

MURRAY COD

BASS

SNAPPER

THREADFIN

BARRAMUNDI HOOKED

FINGERMARK

GOLDFISH

CORALTROUT

NEMO

SMOKED

WHITING

Valley Hill Rocketeer Slicer

BIG

SOOTY GRUNTER SWEETLIP Name: Address:

P/Code:

The first correct entry at the end of each month will win the prize pack.

SEND ENTRIES TO: QLD Find-a-word Competition, PO box 3172, Loganholme Qld 4129

QLD APR 2018

Phone (day):

FINS SCALES & TALES by A. Both

The Rocketeer Slicer from Japanese tackle giant Valley Hill is a real feat of Japanese design and engineering.

The Rocketeer Slicer has a unique metal plate at the nose of the jig, which lets you secure line in two places, and ensures a superior swimming action even through debris. In addition, its tail system lets you cast more effectively into the wind.

The Rocketeer Slicer is available in two sizes (3.0 and 3.5) and 13 different colour combinations. It has proven to be highly effective on Australian squid. www.dogtoothdistribution.com.au

SPOT THE

10 DIFFERENCES

GEORGE & NEV by Michael Hardy

ORIGINAL

FIND-A-WORD

Congratulations to Wayne Collis from River Heads, who was last month’s winner of the Find-a-Word Competition!

Monthly winners receive a sponsor prize.

Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – QFM

SUBSCRIBER PRIZE

The subscriber prize winners for February are K Vonhoff of Oakey, K Spink of Cleveland, A Harvey of Ormeau and S Mills of Lockhart River, who won a Salt-Away kit voucher valued at $97.45.

All subscribers are entered in the monthly subscriber prize draws. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – QFM

of Manumbar, C Robinson of Wooroolin, M Chadwick of Burrum Heads, S Kras of Goodna, B Steers of Redbank Plains, B Freier of Ningi, B Dalgarno of Geebung, M Davis of Bundaberg, J Goody of Mount Berryman, A Scott of Proserpine, R Kunde of Beerwah, P Cox of Edmonton, L Grant of Roma, D Hopf of Kingaroy, E Lezuchowski of Darra, B Halberstater of Yeppoon, J Inwood of Kirwan, J Remz

of Beaudesert, L Stewart of Capalaba, G Essex of Toowoomba, J Swain of Benowa, K Cook of Bli Bli, O Noffke of Kulangoor, W Gore of New Beith, B Fisher of Roma, R Kelly of Laidley South, C Renz of Crestmead, A Kittel of Logan Village, P Carrington of Deception Bay, M Finch of Stanthorpe, N Hogbin of Coominya.

Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks.

– QFM

LAST MONTH’S ANSWERS

FIND THE GAMAKATSU LOGO

GUESS THE FISH?

The answers to Find the Gamakatsu Logo for February were: 10, 18, 21, 22, 28, 30, 39, 42, 86, 88, 92, 94, 108, 110, 122. – QFM

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This month’s Guess the Fish Answer: Mangrove Jack

The Find the Gamakatsu prize winners for February were: E Lockwood of Boolboonda, J Handley of Pacific Haven, C Daniel of Brightview, W Collis of River Heads, G Mason of Kalkie, B Devine of Pialba, R & D Kelly of Colosseum, S Davies of Emerald, D Deppeler of Burpengary East, L Finney

Answer:

Boondooma Dam Fishing competition results Boondooma Dam Yellowbelly Fishing Competition spokesman Terry Allwood says that the lake fished extremely well for the 2018 event with 278 fish going through the

overall competition winners were announced at the conclusion of the event.

The water level in the lake was at 44%, which together with the clear blue skies set the scene for a great

by John Francis of Kingaroy with a bass measuring in at 535mm, He took home over $500 cash, prizes and trophy, proudly sponsored

by Thug Lures and Shimano Australia.

Overall event winner Scott Johnston with Mayor Keith Campbell and fellow councillors. catch and release section and another 252 in the gilled and gutted section.

The biggest yellowbelly of the event was weighed in at 2.215kg.

The competition set new records for the third year in a row with a massive attendance of 1123 entrants including 272 juniors.

Cash and other prizes were presented at the end of each of the three sessions and the

weekend of camping, fishing and family activities.

Profits from the event are used to supplement fishing permit funds from the Queensland Government and to date approximately 5.1 million fingerlings have been stocked into Lake Boondooma.

The catch and release category of Longest Native targeting Australian bass and yellowbelly was won

Chloe Manthey put in a solid effort under some guidance from her dad Shaun Manthey, to walk away with the most fish (bass and yellowbelly) caught and released throughout the competition with a total tally of 10 fish presented to the weigh master.

The Heaviest Yellowbelly title was claimed by Scott Johnston of Proston with a yellowbelly

of 2.215kg. Scott took home over $410 cash plus prizes and a trophy, sponsored by Corey and Nikki Goldie of the Lake Boondooma Kiosk.

The winner of the heaviest Bass section sponsored by Wondai Accounting and Tax Services was D. Rutch of Mooloolah with a bass of 1.370kg to secure a pay cheque of $350 plus prizes and a trophy.

The Hanwood Fish Hatchery Champion Junior Anglers for Yellowbelly were Lucy Stead of Kingaroy with a yellowbelly of 1.8kg and Benson Graham of Wallumbilla with a bass weighing in at 1.315kg.

The 3.6m Quintrex Boat Motor and Trailer package was won by Ryan Daley of Clifton. This prize was proudly sponsored by South Burnett Regional Council.

The Dragon Kayak was won

by Keith Smith of Highfield.

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who attended and made the event such a success. All profits made from the weekend go back into purchasing more fingerlings. The future for Lake Boondooma fishery is looking very healthy.

The ongoing support of our many generous sponsors ensured that a wide range of prizes and lucky draws were available for all competitors giving away over $40,000 worth of cash and prizes.

TOURNAMENT CALENDAR

Food and drinks stalls were provided by local community groups over the weekend and the great camping facilities provided by the South Burnett Regional Council were put to great use by campers staying at the lake.

The annual competition for 2019 will be held on 9-10 February 2019. Entry costs

for the February event will remain at $20 for adults and $5 for juniors aged 16 years and under.

Additional information on the local area and past fishing competitions can be found on the Proston Online website, www.prostononline. info. – Boondooma Dam Fish Stocking and Management Association

Catch and Release winner John Francis.

Brought to you by

2018

JULY APRIL

21-22 Apr 4-11 Jul 22 Apr 6 Jul

MAY

JUNE AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

5-6 May

Jul 13 19-20 May

Jul 14-15 22-23 May

Jul 26-27 2-3 Jun

Aug 10 2-3 Jun

Aug 24 7-9 Jun

Sep 13-14 8-10 Jun

Sep 14 9-10 Jun

ABT BREAM Series Round 5 Gold Coast Evans Head Fishing Classic EHFCC - 0448 881 414 ABT BASS Electric Series Round 2 ClarrieBream Hall Dam BETS R6 Chris Gates - 0413 795 382 ABT BREAM Series Round 6 Swan River, WA Gamakatsu TS R3 South GTS - 0459 Pro 401 Round 612 ABT BASS 2 Glenbawn Dam Daiwa-Hobie Kayak BREAM Series ABT BASS - (07) 3387 0888 3 ABT Pro Round Lake St Clair ABT BREAM Series ABT - (07) 3387 Kayak 0888 Bream Series Round 6 Hobie Gold Coast Gamakatsu Bream Round + Kayak ABT Series GTS BREAM - 0459 401 612 Round 7 Hawkesbury River Gamakatsu Bream North Round + Kayak Frenchville GTS - 0459 Sports 401 612Club Barra Bash Frenchville Daiwa-Hobie Kayak BREAM Series Weipa Fishing ABT - (07) 3387Classic 0888 Cape York Daiwa-Hobie Kayak BASS Series Tweed Coast Marine ABT - (07) 3387 0888 Greenback Fishing Comp Tweed Coast

abt.org.au Evans Head www.evansheadfishingclassic.com.au abt.org.au Sydney Harbour www.betsbream.com.au abt.org.au St Georges Basin fishingcomps.com.au/gts abt.org.au Georges River www.abt.org.au abt.org.au

Clarence River www.abt.org.au hobiefishing.com.au South West Rocks abt.org.au fishingcomps.com.au/gts Ballina frenchybarrabash@gmail.com fishingcomps.com.au/gts St Georges Basin www.weipafishingclassic.com www.abt.org.au Toonumbar Dam Stephen Duffield www.abt.org.au 0421 052 135

10 Jun or competitionABT BASS Series Round 3 abt.org.au Add your tournament to this listElectric by emailing jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au or calling 07 3387 0800 in office hours.

Wyralong Dam Just supply a date, venue, tournament name and a telephone number and contact name.

Add your tournament or competition to this list by emailing jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au or calling 07 3387 0800 in office hours.

Just supply a date, venue, tournament name and a telephone number and contact name.

APRIL 2018

91

Mario jigs Geneo for victory Victorian breamer Mario Vukic kick-started the 2018 Costa BREAM Series in grand style with the 2017 runner-up claiming victory in the opening round of the tour, the Costa Mallacoota BREAM Qualifier held on 13-14 February.

Proving that he’s the angler to watch when the Costa tour comes to town, Vukic went one step better than his runner-up title in 2017 to claim victory in the opening round of the 2018 Costa BREAM Series.

Fishing the Genoa rock walls for the event Vukic keyed in on a 100m stretch as the pick of the areas to fish and it was here that he fished a deepwater soft plastic and Cranka Crab approach to catch his fish each day.

“My game plan was to find a location that would produce numbers of fish.

STORM

Mario Vukic with a brace of Mallacoota winning bream. lure,” explained Mario.

The approach paid dividends with Vukic catching 25 legal fish on day

BIG BREAM Glen Sturrock claimed the Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream Prize with the BREAM tour veteran picking up the $500 winning fish on day one on a super wakasagi coloured OSP Dunk crankbait. Caught off a snag on the edge it was Sturrock’s only fish for the session.

For more information on the Costa BREAM Series head to www.abt.org.au. – ABT

Then it was a matter of picking through them and catching the occasional bigger fish – the fish that you want to have in your bag

one and another 20 legals on the shortened day two, his limit coming by 12pm on day one and by 9am on day two.

While the ZMan was Mario’s bag filler it was a 3” Gene Larew Baby Hoodaddy and a light Cranka Crab that delivered him his upgrades for the tournament. On day one it was the Hoodaddy that delivered the upgrade magic in a technique that was a mixture of aggression and inactivity, Mario explained.

“The key with the Hoodaddy was to give it a series of aggressive flicks then deadstick it and allow it to sink back down on slack line. It looks just like a prawn coming back down to the bottom when you work it this way.”

Glen Sturrock caught the standout fish at Mallacoota claiming the Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream Prize with his day one kicker fish.

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888.

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when you deliver it to the scales,” explained Vukic.

Vukic’s go-to lure first up each morning was a motor oil coloured 2.5” ZMan GrubZ rigged on either a 1/16oz or 1/12oz jighead. Its presentation involved casting it tight to the edge then hopping it down the rock slope and back to the boat.

“The bank dropped off into about 15-20ft of water and it was as I hopped the lure off the slope and just as it was about to hit the bottom that most of the fish bit the

On day two it was the Cranka Crab that proved the hero with Vukic catching a kicker fish on it.

“After catching my limit on day two the plan was to move to the shallows but I decided to tie on a Cranka Crab and it paid off.

I caught a 1kg+ fish which anchored my bag, and in the end it was this fish that helped me claim the event win,” explained Mario.

The kicker fish in his 3.59kg day two limit it was enough to enable Vukic to leapfrog Dan Mackrell into 1st place to claim his maiden win on the Costa BREAM Series, on a waterway that carries much personal significance.

“My parents brought me to Mallacoota when I was a child, and now as a parent I bring my kids here as well.

It’s a place that is dear to myself and my family, so to win my first event here is very fitting and further adds to the specialness of the win and our love of ‘Coota,” explained Mario.

For his win Vukic cashed a $3200 winner’s cheque and pencilled his name in as a qualifier for the Costa BREAM Grand Final in Victoria in November. The victory also cemented his name as one of the anglers to look out for when the Costa tour comes to Victoria.

TOP 10 BOATERS Place Angler

Fish Weight (kg)

Payout

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 10/10 8/10 10/10 10/10 10/10

$3,200 $1800, Duffrods Big Bag (3,76kg) $1300, 1st Mercury Bonus $1150, 2nd Mercury Bonus $975, 3rd Mercury Bonus $800 $650 $500 $500 $500

Mario VUKIC Daniel MACKRELL Jarrod HEALEY Tom DEER Cameron WHITTAM Jesse ROTIN Tim VICKERS Clint VOSS Brad ROBERTS Braddley YOUNG

7.11 7.10 6.29 5.87 5.86 5.70 5.69 5.44 5.32 5.21

For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Mack attack at Coota Dan Mackrell compiled two solid days on the water at Mallacoota to claim 2nd place in the boater division to punch his ticket for the Costa BREAM Grand Final and head home $1800 richer for the weekend. Fishing the Narrows area for the tournament the Frogleys Offshore sponsored bream pro, like many anglers in the field, chose a soft plastic approach to catch his fish, namely a 2” motor oil colour curl-tail grub rigged on a 1/20oz Seeker jighead.

Working areas of varying

depth from 50cm on the edge out to the secondary drop-off in 2.5m, Mackrell fished tight to the bottom.

“The fish were positioned tight to structure regardless of the depth so it was important to keep the lure in touch with the bottom,” explained Dan. It wasn’t solely a soft plastic approach for Mackrell, especially on day one, as the Victorian breamer fished the shallow flats with a 65mm Atomic Seekerz jerkbait in Tim’s prawn colour.

“The key with the jerkbait

was the pause; you wanted to let it sit motionless for a long time to get the fish to eat it,” explained Mackrell.

Out in the deep fishing his jighead rigged soft plastic, Mackrell found plenty of baitfish with tailor and bream sitting underneath them looking for an easy feed. While Dan could find the bream and the bait, it wasn’t until later in the day that the bream started to play.

“They didn’t really fire here until mid-morning so I spent time fishing other locations while I waited for them to turn on,” explained Mackrell.

When they did turn on the action was fast and furious with Dan catching 30 legal fish for day one and a dozen on day two. It was a late start for the bite to turn on day two and it wasn’t until the last hour and half of the reduced four-hour session that he caught his first fish.

“My non-boater had four

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Event runner-up Dan Mackrell secured the Duffrods Big Bag for the tournament, with the Atomic-sponsored angler claiming the prize for his 5/5, 3.76kg day one limit. The standout limit for the tournament, Dan’s XOS sack was enough to give him the lead heading into day two, but unfortunately wasn’t enough to hold off Mario Vukic for the event win.

BREAM SERIES

Dan Mackrell found the big fish at Coota, falling 10g short of claiming victory. fish and I had nothing, so I was starting to get a little worried. I reminded myself to stay focused, and the fish eventually came, including my limit and a few upgrades,” explained Mackrell.

Weighing in a 3.34kg

limit for the session Mackrell unfortunately didn’t have enough weight to hold off eventual winner Mario Vukic, falling 10g short of claiming victory.

“To lose and to lose by that little definitely

hurts,” explained a heartbroken Mackrell.

The tackle Mackrell used included Samurai Reaction rods (models 101 and 181), Daiwa Ignis reels, 8lb Unitika Aorika and X4 braid and 3lb Unitika fluorocarbon leader.

Badrock bags out for Coota non boater victory Doug Badrock punched his ticket for December’s Victorian Costa BREAM Grand Final with the Bright-based tournament gun claiming a comprehensive non

Zman Grub on jighead

boater victory at Mallacoota.

Fishing with Robert Lee on day one Badrock started his day fishing the northern side of Goodwin Sands, throwing a brown

suji coloured Atomic Jerk Minnow, and twitching and pausing it above the weed beds.

“The lure and technique paid off and I caught my first fish for the session. We then

Cranka Crab

15-20’ deep

TOP 10 NON BOATERS Place Angler

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

1

10/10

6.07

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Doug BADROCK

Costa Prize Pack, 1st Hobie Bonus Simon JOHNSON 10/10 5.27 Tonic Sunglasses, Prize Pack Bowan JOINER 9/10 4.96 Atomic Arrowz rod, Prize Pack, 2nd Hobie Bonus Blair BRYANT 7/10 4.30 Daiwa LT Exceler reel, Prize Pack, 3rd Hobie Bonus Grant OLIVER 7/10 4.07 Prize Pack Stuart WALKER 7/10 4.06 Prize Pack Michael THOMPSON 6/10 3.83 Prize Pack Ben SHUEY 6/10 3.64 Prize Pack Paul LANGLEY 6/10 3.44 Prize Pack Chris HEAD 6/10 2.94 Prize Pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

moved and headed to the southeastern side of Goodwin Sands,” explained Badrock.

Fishing water 0.9-1.3m deep, the pair keyed in on an area that had plenty of weed and, most importantly, sand patches scattered throughout.

“This is where I caught all my legals for the day, and just like the fish I caught earlier they fell to a slow-rolled, twitched and paused Atomic Jerk Minnow.

The slower, the better was definitely the key when it came to the retrieve,” explained Badrock.

Badrock’s two go-to colours for his Atomic Jerk Minnow were a brown suji and a brown colour.

While the Goodwin Sands’ bream loved Badrock’s Jerk Minnows and choice of colours, they did make him work for them and it wasn’t until the last ten minutes of the session that he caught his fifth fish for the day. Sitting in 5th place at the end of day one and paired with day one leader Dan Mackrell for day two, Doug was feeling positive about what day two had to offer.

With angling time a premium on day two due to the reduced session, Badrock wanted to get them and he wanted to get them early, and that’s definitely how it played out. Fishing in 1.5-3m of water the pair spot locked on a particular location, targeting fish feeding on baitfish in the area.

“The bream were sitting bellow the baitfish and it didn’t take long to get them to bite. I caught four fish in the first 40 minutes – the fourth was fat 39cm yellowfin,”

Doug Badrock claimed a solid victory in the nonboater division at the Costa-presented event. explained Badrock.

Doug’s fifth fish proved hard to catch and it wasn’t until the last 20 minutes of the session that he caught it. His gun lure was the bloodworm and motor oil coloured 2.5” ZMan GrubZ rigged on a variety of jigheads, ranging from 1/12-1/8oz in weight.

“The 1/8oz was the go-to when the wind really got up because you could cast further and keep the lure in contact with the bottom,” explained Badrock.

While Badrock and Mackrell caught fish throughout the session the bites came in 10

minute windows.

“The bites came in waves and we found as the day progressed the quicker hops and twitches would draw the best reaction from the fish,” explained Badrock.

Badrock weighed in a 5/5, 3.35kg limit to claim victory and secure an 800g win over Simon Johnson in 2nd place in doing so becoming the owner of a new pair of Costa sunglasses, securing a berth in the Costa BREAM Grand Final, and claiming his first win on the Costa BREAM tour.

WINNING TACKLE Rod: G.Loomis TSR 862-2 Reel: Daiwa Steez 2004 Line: 10lb (0.6 PE) Sunline Castaway PE Leader: 3lb Sunline FC Rock Lure: 2.5” ZMan Grubz in motor oil rigged on either a 1/16oz or 1/12oz jighead, 3” Gene Larew Baby Hoodaddy and an olive coloured light Cranka Crab. Shrimp flavoured Pro Cure scent was also added to the lures.

APRIL 2018

93

Cam crushes field for Gippy win

STORM

Cam Whittam added another BREAM trophy to his mantel piece at round two of the Costa BREAM Series with the gun Victorian breamer compiling a 10/10, 10.37kg limit to claim victory in the 2nd event of the Viccy Tour, the Atomic Gippsland Lakes BREAM Qualifier on 17-18 February.

Calling upon his extensive knowledge and experience fishing the vast Gippsland Lakes fishery, Whittam fished two key areas to claim the win. On day one he focused on the Mitchell River flats and on day two the Mitchell River flats and the shallow reef at the mouth of the Tambo River.

Fishing the shallow reef on the Mitchell River flats – an area that many boats in the field were fishing – Whittam found the fish, but found getting them to bite wasn’t always easy.

“I was fishing in 3-4ft of water and picked up

Atomic Gippsland Lakes victor Cam Whittam holds aloft a pair of his tournament-winning bream. sitting in 2nd place at the end of the day.

Returning to the Mitchell River flats at the start of day two, Cam once again found the going hard. At 10.30am, with only two fish in the

DAIWA J-BRAID BIG BREAM Wayne Hamilton claimed the Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream Prize at Gippsland Lakes with the Gippsland local securing the $500 prize on day two for his standout fish caught in 3ft of water at the Mitchell flats on a hardbody.

The tackle Hamilton used to catch the prizewinning fish included a 2-4kg Duffrods Broken Bones rod and Daiwa Ignis 2004 reel.

Visit www.abt.org.au for entry forms. For general enquiries phone ABT on (07) 3387 0888.

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APRIL 2018

and pinpointed fish with my Humminbird Helix sounder; getting them to bite however proved more challenging. The bite was ultra timid and I missed 8-10 fish each day, because they weren’t really committed in their bite,” explained Whittam.

Fishing the Mitchell River flats on day one Whittam threw a two-lure punch, throwing a deep brown suji shrimp Jackall Chubby and a 2.5” ZMan GrubZ – the latter was used to catch his kicker fish.

“There was plenty of algae in the water which greatly reduced the visibility.

The Chubby was the perfect lure for these conditions because of the combination of rattle and UV, particularly when the sun was low and there was less light penetration into the water,” explained Whittam.

The presentation for the Chubby involved a slow retrieve, bumping the bottom and walking the lure over structure as it swum through the water.

The timid frugal bite proved challenging on day one with Whittam only catching five legal fish and a couple of undersize fish for the day. What he lacked in numbers he made up for in size with Cam weighing in a 5/5, 5.26kg limit to be

well, he pulled up stumps and changed location, heading to the mouth of the Tambo River in search of more productive water.

Whittam also made a change in lure, swapping to an OSP Dunk in a variety of different colours. Cam’s changes paid dividends, finding fish at the Tambo that were more eager to eat than the timid fish at the Mitchell.

“The fish at the Tambo were far less pressured and were more committed to eating the lure; getting them to the boat however was the hard part at times. I got

dusted by at least six fish for the day,” explained Cam. Within 30 minutes of arriving at the Tambo Whittam had filled his limit, his eventual bag weighing 5.11kg anchored by two 38.5cm fork-length fish.

Weighing in two 5kg+ bags for the tournament Whittam claimed the victory in a canter, winning by a 2.16kg margin over event runner-up Jamie McKeown.

In victory Whittam added $3100 to his career earnings and additionally value added his rewards with the $250 Mercury Bonus.

The big fish came out to play at Gippsland with Wayne Hamilton securing the Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream Prize.

TOP 10 BOATERS Place Angler

Fish

Weight (kg)

1 2

10/10 7/10

10.37 8.21

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Cameron Whittam Jamie McKeown

Payout

$3100, 1st Mercury Bonus $1700, Duffrods Big Bag, 2nd Mercury Bonus Warren Carter 10/10 7.96 $1200, 3rd Mercury Bonus Brad Hodges 10/10 7.27 $1150 Christian Wardini 10/10 6.49 $950 Kris Hickson 8/10 6.42 $800 Grant Kime 9/10 6.08 $600 Mario Vukic 9/10 5.76 $500 Mark Cribbes 7/10 5.59 $500 Brad Roberts 7/10 4.95 $500 For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

Yellow fever for podium finish

Queensland Breamer Jamie McKeown made the long trip from home on the Gold Coast to Victoria for the opening rounds of the 2018 Costa BREAM Series with the 2017 BREAM Grand Final runner-up fishing like he was still at home chasing yellowfin bream rather than the black bream of the south to claim a top two at the Gippsland Lakes event.

Fishing for the rarelytargeted yellowfin bream of Gippsland Lakes McKeown keyed in on the rock walls at Lakes Entrance during the pre-fish and it was here that he fished during the event.

“After I found them

during the pre-fish I was confident that I’d have them to myself during the tournament because guys rarely target them down here. I perhaps wasn’t so confident that they would last for the whole tournament,” explained McKeown.

Hitting the ground running on day one, McKeown went straight there from the start and started fishing. He worked water and walls in the 2-9m depth range.

“The key was to look for walls with plenty of current flow and cast into the eddies. Sink your lure down to the bottom and if you could get it there, the

DUFFRODS BIG BAG Queenslander breamer Jamie McKeown picked up the Duffrods Big Bag with the Gold Coast tournament veteran catching the tournament’s standout bag on day one, a 5/5, 5.62kg limit of yellowfin bream caught from the rock walls at Lakes Entrance.

bream would generally eat it,” explained Jamie.

The lure that he used was the lure that delivered him so much during last year’s Grand Final – the Cranka Crab.

McKeown threw the 5.9 and 9.5g models in spotted and brown colours.

“It was hard aggressive fishing. In many ways it was like jack fishing on the Gold Coast – super aggressive bites followed by a strong tussle to stop the bream finding its way home,” explained Jamie.

The action was fast and furious from the get-go on day one with Jamie filling his limit by 9.30am. Upgrades followed throughout the session, and when McKeown dropped a 5.62kg limit of yellowfin bream on the weigh-in scales back at the Metung Hotel he turned heads and made plenty of people sit up and take notice.

“Black bream have always dominated our events

in Victoria. There’s yellowfin down there but they rarely get considered as a viable option during a tournament. To see Jamie bring a bag of them in – and a bag that size – is something that’s never been done before,” explained ABT Tournament Director Simon Goldsmith.

Day two however was the real challenge with a change in current flow and line breakage issues plagued McKeown’s day on the water.

“The current wasn’t running the same, so it was more difficult to get the lure down to the fish. I also lost a few key fish because I’d run out of my main leader material and I had to use something else that wasn’t as robust in rocky situations.

While Jamie found the quality of fish he’d been on the two days prior, regretfully he only managed to put two fish in the well. Weighing in a 2/5, 2.59kg limit for the

BREAM SERIES

Event runner-up Jamie McKeown zigged when many anglers zagged, catching yellowfin bream on the rocks walls at Lakes Entrance to secure a podium finish. session McKeown slipped from 1st to 2nd to head home with thoughts of what may have been and growing plans for redemption in the 2018 Gippsland Lakes event.

The tackle McKeown used for the event included Samaki Zing Extreme and K2 rods, Ecooda Hawke II reel, 8lb Samaki braid and 6lb leader.

Joiner grubs and cranks to maiden victory Mallacoota breaming wunderkind Bowan Joiner once again showed his angling prowess with the talented East Gippsland angler claiming victory in the non-boater division of the Atomic Gippsland Lakes BREAM Qualifier.

Fishing the Mitchell River flats on day one Joiner and his boater target flooded timber in 3-10ft of water and finding bream holding tight to the base of the timber.

“We worked through the area and once we fished all the timber we could find

we moved out and fished the shallow reefy main flat,” explained Joiner.

The bite when fishing the timber was anything but subtle with a pause of his lure followed by an aggressive hit. On the shallow flat, however, the fish were a bit more reserved with the

Deep Jackall Chubby

bream giving a slight nudge of the lure before Joiner would set the hook. The approach was exactly what the fish wanted with Joiner catching 12-15 fish for the session, including five legals and three upgrades.

Weighing in a 5/5, 4.19kg limit on day one Joiner was

OSP Dunk

Zman Grub on Jighead

Victorian young gun Bowan Joiner claimed the non-boater title at the Atomic-presented event.

Weedy bottom

Rocky bottom

TOP 10 NON BOATERS Place Angler

Fish

Weight (kg) Payout

1

7/10

6.52

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Bowan Joiner

Costa Sunglasses, Prize Pack, 1st Hobie Bonus Tomas McIntosh 8/10 6.46 Tonic Sunglasses, Prize Pack, 2nd Hobie Bonus Wayne Hamilton 7/10 6.04 Atomic Arrowz Rod, Prize Pack, Daiwa J-Braid Big Bream, 3rd Hobie Bonus Peter Breukel 9/10 5.89 Daiwa Reel and Prize Pack Glen Sturrock 8/10 5.47 Prize Pack James Morgan 6/10 5.25 Prize Pack Grayson Fong 5/10 5.18 Prize Pack, Simon Johnson 8/10 4.90 Prize Pack Craig Johnson 7/10 4.64 Prize Pack Jason Sellings 7/10 3.97 Prize Pack For full result listings, see www.abt.org.au

sitting in 1st place heading into day two.

A different boater and different location greeted Joiner on day two, with the Mallacoota local fishing the jetties at Paynesville. With a jighead rigged ZMan GrubZ tied on Joiner would skip his offering in under the structure to the waiting fish.

“The fish were holding on the structure waiting for the current to deliver them food. The key was to skip the lure as far back into the shade as you could, let it sink to the bottom, then give it a series

of small hops and jerks as you worked it back to the boat,” explained Joiner.

It was hard fishing with Joiner only catching two legal fish for the session, the first coming at 10am and the second at 2.20pm.

Despite falling short of weighing his full limit for the session, Joiner had just enough to hold off a strong finishing Tom McIntosh for the win.

The tackle Joiner used to catch his tournament winning fish included a Millerod 2-5kg Brawler

rod matched to a 2500 Shimano Stradic reel spooled with 6lb Sunline braid and 6lb Sunline FC Rock leader, and a Millerods 1-3kg Twitch Freak rod matched to a Daiwa 2506 Luvias reel spooled with 4lb Sunline braid and 4lb Sunline FC Rock leader. The lures he used included an OSP Dunk 48 in H-23 colour regularly smeared with S Factor, and a 2.5” ZMan GrubZ in motor oil and watermelon red flake colours rigged on 1/24oz Nitro jigheads.

WINNING TACKLE Rod: Duffrods Broken Bones BB 2852 and Titanium Series T8522 Reel: Daiwa Certate and Luvias 2506 Line: 12lb Sunline Castaway PE Leader: 4lb Sunline FC Rock Bream Special fluorocarbon Lure: Deep Jackall Chubby in brown suji shrimp, 2.5” ZMan Grubz in motor oil rigged on a 1/12oz jighead, and OSP Dunk in a variety of colours APRIL 2018

95

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APRIL 2018

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97

Industry News

Costa launches their ‘Store in Store’ in Australia FMG

Peter Jung pjung@fishingmonthly.com.au

Florida-based company Costa Del Mar produces arguably the world’s best polarized sunglasses.

Established in 1983 by Ray Ferguson, the Costa brand has always been at the cutting edge of polarized lens technology

a few. Their message is as clear as looking through their glasses; they wish to “Support causes that contribute to the preservation of our watery world,” so everyone is able to go out and enjoy it.

Australians, with our love for the outdoors and for quality products, have welcomed the Costa brand.

Australia now represents one of their highest growth markets in the world.

It’s the first in Australia and only the third of its kind outside the US; the concept store was officially opened on Friday 23 February and Fishing Monthly was there.

As you would expect Michael is stoked with how it all looks and even happier that it will further enhance his love of the Costa product and what he can offer his customers.

The Store in Store display gives him the ability to offer

With room for nearly 200 pairs of sunglasses, apparel and additional stands for all things Costa, the ‘Store in Store’ concept is an impressive one.

The concept store is a great reward for all the effort that Hooked On Bait and Tackle has made to establish the brand over a number of years. and continues to strive to improve its lenses, so the end consumer is getting the best of the best.

Costa is also all about giving back. They are involved with projects like OCEARCH and the Kick Plastic campaign, just to name

Enter Hooked On Bait and Tackle in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria. Owner of Australia’s number one Costa retail store, Michael Felsovary was offered the opportunity to have a concept store within his shop and jumped at the chance.

the full range of glasses that suit Australian conditions.

Michael explained to us that it is great to know that the quality of the glasses reflect the floor space he has given them in the store.

“The glasses have exceptional image clarity

Damien Kerves from Rapala VMC Australia, the distributor of Costa sunglasses in Australia, also attended the opening.

“What a great way to represent the brand here in Australia. Australians love Costa sunglasses and this is a great reward for Michael and his team for all the hard work they have done establishing the brand with their customers,” he said.

When prompted about whether it’s likely more concept stores will be set up in Australia he said, “It would be great to have a concept store in each state to show off everything Costa has to offer. Watch this space.”

Congratulations to Michael and his team. The store looked fantastic and the addition of the Costa concept store is just another reason to drop into the store.

If you want to see the Costa ‘Store in Store’ concept for yourself, Hooked on Bait and Tackle

and come in a great range of frames that cover every face shape and size. Once a customer puts them on and sees the difference for themselves, they just won’t wear anything else,” Michael summarised. Most importantly he said you need to try them on to ensure that they are comfortable to wear, because if they are not, you won’t wear them.

Michael explained Costa also has a great range of lifestyle products. “Costa is all about embracing the

The latest 580 high definition lens from Costa is unparalleled in its ability to cut glare and enhance your view of the outdoors.

The Costa concept store in Hooked On Bait and Tackle is the first one in Australia and only the third outside of the USA. 98

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The concept store is all about promoting the lifestyle that is Costa. There is a great range of accessories and clothing to complement your sunglass purchase.

outdoor experience, so they have a great range of T-shirts, caps and technical apparel as well as cleaning products and other items for the glasses. The Store in Store concept allows our customers to experience everything Costa.”

is at 174-180 Old Geelong Road, Hopper Crossing, Victoria. You can contact Michael and his team on (03) 9748 3811. To see the full range of products and find your local Costa dealer you can go to www. costadelmar.com.au.

boats & kayaks

In the skipper’s seat

Inside story...

At Anglapro they share their customers’ passion for both fishing and boating. The hulls are built by a team that draw from this passion to provide anglers with a true fishing weapon.

From estuary fishing boats to offshore angling machines, Anglapro have boats to suit almost every type of angler.

Made for...

Anglapro build tough boats for Australian conditions, and this is something they pride themselves on. The end result is a safe and great riding craft for anglers with a sense of adventure.

This month...

Peter Jung takes a look at the Anglapro Outlaw 434 PRO, powered by a Mercury 40hp. Check it out on page 108.

102 Exciting new Mercury technology

Editor Steve Morgan visited the States recently to check out some new innovations from Mercury.

104 Brand new SUP

Justin Willmer has caved and bought his own SUP, and discovers even more about these fantastic crafts.

106 Brisbane boating

Wayne Kampe gives an overview of boating in the Brisbane River’s busy waters, and provides some tips to any newcomers to boating in Brisbane.

110 Bluewater 520 with Yamaha F115hp Editor Steve Morgan has a ride in this oceanic machine from Stessl, taking it into the waters off Tweed Heads.

APRIL 2018

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WHAT’S NEW BOATING HONDA V6 OUTBOARDS

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Honda Marine has just launched its redesigned and improved BF175, BF200, BF225 and BF250 V6 outboard motors.

Targeting the heart of the boating market, the refreshed Honda ‘V6’ models mark the newest evolution in the company’s product line, integrating innovative design, a sleek new style, enhanced reliability, streamlined maintenance and an expanded number of rigging options for ease of use.

Whether boaters are weekend cruisers or commercial (including government and law enforcement) users, these enhanced V6 motors deliver what every marine enthusiast wants— maximum time on the water.

“With multiple rigging options and with Honda’s legendary durability and reliability as standard, these new Honda Marine engines will provide best power and performance from the initial blast to top end speed,” said Rod Day, Sales Manager at Honda Marine. www.honda.com.au

150 PRO XS FOURSTROKE

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Building on the success of the Mercury 115 Pro XS FourStroke, Mercury Marine has created its new 150 Pro XS FourStroke – an engine which sets a new standard in the 150hp high-output category.

Mercury’s new 150 Pro XS more than lives up to the legendary Pro XS reputation for superior hole shot, top-end speed, and durability.

This new FourStroke is an ideal fit for performance-oriented boating; for recreational, fishing and competition applications.

“The new 150 Pro XS is based on one of Mercury’s most successful and widely adopted engine platforms – the Mercury 150hp,” said John Buelow, Mercury Marine vice president of category management.

“Building on this solid foundation, we’ve engineered the new performance-tuned 150 Pro XS to be the quickest, lightest and most advanced high-output outboard in its class.”

The new 150 Pro XS boasts fast acceleration, light weight, large displacement, high torque, improved fuel efficiency, smooth performance, corrosion protection, and much more. www.mercurymarine.com.au

NAVIONICS+ REGIONS

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Navionics, the leader in content and location-based services for the recreational boating market, have announced the release of Navionics+ Regions in seven coverage areas throughout Australia and New Zealand.

At the affordable price of $165 AUS per region, Navionics+ Regions is a tremendous value that includes Nautical Chart, SonarChart 0.5 m HD bathymetry map and Community Edits. Daily chart updates and advanced features are included for one year.

“For the vast majority of boaters and anglers, the coverage of one Navionics+ Region preloaded with Nautical Chart and SonarChart, allows them to take full advantage of the outstanding capabilities of Navionics+ at a more affordable price point,” said John McDonald, Sales Manager at Navionics Australia.

Navionics charts are updated every day with official information, while SonarChart and Community Edits are continuously enhanced by regular contributions from fellow boaters.

To keep their charts current, customers can download updates anywhere within the coverage area from the website.

Price: SRP $165 www.navionics.com 100

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PRODUCT GUIDE

COMPACT YANMAR 4 3JH40 Yanmar Marine International has launched the latest addition to its family of new generation common rail (CR) diesel engines: the compact Yanmar 3JH40 inboard engine.

The 3-cylinder 3JH40 has been developed by leading manufacturer Yanmar as the marine industry’s smallest CR inboard diesel engine.

With an output of 40mhp, it will enable a whole new category of smaller leisure boat owners and commercial vessel operators to benefit for the first time from the efficiency and performance advantages associated with the most recent electronically-managed CR fuelinjection technology.

Offering minimal fuel consumption and exceptionally low noise and emission levels, the new Yanmar 3JH40 propulsion engine surpasses EPA Tier 3 and EU RCD Tier 2 emission regulations, for virtually smoke and odour-free operation.

The 4-stroke, water-cooled 3JH40 is an ideal solution for new builds and repowering applications, such as small motor boats or light duty commercial craft. Weighing 192kg and with 1.642L displacement, the engine can be operated by either standard mechanical cable controls or the Yanmar VC10 electronic control system. www.powerequipment.com.au

MERCURY V6 FOURSTROKES

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Mercury Marine is excited to introduce its allnew V6 FourStroke outboard family and the expansion of its SeaPro commercial line.

Just unveiled at the 2018 Miami International Boat Show, the new engines include 175hp, 200hp and 225hp FourStroke outboards and a V6 200hp SeaPro commercial outboard.

Precision engineered from skeg to cowl, all four outboards are built on Mercury’s new 3.4-litre V6 platform, which is designed to be powerful, light, compact and fuel-efficient.

It employs a large displacement, naturally aspirated powerhead and proven mid-section and drive-system designs.

“This new platform will position Mercury to advance product leadership in the 175-225hp outboard category, and deliver across the board on consumer needs,” said John Pfeifer, Mercury Marine President.

“These new outboards address applications across recreational and commercial applications, strengthen our core product lineup by building off the success of our recent programs and delivering on the requirements of our global customers.” www.mercurymarine.com.au

RAYMARINE AXIOM UAV

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Raymarine have just announced a marine electronics first at the Miami International Boat Show in the United States this year, with the introduction of the UAV integration with Axiom/Axiom Pro MFDs! This leading-edge technology now brings a hands-free, aerial view to the water, ushering in a new era of UAV control and video possibilities for anglers and boaters doing a lot of on-water filming. Not only does it make capturing video footage of fish catches easier, it also increases Axiom’s inherent fish-finding power to include aerial scouting capabilities while you’re out on the water.

Currently compatible with DJI Spark and Mavic UAV drones, features include single button launch/track/record functions, GPS link for various ‘follow’ modes, and real-time video streaming on the Axiom MFD, to make filming with a drone even easier!

Axiom UAV integration will be available in the spring of 2018.

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Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

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Mercury launch 3.4L V6 at Miami Boat Show FMG

Steve Morgan s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

You know that Mercury is releasing something serious when you get bundled on a plane with a bunch of Aussie and New Zealand media for a global product launch at the Miami Boat Show.

The last time it happened, Mercury released the 300, 350 and 400hp in-line, 2.6 cylinder supercharged Verados – a platform that has helped redefine what can be done with consumer level big boats and outboards.

Indeed at the 2018 Miami

be coming from the maker: a brand new platform of 175, 200 and 225hp engines.

With their current offerings consisting of the oil burning 2-stroke Optimax and versions of the superchargedyet-heavy 4-cylinder Verado, Mercury was due to release something lighter, cleaner, faster and more advanced in that market segment.

After some exclusive access to the product on the water, it was pretty obvious that the futuristic-looking 3.4L naturally aspirated V6 was going to tick all of the boxes.

Design-wise, the 3.4L platform is significantly

The main top panel covers the easy access to the dipstick, oil fill and cowling removal handle. show, there were dozens of big boats sporting one, two, three, four or even five Verados on the transom. Boat porn at its finest!

We weren’t there for Verados though. This was obvious at the media launch the day before the show, where the world’s boating media were treated to an embargoed preview of the next big thing to come from the Fond du Lac, Wisconsin factory.

As Mercury boss, John Pfeiffer and his Chief Technology Officer, David Foulkes slid the covering from the veiled engine, we saw what we thought might

different from everything in the product line except the new 15 and 20HP that were released a few months ago.

An angular cowling is vastly removed from the 150 and 135hp 3.0L motors which sit just under these in the horsepower range.

Initial feedback from consumers when shown the stand-alone motor was pretty harsh. It reminded me of when Daiwa upgraded their old logo a while ago to a modern looking iteration.

It took some getting used to and now it never gets mentioned. These outboards will be the same.

The morning following the launch we saw single and twin rigs on a variety of boats in the water. Both the standard black and white and the colour panel accented Mercs looked great when fitted up. But let’s face it, it’s what’s under the cowling that counts, and that’s where the platform really impressed.

QUIET AND LOW VIBRATION At the media launch, Mercury claimed that these motors were significantly quieter than both their previous offerings and their competition. Although we had no way to objectively measure this, let me just say that if there was no telltale ‘peeing’ into the water, it’d be difficult indeed to even know that they are running at all!

Advances to the mid section and the naturally balanced design of the V6 has Mercury claiming a 50% reduction in vibration. Again, using the product makes this claim seem legitimate. They are very quiet and smooth.

COWL ACCESS POINT When you see the clever cowl design and inspection hatch that gives access to an all-in-one cowl handle and an oil checking and filling point, you immediately wonder why this isn’t standard in all outboards.

Previously, one had to remove a heavy cowling VIDEO The new Mercury 3.4L 4-stroke is a naturally aspirated, V6 motor that is set to replace their 1.7L 4-cylinder Verado and some of their OptiMax models. It is available in 175, 200 and 225hp.

Scan the QR code to see the David Foulkes technology video.

(with up to three external, salt collecting latches) to do simple maintenance like check and top up the oil.

Cowl removal is elegant, with a pop-up handle both unlocking the internal latches and acting as the lift point for

No matter what the base colour or motor iteration, all of the 3.4L 4-strokes are customisable with a replaceable colour panel to suit your colour boat. There are four standard colour plates and a plate that can be customised if required.

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the engine cover. We are sure that users and technicians will love the solution.

You just put the cover down to a point and it pops up and open. You shut it by pushing it closed until the detent clicks.

WEIGHT I suppose the whole challenge for designers of modern outboards it to load them with as much fuelefficient power as possible with your boss also saying that they have to be the lightest motor in class as well.

These motors are, indeed light, with the 225hp weighing in at 215kg. Let’s compare that to the 231kg of my current 150hp 1.6L, L4 Verado or my 229kg 3.0L, 225hp OptiMax ProXS that I owned before that.

Lighter weight naturally gives you better power-toweight numbers and that’s what we were super-keen to test out on the water. I chose a Robalo 206 Cayman bay boat that was fitted with a 200hp 3.4L – mainly because I’d tested this hull previously with a older 4-stroke outboard on it and wanted to see if the performance stacked up. The previous Robalo test took 5.6

seconds to get onto the plane.

So we left the dock with sister magazine Editor, Great Dixon from NZ Fishing News, and set out to feel the power that the Mercury staff alluded to the night before.

With Mercury staffer, Angel Melendez at the helm, I got to talk first hand with someone whose job it is to deal with all of the Florida boat builders that fit Mercury outboards to their boats.

“We secretly worked with several boat builders while designing this motor and all of them are excited about what this power plant offers their hulls when it comes to performance,” he said. “Being light and fuel efficient with awesome power-to-weight means that their hulls perform better than ever.”

With that he punched the throttle and we felt the mid-range torque for ourselves. The new 200 3.4L took half the time of my previous test and the power was evident.

MID-RANGE TORQUE To be honest, it reminded me of a G2 E-Tec. In my opinion, the Evinrude offered the best mid-range torque in the business with its evolved 2-stroke power plant throwing you and whatever craft you’d cleverly matched it to up and out of the water with ease.

The 3.4L delivered the same hole shot and ‘sit-down’ style punch in the 2,000 through 4,000rpm range that makes you smile and giggle.

It’s a saying – ‘there’s no replacement for displacement’ – and the quad-cam design gets the most out of the naturally balanced and aspirated V6 design.

Although I haven’t seen the torque to horsepower curves yet, the fact that the engine easily popped the Robalo onto the plane at 3,000rpm suggests that the 3.4L produces big horsepower way down the rev range.

Often when doing VIDEO

Scan the QR code to see the launch night video for the 3.4L V6. economy tests, we will put a boat onto the plane at higher rpm and then drop back to 3,000 to get an accurate cruising reading. Not here!

ECONOMY When we talk economy at Fishing Monthly, I like to refine the numbers down to kilometres travelled per litre of fuel burned, or km/L.

Generalising here, we see best numbers of 3-6km/L for small outboards, 2-3km/L for mid range outboards and 1-2km/L for big outboards.

The 20’6” Robalo with the 200hp 3.4L delivered a maximum economy of 2.2km/L at 3,000rpm. I think that’s exceptional for a rig weighing 1300kg (boat and motor).

Like all outboards, economy drops the closer you get to the maximum rev range and the table hereby shows that.

Continuing the theme from Mercury’s 2.6L Verados, the 3.4L platform is also available in white.

As with all boats, you can drive it for range or you can drive it for fun. The choice is up to you.

ADVANCED RANGE OPTIMISATION How do Mercury present an outboard lineups with better economy each time? In the 3.4L, it’s called Advanced Range Optimisation.

I caught up with Mercury’s Chief Technology Officer, David Foulkes, to ask why Mercury took the high-capacity path rather then use a supercharged engines like they had done with the Verados previously.

“Basically we have an algorithm that works out which area of the rpm versus load engine map we could change to for the benefit of fuel economy, and we wanted to apply that in as wide a range as we possible can so that you get the biggest benefit,” David explained.

“The secret is, however, to be able to switch between the standard mode and a leaner air-fuel mixture mode and for the customer to never know that they’ve made the switch. We’ve patented a series of algorithms to make that customer experience exceptional.”

It makes sense.

Customers want engines that minimise fuel burn and maximise performance and the Mercury walks this line wonderfully. We all have a fixed size fuel tank in our boats and we want to get the most out of them.

Cowl-off the 3.4L still looks mean. You’ll note that all external cowling latches are gone.

PERFORMANCE 3.4L V6 RPM......Speed.....km/L 1000......... 7............ 2.2 2000........ 14........... 2.1 3000........ 34........... 2.2 4000........ 52........... 2.1 5000........ 67........... 1.3 5500........ 75........... 1.2 ADAPTIVE SPEED CONTROL I also asked David about Mercury’s Adaptive Speed Control, which had been converted from their Mercruiser inboard motors.

“Normally when you use a control, you command a particular throttle opening, but in this case, you comment

a particular rpm, and that’s really important because when you lock that rpm, no matter what manoeuvre you perform, the engine will automatically add or subtract torque to keep that rpm,” David said.

“For example, when you go into a turn, you’d add throttle into the turn because the drag goes up and then subtracting throttle when you exit the turn. Basically the control system does that for you now, which results in a better boating experience.”

POWER OR HYDRAULIC STEER Now, some of you will be reading this and thinking, “that would be a great motor for me

to re-power my current boat.”

You’re probably right, and Mercury have made it easy to do this in several ways.

The 3.4L is compatible with any existing SmartCraft or VesselView gauges, which means that it will plug into all of your existing gauges and looms, and that includes your current hydraulic steering.

Of course, you can get proprietary Mercury power steering for these motors at an additional cost, but there will be models available that plug into your existing hydraulic pistons. Got a 175 Verado?

Unbolt and it will run on all of your stuff with Digital Throttle and Shift. Got an old OptiMax? It’ll work with that kit, too!

NO JOYSTICK One of the features I did expect to be available with this platform is compatibility with Mercury’s Joystick Piloting that runs so well with multi-rigged, 6-cylinder Verados. Especially since these outboards are available with power steering.

Alas, this isn’t so. If you want (the admittedly expensive) option, you’ll need to stick with the Verado L6 platform.

COLOURS Mercury broke with tradition when they offered the 6-cylinder Verados in black and white colour options.

It came as no real surprise, then, that the 3.4L platform was offered domestically in the USA in a black and three shades of white. White is the preferred colour of most saltwater boat manufacturers.

In Australia, we’ll likely see only black and one of the whites in stock, however, a full range of the four custom colour panels (plus a primed, ready-to-paint panel for boat manufacturers that like to colour match) will be available locally.

The custom colour panels VIDEO

Scan the QR code to see the 3.4L V6 being tested on the water. run along the top and back rather than the sides of the outboards.

MERC VS MERC So what does this mean for Mercury’s current line up? It looks like the 1.7L 4-cylinder Verados (150200hp) will be gone. You can also expect some OptiMax motors in that power range to be deleted.

I know that there are lovers of these engines, but from what we’ve seen in Miami, there’s nothing to be scared of – these motors are light, quiet, fast, fun and innovative – and who wouldn’t want that on their boat!

Make sure you watch some of the launch videos by scanning the QR codes hereby.

3.0L 150 ProXS lost in 3.4L V6 motor launch Believe me, there’s a lot of people in the Australian market that were waiting for the launch of the 3.0L 150 ProXS 4-stroke.

Traditionally, the ProXS motors are tuned for maximum performance and it’s not just tournament anglers who appreciate a quicker hole shot and a few more km/h at the top end.

In fact, Mercury Australia’s Nicholas Webb reported that around a quarter of the 115hp 4-stroke 2.1L outboards that Mercury sell are the ProXS build.

With that in mind, Mercury’s engineers have taken the popular and reliable 3.0L 150 4-stroke and tweaked it.

I caught up with a member of Mercury’s design team, Chandler Nault, to find out just where the advantages lie.

“One of the things that I think people will really like is that we are 25lb (12kg) lighter than the competition,” Chandler explained.

“The gearbox has a

higher (2.08:1) gear ratio and low water pickups which allows users to jack the motor up with a jack

end which lets the motor rev to 6,000rpm. But it’s the Transient Spark Technology, which came

acceleration curve that gives ups more power to get out of the hole and then backs off when the boat levels out. It gives you more oomph to get out of the hole,” Chandler concluded.

After the success of the 115 ProXS, we know that Aussies will embrace the new 150 ProXS – whether you own a bass boat or not, because who doesn’t want more speed out of the hole and to go faster?

VIDEO

The 150 ProXS gearbox is grey and has low water pickups so you can jack it up higher.

The new Mercury 150 ProXS is an extension of their current 3.0L engine, but has a distinctive styling and gearbox, 200 more rpm at the top end and new spark technology that helps you get out of the hole quicker.

plate and get even greater performance out of it.”

“Then there’s the 200 more rpm at the top

out of the Advanced Development Team, which sparks the engine at different rates during

Scan the QR Code to see Steve Morgan’s interview with Chandler Nault.

You can see all of the specifications on mercurymarine.com.au or through your local dealer.

APRIL 2018

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Going on a fishing adventure in a new SUP BRISBANE

Justin Willmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

If you missed last issue you missed out on my tale of horror and then elation as I borrowed an SUP, (stand up paddleboard) and had my first crack at SUP fishing. I learnt that you need to pick your weather, know your limits and remember safety first, however I also caught some fish, had a ball and ended up buying my own SUP for future fishing adventures.

Join me on my second SUP fishing adventure and the maiden voyage for my new vessel.

jighead, which enables long casts and has a quicker sink rate for prospecting deeper holes and sandy patches for flathead. I’ve also found the bream up on the flats to be quite aggressive as they move across the flat hunting bait, so they don’t mind a quicker retrieve.

Make a long cast, allow the plastic to sink to the bottom or just above the bottom if it’s weedy, give it a couple of hops to attract the attention of the fish and then just roll it back above the bottom. If you’re hitting the bottom, lift the rod tip or retrieve quicker.

If a bream taps the plastic, continue your retrieve at the same speed

Success! A flatty for dinner in the net.

Flathead are a great target from an SUP. Flathead are one of my favourite species to target because they are readily available, love lures and you don’t need to spend a million bucks to chase them.

They are also a fantastic SUP target, because they can be caught in calm waters not far from launch points, love feeding in the shallows and they’re relatively easy to handle – no big, sharp teeth thrashing around!

Flathead were an obvious choice for christening my new board and when I awoke to a cracking Sunday morning and a run-out tide, it was game on.

I like a run-out tide for chasing flathead as they move to the edges of the banks and channels, lying in wait for the baitfish and prawns that are forced off the flat with the dropping tide. With the tide still quite high though there was time to roll some 2.5” paddle-tail plastics across the flats in search of a few bream.

When rolling the flats for bream I fish quite quickly, rigging the little paddle-tail on a 1/4oz 1/0 104

APRIL 2018

and they will often continue to chase and bite the plastic until they find the hook and you feel the weight of the fish and the hook sets. It’s important to remember that this is what works for me; if it’s not working for you, mix it up. I am also a big believer in scent – whether it’s attracting fish, making them bite or getting them to hold on longer, I will apply scent every 30 or so casts and after landing a fish.

The day was an absolute glamour. As I drifted the flat with the tide I landed a handful of bream and yellowtail pike. The elevated position on the SUP, whether standing or seated on the icebox, allowed excellent

Let the SUP fishing adventure begin.

This isn’t a bad way to christen the new SUP – get that rod tip to the front of the board when fighting these brawlers! visibility and quite a few of my fish were landed casting to disturbances on the surface or bait and prawns flicking as they tried to escape the predators that stalked the flats. A cast to flicking prawns followed by a slow roll with a few flicks and shakes almost guaranteed a hook-up. The bream weren’t monsters, but I had a ball

Working a mangrove edge for bream.

catching and releasing fish and it was all good practice for when I had to take on a larger species from the SUP. It’s definitely important to keep everything within reach, while also keeping the deck as uncluttered as possible. It’s a bit of a balancing act but it does make you keep things simple. After my last session I decided to keep my lures,

leader and tackle in a dry bag between my feet, rather than in the icebox.

I also had my ruler and a water bottle on the deck, Boomerang Tool line snip attached to the icebox, scent in the centre carry handle and my landing net tucked into one of the straps that held the icebox to the deck.

My rods were simply laid on the deck in front of me and they stayed dry, however I will be looking at installing a couple of rod holders on the icebox and would suggest that you sort some rod storage as most SUPs are not as wide, thick or buoyant as the model I chose.

It was now time to focus on catching a flathead as the SUP slid off the flat and into a channel about 1.5-3m deep.

I stuck with the same plastic and jighead, casting ahead of the drift so that I could better control the plastic, rather than dragging it along behind the drifting SUP. The SUP drifted quite well, without spinning or turning. I kept the paddle lying across the board just in front of my feet so that it was easy to grab if I wanted to adjust the drift or drift angle.

I allowed the plastic to sink to the bottom, watching for the line to go slack and

When you opt to travel at the wrong time of the tide and get to wheel, float, drag and paddle home.

then retrieved the plastic with two hops up off the bottom and then a pause to allow it to sink back to the bottom where the flathead lay in wait. I repeated this hop, hop and pause all the way back to the SUP. It didn’t take long before I was hooked up, pointing the rod tip toward the front of the SUP to fight the fish, which keeps the SUP stable and tracking straight, before sliding a small flathead into the net. I smiled as I released the flathead back into the water and watched it shoot off toward the bottom. I was keen to take one home for dinner though, so I decided to keep drifting and casting.

takes to float a SUP, with the fin being your major consideration. I watched stingrays cruising in less than a foot of water, fins breaking the surface as they swept across the bottom.

They had so many colours and patterns, including a few leopard rays, with the odd big ray keeping me on my toes.

I also saw small flathead shooting off out of the sand, mullet and gar cruising in schools and turtles popping up only metres away on the edge of the flat. The coolest encounter though was a large dugong that cruised and fed within metres of the SUP and I even felt like he was getting closer every now and

lot of rain. The additional weight also meant the lure was getting down quicker, so I could cover more water and also better control the lure as the SUP was drifting faster in the main flow.

Within a few casts I was hooked up solidly to the largest opponent I had faced on the SUP and moved the rod tip to the front of the SUP and enjoyed the ride! A few good runs and the fish was under control and I saw the colour of a decent estuary trevally break the surface. It’s important to keep your cool and don’t rush things or you’ll end up with a fish that’s still full of fight beside the SUP and

The author found some fun-size bream on the flats.

A keeper for dinner, but only by a couple of centimetres – the author caught this flatty from his new SUP. Approaching a patch of oysters I made a cast right into the shallows and hopped the plastic down the edge into deeper water, where it was met with a solid take.

After a spirited fight I had a better flathead in the net, measured on the ruler and stowed in the icebox. This would have been a good time to head for home… but what a day! It was only another kilometre or so to another good spot that I could see in the distance, so why not?

I continued with the tide, sneaking across what water was left on the flats. It’s amazing how little water it

then to check out my new vessel. The elevated position and low profile of the SUP definitely allows you to observe and appreciate so much more than when you are in a larger, noisier craft or lower to the water in a kayak.

After reaching the next location and dropping the lure straight down to measure the depth (it was about 3m) I changed up my presentation to a 3/8oz 3/0 jighead and 3” paddle-tail. This presentation would have a larger profile and create more vibration and water movement in the deeper water, which was also a little murky following a

then diving aggressively back under the SUP. I played the fish out a little more, sat down, positioned the net in the water beside the SUP and guided the fish from the tip of the SUP back into the net.

With a quick high five to the fish gods, I paddled into the shallows, tied the SUP to a mangrove branch so that it wasn’t rubbing on rocks and oysters and set up the camera for a couple of quick photos. I swam the fish in between pics and it swam away strongly for someone else to enjoy. I was hooked on SUP fishing.

The SUP tied up to a mangrove to avoid rocks and oysters.

The trip home was not ideal however and taught me a few lessons. I had travelled a few kilometres from home with the tide, and with the sky darkening from a possible storm and the wind picking up I opted to head home against the last of the dropping tide, instead of following through with my plan of travelling home with the incoming tide as it once again flooded the flats.

I had fished myself into a position where I had dry banks between myself and home, so this also meant I had to traverse land and sea to get home. The things I do for an adventure.

In short, I had the SUP back on the trolley to wheel it across some sandy sections until it got boggy, then back off the trolley. I dragged it backward across the shallows, lifting the fin so that it didn’t dig in. Soon I only had a couple of inches of water, so I removed the quick release fin and floated the SUP to the edge of the weed, before dragging it across the weed bed and launching into the main channel for the paddle home, without the fin fitted back in place! Don’t get me wrong; I was never in danger, only paddling shallow water and always having a backup plan.

These good weather days are great opportunities to put yourself out of your comfort zone and test yourself and your craft a little. I had learnt how to manage the SUP and trolley on a variety of surfaces, how best to handle the SUP in the shallows, across the weed and without the fin. I took the opportunity to paddle the SUP the last kilometre or so home without the fin so that I could learn how it tracks and how best to handle it without the fin, should something

ever go wrong and I find myself finless.

Overall it had been a great half-day session. I had landed plenty of fish, including my target flathead for dinner and a bonus trevally, seen a myriad of wildlife going about their daily business on the flats and channel edges and also enjoyed a bonus workout without even thinking about it.

SUP fishing may not be for everyone and you will still

see me out and about in my kayaks and boat, however it does offer a different experience and is a great way to really immerse yourself in the living world around us.

There are plenty of SUP hire places out there. Choose a good day, grab a large board, sit your icebox on there as a seat and just go for a play and a look around; you may find yourself with a rod in your hand on the second trip though.

The cockpit area is a balance with everything at your fingertips and not too much clutter.

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Tips for safe boating on the Brisbane River BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Rivers: every capital city has one. Ever wondered why? It’s simply because rivers provided easy means of transportation in the early days and over time became epicentres for trade and commerce thanks to enhanced port development.

These days all of our rivers are also fabulous places to enjoy recreational boating.

The Brisbane River was originally discovered

by John Oxley in 1823; he recorded it as a pristine body of water with magnificent forests along its banks.

He also noted that he had difficulty finding the entrance to the river, the mouth being further to the west, and with a different alignment to its present situation. Much has happened; certainly the upper reaches still have timber along the banks but from Karana Downs to the mouth there is plenty of outer suburban development to look at these days.

TOW SPORTS Changes aside, with launching ramps from Kookaburra Park at Karana Downs right to the mouth of the river, it’s easy to understand why the good old Brisbane is a very popular boating venue. In the upper reaches high banks, serene paddocks carrying stock and luxurious dwellings will catch the eye of the crew on a relaxed cruise. There are also sections of rock, well worth a throw with a lure or bait.

Our lovely threadfin salmon make it right up to Kookabura Park at times.

Down towards the city ,water skiing and other tow sports are popular in the reaches from Jindalee through to Indooroopilly and down to St Lucia, yet in many areas plain old-fashioned cruising is still a fun occupation.

It’s possible to navigate right to the upper (brackish) reaches past the Bremer River’s confluence. In this neck of the woods we see small craft skippered by boaties who value their propellers going slowly in the gnarly bits and keeping a very close eye on

the sounder to keep track of any rapid changes in depth.

Most beacons these days do indicate safest passage but the flood of 2011 played havoc with navigation so ‘steady as she goes’ makes a lot of sense up in the higher reaches of the river.

Moving downstream the CBD area is busy as a bee hive; being a virtual highway of daylight boating activity with City Cat ferries and other commercial craft through the week joined by pleasure craft of a weekend. These considerations make the CBD area an easier boating venue for the more experienced skipper rather than the tyro.

EAST OF BREAKFAST CREEK That aside, it’s mainly east of Breakfast Creek that the river really widens and anglers can start to appreciate just what the good old Brisbane offers apart from pleasant upper river scenery and excellent cruising.

Fishing activity is now part of this scene and while it might be argued that the further downriver you go, the better the fishing, it’s true that canny anglers still get their share

Approaching the CBD area there’s always plenty of boat traffic, so it’s probably not the best place for a boating beginner to learn the ropes. of fish in the upper reaches, particularly at night when boat traffic is reduced considerably.

Big mulloway were being caught at the confluence of the Brisbane River and Breakfast Creek when I was a lad with a hand line.

in the river or heading out through the river mouth and the beacons, which are a favourite spot to fish in Moreton Bay, the volume of small boat traffic in the lower river can be pretty massive at times.

Big ships demand respect; this beauty is about to make a turn to port in order to line up on the wharf. Two tugs were pushing it at the time with another dragging the bow around.

Brisbane, is regularly seen on the job working to increase depth for the new cruise ship terminal over on the northern side of the river not far from Luggage Point.

So while anglers and other small craft owners might like to think the river’s lower reaches are just another area for extracting a feed of fish – same as the Southport Broadwater and the Seaway ocean access – the reality is that there are some serious things to consider each and every time you’re on the water.

OBEY THE RULES Firstly, let’s look at what constitutes the main Port of Brisbane area, because this is all a Waterside Restricted Zone and boaters are reminded that access within 30m of a wharf area in the Port is totally prohibited as is an approach within 30m of any part of a moored vessel as

The Whyte Island ramp is wide, with a friendly slope, but it pays to remember the western side is shallow.

The big Brisbane is a dredge to keep well clear of when it’s working around the port area.

Tugs moving ships as large as these to or from a berth are going to create a lot of wash; it’s best to keep well clear in small craft.

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Moving east with the ebb tide the Port of Brisbane area seems to carry the heaviest volume of small boat traffic, simply because it is very easily-accessed from the boat ramps at Breakfast Creek, Colmslie and Whyte Island.

And let’s face it, there are some top quality fish to be caught in the Port and surrounding area with threadies and mulloway up on the top prize shelf.

Snapper are there as well on the right day.

With anglers geared up to have a crack at fish

A WORKING PORT Yet, it’s not only small craft that are plying the lower reaches of the Brisbane River as this is a full-on, working port. This the state’s busiest port so on any given day there can be massive ocean going passenger liners, huge container ships and car carriers – plus their escorting tugs of course – moving up or downriver. On a regular basis there are also ferries heading to Tangalooma, and let’s not forget the dredge!

The massive dredge, the

well. Heavy fines apply and there is currently a maximum of $3,750 for transgressors.

While the majority of infrastructure is located on the reclaimed Fisherman Island section, where wharves stretch from the massive grain and coal handling facilities to the east for over a kilometre, there are other Port of Brisbane facilities at Lytton, Hemmant, Colmslie, Pinkenba Eagle Farm and Hamilton.

Massive vessels use all these facilities, so the presence of ocean plying ships is by

no means restricted to the extensive Fisherman Island section. Small craft skippers need to be aware of this situation and take heed of their surroundings at all times, because these massive ships, unlike non-displacement craft that can stop pretty smartly when dropped off the plane, simply can’t stop or take evasive action. And there’s a big blind spot ahead of the craft as well.

BEWARE THE WASH! The wide area at the Fisherman’s Island wharf complex is called the Swing Basin; it’s where big ships turn, with the largest of them requiring almost the full width of the river – over 400m wide – to do so. As an aside, I was

fishing for threadies once at the widest part of the Swing Basin and the Queen Mary 3’s grand entrance saw me moved along by Port Authority to accommodate the big girl’s turn. It’s fascinating to see a big ship like this cruising slowly up river prior to mooring at a wharf, moving so slowly and inexorably forward into the widest part of the river to accommodate the turn.

When it’s in the correct position the ship will come to a stop then turn to port in order to have the bow facing downriver for departure from the wharf. That’s the system.

Turning into the wharf will always see tugs on the job and a wall of white water at the stern indicating the sort

of propulsive force required to push a multi-thousand tonne craft sideways into its berth, sometimes against wind as well. The turbulence from the tug’s propellers is so violent that it will kick up muddy water in 15m or more of depth. Obviously this area of turbulence is no place for small craft, yet I sometimes see small boats right there, in the wash, while phone cameras are recording the epic struggle of horse power against nature’s power – not wise.

The same goes for the resident dredge. At 86m long and 3600t dead weight, the size of this dredge suggests it’s best to keep well clear of it when it’s working, but it’s not unusual to see small craft

While the Tangalooma passenger ferry won’t kick up much wash, the much larger car ferry will certainly cause a bit of fuss.

virtually right beside it. Maybe the angling team regard the Brisbane as a never-ending source of berley to entice fish – and maybe it is – but it makes sense to keep well away. On one memorable occasion I pulled a small craft out of the dredge’s path when an outboard refused to start.

The little homemade boat was so close the crew obviously could not see the thing. A very close call indeed!

A tug heading upriver to base, the car ferry heading east at the same time – a common enough scenario – can see some very serious wash suddenly facing a small craft and it’s crew. Compounding this might be pressure waves, which are quite common when a strong tidal flow is pressing against strong winds, so small boat owners need to be vigilant in assessing likely adverse conditions and act accordingly. By all means enjoy the fishing, but stay on the ball.

A small boat will simply bob over a fast approaching wash, so long as it turns into it. Agreed, it’s unpleasant for a short while but keeping the nose into the mess usually sees things over in short order. If you’re anchored, conditions could turn pear-shaped because the boat loses some of its ability to rise as the set of waves approaches. That said, if conditions are quite smooth

Structure like this might look inviting but there is an embargo on moving in closer than 30m to it. and there are no pressure waves or wind chop to contend with, anchoring away from the main thoroughfare of large craft should be fine.

ASSESS CONDITIONS BEFORE THE TRIP As mentioned, that combination of tidal pressure waves and wind chop can make for quite unpleasant boating conditions, hence it’s smart to consider the tide height and its direction of flow, plus a forecast of wind strength for the proposed time on the water.

As an aside, you might think that the lower reaches of the Brisbane are somewhat sheltered, but the reality is that a northerly blows straight into it from Moreton Bay while a southwest or southerly wind will be whipping down the

river as well. Small open boats aren’t much fun when there’s incessant chop and there can be plenty when strong wind counters strong tide.

On the right day, there is hardly a better place to be on the water. All the ramps are alright; the popular Whyte Island ramp is wide, not too steep and has a friendly pontoon at the eastern side (remember the western side is quite shallow and not friendly for a low tide launch), and there’s ample car parking space. So why not have a look at the Brisbane River?

There’s plenty of it and it’s there to enjoy!

• Last month we referred to a Kaptan 610CC, it’s correct name is Waverider 610CC. Apologies to our readers. – FMG

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Anglapro Outlaw 434 PRO with 40hp Mercury

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me this is an essential part of this style of craft and almost a must if you’re looking to cast lures in places like Eildon.

In a nutshell the workspace of the boat was clear and well thought-out. The accessories added by Boats and More suited the style of boat. As a fan

SPECIFICATIONS Length .......................................................4.3m Beam..........................................................2.0m Hull weight .............................................. 350kg Min hp ........................................................40hp Max hp .......................................................50hp Bottom and sides .....................................3mm Max people ......................................................4 quickly realised why Anglapro has a good reputation for producing fishing-orientated boats. The Outlaw 434 Pro is a side console configuration, with a large forward casting deck and small rear casting decks. It felt like there was a lot of room to move and the storage, including a rod locker, was large enough that all the decks could easily be kept clear and available to fish from.

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of painted boats, the Anglapro with its white colour scheme also looked pretty sharp to me.

LAUNCH AND RETRIEVE Housed on a Dunbier single axle trailer, the Outlaw was simple to launch and retrieve. You have the capacity to drive it on and off if you prefer and launching it by yourself would not be an issue, as you would hope with a boat of this size.

As far as towing is concerned, a medium-sized car is all that is required and

the Dunbier trailer with the package on board was a pleasure to tow.

FEATURES AND ACCESSORIES The Outlaw 434 Pro has 3mm side and bottom sheets and a roomy 2m beam (hence the feeling of space). It comes standard painted inside and out and has a medium to large size console. The tested boat had a Garmin sounder mounted on the console and also had a switch panel and VesselView gauges flush mounted into it.

All were easy to see and easy to get at.

The seating behind the console was comfortable and there was plenty of room for all 6’2 of me. There was also some additional storage in the console for smaller items and things that you need to get your hands on quickly.

As already mentioned there is good storage space under the forward and rear decks with the addition of a rod locker to store your fishing rods. The front deck also had an optional livewell fitted, which is handy for those who are tournament-inclined or like to upgrade their fish during a

day’s fishing.

The electric motor and bracket was also an optional extra.

ON THE WATER The ultimate test is always on the water and you couldn’t fault the Outlaw at rest or once you were up and running. It was an exceptional platform at rest and ideal for all the casting you would do in a day’s fishing. It also had great manoeuvrability when using the bow mounted electric motor.

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Main: Once underway the handling and ride of the Anglapro 434 Outlaw Pro was impressive. It sat beautifully on the water and manoeuvred well.

Above: The Anglapro Outlaw 434 Pro looked right at home at Lake Eildon.

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Anglapro has based their reputation around building fishing-friendly craft that are built tough with plenty of features. I hadn’t been in one for many years until the opportunity came up at Lake Eildon when the team from Boats and More in Shepparton and Echuca brought along the Outlaw 434 Pro to be tested.

Matched with a 4-stroke 40hp Mercury, it was all about presenting a boat that would be ideal for the fishing on offer in Lake Eildon or the estuarine or river waters around the country.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS Before getting the Outlaw onto the water I went about taking the photos of the key components of the boat and

Once on the plane and trimmed correctly the Outlaw was great to drive. It handled nicely and had a soft ride for an aluminium hull.

We had beautiful conditions on the testing day at Eildon, so there were no waves or chop to deal with. It did handle the few boat wakes we encountered with ease.

The Anglapro Outlaw 434 Pro has a minimum 40hp and maximum 50hp rating. The test boat had a Mercury 40hp 4-stroke on it and it has to be said that it felt a little underpowered.

We were able to make a prop change on the day, which helped to improve the hole shot. In future I think I would lean towards a 50hp motor if I was looking at this hull.

Please note that this was also the first time the boat had been on the water, so the team at Boats and More hadn’t had the opportunity to make any adjustments other than prop size to maximise the performance of the boat.

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FINAL WORD The Anglapro Outlaw 434 Pro is a beautifully presented boat and ideally set-up for casting lures in any lake, estuary or river situation.

The stability at rest and fantastic handling underway are the key positives of it, as well as the well thought-out internal layout.

The addition of a quality sounder and the MotorGuide electric motor further enhanced its fishability and the ease of towing and launching make this a great medium size package.

The price as tested was $32,990 with a base starting price of $23,990.

If you want to know more about this boat and the rest of the boats in the Anglapro range, you can go to the Brisbane Marine website at www.brismarine.com. au or phone (07) 3889 3033. Alternatively, you can call in at 306 Duffield Road, Clontarf.

The Dunbier single axle trailer not only allowed for easy launching and retrieving, but was also a pleasure to tow.

Top: The foundation of stability at rest with good ride and manoeuvrability all come from a quality hull configuration. Above: The seating in the Outlaw was very comfortable, with plenty of space for the skipper and passenger.

The console was large enough to hold a largish Garmin sounder, all the boat’s switches and the Mercury VesselView4 system. There was also some general storage for your loose items.

The front casting deck of the 434 was big enough for a couple of anglers to fish from and had plenty of storage and a livewell underneath it.

Top: Stability at rest and the additional stealth of the Motorguide electric motor were key positives of the Anglapro.

Left: The boat we tested had a large livewell that would suit those who are tournament-orientated or simply like to upgrade their fish during a day’s fishing.

Right: The rear deck had plenty of space for storage and to keep the batteries and other things neatly out of the way.

The test boat had the upgraded Mercury VesselView4 system. Inset: It provides all your diagnostic information in a very easy to see format.

Top: The 54lb thrust MotorGuide electric motor was the perfect add-on for the Outlaw and a must as far as this author is concerned.

Above: They key to a sportsfishing boat is adequate storage to keep your fishing space free of obstacles. The front deck had plenty of underfloor storage.

The 40hp Mercury 4-stroke was not the maximum hp for the boat.

Although it performed well, the author felt a 50hp motor would be the best option for it.

There way plenty of storage for all your gear as well as this rod locker to keep your fishing space clear.

One person can easily launch and retrieve the 434 with driving it on and off the trailer being an option.

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Stessl Bluewater 520 with Yamaha F115hp

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Glenn Gibson from Yamaha tagged along on the test to see how the rig performed.

Glenn gave the modern technology some historical perspective.

SPECIFICATIONS Length.Overall............................. 5.5m Length.bow.to.transom.............. 5.3m Length.on.trailer ......................... 6.7m Height.on.trailer .......................... 2.4m Beam............................................ 2.4m Depth ........................................... 1.35m Bottom.sheet .............................. 4mm Side.Sheet ................................... 4mm Hull.weight .................................. 550kg Rec.HP ......................................... 90 Max.HP ........................................ 115 Capacity ...................................... 6 persons

Main: The Stessl 520 Bluewater was plenty of fun to fang around out of the Tweed River. The Stessl factory is a short trip from the Tweed and the Bluewater was designed for exactly these waters.

Above: There’s no shortage of places to hold a fishing rod – either when in use or being stored.

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We’ve tested a couple of Stessl Platetrix boats since new owner of Steel, Scotty James (who also makes Horizon Boats), has taken the helm. And the first thing I asked Scott when we did the first of these tests is “What’s Platetrix”?

The answer was pretty simple. Platetrix is a design philosophy that’s based around over-engineering the heck out of the hull so that it’ll outlast any owner.

They do this with extra

pedestal seats and some bars to help gear from sliding back from the front of the runabout.

Powered by Yamaha’s second generation F115,

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longitudinal and latitudinal stringers welded below the deck, and the backbone of the hull is a keel extrusion that’s a backbone to the whole construction process.

“You’ll break yourself before you break the boat,” Scott confidently answered when asked if it was breakable.

With an overall length of 5.5m, the 520 Bluewater is a boat designed to be a versatile inshore and offshore rig in SE Queensland and beyond.

It has a unique design internally, which sees a full floor run from transom to bow, punctuated only by the

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“We all came from a background as kids when we all went boating with the old 2-stroke V4s – oil in one container and fuel in the other. Look at it today – we have a 4-stroke motor where you turn the key and it runs quietly and smoke free.

Doesn’t matter if it’s cold, hot, rainy or sunny – they just work and it makes for a great boating experience,” Glenn said.

With the 115 at the top end of the allowable power on this hull, the rig made for a great day on the water for the test crew. At dawn, we ventured offshore from the Tweed and later on we retreated to the river for some estuary work.

The economy was great – delivering around 2.4km/L at 3,500rpm. Drop the throttle and you can reach 65km/h,

Back in the river, the Bluewater was equally capable. but each litre gets you 800m less. With a 150L fuel tank underfloor, the practical range is well over 300km on a tank.

Other features that will interest the angler are the bait station on the transom, which holds all you need to get rigged while on the water, and the huge underfloor kill tank that will store a bag limit of mackerel with ease.

Add a targa top rocket launcher and your storage problems are solved.

At the helm, the seats are well positioned and there’s a small ledge to cradle your

forearm as you’re making throttle adjustments. There’s room for bracket mounted electronics and the LCD Yamaha gauge was flushmounted into the aluminium.

Supplied on a singleaxle trailer and weighing in at around 1.5t, this rig is towable by most family cars and would make an excellent transition into a ‘real’ fishing boat from your smaller tinnie.

For more information, see your local Stessl dealer, visit www.stessl.com. au or like Stessl Boats on Facebook.

PERFORMANCE RPM......Speed.(km/h). Economy.(km/L) 1000 .........................7 ....................... 3.7 2000....................... 11 ....................... 5.3 3000....................... 20 ....................... 2.0 4000....................... 39 ....................... 2.2 5000....................... 50 ....................... 1.9 5900 ....................... 65 ....................... 1.6 • Tested with 16” SST SDS propeller

A steep entry tapers back to a moderate lee at the transom to offer a comfortable ride in choppy conditions.

The fold-up ladder and walk-through transom door facilitate easy boarding.

The unique floor design of the Bluewater sees the flat internal floor running from bow to transom at the same level.

The bait station at the transom holds rods, drinks, bait and knives.

The fold-away rear lounge gives your passengers somewhere to sit and tucks out of the way when the fishing begins.

Some simple bars for’ard keep your important gear dry and up the front.

This Bluewater sported a good-looking vinyl wrap that will turn heads at the ramp.

I don’t mind a bit of a sill to rest the arm on while driving. The test boat was fitted with a sounder combo and Yamaha’s LCD screen digital gauges.

Overhead fishing rod storage is virtually mandatory in this kind of boat. It keeps your tackle out of the way and out of danger. Unless you forget about that low hanging branch at the ramp….

The Yamaha F115 delivered great economy – getting you 2.4km/L at 3,500rpm.

Standard side pockets hold your gear that needs to be readily accessible.

Now THAT’s an underfloor kill tank.

Made for and in a part of the world where you can fill it with mackerel.

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World Class Engines, World Class Support.

All recreational Mercury Outboard models from the 2.5 to 350hp range now come with 6 years of warranty coverage.

A comprehensive warranty that’s supported by the strength and service expertise of one of the largest dealer networks in the country. Simply have your engine serviced at an Authorised Service Centre at the recommended servicing intervals and you’re covered by an additional 3-year factory backed warranty on top of the first 3 years.

That’s a full 6 years of non-declining warranty coverage. *Terms and conditions apply for full warranty information visit mercurymarine.com.au.

mercurymarine.com.au