Queensland Fishing Monthly - February 2016

TOURNAMENT ANGLER GUIDE 2016 • BARRA BACK ON THE MENU

Features

Impoundment barra basics • Launch a summer flyfishing salt assault • Use scent to increase your catch rate • Post-flood fishing tips •

Tried and Tested

Daiwa Zillion 1516SH • Robalo 260 Centre Console • Infiniti QX 80 • New 13 Omen Black baitcaster rod •

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How-To

Slow-pitch and micro-jig offshore • Cast the creeks for barra • Impoundment bass fishing for kayakers •

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February 2016, Vol. 28 No. 4

Contents NORTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES

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Ballina 22 The Clarence 24

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QUEENSLAND FISHING MONTHLY

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ABT Tournament Angler Guide Casting the creeks for barra Dam barra fishing for beginners Fishing after a flood Making sense of scents 13 Omen Black baitcaster rod Robalo 260 Centre Console

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off Bermagui on the South Coast of NSW in recent days after ARFF advised them not to fish these areas.

It seems like it’s gloves off.

If you see the Geelong Star fishing your local grounds, take pics and post them to show your outrage.

We guarantee that you’ll strike a chord with your fellow anglers.

“Find the bait, find the fish,” we’ve stuck by it for years. Imagine not finding the bait.

ENJOY THE TOURNAMENT GUIDE You’ll notice a bumpersized magazine this month - your Fishing Monthly includes the 2016 version of ABT’s Tournament Angler Guide.

Even if you’re not a tournament angler, there’s plenty of information in there that’ll fuel your fishing passion.

We hope you enjoy it!

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SPECIAL FEATURES

to play our part when the proverbial hits the fan for Cyprinus caprio.

Be prepared to spend time in your local river, hooking out dead fish when the time comes. That’s what we do – we look after our waterways.

SUPERTRAWLER MAKES A STATEMENT Nobody likes being taken for a fool, but the Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation has expressed disappointment and concern that the Geelong Star operators have not heeded advice from ARFF or honoured undertakings made at a meeting with the Government, Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), ARFF and the vessel operators before Christmas. This follows reports and wide spread social media outrage that the Geelong Star has been fishing the popular and iconic recreational fishing grounds

AT

Boating 126 Back to Basics 18 Camping and 4WD 108 Cooking 116 Dam Levels 104 Freshwater 104 Fun Page 120 Junior Page 110 Kayaking 124 Sheik of the Creek 118 Sunfish 117 Suntag 16 Tournament News 122 Tech Tricks 45 Trades and Services 128 What’s New in Boating 131 What’s New in Fishing 112 Flyfishing scene 83

on other, possibly more desirable species.

Reportedly the team had been working on the potential impacts for eight years. When is enough? Who knows?

We’re sure only time will tell.

But am I the only angler who thinks that there may be a bit of collateral damage when the carp start going belly up?

If you’ve ever owned a fish tank, live bait tank or livewell, you’ll know about what impact a dead fish or two have on water quality.

It goes south pretty quickly.

Thousands of carp rotting along a length of shared habitat may take out the odd yellowbelly, carp or bass.

Of course, we all want the end goal. Carp free waterways with increased clarity, vegetation and biomass of native fish, especially ones important to recreational anglers.

As we’re usually the ones on the ground in these places, I’m sure we’ll need

CI

Whitsundays 92 Ayr 93 Townsville 94 Lucinda 98 Cairns 99 Hinchinbrook 98 Port Douglas 99 Cape York 100 Cooktown 101 TNQ Freshwater 102 REGULAR FEATURES

TIME UP FOR THE EUROPEAN CARP? At the time of print, the big news and subject for debate was the CSIRO release about them being ready to release the European carp specific modified Herpes virus, which seems to be the panacea to their omnipotence.

Figures put the biomass of this introduced pest at around 80% of all life in the Murray-Darling system.

If you’ve ever seen carp infested rivers and billabongs out west (and even in many eastern drainages) then you’ll likely nod and agree.

Of course, being wiser from the knowledge that cane toads, lantana and prickly pear cactus weren’t getting anyone on the ‘Best Ideas of the 20th Century’ list, the agency is rightfully being overly cautious about testing the hell out of everything this virus comes in contact with to make sure that there aren’t any unforseen impacts

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Hervey Bay 84 Fraser Coast 85 Rainbow Beach 84 Lake Monduran 87 Bundaberg 88 Gladstone 86 Rockhampton 86 Yeppoon 89 Mackay 90 Stanage Bay 91 TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND

From the Editor’s Desk...

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Tweed Heads 25 Southern Gold Coast 26 Gold Coast Canals 28 Gold Coast 30 Jumpinpin 32 Southern Bay 34 Brisbane 36 Brisbane Offshore 38 Northern Bay 40 Caloundra 42 Noosa 44

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Mark Anderson took his PB barramundi at Hinchinbrook, QLD. He used Black Magic 40lb Tough Trace to land his catch.

A Wasabi 8/0 Suicide Hook was used to catch this coral trout. Leo Di Fabrizio was fishing in Mapoon, on the western side of the cape in North QLD.

FREE FISHING GEAR??

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Kydd Pollock guides fly fishing trips in the Pacific and sent this stunning picture of a giant trevally caught in the Line Islands. Kydd caught this fish with Black Magic 60lb Tough Fluorocarbon and says, “I use exclusively Black Magic leader from 15lb-80lb...we do run across all kinds of species over the razor sharp coral so it is a real testament to Black Magic for the trace material to hold so well under those conditions.

This 32kg cobia and impressive kingi were caught using Black Magic 60lb Tough Fluorocarbon. Alex Deacon from Raworth, NSW caught these two from a secret location.

A Black Magic 10/0 C PointÂŽ Hook was used

by Clint Pavlidis to land this 33kg jewie. He says he has used our hooks for the past 2 years with a lot of success on jewfish. This one was caught in the Newcastle Harbour during low tide.

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Barra

Casting the creeks for barra TOWNSVILLE

Dave Hodge

Working in at Akwa Pro Tackle, it’s easy to see the build up to the barra opening, especially in the enthusiasm of the local fishers, and this season is set to be a good one if we get some decent rain.

Opinions have changed dramatically over the last three to four years of research as to what the big girls need for a spawn to be successful, and even without a wet last year there was still a small percentage of barra that had the opportunity to spawn.

The science says they need a very specific dilution of runoff and salt water, as the

catalyst for a good spawn, so here’s hoping for a great wet.

Locations that will attract and concentrate barra are baitfish buffets, and tributaries that have links to inland billabongs and lagoons will distribute their bounty as the wet swells them to flooding levels and the landlocked bait heads downstream to run the gauntlet of bucket mouths.

Similar to many paddle-tails, the Bassman Cod Grubs are a winner, and I recently had a chance to trial some in the snags with great results.

Since the release of the Laser Pro 120 by Halco a couple of years ago, it’s been embraced by barra anglers familiar with the older models. They’re as good now as they were then, if not better.

The one pictured has the hooks up-sized with Gamakatsus to slow the float rate down just a little.

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FEBRUARY 2016

For shore-based anglers, this is the time of year that offers the best opportunity to catch big numbers of barra from land-based locations in the upper reaches, and flooded causeways, weirs and creek junctions.

The majority of sporting anglers regard this time of year as catch and release season, especially as many of the landlocked fish don’t fare too well on the table. Those that have resided in the fresh have a very easily distinguished colour, and don’t sport the chromed up sides and yellow tail of a high table quality salty barra.

There is nothing complicated about targeting barra during a wet. Casting hardbodies and plastics into likely locations is likely to be eaten by a barra as it gorges itself in an attempt to put body weight back on.

Most of the year sees fairly standardised barra practises used around rivers, drains and headlands, and some of these locations are extremely tide specific if you want any significant result.

Some of the best fishing is had when certain locations are only inundated on the bigger tides. The baitfish try their

hardest to push back in tree lines to escape the hunting predators. Areas that usually only get a meter or so of water over them during smaller runs, become bait gathering Meccas on the bigger tides and all sorts of predators follow them up sometimes only for a couple of hours while there’s sufficient water.

Both the run-in and run-out can be hot bite periods. Having a pair of top notch sunnies is absolutely imperative to identify the shade changes of both fish and snags. I use the Copper lens Tonics, and have found them to be the best.

As the water recedes from these flats, anglers have to get the timing right or risk being stranded for a tide cycle in sandfly and mozzieinfested areas exposed to the sun and elements. I generally fish with my son, and at only eight years old, the mentioned risks can be pretty dangerous for a kid, so I use my electric motor as an indicator of when to get the hell out of there. Once the leccy starts to chew sand or mud, we know it’s time to get ready to bail out.

HARDBODIES For me, hardbodies are the best bet for flooded mangroves. The dirty waters that are sometimes part of bigger tides require a more strong actioned lure to be quickly locatable by a fish in the murk. I also find that the average size of barra is better

Danial Erskine, son of legendary fishing Godfather Jack Erskine, cradles a nice little freshwater barra that monstered a 105 Halco Hamma off the side of a weed bed in a billabong. on the hardbodies.

Visibility can be as little as a couple of inches, and it would be a reasonable assumption that an extra noisy rattle would be needed to get their attention, but I have never found this to be necessary. The hooks and split rings emit enough noise to get a response, but as they say, you use what you have

confidence in, and if a rattling lure makes you feel confident then that’s important.

If you’re not comfortable with your lure, you won’t work it thoroughly and put all the finer details into the retrieve – you’ll just go through the motions.

The most important attribute of a hardbody in deep-

It may go against many theories, but if you know that there are barra in an area but they won’t bite, try downsizing your lure. In this instance, we cast at a school for half an hour without even a bump. However, the first three casts with the 3 1/4” Atomic Plazos got smashed.

flooded mangroves and snags is having the guts to withstand the required drag and extra thumb pressure to stop a decent fish in the sticks. Hooks, split

then the Laser Pro is often more effective. When it’s the mullet getting attention the Hamma seems to be more appropriate.

Airborne barra are renowned for throwing and straightening insufficient hooks. Buy wisely, as even some of the expensive lures available will cost you fish after you’ve done everything else right. rings and even body material all combine to hold up under some serious forces.

There are a couple of stand out hardbodies that these days, are in just about every barra anglers’ box, and the Halco 105 Hamma has quickly become one of those. The colour range is quite expansive, but I really only use a handful of these available, and are my ‘confidence’ colours. The gravy train, mullet, white with red head and lime green cover just about everything.

A couple of years ago Halco re-released the 120mm three hook Laser Pro, much to the joy of barra and jack anglers missing this important tool, and it was all due to public demand. Being of a smaller profile, it sometimes draws more strikes than the Hamma, depending on what the major food source is at the time. For instance, when you see small gar in reasonable numbers where you’re casting,

action out of that lure. Mind you, it’s more of a generic term that describes the retrieve action required to get results, and for me, the Laser Pro’s design and body weight is the best there is for this particular twitching retrieve style. My three favourite colours in the LP range are the gold with black back, the mullet colour and the good old gravy train.

Whichever you decide on, it has to cast true, and if your lures gliding off on its own indiscriminate path, it’s going to be useless in tight cover, and this is the other reason I use those mentioned.

PADDLE-TAIL PLASTICS The impoundments may have been the initially been the home of the paddle-tails, but there is no doubt they are also here to stay for wild fish as well. Flicking treble armed lures way up into the back blocks of drowned mangroves and sunken timber can be frustrating at times, and in really tight timber can snag up on the first twitch.

If you don’t have a lureretrieving pole, then some of these to be left hanging from the structure out of reach. At best, you’ll have to spook

Long-nosed pliers are essential for barra fishing, not only to remove the hooks from a deep hooked fish without damaging it, but also to keep your hands and fingers as far away from those pointy bits as possible.

The difference in retrieves varies between the two, and the old expression ‘bombering’ is descriptive of the constant twitching and tweaking necessary to get an appropriate

The 105 Halco Hamma in the gravy train colour scheme is one of those lures that just keeps on producing, and is one of my favourites when casting lures at bigger specimens, particularly around flooded mangroves on the flats and headlands.

whatever fish are there to go and get your lure back. Rigged on a weedless hook, paddletails can be slid over branches and roots and then allowed to flutter down draw fish out from otherwise unreachable spots.

The strike rate can be a bit of a downside to the weedless rigs sometimes, but there is no denying the fact that when fish are tucked way back out of hardbody’s reach, the weedless paddle-tails fit the bill. Wider gaped hooks are best for the fat and deep body shads, but the slimmer gaped worm styles don’t allow enough exposure to find the mark once the bite is registered.

The pre-weighted hooks that have the lead moulded onto the shanks are the preferred models, such as the Atomic Seekers in the EWG, but close behind them is the Gamakatsu Wide Gape hooks that you can rig with a ball sinker in the loop knot.

Sinker size is gauged on To page 12

FEBRUARY 2016

11

Barra From page 11

the size and design of the chosen paddle-tail. It has to be heavy enough to get that all important tail working on the drop, and hold the nose down a little during the

the massive models associated with the impoundments work well. These lures do require a solid rod to cast them and to set that hook.

On the other hand a 4-6” model that will comfortably fit

Shallow gar coloured Laser Pro 120s are a must on the flooded flats around mangrove roots and drains. retrieve. If you’re fishing deeper structure or holes, then obviously this would require much more weight to reach the fish and hold it down against the current. In the snags however, as little as a no. 1 can be used to keep the nose down while adding enough stability during a retrieve and stop it from rolling over.

Lure size is determined by a few factors and it’s up to the angler to find the right size range for them. If you’re after nothing but big fish, then

a 6/0-8/0 hook will get more bites and rarely be passed up by barra of any size.

One little trick to ‘bling’ up your presentation is to dip the tail in Quick Coat Worm dip, which permanently changes the colour of the softie, and adds contrast in murkier waters.

As far as colours go, I’ve found the chartreuse to be better in the clearer waters and the red to be best in the dirtier stuff.

OTHER RUBBERS The fact is that when fish

become focussed on one type of bait, that’s pretty much what you need to present in order to get the most action. Your bigger shads are attempting to imitate the mullet-sized bait, and the smaller and narrower designs are more like herring and other small baitfish, and then there are the prawn imitations.

There are plenty of prawn and shad or minnow imitations on the market, and I have tried most of them, but have settled on just a few that show consistency and durability.

In the prawn range the Atomic Prong is a real standout, and have flappy bits that activate under water pressure or speed. The 3” and 4” models cover just about all of our haunts and they double up as reef lollies for the trout.

If I need a smaller presentation when the jelly prawns are running, then the 3” is hard to beat, but most times the 4” Prong is the one that sails from my rod tip.

The main by-catch with the Prongs and other small plastics in the stick is jacks, and they can often outnumber the barra, which isn’t a bad thing, that’s for sure.

I tend to use the Prongs rigged weedless in the shallower snag strewn areas, but standard jigheads in the deeper snags, holes and rock bars. When the water temperature drops, I downsize

considerably to the 3 1/4” Atomic Plazo Paddletail. I always have a 6lb outfit at the ready for when the smaller baits are the focus of the bigger fish, and it would surprise you how many decent barra fall for these tiny lures when the bait they are feeding on is small.

Fish over a meter long aren’t uncommon, and you’re in for a tussle when they decide to eat your lure on the light gear. Fish of 60-70cm are more common, and the by-catch is variety of predators from tarpon, cod, golden snapper (fingermark), grunter, queenfish, GTs, flathead, plus many more, and they can be a real surprise package.

I fish these minnows on traditional jigheads, and they are usually 1/3-1/4oz in the heavy gauge hook. To be honest, this is one of the best ways to teach someone how to use plastics as the bites are regular and the action more consistent.

GET CASTING The variations adaptable to all of the mentioned techniques, rigs and lure types is countless, and I have run out of room, but play around with what you feel confident with, and don’t feel foolish for trying something different.

I hope that this gives you a few more tricks to try out, and as with any new technique, the more you practice it the better you’re going to get at it, so get

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Now’s the time to hit ‘em, so get casting!

This little creek barra is only around 62cm, but is average for the creeks and drains. Any small piece of structure is worth a cast and the small snag in the background had several others holding off it on the run-out tide.

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out on the water and let the fun begin.

February is the month where these silvery critters are back on the menu and the barra bug bites pretty hard across the north. If you haven’t caught a barra before and would like to tangle with one of these icons,

FEBRUARY 2016

.com.au

Barra

Beginner’s guide to impoundment barra fishing BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

So you want to catch an impoundment barra.

Where do you start?

A barra novice who trolls might have a better chance of success because of the amount of water covered, but novices relying on lures, plastics or flies are going to do it tough unless they’re very lucky. I can’t say much about trolling for barra because I don’t do it; I’m a fly angler. However, I can confidently say that if the fly works in certain scenarios, so will the lure or plastic. It all comes down to fishing in the right places, at the right times and in the right way – and that’s what this article is about.

WEATHER FACTORS The first step towards that terrific wrench on the rod and the zing of braid through the guides is to look at the weather forecast. Settled weather, whether the breeze is from any given quarter, is one factor that boots barra into a feeding mode. Remember, barra dams are usually brimful of bony bream so the fish are never hungry, but certain factors seem to get them feeding. Settled weather is also a great confidence booster for the angler, which is vital. You must have confidence, not just hope.

If the weather isn’t cooperative and the breeze is chopping around from one quarter to the next each day, there are still plenty of chances if you fish places where the breeze has been blowing onto the shore on that day. Hopefully, the wind will have bought some warmer surface water into that area. Unwelcome factors influencing this might be metre high waves crashing onto the area (bad news for small craft), or really thick standing timber.

“Wait,” you say, “don’t barra like standing timber?”

Sure they do, but tackle in the hands of inexperienced anglers does not. Why fish for a wipe-out? Barra absolutely explode on a lure and can stitch braid through the sticks before an angler can get control.

A safer location is where the timber is not so thick.

Alternatively, you can fish where a flat or point adjoins heavy timber but has some open areas to give you a chance of controlling 15kg of sudden pulling power.

Impoundment barra grow to serious sizes. In dams like Monduran, Kinchant, Peter Faust, Awoonga, Teemburra and Tinaroo, a 110cm barra isn’t considered really big.

BEST LOCATIONS Light timber, a more open area, waves washing in warmer water – this is all good. Also good is the lee side of a point that’s seen wave action continually for some time. Warm water builds, the water gets dirty and the barra love it. Just remember, if the timber is really thick you’re cruisin’ for a bruisin’.

A safer option is to find a flat or lightly timbered area, and then cast to the smallest, spindliest twigs and branches protruding above the surface. Barra seem to be drawn to skinny bits of timber far more than heavy trees, and they love horizontal cover as well. To find a few of these in an area where there’s 30-50m or so of cleared area to play

fish deep water. Maybe up to 5m, perhaps, but if I can find water a lot shallower that’s always my best bet.

BEST TIME Many anglers swear by the lead up to full moon as the best time to wet the net under a barra, and sure, plenty are caught then.

However, that’s at least partly because more anglers are on the water then. I’ve found that a couple of days after the full moon the fish seem to be just as eager as before. I’ve also experienced some really tough fishing on the day and night of the full moon.

When it comes to the time of day, there’s nothing better than being in your chosen spot an hour before sunset and seeing huge swirls as fish start

Areas like this one in Lake Monduran are excellent spots to cast at. The fish like to work along the weed edges where it’s open enough to play a big barra to the boat. a fish is gold.

Also, the older the timber, the better. Fish don’t like freshly flooded foliage.

And never overlook weed bed or lily bed edges. These are always in shallow water and are prime hideouts for barra on the chew.

TRICKS OF THE TRADE These fish see a lot of hardware and hear a lot of noise over time. If you find a good spot, you can bet that heaps of other anglers have as well, so the fish will tend to be edgy. Getting your electric motor into action well before you start casting is a big plus, but if it’s possible to drift, that’s also a bonus. When it comes to noise, less is better.

Next comes water depth.

Feeding barra don’t hesitate to move into shallow water, where they just mooch about quietly, feeding or waiting patiently for something to come their way. You’ll find that working shallow areas, particularly if some of the earlier factors I’ve mentioned are locking into place, will be far more productive than casting at treetops in 10m of water.

These days I don’t bother to

to feed. At dawn, just as it’s becoming light enough to tie on a lure without the need for artificial light, there’s the excitement of loud crashes or boofs as barra hit surface bait, or some massive swirls or boils. The evening session can well continue into the night, while the morning session might extend to perhaps as late as 9am if it’s overcast, earlier if it’s clear. After that, the fish move deeper.

TACKLE Whether you’re using a spin or baitcast outfit, make sure the drag setting is solid, that the tackle is comfortable enough to be cast repetitively, and that the connection between braid and leader (40lb and 60lb respectively) is up to scratch. The FG knot is the mainstay here, and you can find helpful videos and diagrams on the web.

Lure choice is mainly a local issue; it pays to visit the nearest tackle store to find out what’s hot and what’s not. The staff naturally want you to return to their area, so it’s in their best interest to help you succeed.

Mike Coles with his first impoundment barra, caught working a weed bed.

A spot like this is worth a go. There is cover in the form of lilies, some skinny timber but also the chance for a beginner to land a fish.

FLY FISHING If you’re fly fishing, stick with 10wt gear throughout, an intermediate sinking fly line, 50lb braid as backing and rely on a reel that has a drag capable of being locked right up. Ensure the leader is no longer than rod’s length to avoid issues with fat connection knots at the tip runner when that first big fish is at the boat. The leader

should have a sacrificial section of 30lb line prior to the fluoro 40lb anti-chafe terminal section attached to the fly, so if a fish does get into timber only the fly is lost, not the fly line.

Which fly? Store bought Bush Pigs and Bombers are hard to beat, and other big (size 4/0 or 5/0) barra flies. Floating lines and flies look like fun but strikes that

result in a firm commitment from a fish are hard to come by, and casting big fat Gurglers or Dahlbergs soon becomes tiresome.

SUMMING UP There will probably be a lot of casts between fish, but treat every cast as though it’s the one that will result in a walloping strike. Also think where a fish might be played when hooked, make sure the timber isn’t too tight. And when that big fish is finally in the net, treat it with care.

Don’t lift it vertically by the mouth or you could break its spine.

Once on deck and on the brag mat, barra are easy enough to handle. Although the gill covers are razor sharp, the mouth makes a fine hand hold. If treated roughly a big barra can go belly up when released, so thoroughly support it in its mid section and use a mouth grip. When you put the fish back in the water, hold it by the mouth and drag it back and forth until it frees itself.

Mission accomplished: fish caught, photographed and successfully released. It doesn’t get better than that.

David Falconer shows the correct way to hold a big barra for a pic.

FEBRUARY 2016

13

Fishing after a flood HERVEY BAY

Mark Bargenquast

Growing up as a kid on the Mary River in Maryborough, floods were cool, it seemed like the whole town would drive down to see the Lamington Bridge go under.

Back then, I had no idea how much a flood would mean to me in the future.

The first week after the rains when the river ran filthy and swollen, the fishing was always quiet. Fish have a need to survive, and after the floods would sit in eddies and calm stretches of water out of the main flow; water

temperature usually drops a few degrees after a flood event so the fish remain out of action and wait for the improvement of conditions.

From years of experience and observation, a week or so after the main flood, the water temperature rises a few degrees and the water loses its putrid colour, which

Find the bait, find the fish! After a flood event the bait push upstream, so follow them to find some bigger predators.

Swollen rivers can produce some cracker barra!

A week or so after the main flood, water temps rise a few degrees and the water loses its putrid colour, which is when the fish start to get excited!

is when the fish start to get excited! Most anglers think that fish are pushed downriver to the mouth and beyond, which makes sense, but is not always true. As a young angler in the local sportfishing club we had DPI permits to tag fish at the saltwater barrage on the Mary.

The fishing was outstanding. We caught barra, threadfin salmon, jacks, bream, and tailor alongside bass, catfish, yellowbelly, saratoga and a lone jungle perch! Amazing what will show up in totally freshwater a week after a major flood.

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mullet push up current to the wall, so the old saying ‘find the bait, find the fish’ really starts to take shape!

The river mouth fishes well after the flood too, as not everything pushes upstream. Muddies can’t handle the fresh so they head downstream, which makes crabbing excellent; the same goes for prawns, and of course where there’s a concentration of bait there will be predators. Barra, salmon, grunter, flathead and jacks are all invited to the party.

A few weeks after a big flood the river mouth will have a green look to it. This is usually the best time to fish, especially after the moon as the salt will start to push back in on the reverse tides. This is why barra spawn on the moon as the fry will get sucked back up the estuaries and not pushed out the front.

Offshore after a big fresh, pelagics such as tuna, mackerel and trevally will

become active. I remember fishing a fresh colour line from a flood a few years back and the fishing was insane, every cast was a

For the reef fishos, bonuses of the receding floodwaters are numbers of estuary cod, black spot tuskfish, grass sweetlip and all the other inshore reefies

Absolute monster of a thready, the flood gives back! fish and some good ones too! Remember, freshwater is lighter and sits on top of the salt, so the deeper holes and gutters can be worth a look.

that go nuts after a flood as excess food gets flushed out with the fresh. A good tip here is to use fresh green prawns after a flood, and you will get the results!

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News

Bag Limits – what are they actually doing?

SUNTAG

Stefan Sawynok

Facebook is a wonderful thing – over the Christmas break I had only two things in my feed, Star Wars and fishing, of course the only thing that has changed since then is now I get more fishing. One topic that has come up, especially among the younger locals is the issue of bag limits, especially around sportfish species.

This ties into what I think might well be the Suntag theme this year – ‘What sort of fishery and fishing experience do you want?’ Here is a radical idea – bag limits are a safety net, a way to ensure that individual anglers cannot over-harvest without facing consequences. Bag limits are not a target, nor are they a measure of sustainability.

One of the ideas that I seem to encounter among younger fishers is that fisheries as the umpire need to get involved in the setting of arbitrary limits on catch and release species.

That is, they want the limits to be set on the dominant harvest fishing style in an area including commercial fishing. In this case though, advocacy within the recreational sector may be a better approach. What is wrong with fishers adopting

concrete data exists on this observation but the Fisheries Recreational Review has a pretty good go at it.

While these are estimates, they are based on catch data and weight estimates from reasonable data collection sources. In lieu of better data, this is the best we have.

The available data shows that for key species, 43% of the catch was recreational, 57% commercial in 2013/14.

This implies that even with bag limits in place, the recreational catch is still significant, even in the same ballpark as the commercial catch on these species.

The equation for a traditional harvest focus is more fishing effort results in less fish.

We have more than 100 years PERCENTAGE OF Species Barramundi Dusky flathead Sand whiting Snapper Spanish mackerel Spotted mackerel Tailor Yellowfin bream

16

FEBRUARY 2016

mangrove jack in SEQ is not an everyday thing.

Why use the 4+ Trip measure? This is a reflection of the fishing experience as Suntag fishers mostly focus on specific species and specialize in catching them largely with lures.

For Suntag fishers getting numbers matters even if they are released. Note – the four fish must be of legal Fisheries definitions, not just four fish.

This is where recreational fishers, coming to their own arrangements is a good step.

Sportfishers in SEQ want to come to a voluntary process to a reduced bag limit and be strong, positive advocates on Facebook, this can only help keep stocks in the water.

If the majority of fishers then agree with the voluntary

Overall mangrove jack caught per trip 2000-2015 Statewide (Suntag data). focused on a voluntary target around two barramundi.

In this way, Rockhampton will quite likely be a test case for what sort of effect a voluntary bag limit will

RECREATIONAL CATCH IN COMPARISON TO COMMERCIAL HARVEST Number Average weight Rec harvest Comm harvest Rec% catch 42,000 4.21 kg 131,000 kg 762,000 kg 15 117,000 0.86 kg 101,000 kg 43,000 kg 70 482,000 0.20 kg 96,000 kg 204,000 kg 32 56,000 1.47 kg 82,000 kg 83,000 kg 50 34,000 7.22 kg 243,000 kg 588,000 kg 29 26,000 2.60 kg 65,000 kg 97,000 kg 40 111,000 0.68 kg 75,000 kg 57,000 kg 57 323,000 0.39 kg 125,000 kg 112,000 kg 53

of data both commercial and recreational globally to support this. However, this is an issue usually put upon the commercial sector.

These sorts of numbers show that there is certainly

Overall yellowfin bream caught per trip 2000-2015 Statewide (Suntag data). a lower bag limit voluntarily in order to improve a fishery?

In order to address this topic, I will look at a number of species through Suntag Data as well as the Statewide Recreational Fishing Survey 2013-14 and Commercial Data from the QFISH database. No doubt there will be disagreement on the numbers, but these are the best we have and a lot better than nothing.

THE RECREATIONAL HARVEST ‘ALLOCATION’ Commercial Fishers always take the lion’s share of the fish, right? Not much

a bag limit of two should be in place. A counter-argument claimed that up north they catch more mangrove jack.

That was extended to suggest they are ‘like bream’ in some places.

Being a literalist, I decided to test this theory.

While our data isn’t 100% complete up north, I can say that on balance of the data we had 2561 trips in the top ten sites up north.

While there is evidence that some areas with less data have exceptional catch rates, when compared to bream, no site compares to any of the decent bream sites.

On a top ten mangrove jack in the north against the top ten bream in the south, on every measure there isn’t really a comparison. In the same 15-year period there are

room for discussion in the recreational sector on what sort of standards we want to set for ourselves. As much as we put demands on the commercial sector, we as recreational fishers have some heavy lifting to do.

I wonder how quickly the conversation will move from ‘not enough’ fish to ‘plenty if you know how to catch them’ when the focus changes.

NORTH VS SOUTH – WHERE DOES JACK LIVE? One of the discussions I tracked was on mangrove jack where the young guys in the South East argued that

nearly 30,000 bream recorded in the top ten bream sites with 9.3% of trips recording five plus legal sized bream.

Only Deepwater Creek is comparable, with 9.4% of trips with five plus legal size mangrove jack but that is only from 85 trips in total.

Over a 15-year period, only 1.5% of trips managed to make the five-bag limit within Suntag. While there have been seven trips in the Pumicestone Passage that have managed to make the bag limit, none have been recorded on the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay or Gold Coast. Doubtless there will be fishers who have managed this all the same.

Here are some things to also consider (from the Recreational Fishing Survey): • Mangrove jack are mostly caught when not actively targeted (0-25% caught as target).

• Only 8% of mangrove jack released are targeted for catch and release (as opposed to 77% that are too small).

• 75% of mangrove jack are caught in estuaries, 21% inshore and 4% offshore.

• Mangrove jack catch is larger in the north than in the south.

• A bag limit of two per person as advocated would impact the catch in the north in terms of take home catch.

• Mangrove jack are a key species in the mix for places from Mackay North into the Gulf.

Looking at the Suntag data, getting a bag of

bag limit, or there is simply too much pressure on stocks, which will result in the change of actual bag limits may make sense. Simply enforcing it based on fishing experience in one end of the state though isn’t going to be a popular idea and will be difficult to achieve.

VOLUNTARY BAG LIMITS IN THE ROCKHAMPTON NET FREE ZONE One place where a voluntary bag limit is being seriously considered is in the Rockhampton Net Free Zone.

This will be a community decision, but discussion has

have, and no doubt many will be watching closely.

So what do catches in Rockhampton look like? In the last 15-years in the Net Free Zone area trips where fishers have managed to catch the equivalent of the bag limit have been few.

How does Rockhampton compare with the statewide results? In order to compare like for like, the rate of trips where more than four legal barramundi were recorded.

Rockhampton underperformed the state until 2012, so the once in 30-year turnaround has had a significant effect.

Rockhampton dipped below the state average for making bag limit in 2015, so it will be very interesting to see what effect the NFZ has. If Rockhampton does truly become the barramundi capital it aims to be, it will be a testimony to the restraint of the community in taking advantage of the new opportunities.

WHEN BAG LIMITS GET REDUCED – THE SNAPPER SITUATION When looking for a way to see how useful the ‘trips where bag limit was near reached’ measure, a good many species were examined.

Snapper proved to be one of the most interesting.

The statewide fisheries review makes some pretty interesting observations about snapper: • In the survey period the recreational and commercial catch were roughly equal 82 tonne.

• Only 1% of snapper released are from catch and release fishing (98% due to undersize capture).

• Snapper are targeted only 26-50% of the time they are caught.

• 27% of snapper are harvested.

Trips where >=4 mangrove jack caught per trip 20002015 by Year Statewide (Suntag data).

News Snapper are still one of the species that are considered to be in trouble concerning numbers. Our snapper data has been pretty consistent over the past 15-years with around 185 trips a year and only one year with less than 100 trips (2001– 96 recorded trips).

Trips from 2011 onwards show an increase in the number of trips where the snapper bag limit is reached. In fact, the 8% rate of recent years is better than experienced in barramundi, though our barramundi data is stronger. This suggests that the harvest controls implemented on the recreational sector have had a positive effect even without controls being put on the commercial sector.

As always, more data will flesh that out but on balance I am inclined to give Fisheries a tick of approval.

Recreational fishers may feel aggrieved but in the end what is the objective? Is it not, more fish and a fishery in better shape? If anything, the recreational sector should be proud that they can make an impact.

Surely if snapper numbers improve through recreational restraint then that is a good reason for recreational fishers to voluntarily reduce their take.

Yes, in a perfect world both sectors would contribute and make a

examine closer.

The statewide fisheries review makes some pretty interesting observations about Australian bass: • 72% of bass released are from catch and release fishing.

• Only 8% of bass are harvested.

• 79% are caught in impoundments.

• Bass are targeted in 76-100% of the time they are caught and are in the same class as beach worms, yabbies, pipis, prawns, mud crabs and red claw. They are the only fish species in this band.

To understand the impact of an enforced catch and release fishery, which by the two bass bag limit is enforced to the same degree as Murray cod. This is despite the fact that 57% of trips result in meeting the bag limit and 4% of trips (312 trips out of 7331 trips) result in 20+ fish caught.

By contrast, only 45 out of 713 trips have resulted in Suntag Murray cod fishers reaching their bag limit over the same period.

However, for a comparison that really shows clearly the difference between a harvest and bag limit controlled species, golden perch is the go-to species.

Both have been stocked, with golden perch in larger numbers based on the stocking comparisons available on the fisheries website.

The major

Trips where >=4 legal snapper caught per trip 2000-2015 by Year Statewide (Suntag data). the catch has a positive practice for decades. effect. That has been The rate at which that the established fisheries effect kicks in is directly

proportional to the level of replenishment of the stock, be it naturally or via stocking balanced against the level of constraint.

It is interesting that the Statewide Survey reports highest rates of catch and release among freshwater species with tight bag limits. I draw you back to the original question – ‘what sort of fishery and fishing experience do you want?’

It will be interesting to see what happens in Rockhampton as there is some pretty heavy monitoring going on.

They want a great fishery,

and fingers crossed that they get it.

This topic leads into a couple of other questions like ‘what constitutes a feed?’ As well as ‘where are all the catch and release fishers in the salt?’

In order to look at those questions, I will need several bottles of wine for inspiration.

DO YOU HAVE A SUNTAG COLUMN IDEA? Is there a question or issue that you would like us to look at? Send questions to suntag@info-fish.net and we will do our best to provide an answer. Hate mail is also welcome.

DATA SOURCES USED IN THIS ARTICLE Commercial catch for QFISH http://qfish.daf.qld.gov.au 2000 to 2015 Tag and catch records http://qld.info-fish.net 2000 to 2015 Statewide Recreational Fishing Survey 2013–14

by James Webley, Kirrily McInnes, Daniella Teixeira, Ashley Lawson and Ross Quinn from the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. virtue of it. Both sectors still have some work to do on this front in terms of embracing that idea.

What happens when you stop taking fish?

What happens when you have a species that is truly catch and release?

As it happens, most of the ‘catch and release’ species are freshwater species (according to the statewide survey), including Australian bass, sooty grunter, Murray and Mary River cod, though you could add jungle perch and saratoga in there as well. With the exception of sooty grunter, all have strict bag limits that largely enforce catch and release.

Mary River cod are only allowed to be targeted in impoundments, not in wild streams.

The species we have the best data on overall is Australian bass, making it the logical candidate to

difference is golden perch is harvested, and bass isn’t. Australian bass is the number seven species by fishing effort, golden perch number nine. Only 33% of golden perch are released for catch and release fishing. Looking at the Suntag data, the difference in rates where 5+ fish were caught in a fishing session is pretty clear.

Australian bass is a clear indicator that where harvest controls are in place, be it social or legal and there are good opportunities for stocks to replenish, in this case via stocking, then fish stocks improve a lot.

SO, ABOUT THIS ‘VOLUNTARY BAG LIMIT’ CONCEPT There is strong and quantifiable evidence that increasing harvest pressure has a negative effect on stocks. Equally, there is strong and quantifiable evidence that constraining FEBRUARY 2016

17

Slow-pitch and micro-jigging NSW STH COAST

Steve Starling www.starlofishing.com

Slow-pitch jigging and micro-jigging are among the fastest growing trends in offshore fishing around the country right now. But what are they?

spread through the rest of the fishing world, including to Australia. Anglers who’ve embraced the micro and slow-pitch jigging revolution have discovered that it is not only highly effective on an incredibly broad range of fish species, but also a lot less physically demanding than high-speed ‘mechanical

to vertical presentations that weigh less than about 100-120g. Some go right down to 10-15g in weight or even less, although these very small jigs are obviously more useful in shallower water with minimal current.

Slow-pitch jigs (also referred to as flat-fall jigs, butterfly jigs and so on) cover a wider

drops than the standard knife jigs. There is a great deal of overlap between these jig styles, and most micro-jigs are in fact slow-pitch jigs, although all slow-pitch jigs are not necessarily ‘micro’ models, if you get my drift!

It’s possible to slow-pitch with jigs weighing as much as several hundred grams.

Slow-pitch jigging is closely related to the sort of jigging some Aussie anglers have been doing with skirted octa-jigs like the Shimano Lucanus for nearly a decade now, but it takes the whole slow jigging concept several

Jo Starling with a cracking Moses perch taken on a micro-jig.

Mulloway are a prime target for micro and slow-pitch jigs.

When most anglers think of offshore jigging with metal lures, their imagination immediately conjures up images of massive knife jigs weighing as much as half a kilo, heavy tackle and an exhausting, intensive style of angling requiring a bewildering combination of high speed reel cranking and violent rod movements. Two or three drops with that style of gear and most of us are ready for a break! Throw in a hook-up or two on a big yellowtail kingfish, samson fish, amberjack, cobia or trevally and you’re looking at a form of angling best suited to the young and fit! But the great news is that this isn’t the only way to jig.

In recent years, microjigging and slow-pitch jigging have emerged as real growth areas in offshore lure fishing.

Both forms developed in Japan and have slowly

jigging’ with hefty knife jigs.

Micro-jigs are basically any metal lures suited

range of weights, but are designed to be worked with much slower, gentler lifts and

Pearl perch are a regular target for micro and slow-pitch jigs.

A huge variety of reef fish will respond to these jigs.

18

FEBRUARY 2016

Both spin and overhead tackle can be used, but braided line is practically essential. steps further. Slow-pitch and micro-jigging also catches a wider range of species than any other vertical presentation style. So, while you’ll still hook kingfish, samson, amberjack, cobia, trevally, mackerel, tuna and the like on slow-pitch and micro-jigs, you’ll also catch a lot more snapper, morwong, mulloway, teraglin, emperor, other reef fish, flathead and the like.

You can even micro-jig in freshwater for trout, bass, yellowbelly and redfin!

Tackle for these slowerpaced jigging styles will obviously vary depending on the environment, depth and target species, but it’s generally much lighter than ‘mechanical jigging’ equipment, with an emphasis

on longer rods in the 2-2.5m range with relatively soft tips. Tip action is an integral factor in imparting motion to slow jigs. Both spin and overhead reels can be used, but the keenest slow jiggers prefer compact overheads, as these seem to give better line control. Line is almost always quality PE-style braid rated in the 10-30lb (5-15 kg) range, with a reasonably long (2-10m) fluorocarbon leader of a similar strength tied to the end.

Trying to describe in words the rod and reel action best used when micro and slow-pitch jigging is extremely tricky, but if you jump on-line and Google these topics, plenty of video clips will come up.

Don’t stress that most are narrated in Japanese! Just turn the sound down and watch. You will quickly start to glean some of the secrets of these deadly jigging styles, and find out what the best tackle is to use. You’ll also discover that there is no absolutely ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to do it, and that each angler has his or her own personalized style of working these lures. The take home message from this is that you can experiment, add your own tweaks and still catch plenty of fish.

Along the way, you’ll also have lots of fun!

These jigs are typically fitted with one or more assist-style single hooks.

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Heavy leader loop knot, a.k.a. perfection loop BRISBANE

Kim Bain

I’ve known this knot as the ‘perfection loop’ all my life, and my parents before me also called it the perfection loop; in fact let me go out on a limb and say that all Aussies know it as a perfection loop.

However, there is another knot that is also called a perfection loop (this other version threads a formed loop inside and through another formed loop, so it isn’t very good for attaching big lures to leaders).

I first learned of this other knot when traveling overseas and unfortunately, despite some research, I haven’t found any explanation as to why two very different knots have the same name. This other knot was commonly used when tying on a live bait hook, and was very popular before hooks with rings became prevalent.

I’ll look at it next month.

The knot that I’ve known since my Aussie childhood is ideal for tying in heavy leader (and\or stiff leader) as it has fewer twists than many other loop knots. It additionally achieves this while providing a straight towing alignment which can be important for some lures and troll baits. Additionally, since it can be tied when your fingers are slippery (think ‘bait covered’), it also works well when rigging swim baits, such as the types used for trolling, if you aren’t using crimps. In fact, it was the preferred knot prior to crimps becoming popular in the mid to late 1980s. Accordingly, it is still a handy knot to know.

It is probably worth mentioning that any loss in breaking strain due to the use of this connection is normally offset by this knot typically being used in heavy leader. So for now let me call the Aussie version a ‘heavy leader loop knot’ and show you how to tie it.

20

FEBRUARY 2016

1.

1

ie an overhand knot in the heavy leader and T then pass the tag end through the eye of the hook, or through the towing point on your dead bait\swim bait.

2.

2

ontinuing with the tag end, pass it back through C the overhand loop (on the same side that it originally came out of the loop) and then onwards out of the loop by going through the loop.

3.

3

ow the tag end is passed across the standing N part of the heavy leader.

5

ow run the tag end over the middle line, then N under the line that forms the outside line of the loop.

4.

4

ext, push the tag end through the closest little N loop in the cross-over of line (i.e the cross over that is tied to form the overhand loop).

5.

6.

6

inch it down after moistening, and then snip C the tag end close to the knot.

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Iluka on fire in February ILUKA

Ross Deakin

What a fantastic holiday period it has been here in the Iluka region. The end of January marked our first year as the new owners

of Iluka Bait and Tackle (formerly Dizzy’s Bait and Tackle). Local reports indicate that this has been one of the busier years, with plenty of NSW and interstate holiday-makers enjoying this fantastic area with all its incredible

diverse fishing.

It has been an unusual year weather-wise. The lead up to January was characterised by long dry periods and warm water temperatures. We experienced extensive rainfall at the end of last summer, with a great deal of freshwater

A stonker tarwhine caught in the Iluka area!

A decent size mulloway puts a happy smile on the face of this local angler.

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flushing the Clarence, but unfortunately not much after that. The river is very clean and in need of another good flush to help improve things.

Having said that, there have been some decent fish caught in the river over January.

Flathead have been taken around the entrance to the Esk River, Browns Rocks, and other usual spots, and recently local angler Debbie Brown weighed in a nice 1.9kg fish at the Bimbimbi Caravan Park. Lots of smaller fish have been caught, but the odd 4kg monster is caught and released in the area.

Local fisho Brett McInnes weighed in a 4.4kg lizard taken on lure at Turkeys Nest on 8 January. The bream have been plentiful, with some great fish taken off the beaches on yabbies and nippers. Peter Miller caught a beautiful 1.69kg tarwhine on Iluka Beach early morning on 10 January.

There have been some elbow slapping whiting caught around river sand flats and the open beaches on worms and poppers. Ben Geide weighed two whiting at 360g and 400g in store, and there have been others up to 500g.

The newly renovated rock wall has pleased everyone, as now there is much better access, which consequently means more great fishing.

Mulloway have been a constant staple catch off the new wall and there have been some nice schoolies taken on the beaches and headlands (when weather has allowed it). The Old Ferry crossing and further up the river are the places to frequent for mulloway. They have been taken on squid and octopus baits, as well as hardbody and soft plastic lures. Karl Grossman weighed in a 12.5kg fish on fresh squid on 21 December.

When the southerlies aren’t kicking up a fuss, trag jew and snapper are available at Black Rock and Woody Head. Spotty mackerel were on the run and were caught on Woody Head reef until those winds hit us. Unfortunately, they haven’t really returned yet, but I’m sure it won’t be long now. Trevally, cobia and snapper have been caught

off The Wall, The Bluff and Woody Head. The odd luderick has been caught around the Old Ferry, and Allan Murdock weighed in a 930g fish on 9 January.

Mud crabs are still elusive, with greater numbers further up the Clarence. Blue swimmers are around but aren’t going crazy. The tailor fishing has been very poor with a few fish caught around 1-2.5kg.

An estimated 80kg black marlin was a standout recent catch by Steve Millington in 100m of water.

We are looking forward to the Spanish mackerel and

tuna season, which should start to fire up very soon.

Happy fishing, and make sure you pop into the newly renovated Iluka Bait and Tackle store as you enter the town, on your right. You can’t miss the giant blue marlin over the door.

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QFM reader Benny was fishing two hours west of the Gold Coast and caught a bunch of bass and yellas on Jackall TN60s and Jackall Super Squirrel DD79s.

Fresh fires up the river BALLINA

Joe Allan

The Christmas period has come and gone and some great times were had in and around the Richmond River over the holidays.

Offshore, there’s been some memorable action.

Around the 32m area there’s been snapper of average size, but you can guarantee a good feed of fish this size.

The FADs are holding mahimahi, and the bigger models have come from the 48m when the tide is really moving.

The mackerel and marlin have been quiet since Christmas, but hopefully the action on these speedsters will pick up into February.

The beaches around South Ballina hold good numbers of dart and whiting.

When the swell is down, try flicking blades and plastics like the Atomic 3” Prong for flathead in the low tide gutters. This can be a really productive technique and you may be surprised at how many quality fish you come up with. Take care when traveling on the beaches; it only takes a couple of idiots to spoil the fun for everyone.

In the river, there are great numbers of whiting on the flats around Pimlico Island on the surface, along with bream and flathead. The Bassday Sugapen 70s are still catching great numbers of all these species.

This time of year, the number of families lining the

river with kids just hoping to catch something is huge – great to see.

Getting kids into fishing is something that is easy to do if you use fresh bait, the right equipment and you don’t make them stick out in the sun for too long. In the main river, try Mobb’s Bay, or the weed flats past the Ferry with the little ones.

With all the fresh that’s been flowing down the river, the lower reaches have had good mulloway off the break walls in the last part of the run-out tides. Big hardbodied lures and soft plastics like a Tsunami Paddle Tail have produced some great results.

Once you do hook something, try to get it in ASAP, as there are plenty of toothy critters around looking for a feed.

William and Hayden Sharp with a pair of whiting.

Both fish were caught on topwater lures.

Bass have fired up in the main river. Once the dirty water settles, these little battlers should turn it up another notch.

Kim Rickter with a 22kg mulloway that he caught on a Tsunami paddle-tail soft plastic.

creeks running into the main river are good places to start.

Chatterbaits like the Bassman Mumblers are a good option, along with noisy jerkbaits like the Megabass Live X Margay. You might have to do some traveling to find the fish, but when you do, you can rack up good numbers quickly.

Crabs are a little quiet, however the new moon should fire them up. Remember to mark your pots properly, as NSW Fisheries confiscate unmarked equipment. They will take anything either not marked or not marked as per regulations. They also check fishing licences, size of fish and bag limits.

Rules are there for everyone to abide by, so the fisheries are sustainable for everyone in the future. If you see anything suspicious, please report it to authorities.

Bass are in the main river sections with all the fresh water coming down from the Kyogle and Casino region, and the bass should really get going once this settles down. Dirty water fishing can still produce good numbers, though, and the drains and

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Fishing fires as tourists leave THE TWEED

David Solano

February is a strange time to fish on the Tweed.

The pressure is off the river and hopefully all those visitors that passed through have fattened up the fish, as I saw a lot of undersized fish caught and released over the Christmas period.

The bite is on out front off the walls with the incoming tide, right up until the clear water arrives. The bream are there in numbers

with tailor and trevs moving through every now and then.

What excites me is news that little mac tuna have been running through the headlands. Their favourite spot to harass bait is Jack Evans Boat Harbour. They don’t stay for long but they are a lot of fun if you run into them! They tend to like a very quick moving metal slug lure, and the quicker the retrieve the better.

I’ve paid attention to what people use to fish the walls and as you can imagine, it varies greatly.

I’ve seen fancy paternoster

Scott with his new non-slip rock hopper shoes, rock fishing is dangerous after all.

rigs, and gang hooks, but I found for bait fishing a jighead on its own does the job, just make sure you beef your leader up a fair bit.

The bait I saw ranged from lives, prawns, pillies and green prawns, but unnatural baits like tenderloin chicken works too.

Those elusive Tweed mangrove jack are around for those keen to try them out. I haven’t caught a screamer yet, but have consistently caught 40cm fish around the old yacht club bridge, Boyds Bay bridge and the cadet school.

In fact, I’ve been catching trevs and jacks so much so that I’m starting to tell the difference in the way they fight. It takes confidence to chase these fish, and every jack I caught previously I initially thought was a trev.

Jacks, they go hard at the beginning, but once you get them away from their lair they are pretty much done, where as some of the trevs I’ve caught go nuts, ramming the kayak, trying to bust me off on the Hobie peddles – a lot of fun. The good news is these fish eat lures and baits and they’re moving through the whole river system.

Whiting in good numbers and size are still caught at Cobaki Broadwater and Terranora flats, and nippers are the preferred bait. If you don’t have a boat, try the south side of Boyds Bay bridge.

You’ll see a heap of tender boat, this is the area I’m talking about. Around there and past the fuel pumping jetty is a great area to target for whiting. Again, the incoming tide works better at the moment.

Everyone loves mud crabs and they are in plentiful supply in the Tweed River. If you’re crabbing, remember you need to have your details attached to your crab pot. Don’t leave them out of sight, as there are some blacked out boats and ski riders that have taken up raiding pots. I received a new one for Christmas and when I went to check it after using it for the first time, it had been slashed in four places, making it useless.

This happened at Cobaki, but it’s happening more and more. Maybe it’s time for a trail cam with dark flash, that’ll catch them…

The Murwillumbah arm of the river has fished well too, however the wind has

A nice trevally taken on the Tweed River at night. made most of the good spots too hard to fish. Fingers crossed, the temperature will

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Gold Coast fishing steps up into overdrive GOLD COAST

Danny Sands

February is shaping up to be a great month for fishing and with the pelagic season already under way off the Gold Coast you will see good numbers of mahimahi, spotted mackerel, wahoo, black marlin and the odd Spaniard.

The spotty mackerel have been hit and miss on the close inshore reef with Palm Beach Reef having close to a hundred boats parked over it on any given day. Boat

the Tweed 9-Mile, Fidos and the gravel patch off Burleigh have had better numbers of mackerel so far this season.

This will filter to the northern Gold Coast this month, so it might be worth hitting spots like the Diamond Reef and the 18 and 20-fathom reef off Southport.

Mahimahi have been in great numbers off the coast.

Most of the bigger bulls have been caught on the 50m line off the Seaway and the Tweed. Trolling 6” skirts like Black Snacks in the lumo and flying fish colours has worked extremely well.

which have already seen success this year. Wahoo are a tackle shop owner’s best friend, they snip off expensive skirted lures that were meant for a marlin or mahimahi. It pays to a have a Halco Laser Pro 190 or something similar on the long corner, as this will cut down the bite offs and a second mortgage when trolling.

INSHORE Fishing conditions will improve in February as the Christmas holidays and the Australia Day long weekend come to an end.

A photo of a great family day chasing wahoo off Tweed Heads.

Mick Horn was over the moon with his first black marlin. numbers will drop off in February and make fishing a lot easier during weekdays.

Palm Beach and Mermaid reef after a southerly blow will fish well in February.

Anchor up before dark and float line half cut pillies in a berley trail and spinning 15-40g metal slugs while you wait.

The week before the first full moon in February is a great time to chase Spanish mackerel on trolled dead baits, minnows and live baits. The southern reefs like

The FAD that sits on the 40-fathom line east of the seaway has had a lot of mahimahi sitting on it, not many big bulls there but heaps of smaller fish.

These little mahimahi are extremely fun to catch on soft plastics on light spin gear.

Wahoo numbers will increase this month and a good number of juvenile wahoo have turned up off the Tweed in places like Burleigh, the gravel patch, 9-Mile and Deep Southern,

The rough conditions in January have pushed small schools of very large yellowtail kingfish into the seaway; with some up to 40lb. These brutes have been destroying tackle on the way. Kingies can be very frustrating when you’re targeting them on artificial baits, but drifting live yellowtail pike from the under water pipe line to the north wall of Wavebreak Island has worked well.

Yellowtail pike are easy to catch, and places like the

Grand Hotel, the weed beds north of Wavebreak Island and Anchorage Inn Bridge are great places to collect these baits.

Large schools of mangrove jacks will start to school up in the seaway before they head out to the reefs this month, and live pike, yakkas and slimy mackerel make excellent bait for these red devils around the north wall of the seaway. The bottom of the tide seems to be the best time, and don’t be afraid to use heavy tackle to get them out from their caves.

The rain in January has fired up the whiting in the Nerang River, so night time fishing trips around the full moon will be the go this month, and blood worms and canal wrigglers are the pick of the baits.

Tallebudgerra Creek has also fished well for whiting.

This is a great creek system where you can easily pump a few yabbies and catch quality whiting from the bank.

The rain also has got the jelly prawns going and with the hot humid days this has the mangrove jacks following them in hot pursuit. Throwing

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topwater lures that imitate a fleeing prawn is one of the most thrilling ways to target mangrove jacks, with spectacular surface strikes. Early morning, late afternoon and night time are the prime time to use topwater lures, as mangrove jacks will leave their snag and search for food during this time.

This same technique also stirs up the big-eye trevally, and good places to look for are mouth of marinas, lights from bridges and retaining walls.

This is a great month to wet a few crab pots while

you are fishing, just look for any drop-off in front of any creeks and use plenty of bait. Mackerel heads and chicken frames always seem to work well together.

Always remember to clearly label your pots and floats with your name and address.

Overall, February will be a big month with lots of boats off the water and plenty of action close to our shores. It will also be a be another hot month, so remember to cover up before you go out to avoid sunburn.

Stay safe, and enjoy your fishing. How good is the Gold Coast?

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February rain brings the bites GOLD COAST CANALS

Josh Dunn

Temperatures are set to rise and we should see more rain. On the fishing side of things the weather has been playing a big part; rain has been beneficial in turning the bite red hot! A heavy downpour the night before or a light sprinkle with overcast in the morning

while fishing gets me excited.

One species I’ve had great success on lately is flathead.

Fishing anywhere from sand and rock walls to canal pylons has been very productive.

Flicking blades in the canals is a great option, although it can be an expensive option, so make sure you know the structure where you’re fishing.

The Broadwater has been fishing really well – sand bar drop-offs, weed beds and

deep water are all giving up results. One plastic that has done really well and that I feel confident in is the ZMan 4” StreakZ Curly TailZ in motor oil.

Our large river systems such as the Logan, Coomera and Nerang are all doing exceptionally well. The Logan is a great river system, with thick mangrove lined banks for jacks, trevally and so on.

Jumpinpin produces large

Darby Joelle Lawrence was stoked to land her first fish.

mulloway, flathead and bream. The Coomera and Nerang tend to produce more mangrove jacks and trevally.

Jacks will continue to fire with this rain and the slight drop in temperature from possible rain won’t affect them. This month will be a great month for surface fishing for bream, trevally and mangrove jacks in our canal systems, so it’s time to start digging out the surface lures and firing them around jetties and different types of structure. A surface lure I would recommend for early morning and late afternoon would be the Luckycraft Sammy 65 and Bevy Pencil and most ‘walk-the-dog’ lures.

Fishing the high tide seems to work best, as this is when the bait gets pushed up along the walls and there’s more water for predatory fish. Big fish have showed up around the north wall of Wavebreak Island in the seaway. As the high tide is receding, GTs and tailor are smashing and holding baitfish in the area.

One tip is to keep your lures ready, as the fish bust up for a short amount of time and scatter, although most of the time they’ll come back and bust up a few more times.

Sharks of all sizes are

There’s been plenty of flathead like this getting around. This one was taken from a sand-lined bank in the Broadwater! being caught throughout the canals, The Broadwater and especially Jumpinpin for the larger models. Try using mullet fillets for the small sharks in the canals, and nighttime is the best time to tango with sharks. Stingray flaps or trevally frames are both good bait for the larger sharks in more open water.

Big mulloway are still around, and a range of plastics, vibes and live bait will work well on these big

silvery ghosts of the estuary, as well as the smaller models throughout the Logan, Nerang and Coomera rivers.

In conclusion, February is an excellent month for a range of species, both in the canals and more open water. It’s a great month for all anglers.

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Bills abound off the Gold Coast GOLD COAST

David Green

So far this season the pelagic activity off the Gold Coast has been quite erratic. The weather has been quite difficult for offshore anglers, with long periods of strong south easterlies and rough seas.

OFFSHORE GROUNDS In the times when anglers have been able to get out, there have been reasonable numbers of mahimahi, wahoo, a few black marlin, and striped and blue marlin wide of the 36-fathom line. Hopefully in February the weather will improve and the fishing will pick up.

There have been a few black marlin on the close grounds, but I haven’t heard of any boat getting more than two in a day. The smaller fish from 10-25kg seem to be along the 50m line and around the local reefs and bait grounds, but they are very scattered. Lure trolling lets you cover the water in this situation.

Shelley Christie caught this mahimahi off the Gold Coast.

Areas to try include the Cotton Reef east of Jumpinpin, Sullies, Point Lookout, the Gravel Patch east of Burleigh Heads and the Tweed 9-Mile reef. Out a bit further there have been some bigger 40-60kg fish on Deep Trag, the 42-fathom line and Spot X. There have also been a decent number of sailfish caught in this area in recent times on live baits.

Striped marlin have been a bit more common than usual on the 36 and 50-fathom line. We recently caught a nice one on the 36s straight east of the Seaway.

After calling it for a small black marlin on strike, I was quite surprised to see a very nice stripy around 70kg come to the trace after an hour-long fight on 10kg tackle. This fish bit a Black Snack’s Hot Lips trolled from the shotgun position.

These lures have been great performers for us over the past few seasons.

Out past the shelf the current has been running at around 2 knots to the south. This has made blue marlin fishing hard to predict. Some days have produced 3-4 strikes where a lot of the time in heavy current it is hard

This monster whiting took a liking to a Bassday Sugapen. to turn a reel. There have been some big mahimahi on the wider grounds. In February the blue marlin fishing often picks up and

some of my best days on the wide grounds have been in February.

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but there are still a few snapper on the 36-fathom line. Local charter boat Watchtower has produced quite a few good catches of snapper lately despite the warm water and the current.

In closer to shore, there have been erratic catches of spotted and small Spanish mackerel around Palm Beach Reef and The Gravel Patch and this should improve this month. Most fish have been caught on metal lures, floating pilchards or small trolled skirted lures. There should be a few nice wahoo this month mixed with the mackerel. It is worth trying a bit of high speed trolling when the warm water moves inshore over the 9-Mile reef.

RIVERS AND ESTUARIES The January rains have given the estuaries a bit of a flush and the fishing should pick up this month. It is a good time of year to chase mud crabs, mangrove jacks and whiting. There should also be a few mulloway and giant trevally around the Seaway and Jumpinpin entrances. There are a lot of small bait schools around the entrances at the moment and these are attracting quite good numbers of reasonable sized tailor up to 60cm.

If you target mud crabs, try the Pimpama River, the south arm of the Coomera

Michael Green with a nice striped marlin taken out wide.

or Coombabah Creek. I like to crab on the bigger tides. My general strategy is to work my pots on the run-in tide when the crabs are on the move. The recent fresh should improve the crabbing. Chicken frames, mackerel heads and mullet all work well. Remember to keep your bait in a bait holder and face the entrances of the pot into the current.

When the crabs are moving we check your pots every half an hour. When the flow slows, the crabs stop. I find a three hour session on a big run-in tide generally produces around 5-10 legal male mud crabs when the conditions are right. Remember to measure all crabs and make sure they are over 15cm across the carapace.

Mangrove jacks are very active this month. The most effective strategy is to work hardbodies and soft plastics and pontoons and rock walls. In February, poppers are also quite effective early in the morning and at night as the jacks move away from cover. There have been quite a number of big jacks caught between 55-60cm in recent weeks.

Whiting fishing is generally pretty good this month, particularly in the Nerang River at night.

Yabbies, small soldier crabs, bloodworms and small live shrimp are all very effective baits. Fish a long trace with the boat at anchor. Whiting always feed facing into the current and often pick up a bait as they move forwards. This can make the bite quite hard to detect. If the line appears to go slack it is usually worth picking up the rod and striking.

Poppers and small stickbaits worked over the flats also produce good whiting. February is a good month for this as there are usually plenty of small shrimp around at this time and the skittering popper is a good imitation of a flickering prawn.

In the Seaway and around Jumpinpin there should be a few mulloway this month. In summer a lot of the fish are below the minimal size limit of 75cm, but in recent years the catches of mulloway have improved. There will be a few nice giant trevally as well. Soft plastics, soft vibes and live baits are all effective.

Overall, February is a good month, and if we get a bit of good weather there should be some good marlin fishing this month. Stay safe on the water this month and have fun on the water.

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Patience is the key to success JUMPINPIN

Mick Morris gembait@tpg.com

For those who get a break in the weather and like to head outside, there should be some pelagics on offer as the temperature of the water is warm and the water quality is good.

Macks, tuna, bonito, mahimahi and the odd marlin will be out cruising the coast looking for bait schools and that’s exactly what you should be looking for too. The pelagics will try to ball the bait up, so keep an eye on your sounder and try to bait jig up a slimy or yakka and put out a livie with a small weight.

Otherwise you could troll lures around the school and hopefully you should get a strike.

There seems to be no off-season for flathead around the Pin area and they are around in large numbers with some big fish caught recently. Flick up into the shallows and drag your soft plastic into the deeper water so that the lure mimics a wounded baitfish. This has proven to be the best method to catch lizards right now.

Try to find an area where weed patches meet sand and work the edges of these patches. The flathead lie camouflaged and wait for an easy feed. According to several soft plastic anglers, Persistence pays off and the general consensus is that you will probably only get one fish about every 150 casts which makes for a hard day of fishing. But if you do find the fish, it is more than likely there will be more there so keep working the area. The same goes for baitfishing and trolling lures; where there is one there’s more. The pick spots to try in February will be along the bottom of Kangaroo Island, Tipplers Island, the deep water off Swan Bay, Tabby Tabby, the Stockyards and the small island across from Little Rocky Point.

If you like to chase whiting, try around the Gold and Green Banks, Slipping Sands, Flatrock, Browns Bay entrance, Ageston Sands and the Junction in the River.

Worms are the best baits to tempt these excellent table fish or you could try some squid, pipis or small peeled prawns. If you are ever out

there and the water glasses out, preferably late in the afternoon, then try to flick small poppers or walking lures in 1-2ft of water for whiting, it’s an exciting way to chase them and is really popular with lure fishermen.

Bream will be heavily targeted all month, as there are a lot of fishos getting into luring these great fighting fish. Using light 1-2kg braid on a matched flick stick of your choice around canals, jetties, rocks, pylons and other structure is a great way to target bream. They are a very aggressive fish and will smash a moving or sinking lure. Vibes, small poppers, hardbodies and small plastics all work, just be sure to put a little effort in and persistence and the rewards will speak for themselves. For the bait fishers stick to all the usual bream haunts and fish the last couple of hours of the run-in tide along a berley trail to produce some better quality fish.

If you are in search of a big mulloway there have been a few around lately up to the 50lb mark and a couple of stories coming from the Pin bar of fish that just can’t be stopped. Using

6-9” plastics with 1-2oz jigheads seems to be the best set-up. Send the lure to the bottom and jig straight up and down. Persistence is the key to mulloway fishing and those putting in the time and effort will reap the rewards. The Gazebo and Marks Rocks in the river, Giants Grave, Kalinga Bank and the deep water off Swan Bay are the best spots, you just have to put the time in.

Muddies have been everywhere of late as they go on the march in search of food, and after all the creeks and rivers have been flushed out they should go from strength to strength.

The mangrove-lined banks of the Logan River all the way to the powerlines are great spots to start to chase muddies. Lucky for us, most of the Pin estuary system is lined with mangroves and perfect hiding holes for crabs so I would suggest you try new spots as you never know – you could find your new favourite spot. Sandies should be available too, try Jacobs Well main channel right to Rocky Point and beyond to the powerlines on the small drop-offs and holes for a feed.

I’ll catch you

Not a bad start to the year for the author who caught and released this 72cm girl behind Tabby Island. next month.

• Thanks for all your reports and keep those fish 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.

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If you’d rather target pelagic speedsters, you can cast it a mile and work it slowly through the depths for Spanish Mackerel or Tuna. Seriously, what’s not to like?

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Nabeel Issa

The last month of summer arrives as the kids get back to school. Holidays are well and truly over! If you have been lucky enough to get out and fish over the last month I hope you managed to get into a few! From all reports, January was a mixed month in the Southern Bay.

caught around this time of the year, however this summer they haven’t seemed to eventuate. Anglers who target fish in the shallows have achieved the best results with snapper up to 50cm a common occurrence. There have been a few grassy sweetlip around, which give you a good tussle over the shallow reefs!

Lightly weighted soft plastics and deep diving crankbaits are popular options

like steam-trains! Brandon managed to get his in with only 3lb line!

MULLOWAY The silver ghosts of Moreton Bay have been hit and miss in the last month with some big schools showing up one day and disappearing just as quickly the next. We had a great session at the Peel Artificial Reef targeting mulloway and managed to land a few before the sharks

Brandon’s tuskfish caught on a shallow diving crankbait in less than 1m of water at Goat Island.

Double hook-ups are common when the mackerel are on. It can be mayhem, but awesome fun!

Reports of spotty mackerel were common, with the odd snapper and mulloway caught. The biggest factor has been the unpredictable weather – if you found a calm day, you had to get out there and make the most of it!

SNAPPER Bigger snapper are usually

as these lures allow you to cover more ground and find the fish. Generally, if you can find the bait schools hanging off the reef, the fish won’t be far off! Brandon Gosbell sent in a photo of a tuskfish he caught while chasing bream!

This is a dream catch for many Moreton Bay fishermen – they are an elusive fish and pull

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moved in and put an end to it all. Soft plastics rigged on a 1/2oz jighead worked the best, but as the fish were holding tight to the bottom, the most important factor was to keep the lure firmly on the bottom.

MACKEREL Mackerel have been consistent over the past few months with good numbers showing up all over Moreton Bay. There have been numerous reports of anglers catching plenty, following the birds and looking out for the surface activity. To catch a spotty mackerel throw metal lures into the schools and wind them in as fast as you can. You really need a quick retrieve to get them interested. Another effective technique is to use soft plastics, which can be worked slower, but still get the mackerel fired up enough to bite. Just be sure to use

soft plastics such as Z-mans as they tend to last longer against sharp mackerel teeth.

The best areas have been east of Peel Island, up the Rainbow Channel towards Amity as well as around Harry Atkinson Artificial Reef. They tend to pop up randomly, so you may have to drive a bit to find the schools.

LAND-BASED OPTIONS If you don’t have access to a boat, or you want an easy way to spend a few hours fishing, there are ample landbased options out there. The larger summer tides allow plenty of bream to move up into the flooded banks and feed in the shallows at this time of the year. Most of the foreshore in the Southern Bay area is worth a shot, just concentrate on areas with structure such as mangroves, rocks or weed and aim to fish around the high tides. Lightly weighted lures such as small soft plastics or small crankbaits will work well. If you prefer to fish bait, try to get a hold of something fresh, squid or prawns are good options. Be sure to use minimal weight and fish a light line and you will be in with a shot. Some areas to try include Wynnum and Manly Foreshore, Raby Bay canal

entrances and the Wellington Point foreshore.

There are plenty of options out there this month, hopefully the mackerel hang around for a bit longer and soon we can see some tuna action! They were a

disappointment last year, so fingers crossed this year is a bit better! As always, if you have a picture or a report you would like to share, send it through to nabs12@gmail. com and I will do my best to get in the magazine!

Anthony Dowden sent in this picture of his daughter Sienna with her first ever fish. A tarwhine caught on a peeled prawn at Victoria Point. Nice work Sienna! Hopefully there’s plenty more to come!

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Torpedos in the bay BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

Anglers who ventured across Moreton Bay through late December and January encountered numerous schools of pelagics on their travels.

Tuna, mackerel and bonito were fairly prolific at times and there were periods when schools would bust up all around me. This action should hopefully continue into February to provide some highspeed fun for those hot in pursuit. February will also offer anglers plenty of opportunity to tangle with estuarine, bay and offshore species, as well as numerous crustaceans.

PRAWNS Prawns commonly enter the inshore areas of the bay and run up the rivers during the full moon in February, however this varies from year to year. These tasty crustaceans can be caught in cast nets on the flats out from the rivers and further within the systems. Larger cast-nets such as a 10-12ft drop models are preferred, as these cover a great area of water and do not close up before they hit the bottom in deeper water. Once your net has settled on the bottom, it is best to shake the retrieval rope as you slowly draw it in as this causes the net leads to shuffle across the bottom silt and stir up the prawns feeding in it. These prawns will flick upwards into the top of the net and will be held there if you have a top pocket

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model. These models make it easy to retrieve the prawns and are preferred by serious prawners.

Depending on preference, you can either use side or down imaging electronics to locate the prawn schools before you target them, or simply cast to likely looking areas. These areas include deep holes, along ledges and at the mouths of feeder creeks in the rivers. The open flats areas at the mouths of prominent systems (such as out from Nudgee Creek, in Cleveland Bay and the mouth of the Brisbane River) are also areas where large groups of prawns assemble. You will often see a numbers of smaller tinnies with several cast netting off each when the prawns are really on.

Obtaining your maximum 10L bucket of prawns can be quite easy at times, but a lot of the time you will have to work quite hard for such a limit.

MACKEREL Over the last month or so, the spotted and school mackerel numbers have been fairly healthy throughout Moreton Bay. Anglers who have targeted these have generally returned back to the ramp with several of these silver speedsters in the esky. The spotted mackerel have commonly been found feeding right on the surface.

These schools are visible from some distance on a calm day due to the surface splashing and diving birds.

Sighting a surface feed really gets the adrenalin flowing in the veins of a keen angler. The area between Mud Island, the Measured Mile and the Four

Beacons often holds good numbers of spotties. The Paddock area further south between the Mud, Green and St. Helena Islands group and the Sand Hills have also been prominent mackerel water.

However, the Green Zone smack in the middle of ‘The Paddock’ takes away a lot of good fishable water and limits opportunity. However, as the mackerel schools feed and move with the currents, it is usually just a case of waiting until they leave the Green Zone to have a crack at them.

There has been a few Spanish mackerel travelling with the spotties, and I saw one specimen in excess of 20kg clear the water by more than a metre several times.

Despite my best attempts I couldn’t get him to have a crack at my stickbait. School and spotted mackerel have been located in all corners of the bay, including the Naval Reserve Banks, Banana Banks, Rous Channel, Middle Bank, the shipping channels, Pearl Channel and numerous other areas.

While school mackerel have been found feeding on the surface, anglers jigging around the beacons in the Northern Bay more commonly catch them.

Drop a chromed metal slice or micro jig adjacent to the beacon and retrieve it in either a flat stick or erratic manner to solicit a strike.

Often there will be several mackerel in residence and you can pry a few out before they go off the chew. Move onto the next beacon, and you’ll be back in the action.

Other predators such

At 115cm this was the best of four longtails I caught on slugs and stickbaits in early January just out from Mud Island. We should see decent numbers of these sashimi torpedoes within the bay over the next few months. as longtail tuna, mac tuna and the occasional cobia are caught using this method.

Good numbers of longtail tuna have shown up on occasion, and I had a great session on them one day in early January where I managed four to 115cm on Mucho Lucir slugs and Mad Scad stickbaits. A few have been caught from around the edges of the mackerel schools and these predators will really give you a fight on light tackle.

CRABS With the occasional decent downpour we’ve had over the last few months, the mud crabbing has been fairly reliable. The rivers, creeks and estuaries are the place to set your safety pots for the best results. Deep holes, collapsed mangrove banks, the mouths of gutters and

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drains filtering out of the mangroves are prime areas to try. Set your pots overnight to reap the best rewards, however, a few hours can be all the time you need to score a succulent feed of mud crabs. Baits including chicken carcasses, whole mullet, fish frames and numerous other baits will attract all types of crabs.

Sand crabs are readily available through Moreton Bay. Out from Wellington Point, the channels and gutters on the outer margins of the Bay Islands and the edges of the prominent sand banks are prime areas to set your pots. Sand and blueswimmer crabs are caught in the same areas and both are succulent offerings.

You will also score a few sand crabs in pots set in the lower reaches of rivers and

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estuaries and sometimes as far up as the Gateway Bridge in the Brisbane River.

ESTUARINE BRAWLERS Mangrove jack and estuary cod are prime targets for sportfishing anglers within the creeks, rivers and canals of Southern Queensland. Most target these on lures, however the livebaiting brigades also catch a few. Both jacks and cod like structure, therefore work over the bridges, pontoons, rock walls, mangroves and other submerged structure. Popular lures include deep diving minnows, soft plastics, vibration baits, and at times topwater offerings such as poppers and stickbaits. The closer you get to the structure the better your chance of getting a strike, however you will need fast reflexes and a

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degree of luck to pry them from their sanctuary when they are this close to it.

Livebaiting will also work in these areas and anglers often achieve success on prawns, herring, mullet and pike. These are generally caught on sight with a cast or drag net and kept alive with regular water changes and an aeration device. When pinned lightly on a suicide or a shiner patterned hook and sunk into the snag or close to the structure, these baits are generally too good for the jack or cod to resist. Again, quick reflexes and serious rod work is required to get the upper hand. Regular by-catch includes bream, flathead, trevally and other species occasionally.

SHARKS With the warm conditions experienced during January, shark activity will be at a premium in the bay and larger rivers. Lots of anglers aspire to catch a bull shark in the Brisbane River, and with the right approach it is a fairly simple task. Catfish are a prime food source for river whalers and make great bait. Suspending a 20-35cm cattie below a float will have him struggling to get to the bottom. These vibrations are like ringing the dinner bell for any shark within the vicinity. A nylon-coated wire trace with two hooks snelled far enough apart so one can be inserted into the cattie just behind the dorsal spine and the other in the tail, will do the job a treat.

I like to use circle hooks, however, suicide patterns are also good. The average shark is less than 8kg in weight but they still require respect when handling as they can easily inflict a life threatening injury.

You will mainly encounter bull and spinner sharks in the river, especially the upper reaches, however, as you get closer to the mouth and out into the bay the species list will grow. More than a dozen whaler species, whites, tigers and hammerheads are all a serious possibility. While live offerings will also work in the bay, dead baits of whole fish such as gar, slimy mackerel, mullet, pike, as well as tuna, mullet and bonito fillets will work exceptionally. I usually use these, as they are easy to obtain and produce results.

If you drift out from the Bay Islands, in the foul grounds, shipping channels, and edges of major banks systems with these baits, use a berley trail of tuna oil slick. This trail can extend for several kilometres and it’s sometimes possible to see

the sharks on the surface as they make their way up the trail looking for the source. I use circle hooks to let them mouth and run with the bait before engaging the drag and allowing the pressure to take up. This promotes a solid hook set in the corner of the mouth.

I use an oversized landing net to secure sharks up to around 20kg, and a tail rope for larger specimens as I release all my captures. Additionally, you are not permitted to keep a shark over 1.5m and white sharks are totally off limits and must be released. The smaller whaler sharks are apparently decent to eat, but it is best to fillet them immediately after capture to avoid an ammonia taint to the flesh.

BRISBANE RIVER The action in the Brisbane River should be fairly good, however, the

amount of rain we receive can make a big difference to results. Regardless, there should still be quite a few good fish about, especially in the lower reaches downriver from the Gateway Bridge. Threadfin, snapper, bream, flathead, estuary cod and numerous other species are commonly caught. Livebait along the edges of the drop-off into the main riverbed around the oil pipeline and you’ll achieve good results, especially on threadfin. Live prawns, mullet and herring are commonly used, however the humble pilchard has also been known to tempt the odd one. Specimens can often exceed a metre in length and will give a good show, however they stress easily so it is best to unhook them boat-side to offer the

There have been plenty of spotted mackerel around over the last few months with most being in the 65-75cm range but some have been over 90cm.

best chance of survival if you plan to release them.

If the ships are not in port at this location, then you can get close enough to the shipping buffers to cast baits and lures in around the bases of the pylons. You will often hook snapper, cod and bream in this zone, as well as numerous ‘unstoppables,’ probably XOS cod or groper.

Fishing along the retaining walls at the mouth can produce bream, cod, flathead, snapper and occasionally threadfin and mulloway, especially in the dredge holes just out from the wall. These are easily found using a side imaging sounder. Drift over these holes and probe them with baits or lures for results.

Another successful method is to anchor up current from the holes and float your baits back to them.

Claras Rocks, just outside Boat Passage is another popular spot where anglers commonly anchor and deploy baits. Live offerings are best, however pilchards, large green prawns and several other offerings also work.

BAY ISLANDS There will be plenty on offer for those fishing around the bay islands. Snapper, bream, sweetlip, mackerel, tuskfish and numerous others can be taken on both baits and lures. While fishing from anchor, or even drifting, it will pay to have a pilchard deployed out the back to tempt the odd mackerel that comes cruising by. Soft plastics and vibration baits are a great way to score a mixed bag, however most use these offerings to tempt snapper. These will be fewer in number than in the cooler months but there are still

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enough quality specimens around to make the effort worthwhile. February can be a good month for grass sweetlip, which are common around the fringes of the reef and rubble grounds and the channels between the Bay Islands.

Quality fresh baits such as gar fillets, green banana prawns and mullet strips generally work well. Aim to be anchored, with baits deployed an hour or so before dawn. Green Island and the ledges out the front of Wellington Point are popular haunts for those chasing sweetlip, however they can be found around all the Bay Islands and numerous other areas. The shallow rubble areas adjacent the islands, especially around Mud, are popular with anglers targeting large bream during February. Most use small topwater offerings and occasionally light blades and soft plastics. They can be a lot of fun, with most strikes visible in the shallow clear water.

CONCLUSION February is a little hard to predict as some years are hot and dry and others are very wet with seasonal rains, however, the fishing is generally exciting. Plenty of pelagics abound in the bay, with a broad array of other options for anglers keen on wetting a line, soaking a crab pot or probing with a cast net. With the kids now back at school the traffic on the waterways will be lessened, especially for those able to get out during the week. Keep your eyes open and your spin rod rigged and ready when transiting the bay as there should still be plenty of pelagics to provide some fast February fun for you.

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Mahimahi and snapper madness OFFSHORE

John Gooding

We had a fabulous run of weather just prior to Christmas and the fishing turned it on for us.

Quality snapper and mahimahi dominated catches and kept my clients busy. Most of the snapper were fish in the 40-50cm bracket with the

odd larger one, and as with last report, there was plenty of mahimahi in the 8-10kg range keen to put on an aerial display for us.

We picked a few of the better mahimahi around the FADs, but most were just smaller versions around just 2-3kg. The better fish found us while we were snapper fishing, and the idea was to have a few livies ready to go

when they showed up.

Spanish mackerel turned up in the Point Lookout area just prior to Christmas and we should see their numbers steadily increasing over the next couple of months. We did have one quick troll at a coffee rock reef and we boated a couple of spotted and Spanish mackerel, but if we’d have had better quality live bait, I think we may have picked up some

A quality mixed catch of juvenile snapper and mahimahi.

better Spaniards.

This is definitely the time of year to work the shallow coffee rock reefs in tight to Moreton Island and if you can find the bait schools, you will usually find the mackerel.

Most of the reef is in 10-15m of water and is normally easy to find, as there is clumps right along the length of Moreton Island.

When we fish the area, it’s mainly with live bait aimed at Spanish mackerel, but if the school mackerel have moved in, towing a pilly on a set of weighted ganged hooks at 3-4 knots can be very effective.

The only time I don’t like to troll in the area is if we had prolonged northerlies blowing and the water is that dirty green colour. If the colour isn’t too bad with just a slight tinge of green to it, I find live baits such as yellowtail pike work very well trolled at idle speed.

Amberjack, Samson fish and yellowtail kingfish have been hard work east of the South Passage Bar the last few months, but when we’ve found them on the chew, the sharks have been a real problem.

In the next couple of months, the pelagic fishing should really hot up off the South Passage Bar, so dust

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FEBRUARY 2016

39

Filled to the brim with bream NORTHERN BAY

Grayson Fong graysonfong@bigpond.com

The Northern Bay has been absolutely humming this summer, and ample amounts of anglers have enjoyed the fruits of their labour during periods of good weather. For the past month we have been peppered with some solid southeasterly winds, which is a dream come true for anglers in our beloved Northern Bay as bait schools are forced into pockets along the Peninsula and filter into the mouths of our major tributaries – the Pine and Caboolture rivers and the Pumicestone Passage. Breaks in the wind patterns allow anglers to venture offshore, which have allowed extra fishing time for many keen anglers, and good catches reported in all corners of the bay.

PUMICESTONE PASSAGE The passage has fished

quite well of late, and fishers have enjoyed the balmy summer days out on the water chasing good whiting and bream on the many sand flats in the area.

Outgoing tide has been the most popular time to catch whiting, and freshly pumped yabbies are the pick of the baits. Sylvan Beach and Bongaree have been the best areas, and the Cockle Banks are a hit when the wind is down. Bream have scattered through the system with fuller tides allowing anglers to chase them up river and among the mangroves. The Banksia Beach canals have fired for bream at night, but remember to be courteous to homeowners while fishing outside their canal front homes.

Upriver, mud crabs have been caught, with the most productive sessions after rainy days (as short as they have been over the last month). Flathead numbers have slowed a little but should start to pick up towards the end of

the month.

REDCLIFFE PENINSULA The Peninsula has been alive of late with solid bait schools holding up on the many bommies in the area. Juvenile snapper have shown the most promise over the last month, and when the weather is salubrious the North Reef resembles Queen St Mall on the weekends! Fishers make the most of the solid tides around the peak moon phases with overnight trips in search of good snapper roaming the peninsula.

Fresh and artificial baits have had equal results with no time of day dominating in particular. As long as the southeasterly wind blows, key bommies around the northern end of the peninsula should always fire.

Bream have been a stalwart over the summer months with good solid fish reported through the peninsula. Hardbody lures like Ecogear CX40HS, Daiwa Presso Rolling

Cranks, Atomic Crank 38 and Prolure D36 all attract constant bream attention in the area. Surface lures should continue to work well while water temperatures remain high.

Whiting are continuing their run, with Hays Inlet, the mouth of the Pine River and Eventide foreshore fishing well. Fresh worms and yabbies claim the title of most effective bait.

PINE RIVER After a quiet start to the summer months, the Pine has started to fire alongside the warmer weather. Good bream have been found on the mangrove edges during the high tides, and the ebbing tides fish better in the lower reaches. Mixed bags of fish consist of whiting, bream and flathead and local anglers have reported common stories of hooking at least one stingray! Sand crabs have been pulled out of Bramble Bay, but with less frequency than before Christmas. While sifting through the many undersized crabs, patient anglers are at least rewarded

Jesse Gough with a fine peninsula bream. for their tedious work with some decent sized crabs.

MONTHLY TIP For the boaties that are kind enough to read my article, it never seems to be a good time to do this important bit of maintenance, but it’s better done at the start of the year than before it’s too late. I’m talking about trailer bearings.

Arguably the most painful bit of boat maintenance, but one that holds the greatest consequence if not looked after. So roll up those sleeves and get your hands dirty before you are the one standing on the side of the road wishing you had listened to me!

Happy fishing!

It’s been a good jack season, and Matt McMamara has nailed plenty already. This one took a liking to his Gold Bomber.

Good quality juvenile snapper are available in the Redcliffe area.

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41

Hot pelagic action out wide CALOUNDRA

Damian Parker

We have had a steady start to 2016 with reasonable pelagic action hitting our waters. The water temperature has reached its turn on temperature at above 25°C. OFFSHORE There has been plenty of

If mackerel is your preference my advice is to take the time to use fresh bait, live or dead. Mackerel cannot resist a swimming yakka or slimy for breakfast.

You will often see boaties trolling at a rate of knots circling you a number of times with hard bodies or skirted lures. Although sometimes this method pays off you’ll almost always

fuel. With the price of fuel these days it pays to be a smarter angler.

There are a number of ways to rig your baits and if your knowledge with this is limited, pop into one of our many tackle stores on the Sunshine Coast and their staff will be more than happy to share their professional advice to you.

My favourite technique

lures to choose from, so don’t be afraid to mix it up a little.

I prefer to remove all treble hooks and replace with singles for a better hook up and cleaner release if your fish is undersize or your esky is full.

Always be on the lookout for working birds and busting bait schools. It is always handy to have a spin rod and reel rigged with a chrome or metal slug. Approach in a quiet manner, casting over the school and retrieving through at high speed to provoke a response.

Once you’ve boated your catch, especially with pelagic species, ensure to bleed your fish and place in an esky

Phil with a Spanish mackerel caught at the Outer Gneerings. with a slurry of salt water and ice to guarantee top table eating quality.

Please remember when trolling to give other fishers plenty of room to avoid crossing lines or unnecessary conflict. It’s a big ocean out

The author was happy with his mahimahi caught at Caloundra Wide. bait schools about attracting some welcome species including Spanish, school and spotted mackerel, mahimahi and those toothy speedsters the wahoo. Some anglers have even been lucky enough to hook a marlin or sailfish as well. The Gneerings Shoals, Murphys, Caloundra 5, 7 and 12-Mile reefs are all producing quality spotted and Spanish mackerel.

For those willing to venture a little further offshore to the banks, Caloundra wide or Hutchinson Shoals, you will more than likely rustle up a wahoo or mahimahi. Be sure to be extra careful when landing a wahoo in your boat as they can get a little cranky and thrash around on the deck of your boat and if toes or fingers are in the way, serious injury can occur.

hook up with a fresh bait trolled at around 1-2 knots, so at the end of your day you can come home with fish and

for landing a speedy wahoo is trolling skirted and bibless minnows at around 8-10 knots. There are hundreds of

Phil caught this wahoo at Hutchinson Shoal trolling a hardbodied lure.

Ethan with a mahimahi caught at the Barwon Banks.

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there so give each other space, as sometimes there can be up to 30 or more boats working in many close reef areas.

If trolling isn’t paying off, or bottom fishing for a feed of reef fish is more your thing then there has still been reasonable catches of snapper, pearl perch, tuskfish and kingfish over most of our inshore and offshore reefs. Just a couple of weeks ago the action was a little bit quiet on the surface, so I deployed a whole pilchard to the bottom at Caloundra 12 and hooked and boated a nice 6.5kg snapper. The lesson I learnt was to keep my options open and be patient.

ESTUARIES Into the estuaries of the beautiful Sunshine Coast now,

and the action has been a little slow. The water temperature is well above 26°C in these areas, so you’re best option is to target deeper holes and drop offs for flathead and bream.

The early bird catches the worm, so set the alarm and get out there well before the sun gets too high in the sky.

There are plenty of good fishing areas up and down the Pumicestone Passage for the land-based angler. I always target the pylons leading into Pelican Waters by casting soft plastics and hardbodied lures for my bream and flathead.

If lures aren’t tempting the fish, invest in a bait pump and work along the sand flats and shallows for some fresh yabby baits. They are irresistible for a whiting and bream.

Moving along to our beaches of Moffat, Wurtulla and Kawana, these are producing quality flathead, dart and the odd whiting.

My preferred bait is a fresh pipi or pilchard for an almost guaranteed feed. Don’t forget to use your almanac to your advantage and take the time to read the best moon phase and tide times for all types of fishing. Remember, we don’t eat all day and neither do the fish!

Another helpful tip is to keep a detailed diary of when you did or did not catch fish.

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Remember to always let someone know where you are going and when you will be home. I log into the coast guard each time I go out and so should you.

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FEBRUARY 2016

43

We’re out of the fire and into the ‘Frying Pan’ NOOSA

Peter Wells

With the rush of the school holidays over, the amount of boat traffic on the Noosa River has dropped. At the mouth of the river, the ‘Frying Pan’ is the place to get a great feed of summer whiting. Fishing for whiting on surface lures has to be some of the best fun you can have standing up; these feisty little fish punch well above their weight and are great fun on light gear.

The rod is all-important and a 2-4lb rod with light braided line of 2-4lb is a great way to start.

Fluorocarbon leader is an absolute must, coupled with a good range of poppers and surface-walkers is the way to go. The best grounds are the shallow sand banks and bars on the incoming tide,

with the wind at your back you will be able to cover a lot more ground. The wind is all important, if the surface has no ripple the fish won’t move up onto the banks to feed for fear of being spotted from above and becoming a sea bird’s lunch.

Sinking poppers are excellent, and the Bassday Crystal is always the first one out of the tacklebox for me. The River2Sea Bubble Pop in the 45mm is a true finesse popper and when worked properly creates a great bubble trail. Again, the blip and pause method is by far the most productive. The ‘walk-the-dog’ method is also another great technique.

A couple of my favourites are the Bassday Sugapen in the 70mm size and the Atomic K9 in the 60mm Orange Wander. Don’t forget your size and bag limits when hunting whiting, as

23cm is legal with a bag limit of 30 fish.

Elsewhere in the river, Woods Bays has been the place to be, with some nice tailor and trevally reported chasing the bait in on the incoming tide. Soft plastics and pilchards have been responsible for a lot of the captures, and surface lures first thing in the morning have also worked a treat.

Upriver, the jacks are also out to play – a bit of fresh water in the system tends to upset the baitfish, and the jacks can’t help themselves.

Surface and suspending lures along the edges first thing in the morning and diving lures, paddle vibes and soft plastic in the deeper water as the sun rises is the way to target the red devils. If we get some rain over the coming month the fresh will make its way down the system and the crabs will also head downstream looking for a little more salt. This is the time to get the pots out; they are out of the holes and on

James Orr boated this quality northern bluefin tuna at North Reef.

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a hot spot for mackerel as well as reef fish like sweetlip and snapper. Sunshine Reef has also seen some great fish come over the side, and Spanish and spotted mackerel have been the main targets with small slugs doing most of the damage.

Baits on the bottom get some

nice snapper and sweetlip.

Up towards Double Island there have been some stonker snapper with pearl perch and cobia also in the mix. North Reef has seen anglers get a great bag including big Spanish, Maori cod and longtail tuna.

Trolled lures are a great way to target pelagics. The Samaki Pacemakers and the Zerek Bluewater limited are a couple of lures you should take a look at if you are heading offshore. Both these lures can be trolled up to 12 knots and come in a great range of colours.

The good old coral trout has also featured high on a lot of anglers’ hit lists – to be successful with trout you have to fish close to the reef, so forget the paternoster rig and use a running sinker rig. Yes, you will lose a bit of gear but you will also improve your hook-up rate.

Sunshine Reef has been the most popular for trout but Chardons Reef also produces some great fish.

On the beach, the tailor just keep coming. We see big

old 4kg+ fish turn up every year. They are not there in numbers but may make more of a defined appearance through the month. Noosa’s North Shore is one of the hot spots, with the area north of Teewah the prime area. Mulloway are high on the hit list of most beach anglers, and the southern beaches around Coolum and Marcoola have seen some good captures. Fresh mullet, local squid and large clumps of beach worms have all made their mark. Fishing any of the gutters on the beach will have you onto dart, whiting, bream and flathead.

Cast to the back of the gutter and roll the bait back into the gutter under the white water.

Try prawns, worms, small pillies or flesh baits like mullet and salted bonito.

For all the latest information, log onto www. fishingnoosa.com.au for up to date bar and fishing reports.

Don’t forget to drop into Davo’s Tackle world Noosa or Davo’s Northshore Bait & Tackle at Marcoola to find out where the fish are biting.

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Noah Basset-Rouge caught this 66cm flathead in Weyba Creek while fishing with his grandad.

Tech Tricks

Light tackle rig BRISBANE

Gordon Macdonald masterbaitertackle@hotmail.com

With the run of small black marlin, other billfish and pelagic species being so prominent in the offshore waters of Southern Queensland over the last few months there has been a heightened interest in offshore trolling. Although bibbed minnows, weighted head skirts and vibration baits take their fair share of strikes, there is no denying the productiveness of resin-headed skirted lures, especially as far as billfish are concerned. Most of these lures come unrigged so you’ll need to either purchase a pre-made rig or assemble your own.

Those fishing heavier tackle in excess of 15kg will rig using more sturdy hooks with heavy leaders and will probably use slightly larger lures to start with than we do for light tackle applications. For the smaller billfish (generally less than 20kg in weight) better results will generally come when using smaller lures. If you want to fish one of the numerous game fishing tournaments then you will need to fish 8kg Pre-tested main line as the rules will state.

When using lighter lines (10kg or less) your best hook-up rate will come when using chemically sharpened, thinner gauge hooks as these will

penetrate the mouth or hard bill of the marlin or sailfish with minimal force. One of the popular hook patterns is the Gamakatsu SL12S which was initially made as a fly hook but also suits light tackle rigging requirements as well. These are relatively inexpensive and easily sourced through most decent tackle outlets. Chemically sharpened hooks like these can suffer from electrolysis when trolled which causes the hook points to get brittle and promotes corrosion. A simple fix for this is to add a small piece of anode tape, such as Owner Rustop, to the shank of the hook.

Rigging light tackle lures is reasonably easy once you have the correct tools and materials. The rig I am demonstrating today is a simple single hook rig which I use to rig all my smaller skirted lures. It has never let me down and I have found the hook-up rate to be very good. It’s also a cheap rig to make with a minimal amount of materials. For most lures you will use similar materials however you may decide to use different sized wire or leader material for different lures. If you read my article on crimping in the last issue of QFM, you will have the basic information required to help you do a good job.

For this demonstration I am going to rig a Meridian Quasi 5, one of my favourite light tackle billfish lures. Let’s look at what you’ll need and how to go about making a light tackle single hook rig.

3

Cut the wire at the point that coincides with the bottom of the lure head. Put the hook rig inside the lure to check that the rig is roughly the right length, with the wire just touching the back of the lure head and the hook point roughly level with the bottom of the lure skirt.

8

Reduce the entire length of the crimp closest to the hook using your swaging tool to apply downward pressure from the widest side as shown. With the next crimp you need to start in a little from the end where the leader is protruding so as to not damage the leader material.

9

From this point, crimp the rest of the crimp down along its length towards the first crimp. Your completed crimps should look like this with the top end of the upper crimp flared out.

4

Attach a piece of anode tape to the shank of the hook, just above the bend. It should be roughly 1cm x 0.5cm in size. Wrap it around the shank so that it overlaps itself.

10

5

Cut a piece of 3mm heat shrink that is just long enough to extend from the hook eye to 1-2mm over the top of the anode tape. Heat with a paint stripper gun or by passing over a naked flame repeatedly until it shrinks.

Pass the leader material through the hole in the rear of the head of the lure. On the other end of your leader (I usually use around 1m) we need to make a loop for attachment to the snap on your wind-on-leader. Place a 1.2mm aluminium crimp on the end of the leader and then a 1.5cm length of 1.8mm chafe tube. Put the end of the leader back through the crimp and slide the chafe tube down to butt up to the crimp.

11

1

To make this rig you will need wire cutters, a swaging tool, 120lb leader material, 49-strand 285lb wire, 1.3mm double barrel crimps, 1.2mm aluminium crimps, 1.8mm chafe tube, 3mm and 5mm heat-shrink, anode tape and a Gamakatsu SL12S 9/0 hook. These materials will be similar for most light tackle lures you wish to rig.

2

Attach the wire to the hook eye using the 1.3mm double crimp to secure it. The loop through the hook eye should be just large enough so that the hook can swing freely. Lay the hook rig beside the lure so that the hook point is level with the bottom of the lure skirt.

6 Cut a 1cm portion of 5mm heat shrink to go over the hook eye and a slightly shorter piece of 3mm heat shrink to go over the crimp on the wire.

Reduce these in the same manner as before.

7

Set up two 1.3mm double crimps in the manner shown with the wire from the hook in one side of both crimps and the leader material in the other side of both crimps, with a 3-5mm gap between the crimps as shown.

Holding the crimp between your thumb and forefinger, pull gently on the main portion of leader until the loop is formed as shown. Squeeze your swaging tool in the middle of the crimp so that the ends flare. Move up to the next smallest recess in the swaging tool and give another firm squeeze.

12

Your completed rig should look something like this with the hook point roughly level with the bottom of the skirt. If you have several lures of the same size you can make extra rigs to allow quick changes when out on the water in case you bend a hook or the leader becomes badly chafed.

FEBRUARY 2016

45

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News

Crabby Futures project When the Holloways Beach Environmental Education Centre (HBEEC) staff noticed a decrease in the number of mud crabs they were catching in their pots along Richters and Thomatis creeks and the Barron River, they called on the investigative skills of students from the Tropical North Learning Academy (TNLA) to research the problem.

There were 17 students from grade 5-9 across both campuses of TNLA who joined forces to look for a cause and hopefully a solution.

The TNLA loves to get their kids working with local groups to create a better future for our environment.

To commence the project, students from both Trinity Beach State School (TBSS) and Smithfield State High School (SSHS) met with staff from HBEEC, TNLA, and Sue Helmke to formulate a plan of attack.

They assessed the raw data collected by HBEEC over the preceding 17 years and noted that there was a substantial decline in the mud crab population in the catch zone.

Mud crabs were becoming a less common catch for recreational and commecial crabbers alike.

The next step was investigating the mud crab, which students independently researched then shared their knowledge with each other. On October 20, the team set out in three small boats in search of mud crabs and a possible visual problem that could help solve the pressing issue. After leaving 12 crab pots out for the day, only one crab was caught and tagged – a substantial difference to the average of up to eight crabs per trip in previous years. Students also tested the pH and temperature of the water at different depths.

A lot of work went into this project and the children thoroughly enjoyed being out on the water sharing ideas and getting in touch with natue.

When our ‘tiring’ day of sitting in a boat with other intelligent and interested minds and observing the stunning ecosystems we live amongst was done, everyone went home swimming with ideas of what might be the cause.

The students divided into three groups to attack the problem from three distinct angles – was the problem isolated to just this area or was it more widespread?

Are there environmental factors impacting the crabs? Could the survey

techniques used by HBEEC require some alterations?

Over the next two meetings at HBEEC the three groups, with the help of teaching staff and field experts, investigated many possible causes and solutions. While some were discarded, others were looked into further.

On 24 November, 2015, the groups presented their findings and proposals to Barry Courtney (Principal of SSHS), Sue Helmke, Steve Bailey, parents, carers and other important people in the Cairns community. The findings included changing the technique in which the crabs were being caught and tagged, further research on predators that may be causing a decline in crab numbers, helping to prevent lethal parasites, and managing the overfishing in the area.

By adressing these issues, it’s hoped that we can help to re-establish the booming crab fishery that this area once was, and hopefully it can be treated more sustainably.

With the continued support of Sue Helmke, Alan Franzmann, Louise Carver, Claire Denzin, Susan Whipp and Jennifer Goddard, the students hope to put these proposals into action in the years to come.

– Abbie Carroll, Smithfield State High School

TULLY

HUNTS OUTBOARD SERVICES 13 Watkins Street Tully, QLD, 4854 Phone: (07) 4068 2222 Fax: (07) 4068 0396 www.huntsoutboards.com.au

CAIRNS

BILLS MARINE 136-138 Lyons Street, Cairns, 4870 Phone: (07) 4051 6733 Fax: (07) 4031 3080 www.billsmarine.com.au

KARUMBA

JONES MARINE 30 Yappar Street Karumba, QLD, 4891 Phone: (07) 4745 9159 Fax: (07) 4745 9366 www.jonesmarine.com.au

These 17 students, between grades 5-9, participated in the project to find out what was causing the mud crab population to decrease.

FEBRUARY 2016

47

Does that make scents?

FMG

Peter Jung pjung@fishingmonthly.com.au

I have recently come to the conclusion that I have an infatuation when it comes to fishing scents and

After thinking about this, I have come up with the following conclusions for developing this obsession.

Tracing my interest in scents took me a lot further back in my angling experiences than I expected.

I remember anglers in the

time I listened, but ignored this friendly tip.

A move to Queensland and being introduced to the ABT BASS, BREAM and BARRA tournaments was my next exposure to the use of scents or, in the case of the bass events, scented dyes.

TIPS AND TRICKS Using scents is something you need to commit to – if you are using scents give them a chance to work. Here are some helpful hints that will help you discover the wonderful world of fishing scents.

1. Get into the habit of reapplying the scent regularly. I reapply scent every 8-10 casts.

2. Use the features of your plastics or lures to keep the scent in place. Plastics like Squidgy Wrigglers, have ribs that you can pack scent into and others are hollow (Zerek Live Flash Minnow) that scent can be placed inside.

3. Dipping the tails of plastics to change their colour, not only adds scent but also a focal point for the fish to bite on.

4. Direct sunlight/heat and scent packaging are not friendly. The heat and sunlight can cause the scent to separate, melt, evaporate, and change colour or all of the above. It is worth taking the time to store them correctly to maximise their usefulness. Dyes in particular evaporate very quickly if the lids are not on tightly and stored in a cool place.

5. Find your favourite/s or you will find you have several tackle boxes full of scent like me.

SCENTS AVAILABLE Scents • Spike It • JJ’s Magic Dips and Dyes • S-Factor • Pro-Cure – 9 options • Halco – 3 options • Sax Scent – 5 options • Dizzy Scent – 4 options • Liquid Mayhem • MegaStrike – 3 options Scented Plastics • Berkley Gulp – Large range • EcogearAqua • Marukyu • ZMan – 4 styles have Pro-Cure scent mixed with the plastics • Samaki Boom Baits the use of them. I have a growing collection of different brands, styles and smells and I would rarely fish a soft plastic or a lure without some scent applied.

know, coming into the tackle shop I frequented in Canberra, swearing that the use of Aniseed on their baits improved their catch rates for natives and trout. At the

I spent a bit of time around people like John Schofield, Craig ‘Simmo’ Simmons and Steve Kanowski and quickly realised that very rarely did a fly or soft plastic hit the water without being submersed or dipped in a garlic scent or garlic dye.

Simmo was also responsible for my introduction to stimulant/ pheromone-based scents in a Gold Coast bream event.

We had come across schools of bream free-swimming in the canals and although they showed interest in our soft plastic lures, they would not eat them. That was until he put Squidgy S-Factor on his lure and then they just smashed it. A solid bag of fish later and it wasn’t hard to understand that the S-Factor had made a difference.

Not everybody believes scent helps with species like flathead, however I have caught way too many fish after first applying scent to think it doesn’t make a difference.

The success of scents on bream can be further highlighted when Berkley Gulp was introduced to anglers. Bream couldn’t resist them (still can’t) and their natural smell and flavour has been the undoing of many bream,

whether it is in a tournament or a social fishing situation.

I also found impoundment barra were not immune to the allure of scent. Squidgy Slick Rigs or Berkley Hollowbellys covered in garlic scent or in the case of the Hollowbelly,

inserted into it, resulted in them being hammered by barra when you slow rolled them around the weed beds of the barra impoundments.

The seed had been sown and my collection had begun to take shape. Recently my use of scents and their

I have found that barramundi love garlic scent applied to your lures.

Use the design of plastics to your advantage and fill areas that will hold scent. The Stinky Fingers soft plastic has holes in it to insert scent as well as a sponge to absorb scent and disperse it while fishing. The Zerek Live Shrimp Hot Legs has multiple areas to load with scent. ZMan soft plastics have a channel to assist rigging them, which is ideal to put scent into. Most Squidgy soft plastics have ribs, which are ideal to fill with scent.

48

FEBRUARY 2016

Inserting scent into the belly of this Zerek Live Flash Minnow Wriggly further enhances its appeal as an injured baitfish. value was questioned. This inspired me to look at the latest inclusions and the pros and cons they have.

DIPS AND DYES There are plenty of dips and dyes available from the original Spike It, to a plethora of colours and smells through U-Make-Em Soft Plastics (JJ’s Magic Dips). Dye pens are also available to pimp your favourite plastic or lure.

Most are used to dip the tail of your plastic in it to change the colour of the tail and to add a garlic scent to it. Garlic scent and our freshwater species go handin-hand. People like Carl Jocumson swear by this process and recommend

doing it every 3-4 casts.

Something to be aware of in this day and age of super stretchy and durable plastics (ZMan and Zerek, to name a couple), all dips will completely dissolve or turn these plastics to mush.

They are NOT dip friendly.

GELS AND PASTES The first scented gels I remember seeing in a retail outlet were the Halco Freshwater and Saltwater Scents. The storeowner wasn’t overly convincing trying to explain it to me, but he did explain that a little of the freshwater version on your lures on tough days got you more bites. I came across it again while I was running

Mayhem, it is a super sticky, super resilient gel that requires less frequent application. I look forward to putting it through its paces.

Another new trend with the range of scents available is the use of UV enhancers. These enhancers improve the ability for your lure or plastics to be seen during low light periods or in deep-water situations.

UV enhanced lures have

the juices they are soaked in create a scent trail drawing the fish to them and again encourage them to eat. Berkley Gulp leads the way, with others like Ecogearaqua, Marukyu and Slam producing viable alternatives. Excitingly, Samaki has revealed a new range of soft plastic lures that hit the stores recently called Boom Baits. They are made of 10X stretchy material that is infused

a retail store in Darwin.

The locals swore by the saltwater version on their soft plastics for barra. My first purchase of a scented gel was made and my obsession had started.

The range of scented gels and pastes now available is quite significant.

S-Factor from Squidgy started the ball rolling and then overseas products like Pro-Cure, MegaStrike and YUM provided more options in taste, smell, hormones, stimulants and pheromones to entice fish the eat your offering.

Locally made options like Sax Scent and Dizzy Scent provide targeted products for Australian Stinky Fingers soft plastics can be loaded with scent and this mulloway couldn’t resist it. species with different smell combinations and the introduction of glitter representing scales falling from injured fish or a bit of extra flash, giving that Aussie edge when you go fishing.

A new player I noticed at this year’s Fishing Tackle Trade Show was from the wholesaler who brings in Ecogear. Called Liquid

been a huge trend over the last couple of years, so it was never going to be long before switched on scent makers jumped on board.

SCENTED SOFT PLASTICS The introduction of biodegradable scented baits (soft plastics) changed soft plastics fishing as we know it. Not only are they environmentally friendly,

This fish put a smile on Evan Zikos’s face. He had only put S-Factor on his plastic a couple of casts before he hooked it.

A small selection of the scents that I take fishing with me each trip.

Before and after shot of a plain plastic enhanced with SAX scent. Note the difference the addition of glitter makes. Aussie made scent like SAX Scent and Dizzy Scent are Australian species focused and use the addition of glitter and UV enhancers to provide that fish catching edge.

with scent. They should be well worth a look.

CONCLUSION There are many who doubt the effectiveness or the need to use scents.

Others believe that its effectiveness is limited to fish that are not reaction or ambush-based feeders.

Scents have a place no matter what species you are targeting. Flathead are the classic ambush feeder and a fish I target regularly.

There have been many occasions when I have either been struggling for bites and applied scent or reapplied scent because the bite had slowed, and got a fish the next cast. To me, this means the scent has turned a fish from looking at my lure, into a fish biting it.

Scents are no longer simply a masking agent or a smell. Huge money has been spent on research to determine the best combinations of natural (in concentrated forms) salts and bait products, mixed with amino acids, pheromones and enhancers to produce a feeding reaction from a predatory fish.

It was recently put to me that the use of scents is all about imitating a baitfishing scenario. How do fish find your bait? The smell it produces leads the fish to your bait looking for a feed. Scents do the same, so why wouldn’t you use them?

I know why I am obsessed, because they work.

FEBRUARY 2016

49

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50

FEBRUARY 2016

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• Get into tournament fishing

• 2016 Calendars inside

Australian Bass Tournaments

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2016 abt calendar

COSTA BREAM SERIES

Australia’s number one boater/non-boater bream series will have eight qualifying rounds throughout the year to lead up to the biggest bream event on the calendar – the BREAM Grand Final on St Georges Basin in early December. Don’t miss your chance to go to battle with Australia’s biggest bream names or begin your tournament career in Australia’s ultimate recruitment tournament bream series, the ABT BREAM Series.

DATE

STATE

LOCATION

EVENT

20-21 Feb

VIC

Mallacoota

BREAM Qualifier #1

24-25 Feb

VIC

Gippsland Lakes

BREAM Qualifier #2

9-10 Apr

WA

Mandurah

BREAM Qualifier #3

25-26 Apr

TAS

St Helens

BREAM Qualifier #4

30 Apr - 1 May

TAS

Derwent River

BREAM Qualifier #5

BREAM Qualifiers • Boater $250 • Non Boater $125

11-12 Jun

NSW

Forster

BREAM Qualifier #6

20-21 Aug

NSW

Clarence River

BREAM Qualifier #7

24-25 Aug

QLD

Gold Coast

BREAM Qualifier #8

2-4 Dec

NSW

St Georges Basin

BREAM Grand Final

BASSCAT AUSTRALIA BASS PRO SERIES

BassCat Australia takes the reins of the 2016 BASS Pro Series, with Australia’s longest running bass tournament circuit delivering anglers new challenges for the year in the form of shared weight and river rounds in 2016.

DATE

STATE

LOCATION

EVENT

5-6 Mar

NSW

Glenbawn

BASS Pro Qualifier #1

8-9 Mar

NSW

St Clair

BASS Pro Qualifier #2

9-10 Apr

NSW

Richmond River

BASS Pro Qualifier #3

16-17 July

QLD

Boondooma

BASS Pro Qualifier #4

10-11 Sep

QLD

BP or Borumba

BASS Pro Grand Final

BassCat BASS Pro Qualifiers • Boater $300 • Non Boater $100 Guaranteed Entry • Boater $250 • Non Boater $100

BLUEFIN BOATS/EPROPULSION BASS ELECTRIC SERIES DATE

STATE

LOCATION

EVENT

SESSION TIMES

TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR

13 Mar

NSW

Clarrie Hall Dam

17 Apr

QLD

Isis Balancing Storage

7-8 May

NSW

Toonumbar Dam

BASS Electric #3

BASS Electric #1

7am-1pm

Joseph Urquart

0439 764 369

BASS Electric #2

7am-1pm

Les Barber

0428 726 857

1pm-6pm, 6am-11am

Adrian Melchior

0415 587 900

10 July

QLD

Hinze Dam

BASS Electric #4

7am-1pm

Justin Thompson

0421 476 392

27-28 Aug

QLD

Borumba Dam

BASS Electric #5

12pm-5pm, 7am-1pm

Steve Noble

0409 239 065

25 Sep

NSW

Lake St Clair

BASS Electric #6

7am-1pm

Daniel Clancy

0419 690 418

22-23 Oct

QLD

Maroon Dam

BASS Electric Convention

7am-1pm

ABT

(07) 3387 0888

Bluefin Boats and ePropulsion power into another bass season. Featuring six qualifying rounds and a convention, anglers in 2016 will fish for cash and prizes in Australia’s only bass electric series. The series will hit QLD and NSW’s best bass lakes with a combination of single and two-day events, all of which lead to the Bluefin Boats/ePropulsion BASS Electric Convention at Maroon Dam in October. Check out the calendar to find out where and when you can get your Bluefin Boats/ePropulsion BASS Electric fix.

BASS Electric Entries: $50 (single day events), $100 (two-day events)

HOBIE KAYAK BREAM SERIES PRESENTED BY DAIWA

2

CONTACT

DATE

STATE

LOCATION

EVENT

6-7 Feb

VIC

Bemm River

R1

27-28 Feb

WA

Blackwood River

R2

5-6 Mar

VIC

Mallacoota

R3

20 Mar

NSW

South Sydney

R4

22-23 Apr

TAS

Scamander River

R5

27-28 Apr

TAS

Swan River

R6

15 May

NSW

St Georges Basin

R7

5 Jun

QLD

Gold Coast

R8

26 Jun

NSW

Port Macquarie

R9

2-3 July

WA

Mandurah

R10

23-24 July

NSW

Lake Macquarie

R11

27-28 Aug

NSW

Wallis Lake

R12

10-11 Sep

VIC

Nelson

R13

8-9 Oct

QLD

Bribie Island

R14

28-30 Oct

QLD

Queensland

Australian Championship

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BARRA TOUR DATE

STATE

LOCATION

EVENT

8 Nov 9 Nov 11-12 Nov 14-15 Nov

QLD QLD QLD QLD

Kinchant Dam Teemburra Dam Peter Faust Peter Faust

BARRA Tour Round #1 BARRA Tour Round #2 BARRA Tour Round #3 BARRA Tour Round #4

The BARRA Tour returns after a record-breaking year in 2015, expanding to four events across the three northern impoundments of Kinchant, Teemburra and the barra mecca that is Peter Faust. Planned in consultation with the anglers, the 2016 tour is slated to be the best ever, starting in the build-up to the full moon and culminating with the epic all-night event on the day of the full moon at Peter Faust. If you want to brush shoulders with some of Australia’s best BARRA tournament anglers and learn the tricks of the trade, plan the time off for a week of the best barra fishing Australia has to offer.

The Hobie Kayak BREAM Series, presented by Daiwa, hits the water nation-wide to offer anglers the ultimate kayak bream fix. Featuring events in WA, SA, VIC, NSW and QLD, anglers are spoilt for choice in 2016 with 14 rounds in the series. All events lead to the biggest event of the year, the Australia Championship. The Big Show will see anglers fish from identical factory-supplied Hobie kayaks in a bid to be crowned Grand Final champion for 2015.

One Day Events - $80 for an on-time entry ($20 discount available for anglers fishing out of a Hobie kayak during the competion.)

Two Day Events - $120 for an on-time entry ($20 discount available for anglers fishing out of a Hobie kayak during the competion.)

The entry form and payment will be completed by the close of business on the Friday the week before the event (seven days). Entries received after this time will incur a late payment fee of $40, which competitors are required to pay to enter the tournament. First time entrants on a Hobie Kayak are eligible for a one-off free entry but are not eligible for prizes and their scores will not be recorded.

For stockist information tel. 02 9780 8200 www.rapala.com.au

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Breaming in a Box Kris Hickson

Having such a broad range of events in 2015 required a heck of a lot of tackle at each event. I like to be super prepared, with everything I could possibly need at my disposal. But as usual, like many other anglers, I tend to stick to lures and techniques that I am comfortable with and have worked before, with just a few tweaks here and there to adapt to each tournament situation. In the end, it was pretty easy to go through and come up with one box that would suffice for the whole year (well, a pretty big box).

THE YEAR OF THE CRAB Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way – the all popular Cranka Crab. This

lure has taken the bream scene by storm. Although it doesn’t particularly suit my faster style of fishing, these lures catch fish – big fish. I have learned to use it where necessary to great success. Anyone who doesn’t have a good handful of crabs in their kit these days is definitely doing himself or herself an injustice. I had a Cranka Crab tied on in every comp in both heavy and light, just waiting for the correct conditions to throw one.

There are two main situations where I pick up the Crab. Firstly, when the fish are eating crabs! Secondly, I tend to use the Crab when I find a bit of a short bite on soft plastics. The trebles in the claws seem to get the hook-up when the fish are only picking at the tail of the plastic. I’ll fish these baits around pretty much any structure, shallow

and deep. Colours depend on personal preference but olive, brown and cockle would be my top picks.

Cranka Crabs are far from the be-all and end-all though.

When it comes to bream lures there are plenty of situations where a more traditional approach is necessary.

THE ROLL CALL Daiwa Spike I use this suspending crankbait any time I want to cast a long way, to cover rocky or muddy ground, and parallel. The Daiwa Spike is great for walking over shallow structure and off deeper edges or in cracks. With some sticky weight added, the Spike gets down deeper, quicker and stays there for longer.

It was my standout lure at Mallacoota this year and got a run at every other event this

A ZMan GrubZ was one of Kris’ go-to plastics in 2015.

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TAG 2016 abt

A season in a box. Hickson’s selection of hardbaits for the tour. year. Colours vary, but all are successful. They include, brown suji shrimp, midnight trout, bleeding tiger prawn, sushi prawn, and matt shad.

Daiwa Presso Rolling Crank DR I use this in similar areas to the Spike, but more so in the nastier country and in snags.

It dives a little deeper and has a squarer bib for walking over structure without hanging up quite as much. Being a slightly smaller, fat bodied lure, it’s a more traditional bream crankbait. The DR got a run in the dirty water at the Tweed this year, banging into the rocks and timber to get the attention of the fish. The DR runs the same colours as the Spike.

Daiwa Presso Rolling Crank MR The Daiwa Presso Rolling Crank MR is my go-to mid-diving crankbait. This lure will normally get a run over the shallower ground, over flats and for running high around structure like bridges

and pontoons. Although it’s a mid-diver it’s quite versatile, and can run from just under the surface to around 4ft. This year I used it in both Clarence tournaments, as well as the Tweed, mainly around the bridges and pontoons. The MR runs the same colours as the Spike and Rolling Crank DR. OSP Dunk Quite similar to the Daiwa Spike, but diving 1-2ft deeper, I use this crash diving crank in the deepest of crankbait areas.

The OSP Dunk is perfect for getting right down along rock walls, steep banks and deep reef. When you dig it into the bottom, it makes a heap of racket and gets plenty of attention. It floats really slowly, and the front hooks are far enough away from the bib that it can be slowly walked over the nasty stuff.

I tied it on at most comps,

but used it predominately at the Clarence and Hawkesbury on the deeper, steeper banks.

The best colours include olive shrimp, and clear shrimp.

THE MARK OF Z ZMan 2.5” GrubZ Generally the first plastic I grab out of the box these days is the bloodworm GrubZ, which works absolutely everywhere.

I fish it on a multitude of head weights and hook styles to suit the situation. I fished it

abt

Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au on a #1/0 TT HeadlockZ HD 1/20-1/12oz rigged weedless to get it right into the structure at Mallacoota, Gippsland and the Hawkesbury. I fished it on 1/20oz #1/0 hidden weights around the more shallow structure and areas the fish were high in the water column, and on 1/16oz #1 HeadlockZ wide of the banks and where I needed it to get a bit deeper on the Clarence. Bloodworm is my go-to colour, but

TT’s jigheads are Hickson’s choice when fishing jighead-rigged plastics.

watermelon and gudgeon are also great colours to start with.

2” ZMan GrubZ The little 2” ZMan GrubZ are spot on for when the fish are a bit picky, or feeding on smaller bait. I almost always use them on a 1/16oz #2 HeadlockZ head fished on 3lb and just drifted down and along drop-offs into anything up to 25ft of water. It takes some patience, but when it’s clear and slow they work really well. I gave these lures a good run upriver at the Clarence this year. Colours that do the damage include motor oil and bloodworm.

2.5” ZMan Slim SwimZ The Slim SwimZ look like nothing special, but this little baitfish imitation is one of the best little paddle tails I have used. This lure is a great alternative in profile and action when the GrubZ aren’t doing the job. I find they work best fished around structure like oyster racks, pontoons and wharves – areas where you tend to see more baitfish. They work great on a variety of weights, but tend to swim best on a standard head rather than a hidden weight.

The bloodworm Slim SwimZ accounted for a few fish in the racks at the Hawkesbury this year.

ZMan CrusteaZ Far from my favourite bait, I pulled the CrusteaZ out at

the Tweed this year to fish weedless as a crab imitation tight in the mangroves.

Although I don’t use them a lot, they really do catch fish if you get them in the zone.

Bloodworm and pumpkinseed on a 1/20oz #1 HeadlockZ is spot on for fishing them like this.

EcogearAqua 50mm Bream Prawn These smelly little globs are typically what I throw in places where I know people feed the fish. Success varies day to day with this bait, so it’s a bit of trial and error to establish if the fish are in the mood to eat them. If they are, then hold on, if not I tend to find it will be the same everywhere that day.

The tavern at the Clarence, and the trawlers and tavern at the Tweed were the two places I fished these with success this year. Colours come in white and grey.

GETTING DEEP Tiemco Sinking Stick Minnow Another staple lure in the box, The Tiemco Sinking Stick Minnow works well when the fishing is tough. I tied them on 2-3lb to target deepschooled fish in the rivers at the Metung round. It’s small and subtle, with a natural look when it sinks that black bream absolutely adore. The only legal fish I caught at that round was on a shrimp patterned

No bream kit is complete without pink grubs and EcogearAquas.

Stick Minnow, however I did catch quite a few undersize on it as well. They also get a run over weed flats, against boat hulls and to mudding fish at Mallacoota when it’s clear.

The Sinking Stick Minnow comes in shrimp and ayu.

Ecogear VX35 Blade I pretty much only throw two colours of the Ecogear

VX35 Blade, the #439 and #445 brown and black. I used these on schooled fish at Metung and managed a few small fish, but I had greater success at Mallacoota over the deeper flats and wide of the points. During pre-fish the performance of the blade led me to believe that I would use To page 6

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From page 5

them all comp until I stumbled on the spike pattern and caught quite a few good fish early in the first session. These blades just work, and it’s always worth keeping a few in the box, no matter where in the country you are.

Tiemco Tiny Cicada If there is an event in

summer, some tiny black cicadas have to be in the box.

There were a few times in the Grand Final when they came in handy, thrown under the trees when the sun came out and the cicadas were chirping.

Ecogear Grass Minnow M 2.5” Okiami (pink grub) Fished on a worm hook, the Ecogear Grass Minnow

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is my go-to search bait if there are prawns about.

They are perfect to see what is around on a pre-fish, and just as good at catching them come comp day. These little prawn imitations excel when dropped back under the surface if the fish aren’t keen on eating right off the top.

The fruits of Kris’ red-hot year.

Procure Scent The three main attractants I have on the deck include crab, shrimp and mullet.

For reasons that are selfexplanatory, use crab on the crab patterns, shrimp on the shrimp patterns and mullet on everything else. Make sure

The Daiwa Presso rolling crank got plenty of work in 2015.

HICKSON’S STANDOUT LURES OF THE TOUR Place Primary Tweed: Cranka Crab Heavy – spotted Gippsland Lakes: Everything in the box!

Mallacoota: Daiwa Tournament Spike brown suji shrimp Hawkesbury River: ZMan 2.5” GrubZ bloodworm 1/16oz #1/0H HeadlockZ Clarence River: Cranka Crab Heavy – cockle Grand Final: Cranka Crab Heavy – olive

your one all-encompassing box is deep enough to fit them in.

Last of all, a bit of sticky weight allows you to change the buoyancy of a lure that can make all the difference, as I found out at Mallacoota this year. Sticky weight is

perfect if you need to get a lure deeper, make it suspend or cast that little bit further.

There were a whole lot of other lures that caught fish this year, however, those mentioned are the standouts and what yielded the most success.

Secondary ZMan 2” CrusteaZ bloodworm/ 1/20oz #1 Light Wire HeadlockZ Everything left in the box.

Ecogear VX35 #445 Cranka Crab Light – brown Daiwa Tournament Spike – brown suji shrimp Daiwa Tournament Spike Sushi Prawn and ZMan 2.5” GrubZ bloodworm 1/16oz #1 HeadlockZ Light

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The winds of change ABT

This year marks the first dramatic change to how the BASS Pro Series has been run since its inception in the year 1999. A new title sponsor, a new format and new venues will broaden the horizons of Australian bassers as ABT moves into the next phase of tournament angling in Australia.

BassCat sits atop the banner in 2016 as the new title sponsor and brings with it a wealth of opportunity for anglers that succeed throughout the year.

Australian Bassmaster Elite Series pro Carl Jocumsen will be running a BassCat during the 2016 Elites season and ABT again is offering the greatest USA fishing experience as the Grand Final prize. Peter Phelps, who won the Grand Final in 2015, will be flying to the New York

and Vermont border and the picturesque Lake Champlain for the B.A.S.S. Northern Open in September. BassCat produce some of the finest fibreglass bass boats in the world, and you’ll be able to see a number of boats up close and personal on the tournament trail in 2016.

A drastically new look format will challenge anglers’ strategy as well as their practical skills. The two-fish limit imposed by Australian Fisheries has always been a Anthony Thorpe getting set for the start.

Warren Carter punches out a cast on the BASS Pro Tour.

challenge for the tournament bass organizations, and a move to the shared weight format will see the bag limit per session double to four per boat, allowing eventual winners to weigh a 12/12 tournament limit for the first time in Australia. Previously, ABT segmented the BASS Pro events into multiple sessions.

“In the early days we ran with five sessions over two days, then changed to three sessions in around 2001,” explained ABT’s Simon Goldsmith. “The move to shared weight will reward anglers who find consistency

on the water.”

2015 Grand Final champion Peter Phelps favours the move to reward consistent fishing in 2016, and admits had the format changed in the previous year, he might have approached the Glenbawn Grand Final a little differently.

“I definitely would have adjusted my game plan,” he said. “I was confident of catching good size fish each session on jigs, but I wasn’t getting many. Had it been shared weight I would have definitely worked as a team with my non-boater and had him fish a reaction bait up

SUPPORTING

ahead of the boat.”

Phelps only landed his second keeper of the final session in the last five minutes – had it been shared weight and he was able to deliver a one-two punch all morning, he mightn’t have needed to scramble in the dying moments. The change to shared weight is definitely going to challenge anglers’ game plans as they walk the line of when to visit the weigh master in 2016.

The weigh-in process changes to accommodate with an open ‘slot style’ weigh-in commencing on Saturday around 9:30am

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Bass Cat Australia

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abt.org.au and running for 90 minutes.

Anglers have the choice as to when they return to weigh in their morning catch. Weigh in early and maximise the afternoon period, or fish until the last minute hoping to upgrade and build a buffer going into the afternoon.

As soon as the morning’s catch has been weighed and released, anglers are then permitted to return to the arena immediately to

continue fishing for their afternoon limit. This change allows for the familiar two sessions without the need to stop and start in the middle of the day. This allows anglers to finish before dark and have time to recuperate for Sunday’s morning session.

Jocumsen credits the shared weight format for his transition into the Bassmaster Elites following his success in the

Catching bass like these two could see you heading to the US to fish with Carl Jocumsen.

US Open in 2009.

“Shared weight is the way of the future for people wanting to succeed in tournament fishing,” he said. “My experience at the US Open would have been markedly different had I been competing with my boater for the fish rather than working together to put together our heaviest stringer.”

Had Jocumsen not experienced the success of his runner-up finish in his first US event, he might not have gathered the confidence to chase his dream over the last five years.

The addition of a river round has been a talking point among anglers and sponsors for some time. Late in 2015, ABT ran a trial bass event on the picturesque Richmond River on the far northern NSW coast.

“Our trial event was a fantastic success,” explained ABT’s Simon Goldsmith.

“The venue is the perfect location for our first foray into rivers for the BassCat BASS Pro series in 2016.

Running a river event obviously has its ups and downs, but we feel it’s the right time to step out of what we’ve been doing over the last decade and propel tournament bass fishing to new heights.”

Craig Simmons, BassCat

Shared weight events will bring a team focus to bass comps in 2016.

Australia’s managing director and avid tournament fisherman, is thrilled at the changes slated for 2016, believing it’s the right way forward to produce growth in what is a more crowded tournament scene than ever before.

The year culminates with the Grand Final returning to Queensland and slated for either Lake Bjelke-Petersen or Borumba Dam, depending on water levels and quality.

ABT hasn’t run a major event on Borumba since the MegaBucks of 2007, with Bjelke-Petersen featuring on the schedule in 2015 where Grant Clements notched his first pro level victory.

“Both Bjelke-Petersen

and Borumba have fished exceptionally well over 2015, so we are excited to bring the Grand Final back to one of these fantastic QLD impoundments,” Goldsmith declared. “Water level and quality will be the factors that determine exactly where anglers will vie for the title of Grand Final champion, and anglers can expect an announcement well in time to give them opportunity to prepare for the event.”

The BASS Pro series has been the cornerstone of ABT’s events over the past 15 years.

We have looked into the future with determination to grow the sport of tournament fishing and accelerate the learning curve for young

or fresh anglers entering into competitive fishing.

There’s no doubt these changes will make for some exciting finishes to the four qualifying rounds throughout the year. New formats, new sponsors and new venues are the headline of what is sure to be an exciting challenge for anglers as they look to succeed at the top level.

Scan this QR code to see Carl Jocumsen talk about what’s new.

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Hobie Kayak BREAM Series presented by Daiwa Bob Finlay

Hobie Cat Australasia teamed up with ABT in 2009 for the inaugural Hobie Kayak BREAM Series, with the first kayak fishing event held on the Parramatta River, at Bayview Park Concord in Sydney. It was the first in a series of four tournaments that culminated in the Australian Championship, which took place at Forster in New South Wales.

Since those fledgling days, Hobie Fishing has maintained its commitment to the sport and the marine industry, and the massive growth in kayak fishing in Australia is reflected in the interest and participation numbers in the Hobie Fishing tournaments.

Hobie Fishing allows owners of any brand of sit-on kayak to participate in their tournaments, but supplies all anglers with brand new Hobie factory supplied Hobie MirageDrive kayaks for those who qualify for the annual Australian Championship.

This unique format allows anglers from each state to compete and creates a level playing field, providing a 10

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true test of fishing skills.

Hobie has shown it is dedicated to the development of kayak fishing tournaments in Australia and their commitment to presenting professionally run events at the highest standard has taken the competitive kayak fishing scene in this country to the highest standard in

the world. Tournaments are now held throughout Australia with the Hobie Fishing Series becoming the only truly national kayak fishing series and the premier kayak series in the country.

The hugely successful 2015 season attracted both male and female entries with up to 70-80 competitors in a

number of tournaments in the 14 round season.

NEW DIVISIONS INTRODUCED IN 2016 To create even more interest and excitement in the 2016 Hobie Fishing Series presented by Daiwa, in tandem with the usual open division, Hobie Fishing has introduced new divisions

Top: Scott Baker from Mornington Victoria, was the 2011 Hobie Fishing World Champion. Here he sight casts at fish feeding on rocky edges in Lake Macquarie, NSW on Day Two of the 2015 Hobie Kayak Bream Australian Championship. Above: Glenn Allen from Killarney Vale in NSW works the racks in the Forster round of the Hobie Kayak Fishing Series. Allen finished in second place in the tournament and won a place on the Australian team to compete in the 2015 Hobie Fishing World Championships in China.

in all tournaments for the coming season.

FIRST TIMER ENTRY Another exciting innovation by Hobie Fishing in 2016 is the ‘First Timer Entry.’ This has been established to encourage new anglers to enter the tournament scene. An angler who enters a Hobie Fishing Series tournament for the first time has the option to have the requirement of being an ABT member waived and they will not be required to pay an entry fee. ‘First Timers’ will be able to experience and learn the tournament process – including briefings, key tags, weigh-in bags and bump tubs, weighing in of fish on stage, fish care and releasing of fish. Most importantly they will experience how enjoyable and friendly Hobie Fishing Series tournaments are and observe successful anglers being rewarded for doing what they love to do while sharing their passion with like-minded people.

This is an excellent opportunity for those considering entering a Hobie Fishing kayak tournament to taste, to learn and to enjoy all that the Hobie Fishing tournament lifestyle has to offer.

For further information on the new divisions and first time entries go to www. hobiefishing.com.au.

THE 2016 CALENDAR Summer/Autumn The 2016 series will hit some new and exciting waterways, and revisit some old favourites. The season will feature a return to one-day and two-day events as well as the awesome World Championship qualifying rounds from which six anglers will earn themselves a place on the team to represent Australia at the Hobie Fishing World Championship of kayak fishing.

After last season’s amazing participation numbers, an absolutely huge turnout of excited anglers is once again expected to hit the monster black bream with a bang!

The legendary Bemm River will host the season opener on 6-7 February. Bemm has gained an international fishing reputation after the third Hobie Fishing World Championship was contested there in 2013.

To continue Bemm’s association with the Hobie Fishing World Championship, the season’s first tournament will also be the first qualifying round for the 2016

World Championship which will be held at a yet to be disclosed location.

Western Australia - the booming state of Hobie Fishing tournament anglers in Oz - gets the next bite of the bream, on Blackwood River which sits at the head of a staggering 41 tributaries on the continent’s west coast. The Australian Championship was held at Mandurah just outside of Perth at the close of the 2014 series, and the numbers registering for Hobie Fishing tournaments in WA since then

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2016 NEW HOBIE FISHING SERIES (PRESENTED BY DAIWA) TOURNAMENT DIVISIONS Division Age limits (determined as at 31 December 2016) Youth 16-21 (must be 16 years on the day of the tournament and under 21 years on 31 December 2016) Womens 16+ (must be 16 years on the day of tournament) Masters 60-64 Grand Masters 65+ have swelled dramatically.

This year participation is expected to reach a whole new level of interest from the Sandgropers. You deserve this one WA - you’ve hooked another big one! Blackwood River will be the second World Championship qualifying round for 2016.

incredible event, it’s the fourth in the series of World Championship qualifying rounds – again, yes you read it right! Tassie has a World Qualifier event, the first time one has been held off

The Hobie Fishing big bream battle then heads to Victoria’s East Gippsland region for ‘Mallacoota Madness in March’, where anglers will battle it out on one of Victoria’s finest bream fisheries on 5-6 March. Every angler who has fished Mallacoota loves the

2013 Australian Champion Darryl Head from Basin View in NSW launches into a drop-off, from one of the brand new, fully kitted out factory supplied Hobie Pro Angler 14 kayaks. These were supplied to all anglers that competed in the 2015 Hobie Kayak Bream Australian Championships on Lake Macquarie.

As the sun rises over East Gippsland in Victoria, a section of the huge field of 86 kayak anglers head off from the Bemm River starting line in the first tournament of the 2015 Hobie Kayak Fishing Series.

challenge it offers, and being the third in the series of five World Qualifiers, this round could have massive rewards.

Sydney fires up on 20 March, with the first ‘one day wonder’ event of the year, the opening tournament in a massive season of kayak fishing for NSW. In late April the Hobie

Fishing road show then heads across the Tasman, for the first time since 2013, for a sensational bream busting week. Anglers will smash into the waters around Scamander on the north east coast of Tassie for a Friday and Saturday tournament.

Yes, you read it right! To make this an even more

the mainland.

But wait, there’s more.

Four days later, the Hobie Fishing tournament train rolls further south, 90km down the Van Diemen’s Land coast to Swan River for a second two-day tournament on the ‘Apple Isle.’ Now, for those inexperienced To page 12

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Tournament Angler Guide

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kayak tournament anglers this may not seem much, but for the rest of you, hold onto to your tackle boxes and get this – the tournament is held on a Wednesday and Thursday. Whoa! A midweek tournament and two events

BREAM

in just one week in Tassie – unbelievable but true!

Two weeks later, Hobie Fishing is back on the mainland on the NSW South

5 HUGE ROUNDS AND A GRAND FINAL

For ful l

details

‘The Basin’ is working, this could be a seriously good competition for a novice tournament angler to see what Hobie kayak tournaments are all about.

Winter/spring June sees the seasons change and the tournaments

Geoff Alford from Fyshwick in the ACT found himself a small cove and slow rolled a crankbait over the mud flats on the north end of Lake Macquarie during the 2015 Hobie Bream Australian Championship.

Australia’s Premier Bream Tournament Teams Series 2016 Round dates Feb 14 - Hawkesbury River NSW March 20 - St Georges Basin NSW

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April 17 - Sydney Harbour NSW May 22 - Forster NSW June 26 - Lake Macquarie NSW

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head up north with the first ‘Winter Warmer’ heating up in the Gold Coast canals on 5 June. The event will be Queenslanders’ first

first Hobie Fishing World Championship back in 2011.

Mandurah will see the tournament schedule head back for a second visit to Western Australia with anglers competing over the weekend of 2-3 July. Lines will tighten on Lake Macquarie in NSW just a few weeks later on 23-24 July.

Anglers will be happy to travel to the picturesque Wallis Lake just south of Forster for the only August tournament, run on 27-28 August. The washboards, racks and flats of the lake always excite bream anglers, but chasing some sweet prize money always adds a little more excitement to a day on the water. Hang in there! It’s the final World Qualifying Round and your last chance to get a hook in to represent your country.

The last round of the season is way down south on the Victoria and South Australia border, at Nelson in early September. This is the last chance for anglers to crank a qualifying spot in the

Dan Brady from Croydon in Victoria pulls a keeper on board his Hobie Pro Angler at the mouth of the Bemm River in round one of the 2015 Hobie Kayak Bream Series.

Coast with Round 7 kicking off on the doorstep of Hobie Fishing in Australia, St Georges Basin. ‘The Basin’ is within easy reach of Canberra, Wollongong and Sydney and this waterway can really turn it on, so if conditions are right and

hometown event for the year, and the first of two ‘one day-ers’ for the month.

The second one-day event on 26 June will be the first visit in a couple of seasons to magnificent Port Macquarie on the NSW mid-north coast, the scene of the very

Australian Championship, which will be held thousands of kilometres further north on the pristine waters of Queensland’s Bribie Island, in October.

That’s right, the Australian Championship is heading to Queensland.

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Madeline Hill from The Ponds in NSW is one of a growing number of female anglers competing in the Hobie Kayak Bream Series presented by Daiwa.

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The natural progression Brad Roberts

No one would argue that rising through the non-boater ranks is one of the best ways to start and also fast track a fishing career. The amount of knowledge you are constantly surrounded by in this situation is immense and uplifting.

However, after you’ve fished as a non-boater numerous times, and on many different tournament arenas, you will find yourself having your own ideas of where and how to attack the waterway come tournament day – ideas which tend to be more in line with your strengths as an angler. Once you reach this point, it may be time for you to take your tournament fishing to the next level.

After three inspiring seasons fishing in the non-boater side of the draw, I made the step up, recently completing my first season fishing with the boating pros.

If you’re thinking of making the switch, here are some tips on making a smooth and positive transition.

HOW DO I KNOW I’M READY? So you’ve been fishing 14

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as a non-boater for a few years now and you’re wondering whether you should make the switch up to the main game – fishing against the best of the best in Australia. But when is the right time to cross over?

Each individual is different, but the more you think about making the move, the more ready you are! You just might not realise it yet.

Once you reach the crossroads, you can choose to just continue doing what you’ve always done – or you can turn the corner, and take your fishing career to the next level!

That bend in the road will present you with the kind of steep learning curve you’ll remember from your first couple of tournaments as a non-boater. Like I mentioned earlier, every angler is different and has their own set of goals when it comes to what they want to achieve from tournament fishing. However, if your goals include improving your skills and becoming the best you can be, you’ll want to join the boater division. It will make you a better angler.

After lengthy conversations with friends

in the tournament circle, both boaters and non-boaters (also the non-boaters I’ve had on board with me during tournaments over the past 12 months) I’ve noticed a few common themes. Most relate to confidence. There are many competitors who own a tournament-style boat but choose to fish in the non-boater category, and I suspect that quite a few of these guys (though certainly not all) lack the self-belief required to progress. I was undecided for a while myself, but I’ve since discovered there’s no feeling in the world like the take-off on the first morning of competition, knowing that you’re in charge of your own destiny!

I completely understand that some people are happy to stick with the non-boater category; everyone has different goals and aspirations. However, if you want to be the best angler you can be, you have to take calculated risks and throw yourself in the deep end once in a while!

GOAL SETTING As with any facet of life, setting yourself goals is the key to success. I like to set myself one large goal plus some smaller goals to use

Top: Brad Roberts flicks a plastic under a jetty searching for those elusive bream.

Above: Tristan Taylor and Dave McKenzie, have won multiple back-to-back QLD Bream Open titles through hard work and many years of experience as tournament boaters.

as stepping stones to keep me on track. As an example, a large goal for the season might be AOY honours or grand final qualification. A smaller medium-term goal (typically one per event) might be to finish in the top 10 or to catch five legals each day of a tournament.

Then there are my shortterm goals. These differ as the seasons change, but usually revolve strongly around the upcoming comps I have planned. For instance, if I know I have a comp coming up on a place like Sydney Harbour in summer, I’ll go out of my way to spend a day or two on the water practicing my casting around structure. The reason is because I know from past events that most fish are caught this way, and that I’ll have to be able to pull fish out of places that many other anglers can’t if I want to finish well up on the leader board.

Other short-term goals can include breaking down new bodies of water, practice for comps and learning new techniques to make you more versatile as an angler.

THE MENTAL SIDE The mental side of fishing, and tournament fishing in particular, has received a lot of attention in

recent times, and rightly so.

There aren’t many sports out there with as many variables as tournament fishing, and that’s what keeps bringing us back! There is no hiding the fact that your first few tournaments as a boater are when you’ll be at your most vulnerable, but with some methodical preparation you can make the transition a lot smoother.

Being able to block out nerves is no easy task.

However, the ability to do so and control emotion will allow you to fish in the moment and make more calculated decisions while under the time pressure of a tournament situation. You’ll achieve this calm mindset by putting in the time on the water, and there is no substitute.

Another thing that can keep you feeling upbeat is to taking the positives out of small wins throughout the day, be it during practice or on comp day. Focussing on small things and taking note of patterns can help with this.

Preparation and planning have been a huge part of my first year fishing as a boater. Google Maps and Navionics charts have become even better friends of mine while practicing for tournaments, particularly

those tournaments held on unfamiliar waterways.

I thoroughly enjoy the planning phase for each event, and I spend as much time as I can to familiarise myself with waterways before the tournament comes around. This reduces my stress levels during the pre-fish, and ultimately during the tournament.

On local lakes and those that I can practice on before the pre-fish ban starts, I aim to break the water down into sections and concentrate on one section per day. If I

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neglect to do this, I find myself spending too much time driving and not enough time fishing. Breaking the water down helps me to fish more thoroughly and efficiently.

KEYS TO SUCCESS The best competitors are those who are the most consistent, and in my opinion the biggest key to consistency is adaptability.

Tournament fishing forces us to fish in all conditions, and on many different and often unfamiliar waterways.

For this reason, it’s those

anglers who can predict what the fish will do in different situations (whether it be seasonal change or weather conditions) and adapt to this who nearly always come out on top.

In saying this, the ability to think outside the square regularly produces the goods for some competitors.

These guys have the nerve and patience to stick it out knowing they’re employing a method that’s completely left of field, yet potentially deadly on its day.

Being able to address

A gorgeous sunrise greets anglers at the start of a tournament.

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Tournament Angler Guide

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your own weaknesses and ‘self coach’ is a great habit to get into as you progress.

There’s usually nobody else to do it for you, so the more you can address your angling shortcomings, the better you will become.

These obstacles don’t have to be anything difficult either; sometimes the things we think are smaller and less significant can be the ones that come back to haunt us the most. It could be something as simple as being able to control an electric motor properly in rough water. This can open up so many more options in these conditions, and save you from moving to less productive areas to escape wind.

Being able to hone skills to suit particular waterways or events is an extension of this. It’s often hard enough to get the time off work and other commitments to get to competitions, let alone justify the time it would take to practice on interstate tournament venues.

However, those anglers with a bit of creativity and patience will work their way around this. This is where using tools such as past event reports and Google Earth is invaluable. You can look for areas of similar structure on To page 16

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Tournament Angler Guide

From page 15

both your local waterway and the tournament venue, and target those areas in preparation for the upcoming tournament. It all helps to build confidence and reduce downtime while competing in events where time isn’t on your side.

EXPERT OPINIONS I took the time to speak with fellow competitors Ross Cannizzaro, Kris Hickson, Ben Shuey and Zac O’Sullivan to run through

their ideas on the best way to make a smooth transition from non-boater to boater, and also how they go about preparing for each of their tournaments. The one theme which featured strongly with each individual was preparation. They all said how important it is to sit down before each event and research the venue, past event results (whether it be their own or from event reports) and seasonal patterns. Boat preparation

was also a factor.

Continuing on from this is the way in which they all view pre practice for a particular event. They all agreed that for local events, they will try to fish the arena before the pre-fish ban kicks in, however for non-local and interstate events these guys turn their efforts in preparation more toward web-based avenues such as Google Earth and past tournament reports, combining these with their

One of the ultimate goals of tournament angling is to take out a BREAM Grand Final. Liam Carruthers achieved the title of BREAM Series Grand Final Champion of 2015, after a lot of hard work, determination, and preparation.

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existing knowledge to create a plan for their pre-fish day at the very least.

While talking to the guys I also asked for their top five tips on making a smooth and positive transition.

Ross Cannizzaro Ross has been extremely successful over the past few years, including winning this year’s Hawkesbury River ABT qualifier, a second place at Mallacoota and a win with his teammate Alan at the BETS teams Grand Final on Lake Macquarie.

Here are his tips.

1. Believe in yourself and your ability. You need to be at the top of your game each and every time you hit the water for a tournament. Back yourself and your judgement in every situation.

2. Prepare your boat in a way that allows everything to be within easy reach for fast and easy re-rigging, to maximise your fishing time.

3. Work on your boat position. Give yourself the best possible chance at extracting fish from cover.

4. Keep a diary of patterns and techniques on all non-local tournament arenas. It may be a number of years before you get back there to fish again so you want to hit the ground running when you do.

5. Practice! Nothing can

Dave Young shows off his tournament angling skills with two fat bass. top on-water experience, especially in your first few years. Make the extra effort to get out there as often as possible and practice a range of techniques under different conditions.

Kris Hickson Kris has had an outstanding last few years by winning the ABT BREAM Grand Final in 2014 and following up by taking out the Angler of the Year (AOY) crown

this year. He believes a competitor’s attitude is an important factor.

1. Brush up on all the rules and etiquette. Now that you’re running the boat it’s your responsibility to know them.

2. Remember how you wanted to be treated when you were a non-boater and try your best to replicate that for the non-boaters you have. You might see that it’s not as easy as it seems to

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au abt.org.au give everyone a fair shot, but be as reasonable as possible without sacrificing your own opportunities.

3. Figure out what style of fishing suits you most, now that you are in control of the boat, and work on it.

When you were at the back of the boat you had to adapt to what the guy at the front was doing, but now you have the reins so try to fish

He’s had top 10 finishes in each. He even managed to qualify for this year’s BREAM Grand Final in both the non-boater and boater categories. He’s all about the preparation.

1. You have to be organised!

You can never be too organised when it comes to things like lure colours and sizes. Also regular maintenance of boat, motor

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of the bunch and has had a number of successful years as a non-boater in the past. This year he made the step up to the boater category in a classy fashion, with a number of consistent results, and he finished the year ranked 15th in the Angler of the Year race. He has some practical ideas to make your experience easier.

Tournament angling is essentially a community, where anglers can have a laugh, get to know one another, and hone their fishing skills among friends. Friendly competition makes it easy for non-boaters to advance their tournament careers and maybe end up as a boater. to your strengths.

4. Most boaters have spent a lot of time working out each arena and spots they like to call their own.

There is only so much water out there and the majority of arenas have been fished enough that most of it is fair game, but if a previous boater has shown you any sneaky little places that they have worked out, your best bet is to leave it to them.

5. BUY MORE GEAR! It’s your boat now so fill that sucker up.

Ben Shuey Ben has been fishing tournaments for a number of years across multiple states, and competes in a range of events from teams tournaments to ABT boater and non-boater events.

and trailer is a must.

2. Practice your knots – a lot! Tournaments will test every facet of your fishing so the better your knots are the harder you can pull to extract fish from cover. It also helps to be able to re-rig quickly when you bust off or change lures.

3. Learn how to read and understand your sounder so you’re confident in it in all situations.

4. Practice driving your boat in all weather conditions, both on the main motor and the electric. This is a must.

5. Finally, research. You can never do too much research on tournament venues, past reports and maps. Try to organise this so you can fish to your strengths.

Zac O’Sullivan Zac is the youngest

1.

Plan your year, and organise to share accommodation to save costs.

For example, a non-boater as a travel partner will also help with pre-fish, sharing ideas and different techniques.

2. Preparation is the key with your boat and gear.

Have everything organised and in its place so it’s easy to find on the run.

3. Back yourself and stick to your guns. Fish similar areas on foreign waterways as you would on your home water.

4. Do your research on each waterway, check Google Earth and previous tournament reports.

5. Make sure you learn something from event (keep a diary to help with this) and have fun!

As a non-boater, you will learn essential tricks of the trade on your tournament career path as well as getting to spend time with some amazing anglers. abt

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au

Solving the jig-saw puzzle Tom Slater

When Peter Phelps held the Bass Pro Grand Final trophy aloft in October 2015, he broadcast to the wider bass fishing community a new weapon anglers could add to their arsenal.

When you look back through the ABT BASS record books, the lures and techniques used to win read like your local pub menu that hasn’t changed in a decade. The same old offerings get tossed around at every tournament, with spinnerbaits and soft plastics, the chicken parmies of the tournament scene. Someone might add a beetle spin, and one might dip the tail, but that’s just tweaking existing techniques. Last October we witnessed something new and for the first time, a major ABT BASS tournament was won using a skirted jig.

I was fortunate enough to witness the excitement

in our camp as Mitchell Cone led Peter going into the final session. Both were fishing the same area, and both were keyed into the jig bite that everyone else overlooked (including me).

What transpired in October at Glenbawn was over 12 months in the making. Peter and Mitch first started experimenting with jigs many years ago.

The spring of 2014 was when they really keyed into their first good jig bite at Glenbawn, and when the ABT calendar was set for 2015, they marked the Grand Final as a potential jig fishing tournament.

WHAT IS A SKIRTED JIG? A skirted jig is essentially a lead or tungsten jighead, fitted with a brush guard to help reduce snagging, with a skirt much like a spinnerbait attached to the head. Skirted jigs are primarily used in Australia to imitate a redclaw or yabby. There are numerous styles of jigs (e.g. swim and football) available and the difference between them is usually the shape of

EQUIPMENT Rod: Medium action baitcast from 6’10” to

7’6” (Mitch uses Millerods Blade Freak,

Peter uses 13 Fishing ENVY Black 73M) Reel: High speed baitcast – at least

6.6:1 anywhere up to 8.1:1 Line: 15lb braid, leader varying depending

on structure from 8-16lb.

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the moulded head.

A swim jig has a streamlined head, with the line tie coming out of the front most point of the head, while a football jig has an oblong ‘football’ shaped head with a line tie protruding out of the top of the head. These subtle differences affect how the jig performs in the water.

Football jigs are designed to drag along the bottom with the football shaped head preventing the jig from rolling onto its side, eliminating hang-ups.

If you tried dragging a swim jig you would catch the bottom a lot more often than you’d catch fish. On the other hand, if you wanted to swim a jig through weed or cover, the blunt shape of a football jig would tend to hang-up more often than the streamlined design of a swim jig.

There’s a time and a place for all jig types, but to get started, Peter recommends sticking to a football or stand-up shape that lends itself to beingdragged along the bottom.

You can also find differences in the skirt of a jig. There are predominantly two types of skirt material, silicon and living rubber. Silicon is available in a broader assortment of colours but sometimes lacks the

action and movement of living rubber, which flares very well underwater – especially in cold water.

There’s also the size of the material to consider – you can commonly buy both regular and fine cut silicon, as well as fine size living rubber, which can add even more flare to the skirt.

PICK A JIG

As with many techniques that originate overseas and are imported to Australia, they often require some sort of modification to either the equipment itself, or how we use the equipment to effectively target our Australian species. In the case of the skirted jig, it’s the jig itself we have to look closely at. As you discover the hundreds of different types of jigs on the market worldwide, it’s easy to get confused.

Australian companies such as Bassman, with the help from their pro anglers like Peter, are in the process of developing jigs specifically suited to our conditions.

International brands such as Pro’s Factory (a Japanese jig manufacturer) will become more available to Australian fishers through local distributors in 2016.

The size and gauge of the hook is the most frustrating element of building the right jig, and a lot of the jigs that are available

Top: A glorious day led Phelps to take the win, in a seriously tight competition. Middle: Peter Phelps and Mitchell Cone developed a jig bite theory over many years of trial and error, and the 2015 ABT Bass Grand Final was their opportunity to show the professional bass fishing community the merits of this technique. Bottom: Mitchell Cone with two excellent fish captured on a jig.

Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au have a hook that’s too big for our much smaller-mouthed bass. Peter and Mitch both prefer a #2/0 sized hook for

appendages more accurately imitates the prey you are trying to replicate. Plastics such as the Keitech Crazy Flapper

Not only did Phelps take out the championship title, he also opened the conversation on jig technique for all bass anglers to consider.

Australian bass jig fishing.

Jigs are normally fished with some sort of soft plastic trailer. This bulks out the profile of the jig, giving a more natural look and feel.

You can use any number of various soft plastics but a plastic with two flapping

are an excellent choice when looking for trailers.

WHAT TO DO Skirted jigs have been around for over half a century, and I’m sure that most Australian tournament bass fisherman have used one briefly in the past. What

so many have not done, is put the time and effort into working out exactly how to use these lures to effectively target and catch Australian bass.

The best time to target bass on a skirted jig is September through to early summer. During this time the bass are active and patrol the shallow waters as they warm from a long, cold winter. This also coincides with the spawning season for the yabby and redclaw, as these species begin to spawn when water temperatures exceed 16°C. Peter and Mitch had their first dose of really consistent success in the spring of 2014.

During this time of year, the bass are found shallow and feed aggressively on almost every technique you could imagine. It’s easy to fall back on tried and true techniques when you know you can pick up a familiar lure and enjoy almost immediate success.

But this can be the best time to experiment with new ideas and gain confidence.

Jigs are best used when you know an area or particular spot is holding fish. It is a slow presentation, and covering vast amounts of water fishing a jig is time consuming. Fishing a jig properly requires patience; you need to crawl and hop the jig slowly along the bottom. This isn’t just a ‘cast it out and wind it back’

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Peter and Mitch carry an assortment of jigs in a number of different weights.

Usually a 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2oz will cover almost all scenarios as you can vary the rate of descent by using a larger trailer, or a trailer with more action.

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0425 230 964 Pete fishes the rock wall during the Grand Final. Often a last minute capture can win the day – Pete can attest to that!

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Tournament Angler Guide

From page 19

scenario.

Rock walls offer the perfect terrain to fish a jig. In Glenbawn Dam, the rock walls that scatter the upper section of the lake are consistent fish producers.

Peter locked onto this early in the tournament and rode it for the first two sessions.

Cast the jig right up shallow, then gently hop the jig from one rock, letting it fall onto the one below. The key here is not letting it come away

from the wall and sink too far, too quickly. If it sinks more than a foot, then you’ve hopped it too hard.

During low light hours, bass will more than likely be roaming around the lake. This can be a tougher

time to catch numbers on jigs, however, after much practice we have established that big bass love to eat a jig. In these times you want to target ‘highways’ – areas where bass will move into or along a bank. The

ABT BASS Grand Final Champion Peter Phelps displays the fruits of his labour – a fat Glenbawn bass caught crawling a jig on a steep rocky bank. inside breaks of a weed line along a bank is the perfect place, as bass can either be hiding just inside the weed or patrolling the gap between the bank and the weed edge. Crawling a jig along the bottom in that gap is a fantastic way to target fish before the sun starts beating down.

This was the pattern Mitch Cone used to lead the ABT Bass Grand Final after two sessions. The large fish vacated Mitch’s key areas on Sunday and left him in 4th place.

abt.org.au THE JIGS 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2oz are the most popular, paired with a small hook around #2/0 Pepper Custom Baits Micro Jig Pro’s Factory OP Jig Jackall TG Spade Jig Pro’s Factory Motion Jig Bassman Phelpsy’s Finesse Jig Trailers Gulp Crabby Berkley Chigger Craw Keitech Crazy Flapper Keitech Little Spider Netbait Paca Chunk Jackall Chunk Craw As the sun rises fish tend to pull closer to structure, whether it’s standing timber, lay-downs or weed. This where the jig really shines! In the low light scenario above, the simple transition to make as the sun rises is to move to the outside edge of the weed. Try somewhere between 8-12ft, and work the edges of the deeper weed that the bass will use to ambush prey. Standing or lay-down timber is another perfect spot to target when the sun rises. Fish will pull in behind timber into the small shade pocket created by the tree.

With reaction style baits like a lipless vibration or a spinnerbait, your lure will only be in the strike zone for a few seconds; you will simply be hoping to draw the fish out.

However, you can drop a jig quietly down a standing tree, or flip it into a lay-down and leave it there for a long time, just gently hopping or crawling the jig around the structure drawing a strike out of a fish that perhaps might not have bitten a faster moving presentation.

This was the pattern that really achieved results for Peter in the final session. He was struggling, with only one fish in the well and only 30 minutes

to go. Leaving the rock walls that had treated him so well in the previous two sessions, Peter stopped on an isolated cluster of trees off a weed edge and caught his final fish to fill out his six out of six limit.

Peter and Mitch carry an assortment of jigs in a number of different weights. Usually a 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2oz will cover almost all scenarios as you can vary the rate of descent by using a larger trailer, or a trailer with more action.

You will want to use a jig that’s heavy enough that you can maintain feel on the bottom. As the fish predominantly pick up the jig off the bottom, the ability to detect a change in how your jig feels will be key to putting fish in the boat. As you start fishing jigs you need to learn how your jig feels on the end of your line, and if this feel changes you’re either snagged or soon to be snagged, or a fish has picked up your jig. We’ve experienced a number of different bites while fishing jigs. Occasionally you will feel one solid thump and then weight, while other times they will peck at it with that tell-tale rattle you feel when fishing a soft plastic. Quite commonly you won’t actually feel anything at all. This is why

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au it’s important to really get to know how the jig feels because if you lose contact there’s a good chance a bass has grabbed it and is

less fairly simple. You are trying to imitate a yabby or redclaw, so bottom contact is by far the most important.

Hold the rod tip up just

so slightly to put a small amount of slack into the line. A small upward flick of the wrist should be all that’s needed to bring the

Mitch works the jig through timber. swimming towards you.

MOVE IT The actual technique of fishing the jig is more or

past horizontal and more or less ‘tap’ the line. Wind up and get tension on your line, then drop the tip ever

AREAS AND TECHNIQUE Target the shallows during low light hours, the edge of weed in close to the bank or a shallow rock wall. As the sun rises work the deeper edge and close to hard structure like standing timber, rock or lay-downs. Work the jig slowly around the structure and wait for the bite.

tip of the rod up, ‘tapping’ the line as it takes out the slack. This small tap will make the jig hop and bump along the bottom. Normally I would repeat the process until my rod is pointing high in the sky. Then wind down and repeat.

Another technique is called stroking, and it’s a bit more of a reaction style bite. It’s very similar to

the technique you would use hopping a blade off the bottom. Give two whips of the rod from horizontal to almost vertical, ripping the jig off the bottom and allowing it to fall back down on a semi slack line, following your lure with your rod tip as it’s sinking. This retrieve imitates a yabby or redclaw flicking off the bottom and can be a great way to stimulate a bite.

There is still so much to learn about fishing jigs for Australian bass. What I’ve described above just scratches the surface.

Thanks to guys like Peter Phelps and Mitchell Cone, new techniques like this will always come along and thanks to organisations like ABT and Fishing Monthly, new techniques get outlined and examined, and anglers can be educated. As more anglers begin to experiment with their use of lures, they begin to unlock secrets to make them more effective.

At the end of the day, time on the water with a technique is everything, and the more people willing to adopt and try out a new technique, the more time is going to be devoted to fishing it and finding out why it works.

I’m sure the skirted jig is just the beginning.

As the sun rises fish tend to pull closer to structure, whether it’s standing timber, lay-downs or weed. This where the jig really shines!

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The lure of the tour: the pull of big barra Tom Slater

The ABT BARRA Tour is a unique event for tournament fishing. A full weeklong immersion into barra fishing, ‘The Tour’ is a barra junkie’s ultimate adventure. For stalwarts of the tour, the barra road trip is an opportunity to rub shoulders with like-minded, competitive individuals and to experience the outstanding barra fishing that North Queensland has to offer. For anglers new to the tour, it’s an opportunity like no other to fast track your learning and knowledge of this iconic species. The last two tours in particular have produced fishing that can only be described as world class. If average catches of metre plus barra is your thing then the BARRA Tour should definitely be on your bucket list.

GET PACKING Knowing what to pack, and the essentials you need to have with you for life on tour can be hard to summarise to the uninitiated. A seemingly endless array of lures, lines, tackle and electronics can make the tour (or any barra fishing excursion) seem daunting. This uncertainty isn’t unique to beginners either, with experienced barra anglers still puzzling over every new piece of equipment that comes to market.

The BARRA tour doesn’t have to be complicated though; success on the tour isn’t limited to your

Scan this QR code to see how to modify Slick Rigs for barra.

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This is what the BARRA Tour is all about. Big fish and big smiles. performance on the score sheet. Nor is it indicative of the size of your bank account.

To find, hook and ultimately land even metre long barra is the pinnacle of fishing for many Australian anglers.

This article intends to provide some clarity to the enormous amount of options available on tour and to open a dialogue with successful and seasoned pros on the musthaves for a successful sojourn to the northern lakes and the BARRA Tour.

SOFTY DOES IT ‘Soft plastic’ is a pretty generalized term for what is a very diverse style of lure.

There’s a multitude of shapes and sizes, which can be perplexing on a shop wall.

From flukes to frogs and everything in-between, soft plastics encompass some of the most effective and reliable barra lures we’ve seen on the tour. Let’s break down these

soft and squishy morsels and give you the hard facts on what to pack for your first tour.

The Squidgy Slick Rig is like the forward defensive shot in cricket. It’s somewhat boring, but fundamental to prolonged success in the northern impoundments. Sure, there are other options, but no other lure has experienced the successes of the Slick Rig. Seasoned barra professionals modify the Slick Rig a fair bit these days. Craig Griffiths of the 2015 TOY (Humminbird/ EJ Todd) takes a soldering iron to his Squidgies to maximize their effectiveness on the water. You can watch a video of how Craig modifies his ‘Slickies’ by scanning the QR code.

Let’s take a look at a few other options for the inner tackle junkie in all of us. Just like your favourite meal deal, don’t be afraid to upsize in search of giant barra

on the tour. Size definitely mattered for some teams on the 2015 tour, especially at Peter Faust Dam – the Mecca

of big barra. Lures of 7-9” were not uncommon on the decks of the top teams. Storm R.I.P. Shads gained key fish

for Team Humminbird/EJ Todd in their domination of the event. Large profile baits with strong action were the most advantageous lures late in the tour, when the moon was fading and light was low. Some creative rigging is necessary to throw a soft plastic measuring the best part of 20cm, and some of the most enjoyable time in the lead up to a tour is figuring this out.

Westin and Castaic are two companies relatively new to the Australian market, and both offer some simple yet incredibly effective lures to fill those remaining gaps in your soft plastic box. The Westin Shad Teez is a great natural boney bream profile, and its large paddle-tail exhibits great action and body roll when rigged on a standard jighead. Castaic’s Jerky J Swim series of boot tail swimbaits are a little thicker in the body than their Westin counterparts, again featuring a thumping tail beat that draws barra in to have a look. Both are available in a range of different sizes from petite 3” versions to mega profiles of 7” and bigger, catering to every bait size.

No BARRA Tour kit is complete without one of these, a pimped and tricked Squidgy Slick Rig.

One last contender for the specialty spot in the soft plastic arsenal would be the Zerek Flat Shad. A unique collapsible body makes this perfect for rigging weed-less and throwing into some really nasty structure.

HARDEN UP So, now that you have a box of go-to soft baits, it’s time to harden up and put together a tray of the best and most effective hardbodies

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Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au for an assault on the 2016 BARRA tour. There’s a reason why Rapala have been the major supporter of the tour in the last few years, they saw a group of anglers have fantastic success on some of their products and rewarded them with support. The Rapala X-Rap is renowned as a fish catching machine, and are super effective for the barra angler. If the ‘Slickie’ was the forward defence of

Larger sized soft plastics proved their worth on the 2015 Tour, and are something your shouldn’t leave home without.

soft plastics, the X-Rap would be the frontline quick of a steamy pace attack.

As anglers, we’re all about diversity; no one likes to own all the same stuff. So here are a few other options to look at building your one stop shop hardbody box.

The Luckycraft Pointer has been a benchmark barra lure since the brand first made its way to Australia from the largemouth filled waters of Japan. Available in a multitude of sizes and running depths, a box of assorted Pointers could probably satisfy even the pickiest of barra junkies.

Now available with out-ofthe-box barra-ready hardware, the benchmark just got higher.

Ecogear BM125s were probably one of the first Japanese designed lures specially made to target barramundi in Australia after Japanese lure designer Takayoshi Orimoto came to Australia many years ago.

Still a fantastic shallow water option to this day, the BM125

Scan this QR code to see the best way to tie the FG knot.

Having and knowing how to use the latest sounders is essential for barra success on the lakes. is a contender for sure.

Of course, it isn’t just overseas where we look for successful barra lures.

Australia has produced some truly excellent options for the box. Companies such as Reidy’s continue to make some of the most relied on barra lures in the country, with the B52 continuing to do damage in the hands of BARRA Tour stalwarts like Peter Price.

It isn’t just the long, slim profiles of jerkbaits that barra love to munch on in North Queensland. Fat profile, short

bodied crankbaits imitate a boney bream better than almost anything else and continue to fly under the radar of many barra anglers.

Karim DeRidder of Team Humminbird/EJ Todd put the Luckycraft SKT Magnum on the map when he used the gigantic crankbait to notch the team’s first win of the 2015 tour at Teemburra Dam. The behemoth crankbait measures over 100mm, and a simple slow roll and pause technique was all that was needed to capture almost 10m of barra in the two-day evening event.

Steve Morgan told stories about how they used to catch plenty of barra on an old Rapala Risto Rap, again a slightly shorter and fatter profile crankbait that you simply slowly wind through structure, with the odd pause to capture the interest of a nearby barra.

While they aren’t as diverse and as easily accessible for the average angler, jointed hard swim and glidebaits are quickly becoming a consistent fish catcher in the northern impoundments.

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With continued success they become more and more accessible as more options come to market. There are a few different styles of swimbaits available; some swim with a very pronounced ‘S’ motion, while others glide majestically side-to-side, sometimes as wide as 3ft.

Evergreen, Duo and Megabass make some great hard swim and glidebaits, which are definitely a contender for that last space in the hardbody box.

Tournament Angler Guide PICK UP STICKS Now that you’ve sorted a couple of boxes of go-to fish catching machines, you will need some rods to throw them on. Barramundi rod selection is like a game of young against old.

Traditionally, short overhead baitcast rods were the norm.

The perceived added control of a sub 6ft rod and the older method of simply fishing the snags meant a shorter rod was always favoured.

These days, with our added

knowledge of how to target fish offshore away from structure, longer overheads and spin rods especially have really taken control over the last few years. Realistically, you only need a couple of rods to be a successful barra angler. One spin and one baitcast would see you set for almost all situations you’d encounter on tour.

A medium-heavy rated baitcast around 6’6” in length would be the first choice.

Something of this length

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abt.org.au

can be used for tip down presentations like twitching a jerkbait among timber, yet is not disadvantaged too much on an open point casting a soft plastic to a weed edge. You don’t need to worry too much about how many million modulus the blank is. As long as it’s comfortable and light enough to cast for eight hours without fatigue, you won’t have any trouble detecting a bite from a hungry barra.

A spin rod of a similar rating around 10-20lb around the 7’0” mark would be the second stick in the quiver. This rod would mainly be used for long casting on open points and bays, but could be equally used for slowly winding a lure through structure. A key with spin rods is to make sure the guides are suitable to pass your chosen leader knot. If you tie a large knot like an Albright choose a rod with larger guides, likewise if you’re familiar with the FG knot (which you can watch by clicking the QR code), you open up a few more options with smaller guides.

On the 2015 tour I took up everything from 5’8” to 7’9” baitcast rods, as I wanted to put everything to the test and identify what I believed to be the best. After ten days of flat out fishing I have to admit I definitely prefer a longer rod, with 6’6”

Spin and baitcaster rods in varying lengths, tapers and weights will ensure you have the right tool for the job. being the absolute minimum for what I would take. The main benefit I saw in longer rods over 7ft was the added ‘tip’ you get from a longer blank. A longer rod can still be powerful in the butt and yet retain a sensitive tip, whereas a short 6ft rod will inherently exhibit a stiffer tip due to the short length. I found

my hook-up ratio was a lot higher with longer rods in accordance with how barra feed. The longer rod allowed me a few extra milliseconds to react to the initial bite while the softer tip loaded.

With a short stiffer rod, the fish feels resistance almost immediately.

To page 28

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abt

Tournament Angler Guide

TINKER TIME Getting prepped for the barra tour is almost as fun as winding them in. The preparation and tinkering that goes on is rewarding bothon and off the water. If

you scanned the QR code you would have already seen how Craig Griffiths modifies his Squidgy Slick Rigs, and you can modify almost anything in your equipment to maximize the results. Upgrading the terminals on your favourite hardbodies can alter the buoyancy, so doing all this at home before you hit the water can prevent wasted time.

Adding a stinger hook to your soft plastics is the number one modification most experienced barra anglers make, to increase their hook-up ratio. There are a number of ways to rig a stinger, some more complex than others. Swivels, Hawaiian snaps, and crimps can all be used to secure a treble on the underneath of a soft plastic.

Tinkering with your anchor can save you a huge headache in the weeklong barra fest. Being able to quick release your anchor if you hook up to a rampaging fish will definitely keep more fish from rubbing you off. Most of the in-the-know guys have a quick release clip with a float on their anchor line. If you hook up and need to up anchor, rather than pulling the anchor in you simply unhook and throw the float overboard.

The float will keep the anchor line up top so you can come and re-clip in after you’ve

There’s no bigger challenge than catching barra in the timber. landed your fish.

Another boat modification that can come in handy is some lighting. No doubt you’ve seen the awesome

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lighting rigs floating around on the Bassmaster pro’s boats for the last few years. This functional bling can definitely help you stay organized in a

abt.org.au night session or the gruelling all night event. Spotlights either handheld, or mounted to the bow of the boat can help navigate the timbered sections of the lakes, making night time manoeuvring much easier.

SOUNDER SECRETS Barramundi are one of the best fish to look for on a sounder. The large, slow moving fish appear perfectly on the screens of even the smallest sounders these days.

The technology game is moving fast and while the big units are nice, the budget friendly new generation like the Helix from Humminbird offer all the barramundi finding tech in a wallet friendly bundle for all anglers to enjoy.

Side imaging sonar is probably the best invention for barra fishing ever. Being able to scan up to 150ft each side of your vessel can be invaluable for finding the sweet spot to key you into a red-hot barra bite. Using side imaging sonar is an article in itself, but the main story here is you don’t need a 12” unit to take advantage of these technologies. Do some research and become familiar with how to use side imaging and even a Helix 5 or 7 will be a barra locating machine!

For the electronic

nut, take side imaging and imagine a 360° view around your boat – that would be cool right? Well, that’s exactly what Humminbird’s 360 imaging provides. A sideimaging signal is a static beam that runs perpendicular to the direction of the boat, and on that premise, it relies on movement to scan the underwater environment.

360 Imaging is a spinning transducer that is lowered underneath your boat by either a stern mount or a trolling motor mount and allows you to scan the whole way around your boat – you can literally watch barramundi moving around a point as your boat is anchored stationary.

THE WRAP UP The ABT barra tour is the pinnacle of competitive barra angling for me, a southerner who only gets limited opportunities to catch these giants every year. To travel alongside some of the country’s best anglers, listen to them share tips and strategies, watch them select which lures to use and how to approach a certain location is invaluable in becoming a better angler.

So pack your gear and plan the time off. The dates have already been set for what will surely be another week to remember as the ABT BARRA Tour heads north in 2016.

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abt

Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au

2016 ABT Rankings and Angler of the Year It was a fruitful year for many anglers on the tournament trail in 2015.

Kris Hickson continued his hot run of form to finish the year as the Angler of the Year (boater) and number one ranked boater, while Simon Johnson claimed the number one nonboater ranking and Stuart Walker the nonboater Angler of the Year title.

Warren Carter once again had a red-hot year on tour, albeit in 2015 it was the BASS Pro side of the tournament calendar with the tournament veteran claiming the BASS Pro Angler of the Year (boater) title. It was a close battle in the nonboater AOY points race with Queensland’s James Reid securing the win.

Steve Kanowski reigned supreme, claiming the number one boater ranking, while Shaun Falkenhagen made it back-to-back wins in 2015 successfully defending his Grand Final nonboater title, and in doing so ascending to the number one ranking position.

BASS Electric veteran Adrian Wilson capped off a sensational year by claiming the BASS Electric AOY title and number one BASS Electric ranking, a fitting reward for one of the BASS tour’s most passionate and driven competitors.

On the kayak front, Chris Burbidge continued his reign as the number one ranked BREAMer, while Simon Morley claimed his first major title securing the AOY crown for 2015. One the bass side of things Glen Hayter finished the 2015 season as the number

one ranked kayak BASS angler and Stephen Maas the Angler of the Year BASS kayak champ.

The 2015 Rapala BARRA Tour produced quality fishing for teams with Craig Griffiths and Karim De Ridder the standout anglers, finishing

the year as the Team of the Year (299/300 points) and as the equal number one ranked BARRA angler.

For full rankings, records, and earnings of each species and series visit www.abt.org.au.

Being a non-boater is as much about learning as it is about being part of a team. Here Shaun Falkenhagen assists Dave Young to place his fish in the weigh-bag before the weigh-in begins.

Mark Crompton had a hot 2015 and will be primed for another succesful season on the BREAM tour.

BREAM PRO RANKINGS BOATER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Kris Hickson Ross Cannizzaro Warren Carter Chris Britton Jamie McKeown Cameron Whittam Scott Butler Mark Healey Russell Babekuhl Shayne Gillett

NON-BOATER 253 222 194 165 165 158 158 150 142 137

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Simon Johnson Grayson Fong Clint Voss John Galea Shaun Egan Robert Kneeshaw Jonathon Thompson Alex Franchuk Aaron Clifton Tanya Konsul

175 164 158 156 150 149 147 135 124 122

BREAM PRO ANGLER OF THE YEAR (AOY) BOATER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Kris Hickson Ross Cannizzaro Mark Crompton Steve Gill Cameron Whittam Warren Carter Tom Slater Steve Morgan Mark Brown Brad Roberts

NON-BOATER 296 293 290 288 282 278 274 273 268 268

BREAM KAYAK RANKINGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 30

TAG 2016 abt

Chris Burbidge Jason Meech Simon Morley Stewart Dunn Glenn Allen Ben Phayer Michael Maas Patrick McQuarrie Joel Crosbie Kane Terry

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Stuart Walker Grayson Fong Simon Johnson Bradley Young Aaron Clifton Clint Voss Rodney O’Sullivan Luke Vanbrandwyk Jonathan Thompson Tanya Konsul

284 283 280 275 265 259 257 256 255 253

BREAM KAYAK AOY 364 289 289 286 271 268 265 253 249 240

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Simon Morley Chris Burbidge Jason Meech Richard Somerton Brian Hunt Martin Fellows Glenn Allen Carl Dubois Patrick McQuarrie Scott Lovig

488 486 456 455 452 449 444 440 439 424

abt

Tournament Angler Guide

abt.org.au

BASS PRO RANKINGS BOATER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Stephen Kanowski David Young Mark Lennox Craig Simmons Kris Hickson Warren Carter Paul Gillespie Peter Phelps Michael Thompson David Lane

NON-BOATER 215 187 183 172 164 164 157 151 142 124

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Shaun Falkenhagen Peter Morgan Brett Hyde Owen Mcpaul Duane Macey Ryan Jones James Reid Luke Draper Ben Randall Liam Fitzpatrick

188 168 164 155 128 116 116 115 106 105

BASS PRO ANGLER OF THE YEAR (AOY) BOATER 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Warren Carter Craig Simmons Michael Thompson Stephen Kanowski Kris Hickson Mark Lennox Anthony Thorpe Tony Thorley Greg Beattie Grant Clements

NON-BOATER 297 283 281 280 273 273 268 268 266 264

BASS ELECTRIC RANKINGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Adrian Wilson Tom Reynolds Joseph Urquhart Jonathon Bale Tim Steenhuis Les Smith Charles West Shaun Falkenhagen Brett Renz Robert Butler

Glen Hayter Richard Somerton Alan Britcliffe Stephen Maas Peter Bostock Dave Mann Mick Skinner Jonathan Chen Chesney Fung Joel Crosbie

384 310 294 288 255 250 241 238 226 219

Craig Griffiths Karim De Ridder Geoff Newby Ashley Sims Dan Curry Dustin Sippel Rick Napier Cameron Johnson Justin Welsh Peter Price

293 291 291 291 290 277 272 269 269 254

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Adrian Wilson Johathon Bale Tom Reynolds Rebecca Smith Tim Stenhuis Charles West Robert Butler Joe Urquhart Brett Renz Christian Manolea

489 482 478 458 382 296 292 284 283 279

BASS KAYAK AOY 283 253 218 181 151 151 140 122 100 97

BARRA RANKINGS 1 1 3 4 5 6 6 8 8 10

James Reid Owen Mcpaul Luke Draper Brett Hyde Peter Morgan Jason Martin Ben Randell Deborah Kowalczyk Rodney Thorpe Jim Hickson

BASS ELECTRIC AOY

BASS KAYAK RANKINGS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Stephen Maas Glenn Hayter Luke Atkinson Alan Britcliffe Peter Woods Callum Sprott Scott Sandilands Mark Hodkinson Jason Harrip Paul Holmberg

297 287 282 280 277 266 265 264 263 262

BARRA TEAM OF THE YEAR 185 185 164 154 154 144 144 135 135 126

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Craig Griffiths Rick Napier Dan Curry Paul Butler Mick Weick Geoff Newby Wally Wilton Talin Payne Shane Clarke Rhyce Bullimore

Karim De Ridder Dustin Sippel Ash Sims Greg Thomas Brendan Barnett Phill Lyons Jake Mitchell Jonathan Clark Mat McFarlane Luke Kerin

299 293 292 284 276 274 272 270 269 265 abt

TAG 2016

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Plan your SEQ salt assault BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

It’s time to dust off the fly tackle and look at some of the great summer options available to fly anglers!

match the 10wt rod. An intermediate sink rate line will give you time to get things under control once the fly hits the water and you start the ‘quick-aspossible’ retrieve.

Tuna can often be found in close proximity

Spotted mackerel have made an appearance in Moreton Bay this summer and are great fly rod sport.

South Queensland’s Moreton Bay shows a lot of promise for the fly angler now that weather patterns look like returning to southeasterly winds. Breaks between wind changes allow us to get out after the fish.

Mackerel and tuna are in the bay, and it’s always fun to catch these hard-charging fighters. If there’s much more fun you can have with a fly rod, I’ve yet to see it!

Early starts are essential as these pelagics feed up big time just after daylight when the weather is arguably at its best for the day. The birds are the clue: find the birds and the fish will be there.

MESSING WITH MACKEREL Sturdy 10wt tackle is wisest, as some of those summertime spotties are big fish, and there can be the odd Spanish in the mix as well. A saltwater quality reel with at least 250m of 50lb braid backing should

to mackerel, and luckily this outfit can be used for both species. A rod length tapered leader terminating in

fair game for the fly angler, as they will tolerate a gentle approach from a boat far more readily than tuna. That said, they are somewhat more difficult to hook-up on due to their sheer speed while in a feeding frenzy.

Cast to the edge of a bait ball and strip the baitfish imitation style fly back as quickly as possible. If a fish follows but won’t take, simply re-cast and have another shot. Wire can save bite-offs but definitely inhibits bites, so I leave it off and accept the risk.

Macks are prime table fare and deserve to be dispatched as quickly as possible upon capture, and then placed in an ice slurry so the meat sets properly.

If left to thrash about in an ice box, a lot of the eating quality can be lost through bruising.

TOUCHY TUNA Tuna are also prime tucker but they’re somewhat harder to take on fly because of their wariness. The most gentle, noise-free approach by the boat is vital to get within casting range of feeding

intermediate line, and some quick rips back towards the boat should result in a steady tug that immediately develops into a sizzling run followed by some dour stonewalling tactics by the fish.

Tuna are tough fighters on the long rod and you simply cannot rush them. If a fish wants to circle under the boat simply ease the drag considerably and drive off a short distance away.

This will disorientate the fish and stop the circling.

If you want to keep a tuna for the table, give

Find the birds and you will find the fish.

These terns were working over tuna.

Mackerel working on a bait ball. In this situation, there’s a prime opportunity for the fly angler to have a crack at them.

it the same treatment as mackerel – as rapid a dispatch as possible, with thorough bleeding and then ice down thoroughly. This will ensure the best eating potential.

Both mackerel and tuna are usually found in the northern part of the Bay (north of the Mud Island/ Moreton green zone) and around the shipping channels and beacons, but both species will move south to around Peel Island as the season advances.

So get out there and bend the long rod on some of these line-burning speedsters!

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Tuna readily take flies, the trick is to get close enough for a shot at them. a 7-10kg tippet is ideal. Size 1/0-2/0 flies will match a lot of bay baitfish.

Macks on a bait ball are

tuna, but once the fly is in the melee a hook-up is not that difficult. Give it a few seconds to sink on the

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The author with a typical Moreton Bay longtail tuna taken on the long wand.

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Exceptional reef fishing RAINBOW BEACH

Ed Falconer

We’ve had fantastic weather in recent weeks, and exceptional reef fishing as well. We’ve been getting lots of pearl perch, snapper, hussar and Moses perch, and we’ve also been getting some nice red emperor out wide.

than artificials. In the wintertime we tend to get the bigger specimens on plastics, but at the moment they couldn’t be less interested in softies.

We had a really good run of spotted and Spanish mackerel just before Christmas; on a few days they were that thick that you could just about walk on them. The action has since gone a bit quiet,

February the macks tend to hang on structure.

BEACH The entire beach is fishing really well for summer whiting, and late in the evening anglers have been picking up some chopper tailor at Inskip Point. Some quality flathead are also turning up in catches at Double Island Point on unweighted blue pilchards.

The beach fishing in February should continue to be pretty good for whiting.

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

We should see lots of macks in the coming months.

More than just bills in the bay HERVEY BAY

Scott Bradley marlin81@bigpond.com

Keely Rose clients have enjoyed ripper pearl perch fishing of late.

Interestingly, in summer the reefies like pearl perch and snapper seem to only want bait (usually fished on a paternoster) rather

with the mackerel having followed the bait schools out wider. We’re expecting them to return very soon though.

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February is one of those months that can be boom or bust for anglers on the Fraser Coast. Some years we have weeks of stinking hot weather and glassy calm seas and other years it’s pouring rain and blowing 30 knots for the whole month.

The possibility of cyclonic weather patterns moving down the coast always keeps you on your toes but if you get a window in the weather, there is usually a bay full of pelagic species to chase in Platypus Bay. The bait arrived just before Christmas and there were mac tuna from Rooneys Point to Moon Point, feeding on tiny bait about 10mm long.

It can get frustrating when they are locked in on bait that small and aren’t responding to anything you throw at them. When this happens, the key is to keep moving to the next school in the hope of finding a school of fish feeding on bigger bait.

Billfish are still a real possibility for the next few months and into winter, but

once the water temperature drops below 20°C they tend to thin out on the inside of Fraser until it starts to warm up again.

ON THE FLATS Schools of golden

plastics and poppers.

ON THE TROLL In the lead up to Christmas I fished the new and full moons in November and December chasing marlin in Platypus Bay. Last

worked all the way back to Wathumba until we had our next shot and after a few missed, strikes finally kept the hooks in one.

From then on we always started fishing

Dave Campbell with his first marlin caught at Wathumba. trevally, queenfish, tuna and mackerel are a prime target for the high-speed spinners, both livebaiting and on the fly. Work the ledges, creek mouths and adjacent flats either in the boat or wading the shallows sight casting for best results.

Summer whiting, bream, grunter and flathead are other options in the shallows for those either baitfishing or flicking small hardbodies,

year we caught most of our billfish around Ronneys with a few strikes around Wathumba and Station Hill, but this year all except one marlin was caught in close to Wathumba Creek.

On the first trip on the November new moon we went straight to Rooneys and worked from there to Porpoise Shoals after landing one marlin in the first 15 minutes. We

at Wathumba and never went any further because the fish were there. We averaged 8-12 shots at marlin a day and with numbers like that, why go any further?

Among the marlin strikes we caught a few Spanish and spotted mackerel and even caught a 110cm wahoo just north of Wathumba Creek, which you don’t see every day!

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Fun on tropical species FRASER COAST

Phil James p_j_james@bigpond.com

With two months of summer behind us, February should make similar offerings provided weather conditions are reasonably kind.

The beaches of Fraser Island should be good for the usual beach species of dart, whiting, bream and flathead, with tarwhine and reef species likely around the coffee rocks. In particular there have been some very encouraging reports of big whiting, mostly from the gutters south of Dilli Village. The usually reliable dart have been unpredictable though, and schools of quality fish are hard to find at times.

The exciting burst of small marlin around Rooney Point and inside Platypus Bay seems to have subsided, but the odd fish has still been worked and released. Sadly, some fish were retained too long and weren’t able to be revived.

Other activity around the northern end of the island has been associated with longtail and mac tuna

as well as spotty mackerel (you can take five spotties that make the 60cm limit).

This month should see the mackerel at their peak.

The reefs around Rooney Point and further south have produced a few scarlets and small snapper. At the Arch Cliff Six Mile Reefs, golden trevally have been prolific, but so have sharks, which makes it almost impossible to land a good fish.

Further south around the beacons north of Woody Island, and along the shipping channel leading towards the Fairway buoy, there has been a particularly good run of school mackerel. Possibly a little out of season, but nobody is complaining.

Hervey Bay’s reefs have been performing well, particularly since the New Year. Along the deeper ledges, around the Rufus Artificial Reef and in Boges Hole anglers have caught blackall, cod and black spot tuskfish. The shallow reefs have turned on the same species, with coral trout falling to trolled barra lures in the shallows along the reef edges. This action should continue until late April at the earliest,

weather permitting.

The mouths of the Susan and Mary rivers at River Heads continue to hold blue salmon. Anglers who target this species during December and January found themselves connecting with the occasional barramundi as a by-catch (these were of course released).

The pikey bream, common in North Queensland, have been a common catch in the Mary River system. In recent years (possibly due to the increase in water temperatures) this species has become more abundant, particularly around South Head and upstream in the Susan River.

This is just another of many tropical estuarine species that have become more common along the Fraser Coast.

The Burrum River has fished well during the recent school holidays.

Jacks have tested anglers’ skills along the snaggy banks upstream of Walkers Point. Of course, barramundi devotees will now be able to target their favourite quarry in similar territory (the season opened from noon, 1 February).

Some excellent jacks have

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Some good jacks are caught in the semi-tidal lagoons at Eli Waters. turned up in some of the semi-tidal lagoons at Eli Waters. The lads who enjoy the challenge observe strict

catch and release procedure, and only take home photos.

Let’s hope that the weather will be kind to us

this month. If we can use the last warm months as a guide, there should be plenty of opportunities.

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Barra season open for bites and business ROCKHAMPTON

Clayton Nicholls clay94_fishing@live.com.au

The opening of barra season seemed an eternity away, but finally the closed season is over and our beloved and ferocious target species is back on the Central Queensland hit list. The weather in January

which means the fish will certainly be active. There are many great places to target in close vicinity to the city’s boat ramps, incuding the rocks at the 400m mark, the rocks around the two bridges, and the deep channel just down from Gavial Creek.

The salmon have responded to lightly weighted plastics and flies. Use a prawn-like or small minnow pattern.

flathead are channel mouths or drop-offs in the channel, from knee-deep water rapidly dropping to water over a metre deep. The bream on the other hand, especially the pikey bream have been a very common catch for people heading down to places like Wild Cattle Creek, The Narrows and Coorooman, along with Moses perch and the odd grunter. Cod have been in the thousands and will take almost any lure or bait thrown at them. The best places to target the majority of these estuary species would be headlands along the beaches, and on a calm day can even result in queenfish and trevally. Medium running bream styled hardbodies have worked well – use a natural baitfish pattern to achieve

Atomic pro-angler Connor Duffy holds a corker of a barra caught in Central Queensland! due to a lack of rain. Sub-surface plastics like a lightly weighted ZMan or Atomic Plazos worked around the edges of the structure with a slow roll or slow twitch can trigger a strike.

CRABBING The crabs are extremely active and filled to the brim with meat. A recent influx of freshwater in the system

A healthy 49cm mangrove jack taken on topwater by Charlie Hohn. was decent enough for many anglers to get out and catch a few good ones. The estuaries fish nicely, and the freshwater areas perform well in the afternoons.

FITZROY AND THE NARROWS Closed season is over for our region as of midday 1 February. With the gates closed throughout most of summer, the Fitzy is extremely salty all the way through to the 400m mark,

There have been numerous mangrove jacks caught around the area recently, most of them react to soft plastics like gulp shrimp and minnows and hardbodies like Luckycraft Pointers and Atomic Shiners.

RIVERS CREEKS AND THE BEACHES The creeks and beaches have reportedly fired for large bream and flathead in the deeper parts of the water. Areas to target for

should keep the crabbing at the port going strong as the water upstream carries a lot of muck and dead organisms that crabs like to feed on.

Check out your local tackle store for any advice, or for the lowdown on the rules and regulations.

Remember – fish light, get the bite.

Mitch caught this big thready recently working the Fitzroy. good results. These lures typically dive 1-2m and are around 40-50mm long.

FRESHWATER LAGOONS The combination of summer heat, light rain to storms, and abundance of small baitfish has turned the fresh right up. The best areas

are around the lilies or tree lines where baitfish gathers and predator fish like barra and tarpon, even catfish and large perch come to hunt.

These species can successfully be targeted on surface using walk-the-dog style action with stickbaits, rather than poppers, which haven’t worked as well

Duffy with a beautiful land-based mangrove jack taken on an Atomic 3” Prong.

Pelagics gather to play on the Gladstone reefs GLADSTONE

Eve Malone eve.dave42@gmail.com

Barramundi season is now open, and in addition to this great news, all reefs and estuaries have produced excellent fish to celebrate.

Several people have asked me to write about closer inshore options for smaller boats, for those who don’t

have time for the longer trips to the reef, so this month I’ve included a few options below for fishos to consider on their next run out in the boat.

RUNDLE ISLAND Rundle Island is accessed via the coast line north and is around a 30-minute trip exiting the northern end of Facing Island at about 25 knots – that is, provided you don’t take advantage of the common boil ups from

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pelagics along the way! The Island itself is surrounded by rocks, bommies, deep holes, coral and many sandy strips, which gives anglers plenty of opportunity to catch both reef, rock species, and hard running pelagic specimens. The North Eastern corner is known for great runs of mackerel, which have been caught floating or slow retrieving pilchards. Troll the Island end to end in the early morning. A dawn arrival

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is best, or an hour before dusk.

The occasional coral trout can be caught on this end, along with trevally, cod and sweetlip.

Big jew inhabit the South Western Side of the Island; there is a sandy shelf where jew school after decent rain.

Live baits are brilliant but when they are feeding any bait will suffice.

BASS SHOALS The Shoals are SSE of Rundle, very close to the

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coast, and feature bommies and lots of rocky grounds to explore. Rock Cod Shoals early morning and late afternoon is best for this small area, and drifting seems to produce the best hook-up rates. This reef is renowned for sharks in the warmer months of the year.

Jig silver lures, troll the area or bottom bash with bait and you will catch fish.

Snapper are a common catch

here in certain months of the year both squire and nobbies. I have caught nannygai, blubber-lip and good-sized spangled emperor there. I have looked for accurate marks on the Shoal but find that sounding out the area is the best method to find the bommies I want to target according to the species I want to find.

To page 87

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Stable weather, crazy fishing LAKE MONDURAN

Jamie Bein

I often get asked how I work out where to fish our beautiful lake. My answer is usually the same – it depends on which way the wind is blowing. To know this you can only wait until you get on the water.

A southeasterly wind, which is common at this time of year, leads me to White Rock. I go where the wind pushes onto the point and have the sounder on side scan, to watch for barra moving through. A good sounder is a must to find fish, and once you work out how to read your sounder, you can see which way they’re coming from.

I also find that you can pick which fish are in feeding mode. They will be either high in the water column, or in the middle of the water column.

Once you know that they’re in the area and moving through, you should start to throw your offering.

Most of the barra we’ve boated in the last month have been caught on Happy Rock Softies. These plastics

come in three sizes, but most of my barra have come on the medium size.

The other barra have been caught on hardbodies, which work a treat. I’ve played around with some of them and added heavier hooks so they suspend or rise very slowly, and I find the best retrieve is a slow roll with a twitch every so often.

I have hooked barra very early in the morning using poppers. I like to give it a ‘bloop’ and leave it to sit for a few seconds, before blooping it again. The strikes on surface lures are heart-stopping.

Other great places to find barra in a southeasterly wind are Insane Bay, the island out the front of the bay, Heart Bay, the Two Mile and Jacks.

In the event of a north or northeasterly wind, head to Bird Bay, the Rainforest and Cow Bay. Colour is a personal choice, but I find pearl white in the soft plastic is fantastic. I have some new gold ones that have been getting a bit of use too. As for hardbodies, sliver sides, white, brown and even black under fading light are good options.

I have found over the years that the vibration of the lure moving in the water gets the barra to follow, and then colour takes over, and entices the fish to eat. The action you put into working the lure is another important factor.

When I find barra in numbers I tie up to a tree and work the area. The other thing to remember is if you find that you have barra moving through on both sides of the boat, you should try to move your boat so you have most of the barra moving down one side of the boat, as this will increase your chance of hooking one.

The only time I leave barra is when we have hooked and boated some or have hooked and lost them.

This often spooks them and they may slow down or even stop coming through all together. Usually I’ll move along in the bay or to another point that the wind is blowing onto (if you’re fishing points).

Over the past few months the barra have not really fed in the way I anticipated, there are two reasons for this. One is that the water temperature is getting too high – over 29°C and they

From page 86

GATCOMBE HEADS The grounds around the southern end of Facing Island provides a multitude of fishing options, and most locals who hit this area fish for queenfish, mackerel and tuna.

Northerly winds makegreat fishing conditions as there is not a lot of protection from the elements and anyone who has fished through the harbour and exited to the reefs this way will know it can be uncomfortable at times. Troll the edges of the channel and through the channel markers in the early morning for the best results. There can be a lot of smashing on the surface and bird activity, so finding these fish shouldn’t be too difficult! If there isn’t much activity, go back to your sounder and you will find them. There are quite a few rocky outcrops along Gatcombe which produce good grunter, parrot and the odd trout, just watch the run, which will get snagged all day – although a standard part of fishing, this can be frustrating. Check out Oyster Rocks as well.

BINDAREE The Bindaree Wreck is well known to the locals, and can be accessed by smaller boats. The wreck is northeast of the northern entrance of Facing Island, and the marks can be found on all GPSs so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it. A small wreck of a trawler around 18m long and sits down

Steve Sharman caught a great bag of metre plus Spanish casting metal slugs around Bindaree Wreck. around 10m of water. The area produces quality fish; I have caught cobia, mackerel, trevally and parrot as well as good jew. Bindaree is a small area so it’s best to fish on the outgoing tide and to cast on or near the wreck from the western side. Float baits and troll to get good results. If you approach and see a multitude of boats (seven or more) don’t waste your time, as there won’t be enough room.

I will feature some more options next month for people to consider other than reef and estuaries.

REEFS Over the past months all reefs have produced the usual suspects such as trout, sweetlip, parrot and the like.

We’ve experienced some hit and miss occasions, but mostly it’s not difficult to get a feed. I’ve found the incoming tide works better than the outgoing. I am normally a big advocate for drifting, however if you find the fish, anchor up because on the second and third drift the bite has gone. Maximise your chances even if you only get the bite for a short space, at

start to move to deeper water and are harder to find. To overcome this issue troll with deep diving lures in more open water to land you some barra.

The other reason, and the most important, is unstable weather. This turns the barra off, and makes them scatter rather than gather in one area. The longer we have stable weather, the better the fishing gets. I think the next few months will produce a few metre barra in our lake and as the really hot days pass and the weather moves into a more stable conditions, these big fish will be caught.

The best times will be three or four days either side of the new moon. Fishing the full moon is good, but I like some cloud cover, as the full moon is so bright that it can almost be like daylight.

I’m not one to fish an area if there are lots of boats, as this can make them harder to catch. Be as quiet as you can, and try to avoid banging on the side of your boat or jumping on the floor, as this will only spook fish.

This can be a tough time of year to land barra in our lake, but I hope these tips will put more in your boat. least you know it is there.

I must say the pelagics have fired up recently; North West still gives up great mahimahi, marlin and some cracking Spanish mackerel, skirted lures have done the damage for those who target these big pelagics. I have seen a few Spanish macks succumb to bottom bouncing baits, and all around there have been smiling anglers. You will find the mackerel and tuna over all the reefs, the coastline and some cracking fish around the southern end of Facing Island.

ESTUARIES Calliope River produces good-sized mangrove jack.

I would love to be able to pinpoint a spot for you to try, but we have caught them all the way from the upper reaches almost to fresh water right through to the mouth of the river, so drop a line in anywhere. Try ZMan in Pearl; these lures smash the jacks and land the odd grunter. Work the structure, rocky ground and mangroves and you will find them – the top of the tide works best.

Boyne River has similar results, however catches of flathead seem to have quietened off a little. Queenfish have reported for duty at the bridge between Boyne and Tannum, and dart seem to be an excellent target around the mouth. They are great for the kids and a whole lot of fun.

Tight lines everyone, and hopefully I will hear of some more brilliant catches over the month.

This was Simon’s third barra for the morning, an 89cm model.

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87

Clearwater jacks a summertime favourite BUNDABERG

Jason Medcalf topwater@bigpond.com

We are supposed to be in for a wet during February, which is good news, as the past few months haven’t really produced many good creek flows.

The creeks need to get a good flush every year to move around the natural food sources of the aquatic environment. In simple terms, the small fish feed and breed then the larger fish feed and breed.

The Burnett River has been very busy over the holiday period, and I am sure all the local retired anglers that fish during the week will be looking forward to a bit less traffic on the water.

The Burnett has still been fishing quite well despite the pressure with whiting, bream and flathead still showing up in good enough numbers to warrant putting the boat in.

There have also been large schools of school mackerel hanging around the mouth of the river and they have been readily taking trolled lures and floating pilchards.

I managed to get into a few with my daughter trolling Tilsan Barra lures in front of

the lighthouse recently. There was a professional fisher there with his nets spread around and in the low light they were difficult to see, so keep an eye out.

Baffle Creek has been hit and miss over the break, with the water temperature getting up to 30°C, which does slow the fishing down. There has

been a little bit of rain in the catchment, which will really help Baffle, as when it gets very clear it can be hard to tempt a jack to eat a lure.

I find fishing surface lures up there in the clear water does fire a few jacks up, and I fish them pretty much all day, not just early or late in the day. My go-to lure is the Cultiva Zip

Amity Rae Medcalf having fun with small school mackerel on the Burnett.

n Ziggy in gold, with a walkthe-dog style of retrieve. You may make a lot of casts with no result, but when a red devil decides to eat your lure, it’s an awesome sight to see.

The mouth is still fishing OK for whiting and bream, but the flathead are pretty much spread out all over the place and may take some finding.

Trolling small hardbody lures around the islands at the mouth should see you come in contact with a few flathead at this time of the year.

Offshore the Spanish mackerel have turned up on most of our local reefs with live baits, jigs and trolled lures working on them. The mackerel will usually stay high in the water column while the light is low, but will drop closer to the bottom as the sun rises higher.

You can tempt those fish that have dropped deeper by dropping jigs down to them and then ripping it up through them at high speed. This is a very active way of getting them to bite, but it is a great way to fire them up. I have fished with boats around us not getting a bite on the mackerel, while we have had double hook ups high speed jigging for them.

The bottom species have

Don’t discount fishing surface lures during the day for mangrove jack. been harder to temp of late with most anglers reporting slow fishing of the bottom and some anglers coming home with just a few hussar for the day.

February will see much the same fishing as January, only less crowds, but if we do get enough rain to flush the creeks out, March and April will be great.

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眀眀眀⸀戀漀愀琀椀渀最愀渀搀爀瘀⸀挀漀洀⸀愀甀 88

FEBRUARY 2016

Heaps of reds over close reefs YEPPOON

Scott Lynch ifishcq2@bigpond.com

At last barramundi season is open again. Up here barra are one of our favourite species, and the season opening on 1 February is like a whole new beginning, with reels serviced and lure boxes stuffed with all the latest

other top option is plastic vibes like Transams and Threadybusters that can be used to work a patch thoroughly. The neaps period is the best for fishing the top of the river while the big tides are the best for the lower end.

While this dry spell continues, the top of the salt side of the river will produce quality fish. There has been everything from horse-sized

Cassee Evans with a spangled emperor taken on a trip with Extreme Fishing Solutions. guaranteed-to-work barra lollies. We are facing a new era in The Fitzroy River as it will be the first time that there will be no commercial netting. How quickly we notice the difference will probably be determined more by the rainfall and fresh flows down the river than actual time. The lack of any substantial rain over Christmas and January will have a severe effect on numbers of fish in the near future.

There have been quite a few barra cruising the town reaches in recent weeks. In January some were caught and released by anglers trolling for king salmon around Devil’s Elbow. Corio/ Waterpark and Coorooman should be in pretty good shape for barramundi this month if accidental captures in late January are anything to go by.

We’re still getting big shows of king salmon, with captures in the whole saltwater end of the Fitzroy.

They are at their thickest in the areas closer to town, where catches of 10+ fish in a session is fairly normal.

Most anglers like to release these big salmon to fight another day, which could be part of the reason the numbers are still so high.

The hardbody lure guys find that the natural prawn type colours work well but the best have been lures with a small rattle. The average depth that the salmon are working is approximately 5m so the best lures are those that run at 4-5m so they occasionally touch the bottom but don’t drag. The

grunter and golden snapper to bream, flathead and black jew. They have come up to feed on the masses of small prawns that haven’t had the flows to fatten up or get flushed downstream.

Every little mud gutter has prawns in it, and with the bait come the salmon and barra. Coorooman Creek is much the same as it depends on decent local rainfall to get the prawns moving. The Waterpark Corio system is a bit different because of the catchment area, which has received enough rain to inject some fresh into the creeks. The prawns and crabs there grow faster than those at the southern end of our range.

REEF AND OFFSHORE There are lots of cod aggregating at many of the local rubble patches at the moment. A few years ago we stumbled onto a patch of very large cod, and we had to stop fishing that spot because it appeared that there were way too many

to be in one spot. We only kept two of them that could not be revived enough for release. Neither of the cod we kept were in roe or milt, so they can’t have been there to spawn. Both of them were chockers with Moreton Bay bugs. A very similar situation occurred recently in a similar spot a few kilometres from the original area. Cod surely can’t be the only species gorging on bugs, but to date I can’t recall other fish (aside from the odd trout) that have had them in their gut. Big cod are the reef guardians and where there are big cod the reef stays healthy. Take away those big cod and the reef ecosystem is in trouble.

The expected Spanish mackerel run is staying on track. Numbers don’t seem to have slowed, although the average sized fish is 6-10kg instead of the previous 8-15kg. Places like Manifold, Flat, Perforated, The Pinnacles and Hummocky are all the go for the slightly bigger fish.

The smaller average fish can be at any of the mackerel spots around The Keppels or even right inside the bay at Findlays, Farnborough, Iron Pot, Ritamada, Corio heads, Forty Acre Paddock, Conical, Outer, Man and Wife, Humpy, South Keppel and Liza Jane. From now until May are normally the best months. The lesser mackerels have virtually gone for a while and probably won’t be back for a month or two.

There are plenty of just legal snapper to almost snapper-sized fish at a few of the areas behind the main islands. They have appeared on several trips lately among the catches of grassies and parrot on the shallow, rubbly ferny patches like Hannas and Greasey Alley.

There’s an unusual amount of grassy sweetlip around the islands at the moment, and most are well over the minimum size. The better catches are made on ultra light gear using very fresh bait. It will help your catch rates to float the bait down on the smallest leads

you can get away with. The further away you can get your bait from the boat and your noise, the better. Squid, prawns and pillies are the best of the fresh frozen baits.

Prawns have been exceptionally cheap at the local food chains to the point where the good quality stuff has been half the price of bait prawns. The same goes for squid and small octopus.

Whenever my wife goes shopping she has a standing order for a box of kings or big bananas that gets split between table and the bait freezer.

Coral trout are in numbers everywhere there is available cover. The easy way to find trout around the islands is to run with the current towards the points and headlands and fish the pressure points where the current hit the features.

Trout like to face into the current waiting for baitfish or a free feed to come to them. Livies are definitely the best baits, although trout will readily take larger plastics and vibes.

There is also a heap of red fish at many of the close reefy patches right in very close to the islands. Red emperor and nannygai have been coming

Dave Plant with a good red he nailed in very shallow water. into depths of less than 12m again. There are quite a few quality fish among them.

Trevally are thick at all the shallow reef areas this time of year, and lots of them have been annoying the locals seeking a better eating fish. For those of us who like the sport aspect though, they are providing heaps of entertainment on quite light gear.

There are stacks of sportfish all around The Keppels this month. Big queenfish plus golden, bludger and tealeaf trevally have been slamming the schools of bait sheltering in the shallows of the many beaches. Plastics, vibes, poppers and chromies work equally well when targeting these guys from the beach.

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Dan Baker with the first red of the trip.

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89

Thumper barra rule the school MACKAY

Keith Day habdays@bigpond.net.au

With the opening of the season barra, barra and more barra will become the goal of Mackay district anglers during February.

check with local tackle shops for up to date info on ramps and tides.

Neap tides are the most popular with locals and allow better movement around the creeks at low tide. There is also a lot less tidal run to deal with, which can be a plus for the lure and fly anglers,

although the popularity of plastics and vibes, means they can be fished in any amount of run, depending on the weight used.

Barra mooch around the mouths of small side gullies and creek junctions and these can be real hot spots as the tide runs out. Baitfish and

Not all dam barra are huge but they are all fun, the author scored this feisty one on a flashy, rattling fly around some dead timber.

Thankfully, some good early rain during January created the perfect conditions for creek and estuary barra action.

Anglers will be keen to get to local hotspots like Reliance, Constant and Murray creeks to the north, as well as the Pioneer River in the middle of Mackay.

To the south I expect plenty of action in the Sandy and Alligator creek systems, Sarina area, and down to Rocky Dam Creek near Koumala. All these areas are serviced by concrete boat ramps, but take care, as many are more suited to half tide launching.

This shouldn’t pose a huge problem as the best barra fishing is generally from half tide out to half tide in.

Visitors to the area should

Flyfishing and sooties are a good mix - Lachlan Day enjoyed an exciting tussle, casting a Bass Vampire on a 6-weight outfit in Cattle Creek.

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screen and actually cast to individual fish. Barra show up well on even the basic sounders, which is a great help to locate bigger barra.

Some anglers spend more time screen gazing than actually fishing, and as barra spots are relatively easy to locate, I tend to go straight to known locations and get fishing. Apart from the side creek or gully scenario, barra can be found around individual snags or a single mangrove on a flat, and any rock bar is worth investigating. Barra don’t populate deep holes, but are found on the edges of these holes and shallow water (less than a metre deep) can hold numbers of good-size barra.

So, for first time barra anglers or visiting fishos, look for any of these spots and you will be in with a good chance to score a lovely chrome plated salty barra. Don’t ignore the sand banks in creeks, as barra will often move up on the sand with the incoming tide, hunting whiting and other small baitfish. My advice to visitors is to get into our local tackle outlets, and talk to the staff, as they are all keen

prawns get flushed out of the mangroves and the barra, and jacks ambush them. This is an ideal scenario for the plastic prawn style lures like the reliable Prawnstar range, but there are now plenty of others like Zerek, Atomic, Squidgies to name a few with some great life-like imitations. Don’t charge up to a creek mouth, sneak up quietly by drifting, or use the electric outboard and cast the ‘prawn’ up into the gully and work it out into the main creek. Give any spot like this a good work over for at least 15 minutes.

With the tremendous advances in small boat sounders, anglers can pinpoint barra on the

Samantha Mercer loves catching barra like this one last season, which she hooked at the drain in the background on a vibe. anglers and will give good current information, which is always more freely given after a couple of purchases.

The barra scene is not all about the saltwater, with Teemburra and Kinchant dams firing up over the closed season. Plenty of metre plus fish were hooked in both dams. There have been lots of bust-offs in Teemburra, and the barra show a liking for the timber areas, which makes landing a horse barra just that bit more difficult. Due to low water levels in Teemburra, some of the main basin islands now show, and these can be real hotspots, as the barra move from deeper water up into the shallows chasing bony bream. Kinchant basically has no structure apart from weed beds, so these are the areas to work.

Barra in fresh or saltwater will respond to hardbodies, soft plastics and a range of flies. A few shallow divers like gold bombers, Reidy’s B52s, and any number of

specialist local timber lures are essentials in any tackle box. Don’t forget a few poppers and Tango Dancers in the largest size. For the plastic fantastic brigade, a selection of Squidgies, Reidy’s, Tsunami, and ZMans will cover the bases, with a few PopFrogz thrown in (the largest white coloured works well). Fly anglers will get results using Deceivers, Whistlers, flashy bomber styles and poppers.

In the saltwater, there are plenty of jacks and golden snapper around, alongside some lovely grunter, caught over the gravel beds. It will be interesting to see the results of the Net Free Zone based around Seaforth, and monitor catches from that area. Mackay Rec Fishers are committed to annual monitoring to get good solid data about the results of the declaration of the NFZ. Interesting times are ahead.

Offshore, most of the

Lachlan plucked this little sooty from the snag behind him just on dusk casting a foam body popper on a 6-weight fly rod.

To page 91

All smiles for black jew catch STANAGE BAY

Von Ireland

The Bays and headlands, estuaries, reefs, beaches and islands of the Stanage area have recently seen a good amount of fish and mud crab stocks. The blue waters from the Stanage boat ramp (Plumtree) to Porters Creek have produced nice whiting, flathead, bream and cod and have even produced a couple of legal size barra, which were instantly thrown back,

alive and swimming as it was the closed season for barramundi. Barramundi season opens this month.

BEACHES Alligator Bay, Flatrock, and Pebble Beach (locally referred to as Pretty Beach), have all benefited at stages of the tide with extremely fruitful fishing. The infamous jew holes in Thirsty Sound have taken turns seeing legal to extra large jew leave the water never to return.

Don’t take more than your limit in jew to sell.

Sheer greed depleted the

jew from the area because of overfishing twelve years ago.

Apparently, jewfish bladder, if processed correctly, can be delicious and some moreselfish anglers have taken far too many and left the fishery unbalanced. Currently, the jewfish holes have been healthy, which in turn keeps the local ice producer, the servo, the multiple holiday rental properties and the bait and tackle shop in business.

So use your head and only take what you need. You can no longer catch sharks for their fins – so don’t catch big jewfish for their bladders.

Storms have hit some areas of Stanage, however,

my water tanks are still below half-full, which means the small amount of rain received here is not enough to stir on the fish, and will slow both the fish and the mighty muddy bite.

The road into Stanage is for the most part in good repair, with potholes in the centre and corrugation on the edges in certain areas. Like the sea, fish and muddies an unsealed road changes daily depending on many factors.

• Remember the latest fishing reports are on www. f i s h i n g m o n t h l y. c o m . a u and for queries on Stanage Bay fishing, call me on (07) 4937 3145.

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This sunrise coloured nannygai was caught off the reefs last month.

From page 90

tuna and small mackerel have followed the bait schools south, but trevally and queenfish still provide some pelagic action for even the small boat angler.

Results will be dependent on the weather, as both prefer good clean, clear water. If we have our anticipated start to the wet season during February, this will have an impact on close in fishing for these species.

Reef bottom bashing will depend on good weather. Cyclone season is here and anyone heading offshore should monitor the weather forecasts for several days before venturing too far out. Some nice reds have come from the shipping channel, with plenty of nannygai in the mix. The islands closer in have fished reasonably well but copped a hammering over the Christmas break, with anglers on holidays and some great weather allowing plenty of small boat action.

In the freshwater

streams and rivers, the sooty grunter have been on the move and preparing for the rising water levels which trigger their breeding season. MAFSA members will be on brood stock collection and look forward to another successful breeding season. Sooties are a great sportfish, I recently had some top fun, walking some of Cattle Creek casting small flies on 6 weight outfits. My mate Lachlan and I caught four sooties between us off one snag all on foam body poppers. Although they weren’t huge fish (30-40cm), they put a nice bend in our fly rods.

While February traditionally sees the start of our wet season, there are plenty of angling opportunities and options available in the district.

Cyclone activity and rain can affect the species and spots available, but the great thing about living here in paradise is the variety and diverse options available to anglers. See you at the ramp.

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FEBRUARY 2016

91

Try out some trout tricks on the shallow reefs WHITSUNDAYS

Luke Griffiths

Some much-welcomed rain has fallen over the past month and greened things up a little around our neck of the woods.

Along with the rain, comes

the heat and humidity. A fair trade off I think.

The rain has created an increase in activity in local estuaries. The muddies are on the move post downpour, so throw a pot in. What better way to use those fish frames from recent fishing trips.

The fishing in the creeks and rivers has been productive, with reports of good mangrove jack, grunter, salmon and golden snapper all making an appearance.

This month should continue on the same trend with the barramundi now also on offer, and the closed season coming to an end on 1 February.

The catches out of the blue have been promising, a benefit for us, but also a benefit for the sharks.

With the very warm water temperatures and increased fishing activity, the sharks have been out of control lately. There’s not much you can do in this instance but move along to find another spot. Sometimes moving into shallower water is the only option.

Fishing the shallower waters around our beautiful backyard reefs has been

fish the pressure points of any fringing reef around the islands or outer reef to land yourself a few gems.

With regard to baits, anything from squid and pillies to flesh and live baits will work on the trout. Live

snapper have moved in around the islands to take their place! They really do fight hard and taste great.

Any shoal or small reef around the islands should produce a golden snapper or two. Most baits will work

A recent catch! Mud crabs should be on offer this month.

Theo displaying a couple of sought after coral trout, caught at the Great Barrier Reef.

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FEBRUARY 2016

annoyingly account for a lot of sinkers bitten off while either dropping a bait, or retrieving a rig from the bottom. I have now learnt to dull my sinkers before using them, however even this sometimes doesn’t deter them!

baits usually account for the larger models, so hang on if you drop down a livey to the depths as these bigger fish know where their home is, and will reef you in no time.

This is why a good, strong length of leader is a must.

Anything 60lb and up should be fine as leader material, just as long as it has good abrasion resistance as the reefs they live in are sharp.

Speaking of sharp, I recently had the privilege to head out and do some fishing with a friend for coral trout, and he brought along his brain spike. Not only is this a fast, humane way to kill a fish, the difference it makes to the trout’s flesh is astounding. There is plenty of info on the Internet and in books for this process, so give it a try next time you head out for a fish.

A fish we have had lots of fun with over the past few months has been the cobia.

They have now tapered off with only a few still hanging around. However, the golden

for them, and a simple paternoster rig through to a running ball rig does most of the damage for us.

Schools of Spanish mackerel are still about, and have been damaging my hip pocket. A lot of them have been 20kg+ beasts. They

We aren’t complaining too much though; as we love catching Spanish, especially up in that larger size. They really do give a great fight and are equally impressive on the eye.

Float out livebaits rigged with wire for those razor sharp teeth to catch a mack.

Live fusilier or trevally work very well when livebait fishing. Floating a bait out while out fishing this month should be on your to-do list, as a sneaky mackerel could be lurking about.

This month should see the reefs and islands provide good fishing, so head out when you can. If the weather isn’t so kind, the estuaries are another good option.

Good luck if you are heading out for a fish this month, and lets hope that the sharks give it a break for a while.

• If you’re interested in a game, sport or reef fishing charters around the Whitsundays, give Luke a call on 0429 724 822 or email info@ renegadecharters.com.au.

Cobia have been chasing bait around the islands in the area. They have recently started to taper off, but large golden snapper seem to have taken their place!

Waiting on some unpredictable weath-Ayr! AYR

Steve Farmer

Temperatures and winds in early summer have been relatively kind to northern anglers, delivering calm hot days interspersed with days of cooler east to southeast breezes.

The end result is that bluewater anglers have managed to enjoy some time on the water during the calm spells, while estuary anglers have made the most of the windier, cooler, sandfly-free days.

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE Reef and shoal trips have produced average action on large-mouth nannygai, sweetlip, red emperor and coral trout for bottom fishers. I say ‘average action’ rather than ‘average catches’ because, thanks to the sharks, a hook-up doesn’t necessarily equal a fish in the icebox!

Regular shoal and reef anglers describe sharks as being in plague proportions and getting bigger and more brazen all the time. What’s worse is that they seem to have developed a taste for the better quality fish.

Regular moves are the only way to beat these ravenous monsters, and even then anglers seem to enjoy only a brief reprieve before the sharks disrupt them again.

Drift a pillie, cast, or troll lures to find some big cobia, trevally and queenfish pelagic catches.

The smaller mackerel have not appeared yet, but should be on the bite soon. Small baits fished under a float, cast metal slugs or small, trolled hardbodies are likely to get a response from these little macks.

Estuary fishers have scored well on golden snapper, jacks, school grunter, salmon and flathead. While the flathead have fished really well on some days, on others they have been hard to find and relatively small.

Successfully target golden snapper by fishing at night, which is cooler and more productive. The most effective baits are live mullet and greenback herring, backed up by fresh squid.

FICKLE FEBRUARY February can be a lucky dip for northern anglers.

Everything hinges on the weather. If we get a real wet

Matt Farmer caught this cobia on the shoals off Alva Beach. season then chances are the first few months of the year will be wiped out, with rain and flooding throughout the Burdekin district. If this is the case, you don’t have a lot of fishing options.

With the barra season open from midday on 1 February, you could embrace the wet and chase a few freshwater barra in the flooded waterways around the district. Chances are they won’t be much good

on the plate, but they will be a heap of fun to catch, especially if you can find a few trophy sized fish.

Handle them carefully and release them as quickly as possible. Remember to take care around flooded waterways – they can be dangerous with unseen hazards in the muddy, swirling waters.

Another option is to venture further afield to areas that are less flood-

prone, such as Bowen. This is achievable in a day trip or better still – make a weekend of it. Accommodation options are plentiful and the vacancy rate should be high at this time of the year. Even with small boats, there are plenty of fishing spots just a short run from the boat ramp, although you will need calm weather to fish these bluewater locations.

Shore-bound anglers are spoilt for choice. You can

cast a line from the jetty, a number of beaches and a heap of rocky shorelines, all just minutes from town.

Wet weather is a great time to catch up with all those little maintenance jobs on your fishing gear and boat, in preparation for some hot fishing ahead.

Replace rusted or blunt trebles, sharpen knives, restock terminal tackle, grease the wheel bearings, repair the taillights – there’s a never-ending list of jobs and it’s surprising how many you can knock over in the shed on a wet weekend.

If we don’t get a decent wet season (and I hope this isn’t the case) you can expect the normal run of summer species. Mangrove jack, golden snapper, salmon, grunter and trevally are likely catches for estuary anglers. Barra are now back on the menu, so go prepared with some larger minnow or soft plastic lures or the gear to collect and hold live baits. Hot weather and the occasional shower or storm is bound to fire up the jacks, golden snapper and barra.

Early rains also bring on the prawns, so have those cast nets at the ready for a tasty feed.

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93

Spice it up a little! Target new species today TOWNSVILLE

Dave Hodge

It seems like the mood has lifted in Townsville over the last few days, and even though the rain hasn’t been drought breaking as yet, it’s still a big step in the right direction. We seriously need a good wet!

It is raining as I write this, so fingers and everything else that can be crossed are currently crossed.

The barra have queued up in the lower reaches of the systems, and it’s just about impossible to avoid them at the moment. Handle them gently and release them as soon as possible. Targeting a different species as a personal challenge is a great way to hone your skills on a variety of fish, and I’ve been hunting grunter with reasonable success. Anyone who uses smaller plastics is going to hit them from time to time, but it’s when you set yourself the challenge of specifically targeting them that things start to make a little more sense.

The gear I use for grunter hunting is quite specific, and has more in common with a southern bream fisher’s arsenal than the northern estuaries. It makes your job much easier when you use gear that’s perfectly matched to the conditions. I have been using the 4-8lb Samurai Inflict matched with a Shimano Rarenium spooled with 6lb Unitika Bream Braid, which is super thin but amazingly strong for its diameter. Long leaders of around 2-3m of 12-14lb Unitika Fluorocarbon make a great combination for open water soft plastic fishing.

At this particular time, the 3” Atomic Prong matched with

an average of a 1/4oz jighead and a 1-1/0 hook size is perfect for these finicky fish.

Water depths of between 3-7m have been the place to target with fairly consistent results. The technique is very basic, and straightforward, cast as far up current as you can, and wind in the slack as it sinks and drifts back towards the boat to keep in contact. A lift of around a half a meter to a meter with the rod tip, then a small twitch at the top of the stroke imitates a small fleeing prawn fairly well, and the take from a grunter is usually a couple of short sharp nibbles before the proper bite. This is where the longer rod comes in handy to take up any slack in the line and set that hook with a fairly solid strike. If you’ve never tried for grunter, you’ll probably get a big surprise when it all comes together, as these things pull every bit as hard as a jack on light line, but, as grunter inhabit more sandy open areas the angler can let them run when they want to.

GOLDEN SNAPPER Plenty of golden snapper have been reported in the rivers, but it’s the offshore stuff that’s been quite amazing of late, and the massive schools of squid prevalent on some of the shoals has been the main attraction. The addition of a glow bead incorporated into the loop knot of the Quick Catch soft vibes, and fished of a night around the turn of the tide has proven effective. The choppers have been thumpers, with the average around the 78-80cm mark. A squid light is quite handy for spotting the schools of chopper lollies around the boat, and a squid jig should be rigged at all times to keep a fresh supply of bait coming. As for lures, the Mumblers by Bassman now

have a proven track record for night time luring of these hardfighting, great-tasting sportfish and seem to take a bigger grade of fish. The schools have been sitting in between 15-18m of water and can easily be caught through the early hours of the morning, particularly if you have a tide change around 6-7am. Just try not to rattle that anchor chain over the bow in the shallows as this can shut them down instantly – the use of an electric motor will undoubtedly increase your catch rate.

OFFSHORE Mackerel of several species have been on the chew and all of the standard mack techniques work once you’ve found them. Slugs like the Halco Outcasts have worked well, as have the Quick Catches rigged on a short 6” length of single strand wire. Work in a quick jigging action for plenty of Spanish and greys. Drop a

FEBRUARY 2016

favourite bait for reds.

As a sportfish, GTs have been highly regarded for decades now, and on a

smash them, but they’re also small enough to get belted by trout and other reef fish as well. In short, I landed

Salmon are a by-catch species you will encounter on a grunter chase.

Not great table fare, but excellent fun to catch on light gear.

It’s been so long since we’ve seen decent rain it was actually nice for anglers to see this shower bearing down.

Areas such as those in the background dry out at high tide, but become a serious target when the bigger tides allow the bait to penetrate the fringing mangrove roots. Beginning of the run-in and the last of the run-out are the best times to target these areas.

94

floater out the back (should I have reworded that?) for good results.

Offshore anglers are

catching onto the benefits of using cuttlefish to chase the deeper red emperor and large-mouth nannies. We do get boxes of the tasty little morsels in regularly at Akwa Pro Tackle, and they are a tougher bait that tends to get eaten by bigger fish more often. Just remember to remove the cuttle from the hood before you send it down to the depths, as this part of the cuttlefish can’t be digested, and without it, that chewing, crunching and shaking isn’t necessary for a fish to remove it before swallowing and the runs and hook-ups are more solid. I rig mine on a pair of Gamakatsu Suicides in 8/0 and 10/0 and 80lb leader, but many people opt for the 10/0 circle in the Gammy with great success.

I have trouble stopping myself from striking when that thumping big run comes, and often end up missing the bite. Have a little stash of cuttlefish for the next outing, as these are now my

Any fish on a popper is fun, but the GT are the king of smashing strikes, no matter what size they are. recent bay outing I had a medium spin outfit rigged with an 80mm Halco Rooster Popper for a quick flick before looking for some trout. On shallow reefs, it doesn’t take a big GT to bust you up, and you really can’t let them run too far if you want to land them, so I use seemingly heavy gear for a small fish, casting 30lb braid and 40lb leader for fish in the 3-4kg mark. I still get dusted sometimes when a bigger than expected model gets involved. The small rooster poppers are a great lure, and have all of the qualities you look for in a popper. The water displacement from such a small lure is quite amazing and this is part of the reason the bigger GTs

half a dozen GTs and got smoked by a big trout in the shallows in a brief session, and I suspect this will become a more common early morning pastime for us in the future. Locals have reported that GTs are a great fish to use in Thai curry or similar dishes, and may be worth a shot as well.

If you find yourself just going through the motions on the weekend, and go to the same spot chasing the same species with the same bait or lures, try breaking out of your normal routine and enjoy experimenting.

You may just find yourself a new favourite pastime quite close to home! Never rule out anything until you have tried it first.

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Who knows what the weather will bring us?

HINCHINBROOK

Ryan Moody info@ryanmoodyfishing.com

It was great to see some early rainfall for North Queensland with the tropical low that came from NT just after Christmas. Even if it was a one-off event for this season it would have allowed the barra to spawn in many areas. Some areas like Hinchinbrook had to suffer watching the rain fall either side of the region, but I guess you can’t please everyone when it comes to the unpredictability of the weather. Hopefully another couple of monsoonal events might show up, giving us the best wet we have seen for some time. The seasons are due to change soon with the warm water currents heading back towards us from the northern Pacific, so fingers crossed the holiday rains were a precursor for that to occur.

Fishing in the past month has gone a little scratchy with a slight inundation of horrible

water coming from the Herbert River. It wasn’t enough rain to flush our rivers but just enough to spew out lots of rubbish and stagnant water from upstream areas. This has forced fish like threadfin and golden snapper to bolt out to deeper waters so reports from estuaries have been limited to jacks only.

Jacks are the one fish that don’t mind the fresh coming out, no matter how dirty. The best captures have come from the creeks on the island side of the channel. I also imagine the barra have been active, although it’s hard to know for sure during the closed season.

Speaking of the barra season, it opens on 1 February so dust off your gear and stock up on lures and other tackle.

The only thing that could spoil the opening of the season would be floodwaters, and that could see them go quiet for a number of weeks. Only time will tell.

Our online Barra Basics master class will be ready for enrolment from 1-14 February, so if you’re keen to take your barra knowledge to the top level, now is the time to do

it. The next enrolment will be 1 September. For further information head over to www.barrabasics.com.

As far as offshore goes, we have seen some unusual late Spaniard captures around the islands with one fish nudging 25kg caught near Cape Sandwich. Others have been around 15-18kg so there is a good consistent size in these resident fish.

Northern bluefin and queenfish have been very plentiful on the northern side of the island as well. Both these species respond well to metal slices so really that’s the only method worth using.

The grey mackerel have not really showed up at all this year which is a little strange. It could be due to weather events or heavy netting to the north, but who knows? They could be just a little late.

Demersal fishing on the reef has been reasonable, and the best results come from deeper waters. Anglers who go out wider have had the best results. Nannygai, red emperor and big green jobfish have been the most common species

Garry Crawford with a great barra from last season. We’re all looking forward to some big barra action in February. out there. I haven’t heard too many reports of coral trout but that’s to be expected; it’s not the best time of year for them.

Fishing in February will most likely see barra as the most targeted species, as the threadfin and golden snapperwill probably still be slow. The channel will

no doubt see all the gutters getting a good work over but there are other areas you can turn your attention to such as dirty water patches on the flats during the run-out tide as well as backwaters that are holding bait.

I hope you all have a safe start to the barra season, and

please remember to only take what you need.

• 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.

Boofing bucket mouth brigade back in action LUCINDA

Jeff Wilton jeffwilton83@hotmail.com

When February begins there is no other fish that is on anglers’ minds more than the iconic barramundi.

Last month there had not been any substantial rain and it’s looking pretty much like staying that way for a while. Everyone is hoping for a bit of rain and some flooding as it always means the fishing will be better in the following months and years to come.

HINCHINBROOK CHANNEL Rain, hail or cyclone there will be plenty of boats on the water on 1 February

and when the clock strikes midday there will be some gutters and snags getting plenty of pretty coloured hardware thrown at them.

For those who don’t know, I’ll just remind you that the open season for barramundi officially starts 1 February at midday – so be careful not to get caught out like a few people did last year. How to get some Hinchinbrook chrome into your boat is up to you, but basically you need to fish live baits or lures.

If live baiting is your thing then you should be choosing to hit the water a few hours before low tide. Gathering good baits is critical and can be the difference of getting opportunities or not registering a bite. If bait is plentiful, it may only take you a short

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time, but keep it in mind that sometimes gathering good baits is a mission and you will be exhausted, sopping wet and the boat will be very dirty.

All live fish are good but the best all round bait is mullet, as they are tough and barra can’t resist them. Gar is also a deadly bait but they die quickly, even with good aeration and care.

Find yourself a creek mouth, rock bar or somewhere that barra will travel by or feed and set a good anchor.

You want to have your baits secured, anchored and casting your first livies out as the tide changes and the water just starts pushing in.

Rigging is simple and a running sinker rig, where the sinker runs to a swivel, which is then attached to a trace (50lb minimum) to the hook is sufficient. Use enough weight to anchor your bait on the bottom, even when it starts running a little harder, as this will help with tangles and will keep your bait in the strike zone.

Leaving the rod in the rod holder is actually a very helpful way to hook barra. It is not uncommon for fish to play with the bait before eating it and anglers can pre-maturely strike or scare the fish off. I like to leave my rod in holder with a slight bit of slack line so the fish will feel no resistance.

When the rod loads up, simply grab the rod from holder and set the hook.

Plenty of the best barra guides actually insist on clients using the rod holders

when it comes to live baiting.

You will be likely to encounter mangrove jacks, big javelin fish (grunter) and the odd

distinct colour change. The barra will be sitting in this dirty water as it offers cover for them to ambush baitfish.

Stopping GT from getting back down to the reef and busting you off takes tremendous angling skill and boat driving, but the rewards are worth all the effort. threadfin salmon while fishing these locations with live baits.

For those who prefer to chase barra with lures and plastics, then my advice would be to get out on the water on the outgoing tide and start foaming the drains with shallow divers and lightly-weighted plastics.

Hardbodied lures such as the faithful Gold Bomber or any shallow running lure will work in the drains. Soft plastics such as ZMan 4” SwimmerZ rigged on 1/4oz TT jigheads are deadly for drains.

The secret is to quietly stay off the drains at a distance that you can still land a cast up the top of the drain. The best drains will have plenty of bait and will be have a

Barra will nearly always tend to sit with their heads into the current, so bringing your lures with the current will seem more natural and will help get you more bites.

Fishing the drains is a simple form of fishing and the best thing is you can get the entire family involved as it doesn’t take pin point accurate casting and fighting fish is normally easier due to lack of serious structure.

JETTY, ISLANDS AND REEF Last month there were a few opportunities to point the boat east and head out into the mighty blue. Fishing was tough and bite windows were small and plenty of other boats confirmed this.

Heading out before

sunrise was the best option weather wise and fishing really was only worth it for the first few hours after sunrise.

Nannygai have been about out wide, but the closer spots have been devoid of nannies and I wonder if this is the result of no wet seasons in the last few years or possibly too much fishing pressure.

Let’s hope this year sees better numbers coming in close as it makes it easier for the small boats to get a feed and some fun.

Trout have been making up bulk of catches off the reefs and we have found the 28-35m depth range the best places to target for numbers.

During summer it gets so hot on a windless day on the reef that it’s best to call it a day, or anchor up and relax and even swim until the sun drops a little in the afternoon, which will signal the fish to bite again.

Another option at this time of year is to break out the surface gear and chase some GT over the shallow flats of the reef. It’s hard work and even without hooking fish it will give you a work out, but when you watch your popper or stickbait get annihilated by a big black angry GT, it is adrenalin pumping stuff.

Stopping them takes good gear, great angling, fancy boat driving and a whole lot of luck.

The best part about fishing the blue holes and drop offs is you never know what might swim up from its coral lair to check out your offering. It really is a lucky dip.

Bit of barra rough and tumble CAIRNS

Garry Smith garrysmith@fishingmonthly.com.au

Barra fever has reached epic proportions! The opening day of the barra season always sees the beaches, headlands and estuaries around Cairns crawling with human ants, all trying to get their first barra fix for the year.

The good news is there were a lot of barra sighted by divers in the lead-up to the opening of the season. Divers I know reported dozens of 20lb+ barra under the Palm Cove Jetty in early January and many more sightings along the headlands north of Cairns. The long spell of calm weather in late December and early January saw the dive brigade give all the local headlands, reefs and islands a good work over. The large number of barra sightings was certainly frustrating for divers but good news for anglers.

The other great news is that the nets will not decimate the spawning females, with the introduction of the Net Free Zone from False Cape to the northern end of Taylors Point on 1 November last year. The barra probably completed one spawning run around Cairns in late December, when we had over 500mm of rain around the northern beaches in about a week. There wasn’t quite as much rain around the city

but probably still enough to trigger a spawn.

The best places to chase barra will be along the numerous headlands to the north and south of Cairns, around any structure towards the mouths of the estuaries and at any stream junction.

The more rainfall we get, the more the bigger barra will congregate around the river mouths and headlands.

Golden snapper (fingermark) and mangrove jack have continued to bite in good numbers, especially along the headlands. They have mainly fallen to soft plastics

late, with a sprinkling of fish caught either side. This means in the morning you need to be fishing before the first sign of dawn in the sky (currently about 4.30am). In the evening you should fish until it’s pitch dark for the best results.

Jacks will continue to be active through the wet season and are a great target species at this time of year, as they can tolerate a wide range of water conditions. Fishing small soft plastics, minnows and prawn imitations in heavy structure, irrespective of the water conditions, will put you in with a chance to tangle with

Jacks, like this one caught by David Mayes, will continue to be active through the wet season and are a great target species at this time of year. worked along the bottom, but hard-bodied lures and livebaits have also accounted for a few.

Right on dawn and dusk have been the main bite times of

a red devil. They certainly prefer clearer water but will tolerate turbid conditions short-term. The good thing about targeting jacks with

small lures or live baits is that it leaves the door open for a barra, golden snapper or grunter to gate crash the party. Fishing with dead baits is very effective on jacks but it does reduce your chances of catching an incidental barra or golden snapper.

REEF AND OFFSHORE School mackerel have been around in reasonable numbers as they harass the massive number of bait schools in the area. While the schools haven’t been exceptionally large there has certainly been a lot of them showing on the sounder and the surface. Many of the bait schools are down deep, so there hasn’t been much bird activity to give away their whereabouts. Even a single gull hovering or diving is sufficient sign that there is a bait school under them. Best results have come from either trolling close behind the boat, with the lures back only about 7m. Surprisingly, even though the bait is small most doggies have been taken on large lures up around the 20cm mark. The other method that produces the goods on schoolies is jigging small metal lures around the wrecks and bait schools.

The exceptionally calm weather has meant many anglers have headed to the reef, with mixed results. A few have hit the mother load but most have worked hard or more accurately, work hot, for a feed. The days have been searing on the water with the

Cairns anglers will be hoping to emulate Russell Woodfield’s efforts on barra. light breezes and clear skies, making an all-day trip a bit of a torture test. Overnighters have been popular for that reason, as well as generally providing better fishing. Fishing the deep water is certainly the go, with the water temperatures up shallow pushing and at times exceeding 30°C. Coral trout, large-mouth nannygai and red emperor will be around but not in great numbers. The upside is, what they lack in numbers is often made up for by size through the summer months.

LAND-BASED Most of the run-through creeks along our beaches have opened up with the rain in late December and should remain open for some months, due to the combination of wet season rain and big tides around the new and full moons.

The mouths of these creeks are great spots for the landbased angler to frequent, as

all the local species, with the exception of golden snapper, are happy to feed in these areas, especially if the prawns are around. Any sign of jelly prawns or small bait prawns are a sure fire indication that the predators won’t be far away. The biggest challenge is often to match the hatch, with jelly prawns particularly difficult to imitate, unless you are a fly fisherman. Fish with as small a bait or lure as you can lay your hands on and you will be in with a chance. There are plenty of small prawn lures on the market nowadays.

CRABS Any heavy downpour will stir the mud crabs into action, so have the pots ready, along with a good supply of bait, for the inevitable downpours that happen in February. It is, after all, the wettest month of the year in the north.

Quality reefies hit the decks, and the plates!

PORT DOUGLAS

Lynton Heffer

The Far North experienced a more traditional start to the wet season, with a low pressure system dumping copious amounts of rain on the region over the Christmas and New Year period. In fact, over 300mm was recorded in a 24-hour period on several occasions in certain locations, in particular the Daintree catchment area.

Naturally, this impacted some of our major river systems temporarily, forcing them into flood and shutting them down.

It even had an effect on the inshore and outer reefs.

Often after a big wet such as this, freshwater can be visibly seen up to 10 miles offshore, however in this instance it reached some 18 miles offshore onto the reef, where the water was bottle green in colour. Basically, this made the fishing extremely tough no matter where you wet a line.

Moving into the New Year the rain eased with only

localised rain cells dumping heavy rain over a short period and our waterways slowly returned to some normality.

This deluge of rain, however, was the perfect calling sign for the barramundi to complete their yearly breeding cycle, releasing eggs along the coastline with the aid of the heavy rains.

It also released a chain of food in the form of baitfish and prawns, which will feed the hungry mouths of many fish for weeks to come. The headland, river mouth and beach fishing should offer some solid activity with an abundance of food available.

On the outer reef, once the rains subsided at the start of January, the fishing improved considerably overall. Reef fishing can be tough in the warmest months but the catch rates were above average for this time of year. Coral trout were up and about, the large -mouth nannygai turned up with regularity and there was an abundance of other species putting a bend in the rod.

Gold-spot trevally, Moses perch, cobia, sweetlip, reef mangrove jack and a

variety of emperor species were never far away. Even the Spanish mackerel were found on the deep pinnacles in reasonable numbers.

Sometimes you just never know what will unfold when you are out on the reef, as Dragon Lady Charters experienced recently. They picked up a few mackerel on the float in quick succession but the bottom was fishing really slow. Out of the blue a 50kg sailfish inhaled the live fusilier bait and all mayhem broke loose. Chasing down 300m of line, they eventually caught the speedster – a catch you’d never expect while bottom fishing.

On the surface out wide there are playing fields of mac tuna and bonito around.

They feed on tiny bait fry as a result of the big rains. Tiny metal lures cast and retrieved among a feeding school and a bit of persistence will see you hook into this surface activity.

When the northerlies blow the fishing becomes tougher offshore and anchoring on marks was tough work. The wind and the current were going in

opposite directions and where your line ended up on the bottom of the reef was a bit of guesswork at best. If the northerlies have a bit of strength about them

creeks attract a bit of focus.

News is that the barra have been up around the river and creek mouths after the rains and according to sources, they have been active after

deeper holes and snags came back on the bite when the water clarity improved.

Moving forward, it is going to depend what sort of wet season we receive.

Our reefs have provided well recently considering the warm conditions. you might as well stay home as the fish seem to go into lockjaw mode.

With opening of the barra season upon us, the rivers and

dark for those using live baits.

The mangrove jack are always around in numbers at this time of year and golden snapper (fingermark) in the

A bit of rain here and there always keeps our systems in a lively mood, whereas no rain or too much rain can have the opposite effect.

FEBRUARY 2016

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Fish aplenty despite poor wet CAPE YORK

Tim O’Reilly wildrivercompany@gmail.com

Gone are the haphazard highs and lows of the wet season build up. We are now into proper wet time and any river or creek that is not pumping out a little fresh water by now is in the grips of a poor wet. Some great early rains right across the

Top End and Far Northern Queensland have got the New Year off to a great start.

Those who have learnt to follow the big fresh down as it joins the saltwater near the mouth will be picking up some trophy barra this time of year, trolling lures through the dirty water in the downstream section of the some of the major west coast rivers.

Queensland anglers spend much of their time fantasising

about the run-off fishing experienced in the Northern Territory over the coming months. The truth is that much of Cape York, especially the wetland studded west coast is inaccessible at this time of year. Mostly confined within an indigenous land ownership framework with limited access, next to no road network and severely waterlogged, these are tough waterways to reach in the middle of the wet.

A nice barra takes to air in run-off waters of the Cape’s west coast.

Crossings up and down the Cape will produce sooty and coal grunter at this time of year as the fish move upstream into some of the smaller creeks and expanded rives.

Saratoga will shed their offspring to populate tiny pockets of water such as lagoons, lily lined backwaters and isolated billabongs. Their unusual habit of the tiny fry being nurtured in the male fish’s mouth late in the dry season ensures readiness once the rains fall. In this manner, the tiny fish can populate the tiniest of backwaters.

February will be a very important month for barramundi stocks, particularly throughout the larger floodplains of the west coast. From the Mitchell River in the southern Cape all the way up to the Jardine in fart northeast, solid rains will correlate directly with increased barra numbers spilling out of and back into the major river systems.

February is usually a good month for those fishing the river mouths and inshore bay areas looking for pelagic species. Turbid waters and afternoon onshore winds will usually mean dirty water and bait schools driven well off shore. Finding a current line where fresh and saltwater meet is one way of counteracting this trend. Fishing with deep diving lures and vibes close to the bottom will see species such as grunter, black

A solid queenfish hits the air out wide of the fresh plume.

A great haul of reef species taken out wide. jew, barra, queenfish and threadfin salmon amongst the species list.

Offshore will be a case for picking the pockets of weather and will depend on the monsoon trough and its alignment across the far north.

This is well and truly cyclone

Prawns can be caught with a cast net in the shallows during floodwater run-off.

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season and if a battering for some part of the coast is not occurring as you read this, one will certainly be imminent.

Freshwater and flooding are what make Cape York thrive as a fishing destination and a tumultuous wet season is a great start to the year.

Slick conditions most mornings will allow offshore anglers to target blue water species of every kind on the wide reefs and shoal patches.

Fishing shallow divers, surface lures and plastics over shallow reef ground will yield all sorts of surprises if the weather is sweet and those reef patches can be made out against a stormy grey backdrop.

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Small black jew like this can be taken from deep stretches of the river.

Welcome flush out for Cooktown COOKTOWN

Ben Stack

February and March should provide plenty of rain for our region. So far this wet season, Cooktown and surrounding areas have already experienced some good rain, which has been a big relief for not only our waterways and fishing quality, but for our farmers who had been trying to turn over soil that had looked more like dry dust bowls settled on a scorched dry ground that was as hard as concrete.

It is this time of the year that we get to see the beef cattle turn from late dry season shrink wrapped skin on bones to fat and round beasts that look like Bowen mangoes on toothpicks.

The rivers’ banks and lagoons have already overflowed this wet season.

This is like a double whammy of great news for our barramundi fishing enthusiasts because firstly, February means the opening of Queensland’s barramundi season, and secondly, the floods have allowed the barramundi to escape from their waterhole traps and

move freely throughout the river system.

A lot of keen barra fishers have already lined up along the Cooktown wharf and nailed some good barra from around the pylons. The boaties will need to take a lot of care navigating in the river systems while they’re chasing barra, because a lot of driftwood (sometimes full grown trees) is flushed down the river system. More good news for

Mudcrabs have also been flushed out of their holes from the excess freshwater and they tend to move down to the mouths of river systems or into the bays where there is more saltwater influence. You will be able to catch plenty of mudcrabs around the first few kilometres of the river systems. Think carefully where you will place your pots because the driftwood

Check out this cracking thready taken while fishing for barra in one of the local rivers. our river fishers is that the floods also create new snags and fishing holes to explore.

and trees that flush through from the floods sometimes tangle with the rope and drag

them to unknown locations or snag them under debris that builds up.

The winds in Cooktown have been more non-existent or only a relieving slight breeze from the heat over the past month. As a result, our local reef anglers have been having an absolute blast out on the reefs. Most people are coming in much earlier than they had planned because they had already reached their bag limits.

Coral trout and largemouth nannygai seem to be most targeted due to their quality eating and no one is coming home without an icebox full of them. Simply find the bommies with bait for the trout and rubble patches for the nannygai.

One of the great things about Cooktown is the sometimes extreme weather and wind conditions restrict boaties accessing the reefs that give the fish habitat good recovering times between fishing trips. As a result, great success is had for all anglers when we do get out to fish the big blue.

The mild winds will continue right through until the end of March, so there will be plenty more opportunities to get out and fish the reefs.

Anglers heading offshore have hooked into some nice golden snapper on plastics when conditions have allowed.

Reef anglers also need to take care navigating at this time of the year because of the driftwood, sometimes as big as power poles, and may be just floating around in the sea. I have experienced hitting a very large tree that was fully submerged but still floating just under the surface while navigating at night in a boat, and it certainly can sink a boat.

Thankfully for us, we were not going fast and it didn’t cause any damage.

If you’d like current information while you’re visiting Cooktown in

south Cape York or more information about a particular place in the region to fish, then go over to my Facebook page titled ‘Stacky’s Fishing Adventures’ and send me a message, or simply ‘Like’ the page for current updates.

• If you’d like any current information while you’re visiting Cooktown’s region or more information about a particular place in the neighbourhood to fish, then simply ‘like’ my FaceBook page titled ‘Stacky’s Fishing Adventures’ or send me a message.

FEBRUARY 2016

101

The rains are here! bed! Now they will be full of fish again – just how we fishos like it!

I love to fish the fast moving water, especially to target jungle perch.

These silver gems are opportunistic feeders and will position themselves in the perfect ambush area where the water brings the nutrient rich goodies into their strike zone before attacking. If you can, always try to fish heading upstream for JP. They are super switched on and anything that’s not

FRESHWATER

Angus James

A good rain can magically bring life back into the environment!

The tropical north has finally got some green back into it after a few good showers. The creeks and rivers have all had a satisfying flush out and are flowing very well. A few weeks back I would have had more chance catching a goanna sitting in the dried out creek

Fish structure like this for a few hardfighting jacks this month.

natural will shut them down almost instantly. Trekking upstream will also mask most noises you make, which allows for that extra close-quarters casting. Cast your presentation past the key area, and then naturally flow it down stream for a sure-fire way to get you hooked up to a few junglies!

I like to use 8lb fluorocarbon while fishing these waters. It seems to hold up very well all day and will take the beating over rocks and boulders

A small, greedy snakehead gudgeon takes a lure almost as big as itself!

The humidity of the weather at this time of year prompts aggression from the jacks. Get among them!

if the odd JP decides to swim downstream with the white water!

The sweet water jacks are firing hard and will continue to do so for a while yet. The hot humid and steamy climate this time of year is the perfect combination to keep the aggressive behaviour to the extreme! Remember; just because they are smaller models in the sweet water, doesn’t mean they won’t give your drag a real test.

Throw small surface lures in the afternoon to get the adrenalin pumping – often you can rack up

big numbers at this time of year! There are so many creeks and rivers to explore up here in FNQ. With so many different species to target, it really is a magical place to fish.

The jungle is by far my favourite place to explore.

There is an old saying: ‘an angler will never remember every fish they catch, but they will always remember the places fishing took them!’ This is very true. Remember, the adventure is out there, get out and enjoy what this beautiful country has to offer.

Fish on!

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Post holiday recovery We’ve had a great start to the year with some of the biggest freshwater monsters willing to take a lure. Murray cod in the lakes and rivers have pleased anglers in the south, while the stocked barramundi have been on fire around the Mackay and Proserpine dams. With the opening of the barra season at midday on 1 February, there will be even more opportunities to catch these fish in the rivers.

Further south, we should see the Kolan River below Monduran and the Boyne below Awoonga produce quality fish. The big fish have stolen the spotlight but bass, golden perch, saratoga and other species are still available for those who put in the effort.

So far we have had little in the way of rainfall across the state to influence lake levels. While the lakes are stable or falling, the fishing should remain much the same. Sooner or later, it is bound to get wetter, especially further north in the tropical areas.

Over the past few years, we have experienced heavier

rain further south and if this happens again, it can change how the lakes fish.

Run-off not only raises water levels but also dirties up the dams, rivers and creeks. Dirty water and lure fishing don’t mix well when it comes to southern species. If we cop a heap of rain, it’s not the end of the world though, and there is always somewhere to go to flick lures. It takes quite a bit of rain to influence the clarity of a lake. The upper parts of the dams will be first to dirty as the water pushes in. The main basin often remains clear unless the dirty water is drawn through as the dams overflow. This clearer water is the place to target. Good fishing will be found around the change from the clear to the dirtier water. The fresh and dirty water can push a good percentage of the fish down with it, as they prefer the clearer water rather than the new dirtier stuff. Try vibrating and rattling lures or spinnerbaits around the edges if there has been a rise in level. If the fish stay schooled up, stick with normal offerings like plastics, blade baits and

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND CRESSBROOK CLOSEST TOWN: CROWS NEST There have been plenty of smaller bass holding around the boat ramp area.

These rats eat blade baits and tail-spinners. The bigger models have been harder to locate. Some better fish were caught close to the Eagles Nest rock wall. These fish came from around 7m of water on spinnerbaits. When fishing this depth, opt for heavier model spinnerbaits (1/2 and 5/8oz) with a downsized body. There are quite a few Australian made models and a few Japanese styles that fit the bill.

Bassman Carls Compacts, Smak Lures Smako and the O.S.P. High Pitcher are all good choices.

Trolling in the main basin in deep water may also produce some better quality bass. Deep diving lures like the Golden Child, Blitz Baga and locally made Little Rippa are great for this approach. Look for scattered fish on the sounder and cover plenty of new water until you find a patch. The bass will often suspend over the drop-off to the old creek beds. In the basin of the lake, this can be around 20m deep but the fish will likely be found at 8-12m deep.

For all your fishing supplies and the latest reports on Cressbrook and the surrounding dams, call in to see the specialist tackle stores in Toowoomba.

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104

tail-spinners.

Below dam walls are good spots to head to if creeks and rivers are dirty and you’re longing for some skinny water kayak action. If the dam holds the water from spilling, these areas receive much less run-off than further downstream where the water has a chance to build up and have more impact.

If you are heading to these places, please keep in mind you are not allowed to fish directly below dam walls and weirs. The no fishing zone can be up to 400m but make sure you check out where you can wet a line on the Qld Department of Agriculture and Fisheries website: www.daf.qld.gov. au/fisheries/recreational/ rules-regulations.

Fishing reports are always predictions and there is no way of knowing what will change. Flooding or the opposite, sudden water level falls, can have a big impact on the fishing.

Keep this in mind and if you have a trip coming up do your homework first so you don’t get a shock when you arrive at your destination. in Ruthven Street on the north side and Fish’n Bits in Alderly Street closer to the south side have a great range of lures and fishing

FEBRUARY 2016

13

15

16

14 31

Weipa

17

28

34

18

Toowoomba

BRISBANE 27

21

23 Impoundment Dams 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

gear. Support these tackle stores because they will be able to direct you to where the fish are biting and offer invaluable advice.

Gold Coast

22

24

You can locate snags around the old creek beds by using the side image feature on a sounder.

These will hold cod and golden perch.

DAMS SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN Atkinson 24 19 16 13 8 Awoonga 93 91 89 89 87 Bjelke-Petersen 47 43 45 46 45 Boondooma 64 61 61 60 59 Borumba 100 100 102 100 98 Burdekin Falls 64 56 51 46 42 Callide 83 81 79 78 74 Cania 96 96 93 91 88 Clarendon 31 28 28 26 24 Clarrie Hall n/a n/a n/a 100 100 Cooby 69 69 71 71 69 Coolmunda 60 54 51 49 43 Copeton 22 22 22 22 19 Cressbrook 87 86 86 86 86 Dyer/Bill Gunn 65 50 28 36 21 Eungella 89 85 85 84 81 Fairbairn 46 42 38 32 32 Glenlyon 31 30 30 30 30 Hinze 97 96 96 95 94

Gympie

12

25 Cairns 1

26

19 20

33

Townsville 2

3 4

Proserpine 6 Mackay

5

32

Rockhampton

Emerald 29

Gladstone

30

7

8

10

Bundaberg 9 11

Highlighted dams are covered in this issue

Maryborough

Roma

BRISBANE

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. The gate hours for the boat ramps and day use area are 6am until 8pm.

SOMERSET CLOSEST TOWNS: ESK, KILCOY Mixed reports have come from Somerset, which is to be expected at this time of year. The bass can really fire up one day and be tough to entice the next. Schooling fish are found around Pelican Point and Bay 13.

These fish will suspend in deeper water and are often scattered until a boat stops near them. They then swim over and school up

under the boat, refusing to bite. Using long casts with soft plastics has scored a few fish. Last month some anglers had great sessions using Jets tail-spinners hopped through the bass.

Golden perch were also in good numbers in the same area and pounced all over the tail-spinners.

In the timber north of Kirkleigh, the golden perch have been active. Troll the creek and river edges through the trees with medium and deep diving lures to get onto a few.

Venture up onto the flats in 6-8m of water and you’ll find them. The flats out in the middle at the entrance of the trees are always worth a look and will often hold a few bass as well.

Timber lay downs on the flats are worth a jig

For fortnightly updates Julius 83 79 79 77 100  Kinchant 78 63 57 52 41 Koombooloomba n/a 32 34 31 29  Leslie 21 21 20 20 19  Macdonald 100 100 104 98 92  Maroon 98 97 99 98 97  Monduran/Fred Haigh 96 94 93 92 88  Moogerah 96 91 91 90 89  North Pine/Samsonvale 82 80 79 77 75  Peter Faust/Proserpine 75 72 70 68 66 Pindari 34 34 36 37 40  Somerset 100 100 100 99 99  Storm King n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a  Teemburra 85 81 85 76 72  Tinaroo 80 75 70 65 64 Toonumbar 100 100 102 100 104  Wivenhoe 95 93 93 92 90  Wuruma 96 95 94 94 90

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 20/01/16

with small blade baits. Try vertically hopping these lures around this structure and you’re bound to score fish. Keep your eyes glued to the sounder screen to find potential jigging spots as you troll.

MOOGERAH CLOSEST TOWNS: ARATULA, BOONAH The timbered area

has fished excellently at Moogerah Dam. This is also a good place to head to keep away from the skiers.

Troll with hardbodies to catch the occasional fish outside the trees, but once around the structure, lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits perform better. Blade baits and tail-spinners are definitely

DARLING DOWNS GRANITE BELT REGION COOBY CLOSET TOWNS: HIGHFIELDS, TOOWOOMBA The action still hasn’t picked up much at Cooby Dam. There was a good run of Murray cod late last year but since then things have quietened down. Golden perch numbers are quite low, with most boats managing only a few per trip. Fish have been caught on a mix of techniques, some on

a go as well. I’m not a fan of pulling golden perch from the really deep water.

It bloats them with air as they come from such depths (barotrauma) and makes it harder to release them.

The dam hours are now 6am-8pm. Cooby is an electric motor only dam and is well suited to kayaks and canoes. The concrete boat ramp is on a shallow angle when the dam is full and can be slippery in places, but a

worth a toss if you can find better patches of bass.

Some smaller bass have reportedly been caught from the steep walls of the gorge on spinnerbaits.

Bait fishing in 6-10m of water in the trees with live shrimp can produce a mixed bag of bass, golden perch and eel-tailed catfish.

For something different try

venturing into the creek at the back of the dam and fish the deeper areas there early in the morning or late in the afternoon for bass and goldens.

MAROON CLOSEST TOWNS: BOONAH, BEAUDESERT With the air and water temperatures still

up, the fish will be tuned into reaction lures and topwater offerings. In the early morning, work your surface lure around the weedy sections. If possible, cast on top of sunken weed and work the lure back out into deeper water. Allow plenty of pauses as these really turn the bass on.

As the sun rises, the

kayaks and accessories he has on display. The action could pick up suddenly so drop in to any of the local tackle stores in the area to check how the fishing is going.

LESLIE CLOSEST TOWN: WARWICK The golden perch fishing has picked up at Leslie. One of the most reliable areas for bait fishers has been just south of the dam wall around the rocky outcrop. There have been bulk amounts of fish here, and plenty of

electric motor or slowing your boat speed when puttering along on the outboard with a bucket over the side. Good numbers of Murray cod have been caught over the last month using this approach with both undersized and legal specimens making their way to the side of the boat.

At the lower level, take care when you launch.

The banks can be muddy around the edges, which makes it boggy to launch and retrieve boats. You can normally find a more solid spot, which has seen a bit of use by looking at the wheel tracks going into the water.

Kayaks are a great way to access the water when the lake is lower and it doesn’t take long to get around on this smaller lake. If you venture out into the middle in a kayak, it could pay to fly a flag to make you more visible to ski boats. Keep a lookout for them just in case they don’t see you first.

For the latest information and hottest fishing reports, call in to the local tackle store, 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 Murray cod have still take lures at Coolmunda.

They seem to go through periods of activity. I had a fish with Nigel Middleton just prior to Christmas. The dam was getting low and there wasn’t a lot of water left up in the timber so we

stuck to the edges of the old creek beds. The deeper parts of the lake were around 8ft of water. We only managed one fish for the morning but it was a nice cod of 76cm. The fish nailed my favourite casting lure at the dam which is a black and red Bassman Codman spinnerbait sporting a Berkley Rib Shad soft plastic trailer.

There are more cod out in the main basin of the lake.

Trolling is the preferred way to cover heaps of water and drag lures past these fish. Work deep diving lures around the drop-off to the old creek channel to increase your chances. The drop-off holds quite a few snags that the cod call home.

Even the golden perch tend to bunch up tighter around the drop-off snags. You will only see this structure on a fish finder as it is hidden in around 5-6m of water.

Coolmunda and Leslie dams still produce good-sized Murray cod. This 76cm fish ate a red and black spinnerbait in the trees at Coolmunda. trolled lures, some casting, on bait or jigging lures.

The deeper areas around 16m have probably been the most consistent for lure anglers. Here the fish can be caught on sinking lures. Jigging small blades or dead slow trolling with lipless crankbaits can work well. If any other patches of fish are found in shallower areas definitely give them

big electric powered boat can still be launched with care. Outboard motors can be left on the boat but must not be used.

Tackle, lures and saltwater yabbies can be purchased from Highfields Bait and Tackle on the New England Highway in Highfields. Call in and see Doug and check out the great range of fishing gear,

SUNSHINE COAST REGION BORUMBA CLOSEST TOWNS: IMBIL, GYMPIE The lake copped a flogging as a multitude of boats tried their luck over the Christmas and school holidays. This fishing pressure and boat traffic made the action slower.

Saratoga were one of the main targets, and because these fish feed shallow, they were easily spooked by all the extra activity.

Fishing the top end of the dam in the Yabba and Kingham arms produced most of the bites.

If you are planning

to give toga fishing at Borumba a go, the action should be better this month now things have quietened down. Head to the upper part of the dam and look for structure.

Saratoga love lilies, weed beds, overhanging trees and sunken trees. They feed shallow most of the time and there are few better ways to hook one than on a surface lure.

Lures like the Megabass Anthrax and Cultiva Zip’n Ziggy are very popular and irresistible to a toga tuned into feeding on the surface.

S o metime s th e

anglers have managed a bag limit on live shrimp or saltwater yabbies.

Lure trollers have whacked a few goldens in the deeper water while trolling hardbody lures.

Several anglers swear by green and black lures.

Lipless crankbaits are also effective when trolled.

Make sure you drag them along slowly by using the saratoga prefer subsurface presentations.

They will eat just about any lure you pull past them including hardbodies, lipless crankbaits, plastics and spinnerbaits. I love to use a beetle spin attached to a 1/4oz jighead with a black and gold soft plastic on it. The small, sharp hook of the jighead easily penetrates their bony mouths without causing unnecessary damage.

Trebles can catch them around the outside of the face and cause excessive injury to a fish that is too good to be caught just once.

The bass fishing has

been a bit tough. Smaller fish coming through the timbered areas seem to make up the bulk of catches. Better numbers can be found around the start of the trees at The Junction. These fish like to take a 3/8 or 1/2oz jighead rigged plastic. Blade baits and tail-spinners will also catch fish but are a more expensive lure to lose in the trees.

Borumba Dam was closed on 12 January due to the discovery of bluegreen algae. SEQ Water has been monitoring the dam and hopefully we will see it reopened soon.

To page 106

fish go deep and hold tight to the weed and the shadows it creates. Rolling 1/2oz spinnerbaits, lipless crankbaits and beetle spin rigged plastics on 1/4oz jigheads should keep them biting for most of the day. Work the lush weed formations on the northern bank and in the bay just before the timber.

There are plenty of logs and tree roots if you work the edges of the channel between the dam wall and the island.

The Coolmunda Caravan Park is only around one kilometre 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.

2 Dams

1de stination H

South Burnett

H

· Boondooma Dam · Bjelke Petersen Dam ·

The BEST place in QLD to catch Australian Bass and Yellowbelly

STAY

3

NIGHTS AND

SAVE CATCH of the month

YALLAKOOL

BOONDOOMA DAM

Jayden Facer with a great Boondooma bass caught on a spinnerbait in the trees.

The Jaffrey and Dixon family had a very good morning landing over 40 fish in 3 hrs on soft plastics. All fish were released for another person to catch.

www.lakeboondooma.com.au www.yallakoolpark.com.au FEBRUARY 2016

105

From page 105

MACDONALD CLOSEST TOWNS: COOROY, NOOSA The bigger bass have been hard to find in MacDonald. The weed beds produce better quality

fish but catching them all day is the issue. Early in the morning, surface lures twitched around the weed can capture some of these beauties. As the sun rises, switch to subsurface offerings. Some

WIDE BAY AND BURNETT REGION WIDE BAY AND BURNETT REGION BOONDOOMA CLOSEST TOWNS: PROSTON, KINGAROY The fishing at Boondooma has been red-hot. The Christmas period saw it slow down a little but as things have quietened down to a more normal pace, the fishing will go off. Trolling, casting and bait fishing will yield good results.

There are plenty of golden perch and bass at the start of the timber in both arms. Catch these fish by trolling hardbodies or

casting spinnerbaits. In the second basin of the lake you’ll find good numbers of fish. Unfortunately they can be in excellent numbers and biting one day, only to be scattered and hard to tempt the next. When scattered, trolling is a great option as it allows you to cover more water and pull the lure past more fish. Casting works better when the fish are holding tighter together.

Most of the bass and golden perch have suspended at around 5m out in deeper water. Try looking around the usual

of the lake’s regulars use weedless rigged soft plastics in the weed beds. This is a technique I haven’t used a lot, as I have always preferred to fish with the hook exposed and pop the lure out of the weed. Try

working the weed until midmorning with a mix of plastics and spinnerbaits before venturing deeper.

The bass should bite in the middle of the day outside the weed in around 5m of water.

These deeper schooling fish

will munch tail-spinners and blade baits.

Bass can be caught all around the dam, but the left arm at the Three Ways has fished well over the past few months.

For all the inside

information on chasing bass in the area call in to see Dane Radosevic who works a few days each week at Davos Tackle in Noosa. Davo’s has expanded its range of bass and freshwater tackle so call in to check it out.

areas like The Islands, Barbers pole, The Junction and up towards Pelican Point. When trolling, don’t make the mistake of fishing too deep. Lures should run at the same depth as the fish. If they remain at 4-5m deep like last month, try running a lure like the Smak 12. More naturally coloured hardbodied lures have performed well.

Whites or cream as the main colour is the go for spinnerbaits.

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 fishing tackle.

For campsites, cabins and bunkhouse rooms call Corey and Niki on (07) 4168 9694.

BJELKE CLOSEST TOWNS: MURGON, GOOMERI The dropping water level has seen most of the better action take place in the dam’s main basin. Areas like The Island, Bass Point and Lightening Ridge have been worth fishing for a mix of bass and golden perch.

Position the boat in around 5m and cast lures in to the bank to get the bites.

Try to land lures in around 3m of water and fish them back to the boat following the contour of the bottom.

There have been plenty of fish out in the deeper water of the main creek bed but they tend to be smaller than those caught close to the edges. For some reason spinnerbaits have been the standout lures. Like any fishing this could change but I’d be tossing what was proven last month and experimenting after that.

Lure trollers should work the edges in around 4-6m of water or venture out deeper into the creek channels.

Shallower lures like the 3m Halco Poltergeist will catch

quite a few fish. Darker colours are popular, and purples, browns and greens work well.

For help catching Bjelke and Boondooma fish, call into your local Bass 2 Barra store. Bass 2 Barra stores stock an awesome range of gear suited to chase our freshwater fish and the boys have all the knowledge to guide you on how to use it.

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.

CAPRICORN REGION AWOONGA DAM CLOSEST TOWNS: BENARABY, GLADSTONE Most fishers have reported the action to be slow at Awoonga. It was fished quite a bit over the Chrismas and New Year period for little return.

Some anglers have put in a bit of time and found good numbers of fish. There is a lot of unproductive water mixed in with the fishy spots. Patrick Morgan fished the dam and found fish outside the weed edge in the main basin. The sounder showed plenty cruising through and it was then a matter of persisting in that area to get the

bites. Deeper hardbody presentations fooled the fish he caught.

An electrofishing survey was conducted around the same time Patrick caught his fish. The feedback from this showed most barra were found in deeper water, which is typical for this time of year.

Warm water temperatures will see them sitting in over 3m of water and they will spend a short amount of time in the shallows when the sun has set and it is cooler.

The river below the dam will again be an option from midday 1 February when the barra season opens. These fish should

MACKAY REGION TEEMBURRA CLOSEST TOWNS: PINNACLE, MACKAY The barra fishing has still been exceptional at Teemburra. The action is likely to continue like this until the first big rain causing the lake to rise. Until then, work the shallow points with soft plastics and hard swimbaits.

Late afternoon and fishing into the night should produce better numbers of fish.

The average size of fish caught has really picked up.

WHITSUNDAY REGION Most models are 80cm+ and there have been a few in excess of 120cm in length.

Fish like this are a lot of fun to fight when you throw in all the surrounding timber.

With the chance of a bigger fish, it may be time to step up the size of your fishing line to 50lb. Rarely do we fish the line to its breaking point but the thicker diameter gives more protection around the snags should a fish decide to do some knitting between the trees.

GREAT FO R A D AY EV E N B E T T E R W H E N Y O U S TAY

• Great fishing, bass, yellowbelly, cod, saratoga, garfish…

• Windsurfing, boating, beach volleyball, playground, BBQ’s.

• Level tent sites, showers, toilets, hot and cold water.

Only 50 kms from Toowoomba For more information on camping or fees: Call Toowoomba Regional Council on 131 872 during office hours or visit www.toowoombaRC.qld.gov.au 106

FEBRUARY 2016

Patrick Morgan has found plenty of barra on the weed edge at Awoonga Dam. They’ve been tight-lipped but Patrick managed to get some on hardbody lures.

PROSERPINE CLOSEST TOWNS: PROSERPINE, AIRLIE BEACH The barra fishing has still been quite good at Proserpine.

Fish are scattered around the dam and should continue to be easy to catch until the first flooding rain arrives. When the dam has a big inflow, the barra move and can be harder to find over the newly flooded ground.

Until then, work the tree line, which is where the creeks feed into the main river bed. The Three Brother area is a good place to start.

If you can find any of the feeder creek channels just inside the trees, give these barra highways a good work over. Trolling is possible but expect to hook plenty of snags. Cast deep diving lures around the trees in these fish freeways will see you stand a good chance of hooking a Prossy beast. Lures like the 20+ Barra Bait, BTD General

or the 5m Halco Scorpion are perfect for the job.

Another popular method is to jig with vibes or bounce plastics to fish holding deep.

Barra need to be located on the sounder in reasonable numbers for this approach to be effective. It pays to have rods rigged and ready to go or the lure close at hand to tie on when fish are spotted on the sounder. The barra move through the deep water using the channels like highways so there is no telling how long they will stay in the area. If you are able to find a staging area where the fish pull up to rest, there is a good chance you’ll nail good numbers of fish.

The shallower water will also produce fish during the night and at dawn. If conditions are still, work a topwater lure over weed beds before the sun rises to see some explosive strikes.

Listening to barra boof in the darkness and wondering if

they have taken your lure is something that every fisher should experience.

If you are heading out to the dam make sure you call in at Proserpine Bait and Tackle. The store is right beside the Bruce Highway in Proserpine and stocks all the barra gear you could possibly

hopefully have had a break from enthusiastic anglers during the closed season.

There were still good numbers caught either side of Pikes Crossing prior to the closure. This is a good spot to keep in mind if you have travelled to the dam and the action is slow. Pikes Crossing is only a 5-minute drive from Awoonga.

If you are keen to try to tackle some fish in the river or dam, give Lyn and Mark from Awoonga Gateway a call on (07) 4975 0033. At Awoonga Gateway you’ll find clean, modern cabins and your hosts will be full of useful advice to help you try to land that barra of a lifetime. Make sure you tell Mark I sent you and pump him for the secret spot. need. Store owner, Lindsay Dobe, runs charters on the lake and bookings can be made through the store on (07) 4945 4641. The guys will be able send you in the right direction and help with nailing the lake’s big fish.

Until next month, buckled rods from The Colonel!

Night sessions for barra have been productive across nearly all of the lakes. This fish ate a hard swimbait.

Fishing Fill-its

The carp-ocalypse is upon us CSIRO scientists are one step closer to effectively combating the carp infesting the MurrayDarling basin.

For the past seven years, a group of Australian scientists has been investigating ways to control the carp with an Indonesian carp herpes virus. This strain of herpes has evolved to kill only carp.

An alliance of stakeholders including anglers, farmers and environmentalists all want the virus to be released into the carp population.

Lead researcher Ken McColl said the team was nearing the finish of the scientific end of the work.

“We don’t want the virus to affect anything other than carp,” he said.

“Over a number of years we’ve looked at about 13 species of native fish... and we’ve not been able to find any evidence of disease or virus multiplication... so we don’t believe it does anything in any other species.”

The scientists have also successfully tested the virus on yabbies, mice and chickens, and looked at

incidences where humans have come into contact with the virus.

“We’re fairly confident that it’s not going to cause problems elsewhere,” Dr McColl said.

For once the Australian Conservation Foundation and the National Irrigators Council are in agreement with each other, and have joined calls from the National Farmers Federation, the Australian

Recreational Fishing Foundation and other stakeholders for the virus to finally be released.

Jonathan La Nauze, acting campaigns director for the Australian Conservation Foundation, said that getting on top of carp is essential to maintain healthy rivers.

“It’s time our Government stepped up to the plate and funded this terrific work,” he said.

NIC chief executive Tom Chesson agreed.

“The environmental outcomes from this one action could be greater than those we’ve seen from the (Murray Darling) Basin Plan,” he said.

However, Matthew Barwick from the NSW Department of Primary Industries warned that the approvals would take a couple of years to process.

– FMG

Koby Limpus caught his first fish while on holidays at Tweed Heads – now he’s hooked!

CSIRO scientists are one step closer to releasing a virus to decimate carp populations. Image: Marc Ainsworth

TOP ENDER RANGE

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107

Infiniti QX80 – big, better, best?

BRISBANE

Wayne Kampe wkff@aapt.net.au

Let’s start this review with what the Infiniti QX 80 isn’t.

It’s not a big poser SUV that

or hoping to generate some on-road presence because of stylishly sleek lines.

The Infiniti QX 80 is definitely none of these things. It’s big, bold, brash, hugely capable off road, drinks ample fuel and has

Y62 Patrol and it comes across, through bold design, as being even bigger than the massive Patrol. While the Y62 Patrol is a big unit, the Infiniti, with its redesigned front and rear treatment, is even bigger!

There’s also a massive list of

maximum torque cutting in at a very low 1600rpm.

The power to weight ratio is a sparkling 105W/kg, and a silky smooth seven-speed auto transmission keeps the rubber in touch with the road via efficient traction control, despite the tremendous urge of that big V8 engine.

While power and economy cannot go hand-in-hand, I suspect that fuel consumption won’t be a consideration for anyone lucky enough to afford the $110,900 (plus on-roads) required to see a QX80 come home. For the record, we averaged 18.7L/100km during a mix of country and city driving.

A SCENE STEALER Whether on the highway or simply parked, the Infiniti QX80 is a scene stealer.

Tipping the scales at 2.8tonnes and riding on 22” wheels, it’s a big unit. Yet once you’re inside

There’s ample ground clearance under the big Infiniti, which makes it a very capable off-road wagon. brilliant climate control air system has a purifier, and the Infiniti’s headlights follow bends in the road.

Soundless in operation through the gears, and buttersmooth moving off the mark and joining traffic, the QX80 is a grand tourer in every sense of the word. Effortless power,

system tweaked to provide total insulation from road imperfections. Ripples or pot holes are dismissed as being hardly worthy of attention, and a dedicated hydraulic body motion control system is designed to minimize body roll on winding road surfaces.

With the windows up, all

Polarising styling sets the Infiniti QX80 apart from many other large 4x4 luxury wagons. can hum along on the sniff of diesel or petrol fumes, pretending to have off-road cred where’s there’s none,

styling that most people either love or hate.

The big Infiniti is an eight seat wagon based on Nissan’s

“Tinnie Tosser” Want to take your tinny on holidays and catch the big one but can’t because you are towing a caravan?

Well here is the answer!!

Features include: Single person operation, electric and manual models, custom made to suit vehicle and boat, built for off-road conditions, aluminium and stainless steel construction.

For further information contact Bowline on

Ph: (07) 5498 7339 Fx: (07) 5498 7351 Mobile: 0419 674 343

www.tinnietosser.com.au

luxury interior features and appointments over and above the little brother Patrol, setting Nissan’s luxury brand apart from siblings. The QX80 sits within a very select market niche with the likes of the LandCruiser based Lexus LX570, the Range Rover V8 petrol, and Mercedes Benz GL class.

UNDER THE BONNET There’s no diesel engine under that wide bonnet.

Instead there’s a refined double overhead cam multi-point fuel injected 5.6L V8.

The output figures are impressive: there’s enough power here to easily tow 3500kg braked trailers which takes in a lot of boats and caravans. A tow bar is part of the Infiniti’s kit.

Whisper quiet at idle, emitting a very deep roar when pressed, the V8 outputs 298kW and 560Nm with

Denise Kampe setting up the climate. Note the wide expanse of middle seat room in the QX80. with electrically adjusted seats set to perfection, the big Infiniti is seductively easy to drive and enjoy to the utmost.

The level of comfort and features that pamper everyone on board are on a scale that has to be experienced to be believed. As an example, the

a ‘king of the road’ style of ambience throughout and with driver and passengers sitting as high as you can get without buying a truck, it’s easy to relax and enjoy the trip. It’s that sort of car.

A top shelf ride comes courtesy of a suspension

exterior road noise is banished and sheer driving pleasure takes over.

PLUSH INTERIOR The cabin of the Infiniti has a definite upmarket ambience. There’s wood panelling throughout, even on the steering wheel. Storage

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FEBRUARY 2016

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Top: Wood grain is plentiful within the Infiniti, but it doesn’t seem overdone. Bottom: The Infiniti QX80 is quite capable off road, with a rotary dial providing extra traction when necessary.

nooks and crannies beckon while the roominess in every direction is pervasive. Soft leather shines throughout with no chance of the tender human frame coming in contact with anything remotely hard or uncomfortable.

Soft plastic takes over where leather stops. Buttons and switches prevail – there’s a button to open the rear boot, and another to tumble the middle seats (of the three rows) down to allow entry into the third row of seats. These seats provide ample room for two adults or three children and there’s full air conditioning plus ample visibility thanks to the large wide windows. When not in use the third row of seats fold flat to the floor at the touch of a button.

Looking at rear storage space with the second and third row of seats down flat, there’s a whopping 2400L of area to play with. With the third row flattened and the middle upright there’s 1400L on hand, which is still plenty.

An 8” touch screen linked to an intuitive sat nav system dominates the well-appointed dash layout. It does have a hint of complexity but it doesn’t take long to familiarise yourself with it, and after that it’s easy to monitor.

INTERIOR The drive position is brilliant. The front seats are large, leather and have

infinite electric adjustment.

There’s ample visibility all round thanks to massive side windows and big external mirrors, while lane departure warnings and system totally monitor all driving. There’s a blind spot warning system, surround view camera (with options of course) and a radar guided cruise control system.

Headlights automatically turn and adjust to corners, and every conceivable feature is electrically operated. Second row passengers not only have immense head and leg room

but are able to enjoy the 7” screens with USB/Aux and DVD capability set into the rear of the front seats. All aboard are treated to superb sound courtesy of a Bose multi-speaker sound system.

OFF ROAD CAPABLE Last but not least, the Infiniti is still quite off-road capable (thanks to its Patrol heritage) via a console dial linked to the All Mode 4WD system and computercontrolled transfer case.

There’s 4H for normal on road work, 4L for crawling off-road with in between settings of

sand, rock, and snow. Traction control, hill descent and diff lock are also neatly arrayed within the dial’s settings.

SUMMING UP The QX80 is a definitely a niche vehicle. While it’s totally equipped, smoothly capable and has a superb level of comfort and features, it also has an external design that you might find out of step with those few competitors it has. Still, if you don’t mind its unconventional appearance, it won’t disappoint when it comes to sheer driving pleasure and comfort.

You’re looking at 2400L of load area right there.

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Bluefin Sports 57-59 Musgrave Street North Rockhampton QLD 4701 Phone 07 4922 2211

Marine Tune 64 Kortum Drive Burleigh Heads QLD 4220 Phone 07 5576 7388

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Mackay Mobile Marine 9 Evans Avenue North Mackay QLD 4740 Phone 07 4957 2394

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After heavier rains, target the flooded drains gudgeons and many other small fish and crustaceans.

The best place to target in saltwater/brackish drains is in the mouth of the drain were predatory fish often lie in rows waiting for food to come floating out, or along the color lines (where dirty and cleaner water meet) where big predatory fish actively hunt bait. In freshwater, snags and submerged obstacles, weed beds and beneath lines of foam and bubbles seem to be the places where big fish lie in wait.

A typical day of drain fishing for me and dad includes us slowly approaching a drain, dropping the power pole (a shallow water anchor), sussing out what bait is around and then choosing lures of

HERVEY BAY

Jackson Bargenquast

Summer is in full swing and with the heat has come some well-deserved rain.

With the wet, it isn’t a bad idea to target drains where fresh water will stream out into the salt and attract schools of baitfish that congregate around the color line feeding.

As the old saying goes ‘find the bait find the fish’. In the Mary River (which is just on my doorstep), and in other large river systems around northern Australia, there are generally plenty of drains available.

There are drains on mudflats, on mangrove covered banks and even on rocky headlands, and if you happen to be in the right place at the right time, you will almost certainly find fish.

Some of the top river sport fish such as barramundi, flathead, threadfin salmon, large bream and even mulloway can commonly be found around running drains feeding on a variety of bait that’s either spilling out of or attracted to the drain.

This bait can vary from mullet, herring, bony bream and a common favorite among almost all predatory fish, prawns. Both large adult prawns and jelly prawns are a large part of the diet of many river fish and are commonly eaten by river predators.

When fishing drains there are a few things you must remember. Firstly, never approach too quickly or get too close. The sound of the boat can scatter bait and spook large fish, especially when they are feeding or schooling in shallow water.

Secondly, try to ‘match the hatch.’ Use lures that resemble the bait likely to be schooling in the drain, or at least get reasonably close in resemblance to what prey is about. When it is clear what the fish are feeding on, try to imitate it with your lure (for for sale on

corresponding size and shape.

Generally within half an hour, if we don’t get any bites we move on, unless big barra and salmon are smashing prey close to our lures, then we can spend all day trying to get one, and persistence generally pays off.

Even if you don’t own a power pole or any other high tech anchor, a regular one will do the trick just lower it slowly into the water to prevent scaring the fish.

This kind of fishing relies a lot on the tides, the topography and even the weather and time of the day, so be persistent, try different techniques and sooner or later it will pay off.

As with all fishing ‘limit your catch’ and ‘think like a fish’.

This big thready was caught from a flooded drain.

Barramundi are well known to frequent drains as they spill out bait. example if jelly prawns are twitching, twitch your lure the same way).

Thirdly, take note of ripples, boils or explosions.

Flicking, jumping or nervous bait is a good sign; these sorts of clues can help you figure out a fishes’ feeding patterns and even the size and species of fish in the drain.

And finally, if there is nothing happening – no movement or anything – it

might be a good idea to search for a new area. In deep water, you obviously can’t see when predatory fish are feeding, but in shallow water if there is no action the fish either aren’t there, or just aren’t feeding at that time. In these situations it could take hours of frustration to get one tap from a bream or flathead, and possibly not worth the effort.

Move on and increase your chances of catching a

big one. This tactic of drain fishing can also be practised in freshwater where both natural and man-made drains can hold schools of bait.

In freshwater, barramundi are present and other catches include bass, giant herring, tarpon and even the odd sweet water jack. Freshwater bait includes shrimps, mullet,

A medium-sized flathead that came from a snag-choked drain.

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FEBRUARY 2016

Mulloway will sometimes get in on the madness and chase bait in drains.

Testing Booth

13 Omen Black baitcaster rod CAIRNS

Garry Smith garrysmith@fishingmonthly.com.au

I was excited when I unpacked the latest rod from the 13 Omen stable – the 13 Omen Black OB2CA6MM 6’0” baitcaster. It looked great and felt instantly comfortable in my hand.

suited my luring style, as I like to feed the line through my thumb and index finger when retrieving – as per baitfishing.

The first chance to wave the Omen Black in anger came while fishing off the rocks north of Cairns, so I switched to an old Daiwa CVZ 253A, loaded with 30lb Power Pro Super 8 Slick braid. I often have to

cast. I managed 5-10m further with every cast.

The good thing is I had a legitimate comparison, as everything from the reel to the lure through to the wind direction was exactly the same as when I last fished at this same spot. The only variable was the rod.

The other thing that dawned on me with time was that I had no overruns.

A few casts with the Prawn Star Gold produced the first of many fish on the Omen Black – a 44cm coral trout. Off to a great start!

I immediately fitted my Daiwa Luna 253, loaded with 30lb braid and 40lb leader, even though it was a bit above the line recommendations for this model at 6-12lb. The extra length in the cork butt looked ideal for my style of double-handed casting, and the reduced diameter in the middle of the cork meant it would tuck very comfortably under the armpit when retrieving lures. The short front grip

wade up to my neck getting to my favourite rock and back to shore, and I didn’t want to dunk my brand new Luna. The Evolve Engage reel seat on the Omen Black is superbly designed, and reels can be changed very quickly, without the need to find a pair of multi-grips.

The reel can be removed and a new one bedded down firmly by hand.

I was instantly impressed with the Omen Black, right from the first

I would average an overrun every 5-10 casts with my usual rod and have to consciously thumb the spool every cast, to minimise overruns. I put this down to the smoother runners on the Omen Black. The ALPS guides with zirconia inserts are a definite winner!

Another plus was the extra 6” of rod length, which meant another foot of leader, which is significant in the ‘sudden death’ environment of

The Omen Black easily handled this superb bar-cheek trout that smashed a soft plastic along the drop-off on Gould Island.

rocks, barnacles, oyster and coral that I fished.

I really like the slightly longer cork butt, which means I naturally tuck it under my armpit when luring, using my preferred, baitfishing finger position.

This is important because I regularly encounter barra and golden snapper off the rocks, and they hit hard!

When I switched from using a ZMan DieZel MinnowZ soft plastic, rigged on a 1/3oz homemade weedless jighead, to a PrawnStar Gold, I changed to a thumb over the reel grip and found the rod grip excellent for this style of luring. It makes it much easier to retrieve using a multiple short jerk and rest action, ideally suited to prawn style lures. A few casts with the PrawnStar Gold produced the first of many fish on the Omen Black – a 44cm coral trout.

I was off to a great start!

Another feature I took an instant liking to is the heavy-duty hook mount in front of the reel seat.

The Evolve snag-less hook keeper is another winner.

I usually don’t use hook mounts to attach a lure, as I find them to be flimsy, so I’ve always preferred to use the mount of the first runner instead.

Overall, the OB2CA6MM did a great job but I felt it was a bit light for the type of fishing I do, so I bought the heavier OB2CA6MH model, which is recommended for 3/8oz1oz lures and 10-20lb line.

It has the power to handle serious fish but enough finesse to flick 1/3oz jigheads very accurately, and to cast a significant distance when required.

Like all high-end blanks, the 30 ton Japanese Toray blanks with PVG (poly

The very first fish to the boat was an 85cm golden trevally, of approximately 8kg. vector graphite) technology need to be treated with respect, so if you are a crash-and-bash fisho, they are not for you.

I headed down to the Johnstone River, in Innisfail, with a couple of mates for its first field test and once again, what a start!

The very first fish to the boat was an 85cm golden trevally, of approximately 8kg. What a workout from the first fish! It towed us all over the river and took over 15 minutes to subdue.

The Omen Black handled the battle superbly, though

I would have liked about another 3cm of length on the synthetic grip in front of the reel seat, especially in the last half of the fight.

I have tested both rods almost exclusively luring, which is pretty much all I do nowadays. They have accounted for numerous golden snapper, barra, jacks and coral trout, with a sprinkling of other species.

Both rods are superb but I certainly prefer the heavier OB2CA6MH for chasing barra, jacks and golden snapper, which are my main target species.

What a workout from the first fish! The golden trevally towed us all over the river and took over 15 minutes to subdue.

FEBRUARY 2016

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What’s New FISHING

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SENSHI EGI PRO

Senshi Egi Pro Series jigs are advanced Japanese designed egi jigs in natural colours using state of the art cloth material.

Senshi Egi Pro Series jigs are perfectly weight balanced for a precise lifelike swimming action, and feature high quality UV finishes, oversized glow eyes and have super sharp prongs.

Senshi jigs are available in two sizes: 2.5 with a sink rate of five seconds per metre, and 3.5 with a sink rate of three seconds per metre. Both sizes are available in eight natural colours that are deadly on squid, with different foils underneath including red, gold and silver.

These jigs will be superb for anglers targeting squid, and are very well priced for a squid jig of this quality.

Price: SRP $9.95 www.jurofishing.com

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TONIC RISE SUNGLASSES

Tonic Polarised Eyewear, the new leader in high quality fishing sunglasses, have released the new Rise in time for summer. Rise features the new Slice lens, the thinnest and lightest polarised glass lens in the world.

The Rise is designed for fishing, with hockey arms that curve over your ears. It’s extremely lightweight with Tonic’s non-slip adjustable nose pads giving all day comfort.

The new Rise comes in Slice Glass Photochromic Copper, Slice Glass Photochromic Grey, and Slice Glass Green Mirror.

Fully made in Japan, every pair of Tonic sunglasses incorporates the latest optical technology including de-centred lenses for distortion-free viewing at any angle. Tonic’s scratch resistant Slice lens is the thinnest, lightest glass polarised lens in the world – 50% lighter than regular glass. All Tonic lenses feature anti-reflective coatings and new Tonic polarising filter systems.

Tonic polarised sunglasses come in more than 12 wraparound styles and a variety of lens types to suit different weather and water situations.

Price: RRP $279 www.toniceyewear.com.au

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SCHNEIDER CRYSTAL CLEAR FLUORO CARBON

Schneider’s new Crystal Clear 100% Fluorocarbon is a superior line made from the highest grade of PVDF FluoroPolymer, delivering a near zero visibility in the water.

This new line is smooth to handle, incredibly sensitive so you can feel every bite, has ultra abrasion resistance, excellent knot strength and is fast sinking. It’s ideal for all fishing applications, and performs outstandingly when placed under extreme conditions such as rough structure, rock and bottom fishing. Schneider recommends using it with their new 8 Carrier Pink Braid.

Schneider Crystal Clear Fluorocarbon is available in 10lb/100m, 15lb/100m, 20lb/100m, 25lb/80m, 30lb/80m, 40lb/50m, 50lb/40m, 60lb/30m and 80lb/30m. Visit the Schneider Australia website to find out your local stockist.

Price: $31.95 www.schneiderfishinglines.com.au

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FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

POWERED BY

NEW SLOW BLATT ASSIST HOOK

Two of the latest releases from Anglers Republic are the Slow Blatt Cast Oval and the Slow Blatt Heavy Assist Hooks.

The Slow Blatt Cast Oval features a very wide profile (the widest we have seen for a jig this size) which creates an enticing flutter and slow sink rate. The centre balanced body is fitted with twin Decoy front assist hooks and single rear assist hook. It’s ideal for shallow water, shore jigging and light jigging for a wide variety of species, and is currently available in 30g, 40g and 60g weights in 11 colours.

Slow Blatt Heavy Assist Hooks are the result of a collaboration between Palms and Decoy. These heavy single and twin assist hooks have been designed with the ideal drop length for the different Slow Blatt and Slow Blatt Cast jigs. These are heavier hooks than those which come standard on the Slow Blatt Cast jigs, and are ideal for everything from snapper to kingfish. They’re available in #1 Single, #1 Twin, #1/0 Twin and #2/0 Twin.

Price: RRPs from $10 (hooks), $15.50 (Oval jig) www.ejtodd.com.au

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ATOMIC HARDZ NEW COLOURS

Atomic Hardz have introduced three new spectacular colours into their range. These colours have been tested extensively by pro anglers around the country for different species in many different situations.

Black Beauty has been designed specifically for the Atomic Vibs. This darker colour is perfect for natural specialists who chase those elusive native freshwater fish that can be very difficult at times. This colour is only available in the new Atomic Vibs.

Based off the actual colour variation of a rock crab, Atomic’s Rock Crab pattern consists of a mottled green body with an enticing orange eye with matching stripes down the sides, giving any predator a target to smash! This colour is available across the whole Hardz range.

Last but certainly not least is Tristo’s Proton Pill colour. Designed by Tristan Taylor, this colour will have anything homing in on it. Bream, snapper right up to mulloway and barramundi are all prime targets, and we’ll definitely see this used across all of Australia’s waters! www.atomiclures.com.au

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SURF GIFT PACK

It’s that time of year when we pack our surf-casting rods in the car and head to the beach, and to make things easy, Black Magic has developed a new gift pack containing a hand-selected range of their best surfcasting tackle.

From the specialised long distance surfcasting line – Velocity Surf – to the Black Magic Longreach Rig, (winner of “Best in Show” at the 2014 AFTA Trade show) this pack offers you everything you need – and more. Keep an eye out for it at your favourite tackle store.

Price: RRP $59.95 www.blackmagictackle.com

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

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visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

What’s New FISHING

POWERED BY

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BROTE SWIMMING RUBBER JIG

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SURF WAIST PACK

The Brote swimming rubber jig has been designed in Japan and makes an excellent shallow water snapper jig.

The Brote’s enticing side-to-side action is achieved with a simple slow roll.

The rubber legs and skirt dance behind the lure and look amazingly similar to a fleeing octopus. For best results let the jig sink to the bottom and vary your retrieve from a simple straight wind to a hopping technique.

The Brote is fitted with a single hook and twin assist hooks. The single hook can be used to attach a soft plastic for additional appeal. It weighs 30g (the head size is 50mm), and is currently available in five proven colours. Scan the QR code on this page to see a video of the Brote, or go to https://youtu.be/XCTRx3M-CrY. Price: RRP $19 www.ejtodd.com.au

Black Magic Tackle is always looking for new ideas for surf and rock anglers, and have come up with a great new Surf Waist Pack. Whether surfcasting or rock fishing, anyone can appreciate the idea of having fewer items to carry in their hands.

The Black Magic Waist Pack is made from high quality materials and features a number of compartments and pockets to store your choice of tackle. In this case Black Magic has taken it a step further by creating a ‘ready to go’ waist pack which is filled with essential tackle and accessories.

The pack includes: Velocity Surf line; Tough Trace; Longreach surf rig; hooks and swivels; Wasabi fillet knife; Bait Buddy thread; and fish handling towel.

And once you have the waist pack, you can refill it when necessary with whatever tackle you require for your next fishing adventure.

Price: RRP $89.95 www.blackmagictackle.com

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FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

RAPALA FINESSE SERIES

The new Rapala Finesse Series (RFS) of rods has been crafted to provide anglers with heightened rod sensitivity and perfect lure control when on the water. A fast action ultra-high modulus two piece 40-ton graphite blank is complemented by the revolutionary Fuji KR guide system, VSS and ECS real seats, making the RFS series perform as great as they look and feel.

One spinning and two baitcasting models have been incorporated into the RFS series, each with different length and line ratings. The 6’8” Elegance 2-6lb spinning model is ideal for landing spooky bream on ultra-light line. For anglers looking to downsize their baitcasting tackle, the 6’4” Zephyr 3-10lb is the perfect all round finesse rod for when you need to draw on some additional power to tackle trophy Aussie bass. Finally, the 6’3” Micrology is rated to 2-5lb, making it the lightest rod in the range and your ticket to the ultimate in finesse fishing.

Price: SRP $379.95 www.rapala.com.au

visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

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WILSON COTTON PRAWN NET

The Wilson Cotton Prawn Net has been designed to make prawning with a dip net easier. The cotton doesn’t allow the prawns to slide up the netting – in fact it actually traps the prawns in the bottom of the net. This means you don’t have to worry about any prawns sliding up and out while you’re dipping for another prawn.

The frame and handle are constructed from lightweight and strong aluminium, and the handle is 39” (100cm) long, giving you enough reach to dip for that prawn swimming past on the outside of your light.

The net has a drop of 80cm to hold many prawns easily, and the fine mesh will mean you can catch bait prawns as easily as you can food prawns.

The Wilson Cotton Prawn Net is what anglers have been asking for, and Wilson’s has delivered it in a lightweight, strong, and easy to use package.

Always remember to check your local regulations for the legality of this net, as different states have different regulations.

Price: approx. $40 www.wilsonfishing.com

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TT’S FLASH POINT

Flash Point tail spinners, from Australian brand TT Lures, feature a realistic baitfish profile and 3D eyes. Other features include: hand-painted finishes; a chemically sharpened, black nickel hook; and a 24K gold-plated or nickel-plated blade designed to create flash and vibration to call fish to the lure and trigger strikes.

These lures have been tested and proven on bass, golden perch and cod, while also producing some surprise captures in the salt. Deadly on a slow roll, hopped retrieve or vertical presentation, Flash Point tail spinners are available in two weights – 14g and 20g – and eight of TT Lures’ most popular tested and proven colours – golden boy, red nightmare, Aussie green and gold, brown mongrel, peacock blue, purple minnow, silver minnow and green back.

So the next time you’re on the water, heat your session up to Flash Point!

Price: SRP $11.95 www.ttlures.com.au

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GERBER MP600 BLADELESS

The Gerber MP600 Bladeless has a host of great features that more than make up for the lack of a blade.

This heavy duty, 420HC stainless steel multi-tool is travel safe, and its features include needle nose pliers, the centerpiece and pivotal point, replaceable tungsten carbide wire cutters and a tough (removable) RemGrit saw.

Another great feature is that it can be opened with just one hand (a feature that would be illegal with a blade).

These pliers measure 9.3” overall and 5.1” when closed, and weighs 9.0oz. Other features include: ruler; scissors; flathead screwdriver (three sizes), Phillips head screwdriver; bottle opener; file; rotatable, replaceable carbide cutters; replaceable RemGrit saw; and can opener. The MP600 Bladeless is black oxide coated, made in the USA, and complies with ‘no knife’ policy in the workplace.

Price: RRP $159 www.gerbergear.com

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

What’s New FISHING

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UGLY STIK LUGGAGE

The Ugly Stik Tackle Bag is the big daddy of Ugly Stik tackle storage. It has a spacious main compartment that includes and holds four large utility boxes.

Constructed of durable, splash-resistant fabric, this bag also has a front and side organizer with two plier holders. There is plenty of storage space with the zippered side pockets, and a top lid pocket. An adjustable and padded shoulder strap and a carrying handle is quick and easy.

Ugly Stik have also released a cooler bag, for ultimate convenience while fishing. The cooler bag is convenient enough to hold six cans and keep a full day’s worth of food, and the zippered closure ensures you’re always ready to enjoy a cold drink. The back of the cooler bag folds down to reveal two drink holders, which is a clever design feature. The Cooler Bag also includes an Ugly Stik stubby cooler – the engineers at Ugly have thought of everything!

Price: RRP $29.95 (cooler), $99.95 (tackle bag) www.shakespeare.com.au

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MONSTER JACKS DVD

Come for an adventure into Jack World, in the search for the ultimate jack fishing experience! This season we return to our own backyard: the rivers and canals around the Gold and Sunshine Coast.

The Jack Guide - Monster Jacks is your key to hooking the biggest estuary jacks in the country. Included are the tips and technical advice you need to take your fishing to the next level – above the 50cm mark. Learn how to plan sessions to get your drag burning!

Monster Jacks not only provides loads of exciting footage of catching these monsters, it also includes advice for planning better sessions. This DVD goes beyond looking at rock bars, bridges and deep holes. Jacks are choosy residents, and you’ll be surprised at where they’re hiding.

Make this a monster summer and get The Jack Guide working for you!

Check it out on Facebook or buy direct at http://bit.ly/1lgpAjC. Price: $30 facebook.com/thejackguide

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BERKLEY E-MOTION RODS

Berkley E-Motion rods are designed for anglers looking to take the next step in rod performance.

From finesse estuary and freshwater presentations to punching out big plastics on inshore reefs, these rods combine superb function and performance at a best-in-class value. Lengths, powers and actions are engineered to perform and designed with the keen angler in mind.

Constructed of a 100% carbon fibre blank, E-Motion Performance rods deliver a unique balance of strength and sensitivity to detect even the subtlest bites. The High Energy Transfer Reel Seat Design provides maximum energy transfer from butt to tip for more powerful hook sets or working big fish out of heavy cover. The soft coat texture applied to the reel seat, combined with the ergonomically shaped split handles, provides added grip, comfort and control. Fuji Alconite guides ensure smoother, longer casts.

There are seven spinning rods ranging from 6’6” to 7’2” with extra light to medium heavy actions.

Price: RRP of $129.95 www.berkley-fishing.com.au

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

POWERED BY

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DAIWA REVROS DX

The Revros DX is Daiwa’s most feature packed reel ever developed in its price range. Its features, durability and ultrasmooth performance are second to none. Featuring such Daiwa innovations as Twistbuster II, Silent Oscillation and Infinite anti-reverse, this reel also employs seven ball bearings, a high speed retrieve ratio and Digigear II gearing system for ultra smooth rotation and feel.

The ABS spool has a maximized core diameter and reversed taper meaning there is 100% useable line, no ‘dead’ line buried deep in the spool, so you can fill it with line right up to the edge of the spool lip without fear of tangles.

The rearward taper of the spool’s core helps prevent tangles caused by excessive loops of loosely wound or stiff line falling forward from the spool on the cast. This huge diameter spool lets line flow freely in larger coils and produces less line memory coil. The result is less casting friction for longer, easier casting.

The Revros DX also uses Daiwa’s Digigear II system for ultra-smooth rotation and optimized speed, power and durability. www.daiwafishing.com.au

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AUSSIE-MADE PLATYPUS P8

Extra thin and round, P8 is a premium quality braid from Platypus. Utilising eight-strand construction ensures P8 is one of the thinnest braids on the market.

Round, smooth and supple, it will pack more evenly onto your reel for longer, accurate casts time after time. P8 is ideal for all lure casting applications, from light tackle soft plastics through to rock fishing and deep sea jigging.

Eight carrier construction is the best braid structure for any fishing situation or species using either overhead or spin gear. Eight carrier braids are rounder and thinner than regular three or four carrier braids, and do not flatten and take on water as 12 or 16 carriers do. With the actual unknotted breaking strain on the label of Platypus P8, anglers are able to make a more informed choice. P8 braid is available in 6, 8, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 50lb breaking strains in 150yd and 300yd lengths in hi-vis orange.

Australian Monofil, the owner and manufacturer of Platypus lines, has 117 years of experience that allows them produce the highest quality fishing line in their Brisbane factory. Their motto is, “By Australian fishos for Australian fishos”.

Price: RRP $39(150yd) www.fishplatypus.com.au

18

WILSON BEACH ROD HOLDER

Having a place to safely store your rod on the beach, out of the sand and surf is a necessary part of beach fishing. It doesn’t matter if you hold your rod while fishing or let it sit in the holder, at some stage you’re going to need both hands free to do something like bait up or re-tie a rig.

The Wilson Beach Rod Holder is a powder coated, extra strong alloy to ensure, even under the most trying circumstances, your equipment stays high and dry. A large, two-winged fluke is double welded to provide extra security and the rod rest and butt rest are simple and effectively designed.

Easy to transport, easy to use and built for the harsh conditions found on the beach, the Wilson Beach Rod Holder is an essential companion on a beach fishing trip.

Price: approx. $15 www.wilsonfishing.com

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

15

16

17

18

visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

What’s New FISHING

FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

POWERED BY

TESTED: Daiwa 2015 Mag Seal Zillion 1516SH

Above: Here’s how the 2015 Zillions look on the flash Daiwa website. 0-100 in 2.5 seconds. Right: This is what one looks like when it turns up in the office.

Increasingly, I like giving Testing Booth products for Fishing Monthly a real flogging before I write about them in these pages – after all, plenty of products work fine straight out of the box, but start the downward spiral after a heavy workload.

So when the opportunity came to test the Mag Sealed 2015 Zillion, I saw the chance to incorporate it into my regular fishing regime and give it the treatment it deserved. Harsh!

Let me backtrack a little. For the least few years, I’ve specialised in Brisbane River predators – mainly mulloway and threadfin salmon – and have landed maybe 400 of these fish since the addiction started a few years ago.

I fish most nights in the cooler months and fish mostly from the bank. It means that I can get a trip over with in a couple of hours, where if I fish from a boat, it seems to be at least a six hour turnaround and I don’t have the stamina to give up six hours of sleep a night. Two I can live with.

That’s all sort of beside the point. The point is, I wanted to catch 50 fish on this reel in at least 50 trips before I passed judgement.

Because surely the regular duty-cycle for a Zillion wouldn’t be that heavy? I might be wrong, but if I couldn’t break it, maybe you wouldn’t be able to break it either?

This Zillion is part of a four-reel line up that comprises the 2015 Zillion range. All are the same size with the same spools and line capacities, however there’s three gear ratios available in right-hand versions and a single 5.3:1 ratio available for the left-handers.

Discriminatory, I know.

Deal with it.

I used the fastest in the range, the 7.3:1 1516SH. Daiwa don’t like publishing prices for

their product, but I looked it up on Mo Tackle and they sell all reels in this range for $499.

All of the Zillions carry 8 ball bearings and a roller bearing and an anti-reverse bearing.

The most exposed bearing beneath the cast control cap is protected by Mag Sealed Technology. Although not all points of potential water ingress are covered, it’s pleasing to note that it seems as though – internally at least –

surfaces.

And then it gets in.

I used to use a very similar reel for a lot of my River fishing – a 4.9:1 Zillion Crazy Cranker.

The ratio made it a great reel for keeping a lure in the strike zone, but a pain in the bum for quick retrieves between productive areas and for catching up to a fish that swum towards you, it was especially poor.

After around 50 trips and 50 fish, we couldn’t find much evidence of salt incursion at all.

I was sort of disappointed – I can get salt anywhere!

Scan the QR code to watch the TackleJunkie team disassemble the test Mag Seal Zillion. this iteration of the Zillion seems very resistant to having its guts filled with salt water.

You may not realise, but everyday fishing, especially with braided line that holds a lot of water through the cast and retrieve process, can infiltrate a reel (especially a baitcast reel).

Every time you cast, saltwater from the line is finely sprayed across most parts that see the spool. Your hands effectively distribute this salty water across the rest of the reel exterior

With my ridiculously heavy duty cycle, I could render this Crazy Cranker unfishable from a finely tuned machine in around 6 months. Enough saltwater would make its way into the reel to denature the grease and infiltrate the bearings in this time. It’d start to ‘sing’ and crackle. Sometimes the free spool button wouldn’t return. Time to send it back for a service, after which, it’d be good as new.

I couldn’t do this to the Zillion (spooled with

code is printed here, too, but I’m arrogant enough to think that nobody can crud-up a reel as good as me. Critics believed maybe Daiwa had pre-selected a few reels to prove their point?

Sorry for being a sceptic, Daiwa. Mag Seal may just have my measure!

ON THE WATER Technology aside, though, how did the Zillion fish?

Putting it into context, the baitcast reels in my regular rotation include the old faithful Crazy Cranker, a 13 Fishing Concept A and a generation-old Shimano Chronarch that refuses to give up. They sit on a variety of double-handed baitcasting rods, including Nories VOICE, Daiwa Battler Harrier and 13 Fishing ENVY models.

Compared to the 13 Fishing reel, the Daiwa feels bigger in the hand and sits higher on the rods – regardless of the type of reel seat.

The real key to dialling in this Zillion, however, is getting the Magforce cast control just right. It seems to be the most sensitive Magforce reel I’ve used to date.

Screw the control up too high and your casts will be pulled short, regardless of how hard you punch them out. It took me a session to realise this and when I immediately dialled it down to ‘0’, I lost control of a few lures into the darkness, resulting in a couple of backlashes and nudging the control up onto the bottom third of its range. And that’s where it’s comfortably sat ever since.

Throwing big swimbaits that weigh several ounces at the BARRA Tour in 2015, dialling it up to around halfway made the casting virtually fool proof without any real noticeable decrease in distance.

The Magforce control is on the left-hand side of the reel and is intuitive enough to use in total darkness. Audible detents let you know just where on the range you are.

The other noticeable difference between this reel and my regular Daiwa was the T-Wing System (TWS). This is a level-line that flips up when you depress the free spool button to decrease the line angle and reduce friction and acute angles on the cast.

Bring the first reel I’ve used with the TWS, I could detect the lack of friction in this area only when I was at the lower end of the Magforce settings.

I’ve subsequently fish a little with the TWS version of the ultra-light Silver Wolf baitcaster and the difference, to me, is much more noticeable when you’re throwing lures that are 5g and less. Baits three times this weight and heavier tend to get where they want after a double-handed heave.

Mag Sealed 2015 Zillions Model Gear Ratio #Ball Bearings Wt. (g) Drag Pressure (kg) Spool Capacity 1516P 5.5 (61cm) 8+1 215 5 7.2kg/100m, 9kg/80m PE 1.5/200m 1516H 6.3 (71cm) 8+1 215 5 7.2kg/100m, 9kg/80m PE 1.5/200m 1516HL 6.3 (71cm) 8+1 215 5 7.2kg/100m, 9kg/80m PE 1.5/200m 1516SH 7.3 (81cm) 8+1 215 5 7.2kg/100m, 9kg/80m PE 1.5/200m

The 2015 Zillion caught plenty of these during the test period – mainly casting lures in the 14-25g range.

SCAN THE QR CODE!

30lb Daiwa J-Braid) and so we ignored the “don’t disassemble at home” labels and pulled it apart to see how much salt I could get into the guts of this reel.

You can scan the QR code hereby to see Simon Goldsmith and I pull the reel apart, but the bottom line is that there was virtually zero ingress and definitely not enough to result in a salt build-up anywhere we could find. We shot this live and definitely didn’t do any sort of practice run to pre-judge the result.

I’d shot a similar piece at the Daiwa Service Centre in Sydney a month before. That QR

visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

SUMMARY Could I break it? No. Could I give it a heart-attack with saltwater ingress? Not unless I dunked it underwater.

Do I want to give it back? Not really, but I must, because I pulled apart a Mag Seal reel and I suppose I’d better let the experts put it back together.

Watch a disassembly comparison between a used Mag Seal Zillion and a standard Zillion.

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

Cooking

Oysters Trifecta BRISBANE

Lynn Bain

I like the combination of flavours and textures in these three recipes – the crispy golden crunch of the tempura, the citrusy brininess of the oysters au naturel and the spicy richness of the chorizo.

The oysters were supplied by Kooringal Oysters, based at 50 Toulkerrie Rd, Kooringal Qld (ph. 07 3409 0133).

Oysters chorizo 1 chorizo sausage, skin peeled off 1 cup dried breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 2 tablespoons cream Oysters au naturel 1-2 limes Tempura oysters 50g cornflour, sifted 50g plain flour, sifted Small pinch salt 150mL very cold soda water

Oysters chorizo

1

4

Crumble the peeled chorizo meat into small portions and place into a hot, dry wok. Stir-fry until brown to release the flavoured oil from the chorizo.

Add the Worcestershire sauce and heat for a few seconds. Add the cream and stir the mixture until it reduces and thickens.

Tempura oysters

1 116

Combine the cornflour, plain flour and salt.

Add the cold soda water and whisk until just combined. The batter should be thin and almost transparent. If the batter seems too thick, add a little more cold soda water.

FEBRUARY 2016

2

5

2

Add the breadcrumbs and cook through the mixture.

3

Remove the mixture from the wok using a ladle, leaving behind the oil.

Oysters au naturel

Pour the mixture over the oyster and add the chorizo breadcrumbs.

Dip the oysters in the batter.

1

3

Simply squeeze fresh lime over the oyster and add a segment of lime for decoration.

Heat the oil in the wok and place the battered oyster in for a few seconds.

THE R ECR EATIONAL ANGLER’S LINK SUPERTR AWLER NEWS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • While the Geelong Star is currently fishing south of our borders, there has been an application for a similar size vessel to fish in the Coral Sea off the Queensland coast. We need to maintain pressure against any large-scale industrial fishing in Australian waters.

International fisheries that have been fished in this manner have failed disastrously. The product being harvested is not even high quality product for the domestic market. It seems to be an exorbitant environmental risk to multiple fisheries for very small economic returns with significant historic overseas failures.

The Australian Recreational Fishing Foundation (ARFF), the peak national body representing Australia’s recreational fishing community has expressed disappointment and concern that the Geelong Star operators have not heeded advice from ARFF or honoured undertakings made at a meeting with the Government, Australian

Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), ARFF and the vessel operators before Christmas.

This follows reports that the Geelong Star has been fishing the popular and iconic recreational fishing grounds off Bermagui on the South Coast of NSW in recent days after ARFF advised them not to fish these areas.

A press release from Assistant Minister for Fisheries, Anne Ruston following the meeting stated the following.

“In addition, Seafish Tasmania also agreed that the Geelong Star voluntarily agreed to avoid fishing near major game fishing tournaments.

“The operators of the Geelong Star assured the meeting that best endeavours will be made to minimise interactions between the vessel and recreational fishers.”

Mr Allan Hansard, Managing Director of ARFF said they are disappointed that the Geelong Star operators have not honoured these

undertakings as the vessel has been reported fishing off Bermagui when the Bermagui game fishing tournament starts on 25 January.

“In addition, we are still in the Christmas, New Year holiday period where thousands of families converge on the south coast of NSW to go fishing.

The fishing operations of the vessel were reported to us by recreational fishers in the area, so it is hard to see how the vessel owners are using their ‘best endeavours’ to minimise interactions with recreational fishers,” he said. “These recent actions have put a cloud over future talks about the operations of the Geelong Star scheduled for early February. Unfortunately, their actions have also brought into question the value of such talks.”

Minister Ruston’s press release can be found at: http://assistant. agricultureminister.gov. au/Pages/Media-Releases/ progress-on-geelong-starnegotiations.aspx

LAKE CALLEMONDAH’S NEW FISHWAY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A fishway has been constructed below Lake Callemondah, to allow native migratory species to get in and out of this lake as per their breeding requirements.

The Fitzroy Basin Association set out to make

a navigable fishway on November 30, and the project was finished just recently.

Given the lack of nursery habitat in Gladstone now, this is a small step back in the right direction.

Gladstone Regional Council’s Environment

portfolio spokesperson Councillor Col Chapman told The Observer that the fishway will connect the estuarine creek and freshwater lake allowing native fish to migrate, as well as improve the health of local waterways.

NAME THAT FISH • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

We occasionally get sent some fish photos to identify.

This one took a while.

It was caught by John Ballantine in Moreton Bay in around 40ft of water.

Can you guess what it is?

Answer is on page 118

A GR EAT YEAR OF NET FR EE AR EAS AHEAD • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • This should be a very big year for Queensland recreational fishers.

Hopefully some recent changes should be the first push to improve our recreational fisheries.

NET FREE AREAS We will have all year to assess the benefits of the Net Free Areas in Cairns, Mackay and Keppel. It will be an opportunity to further determine what monitoring

and assessment regimes are required to monitor these and future Net Free Areas.

Discussions are also due to commence on how to move forward with the Net Free Area in Moreton Bay. This is bound to be a long and lively discussion.

As was evident in the robust discussions prior to the declarations of our first three Net Free Areas, most sectors of the community

and government recognize the social and economic benefits of net free areas.

The processes towards achieving the declaration and the legislative and financial steps leading to that end, however will cause the most dissent.

It is important that we commence this New Year with a fresh enthusiasm for elevating Moreton Bay into a world-class urban fishery.

KEY FACTS ABOUT NET FR EE AR EAS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

• No impact on trawl fishery • Tunnel netting will continue in Moreton Bay • Commercial line netting will continue in Moreton Bay • MBMP is 3400 square kilometres, we are asking for 115 square kilometres or 3% • Mostly it is 400m from the shoreline • 405,000 recreational fishers in the Moreton Bay Catchment • We are NOT asking for access to existing green zones in this proposal • Fish caught in the haven area is not supplying the local markets • 3% of what is caught in MBMP is only $207,000 • Last year $1.9 million RUF in Moreton Bay Catchment

“Species such as barramundi, sea mullet, mangrove jack, tarpon, empire gudgeons, longfinned eels and Pacific blue eyes need fresh and salt water migration to complete their breeding lifecycles,” Cr Chapman said. – Stefan Sawynok, Infofish

www.sunfishqld.com.au

Email: judylynne@sunfishqld.com.au

Who cares about a big barramundi anyway?

BRISBANE

The Sheik of the Creek

What is it about barra that’s so special anyway?

I’d definitely like to know because Skipper gets one about 2ft long or so and suddenly he’s a celebrity, poncing about like he’s done something clever like a two year old with

118

FEBRUARY 2016

a nappy nugget. It may have been a little bit over 2ft long but that’s not the point really. Barra are so last year.

Don’t worry about the fact that I managed a golden snapper about the same length as his barra, or several good mangrove jack. Or that Manboobs managed a tuna on a light spin stick and a reel with

a busted handle. Now, that tuna had more pull than something that pulls really really hard and kept us occupied for the better part of half an hour to get him into the boat. Oh no, don’t consider those things at all.

Just go on and on about Skipper’s barra.

Now I understand that they are a good-looking fish with lovely silver scales that

shine like a charm bracelet when they come out of the water. And I know they apparently cook up pretty well in a restaurant or in the family kitchen. Yes, they’re big, and powerful and aggressive and beautiful but apart from that, what is the big deal with catching one?

I don’t think it’s fair that Skipper gets all the attention for catching one fish only on the Dudds’ trip.

Boobies and I were also there catching fish but it’s Skipper who says ‘I got a barra’ in a stupid smug voice when someone asks how the trip went. And the stupid people who asked say things like ‘Oh wow, a barra, how big?’ Or other stupid things, and don’t ask what anyone else caught. I don’t know about tuna but people should certainly be more aware of how good looking golden snapper and mangrove jack are, and how tough they are to catch, not like some other big stupid silver fish.

And anyway, 85cm is not very big. I caught a much bigger one last year and so it’s not really all that hard to do. Mine was at least 87cm, but the photo of it came out wrong

somehow because it looks much shorter in the photo.

If you see that photo don’t believe it. The angle must have been wrong. It looks about 45cm, but that can happen with some cameras!

That’s why I threw it into the creek when Skipper caught his barra this year – I didn’t want his fish to look small. But he still went

on and on about how big his was compared to mine and didn’t listen when I said about the camera making things look smaller. And you didn’t hear me going on and on about catching a stupid barra. Well you might have last year, but that was last year.

And anyway, barra are overrated big time.

SUNFISH ANSWER The fish is a southern blue devilfish Paraplesiops meleagris. Occasionally found around Peel Island and Caloundra Wide Standard Common Name: Southern blue devil Alternative Name/s: western blue devil

Blue

devilfish,

bluedevil,

Identification: The southern blue devil can be recognised by the bright blue spots on its dark blue/ brown body, and large anal and pelvic fins.

Size range: It grows to about 35cm.

Habitat: These fish prefer deep cave systems and ledges, which may be inhabited by several individuals ranging from small juveniles to mature adults. They can be found in depths of 3m to over 40m.

Feeding and Diet: Southern blue devilfish feed on fishes and crustaceans.

Mating and reproduction: Members of the genus Paraplesiops lay eggs onto the substrate. These are guarded by the male until hatching.

Conservation Status: The species is not protected.

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LOGO COMPETITION There are 15

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Logos hidden throughout the pages of Fishing Monthly.

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Logo and page number, fill in the entry form and go in the draw to win!

The first 40 correct entries drawn at the end of the month will win a Shrimp Hook Pack.

All entries will go into the major prize draw.

(Drawn MAY 31, 2016)

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VALUE OF WILSON PRODUCTS

400

$ ND

2 6

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PLACE

VALUE OF WILSON PRODUCTS

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• Zerek 2” Live Shrimp Hook Pack • 1gm and 3 gm weighted worm hook/jig head • Value RRP: $11.95 each

www.wilsonfishing.com PAGE NO: 1

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VALUE OF WILSON PRODUCTS

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Images for illustration purposes only.

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FINS SCALES & TALES by A. Both

QLD FEBRUARY 2016

Phone (day):

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Congratulations to J Weier of Burrum Heads, who was last month’s winner of the Find-a-Word Competition!

Monthly winners receive a Fishing Monthly prize pack. Prize delivery can take 8 weeks. – QFM

BARRA COUNTRY by Brett Currie

SUBSCRIBER PRIZE

BITE ME by Trisha Mason

The subscriber prize winner for November was A Bostock of Burleigh Heads, who won a pair of Permit Costa Sunglasses valued at $300.

All subscribers are entered in the monthly subscriber prize draws. Prize delivery takes up to 8 weeks. – QFM

FIND THE ZEREK LOGO

GEORGE & NEV by Michael Hardy

December locations: 15, 16, 24, 38, 42, 61, 80, 82, 88, 93, 94, 97, 109, 113, 129. – QFM The Find the Zerek logo prize winners for December were: J Nock of Kallangur, J Finney of Dingo, G Herring of Gympie, S Hall of Thursday Island, J White of Aspley, P Lobley of Silkstone, V Illman of Mt Gambier, N Kempthorne of Ripley, R Kunde of Beerwah, D Cauchi of Bundaberg, P Fels of Cushnie, B Hardwick of Kewarra Beach, J Goody of Mt Berryman, P Symonds of Kallangur, E&V Jackson of Long Flat Via Gympie, D Bycroft of Meridan Plains, P Fielder of Everton Hills, B Mackey of Parkwood, J Rasmussen of Frazerview, C Hendry of Imbil , M Gillett of Boonah, K Cervenjak of Greenbank, J Kelly of Rothwell, B Nicholson of Bundamba, L Betts of Kendall, R Saunders of Penrith, A Scott of Proserpine, J Buddle of Torquay, C Rowe of Loganholme, W Robinson of Raceview, E Lezuchowski of Darra, R Ramsay of Taylors Beach , T Ramm of Kawana, R Wright of Urangan, K Aldridge of •Rockville, O Noffke of New products B Schmidt of Dalby, Kulangoor, K Edwards of innisfail, • Videos G Watter of Ripley, A Svaikauskas • Indepth of Alligator Creek.

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Online - ANYTIME FEBRUARY 2016

121

TOURNAMENT CALENDAR 2016

DATE DETAILS

CONTACT

FEBRUARY

Feb 6-7

Rnd 1 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Bemm River

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Feb 13-14

Boondooma Dam Yellowbelly Comp Lake Boondooma

Terry Allwood 0400 860 122

Feb 20-21

ABT BREAM Qualifier #1 Mallacoota

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

Feb 24-25

ABT BREAM Qualifier #2 Gippsland Lakes

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

Feb 27-28

Rnd 2 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Blackwood River

www.hobiefishing.com.au

MARCH

Mar 5-6

BASS Pro Qualifier # 1 Glenbawn

www.abt.org.au

Mar 5-6

Rnd 3 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Mallacoota

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Mar 8-9

BASS Pro Qualifier #2 St Clair

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

Mar 10-13

VMR Hervey Bay Family Fishing Competition Hervey Bay

George Duck 0407 663 578

Mar 13

BASS Electric #1 Clarrie Hall Dam

Joseph Urquart 0439 764 369

Mar 20

Rnd 4 Hobie Kayak BREAM series South Sydney

www.hobiefishing.com.au

APRIL

Apr 9-10

BASS Pro Qualifier #3 Richmond River

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

Apr 9-10

ABT BREAM Qualifier #3 Mandurah

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

Apr 17

BASS Electric #2 Isis Balancing Storage

Les Barber 0428 726 857

Apr 22-23

Rnd 5 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Scamander River

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Apr 25-26

BREAM Qualifier #4 St Helens

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

Apr 27-28

Rnd 6 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Swan River

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Apr 29-31

Boyne Tannum Hook-up Gladstone

Enquiries enquiries@boynetannumhookup.com.au

Apr 30-1 May

BREAM Qualifier #5 Derwent River

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

May 7-8

BASS Electric #3 Toonumbar Dam

Adrian Melchior 0415 587 900

May 15

Rnd 7 Hobie Kayak BREAM series St Georges Basin

www.hobiefishing.com.au

May 27-29

King of the Pin Jumpinpin

Don Vogel www.sundownersfishing.com

JUNE

Jun 5

Rnd 8 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Gold Coast

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Jun 11-12

BREAM Qualifier #6 Forster

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

Jun 16-17

BASS Pro Qualifier #4 Boondooma

ABT 07 3387 0888 abt.org.au

Jun 26

Rnd 9 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Port Macquarie

www.hobiefishing.com.au

JULY

Jul 2-3

Rnd 10 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Mandurah

www.hobiefishing.com.au

Jul 10

BASS Electric #4 Hinze Dam

Justin Thompson 0421 476 392

Jul 23-24

Rnd 11 Hobie Kayak BREAM series Lake Macquarie

www.hobiefishing.com.au

MAY

For listings please email jthomas@fishingmonthly.com.au 122

FEBRUARY 2016

Hervey Bay Family Fishing Competition 2016 Keen fishers who are planning a holiday in March should mark the Fraser Coast as a definite spot to visit. The 23rd Annual VMR Hervey Bay Family Fishing Competition organised by the Hervey Bay Boat Club Fishing and Social Club will be held from 10-13 March (Thurs-Sun) at Dayman Park in Pulgul Street Urangan, Hervey Bay. There will be hundreds of prizes to win and you don’t even have to catch a fish to be in the running for most of them.

Many entrants don’t fish at all, and simply go along to enjoy the atmosphere at the presentations, partake in the food and refreshments, perhaps win an $8000 boating package sponsored

by Bay City Marine or $5000 cash, an iPad from Bay City Autos, one of the hundreds of prizes in the lucky draws or the $1000 cash give-away drawn every day, sponsored by the Boat Club.

Draws and presentation

Luke Hislop with his $1000 prize winning cobia from the 2015 competition.

GES Round 1 overview

The first round of the Gamakatsu Elite Series sponsored by Samurai Rods has been run and won with the Elite Teams fighting it out for a massive payout of $1450 or first place.

The mighty Gold Coast lived up to its reputation with 63 fish being weighed in for 30.65kg. The massive 100km stretch of waterway allowed the anglers to have their choice of different fishing structures, however, it was the shallow rock and weed flats that pulled the first place getters through!

TEAM ATOMIC HARDZ TAKES FIRST ROUND Day 1 On day 1 they decided to fish the southern bay area due to time considerations. Steve Eldred and Aaron Sharp spot hopped across six different locations, scoring fish at each of them.

“We decided on a hardbody approach and slow rolled Atomic Crank 38 in Ghost Gill Brown and the 45mm Atomic Shiner in silver wolf. We didn’t score the anticipated big bites and as a result we were sitting in 4th position with a bag of 2.23kg for 5/5,” they said.

Day 2 Their day 2 plan

changed as they decided not to fish their normal run of bay spots due to a change in the weather and the fact that Mud Island hadn’t been producing lately.

“We revisited our day 1 spots and fished them more thoroughly. Again we opted to throw Atomic Crank 38s with the stand out colours being GGB and muddy prawn,” they said.

This proved to be the winning technique with Team Atomic Hardz bringing in a 10/10 bag for 5.73kg. Their combined weight of 7.96kg for 15/15 was enough for them to score their first win of the series. – AFT

times are Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 6-8pm and Sunday from 12-3pm.

Senior entry fees are priced at $40 and juniors at $10.

There will be a licensed bar, and this year’s catering will be done again by members of the Rotary Club of Hervey Bay Sunrise and will provide plenty of hot food for everyone.

The live weigh-in will again be sponsored by Fisherman’s Corner Hervey Bay, and eligible species include flathead (live only), bream and whiting.

Species of fish eligible for the dead weigh-in are whiting, blackall, bream, golden trevally and coral bream. There is also an ‘any other species’ category with a $1000 prize for the best fish, for the seniors.

Species excluded from this category include flathead, cod, Spanish mackerel, shark and ray.

Thanks to the excellent support and generosity of local business houses, the competition has been a huge success each year, so make plans now to enter this popular event.

Entry forms are available at tackle shops

in Hervey Bay and Maryborough, at the Chronicle offices and at the Boat Club and Sporties

or phone 4194 6138 or visit our website – www. fishingcomp herveybay. org.au. - George Duck

VMR Hervey Bay Family Fishing Competition 2016

FISHING AND SOCIAL CLUB INC

March 10–13 Seniors $40 – Juniors $10 Dayman Park, Pulgul Street, Urangan

Lucky draws for hundreds of prizes!

Presentations Daily 6-8pm - Sunday 12 Noon-3pm

$10,000 IN CASH TO WIN

• $8,000 Boat or $5,000 Cash • $1,000 Lucky Draw Every Day • $1,000 For the Best Fish

JUNIORS SUPER DRAW - APPLE IPAD Water Snake GREAT FISHING PRIZES TO WIN IN •Electric Motor • Heaps of Tackle THE DEAD AND LIVE WEIGH-INS and Ice Boxes

Fishing from 6pm Thursday to 12noon Sunday Weigh-in Times: Fri-Sat 8.30am to 6pm - Sun 8.30am-12noon Team Atomic Hardz used Atomic Crank 38 lures to secure them the $1450 prize for first place.

Species: Live - Whiting, bream, flathead Dead - Whiting, bream, blackall, coral bream, trevally and the any other species section.

Enq. 0407 663 578 - www.fishingcompherveybay.org.au FEBRUARY 2016

123

Secret of impoundment bass for kayak fishers BRISBANE

Justin Wilmer Find me on Facebook at Yaks On

Last issue we visited a local impoundment where the stocking group released 20,000 bass and 10,000 yellowbelly fingerlings into their new home. We hatched a plan to return to this impoundment, which we hadn’t fished previously and apply techniques that we had learnt from fishing other impoundments to see if we could land a couple of fish.

The day had arrived.

After a late start, we got onto the water around mid-morning, with drizzly conditions and this, combined with the remote controlled, fuel powered boats whizzing

around the main basin put a small dint in my confidence.

I had a few of my favourite lures with me though, and a plan to target structure that had produced fish on other impoundments. A bit of earlier online research, via Google Earth and Lowrance’s Insight Genesis mapping on their website, soon saw me paddling towards my first target structure, the original riverbed as it left the main basin.

There were bass schools holding on the edge of the old riverbed, so I positioned the yak upwind and commenced a slow drift back over the schools. Tail-spinners and blades did not produce fish, so it was time for a switch to soft plastics for a more subtle, finesse presentation.

A couple more drifts and it

A bass in the net caught on a ZMan 2.5” Slim SwimZ.

was time to change things up as the fish seemed to be shut down.

Moving to a hump, where the water rose from 10m up to around 4m, I switched to metal vibration blades, a technique that saw me catch a couple of small fish, before the lilies started to call. After paralleling the lily edges for a while, positioning the kayak a couple of metres off the lilies and fanning long casts along the edges in front of the yak, I received a couple of bumps on spinnerbaits, but was unsure if they were spangled perch or bass that weren’t keen to commit to the strike. It was time to move onto my favourite bass structure, points.

Points are a go-to for impoundment anglers, offering fish a variety of depths, including shallows in close proximity to deeper water and often holding bait. A couple more taps on the spinnerbait and I decided to switch to something more subtle: a 2.5” paddle-tail plastic rigged with a #2 gold jig spinner. Casting across the point and also along each side, it wasn’t long until a subtle tap turned into a jolting hook-set and solid first run. After a couple of hours of experimentation, I had finally landed a decent bass.

From this point I landed a couple more bass on the soft plastic, rigged with

A jig spinner adds subtle flash and vibration to your soft plastic.

Jay Noble looking happy with a decent bass. When it comes to fishing the sticks, spinnerbaits and weedless plastics are excellent options. or without a jig spinner, before calling it a day and leaving the water by early afternoon. It was a good feeling to fish new water and land a few fish, especially after talking to a dozen other kayak anglers and discovering only one of them had landed fish.

There was no magic to my success, no voodoo dolls, lucky charms or rubbing of Buddha’s belly, it was simply a matter of doing some research, zeroing in on some key structure and carrying a few different lures that proved successful over time. Let’s have a look at a few key lures that have consistently produced fish for me, and structure types that should see you hooked up.

Impoundments are ideal for kayak anglers, but often offer somewhere to escape average weather, less boat traffic and multiple launch points. They can be daunting though in terms of their size and knowing where to start fishing and what to look for.

DEEP SCHOOLS Locating schools on the sounder, commonly in the old riverbed, on the flats near the riverbed and on deeper points, can lead to red hot ‘fish-

The sounder picked up some bass and bait holding on the edge of the original riverbed.

124

FEBRUARY 2016

a-cast’ sessions when the fish are on. On the other hand, some sessions will have you work your way through every lure in your box as the fish stubbornly sulk on the bottom. I will generally start with blades or tail-spinners, cover plenty of ground, and look for the reaction bite. If the school is shut down, I will then slow the blade right

same way that I fish deepschooled fish.

WEED AND LILY EDGES My go-to lures when fishing weed and lily edges are spinnerbaits and jig spinner rigged plastics.

I fish this structure with two different techniques.

I generally start with spinnerbaits from 1/4-1/2oz depending on depth,

A couple of smaller fish came from this school on TT Lures Switchblades. down or switch to a soft plastic and work it slowly through the school. Blades around 1/4-1/2oz and jigheads from 1/4-1/2oz will generally do the trick, rigged with 2.5-3.5” paddle-tails or curl-tails. At times, anglers will sit on a single school all day in a tournament and wait for the bite window, when they switch on and feed. While fishing socially I prefer to explore more structure types for active fish and return to the schools occasionally to see if they have become more active.

HUMPS Sudden rises in the bottom often hold fish and are worth marking on the sounder for future exploration, even if they are not holding fish on the day. I fish these in the

searching for those active, aggressively feeding fish.

If the bite is finicky or slow I will then switch to a more subtle presentation in the form of a soft plastic, rigged with a jig spinner for more subtle flash and vibration. If the edge is fairly straight I will parallel the bank, and if it is less defined, with more pockets, small points and breaks in the weed and lilies, then I will sit a cast distance out from the bank and pick the pockets and prospect these breaks in the weed and lilies.

POINTS Points are a favourite of mine, and are a consistent producer of fish. If I could only fish one piece of structure in an impoundment it would be points. Points

offer variations in water depth and temperature,

own for more shut down bites, and especially when

and gradually work your casts deeper into the

the structure types that have consistently produced results on my adventures.

The key take outs when it comes to exploring your local impoundments would be: research the area and

available structure, have a plan, carry a variety of lures and mix up your lure presentations, and target structure and retrieves until you crack a pattern. The more time you spend on

the water, the more your bank of knowledge and experience will grow, the quicker you will work things out, and fingers crossed the more time your rod spends bent!

Small paddle-tail or curl-tail plastics are consistent producers on bass. commonly hold bait, and even create different environments within close proximity as the sun or wind can hit one side of the point and not the other.

This often creates a more active environment within the larger environment of

the fish are smaller.

TIMBER Unfortunately I didn’t access any timber on this trip, missing out on the brutal strike and white knuckle fight that only timber offers. When fishing timber I turn to the snag

structure. If you can draw the fish out of the structure a little before it strikes, you increase your chances of landing it, but sometimes you just need to buckle up and get the lure right in there. Paralleling lay down timber and getting the lure

Points are consistent in producing good numbers of bass and are my favourite areas to fish.

Three favourite reaction baits - tail spinner, blade and spinnerbait. the impoundment.

In terms of lures, they’re all worth a throw, with blades and tail-spinners deadly in the deeper water.

When the fish are active, smaller blades are worth a go, but when the bite is slower, spinnerbaits are ideal. Jig spinners and plastics come into their

resistance of lures like spinnerbaits, ChatterBaits and weedless rigged plastics, with the first two options calling more active fish and the weedless rigged plastics amazingly effective at opening the mouths of fish sulking deep in structure.

Cast to the outer edges

right into the ‘V’ where branches and logs cross each other will increase your catches and ‘knock on wood’ – let your lure bump the timber, a method that could potentially wake up a predator.

This is a basic guide to some of the lures that work for me and some of

The author with a bass taken off a point on a ZMan Slim SwimZ.

Profish Tackle Pod™ • Integrated Sounder, Transducer and Battery pod.

• Completely removable in one easy action.

• Large internal tackle storage facility.

AS SEEN ON IFISH TV

Profish “Load & Go” Pods Our Removable Pod system will see you having more time on the water.

Rig up the night before and simply load your pods on location and go...

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Profish Chill Pod™ • Insulated to keep your catch in perfect condition. Just add ice.

• Quick release for ease of loading into your vehicle.

• Contains the mess, making clean down a breeze.

30 Year Warranty Quality assurance FEBRUARY 2016

125

Robalo’s 260 Centre Console – your dream boat?

OPTIONS AS TESTED

FMG

Steve Morgan

• Vacuflush head with macerator and overboard discharge • Aft seat back rest (removable) • Stainless pull-up cleats • Windlass pack • Power assisted hydraulic steering • T-Top outriggers • Console cover • T-Top and enclosure • Garmin VHF Radio • Battery charger • Canvas pack • Australian spec aluminium trailer • Twin 225 Hondas

s.morgan@fishingmonthly.com.au

I’m sure that we all have the same dreams as anglers – unlimited resources to fish for whatever we want, whenever we want. Some of us work hard enough to be able to live out these dreams.

Others buy a lottery ticket each week.

Either way, the Robalo 260 would have to feature pretty highly on any offshore angler’s wish list. Big enough to be uber-comfortable. Fast enough to do more fishing than travelling. Good looking enough to turn heads at any boat ramp across Australia!

So we were smiles from ear to ear when we got the opportunity to take out the Robalo R260 Centre Console out for a drive on a windy day on Port Phillip Bay. Meeting Robalo’s Australian dealer – Scott O’Hare from Aussie Boat QR CODE

Scan the QR Code to see Scott O’Hare from Aussie Boat Sales talk about Robalo boats and the R260 in particular.

126

FEBRUARY 2016

There’s some serious workstation action going on at the business end of the R260. The livewell has rounded edges and is coloured to keep your bait calm, while the lids fold down to give the angler a great work area.

Sales at his Anchorage Marina – we took the opportunity to talk about Robalos in general and the 260 Centre Console in particular (scan the QR Code hereabouts to watch the full interview).

Scott is definitely Australia’s Robalo expert, having sold hundreds of Robalo and Chaparral boats through his dealership over the years. He’s the man you need to talk to when you decide to put the 260 on your wish-list.

So, what do you get for a couple of hundred grand?

You get a kick-ass fishing

boat that’s had decades of refinement in the design and manufacturing process.

You get a Kevlarreinforced hull, built with abundant closed-cell foam flotation. You get premium gelcoat that resists fading and you get the latest in resins that keep your pride and joy looking fine for years to come.

But most of all, you get yourself an ultimate fishing platform that has the range and speed to get you fishing in places you’d only dreamed about in the 15ft aluminium tinny.

From bow to stern, there’s no wasted space and it’s the

little things that make the boat a joy to fish from.

“All Robalo boats are designed for ocean fishing,” Scott explained. “They all have self-draining decks and bronze through-hull fittings.

All of the kill tanks drain overboard, the live bait tanks are huge and there’s storage for over 20 fishing rods – and some of this storage is lockable.”

Under the deck, all wiring is tinned and there’s 715L of fuel. Combine this with a 2.7m beam and you’ll need a truck like an F250 to tow it – as well as complying with local regulations for oversize

towing. Scott said that a lot of owners opt to put these boats in dry storage or on a pontoon, adding that this makes them very popular in the northern parts of Australia.

One of the real advantages, however, is the fishability of this rig. Most cabin-based 26-footers only fish four people comfortably, whereas the R260 has room to fish at least six anglers in comfort.

So, get out your calculator and work out where 715L of fuel gets you (Scott calculates a range of 680km at 3000rpm), and you can imagine all of that awesome fishing on your doorstep that this Robalo could open up

for you. With petrol prices as low as they’ve been for years, maybe there is room in your budget for an R260?

Let’s face it – you’re thinking about it, aren’t you?

The best way to get a feel for this boat is to test drive one yourself. Call Scott on 03 9397 6977 or visit www. aussieboatsales.com.au.

• Quoted performance figures have been supplied by the writer in good faith.

Performance of individual boat/motor/trailer packages may differ due to variations in engine installations, propellers, hull configurations, options, hull loading and trailer specifications.

PERFORMANCE RPM...............Speed (km/h)............. Fuel (L/h/engine) 1000........................ 8.5................................................3.3 2000....................... 14.5...............................................9.5 3000.........................39..............................................20.5 4000.........................58.................................................38 5000.........................72.................................................70 The test day was too rough to take boat to WOT RPM of 6100 and speed of 98km/h.

Time to plane 5.0 seconds (tabs-up), 4.1 seconds (tabs-down)

Now THAT’S a console. Big bore pipework and a fibreglass hard top allow outrigger mounting, rod holder mounting and a shaded helm position – everything you need for a big day on the water.

Can you picture yourself here? The transition from a smaller boat to the 260 isn’t as hard as it seems.

A drive-on trailer and common-sense console layout make driving the R260 a piece of cake.

It’s like the boat you have now – just bigger!

As well as fishability around the whole boat, you’ll find all of the under-deck storage space well organised and practical.

These bad boys – a pair of VTEC 225 Hondas – jump the 260 up on the plane in as little as 4.1 seconds (with the trim tabs down).

For 26ft of boat, the 260 is surprisingly nimble. The HydroLift hull technology is efficient, using a combination of sharp keel and wider strakes for optimum control.

R207

www.robalo.com 03) 9397-6977

Time to get serious....

FEBRUARY 2016

127

Trades, Services, Charter MARINE MECHANICS

BAIT & TACKLE

Coorparoo Marine (07) 3397 4141 Capalaba Boat Centre 04011 728 379

GOLD COAST

GOLD COAST

Coastal Powerboats (07) 5568 0904

Holt Marine (07) 3353 1928

BEST LURE RANGE THE Fishing GOLDON COAST TOP BRANDS • TOP SERVICE • GREAT PRICES

INSIDE SPORTY’S WAREHOUSE

07 5526 2786

MAIL ORDERS

WELCOME

32 Straithaid Rd BUNDALL 4217 QLD

Cunningham Marine Centre (07) 3284 8805 Caloundra Marine (07) 5491 1944 Bribie Boat Sales (07) 3408 0055

• Sales • Service • Spare Parts • Warranty and Insurance work * REPOWER SPECIALISTS *

www.runawaybaymarineservice.com.au

2/247 Bayveiw St Runaway Bay GEOFF NEWMAN PH 55774411

QLD HONDA DEALER OF THE YEAR 2011/2012

NCE

EVERYTHING MUST GO!

10% E-X C50% OFF LUDES BAIT

1154 Gold Coast Hwy, PALM BEACH Q 4221

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07 5559 5155

www.anglersconnection.com.au SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND Tackle Warehouse Brisbane (07) 3398 6500 BCF www.bcf.com.au Tackle Land Sandgate (07) 3269 5060 Tackle Land Carseldine (07) 3862 9015

BOAT HIRE // HOUSE GOLD COAST

Great family and fishing boats! + 50km of sheltered waterways on the Gold Coast’s Broadwater + No Licence required CALL FOR A + Boats from $795 DEAL + 2-12 berth

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4/26 TAREE ST, BURLEIGH HEADS www.ssmarine.com.au

Phone 07 5522 1933 MOBILE SERVICE AVAILABLE Bundall Marine Centre – Servicing all makes and models. MOBILE SERVICE AVAILABLE (07) 5504 7446 Whitewater Marine (07) 5532 4402 T&S Marine (07) 5546 2599

Advertise here - $90 + GST for 6 months Email: ads@fishingmonthly.com.au SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

SAMPLE AD - BUSINESS NAME + 07 5502 6200 + www.coomerahouseboats.com.au

Reef Marine Mackay (07) 4957 3521

BOAT LICENCING

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www.bundallmarinecentre.com.au

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Bundall Marine Centre

No.1 Ashmore Rd, Bundall

0422 198 651

MARINE TRAILERS Oceanic Boat Trailers (07) 5597 0577 Seatrail Trailers www.seatrailqld.com.au Tinnie Tosser (07) 5498 7339 Sea-Link Special Trailers (07) 3881 3568

TRADES AND SERVICES ADVERTISING Line listing from $90 + gst 6 months* 2cm x 2 from $195 + gst 6 months* 4cm x 2 from $320 + gst 6 months* 8cm x 2 from $590 + gst 6 months* Rates exclusive to Trades and Services Directory *Conditions apply Call (07) 3387 0800 or email ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

If you have any other trades or services that you would like to see in this section please don’t hesitate to give us a call Email: ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

FRASER COAST

MARINE ELECTRONICS

Rainbow Beach Houseboats (07) 5486 3146 Lake Monduran House Boat www.lakemonduranhouseboathire.com.au

MARINE ELECTRONICS

BOAT HIRE // TRAILER

SALES • REPAIRS • INSTALLATIONS

GOLD COAST

ONSITE AND MOBILE INSTALLATIONS

Boab Boat Hire - 1300 002 622

SUNSHINE COAST Promote your Sunny Coast boat hire business here! For as little as $15 per month.

Phone (07) 3387 0800 Email ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

128

ads@fishingmonthly.com.au Stones Corner Marine (07) 3397 9766 Brisbane Yamaha (07) 3888 1727 Northside Marine (07) 3265 8029

• Sounders • GPS • Electric Motors • Marine Radios and accessories • Stereos • Televisions • Radar Units • Autopilots Unit 4/1440 New Cleveland Road Capalaba www.trymax.com.au PHONE: 07 3245 3633

This section in QLD Fishing Monthly consolidates the trades and services in your area that are relevant to your fishing and boating. Whether you’re a local looking for more options or a travelling angler fishing around the state, this guide will direct you to reputable businesses in the area you’re searching.

FEBRUARY 2016

Boats & Guided Fishing Tours Directory BOAT MODIFICATIONS & REPAIRS

FLUSH YOUR ENGINE WITH

ONLINE TACKLE PRODUCTS

ROD & REEL REPAIRS NORTH QUEENSLAND

She Left Camera Sunglasses www.hdvcs.com.au

JT Reel Repairs, Mackay 0427 552 485 or (07) 4955 2485

Specialty Fishing www.specialtyfishing.com.au

MAKE YOUR OWN

Soft Plastics & Spinnerbaits CORROSION CONTROL SALT REMOVING TREATMENT

HUGE RANGE OF LURE MAKING PRODUCTS AVAILABLE!

ACT NOW AND PROTECT YOUR VALUABLE BOAT, ENGINE, TRAILER, FISHING AND DIVE GEAR. SALT-AWAY IS A MUST FOR:

ENGINE FLUSHING JETSKIS TRAILERS

FREECALL For more info

WASHING BOATS FISHING & DIVE GEAR

PH

(02) 6258 7515

0400 587 515

MOB www.u-make-emsoftplastics.com.au

BRISBANE SOUTH AND GOLD COAST

Repairs • Detailing • Modifications

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

MARINE TRANSPORT

The Islander Retreat, South Stradbroke Island 0420 967 557 Hemingways at Tin Can Bay (07) 3219 9376 Bribie Island Real Estate (07) 3408 1006

FRASER ISLAND

BOAT TRANSPORT AUSTRALIA WIDE FROM A TINNY TO 50 FEET WEEKLY SERVICE TO ALL MAJOR CAPITALS

DJ Freight Marine Transport 0418 793 357 0427 341 076 contact@djfreight.com.au

CUSTOM MARINE WELDING & ELECTRICAL

www.fraserislandfishingunits.com.au

GOLD COAST

Marine and Auto Electricial n All types of Welding n Stainless Steel n Aluminium n Mild Steel n Boats Repaired n Fuel & Water Tanks n Canopies n Bow and Stern Rails n Custom Vehicle Tool Boxes

n

Shed 1 281 Jacobs Well Road Behind GEM Service Station, Alberton 4207

Phone 3807 7846

Advance Marine Upholstery GOLD COAST BOAT COVERS & CANOPIES • Biminis • Canopies • Storm Covers • Camper Covers

• Boat Carpet • Pontoon Carpet • Jetty Fenders • Clears

ALL WORK IS GUARANTEED Call Simon 0412 763282 E: info@advanceupholstery.com.au

www.advanceupholstery.com.au

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

Bluewater Windscreens Brisbane (07) 3382 7883

Rowland Street Boat Trimmers Springwood (07) 3208 9511

ASM Mobile Welding Brisbane 0409 624 402

Brisbane Yamaha (07) 3888 1727

Marine Windows and Doors Brisbane (07) 3284 5088

Rays Canvas & Marine Caboolture (07) 5499 4911

Small Craft Electrics (mobile) 0408 063 064 Boat Collar (07) 5441 3636 CMC Marine Sales 0409 910 808 Iconic Boats Brisbane 0475 311 447

BRISBANE Brisbane Boat Painting 0433 356 620

TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND North Queensland Outboard Wreckers Townsville 1800 812 748

BAIT-ICE-TACKLE PH: 07 4937 3145 Baffle Creek Holiday House 0419 624 833

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

Affordable Boat Covers Gold Coast 0419 424 587

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BOAT PAINTING

Waddy Lodge on Fraser 0414 516 364 Cathedrals on Fraser (07) 4127 9177 Apurla Island Retreat 0437 739 121 Fraser Island Beach Houses 1800 626 230 Yidney Rocks (07) 4127 9167 Eurong Beach Resort 1800 111 808

www.stanagebay.com

Mob 0427 142 201 Fax 3807 2468

www.custommarinewelding.com.au

INDIAN HEAD

For bookings or enquiries contact: Cliff Andreassen 0428 712 283 or 07 5449 9346

bearfish@bigpond.com

Salt-Away www.salt-away.com.au

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND

Fraser Island Fishing Units

A FISHO’S DREAM

MARINE TRIMMERS

JOE BONNICI 0410 480 203

www.reelrepairs.com.au 110 Sherbrooke Rd, Willawong Qld 4110

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION

J-Roc Tackle www.jroctackle.com.au

VISIT www.salt-away.com.au

Repairs

e parts needs repairs and spar For all your reel

Southeast Custom Rod Building and Repairs 0438 055 877 U-Make-Em Sort Plastics www.u-make-emsoftplastics.com.au

1800 091 172

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ce Reel Performan

Servicin Phone/Fax: 07 3372 2740 or major b g all call Duncan on 0439 717 839 rands Email: dhreelrepairs@bigpond.com Drag upgrades available • Rod repairs • Mail orders welcome

WARNING!

9 out 10 engines fail from salt corrosion

D&H REEL REPAIRS

CY

CMY

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COOKTOWN River of Gold Motel Plenty of room for boats and trailers PH: 4069 5222 HINCHINBROOK Cardwell Beachfront Motel - www.cardwellbeachmotel.net (07) 4066 8776 or info.cbmotel@bigpond.com MACKAY BEL AIR MOTEL, MACKAY - PLENTY OF ROOM FOR BOATS AND TRAILERS.............PH: 07 4957 3658

Advertisers wanting to be involved in this directory can call (07) 3387 0800 or email ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

FEBRUARY 2016

129

Trades, Services, Charter Boats & Guided Fishing Tours Directory FRESHWATER

HERVEY BAY

Yallakool Caravan Park on Bjelke-Petersen Dam (07) 4168 4746

FISHING GUIDES

Fully Guided Lure & Fly Fishing

Lake Boondooma Caravan Park (07) 4168 9694

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Lake Cressbrook Regional Council 131 872

BORN AND BRED LOCAL GUIDE

• 5.5m Custom sportsfishing Vessel • 4.4m Estuary Sportsfishing Vessel • Quality Fishing Gear Supplied

Yallakool Park and Kiosk on Bjelke-Petersen Dam (07) 4168 4746

CHARTER BOATS

SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND Suncoast Barra Fishing Park www.suncoastbarrafishing.com

CENTRAL QUEENSLAND Lake Monduran Barra Charters 0407 434 446

TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND Hooked On Hinchinbrook www.hookedonhinchinbrook.com

NORTHERN NSW

FISH TAXIDERMY

Evans Head Deep Sea Fishing Charters 0428 828 835 Reel Time Fishing Charters 0428 231 962

GOLD COAST

Fish Taxiderist www.fishtaxidery.net.au or 0428 544 841 www.herveybaysportfishing.com.au

BOOK NOW FOR WHITING KAYAK FISHING TOURS SOUTHERN BAY • GOLD COAST

HALF AND FULL DAY TOURS • Hobie kayak and fishing gear supplied www.kayakfishingtours.com.au Phone for bookings

0439 714 345

True Blue Fishing Gold Coast (07) 5510 9622 BK’s Gold Coast Fishing Charters 0414 293 034 My Charter Boat Tweed Heads 0407 347 446 RU4 Reel Tweed Heads 0449 903 366 Discovery Fishing Charters Gold Coast 0427 026 519 Fish The Deep Charters 0416 224 412 Paradise Fishing Charters 0403 531 428 Gold Coast Fishing Charters 0411 605 090 Hooker 1 Charters Gold Coast (07) 5528 6469 Sea Probe Fishing Charters 0400 312 330 Coastal Sports Fishing Charters Gold Coast 0412 691 929

Andrew Chorley

0407 627 852

FISHING ON TV

CENTRAL QUEENSLAND Bite Me Fishing Charters Yeppoon 0419 029 397 Ultimate Sportfishing Charters 0450 753 726 MV Capricorn Star 0408 755 201 Mikat Cruises Fishing Charters 0427 125 727 Bundaberg Fishing Charters 0429 017 217 Sport Fish 1770 (07) 4974 9686 Coral Coast Game Fishing 0447 347 437 MV James Cook (1770) (07) 4974 9422 Norval Reef Charters 1800 771 234 Iluka Fishing Charters Gladstone 0414 940 911 Kanimbla Charters Gladstone1800 677 202

IDEAL GIFT!

TROPICAL NORTH QUEENSLAND Eclipse FNQ Weipa Charters 0488 058 668 Fish’s Fly & Sportsfishing Weipa (07) 4069 9957 Action Charters Mackay 0417 452 346 Fishing Charters Townsville 0403 386 722

BURDEKIN JC’s Fishing Charters 0438 753 382 Fairdinkum Fishing Charters Townsville (07) 4751 5324 Cairns Reef Charter Services 1800 119 044 Cairns Charter Boat 0427 533 081 Cairns Fishing Charters 0427 400 027

DVD’S -

Series 2 through 8

$19.95 each GST INC. - with FREE P&H

1800 228 244

Gone Fishing Charters Gold Coast (07) 5529 7833

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Email ads@fishingmonthly.com.au BRISBANE Frenzy Charters Brisbane (07) 3209 4576 Tom Cat Charters (07) 3820 8794 Moreton Island Fishing Charters 0413 128 056 Brisbane Fishing Charters 0427 026 510 Bucket List Fishing Charters 0428 368 316 John Gooding Outlaw Charters 0418 738 750

SUNSHINE COAST Keely Rose Deep Sea Fishing Charters 0407 146 151 Odyssey Charters Deep Sea Fishing (07) 5478 1109 Smithy’s Fishing Charters Sunshine Coast 0407 574 868 Top Catch Charters Sunshine Coast 0429 013 012 Fish n Crab Charters Mooloolaba 0412 155 814 Offshore Reef and Game Fishing 0413 485 402 Sunshine Coast Fishing Charters (07) 5500 0671 Fishing Offshore Noosa 0418 889 956 Noosa Fishing Charters (07) 5665 8170 Hervey Bay Fishing Charters (07) 4125 3958

Anton Persico could not have been happier after catching this 23kg mahimahi off the Gold Coast recently.

Tournament angler and bass tragic Tom Slater had some fun fishing Lake Macdonald’s edges with swim jigs recently.

Incredible Charters 1300 655 818

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Advertisers wanting to be involved in this directory can call (07) 3387 0800 or email ads@fishingmonthly.com.au

FEBRUARY 2016

What’s New BOATING

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RULE LOPRO BILGE PUMPS

The new Rule LoPro (low profile) bilge pumps are small enough to fit into tight spaces in the bilge – yet they pack real pumping power at 900 gallons per hour – 3,400 litres per hour – 57 litres per minute.

These new pumps include numerous features for ease of installation, ease of use and multiple options for use. There are two models available; standard non-auto or dual sensing automatic.

With this pump, you can pump up to 57 litres per minute at open flow. The fully submersible horizontal or vertical mounting makes for a long life, and will stand up to lots of punishment.

The ignition is protected, so it won’t create a spark, and there will be nothing to worry about.

The rotating discharge body swivels 180° for ease of installation, and a threaded discharge nozzle with multiple hose ports included as standard in the package. There are four different hose ports provided for your convenience. www.rwbmarine.com.au

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DIAMOND DECK’S NEW RANGE

Diamond Deck is boasting many new additions to their already fantastic range in 2016.

These additions include the new DIY Quick Stick Grip Pads, which are perfect for gunwales and steps. These ae available in black, white and grey. You have a choice of a set of 4 pieces, in size 310 x 85 x 5mm + 20mm radius corners, or a set of 2 pieces in size 450 x 85 x 20mm + 20mm radius corners.

CEO and Director of Diamond Deck Andrzej Adamcewicz says Diamond Deck are all for the customer’s needs and want to have a product for all your non-slip decking needs.

“Diamond deck is not just a moment, and it is not a fad or this year’s trend, it is a life and it is here forever to shape your adventure.”

Coming soon is an official voting poll to vote for your favourite colour, because we care and want to listen to our DIY customers here at Diamond Deck. www.diamonddeck.com.au

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DEEPER GRABS CES INNOVATION AWARD

Deeper Fishfinder was chosen to be one of the honourees at an annual Consumer Technology Association competition, (CES Innovation Awards). Deeper was nominated the best innovation among Wireless Handset Accessories and gained CES Best of Innovation award.

The smart, castable sonar Deeper Fishfinder took part in the awards for the first time this year. However, it already took the nomination.

Smart portable sonar was strictly evaluated following special criteria and chosen by a competent jury comprised of on field professionals. All the participating nominees were assessed according to their aesthetics, design, engineering qualities and novelty of their features. Therefore, Deeper appeared to be the most innovative product inside the Wireless Handset Accessories category.

The President of Deeper U.S.A Casey McKnight commented on the prestigious award.

“The core value of our team is bringing consumer innovation to the fishing market and this achievement proves Deeper to be a superb quality and design technological innovation, which is able to compete with other top notch brands”. www.buydeeper.com

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FISHING PRODUCT GUIDE

POWERED BY

SIMRAD GO XSE SERIES

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Coming in 2016, the Simrad® GO XSE series delivers powerful, full-featured standalone marine chartplotter/ fishfinders packed into compact, easyto-use 5 or 7” displays.

The GO5 and GO7 XSE feature superbright multi-touch displays, internal 10 Hz GPS receivers, StructureScan® HD and CHIRP sonar, autopilot integration and control, engine data monitoring, full audio entertainment integration with SonicHub®2, integrated wireless connectivity and the powerful new Simrad TripIntel™ trip computer.

GO XSE displays offer intuitive multi-touch controls that smartphone and tablet users will instantly find familiar. Boaters are able to tap the screen to create or select waypoints, pinch-to-zoom, or tap-and-drag to pan smoothly across charts, while simple home screen and menu layouts allow quick access to all functions. Adjustable split-screen views and customisable panel layouts with large icons that are easy to recognize make the GO XSE series full-featured chartplotters. www.navico.com

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SMALL CRAFT NAV LIGHTS

Our range of Small Craft Nav Lights, which come in sets of three, are ideal for small boats, kayaks, tenders and so on, where there is no 12-volt battery on board – they can also be used as an emergency set of navigation lights on larger craft.

Black ABS plastic weatherproof construction with reflectors and integral mounting brackets on each light make this device very easy to install. They are also supplied with rubber ‘O’ ring lens seal. The lights can be turned on and off by simply turning the lens.

The Standard bulb lights come in sets of 3, 1.5 volt 0.2 amp screw globes. They require 3 x D cell batteries for the set of 3, 1 battery for each light (batteries not included).

The LED lights also come in a set of 3.

They requires 9 x AA batteries for the set of 3, 3 batteries for each light (batteries not included). www.rwbmarine.com.au

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LOWRANCE ANNOUNCES ELITE TI SERIES

New touchscreen displays deliver incredible performance at an affordable price, and Lowrance® is proud to announce the launch of a new, premium Elite Ti standalone series of fishfinder chartplotters.

The Lowrance Elite-5 and Elite-7 Ti touchscreen fishfinder/chartplotters offer anglers high-performance at an incredible value. With an easy-to-use touchscreen interface, Bluetooth® and wireless connectivity, proven Lowrance navigation technology and high-performance sonar – including CHIRP sonar, StructureScan® HD and DownScan ImagingTM – the Elite Ti Series is a robust, feature-rich, yet compact solution – all at an affordable price.

The Lowrance Elite Ti is designed for anglers who want a complete view of the area beneath their boat. CHIRP Sonar offers improved fish-target separation and screen clarity, while the StructureScan® HD sonar imaging system with exclusive Lowrance DownScan Imaging™ delivers photo-like images of fish-holding structure on both sides and directly beneath the boat.

Scheduled availability is January 2016 for the Elite-7 Ti and March 2016 for the Elite-5 Ti. www.navico.com

Please email contributions to: nicole@fishingmonthly.com.au

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visit www.tacklejunkie.fish for the latest tackle news - AS IT HAPPENS!

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HURRY OFFER ENDS FEB 26, 2016. www.mercurymarine.com.au *Terms & conditions apply. Savings are based on RRP including recommended SmartCraft Kit and subject to change without notice. Prices exclude local freight charges, Fit up and local statutory charges. Offer available on selected new consumer FourStroke outboards from 80 to 150hp purchased from participating dealers from Friday 20th November until Feb 26th, 2016. Ask your participating dealer for full list of models in the program. Offer is subject to availability and engines must be 2014 build onwards and installed and registered by no later than April 30, 2016. Offer not to be used in conjunction with any other offer or rebates. **Terms, conditions and credit criteria apply, offer available over a maximum 36 month term on Motor and Repower only. The comparison rate is based on a secured loan of $30,000 for a term of 5 years at an annual percentage rate of 4.22%. The amount of credit provided to you and the term of the loan may be different to this. WARNING: The comparison rate only applies to the example given and may not include all fees and charges. Different terms, fees or other loan amounts might result in a different comparison rate. Finance is provided by Mercury Finance Pty Ltd ABN 28 156 248 092. Australian Credit Licence Number 421347.